"...Remarkable" Ozpin muttered aloud, the headmaster of Beacon stood before the edge of the railing looking out over the Foundry, the talisman in his hand held up towards the light allowing him to see it in all its detail.
The ethereal glow emanating from the arcane runes inscribed across its surface brought a small smile to his features alongside an unmistakable feeling of nostalgia he had not felt since his days as a fledging sorcerer who had just begun to dip his toes into matters of the arcane. Memories of the vast landscape and kingdoms that had once dotted the world they now called Remnant, and the terrible fate that had befallen its people at the hands of the Brother Gods rushed to the forefront of his mind.
Ozpins smile fell, his thumb tracing the edge of the pendant forlornly.
Sometimes he forgot how long it was since the gods had stripped their world of their gifts, since the collective knowledge of arcane wisdom that had once been so commonplace among Remnants people, had been snuffed out in an instance of anger and misdirected frustration, alongside countless innocents who had never once even thought to raise a sword against the gods.
The old wizard let out a breath his shoulders falling in resignation.
Even if Salem's tale of the events leading up to the fall of the Old World had been twisted to make herself appear in a more forgiving light, he knew her part in its fall was minuscule in comparison to the brother's own.
Regardless of how vast or powerful the army Salem had rallied against them may have been, in the end, the brothers were still gods, not even the might of all kingdoms combined would have been enough to harm them. With just a thought their opponent's weapons could have become air, their armor made water, and their sorcerers stripped of their power and reduced to mere men spouting worthless chants and waving fancy sticks around in the air.
Had they so chosen they could have ended that battle without the need for bloodshed, yet through either shock or fury at being defied so brazenly, they had decided to wipe the entire planet clean. Had it been that the rulers and their armies were the only ones to fall, he might have understood perhaps even agreed with such a decision; they were already convinced the power could be theirs and had the brothers given them the chance to retreat, there was no guarantee they wouldn't have regrouped and reorganised, drawing other kingdoms into their pointless conflict along the way.
Cruel as it may sound, it would have been the quickest way to end the threat then and there, while dissuading others from trying again in the future once words spread of such an overwhelming and utter defeat. 'And perhaps finally knocked some sense into you as well.' He thought to himself a bitter look passing over the old man's features. 'You were never a cruel woman Salem, even at your worst... surely you wouldn't have just walked away.'
If she had seen the loss and suffering that had been brought to those kingdoms, stripped of their leaders, the armies that defended them wiped out leaving them vulnerable to invasion, children orphaned, spouses widowed, and families shattered because of her decision. He wanted to believe she would have done...something, that she would have helped them rebuild, that she might have taken responsibility for the part she'd played in unleashing chaos and uncertainty across the kingdoms and their people.
That the history they knew might have been different had the gods shown the smallest amount of restraint... sadly, there was no way to change the past, and while bitter enemies now he could at least agree with her in one aspect, that the world they now called Remnant was far better off without the brother gods interference.
Regardless of what happened that day, to murder countless innocent, men, women and children, who had no say in the political matters of their kingdoms, nor an idea as to the whims of their rulers without a second thought; combined with the swiftness and finality to which they had dished out their punishment, could be considered nothing short of senseless cruelty and painted a clear but unpleasant picture as to the gods' overall views on humanity.
An idea only further reinforced by the impossible task the God of Light had placed upon him and the damning consequences that he would bring down upon the people of Remnant should the relics be united before mankind could be unified and his former love vanquished, just as he and his brother had thousands of years before.
Now new threats were beginning to arise on all sides, and at a time when the world the God of Light hoped to reclaim once more, may very well need him the most, he was absent. The irony of a god who claimed to be the source of mankind's best qualities, Compassion, Grace, and Empathy being so self-serving was not lost on him. Though perhaps it was just the nature of such an entity, in his eyes this may very well be just another chance for mankind to prove that they were worthy of his return, to earn the privilege for him to preside over them and be their god once more.
He had already given them the relics as an incentive, tools that depending on the wielder could bring about utter ruin or reshape the world itself into a peerless eutopia. However, if the world they were used to forge displease the Gods, or should the gifts they so generously provided to mankind be pilfered by beings just like them, could they expect a repeat of the same calamity that decimated the first generation of men? '...I don't know if I'd even be surprised.'
