Dutiful Destruction

by Joey245

Three months after the defeat of Makuta and Team RWBY's return to Remnant, a new foe emerges with one goal: to eradicate everything on the island of Mata Nui. With Salem casting her shadow on Vacuo and tensions mounting among the refugees of Atlas, Ruby and her friends may find themselves strained as they fight for the worlds of Man, Matoran, and more. (Sequel to Destiny's Divide.)

8. Lost Girls

(A/N): First chapter of 2024! Here's hoping it's been a good year for you so far, and that it becomes an even better one in the months to come! Ironic that this should be the first entry of a new year, as this chapter actually contains some of my oldest unpublished writing ever.

See, back in 2018 or so I had a concept for a fic called "The Tales of Team NDGO," which would have followed the titular Team NDGO (the girls that Team SSSN fought in the Vytal Tournament back in Volume 3) as they navigated a post-Fall of Beacon world. This was back before After The Fall had come out, and well before the team made their return in Before the Dawn with…interesting characterizations. (Because what RWBY really needed was a gang of cliché, one-dimensional "mean girls" that undercut the one thing we knew about Vacuo at the time, who bully the main characters for no discernible reason and use kids as bait for the Grimm on a mission…is it too obvious that I don't think very highly of EC Myers's written works? Besides After the Fall, of course, that one was pretty good.)

I never ended up writing that story - partly because I didn't know where to go with the plot, and partly because I ended up working on a different big fanfic project around that time - but I still really liked the initial prologue that I wrote up as a concept, to the point that it's been floating around in my drafts folder for ages now. So when I decided to do a chapter for this story all about Team NDGO, one that serves to peel back the layers behind their "official" characterizations and introduce the headcanons I've had for them since 2016, I saw a perfect opportunity to finally bring that intro into the fold. It took a little bit of retooling and reworking to bring it up to my modern sensibilities, of course…after all, I'm not the same person I was six years ago, and I like to think that my writing skill has gotten a little better since those days.

This chapter is also the first of many in this story that'll focus more heavily on the side characters, and how they're handling the newest developments while also pushing things forward. This plot thread of Dutiful Destruction is about more than just the main cast, after all - it's about the Kingdom of Vacuo and its people, as they navigate a new world together.

Hope you enjoy this bigger-than-usual chapter!

---

One Year Ago…

"We should've stayed in Vale."

Nebula sighed as she closed her eyes, trying to tune out the noise coming from the vidscreen along with the bickering of her teammates. When she opened them again, she saw the same situation in front of her - a blonde and a redhead were trading insults and deathly glares with one another, while a brunette was sitting quietly at the foot of her bed. Screams and snarls and gunfire filtered through choppy speakers, paired with live footage of shadowy monsters and robotic soldiers sweeping through a dark city. Like most of the other students at Shade Academy, Team NDGO found themselves compelled to watch the worldwide broadcast of terror against their better judgement, unable to look away from the gruesome images on the floating hard-light display.

Beacon was falling, and her team wasn't too far behind.

The blonde rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "Really? What makes you say that, Octavia?"

"We're Huntresses, Dew," countered the redhead. "We've dedicated our lives to fighting the Grimm. We should be out there, doing exactly that!"

"You really think throwing four more kids into all that would change anything?" Dew scoffed. "They've got every Huntsman and Huntress in Vale fighting out there right now, and they're still losing. If we hadn't left when we did -"

"You mean if you hadn't thrown a hissy fit because we lost to a bunch of dumb first-years -"

"- then we'd be dead, just like all the rest of them." The windy woman pointedly ignored the Octavia's insinuation, just like she usually did.

The silent brunette finally found her voice. "They're not…really all going to die, are they?" Gwen whimpered, on the verge of tears once more.

Octavia knelt down beside her partner, putting a reassuring hand on her shaking shoulder. "Of course not. Things might seem bad now, but…"

Her comforting words seemed to die in her throat, as the shadow of a massive black dragon suddenly filled the vidscreen.

"Yeah, I'm sure everything will be just fine."

"Dew, I swear if you don't shut up right now I'll -!"

As Dew and Octavia's arguing mirrored the intensity of their elemental namesakes once more, Nebula focused on the elegant dancer of their team, who was now curled up into a ball and rocking back and forth. Gwen was usually shyer than the rest of her teammates and hated conflict between people, especially whenever the more opinionated women started bickering with each other. Couple the stress of their latest spat with the horrifying footage being broadcasted live, and it was safe to say she was in hell. And Nebula felt like she was right there with her.

This isn't how we're supposed to act, the violet-haired teenager thought to herself, We're supposed to be Huntresses, the protectors of humanity. We can't be acting like scared, angry children…we're better than this. We have to be.

Then…nothing. The vidscreen's picture blanked out, replaced by a haze of static and a piercing tone. Nebula's Scroll, which just a moment ago was streaming the news to their vidscreen, now displayed a flashing "NO SIGNAL" message over and over. Even Dew and Octavia stopped their bickering, checking their own Scrolls to verify that their worst fears had come to pass.

"The CCT Tower…" said Dew, as if to process what had just happened. "…it's down."

"We lost Vale," breathed Octavia. "Beacon, Amity, the network…it's all gone."

Silence overtook the dorm room of Team NDGO. For a while no one moved or said a word, as if afraid that the giant Grimm in Vale would fly halfway across the continent and devour them if they did anything. All they could do was sit, and process the tragedy that befell one of Remnant's four Kingdoms.

Eventually, the nervousness and restlessness could be held back no longer. The fiery Octavia Ember went to her bed and sat down, clenching her fists so hard that fire rippled across her skin - like lava bubbling just under the surface of volcanic rock. Gwen Darcy curled herself up into an even tighter ball, nearly disappearing into her own pajamas. Even the normally strong and unflappable Dew Gayl couldn't contain her nerves, pacing back and forth and inadvertently creating a small gust of wind whenever she turned.

Nebula Violette was as scared as all of them, and then some. It was all she could do to keep her own Semblance in check - to keep everything not bolted down in their room from floating around in a weightless vortex. But as the team leader, she didn't have the luxury of being afraid.

She had to make a decision.

And in that moment, she made it.

"…we need to protect Vacuo."

Dew looked over and raised an eyebrow at her partner. "Isn't that what we're already doing? Why we're at Shade in the first place?"

Nebula shook her head. "No…I mean, we need to protect Vacuo from the other Kingdoms."

Everyone's eyes turned to her.

"With Beacon gone, the students are gonna go somewhere else," she explained as calmly as she could. "If they want to keep up their training, they're gonna go to one of the other Academies - Haven, Atlas, or even here at Shade. But whatever went down in Vale isn't gonna stop there. It's gonna go to the other Kingdoms next…and if those students come here, odds are that they'll bring their problems with them."

Her gaze narrowed. "We gotta make them feel like they're not welcome."

Gwen tilted her head in confusion. "But…they will be welcome, won't they? I don't get it…"

"Yeah, I'm not exactly following either." Dew's arms folded across her chest as she finally took a seat on her bed. "Headmaster's always had a soft spot for the other Kingdoms, even after…well, everything. It's practically guaranteed that he's gonna open Shade's doors for anyone who wants to come here."

Octavia must have understood, because she gave her leader a glare that could set a lesser soul ablaze. "She's saying she wants us to harass and bully anyone that transfers here. Give the hurting folks the classic Vacuo welcome - throw sand in their eyes and punch 'em in the face."

"…oh." Gwen looked down. "Huh. I'm…not sure I like that idea."

"You shouldn't," growled the fiery woman as she furrowed her brow. "It's a terrible idea. Is that really your big plan, Nebs? That Team NDGO becomes the big bad mean girls of Shade?"

"…that's not how I would've phrased it, but yes." Nebula sighed. "We all know the one rule of Vacuo, right? 'If you're strong enough to survive the desert, you're welcome here.' Well that rule's got an unspoken other rule right there - 'if you're not strong enough to survive the desert, you don't belong here.' We need to embody that rule, for the sake of our Kingdom. Because the last thing we need is a bunch of weak Huntsmen and Huntresses with bleeding hearts dragging us down and taking advantage of our kindness yet again. Not when whatever did this to Vale is probably still out there."

Upon seeing the unconvinced expressions of her teammates, she rolled her eyes. "Look, it's not like we'd be doing it maliciously. We'd be doing them a favor, really. If the new kids are strong enough to survive a little bullying, then they'll probably be strong enough to survive the desert. And if they aren't…well, then they'll go somewhere else, and take their problems with them. Either way, we win. Shade wins. Vacuo wins."

None of the girls that night had the courage or emotional awareness to challenge their leader or prove her wrong, so Team NDGO went to sleep that night with nervous tears, unspoken fears, and a plan for the future.

---

Present Day

"Attention, Team NDGO - please report to Professor Rumpole's office immediately. You have been volunteered for a crucial assignment. Participation is mandatory."

Octavia groaned as the voice blared out over decades-old loudspeakers, standing up from her seat and slinging her school bag over her shoulder. In any other circumstance, on any other day, she would have been grateful for an excuse to step out of a Grimm Studies lecture - especially when said lecture was being headed up by some blow-hard of a guest teacher from Vale. But getting called out so specifically meant that everyone in the lecture hall turned to watch her and her team shuffle out of the classroom, like they were the lucky prisoners getting called up to the execution block. It certainly felt that way, based on some of the expressions of the other students; some looked happy to see them leave, others jealous, still others seemed like they wanted to kick them in the face.

Granted, most of the folks who wanted to do that last one were Haven and Beacon refugees…and given how Team NDGO had been bullying them all for the last year, no one could blame them.

"Sounds like Rumpole's got more 'detention' work for us," grumbled Nebula as she led the quartet of girls out into the hallway. "Because apparently hunting mole crabs is too dignified these days."

"Maybe they'll have us work with that RWBY team again," offered Gwen hopefully. "They seemed…nice."

Dew snorted. "Yeah, when they weren't making doe eyes at each other, or rubbing the fact that they're full-on Huntresses in our faces. You'd think that Ironwood going off the deep end would've revoked the official licenses that he personally gave them, but nooooo. Apparently they're too good to attend classes and do homework like the rest of us."

For once, Octavia actually agreed with her tempestuous teammate. "I know, right? And what's with that kid who's bossing them around? She's got, what, a scythe that's also a sniper rifle? Why can't she just use a normal weapon like the rest of us? What kind of self-important idiot uses that oversized hunk of junk?!"

"The kind with a very protective big sister, who just so happens to be in earshot."

"Exactly!" Octavia kept speaking with a sharp laugh, completely failing to realize who she'd just agreed with. "And she's nothing compared to her brute of a sibling, who -"

"Ahem."

And just like that, the Lien chip dropped.

The red-headed student whirled around to find a very unamused blonde woman standing behind her, bare arms folded over her chest to reveal a mechanical prosthetic with faded yellow paint. Lilac eyes stared hard at her with one raised eyebrow, her mouth pulled into a tight frown. A faint ripple of heat in the air around her warned of danger, clearly spelling out who'd been listening in the whole time.

"Who what?" Yang asked with a casual tone of voice. "Go on, finish your sentence. I just love hearing what others have to say about me."

Despite some part of Octavia's brain recognizing that the other fiery female was laying down bait, the rest of her was too angry to think of anything beyond springing the trap.

"Who should really mind her own business and stop poking her nose where it doesn't belong," she hissed, getting up into the blonde brawler's face without a trace of fear. "And who should really stick to just punching stuff, and leave the thinking to others."

Yang leveled a stare against her without backing up, then cracked a smile. "…wow. Wow. Congratulations - that has to be the worst comeback anyone's ever said to me. You must be really happy with yourself to come up with that one."

Octavia grit her teeth and clenched her fist, lava pooling beneath the surface of her skin. "I'll be even happier once you're flat on your ass, blondie!"