Ozpin let out a long breath through his nose, resting his cane against the railing he reached up to rub at his eyes, throughout his long life never had he imagined he would find himself in a scenario such as this one.
'At the very least we aren't alone in this endeavour.' With this new threat had come unexpected allies, even if they might not yet realise the true magnitude of what was at stake, he'd be lying if he said the thought hadn't crossed his mind in recent days, telling the siblings of Salem and the mission the brother gods had entrusted him with.
Yet even now he found himself hesitating, for more than one reason.
As much as he may not wish to agree on such a subject, James was right about the two of them in at least some regards.
Serana and Mikael were not of Remnant, they had no ties to this world, to the kingdoms, or any responsibilities towards its people. Yes, they stood steadfast now, offering their knowledge and aid against this eldritch horror that crossed the veil between worlds and set its sights on one of his students. But what about after, should they succeed in fending this creature off and allow this new threat to Remnants' continued survival to come to an end, what then?
Would Serana and Mikael pack their things and leave once their part was played and they were no longer bound by whatever sense of duty and responsibility led the last Dragonborn to take up the mantle of Miss Rose's protector? Would they remain behind for a time to ensure the people they were leaving behind could be ready to defend themselves in the event another such threat found its way to them?
Both decisions would be their right and neither would he or anyone else here have any standing to ask them to do otherwise, and yet the idea of the two just leaving and taking the experience and knowledge with them, left a rather large pit in his stomach. Not only were the siblings exceptionally skilled in combat but also the magic at their disposal, which made them powerful allies to have, and not only against this Hermaeus Mora.
The Brother Gods may have intended Salem's curse to be a punishment, but it had instead granted her a far greater boon beyond what they may have imagined.
Rather than being destroyed as any normal woman may have when she fell into that dark pool, she had been changed, misshapen and corrupted, emerging as a creature of pure chaos. What little remained of her Humanity after that day had slowly been stripped away by the aeons of forced isolation, evident by how after they reunited she had revealed her ambitions to place themselves as the figurehead that would govern mankind and rebuild this world in their image, one free of the brother's influence.
Such a plan could not have been a spur-of-the-moment decision, especially with the amount of planning she already seemed to have put into the 'Idea' long before he had been reincarnated. When he asked her years later at a time when their kingdom stood at the height of prosperity, she had waved it off sighting the whole thing as nothing but a flight of fancy at the time, something to keep her occupied and stave off the boredom that came with a never-ending existence, that she had never truly considered enacting.
At least until he had shown up quite literally on her doorstep.
He hadn't asked any more of it after that accepting the answer as easily as it came, trusting in the woman he sought to spend the rest of existence with, regardless of the niggle of apprehensions he'd felt at the time at how far back and how in-depth the 'fantasy' of hers had been for them to put it into action only a few short weeks after his return.
Perhaps if he had been stronger and pressed the issue rather than let himself be led along by the hand, the horrible night that saw an end to it all might have never come to pass. He would have preferred a simple argument and a night of sleeping in separate rooms rather than the reality that came from allowing things to reach the level that they did.
Maybe in the end nothing would have changed, and his actions would have only prolonged her fall by a few years.
Or perhaps fate would finally be on their side just once and he would have broken past that stubbornness of hers and convinced her that there was a different way forward than a path of bloody conquest.
Instead, he turned his back on her rather than entertaining the chance otherwise, believing that what the gods told him about the creature she had become might have been true. That given time she would succumb to her dive into the pools of chaos and bring untold death and destruction beyond imagination to this fractured world they called home, and he, in an act of fear and desperation, had done the only thing he could think to do, leave.
It had been a good plan at the time, one he had spent weeks crafting and that would by morning see both himself and the children far, far from the castle and Salem's corruptive influence, but like before he had underestimated Salem and had been confronted shortly after he put his plan into motion, a plan that ultimately resulted in not only his second death but the deaths of their children alongside him.
In the end, that night had been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, the final moment that led his wife to cast aside all that remained of her former self and embrace the character the gods had described to him in the afterlife, an endless, deathless blight upon Remnant that sought to destroy and consume all that mankind was and would be.
Leaving him to fill the role of Remnant's eternal watcher, never to rest, never to know the peace he had once had in the world beyond, never to be free of the chains the gods had bound him with until the day the woman he had once loved so deeply, breathed her last.
A role the gods had entrusted him to play and one with seemingly no end in sight.
That is, until today.
He glanced down at the pendant once more, an item so simple in appearance yet transcended all that he thought he knew of the arcane, an item that claimed to guard its wearer against the influence of a god, as impossible as it might have seemed. And as expected, when Miss Volkihar first brought the designs before him and explained their purpose, he had shared in James's doubt about their functionality, after all, the magic wielded by men had failed against the gods of this world once before.
Yet as he'd studied the designs intently, from the foundation rune it was built upon, to each spell interlinked with the intricate arches and lines that made up the roadmap upon which the magic infused within would travel, he'd felt the anxiousness and doubt he held towards the design falter and then shatter in their entirety as Miss Volkihar lit the runes alight.
At that moment he felt the power held within the array of twisting symbols and arches come alight, it washed over him like a river over stone, and behind it all, he felt the subtle intent of each spell as they were imposed upon reality, each familiar and yet also foreign at the same time... and yet dared to defy the intent of the gods with their very existence.
Had it or its makers been present in the first age of men, such a thing -even as limited as its capabilities may have been- would have been seen by many of the God of Lights faithful as a heresy of the highest order.
But now, the sight of the finished product, this marvel of human ingenuity, brought upon a feeling of hope, that the idea of them weathering this storm to its end, a chance that he... and Salem might finally break free of this twisted game perpetrated by the gods of the old world, that these two strangers may very well be the key to finally bringing an end to this endless conflict, that he and his wife might finally be able to rest.
"Professor Ozpin?" His deputy spoke up, appearing to his left behind him her voice pulling the old man back from his thoughts and into reality.
Straightening himself up, he turned to regard his second "Word from Qrow?" the old wizard inquired
"On his way back now" The deputy headmistress replied as she came to stand beside him "He was able to recover Miss Belladonna and Miss Schnee" She informed a small frown settling across her features as she scrolled through the message Qrow had sent her regarding the situation with team RWBY "However Miss Rose and Miss Xiao Long were adamant that they would be joining us in their own time." Releasing a small sigh Glynda slipped the scroll back into her skirt pocket, the level of childishness those four were showing was beyond her. "It's been days now...this grudge of theirs is getting out of hand"
"It is a grudge our actions earned us, Glynda." The headmaster replied, rolling the pendant in his palm as he spoke.
His words earned a look from Glynda her expression shifting to one of calm resignation "Yes, I recall your words from the other day... and I'm not blind to the fact we fumbled the initial investigation." One didn't just sit by and do nothing when a spatial anomaly happened to appear in the middle of the night, leaving behind a distraught student and injured faculty member who would then speak not a word of it to others. Only to then find evidence of that same faculty member influencing another of the students under his charge and disappearing for extended periods of time with little to no rhyme or reason as to why. "But action needed to be taken."
The old wizard nodded slowly in response, of that there was no denying and had they left the situation alone any longer than that, then the damage they faced in the aftermath may have been even worse than now... But even still. "Our reaction in the face of the true situation may have more to do with it than anything else." Ozpin spared a glance back towards the sibling, sat side by side the sound of conversation just audible from across the room as they flitted between one another their notes on the pendants and the documents he asked them to prepare for him.
Its contents would include a detailed list of the necessary equipment and materials they would require to bring more of their projects to fruition, as it stood they would be relying on their creations more as time went on. Just as in modern times, Huntsmen required access to custom-made parts and a vast variety of dust to ensure their combat effectiveness, so too did the mages of old utilise both rare and more magically inclined materials to improve not only the potency of their own spellcraft but that of their creations as well.
"Consider things from our student's perspective." Turning his attention back to the conversation at hand he carried on. "Mr. Salmon rescues her from a fate many would consider worse than death, revealing himself, his origins and his apparent history with that creature just to then place himself at the mercy of Miss Rose and her friends."