She threw a flaming punch at the stupid woman…

CLANG.

…only for her knuckles to make contact with a steel palm as Yang quickly - almost effortlessly - caught the flying fist.

The blonde brawler looked down at the burning hand currently trapped in her grip, then let out a humorless chuckle. "A fire punch? Really? That's what you're starting with? Sweetheart, I've literally and figuratively faced stuff that makes your hottest flame look like a toaster on the lowest setting. So if you're trying to intimidate me or burn me, you'll have to try a lot harder than that."

It was at this moment that Gwen stepped forward and took Octavia's non-flaming hand in both of hers. "Tav, that's enough. I'm sure Miss Xiao Long is very busy, just like us. You really don't need to do this -"

Anger burned in the redhead's eyes as she yanked both fists free and set them ablaze. "Yes! I! DO!"

The fight - if it could even be called that - was short and swift and anything but sweet. Octavia let loose a flurry of wild punches with Aura burning around her knuckles, only to find each blow batted away by Yang's own palms. The blonde didn't even activate her own Semblance in response to the attacks - in fact, she didn't even try to counter or take advantage of the many openings her opponent left. She just stood there, weathering the storm of jabs and hooks with an almost-bored expression. The redhead snarled and reared back for a finishing cross right in her big stupid face -

VROOP.

And suddenly found herself five feet off the ground, her arms and legs unresponsive as a purple-blue corona of light washed over her.

Ugh…she mentally growled as her mouth grew as numb as the rest of her. Stupid Nebs and her stupid Semblance…

"You heard the little lady," snarled Nebula, her hand glowing with a violet-colored Aura. "That's enough. C'mon, girls - we've got work to do."

Yang finally lowered her guard and sighed, blinking slowly. "Well, that was a nice workout. Thanks for the impromptu spar, Octavia - let's do this again sometime. But with actual rules and stuff like that."

Bite me blondie! Octavia thrashed against the gravity fields keeping her suspended and ramrod-stiff in mid-air, but failed miserably.

"It was nice to see you again, Miss Xiao Long!" Gwen added apologetically as the group started to turn away. "Oh, and tell Miss Belladonna I'll get her book back to her this weekend - it was such a good story I just had to read it again!"

"No worries, she always says that the best novels are the ones worth reading twice," said Yang with a soft laugh and a nod. Then she grinned as she looked up at the now-levitating Octavia. "There, y'see? Being nice isn't so hard now, is it?"

Despite being unable to move her jaw, Octavia growled as Dew grabbed her ankle and dragged her floating form down the hallway.

Mercifully, it was a short walk to Rumpole's office. The girls soon stepped inside what could only be described as a museum of Vacuo's history, with paintings and documents in frames along the wall and countless dioramas squeezed into the small space. The desk of the small, stout professor was littered with important rocks and old weapons, while the woman behind it barely looked up at the visitors - she was far more engrossed in a book that was almost as tall as she was, poring over its pages and reading faded manuscripts through gold-rimmed glasses. An awkward moment passed between the older Huntress and her students, which was broken only when Nebula cleared her throat.

Rumpole looked up and blinked slowly, eyes of gold shimmering in the low dusty light. "Ah…there you are, girls. May I ask why Miss Ember is floating again?"

"She tried to pick a fight with Yang on the way here," reported Dew smugly. "'Tried' being the key word."

Snitches get stitches, Dewdrop.

"I see…" Rumpole hummed thoughtfully. "Still trying to act tough around outsiders, hmm? Even when there's a new crisis on our hands? Because that clearly worked so well a few months ago."

Nebula scowled. "Hey, it wasn't completely our fault. You encouraged us, and you told me to beat that Velvet girl to a pulp -"

"Yes, but I was under the influence of a crazed lunatic with a brainwashing Semblance," countered the tiny little professor. "What was your excuse, Miss Violette?"

The leader of Team NDGO didn't have a retort. Instead, she let down her hand and stopped channeling her Aura, releasing Octavia from the generated stasis field at long last. The fiery redhead landed on her feet and growled, lava burning under her skin as she contemplated throttling her team leader, but Gwen's pleading gaze (and Rumpole's unamused glare) gave her pause. So she opted to pull out a chair for her partner, take a seat herself, and put her shoes on the table in a pithy form of protest.

"Comfy?" Dew asked pointedly as she took her own seat.

"Shut up," snarled Octavia.

"Behave, you two." Nebula pinched the bridge of her nose as she sat between them.

Gwen slipped into her chair daintily and wiped dust off her skirt. "You had a mission for us, Professor Rumpole?"

"Indeed." The tiny teacher set her Scroll down and projected a map of the desert into the air, swiping and zooming in on a set of red markers amidst blue lines. "This is a typical Search and Destroy mission out in the Crescent Dunes, with one caveat - you're to locate and retrieve some high-value cargo believed to have been scattered around this location. Our hawkmasters have done their best to scout out the sands between here and there, so you'll have a clear map of where you're going and what to look for. Expect heavy resistance around the crash site, though for the most part you'll just find common Grimm like Cadejos and Mobulas. But as usual, expect the unexpected…there could always be things that even hawks fail to see."

None of the girls seemed all that shocked or surprised as the hologram faded and zipped over to their own waiting Scrolls. They knew what they could do, and how well they could do it. Plus, they even had a map this time around! So far, everything seemed straightforward.

Of course, the other shoe dropped a moment later.

"Naturally, we won't be sending you out there alone. You'll have an escort for this mission."

Their aloof leader scoffed. "Let me guess," said Nebula dryly, "that fast-talking weirdo from Vale is gonna be joining us again for 'field research?'"

"Nope," said a rough, unfamiliar feminine voice. "Doctor Oobleck basically moved into the Ark alongside some of your other science-minded folks, so he's taking a break from Huntsman duties. You'll be working with me instead."

Octavia gaped as a ten-foot-tall figure in cobalt steel suddenly stepped out of the shadowy office corner, wielding a huge trident in one hand as the other rested on her hip. A crystalline sword as blue as the sky was slung across her back, along with a dozen javelins made from the same material. Her frame was lean and limber, her armor was rusty and faded, and her leathery face was framed by a metal helmet shaped like an open-mouthed fish. The fiery Huntress reasoned that this had to be one of the alien warriors who crashed into the desert a few days ago - she'd seen some of the smaller ones skulking around Shade's campus, but this was her first time seeing one of the larger ones with her own eyes.

"Oh…wow…" Gwen gasped.

"Oh…great…" grumbled Dew.

"Sorry if I startled you - the corner was a little darker than I thought it'd be." The alien warrior walked over to stand next to the desk, then shot a grin towards the tiny little professor. "You should really see about getting some other lights in here, to liven the place up."

"I'll take it under consideration," deadpanned Rumpole. After pausing for roughly four seconds to let half the team pick their jaws up off the floor, she continued her briefing in a clipped, clinical tone. "The Glatorian known as Kiina will be accompanying you, both to further her own understanding of this world and to hone her skills against the Grimm. She's a warrior of Bara Magna, and knows well how to fight - she has been doing so for tens of thousands of years, after all. Treat her with respect, heed her guidance and advice, but don't hesitate to educate her as well. She'll learn from you about these beasts and the dangers her people will face on Remnant…and, hopefully, you will learn from her in turn. Should the mission prove successful, Glatorians may be assigned to other student teams on future field assignments; this is a show of good faith, both on our part and theirs."

Nebula seemed to understand the gravity of the situation - pun fully intended. "Understood, Professor. We'll try to show Kiina a good time out there. Right, ladies?"

Gwen smiled and nodded. Octavia blinked and gave a thumbs-up. Dew scowled, but grunted in affirmation.

"See that you do," intoned Rumpole as she swiped up on the map, sending copies to her students' Scrolls. "You'll have four days' time to complete the assignment, as usual. If you fail to report in before the allotted time is up, a rescue party will be sent to your last known location. Travel light, but ensure you have everything you need before setting out. Bring plenty of water, as always, and only as much food as you think you can eat. May the winds of Vacuo shield and guide you, and bring you safely back to us. Good luck, Team NDGO…and guests."

Kiina nodded and smirked. "I'll be waiting outside the city walls for you while you get what you need. Don't make me wait too long, or I might just go and finish the hunt without you."

Silence.

"Kidding!" She laughed softly. "I'm just kidding! I wouldn't do something as insane as that…probably."

As the Glatorian took her leave, and as Team NDGO prepared to do the same, Rumpole cleared her throat and stared at the girls.

"I understand that the Fall of Beacon was difficult for everyone," she said gently yet firmly. "We've all developed our own ways of coping with that fear and sorrow, but your…method…has been allowed to fester into a cancer that is causing pain to countless others. Part of it, I realize, was my negligence to recognize and correct that habit before it got too extreme, and for that I apologize. But in these circumstances it's a behavior that will be tolerated no longer - not by me, not by your peers, and certainly not by Headmaster Theodore himself. Vacuo is changing before our eyes, and you girls must accept that…whether you want to or not."

Dew rolled her eyes. Octavia simmered. Nebula furrowed her brow. Gwen seemed like she wanted to speak up, but lacked the courage. When it was clear they had nothing to say, Rumpole continued by leaning forward with a harsh whisper.

"This is your chance to prove you've grown beyond your need to abuse and reject those from outside the desert. I pray, for your own sake, that you do not waste it. Dismissed."

With that, the girls of Team NDGO left the office without another word between them.

---

Hours later Nebula found herself, her teammates, and their assigned Glatorian out in the harsh Vacuo desert making steady progress towards their goal. The air was hot and the wind kept picking up sand to blow in their faces, but that wasn't too unbearable. Sure, it would've been nice if Team NDGO had managed to snag some dune runners, to drive out to the Crescent Dunes with a layer of glass between them and the world, but the six-wheeled trucks were only good for nearby rescues and quick travel between towns. For long-distance ventures like these, especially in the midst of a worldwide Dust shortage, there was only really one sensible option for transportation.

Camels.

Hot, hairy, ugly, smelly camels.

There were a lot of things Nebula liked about Vacuo, and the local wildlife was not one of them.

But that was a discomfort she endured as she sat in her saddle alongside Dew, feeling the weight of their water and provisions thump against the sides of their trusty mount. Gwen and Octavia rode the other camel a little further ahead of them, locked in step with the alien warrior who opted to walk. Apparently no one was sure if camels were strong enough to carry the ten-foot-tall Glatorians on their backs, and no one was keen on finding out - not that Kiina needed a mount of her own to keep up with Vacuo's dedicated pack animals.

The first few hours of their trek passed without incident. Dew chose to stew in her own sour mood today, which suited Nebula just fine; it gave her a chance to keep her eyes and ears focused on the world around her. Her teammates, on the other hand, were chatting animatedly with Kiina as they traveled, who was just as eager to keep talking the entire time. She tuned out most of the conversation - it looked like the Glatorian was mostly sharing what she'd seen so far, and asking questions about the Huntresses in turn - but she kept finding her attention drawn back to the exchange all the same.

"Alright, alright, one more question about you girls," promised Kiina. "You Huntresses have things called Semblances, right? What are yours? Figure I should know what you can do, if we're gonna be working together."

"Oh, that's easy enough to explain." Gwen pointed to each member of her team in turn. "Gale Storm lets Dew control wind. Fire Fall lets Octavia control heat and flames. And Event Horizon lets Nebula control the forces of gravity itself."

The leader of Team NDGO wanted to protest that what she did was a little more complicated than that, but decided Gwen's explanation worked well enough. Her Semblance allowed her to create fields that temporarily increased or decreased the effective mass of anything inside, for as long as she maintained control and focus. If she had to make a comparison, it was like how Gravity Dust made things heavy when positively charged and lighter when negatively charged, except that she had some degree of control over objects inside the areas of effect. Though it was a neat party trick, it had taken her years to learn how to use it as a weapon - but now she could make Grimm float helplessly, throw things at the shadowy monsters with guided pulses, or even tear the beasts in half with rapidly-shifting force fields.