Many would look upon such a man with mistrust or even disdain, yet Miss Rose had chosen forgiveness instead, placing her trust in him and expressing understanding as to the reasons behind his actions. "Then even after being spared their wrath, as an act of penance to the girl, he has since worked tirelessly to ensure not only Miss Rose's safety but those of her closest friends and the academy's residents as a whole."
To say such actions would have endeared him to those girls would be an understatement, evident by how vehemently they had defended him when he had been threatened with confinement, and more than explained the thinly veiled resentment those girls now held towards him and his colleagues. "And when the truth finally came to light, we allowed emotion to guide our hand and met it with threats of imprisonment and violence against him and those close to him." As both the ultimate authority over the academy and the ones entrusted with the children's safety, an explanation was more than deserved, yet their reaction could have been a tad more measured.
Something Glynda seemed to recognise, evident by how she seemed to shrink in on herself at his words, her gaze shifting to the wall across the other side of the Foundry.
She was more than aware of the reputation she had garnered over the years, not only as Beacon's deputy headmistress and combat instructor but also as its chief disciplinarian. Despite the cold demeanour and air of professionalism, she exuded day by day, she truly cared for her students and valued the relationship she forged with her students during their time studying under her.
She was to guide them through what quite possibly was the most pivotal moment in their Yes she was here to guide these children through one of the most pivotal moments of their lives, and while that position came with its own set of responsibilities, their safety and well-being at the academy chief among them. It also came with the challenge of allowing herself to trust in her students' judgment, and their abilities to assess the situation before them.
Yes, they were still children, but they were also the next generation of huntsmen and huntresses, who would set out into the world to face mankind's oldest enemy following graduation, which made them deserving of her trust, her confidence, the right to be kept informed regarding matters that involved their well-being and the chance to be heard, with their words at least being respected and considered as the word of a fellow huntress, regarding the man's actions and his character.
Words she had at best disregarded as an impossibility brought on by false loyalty instilled through the manipulation of a young girl's trauma, and at worst twisted them to further fit their pre-determined narrative, providing more than enough reason to justify the actions they would take against the man when he had finally shown himself to them. "If we want the students to trust us then we will need to earn it... Again." The blond combat instructor summarised; her words spoken with a hint of solemnness that reflected the shame she felt at having such a state of affairs come to pass.
Ozpin hummed in response "They will come around in time we need only give them a reason to do so." His words seemed to reassure his colleague whose shoulders began to relax, if only slightly.
They could start by ensuring Team RWBY was kept firmly in the loop of any plans or actions they planned to take that would involve said girls in the future, additionally, it would be wise to put in place some contingencies and plans of escape from the academy should the need arise. While fortifying the academy and preparing defences any infiltrations were a must it would all be for nought if they had no plan in place in the event of a worst-case scenario.
They already knew from Miss Rose's testimony this creature had forces of its own it could deploy upon Remnant at a moment's notice. He dared not try to imagine what may become of Beacon let alone Vale should Hermaeus Mora decide that a full-blown forward assault on the academy was a more viable option to lay claim to its prize, than continuing its scheming from the shadows.
The presence of James's forces would be crucial should it come to that, however, if open conflict were on the table at this point, then the academy would have already fallen under siege mere moments after Miss Rose and Mikael had escaped Apocrypha. An open siege would be a last resort should all else fail, meaning they had yet to see the extent of what this... Prince of Fate had in store for them
All they could do now was prepare... and pray that when the time came it would be enough.
A low buzz resounded from below the automatic doors leading into the foundry entrance slipped open, the sound drawing the attention of the two professors towards the ground floor below, there they saw Qrow flanked by Blake and Weiss enter, true to the black reaper words Miss Rose and Miss Xiao Long were absent from the party, it was a sad state of affairs they found themselves in when his own students would avoid their own family members simply due to their association with him.
The black reaper peered up at the balcony from below offering the two of them a small nod in acknowledgement as he directed his young charges towards the stairwell, while Qrow took up a spot against the wall off to the side giving him a clear view of the main entrance, he looked up to them once more as asking for permission, to which the headmaster replied with a nod of his own, his colleagues face then soured eyes narrowing in a look of distaste.