It was also how she was able to make a handy containment bubble for whenever Octavia went around picking fights, like she'd done that morning.

"Fascinating…" mused the Glatorian. "And what about you? What do you control?"

"My knives." Gwen giggled. "No, actually, I don't have anything as flashy as theirs. I can sense vibrations a lot better than most other folks, though - Sonic Step lets me feel things moving across the ground, or under it, for miles before anyone else can see it. It's one of those passive Semblances…it's basically always on whether or not I'm touching the ground, though I can always channel my Aura to increase the range or the clarity of what I'm sensing. So I guess you could say that I control…vibrations? Just not always actively."

"Sounds like a handy thing to have in the desert," chuckled Kiina.

"Vacuo's thick, gritty sand is a very good medium for vibrations." The young ballerina beamed. "I can also explode things by making them vibrate so hard they shatter, but Nebula says I'm not allowed to do that anymore. Not after blowing up half of Shade's silverware in the cafeteria."

"And it was the good half, too…" grumbled Dew under her breath, loud enough for only her team leader to hear.

"Good to know in case we ever need an improvised bomb," mused Kiina. "Okay, I think that's enough of me picking your brains. Your turn to ask the questions."

Gwen seemed like she'd been barely holding in the urge to bombard the Glatorian with questions - and now that she had an opening, she let it all out.

"Is it true that you have metal bones?" Chocolate-brown eyes practically sparkled in excitement. "Is that why you're so tall? And strong? And can live for so long?"

The Glatorian chuckled softly. "Berix has been blabbing about us already, huh? No surprise there…anyway, yeah, our bones are made of metal. I don't think that's the reason for everything you asked, but it's definitely part of it. Why, what are your bones made of?"

"Calcium and proteins, mostly," explained Gwen. "They're really hard on the outside and, uh…kinda spongy on the inside? I don't know how else to explain it without showing you one in person…"

"I'll take your word for it," said Kiina as she turned to Octavia. "How about you? Got any burning questions for me? Er…no pun intended. Unless you thought that was funny, in which case it was completely intended."

Octavia made a show of rolling her eyes, then furrowed her brow. "I heard someone say that you guys were robots…is that true?"

"Yes and no," answered the Glatorian. "Magnans are mostly flesh and muscle, just like you humans, but we're all born with extra mechanical implants that help keep stuff running smoothly. We call that system the 'biomechanical framework' - or just 'bio-frame,' for short. It basically acts like one of your computers for our body's functions; it slows down the metabolism, regulates extreme temperatures, stores nutrients and water for later, patches up wounds, that kind of thing. The bio-frame also serves as a handy framework for integrating certain…well, let's call them 'accessories.'"

"Accessories?" Gwen's eyes somehow grew even brighter. "Like what?"

"Well, for example, you'll find a lot of Agori and Glatorians with hands like these." Kiina held up a metal fist to demonstrate, which had a single thumb on the side and three fingers curled together. "We do a lot of work with our hands out in the desert, so it makes sense to add servos and armor and other stuff to make them last as long as possible. Once they're wired up to the bio-frame, the new bits and pieces get treated like they've always been part of the body - no chance of getting rejected by the muscles and tissue as they heal and grow. The same thing happens for other parts that are too important to cover up with armor, like our necks and hips, or to make ourselves physically stronger and faster with implanted servos. Beefing up joints and muscles is literally a snap, thanks to our bio-frames."

Nebula idly wondered if it was better that the Magnans had landed in a world that didn't have Atlas in it anymore. While the Kingdom had once boasted the world's best mechanical prosthetics technology, which was designed to interface with a person's Aura, knowing that there was an alien race naturally inclined to augmentations would've sent the head scientists into a tailspin. If there was one thing she knew about the morally-dubious fallen nation, it's that Ironwood would've felt no remorse in ordering his eggheads to cut a Glatorian open and see what made them tick. And if there was one thing she was learning about the desert warriors from beyond the stars, it's that they would've fought back against the arrangement. Violently.

I don't wanna be that bitch who says that Atlas had it coming, but… The violet-haired Huntress heaved a mental sigh. The way the Kingdom was run, and the folks in charge of it, sure didn't do it any favors. Now they're out here, and Rumpole expects us to just…play nice with 'em? We're supposed to be making friends with folks who were fine with a heartless despot stepping on their necks and leaving them to die? Sure, we might get along well enough with Kiina…but she's a desert warrior like us. What the hell am I supposed to have in common with Jane Doe from some cushy Atlas office job?

"Interesting…" Gwen hummed, unaware of her team leader's moral musings. "So wait. You guys are just…born with this bio-frame thing?"

"Yep! I've had mine ever since I came outta my dad's womb!"

…wait, what?

Dew made a dry-heaving sound. Gwen paled, no longer overwhelmed by curiosity. Even the camels grunted in seeming shock. Octavia's eyes picked up the slack with a burning question in her gaze, one that she asked despite Nebula silently praying she wouldn't.

"Your dad?" asked the fiery young woman. "You tellin' me that the males are the ones who give birth on Bara Magna?"

The leader of Team NDGO facepalmed.

"Males and females can carry and deliver babies where I'm from," clarified Kiina, oblivious to the growing discomfort of the Huntresses around her. "We're, uh…interchangeable like that. The Great Beings made us that way to make sure that any life-mated couple can have offspring, no matter what kinda folks they might've been into. Not that we were having kids very often, of course - it usually just meant another mouth to feed when food's already scarce, plus up to a decade of labor that can put even the toughest Magnan out of commission."

…a decade of carrying around a baby? Ten years?!

Gods, her mom had been sick of carrying around Nebula's little brother after just six months. She couldn't even begin to imagine what ten years of that would look like.

"It's more common for Agori to have children when the Tribes are thriving," Kiina continued, "since having more hands around for building and scavenging is always a good thing for them. But if a village doesn't have many Glatorians, sidelining even one of them for child-rearing is a risk they just can't afford to take. It's why I've personally never settled down…well, that and scaring off anyone who might be interested in me…"

Her face darkened, then she finally looked over to notice three-fourths of the team shifting uncomfortably. "Why? Isn't all that the case for your species?"

Gwen shook her head without meeting anyone's eyes. "No, it's…only the females can do that on Remnant. Give birth, I mean. Not just humans or Faunus, either - it's the case for most wild animals here, too. There are ways for any couple to have babies, like your species, but they're a little more, uh…complicated than just, you know…doing the deed."

Kiina raised an eyebrow in a clear show of puzzlement. "Really? Wow. That's so…weird. My mom probably would've gone stir-crazy if she'd been the one forced into retirement. She lived for being a Glatorian, for winning matches and earning glory and fame, and I don't think she would've been willing to give that up - not even for me." She shook her head and laughed. "Guess the Thornax didn't fall far from the bush, huh?"

The ballerina shrugged, once again comfortable with the current conversation topic. "Sounds about right. My moms were both Huntresses, and I was their only daughter, so it made sense for me to follow in their footsteps. What are your parents like, Miss Kiina? Did they come to Remnant on the Ark, too?"

"Nope." Kiina shook her head. "Lost 'em to a Bone Hunter raid on Tajun before I could even pick up a sword. I was just a little Glatorian back then…I would've been, what, five centuries old at that point? Six? Somewhere around that range. Anyway, they've been one with the sand for a good thirty thousand years now, give or take a few millennia - but there are worse ways to go, all things considered."

Nebula could see Octavia clenching her jaw, but the fiery redhead said nothing alongside her teammates. For a good while nobody spoke, at a complete loss of what to say. What even could they say? Sure, they could offer condolences to Kiina…but the Glatorian didn't seem too broken up when talking about her late parents, recalling the story with the same tone and enthusiasm as an awkward conversation over dinner. Did living for thousands of years dull the pain of losing loved ones? Or was death so common in Bara Magna that mourning was seen as a waste of time?…

Her thoughts - and the silence - were interrupted by the sound of her Scroll beeping softly.

She pulled out the hard-light rectangle and stared at it for a moment, her brow furrowing. "We just crossed into the Crescent Dunes. Eyes on the hills and heads on swivels, ladies - we're in Grimm territory now."

The rest of the hunting party didn't need to be told twice. Dew raised the head of Dawngrass, a golden spear with a pale green Wind Dust crystal in its anchor-shaped head, and held it at the ready. On the other camel Gwen fished out several fistfuls of knives - three sharp copies of Shimmer in each hand, as she always preferred - while her fiery teammate unsheathed Obsidian and held the Dust-filled kris in an icepick grip. Kiina settled for pulling a few crystalline javelins off her back, eyeing the surroundings and getting ready to throw them at whatever dared attack them as they ventured further.

But nothing came for the women.

In fact…nothing came at all.

Kiina raised an eyebrow beneath her helmet. "I'm gonna take a stab in the sandstorm and say that this isn't normal."

"It isn't normal one bit," growled Octavia, her temper nearly as hot as the elemental powder within her sword. "Gwen, you picking anything up on your Sonic Step?"

"I don't feel any vibrations around us right now." The dancer's chocolate-brown eyes were already closed to better focus her Semblance. "There's…something…in the distance, but it's too far away for me to get a good look at. It feels…fuzzy."

"What direction?" asked Dew.

"North…and a little bit east."

Nebula cursed under her breath as she checked the map on her Scroll. "That's the same way we're going."

"They must've all moved to protect the cargo we're after…" mused Kiina.

"No way they're smart enough to do that," countered Dew. "Grimm don't protect - they destroy."

"Well we're sure as hell not gonna find out by guessing." Octavia snarled and tightened her grip on both the camel reins and on Obsidian. "We need to go there anyway, right? So let's get there already."

The windy warrior snapped a glare at her teammate. "Who made you team leader, Tav?"

"Probably the same person who shoved a cactus up your -"

"Stow it." Nebula sighed in exasperation, furrowing her brow and trying to ignore Kiina's questioning gaze. "We ride to the coordinates of the cargo site, but we scout around and get some answers before we engage. Keep an ear to the sand, Gwen - the second it gets clearer, you let us know."

A few snaps of the reins was all it took to urge the camels faster, pushing them from their usual gait to a near-gallop. Though their mounts lowed in protest, they ran across the sandy, dusty dunes all the same, scattering clouds of detritus with each swift step. Kiina kept up with them simply by power-walking at first, then started jogging once the camels reached their full speed. Nebula kept one eye on her Scroll's map as the red destination marker inched ever closer…and the closer it came, the clearer the picture ahead became for Gwen Darcy.

"I feel…claws against the sand…" reported the ballerina, eyes screwed shut in concentration. "Claws and…hooves, stepping together. And there's something…gliding across the silt. Through the silt."

"Cadejos and Mobulas, just like Rumpole said." Dew nodded in understanding. "I can hear their howls on the wind, even from this far away. We're on the right track."

Gwen frowned. "There's…something else, too. A tickle against the grains. Something that should have weight, and mass, and form…and yet, it doesn't."

"No idea what that could be," mused Dew. "Any guesses?"

"We'll find out soon enough." Nebula narrowed her olive-green eyes. "We're about two hundred yards from the crash site, according to the map. Let's leave the camels here and close in on foot. There's a big dune just up ahead, overlooking the valley - we can use it to scope out the area from the high ground."

Her girls nodded with varying levels of enthusiasm as they all dismounted alongside her. Nebula, Octavia, and Gwen fetched ammo, spare knives, and vials of Dust from the saddlebags, while Kiina pulled her trident off her back. Dew, meanwhile, dug a small hole in the sand and filled it with two canteens' worth of water, letting the thirsty camels have a much-needed drink after their run.

"Should we make some shade for them, too, before we go?" Gwen asked with a tilt of her head. "I think there's some Plant Dust in my sack, enough to make a small tree."

"We shouldn't be away for that long," said Dew, giving one camel some appreciative scratches along the fuzzy neck. "The girls here will be fine for a few hours - they're tough and strong, and…"

The other smelly beast of burden showed her appreciation by giving the blonde a big sloppy kiss.

"…and utterly adorable," cooed the windy warrior, her demeanor flipping like a light switch as she ruffled the camel's chin flaps. "Oh yes they are! Yes they are! Ohhh, who's a good girl? Who's a good girl?!"

Nebula had to fight the urge to dry heave at the sight. Gods, how could anyone love an animal that peed on itself to stay cool?

Evidently her partner could, given how Dew showered both their mounts in praise and baby talk.

Once everyone was ready the girls set off quickly and quietly, trusting the desert sand to muffle their footsteps even as they ran at full tilt. Aura flooded into their bones and muscles, giving them the strength and stamina to sprint for a full five minutes and scale a huge dune that sloped gently upwards from beneath them. To nobody's surprise, the Glatorian kept pace with them yet again with little more than a power walk. Nebula doubted that Kiina was barely even breaking a sweat - if the warriors of Bara Magna even did sweat.

But as they approached the top of the sandy hill, everyone's blood ran cold.

The canine Cadejos and the manta-like Mobulas in the valley below were hardly a surprise, apart from the sheer numbers - it was like looking out at an ocean of black and white, little waves occasionally punctuated by blood-red markings and hollow yellow eyes. But nobody expected to see a trio of fifteen-foot-tall figures that towered above the other monsters, tall and lanky with legs like bandaged stilts. Tattered, tarnished robes of white and gray hung from their stick-like torsos, maroon and silver cloaks dangled from broad pointed shoulders, and long slender arms were wrapped in rotted linens to poorly hide shadowy claws. Turbans adorned with ornate medallions and scarves made a show of looking left and right, but no face was visible below the hoods. Only a single crimson eye on the chest, hidden under layers and layers of sand-encrusted fabric, observed the world beyond the cloth construct.

Nebula cursed under her breath as she and her teammates crouched low at the dune's peak. "Shamblers," she hissed. "Of course there'd be Shamblers here, too."

Octavia's eyes somehow widened and narrowed at the same time. Dew scowled, her sour mood returning. Even Gwen furrowed her brow.

Kiina blinked as she looked back and forth between her agitated teammates. "Why's this a problem? What's a Shambler?"

"Geist-type Grimm that have learned how to possess the robes and clothes of travelers that die in the desert," muttered Gwen darkly. "Technically they're called 'Vestima Gigas' if we're using the regular naming conventions, but out here in Vacuo most people just call them 'Shamblers' as a quick reference. Like all Geists, they're a little smarter than the average Grimm, able to coordinate their dimmer cousins…and that makes them extra dangerous."

"Not just a little smarter," growled Dew. "See the cloaks and turbans? It's how they fool tribes of nomads and traders they cross paths with. They shrink down and pretend to be folks who've lost their caravans, or they act like thirsty travelers down on their luck who need water. Sure, up close it's easy to see that they're monsters…but when the light's low and the sand's kicking up, it's a lot harder to tell the difference. Only clue at a distance is that they have a strange gait to them whenever they pretend to walk like people do - hence the local nickname."

"And that's what these bastards count on," finished Nebula. "That someone'll take pity on 'em and try to help 'em out, not realizing that they're actually Grimm in disguise until it's too late. Then they have some fresh new threads to add to their outfit, which is more likely to fool their next prey, and so on." A humorless chuckle escaped her lips. "And folks wonder why us Vacuans have trust issues, on top of everything else."

"You'd think a Grimm that dangerous would've come up in the initial briefing…let alone three of them." Dew sighed and shifted her grip on Dawngrass. "Thanks for that, Rumpole. Really nice of you to warn us about the gods-damned murder ghosts."

"They must have just moved in, if the reports from scouts didn't mention them," posited Gwen.

"Or someone put them there to keep people like us away from the crate." Kiina's gaze hardened. "Either way, this doesn't change the job. Kill the Grimm, get the goods. What's the play, Nebula?"

Right…the team leader shook her head. She could whine and bitch about insufficient intel later. For now, they had work to do…even if the Shamblers threw a wrench into what was supposed to be an easy mission.

"We need to separate the sand from the silt," said Nebula. "Either draw the wolves and rays away from the Shamblers, or the other way around. All Grimm fight harder and smarter when there's a Geist nearby, so our first priority is to keep them separated."

"Divide and conquer," noted Dew with a nod. Then she laughed humorlessly. "It's a shame we don't have any small children to throw at the problem this time, isn't that right Tav? Could use them as bait, since that worked last time."

Octavia fumed as she finally snapped out of whatever trance she was in, turning to glare daggers at her teammate. "Are you seriously still bringing that up? And now, of all times?"

"Well, it was kind of pointlessly cruel…" said Gwen with a frown, flinching as her partner glared at her next, followed by a burning glance at Nebula.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she snapped, "I didn't realize I was supposed to be nice while we were on Team NOVA! I was under the impression that our amazing and incredible leader told us to keep trying to scare off the Vale and Mistral folks, by being the worst kind of Huntresses! Besides, at least the kids didn't die - and I certainly didn't hear you objecting!"

"That's because you went off all half-cocked before I could stop you," shot back Nebula. "Like you always do! And Dew, keep a lid on the sass - we don't need an argument right now!"

The windy woman scoffed. "Oh, so it's fine if Octavia gets to start fights when we're supposed to be working, but the minute I do it I get treated like a problem -!"

"Dammit, Dew, you always do this whenever someone calls you out!"

"Everyone…please just stop…"

"Go back and wait with the camels if you're gonna be -!"

"Enough."

The growl from the Glatorian got everyone's attention. Gwen looked up from her hands. Dew blinked. Nebula flinched. Even Octavia's rage seemed to fizzle out, in comparison to the burning anger of a ten-foot-tall alien warrior.

"Did your Rumpole send you out here to squabble like Scarabax over a fresh corpse?" she asked sharply. "Or did she send you out here to fight these things? I thought you Huntsmen and Huntresses were supposed to be teams - how come you're not acting like one?"

It was a very good question, and none of the girls had an answer they were brave enough to admit. In the face of their stunned silence, the Glatorian continued.

"Nebula said it herself, we need a plan to take these things down - a way to separate the small guys from the Shamblers. So how about we focus on that, instead of…" She gestured vaguely in the direction of Dew and Octavia. "…whatever unresolved romantic tension is going on between you two."

Octavia broke her silence with an indignant scoff. "Excuse you? I like guys."

"And I don't like anyone that way," muttered Dew under her breath. "Especially not her."

"Well color me surprised, the way you keep bickering like an old life-mated couple," said Kiina with a wry smile that faded a moment later. "Anyway, you need a plan? Here's mine. I'll lure away the small Grimm, you girls deal with the big ones. You know more about these Shamblers than I do, but the others look like the ones that attacked the Ark a few days ago. I know for a fact that I can handle those just fine, even in numbers like this."

"Are you sure about that, going off all by yourself?" Gwen asked with a tilt of her head. "You might not be able to outrun them - Cadejos and Mobulas are extremely fast, especially across open sand."

"So's a Glatorian." Kiina's smirk returned, stretching as far as it could across her leathery green face. "Warrior from a desert planet, remember? I'll circle around and shine a light when I'm in position. Return my signal once you're ready, and then we can really have some fun."

Nebula blinked several times, then nodded tightly. That was all the approval the Glatorian needed, as she gave a stiff salute and started sliding down the dune before cresting off to the left. Octavia watched her go with a furrowed brow, Dew tracked her with a raised eyebrow, and Gwen's eyes were practically shimmering with intrigue.

"She's absolutely insane," said the ballerina battler with awe in her voice. "I like her."

"We'll try to make sure she doesn't die horribly, then," said Nebula with a soft laugh. "Alright ladies, standard formation on the Shamblers. Gwen takes point with Tav and Dew on her flanks, while I'm up here giving fire support. Call me down if things get dicey - or fall back to the slopes so I can get in close. Everyone clear?"

The rest of Team NDGO nodded with varying levels of enthusiasm.

"Perfect. Then let's move in."

Gwen practically glided over the dune's crest and slid down the sandy slope, keeping her frame low and her movements quiet. Dew and Octavia speared each other with mutual glares as sharp as their weapons, then moved to do the same. The team leader sighed as she watched the three women make their way closer to the unaware Grimm; this wasn't the worst pre-battle strategy meeting that NDGO had ever held, but it was certainly up there.

She could only hope it wasn't an omen of how the fight itself was gonna go.

While she waited for her teammates to get into position, Nebula finally tucked her Scroll away and drew her own weapon off the small of her back. Shooting Star was a little more complicated than the other armaments used by her team: it had the ability to form-shift between a high-powered crossbow and a thin yet sharp sword, both of which she was skilled in using. For the moment she chose to hang back and let the limbs pop out the sides, loading a Dust-tipped bolt into the top rail and pulling back on the bowstrings until they locked into place. From the way the entire frame quivered under the tension, she knew that it was ready to fire with the pull of a trigger.

All she needed to do now was wait.

And wait she did, keeping her racing thoughts busy by counting her heartbeats and watching the valley below. The Grimm gave no sign that they'd spotted the humans, thanks to a small cloud of dust whipped up by Dew that concealed them from sight. By the time Nebula's mental count reached triple digits, a pinprick of light from the other side of the horde flashed across her vision. She shone it back with a little hand-held mirror, using the sun's reflection to send her own signal to Kiina and the girls.

Go time.

Nebula braced the stock of Shooting Star against her shoulder, took a sniper's breath, aimed down the sights…

And fired.

KA-CHUNK!

The bolt whistled as it sailed through the air and plunged into the shoulder of an unaware Shambler, knocking it back with sheer impact before the tip burst into flames. A smirk spread across her face at the sight of ancient clothes catching fire - and while the Geist wailed and flapped its possessed arms to extinguish itself, the rest of her team made their move. Gwen ran up and leapt until she was within kissing distance of its face, twirling and slashing with twin handfuls of knives that lopped its turbaned "head" off its shoulders. Dew was the next to strike as the ballerina kicked off its chest; in one smooth motion she swung her spear like a staff, hooked the underarm of the burning Shambler, flipped it over her head, and plunged Dawngrass's golden tip straight into the ghostly Grimm's core.

All in all, it took about ten seconds.

One down, two to go, Nebula thought to herself.

Their semi-coordinated takedown hadn't gone unnoticed. Howls from the Cadejos and hisses from the Mobulas signaled that they were coming to aid their masters, but walls of flame kept them from doing so. Octavia snarled as she used the burning rags as fuel for her own fire, waving her kris like a conductor's baton to turn a smoldering pile of scraps into a raging inferno. At first the Grimm on the other side snarled and prepared to jump through the barrier…but a mighty yell from behind was all the warning they got before something started cutting through their ranks like a living blue blender.

"Come on, you mutts!" shouted Kiina, her trident piercing through shadowy hide and bony armor. "I've eaten things more dangerous than you for morning meals! You wanted a fight, right? Come get one!"

Nebula briefly wondered if all Glatorians were this crazy, or if this one was just a special case.

She decided to figure it out later. From her perch she could see that most of the wolves and mantas were abandoning their handlers and chasing after Kiina, who turned and sprinted into the open desert with the monsters on her tail. Some of them still stayed behind to fight Team NDGO, but they were dealt with easily enough - a few crossbow bolts to the head, a couple flying knives to the face, and soon only smoke remained. While Gwen and Nebula picked off reinforcements at range, Dew and Octavia worked to keep the other two Shamblers occupied. The Geists unfurled the cloth bindings around their arms and wielded the crusty fabric like cracking whips, but the girls flowed like water around each attempt to lash them.