"I'm guessing things didn't go all too well between them?"
The two professors stiffened in alarm and as one turned to their right, regarding the young woman who had seemingly appeared out of thin air beside them peering down at their colleagues below, the sudden source of Qrow's aggravation became clear.
Serana turned to regard the two professors, her gaze bringing a familiar feeling of discomfort that washed over the two of them like a flood "Do we know when Ruby and Yang will be arriving." She inquired
"Not at this time." Glynda replied finding herself struggling to meet the young woman's gaze with her own, the first time she felt this she had almost assumed it was some form of sorcery that intensified her aura as a means of intimidation, yet it seemed a near-constant presence around the woman that never shifted nor faded regardless of the time or place, almost as though it was a natural part of her being.
Forcing herself past her discomfort she carried on regardless of the slight tremor she felt pass through her heart, as she stared into those deep amber pools. "Miss Rose and Miss Xiao Long insisted they would need more time and sent their teammates ahead."
"I see." Serena spared another glance down towards Qrow a flash of sympathy for the man appearing in those amber pools. "...Children." She sighed, shaking her head dismissively. "I'll let Mikael know." Pushing off of the railing she turned and began making her way back over to her brother, who looked to have been watching their exchange from his place across the other side of the room.
Watching Serana depart Glynda let out a small breath she hadn't realised she was holding "...There's something not quite right about that woman."
"Quite" The headmaster agreed
/
"Mmmmhm" Yang sighed stretching out her arms up over her head as she and Ruby stepped out into the dim light of the hallway, she couldn't remember the last time she'd had to be up this early on a Saturday.
What could she say, she liked her sleep and Saturday was a sacred day, a day of rest and relaxation, a day free of any pesky responsibilities that you could spend lounging around like a slug to your heart's content and letting the culminated stress of the week slip away.
Instead, that sacred of days had been turned on its head and she and her team had to drag themselves out of bed at the crack of dawn, to go meet with the professor because he'd finished another one of the projects meant for their team. A small part of her was still a little miffed that her Saturday morning had started far sooner than she would have liked it to, but that side of her was almost immediately stamped down by her own curiosity and awe at the idea of them getting some actual magic items, not the usual cheap knick-knacks and knock-offs you picked up from gift shops or so-called 'haunted houses.'
No, whatever the prof had cooked up for them was going to be the real deal, the kind of stuff that you only ever read about in old fairytale stories or saw in fantasy games and TV shows.
Yang spared a glance out of one of the passing windows towards the Foundry building across campus, down towards the empty courtyard below cast in a warm glow of sunlight matched by streaks of dark shadows courtesy of the morning sun just peaking past the edge of the buildings above.
Her little sis let out a small yawn beside her rubbing the last of the sleep from her eyes before tucking her hands away into the pockets of her hoodie, tilting her head back to regard her big sister, Ruby offered Yang a curious look. "So, what do you think it's going to be?" she asked a small flash of wonder and what Yang could only assume to be hesitation appearing in those silver eyes.
"I don't know, all I do know is that whatever it is it's the real deal, none of the hokey-pokey crap... it could literally be anything." Yang trailed off her little sister nodded back, turning her gaze back towards the hallway ahead, the young reaper hunched forward tapping at her chin in thought Ruby picked up the pace pulling ahead of her sister by a few steps.
Ruby turned back to her continuing down the hall backwards as she spoke "Just like the stuff from that story mom read to us when we were kids about the knights of the Pentagon and the sword Oswald gave to King Argon." Ruby spun back to face the hallway ahead and carried on waving her hand out in front of her fancifully "Anything and everything you can think of awaits for us ahead sister, we need only reach out and grasp it."
Yang snorted into her fist a humorous smile gracing the blond features "Maybe, but overall, I guarantee whatever it is it'll be cool no matter what." The slight distance gave Yang a moment to study her sister more over how tense she looked as they made their way down the hallway and while half of that was probably from a mix of excitement and anticipation brought on by the situation, she could guarantee the other half had something to do with just who would be waiting for them when they arrived at the foundry.
Not that she could blame her sis or herself really for feeling a bit nervous about when they'd be confronting their uncle, neither of them wanted things to get any worse with Qrow, he'd still be good old Dunkle Qrow no matter what, but... they needed to set some boundaries between them, and more than a few things needed to be set straight.
They'd talked about what they were going to say to him for a good while back at the dorm and had managed to cook up a pretty good idea of how to approach him about everything without it dissolving into a full-blown argument, all that was left for them to take the first step. In the meantime, however, she couldn't help but voice some of her own ideas about just what the 'Project' Professor S had cooked up for them might be.
"Although, I don't think a magic sword would really fit our style all too well like it would with Blake or Weiss, so I'm guessing he's got some kind of enchanted armor or maybe some clothes for us, I definitely wouldn't say no to a gauntlet of fireball, or, or" Yang snapped her fingers and pointed towards Ruby, her lips pulling back into a cocky grin "Hear me out here, Fist of... Demonic... Destruction?" Pushing open the door into the stairwell there was a moment of silence before Yang sighed to herself "Yeah, that was crap."
"Kinda" Ruby replied patting her sister's arm reassuringly as they began their descent to the ground floor below, the name sounded like something you'd get from a treasure chest or a boss weapon from a game of Caverns and Grimm. If it was something to do with their weapons she had a feeling the professor would have reached out to them far sooner for more information on their equipment specifications rather than leave it to chance, so some magic clothes or armor seemed a lot more likely. "I just know it'll be something super cool."
Oh, who was she kidding it would be a magic item, actually magic items, not dust dust-infused cloths, or a semblance boosting their aura, but Actual. Freaking. Magic, eeeeehheheh, Yang was right, whatever it was, was going to be so cool either way by default.
"Well, I guess we better pick up the pace then." Yang replied, reaching the bottom of the stairs the blond paused sparing a glance towards the plain steel double doors that led into the alleyway at the back of the dorm. "Let's cut through the back alleys, it'll be quicker than going through the common area and around the courtyard." Pushing open the door she stepped out into the alleyway, a sudden crash from her left had the blond hopping over a toppling pile of three black bags that had been left stacked up by the back door with a grimace. "Watch it"
"Eugh" Ruby grimaced pinching her nose as she edged her way around the toppled pile. 'The dumpsters right there, guys come on!?' she thought eyeing the set of three dumpsters sitting against the back wall only a few feet away with a shake of the head. "Who was on trash duty for this week?"
"Cardin and his flunkies." Yang shook her head in annoyance.
While Beacon had its fair share of cleaners Miss Goodwitch had made it pretty clear on the first day, that they weren't there to just clean up after a bunch of lazy kids. As part of the academy rules for allowing each year the option to take up board on school grounds, both their dorms and the common areas on the first and second floors would be their responsibility when it came to cleaning and small-time maintenance.
And while the majority of teams were able to stay on top of the chore rota they were assigned each month, CRDL had earned themselves a reputation for half-assing their side of things more than once and leaving more work for the rest of them. "Honestly" Yang sighed grabbing the three bags in one hand and chucking them into the open dumpster as they passed "You'd think they were still five years old."
"Well, they actually took out the trash this time." Ruby spoke up, considering how they were now to the start of the year and the amount of extra work they caused for the rest of them back then, she considered it a victory that the bags even made it this close to the dumpsters at all.
Yang looked back at her "Think we should be worried; they may be evolving?"
The young girl tapped her chin slightly in thought "Nah" She waved off after a moment
Yang shrugged in response stepping out at the end of the alleys she and her sister took a sharp right and continued up the sidewalk towards the main campus, all things considered, she was just glad those four were finally chipping in properly like the rest of them, although speaking of certain people causing trouble for them recently...
"Hey, sis." Yang picked up, her light-hearted smirk fading into a look of deep contemplation. "That Ilia chick you ran into the other day, what did you think of her, did anything stick out or did she seem off at all to you?" Considering how her partner had reacted the night before when her sis had mentioned that name, she could tell the two of them had some history, and the bit about the White Fang that came after only confirmed that.