Between taking potshots at the Shamblers and Grimm that broke off from the main horde, Nebula spared a few moments to look at the distant Glatorian. Kiina wasn't kidding when she said she was fast - her long metal-plated legs were practically a blur as she sprinted with ease across the open sand, weaving between the lunging wolves and the diving manta rays. Whenever a Cadejo nipped at her heels, she lopped its head off with a backhanded swing of a glittering sword. Whenever her route crossed a sandy dune, she leapt off and flung a handful of javelins into the crowd behind her. And whenever a Mobula dove under the sand to try and ambush her, she just plunged her trident into the ground below her and skewered it like a professional spear fisher. Her pace never slowed. Her strikes never missed.

And during the entire fight, as she almost single-handedly whittled down the army of darkness one monster at a time, Kiina never stopped smiling.

She's nuts, but at least she's got the skills to back it up, thought the violet-haired archer as she loaded another special bolt into Shooting Star. Guess that means we've gotta step up our game.

Nebula took aim and fired yet again, but the Shambler twisted to avoid the ice-tipped projectile and allowed it to strike the sand behind it. The Dust within the bolt exploded on impact with the ground, blossoming into an instant iceberg that skewered the other cloth titan through the shoulder - and pulled its feet off the ground completely. Rather than aid its companion, the lucky Geist whirled around and plunged its bandaged "hands" into the ice, warping and cracking the frozen water and pulling out sheets of razor-edged frost.

Panicked chatter came over the Scroll almost instantly.

"Watch out, it's got swords now!"

"Yeah, we can see that Tav! Neb, get your ass down here and help!"

With a frown and a sigh, Nebula keyed the comms device on her hip. "Fall back and lure it over here, Dew - I'll meet you halfway. Gwen, keep the riff-raff busy and warn us if anyone's coming. And Tav? See if you can melt its new weapons. Don't worry about the other Shambler for now - one thing at a time. It's not going anywhere while it's stuck like that."

A chorus of hums, grunts, and snarls answered her orders.

As Dew and Octavia dueled with the newly-armed Shambler, Nebula rolled back to her feet and started making her way down the slope of the dune. A pulse of Aura over her heels allowed her to glide across the sand like a professional figure-skater over ice - one of many handy tricks that Vacuan Huntsmen and Huntresses picked up early in their training. As she slid towards the fight she form-shifted Shooting Star from crossbow to sword, the blade springing out of the barrel and the stock thinning to become a comfortable hilt. In less than a second she was ready for close quarters combat - and not a moment too soon, as Gwen's voice chirped from the Scroll speaker.

"Nebula, there's two Mobulas coming right at you! Eleven and one o'clock, they'll be there in three seconds!"

"All the time in the world," she answered with a smirk. "Thanks for the heads-up."

"Mhm."

Just as predicted, a pair of finned predators emerged from the dune and soared towards her with open maws. Nebula pulsed her Semblance and willed gravity fields into effect, warping the space around her and bending it to her whim. One desert manta ray slammed hard into the ground, suddenly feeling a hundred times heavier. The other one floated helplessly in mid-air as its weight was negated, which gave the violet-haired Huntress a prime chance to gut its exposed belly with a single Aura-infused slash. A stab into the grounded Mobula's head finished it off as well.

"That takes care of the small fries," she said as she let a small smirk spread to her lips. "Now for the big one."

She set her gaze on the dual-wielding Shambler engaging her teammates, the two Huntresses and the Grimm practically dancing around each other as steel met ice over and over again. Obsidian burned almost as hot as Octavia's temper, while Dawngrass whipped up frenzied winds with each spin and stab that Dew made. Clearly the Geist had grown skilled already with its newest weapons, because it gave them no quarter and left no openings as it moved like a master swordsman. Even when a blast of fire melted one of the blades into mist, the Grimm puppeteer just pulled more frozen material from the icy spire - ignoring the wails of its stuck companion as it did so.

Just as it twisted and extended the sword into a double-bladed staff, Nebula rushed in.

She willed a gravity field around her body and launched herself laterally across the battlefield, the burst of momentum giving her blade the power it needed to slash through the Shambler's weapon. As the titan whirled and turned its attention onto her, she launched another forceful blast of shifting gravity that knocked it back - right into a gout of flames from Octavia's hands, which latched onto the dusty cloth and set it ablaze. Dew swung her spear low and activated the Dust crystal within its head, bringing a ready-made tornado into existence. With a pulse of her own Semblance the blonde Huntress guided the cyclone underneath the burning Grimm, stoking the flames and launching it skyward.

The Geist wailed and shrieked as it abandoned its blazing body - just as Nebula shifted Shooting Star back into a crossbow with a flick of her wrist.

"Gotcha."

KA-CHUNK!

No point in wasting a special Dust-tipped bolt on a kill shot. Six inches of pure steel was more than enough to shatter the bony mask in a single hit. The vulnerable, now-faceless Geist vanished in a puff of smoke, confirming its death.

"Two Shamblers down!" A satisfied smirk once more spread across Nebula's lips as she loaded another bolt into Shooting Star. "Let's bag the last one, and call it a -"

"EVERYBODY WATCH OUT!"

Gwen's warning came a second too late as the last Shambler, with its shadowy claws deep into the icy pike it dangled from, finally made its move.

A death blossom of frozen shrapnel erupted across the entire battlefield, showering Grimm and Huntress alike in a rain of dagger-like icicles. Nebula gasped and grunted as some of the shards dug into her arms and gut; her Aura blocked most of the damage and kept her skin from splitting, but she still felt the stinging welts along her torso and the burn of fresh scratches running down her forearms. She got lucky compared to Dew, at least - the windy warrior took a faceful of frosty glass that sent her flying, crashing against the sand with enough force to completely shatter her Aura in a haze of green sparks.

And that didn't escape the newly-freed Shambler's notice, as it lumbered over to her with shadowy claws extended.

"Oh no you don't!" Nebula growled as she rolled to her feet, aiming her crossbow and firing once again. But the Shambler tilted its turbaned head to avoid the bolt, retaliating by shearing off a length of cloth and throwing it in her direction. She recognized the danger almost instantly and tried to escape it, but the possessed bolt of fabric found her - and her throat - all the same. Her eyes went wide as the cloth wrapped around her neck and squeezed with enough force to choke her, dropping to her knees like a grounded fish struggling to breathe. No matter how much she clawed and pulled, the makeshift noose refused to loosen for air - and no amount of Aura could save someone from getting strangled.

"NO!"

Gwen hardly ever screamed, so the wail that reached Nebula's ears sounded foreign and alien. Through her blurring vision she watched the ballerina throw a volley of Shimmer knives with none of her usual grace and poise, all of which were swatted away by the Shambler as if they were nothing more than flies. When Gwen ran in with a handful of blades, the Geist just grabbed her by the arm and slammed her face-first into the ground, smothering her face into the sand where she struggled and squirmed with muffled cries before she finally fell limp.

Even with an air-starved mind, panic shot through Nebula's thoughts.

No…no! This can't be how we go. This can't be how we die! Tav, do something!

Wild olive eyes flitted to the fiery teammate, expecting to see a roaring inferno of rage…

But all she saw was a warrior standing there frozen, the blade of her kris trembling just as hard as the hands that held it.

Tav…please…c'mon…you're the only one who can…who can save us…

Octavia continued to stand there, her breaths shallow as if she too was being strangled or smothered. Her eyes were locked on the Shambler, who lurched over to an Auraless Dew, smacked the fight out of her with a single back-handed blow, and picked up Dawngrass with long shadowy claws. The tip of the spear hovered between the eyes of its former wielder, poised to plunge downward and end her with a single coup de grâce.

Before it could impale the fallen Huntress with her own weapon, however, salvation finally came.

A trident burst out of its chest, tearing through the armor and the Geist itself in one killing blow.

Kiina panted as the now-limp pile of cloth fell off her weapon, glowing emerald eyes glaring at the smoke rising alongside a fading wail. The fabric constricting Nebula's airway finally went lax, allowing her to greedily gulp down much-needed breaths with choked coughs and shrill gasps. By the time the team leader finally finished wiping the tears out of her eyes, Kiina was already gently rolling Gwen over and shaking her awake - and reeling back as the ballerina spat out mouthfuls of sand and dust.

"Ugh…" whimpered the dancer as she curled into a ball, wheezing and coughing and wiping her lips. "What…what happened?"

"Our new friend killed the last Shambler, that's what happened." Dew grunted and she clutched her side, using her reclaimed spear to push herself off the ground. "Thanks for the help, Tav," she spat in annoyance towards her redheaded teammate. "Really appreciate how bravely you stood there and did nothing. I know you don't like me very much, but you could at least…"

When Octavia gave no response to the barbed jab other than panicked breathing, the blonde instantly knew something was wrong.

"…Tav?" The windy warrior raced over and gently prised the kris from trembling hands, replacing them with her own fingers. "Tav, look at me. The Shamblers are gone. The Grimm are dispersing. It's over. It's okay. I'm okay. Are you okay?"

That finally snapped the redhead out of her thousand-yard-stare - and delivered a withering glare so potent that even Dew backed off. Nebula and Gwen got similar looks shot their way, albeit less incendiary in their intensity. After wordlessly picking up Obsidian and stowing it back in her belt, Octavia turned on her heel and marched away. Nobody dared to follow her.

"…I'm gonna guess that's a 'no,'" said Kiina with a tilt of her head. "Should she be alone right now?"

"Definitely not when she's like this." Gwen pulled herself to her feet and dusted off her skirt. "I'll go with her while the rest of you get the cargo. I need to collect my knives, anyway."

Nebula nodded in understanding. If there was anyone that not even Octavia could be mad forever at, it was her partner. And as much as Dew looked like she wanted to help, she seemed to understand that her presence would've just thrown fuel on whatever fire was raging in the redhead.

And the team leader had a pretty good idea of where the spark came from.

"Alright then. Kiina and Dew, let's find that cargo we were sent out here to get."

Here's hoping it's worth the effort.

Now that most of the Grimm were either fleeing deeper into the desert or fading into ash on the wind, the task of sweeping the area got a lot easier. Two Huntresses and a Glatorian combed the sands with care and precision, keeping their guard up and their eyes open for anything metallic. A few Cadejos and Mobulas thought they could get the jump on them by playing dead. It only took a few slashes or stabs to fix that.

Eventually, Nebula's boot made contact with the sharp corner of something buried deep in sand.

"Think I've got something here, ladies!" she called out. "Uncover it, Dew - I'll pull it up."

The windy warrior was by her side in a heartbeat, willing a gust of wind into existence with a wave of her hand. It wasn't as strong as it usually was - her Aura had just barely come back since the fight ended, after all - but it was enough to reveal the rest of what looked like a chunky, black and gray cylinder with six angled sides. Nodding in thanks, Nebula pulsed her own Semblance and raised it up on glowing violet fields, pulling it out of the ground and setting the ten-foot-long object on its larger side.

"Nice, that's exactly the crate we were looking for," said Kiina as she joined the tired pair, kneeling in front of one slanted facet. "Now we've just gotta undo the latch here, and the prize is ours. Allow me."

With the clicking of a few bubble-like buttons and a pressurized hiss, the top part of the cylinder split slightly from the rest. The Glatorian hummed and stuck her metal finger in her mouth, then slotted the damp digit into a newly-revealed hole (much to Dew's disgust). A hidden computer beeped softly as mechanical latches disengaged with magnetic clunks; Kiina grinned as she threw back the separated half like the lid of a treasure chest…only for her smile to falter as she looked inside.

"No…" she whispered under her breath. "No…no way. It's gotta be here. It can't be…"

"…empty," confirmed Dew as she peered over the Glatorian's shoulder. "Nothing here but an empty box."

Nebula furrowed her brow as a glint of something caught her eye. "It's not completely empty. What's that, in the corner?"

She reached inside with her Semblance and gingerly lifted out the curious little object that caught the sun's rays just right. It was a shard of metal, barely bigger than her fingernail, with a surface the cool gray of polished gunmetal. Once she deposited it in her palm and picked it up with her fingers, however, a sharp pain dug into her thumb. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw blood trickle down her hand, a surprising amount of crimson gushing from a tiny pinprick.

I'm…bleeding? But…my Aura's still up…I even braced it around my fingers before I picked it up. What's going on? What is this stuff?

"Careful!" hissed Kiina, snatching the metal shard out of the stunned Huntress's hands. "That's Exsidian!"

…oh. Right. It's Exsidian. That makes perfect sense.

Nebula winced as she stuck her bloodied thumb into her mouth to help it clot, too overwhelmed by the taste of iron on her tongue to ask the obvious question. Luckily, Dew was there to ask it on her behalf.

"What's Exsidian?"

"The sharpest and rarest metal on Bara Magna." Kiina studied the little shard with a curious stare. "When honed to an edge, it's so precise that it can split a strand of hair down the middle, yet it's so sturdy that it can cut for a thousand years before it even needs polishing. Glatorians value it for making stuff like weapons, armor, the obvious tools. So do the Agori, but in trades they also treat it with the same monetary value that your kind gives to things like gold and Dust. This entire crate was supposed to be full of Exsidian ingots that we loaded up for weaponsmithing and bartering, but…"

She looked down glumly at the empty box, letting her sullen silence speak volumes on its own.

"So that's what we were sent out here to grab," mused Dew as the pieces fit together into her mind. "This Exsidian stuff…looks like someone else got here first, though."

"And sealed the box back up to bury it," added Nebula, finally pulling her thumb out to wrap with a bandage. "But who'd be crazy enough to do that? In the middle of a Grimm horde, no less?"

Kiina knelt to study the sand for a moment, eyes narrowing behind her helmet.

"…I think I have a pretty good idea of that," muttered the Glatorian darkly. "Skrall."

---

By the time Kiina had finished explaining her people's history with the dogmatic Rock Tribe, night had fallen over the desert.

After sweeping the mission area and gathering every meager scrap of Exsidian left behind by the former plunderers, she sat in front of a small fire alongside a tired Dew, a curious Gwen, and a smoldering Octavia. Warm, orange light radiated from the blaze in contrast to the cool light from the stars above, though neither of them could fully illuminate the darkness that settled across the sands. It was still a far cry from the near pitch-black nights of Bara Manga, and that made Kiina feel at ease…even if the singular shattered moon overhead was different and unsettling, a far cry from the twin silver disks she'd spent millennia staring wistfully at.

If this was her old home world, she would've expected a Vorox pack or a Bone Hunter raiding party to ambush her at any time.

But this world was not Bara Manga, and the Grimm were long gone, so Kiina felt comfortable letting her guard down in a literal sense.

The aching Glatorian reached behind her neck and fumbled with a set of magnetic switches, feeling around for a clamp that only she knew how to find. A tug of her mechanical thumb released the tension in the cables binding her armor together, which gave her the slack needed to start disconnecting the plates from their ports in her bio-frame. First came the finned shoulder pauldrons and the armored sleeves, which slid off her leathery, muscular arms with a single pull. Then the backplate was gently prised off and laid down, complete with all the mounted weapons, followed by the top half of her chest plate. (No sense in detaching the girdle or the greaves - Glatorians never spent more time than necessary without some kind of armor, and that habit was hard to drop even in a place of relative safety like Remnant.)

Finally, she twisted and pulled the piscine helmet off with a sigh of relief, shaking her head and letting short, steel-blue curls hang loose around her ears.

"Ah…hmm…that's much better," said Kiina, setting all the pieces in a neat little pile for reassembling later. Then she looked up at the three Huntresses bathed in firelight, all of whom were just staring at her in absolute shock. At first she wondered if she was violating some taboo - humans didn't seem to like being naked very much, mostly for social reasons, though right now all of them were wearing less than they were before. After checking that her own bits were still hidden by the leather girdle, she leveled a flat stare at the gawking girls.

"What? Never seen a Glatorian out of armor before?"

"That was armor?" Dew blinked. "We…just assumed that was your skin…"

Octavia bit her lower lip and turned her gaze back to the fire.

"Sorry, we're just…surprised, is all." Gwen gave an apologetic smile. "Plus, I don't think we expected you to be so…green."

Kiina raised a metallic eyebrow that matched her hair color, looking down at her pale emerald skin with a wry smile. "And we didn't expect the natives of this world to be the colors of sand and mud under their clothes, so I guess we're all learning a lot about each other tonight."

"…fair enough," grumbled Dew, her eyes flitting back to the fire with a frown.

Things stopped being awkward after that, if only slightly. Gwen busied herself by counting her knives, while Dew and Octavia were lost in their own thoughts. The camels were snuggled next to each other as they lay on their bellies, snoozing peacefully with heavy snores. And even in the dim light, Kiina could see the faint outline of Nebula sitting several yalms away, far from the rest of the team with her face turned away.

It was a far cry from the warmth and friendship Kiina had seen among the other teams of Huntsmen and Huntresses.

"…aw, I didn't miscount after all." Gwen sighed and curled up into a ball. "I did lose one of my knives today…now Shimmer feels all off-balance and weird…"

The Glatorian decided that there was enough misery tonight without Gwen also being sad, and decided to fix that as best she could.

"Here, you can have one of mine." Kiina pulled a small crystalline dagger out of her thigh armor, handing it pommel-first to the pouting human. "I've got plenty of spares. If you ever need more, or want help learning how to make them, just let me know. Tajun seaglass is nice and light, a natural metal all on its own. Great for throwing and cutting, and it looks gorgeous in the early light."

The young human's eyes lit up as she smiled, toying with the new weapon for a moment before slotting it with the rest of her own. "Ooh, the balance is just right…and it fits perfectly! It's so pretty, too…thanks, Miss Kiina!"

…Miss Kiina? Why did Gwen keep calling her by that title? Was it a nickname, or a means of showing respect? She filed her momentary confusion into the back of her mind, opting to focus on other matters.

"So, these Skrall you talked about…" intoned Dew after a moment's silence, not taking her gaze off the fire. "These…warriors…you're saying they're here, too?"

"That does seem to be the case, unfortunately," said Kiina with a slow nod.

"How can you be sure?" The gold-haired human looked up at her. "We didn't see any of them today. And you didn't see any tracks."

"That's because Skrall are very good at not leaving tracks," explained the Glatorian. "And as for how I know it was them…easy. Process of elimination."

"Oh yeah?" Dew didn't seem convinced.

"Azina wired up transponders for every crate and piece of cargo we loaded onto the Ark," explained the Glatorian. "The ship has computers that can track them, by looking for certain signals. It's how we were able to locate this crate, even when it was so far away from the crash site. No one else would've known how to find it, or where, or even how to open it. And even if they did, they'd have no idea how to use the Exsidian once they had it."

She held up one of her hands again. "Plus, Perditus coded the crates to only be unlocked by a Magnan, to protect them from native bandits in case they got lost or stolen - or to protect the natives themselves. I dunno all the details of how that works…something about how our saliva contains our genetic information, along with other bodily fluids like -"

"Ew. Please stop talking about that."

"Heh. Sorry, Dew." Kiina chuckled, then frowned again. "Point is, nothing on your world should've been able to find or get the Exsidian while the crate was still sealed. The only ones who could've done so would be an Agori, a Glatorian, or a Skrall. And since I know for a fact that none of my Ark crewmates would've made it out this far alone, or gotten past the Grimm…that really just leaves one option."

"But then if these Skrall tried to go after it, they would've been torn to shreds." Dew furrowed her brow. "Or they would've torn the Grimm to shreds. Either way, there were no signs of a fight before we got there. No bodies, no weapons, not even any blood stains. How do you explain that?"

"Maybe there wasn't a fight."

Everyone's gaze turned to Gwen, who was hugging her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth - something she apparently did often.

"Salem…she controls the Grimm, right? She orders them around from the shadows, or she manipulates them with her own hands. They're drawn in by fear and stuff, sure, but her will can override even that base instinct. That's what Miss Ruby said in her message. The one sent from Amity, remember?"

"You were actually listening to that crap?" Dew scoffed.

"She had a very nice voice," said Gwen. "And Mister Theodore said that it was all true after it ended, and explained more about what was going on, so there's no reason not to listen. It helped a lot with understanding what was really going on…even if Nebula didn't like what she heard."

Octavia's gaze just burned hotter, and the campfire flared up slightly.

"Let's get back on topic," said the Glatorian hastily. "Salem controls the Grimm - that much I understand. But what does that have to do with the stolen Exsidian? Or the Skrall?"

"Mister Oscar said that Salem lost a lot of her inner circle while attacking Atlas," explained the black-haired human, "and that she might try to recruit new people in Vacuo to help her. You said that the Skrall went down somewhere away from your half of the ship…maybe she managed to find them. Maybe she got the Skrall on her side, and told the Grimm not to attack them. Maybe they even left the Shamblers behind, just in case people like us tried coming for the Exsidian. It'd be the perfect trap…anyone who followed the signal would fight and maybe die, all for an empty box."

Another scoff escaped Dew's lips. "That's ridiculous, Gwen. The only way that'd make sense would be if…"

The wind seemed to drop from her sand-glider sails all at once.

"…if Salem and the Skrall were working together," she finished with a tight frown.

Kiina blinked slowly and quickly at the same time. Part of her wanted to dismiss the idea out of hand. Skrall? Working with someone else? Actually taking the time to make alliances, negotiate, and exchange goods and services - not just with other Magnans, but with an alien race? Skrall didn't make deals. Skrall didn't make promises. Skrall took whatever they wanted and left mangled corpses in their wake, and if they were in a good mood their victims might live long enough to bleed out in a nice shady spot.

The notion of them willingly working with an immortal, otherworldly witch was almost ridiculous.

Almost.

"Not saying it's impossible, but she would've had to make them an incredibly potent offer," mused the Glatorian instead. "The Skrall's leader, Tuma…he's not exactly known for playing nice with others. Or for his sparkling personality."

"Neither is Salem. At least according to Mister Oscar."

Once again, she found it hard to refute Gwen's latest point.

Dew's stare returned to the fire with a thoughtful hum. "If the Skrall and Salem are working together…we need to tell the Headmaster when we get back. And you need to tell your boss. This is…this is bigger than just an empty crate in Grimm territory. Bigger than us."

"Can we think about all that later, though?" grumbled Octavia, her voice raspy with a faint growl. "I'm…tired."

"Yeah, it won't do any good to dwell on this," said Kiina. "I'll go check in with Nebula, let her know it's time for lights-out."

With a nod, Gwen and Dew stood up to raid the sleeping camels' saddlebags for strange fabric cocoons. As much as the Glatorian wanted to ask about them, she held her curiosity at bay; instead she made her way over to the brooding Huntress, not bothering to slot her armor back into place just yet. The violet-haired human bristled briefly at her approach, but didn't move to run or hide away. Nebula instead spun around to face Kiina and patted the sand in front of her, offering her guest a place to kneel.

"The rest of the team's getting ready for sleep," reported Kiina. "You should do the same."

"I will…eventually." Green eyes returned to the night sky, millions of lights reflected in her stare.

"Doing some stargazing, then?" asked the Glatorian with a tilt of her head.

Nebula nodded. "Helps clear my head when I get lost in it."

"I see. Is it working tonight?"

"…not really, no." The human leaned back and closed her eyes. "I…that was way too close today."

"It really was," agreed Kiina. "You're lucky I looked over at your fight when I did - if I'd noticed what was going on a few seconds later, I might've been too late. Even I'm not that fast. I have my limits, just like anyone else."

"Yeah…" Nebula frowned. "And today, we damn near smacked headfirst into ours. Guess I shouldn't be surprised."

At this, the Glatorian frowned. "What do you mean?"

With a deep sigh, Nebula finally snapped her eyes open and dared to look up at Kiina instead of the sky. Despite still being unfamiliar with human anatomy, the Water Tribe warrior knew when someone's gaze was clouded over with fear and stress…and the little girl's eyes were storming with those very same emotions.

"I mean that we're probably the worst team in Shade, and that scrap with the Shamblers is pretty good proof of that." Nebula's voice was no longer confident and sure; now it wavered and trembled. "We keep slipping up, keep making obvious mistakes that bite us in the ass. You saw how Dew and Tav keep getting at each other's throats. How nobody listens to me unless I'm barking orders. And I'm sure that Rumpole's told you all about how friendly and welcoming we were to the transfer students. How popular and beloved we are."

The Glatorian had been told the exact opposite, but she recognized the sarcasm instantly.

"I've just been…sitting here, wondering how we got to this point. Of course, I know exactly how…and I really don't like any of the answers I found. I don't think you will, either."

Kiina gave a thoughtful hum. "Well…humor me. Let's start from the top. Why did you all become Huntresses in the first place? What brought you to Shade Academy?"

"Depends on which one of us you ask," said Nebula. "I just wanted to fight monsters and make easy cash, for me and my folks and my little brother. Dew was on the run from her scumbag uncle, who kept trying to marry her off no matter how many times she told him she wasn't interested. Gwen wanted to follow in the footsteps of her moms, who were Huntresses by day and ballerinas by night. And Tav…"

She sighed while hugging her knees to her chest. "Octavia didn't really have much of a choice. Her dad died in a Dust mine accident when she was still a kid, so she and her mom joined up with some traveling nomads. A few years later, that got ripped away from her when the entire tribe got wiped out by Shamblers, mom included. She's been alone since she was twelve, and spent her life since then drifting from one settlement to another. Until she found Shade. Until she found us."

…ah. So that was why she'd been so on-edge during the earlier encounter. Why she'd frozen up like a Scarabax in the torchlight. She hadn't just been fighting the shadows in front of her - she'd been fighting the ones in her mind, too.

In Kiina's own experience, the latter was always far harder to fight.

"So you all came from different walks of life," noted the Glatorian. "Some harsher than others."

"Pretty much, yeah." The violet-haired human looked out at the stars once again, no longer brave enough to meet her gaze. "It's funny, in a weird way…we got along well enough during our Initiation, and our first few semesters at Shade weren't too terrible. Sure, Dew and Octavia had their spats, but they'd usually hug and make up afterward. Hell, Dew was the one who helped me and Gwen realize we were asexual - that we weren't interested in anyone romantically, male or female, and that there wasn't anything wrong with us for feeling that way. Gwen would wow us all with her dances. Tav would take handfuls of sand and make little glass bottles for us whenever we went on field assignments. It was…nice. Cozy. We were friends. We had friends, outside the team."

Nebula sighed. "It wasn't until after the Vytal Festival in our second year that things got bad between us, and between everyone else. We got knocked outta the tournament in the first round, and came back home early with our tails between our legs. As humiliating as that was, though…considering what happened in Vale a little later, it might've just saved our lives."

Kiina nodded slowly. She'd heard a lot more about the Vytal Festival than she wanted from Oscar and Yang, and she knew well the scars it had left on everyone who had been there. As someone with her own nightmares from the Fall of Atero, she empathized with the loss this world felt. Clearly Nebula carried her own pain from the event, despite being far away from the chaos and carnage.

"We saw the destruction the night it was happening, right down to the minute the broadcast ended. We were all so scared…I was so scared that we'd be next. That our Kingdom, our school…our friends…would be the next to go. That if the students from Beacon came to Shade seeking refuge…the same thing would happen to us. Or worse."

"A healthy amount of fear keeps any good warrior alive," noted the Glatorian.

"Good luck telling the Grimm that," scoffed the Huntress. "I knew I couldn't just keep being scared…I thought I had to keep it together for the team, that I had to come up with some way to keep that from happening. So the girls and I started acting out while making excuses about how it was the right thing to do. We'd thought we'd keep Vacuo safe by being the gatekeepers. We thought that if we kept harassing the kids from other schools who transferred to Shade, if we kept bullying folks who wanted to keep learning after their own academies fell apart…then they'd leave, and whatever happened to them would leave us alone."

Kiina's eyes narrowed. "There's no strength in pushing around the weak," she said harshly.

"I know," admitted Nebula. "On some level…I think we all knew that. And it felt…so gross, at least at first. But the more we did it, the more we liked it…and the easier it got to be mean and nasty to everyone, including each other. Sure, we got scolded. Sure, we got called names. Sure, we caused trouble and hurt people, like the kids in CFVY and SSSN. But we told ourselves that all the social collateral damage was worth it, because we were doing good. For Vacuo. For our home. For our families. For ourselves."

The young Huntress sighed and slumped her shoulders. "…of course, it didn't work. It never would've worked. That Salem lady was never gonna be scared off by our little crusade…hell, it was exactly what she would've wanted. She was always gonna come for our Kingdom eventually, regardless of what we thought we were doing. And that's what's happening right now. We're the only academy that's still standing, the only one she hasn't sunk her claws into yet, and she's getting ready to change all that. Just like we were afraid of. Just like I was afraid of."

Nebula's face buried itself into her knees. "Knowing that now…knowing the real reasons that Beacon fell…it made our attempts to 'save' Vacuo by picking on the weak look so stupid. Because they were. Because we were. We were nothing but a bunch of scared little girls, lashing out at the rest of the world for things we couldn't control. Just like any other bully. And we damn near got our comeuppance tonight, in a way worse than a thousand detentions could ever punish us."

A choked sob escaped her lips as her breathing quickened, the realization of her sins finally washing over the team leader all at once. "And it's all…it's all because of me," she whimpered. "Because I was a gods-damned coward who couldn't admit how scared I was. I…I was the one who pushed the girls into being awful, into hurting everyone to make me feel better, and just look at how that's turned out. Our team's falling apart at the seams. Everyone hates us. We nearly died today. Dew's just always snippy and sarcastic now. Gwen won't even look at me anymore. Octavia's…gods. I've poisoned her. I've poisoned them all. I've made them all worse! I almost got them all ki-!"

But before Nebula could lose herself fully in hysterics, Kiina reached out and pulled her into a strong hug.

Glatorian muscles were incredibly strong, able to crush a solid boulder into gravel with a single flex. But they could be gentle too, like right now - gentle enough to hold the human as the tears began to spill, as the full weight of her folly struck her like a raging sandstorm. Kiina didn't have any words of comfort just yet, and any she said would be lost amidst the heaving sobs and bitter shrieks. All she could do was embrace Nebula and serve as an anchor for her in the storm, and allow her to feel the very fear she'd spent so long trying to bury.

After what felt like hours of crying into a leathery shoulder, Nebula shifted slightly and spoke up in a raspy wheeze. "I'm the worst team leader ever…" she wailed, curling up into a ball while still being held by the alien warrior.

"Maybe you were," said Kiina quietly, confident her words could be heard now that the hysterics had passed. "Maybe you and your team have been terrible people. But that doesn't mean you have to stay terrible. Sure, you've fallen into a rut of bad behaviors that you've dug for yourselves…but there's always a way to climb out of it, if you've got the will to find it."

"And how…" sobbed Nebula. "How do we do that? How do we get outta this hell I made for my friends?"

"Well, it won't happen overnight." The Glatorian let out a sigh. "You've been giving into your darker urges for a full year - that might be a grain of sand for someone like me, but from my understanding that's a long time for you humans. Breaking away from that, being kinder and calmer and more understanding…it's going to take time. And you won't be perfect at it. You'll never be perfect at it. Recognizing the problem and wanting to fix it is a good start, but it's not the end. It's a lot of work from here on out."

"I thought this was supposed to be a comforting talk…" sniffled the Huntress as she pulled back, though she still sat in Kiina's lap.

"I was getting there, you silly." She patted Nebula's head reassuringly. "See? Even I'm not always great at this whole 'being nice' thing. You should've seen me about ten thousand years ago…I was, to borrow a word from your language, an absolute bitch." Kiina grinned. "Did I use it right?"

A snort from Nebula answered affirmatively.

"But I had people like Gresh and Ackar and Tarix who helped pull me outta that path, who were patient and nice and level-headed with me while showing me how to be the same with others. No matter how much I hurt them, they took it in stride and kept showing me more kindness than I ever deserved…and eventually, I learned to follow their example and pay that kindness back to others. Maybe you need someone like that. Someone who won't give up on you, like you've given up on yourselves."

The Huntress looked up at her with misty eyes. "Maybe…maybe. Do…do you think you could be like that for us? For my team? For…me?"

"I'll consider it," answered Kiina with a wry smile. "After all, I'm pretty busy being part of the Bara Magna Outreach Committee…but I will admit, you girls are starting to grow on me. You've wormed your way into my old, hardened heart…or maybe that's just the tube parasite talking. It's been a while since I've cleaned my bio-frame out that deep."

Nebula broke out into a teary giggle, which descended into another snort. "Ew…that's so gross."

"Not as gross as you humans," she countered, gently poking a metal finger into her cloth-covered stomach. "Look at how soft and squishy your insides are, like a giant bag of water! No metal bones, no implants, no redundant organs or triple-layered muscle weaves…honestly, I'm shocked you even lived long enough to discover fire."

"What can I say?" choked the violet-haired human. "Our species is full of surprises."

That was one thing Kiina found hard to disagree with, as the pair settled into a contented, cuddly silence for a little while longer.

---

"…ah, sounds like they're coming back."

Dew snapped her gaze to Gwen, who was kneeling on her navy-blue bedroll and staring into the darkness beyond their dying campfire. Octavia groaned and rolled over in her crimson sleeping bag, pretending to already be asleep when Kiina appeared with a snoring Nebula in her arms. The Glatorian put one finger to her lips to shush the other Huntresses, then slid the violet-haired woman into a matching bundle of fabrics with the most gentle of touches.

"I'll take the full watch tonight," announced Kiina as she picked up her trident from the discarded armor. "Glatorians can get away with staying awake for up to two weeks at a time, but that's not a luxury you humans have. Get some rest, girls - you need it more than I do."

Without waiting for anyone to argue, the Glatorian left, and the silence of a desert night fell once more. Gwen looked at her teammates, shrugged, and wrapped herself in a cocoon of thermal fabric before falling asleep in seconds. The fire died a moment later, reduced to embers by a stray wind and leaving only the stars and shattered moon for light.

Dew bit her lower lip and blinked slowly, hugging her own jungle-green sleeping bag close to her chest in an effort to warm herself. One side effect of having a Semblance that controlled wind was that she constantly felt its effects more severely than most - not only did cold night gales like these feel worse, they also carried far more noise on their gusts. Her hearing wasn't anywhere near as sensitive as a Faunus's might have been, of course, or as precise as Gwen's own unique soul power, but she still ended up hearing more than the other half of her team did.

Which meant that she'd heard every word of Nebula's talk with Kiina, whether she wanted to or not.

As angry as she wanted to be with her partner for leading them astray, she couldn't blame her too much. On some level, she'd known all along that Nebula was just lashing out to conceal her fear, just like she herself always did. Too many members of Team NDGO shared the same coping mechanism of bottling up their feelings or burying them deep inside, only to explode when their hearts were so full of anger and frustration and fear and stuff that it all came out violently and viciously. It was only natural that they'd take it up a notch, and make their presence a problem for anyone they thought didn't belong in Vacuo.

And as much as she knew it was wrong to think so, part of Dew liked being the big bad alpha bitch of Shade Academy.

Of course, Kiina was right. They couldn't keep doing this. Not to the other students, not to themselves, and definitely not to each other. When her Aura broke, when Nebula and Gwen almost suffocated trying to save her, when Octavia stood frozen in fear, all the power and comfort she felt from being at the top of the social food chain had evaporated. Only the cold, unfeeling reality of the world outside school washed over her now, chilling her to the bone worse than the desert night winds ever could.

In what felt like her final moments, a single emotion had overtaken her.

Guilt.

She rolled over and shuffled again, violet eyes settling on all her teammates. Nebula slept like a baby for the first time since Dew had met her, her conscience clearly eased by her late-night talk with an alien warrior. Gwen, as usual, had several more layers of padding than the rest of the girls - mostly to muffle her Semblance in her slumber, though her closed eyelids still twitched with each vibration carried through the sands. And Octavia was facing away from the others, trembling bare shoulders peeking out from her sleeping bag and auburn hair still smoldering. Normally she was the first to fall asleep among the girls, but not tonight. And it didn't take a genius to guess why.

Dew's gaze softened as she looked at the fiery Huntress, who sniffled and whimpered like a scared little girl in the night.

Well…Kiina said we all have to start somewhere, if we want to be better. May as well start here.

With her mind made up, Dew freed herself from her sleeping bag and pulled it over to Octavia's side, climbing back in while keeping her own bare arms free. Once on the ground she rolled onto her side, reached out with her hands, and wrapped them over the crimson thermal material mere inches away. She felt for her fiery teammate's waist and gave a gentle squeeze from behind, feeling Octavia's breath hitch and her frame seize up. A low growl escaped the redhead's lips…which wasn't an unexpected reaction, all things considered.

"What are you doing?"

"Snuggling," Dew answered simply, keeping as much venom out of her voice as she possibly could. "Is that okay?"

Octavia scoffed. "Since when has that ever mattered to you?"

The words were harsh, yet hardly unfair. Dew kept her retort trapped in her throat, and moved instead to pull away. If her teammate didn't want this, she wouldn't force it. As soon as she started retreating, however, a warm pair of hands grabbed her wrists - and kept them firmly locked in place around Octavia's waist.

"…tch," said the redhead with another scoff. "It's whatever, I guess."

Laughing softly at her teammate's transparent attempts at being abrasive, Dew let out a sigh as she pressed herself against Octavia's side. Her auburn hair was as fiery as her personality, but it was also very soft and warm…surprisingly so. Was this, too, a side effect of her Semblance? Was that why the two women always clashed so much? She'd have to wonder at some point.

It didn't escape her notice that Octavia's muscles felt stiff and taut, and her breathing was shallow and uneven. The snuggles didn't bother her, but something else clearly did; Dew knew that sleep wouldn't find either of them until it was addressed and resolved.

"Are you still mad at me, Tav?" she asked quietly, her voice as soft as the winds that flowed around them.

Octavia shuffled around in her grip, turning over to face her with a slow sigh. "Kinda…yeah." Jade-green eyes refused to meet hers. "A little bit."

A pang of guilt instantly shot through Dew. "I'm…sorry for what I said earlier," she whispered, looking down sorrowfully. "About what you did while the teams were shuffled. It really was out of line for me to just…bring that kind of thing up out of nowhere."

"I get why you did it," mumbled the redhead. "You were trying to make me angry, right? So that I could fight better? So that my flames would be stronger? I know I burn hotter when I'm mad, like a lotta other fire Semblances…so it makes sense that you'd wanna get me nice and pissed off before the fight starts."

"Even so…" Dew hummed as she brushed a stray lock of auburn out of her friend's face. "That's still not an excuse to hurt you like I did. I could've said anything to make you mad, but I deliberately picked at the deepest wound just because I could. I wanted to hurt you, I wanted to make you angry because I was angry…and that wasn't okay. It's never been okay. Especially not when you were already upset about…"

That bitter memory of helplessness washed over her again.

"…about the Shamblers."

Octavia's eyes watered slightly, like moist leaves of cacti just before dawn. "Y-yeah…that was…that was…"

Seeing the emotional walls about to finally come tumbling down, Dew pulled Octavia's face into her chest and let the redhead cry it out. It was an opportunity she took almost immediately.

"Shh…it's okay…" she said softly between each choked sob coming from her teammate. "You're okay. Let it out, Tav. You're safe here."

A hiccup and a wail escaped Octavia's throat. "I just…gods. I was so scared I was gonna lose you guys too. I wanted to fight, I wanted to act, I wanted to save you…but I just…my mind kept screaming at me to move, but my body wouldn't listen. It's like I was a little kid again, watching as my…as my…gods, I'm pathetic…"

She wanted to protest and say that her friend was anything but pathetic, that she was brave and strong and full of passion, but she held the words back for a moment. They'd just be lost if she said them now. Octavia needed to hear them, when she wasn't losing herself in her trauma.

"…I don't wanna be alone anymore," she wailed. "I don't wanna lose my team. I can't lose my friends."

Dew's gaze softened as she let out a few long-held sobs of her own, holding onto her teammate as the fiery Huntress released years' worth of hot, burning tears. Her hands traced up and down her back and explored auburn hair at their roots, subtly pulsing her Semblance to bring a cool breeze over them both. The act of snuggling was more than welcome, if the way Octavia nuzzled her puffy face into her shoulder was any indication, and a pleasant warmth flowed between the both of them like a cozy little fire of kinship.

When the breathing finally steadied, when the tears no longer burned, she finally answered.

"You won't," promised the windy woman with a gentle whisper. "I won't let anyone make you feel alone again…especially not me. You're incredibly strong, Octavia Ember…you burn hotter and brighter than the sun itself, and make even the coldest nights like these feel warm and alive. I haven't been a very good friend to you…I've tried to snuff you out so many times…but from now on, I'd like to change that. I'd like to be better. I'd like to be your friend. If you'll let me?"

Despite her face being hidden from view, Dew knew that Octavia was smiling against her bare shoulder.

"Heh…'course I'll let you, Dewdrop," she said in a quivering whisper. "Can't have a fire without wind to stoke it, y'know?"

Her heart fluttered briefly in her chest, and a contented sigh escaped her lips. It wasn't the end of her journey to mend her relationship with Octavia Ember, but she concluded that it was a good start - and from the way the warm hands protectively clutched her side, the feeling was mutual. For the first time in as long as she could remember, Dew Gayl was…happy.

Awash in warming winds, sleep finally came to claim them both.

---

Gwen was always a light sleeper, a natural side effect of her passive Semblance, and often woke up earlier than the rest of Team NDGO. This suited her well enough - it allowed her to perform her dance warmups while her teammates were still asleep, as well as get coffee going for her groggy friends. Octavia liked it boiling hot and bitterly black, Dew preferred it chilled with lots of cream and sugar, and Nebula refused to drink anything more bitter than hot chocolate. The ballerina didn't like coffee herself, as caffeine gave her the terrible jitters, but she liked doing it for the other girls all the same.

So needless to say, it was quite a surprise when she crawled out of her sleeping bag at the crack of dawn, only to see her team leader already dressed and hunched over a meager fire.

"Nebula?" asked Gwen, rolling over and reaching for her ballet slippers. "You're never up this early."

The team leader chuckled and shook the pan to rattle its sizzling contents, the smell alone making Gwen's mouth water. "Figured I'd make some breakfast before we set out for Shade again. Kiina's out refilling the canteens at a spring she found last night, so it'll just be us eating here. Got enough fried sandgulls drumsticks and poached eggs here for all of us, plus a roasted gecko as a treat."

"Oh? You actually managed to catch one of those slippery little devils?"

Nebula nodded while gesturing to the lizard impaled on a wooden stick over the flames, its skin slowly changing from dull green to a juicy golden brown. "Bastard tried snatching the ingredients while I was restarting the fire. Now he gets to join us - as part of the meal."

"Ooh, Tav will be happy," Gwen cooed contentedly as she sat cross-legged opposite Nebula. "Fresh gecko's her favorite."

"I know." There was a twinkle in the violet-haired woman's eye, which dimmed a moment later. "I know it's not enough to make up for yesterday…and everything before that…but if I wanna start fixing bridges, I've gotta start somewhere right?"

Gwen hummed and looked over at her partner, who was clinging to Dew even as both girls were deep in slumber. Octavia's eyes were puffy and encrusted with tears, while her cuddle buddy's blond hair was wild and messy. It was an odd sight, seeing the two so close like this after listening to them fight for years…and yet, in some way, it made perfect sense in the ballerina's mind.

"We all do," she mused after a moment of watching the other half of her team snuggle in their sleep. "It looks like they've found their place to start with making things right…and you've found yours."

Nebula nodded. "Just wish I could've found it without messing up so badly."

"We didn't fail the assignment." Gwen shook her head. "It was a search and destroy mission - we searched, and we destroyed. Sure, we didn't get the Exsidian…but we did get a vital clue about where it went. Miss Kiina believes that the Skrall and Salem are working together. So do I. And so will Headmaster Theodore and Mister Oscar, when we tell them -"

"I wasn't talking about the mission, Gwen. I'm talking about…that night."

…oh.

Oh.

The ballerina turned a sad, apologetic gaze onto her team leader. "Nebula…I'm sorry. When you said we had to be mean and nasty to protect Vacuo…I wasn't brave enough to stop you."

"You shouldn't have to have been," countered Nebula with another shake of the frying pan. "I should've been the one who was brave…who realized she was asking her team to lash out and pick on others just to make her feel better. Tav and Dew trusted me…you trusted me…and I took advantage of that."

"Mmm…yes, you did." Gwen frowned. "But we didn't exactly put up a fight, either, did we?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We were all scared, Nebula," she intoned thoughtfully, eyes never leaving her teammate's no matter how uncomfortable it felt. "I was inconsolable. Octavia and Dew were at each other's throats. Our sister Kingdom was going up in flames for the entire world to see, and all anyone here could do was watch it burn. We were all looking for guidance, for reassurance that we wouldn't be next…and we put it all on you to come up with a way forward. That wasn't fair of us. That wasn't fair to you. And we were so desperate for direction that we followed your lead…even if we knew it was the wrong way entirely."

"I'm your team leader," Nebula countered. "It's my job to do that -"

"But we're your friends," protested Gwen, her eyes shimmering with tears. "It's our job to help you."

Nebula's breath hitched and her cheeks went pink, her olive-green eyes blinking to clear the growing tears. Gwen didn't get a verbal response, but the small grateful smile was more than answer enough.

The rest of the morning was entirely uneventful. Octavia and Dew woke up shortly before breakfast was ready, and for the first time in a long time Team NDGO shared a meal that didn't turn into an argument. They'd gotten dressed, loaded up the camels, and reunited with Kiina all in less than an hour; by the time the sun was fully visible in the blue-gold sky, the warriors were well on their way back to Shade Academy. Unlike when they'd set out the previous morning, there was no grumbling, no grousing, no lingering arguments in their hearts. Only a faintly-blossoming hope that things would be different when they returned. That they would be different.

That Team NDGO would be lost girls no longer.

---

(A/N): Whew…that was something! That might be the biggest chapter of Dutiful Destruction so far - just over 19k words, all told, and every one of them was necessary. Don't worry, next time things are gonna be a lot more chill and casual. Hope you enjoyed this in-depth look at a team that almost nobody (except me) cares about, and I'll see you again in two weeks!

Stay safe, stay sane, keep telling the suits at WB that you want more RWBY, and keep being awesome!