Ruby jolted in place, comically wide silver eyes turned to regard her in shock as she sputtered out her response "What, when, how did?... Did Blake tell you about-"
"Weiss and I overheard you guys when you were in the bathroom." For more than an hour, she and her equally curious and concerned teammate had been stood outside that door listening intently, after her little sis had, not-so-subtly, pulled her partner into the porcelain throne room for what looked like a 'private talk', when she thought they were too distracted to notice otherwise.
"Why didn't you say anything last night?" The younger girl asked
"We were going to" Yang replied "But...Weiss wanted us to wait to ask you both about it after the weekend." Both to make sure she knew her sister, the army specialist, wouldn't be dropping in again out of the blue along with giving Blake the chance to get her head together. "Although considering everything that's come up and our track record of far." She gestured ahead in the direction of the foundry helplessly. "I figured now is probably as good a time as any to ask before something crazy happens again or things get pushed aside for one reason or another."
Ruby opened her mouth to retort but paused, considering everything that had happened over the last few months she couldn't really find that big of a flaw in her sister's logic. "Okay, that's pretty smart actually."
Yang smirked crossing her arms back behind her head "As if that was ever in doubt."
Huffing out a breath Ruby began thinking back to her first encounter with Ilia, at first glance, she couldn't say anything really stood out about the older girl. She might have seemed standoffish and antsy and yeah, that might not have looked all too good as far as first impressions went, not that she could judge, especially considering her first meetings with her future teammates at the start of the year could be considered a catastrophe for the record books. "Well, she didn't accidentally blow me up like Wiess did, so there's that."
Considering how threatening the truth could be if she was found out, being a little paranoid around new people you didn't know when you were carrying the kind of baggage that could destroy your own life, wasn't exactly the worst idea, especially when you didn't know how people could react to your situation. Cardin's attempt at black-mailing Jaune coming to the forefront of her mind. "But while we were talking, she seemed frustrated, like she didn't want to be there at all."
"Well...Headbutting someone in the face will have that kind of effect on people, little sister." Yang replied shooting her little sister an apologetic look.
"It's not like I meant to do it!" Ruby threw her hands up, waving at the air in front of her "It just... Happened! Plus, she wasn't paying attention either and I apologised for it right after it anyway." She'd even gotten an ice pack and bandages for her as well, so no one could say she hadn't done everything she could to make up for it! Clearing her throat Ruby tried to steer the conversation back on track "Look, we might have gotten off on the wrong foot, but she seemed pretty okay afterwards at least until she mentioned she was looking for Blake and that they worked together in the White Fang, then things got tense."
'And ain't that a little convenient' Yang thought to herself, her brow knitting into a thin line.
This girl was someone she'd heard Blake describe as 'Loyal to The Cause', so for her to have suddenly shown up out of the blue, apparently, having left it all behind to turn over a new leaf, and then the first chance she gets she decides to go looking for her old friend. 'Too convenient maybe.' Enough so that she might need to have a talk with her partner about things involving any 'meet-ups' with said girl, Blake might have been cooking up.
"After that, I was just focused on getting her as far away from Winter as quickly as I could." Ruby grimaced kicking at the ground as she went. "Could you imagine if Weiss's sister overheard what she said, you saw how Blake freaked out when Weiss said that she'd be coming to visit."
"No kidding" Winter seemed pretty cool overall, but if Weiss was anything to go by, then she could expect the older Schnee to be even more of a stickler when it came to rules and pro-to-col. So, if Winter found out that not only one, but two of the students at the academy -one of whom just so happened to be bunking with their little sister- were previously part of one of the biggest Terrorists in the world, the same that had directly attacked their home and family in the past.
Yeah... she doubted the leaving it all behind and the quest for redemption thing, Blake and this Ilia chick were trying to pull off would be enough to keep them out of handcuffs. "Good call on that one Sis." For both Blake and their team as a whole.
Rounding the corner Beacon refinery came into view, a thin trail of white smoke bellowing from within the set of three smokestacks running down the centre of the roof claiming higher and higher into the sky. "Looks like we made it" Yang noted. Fishing into her back pocket she pulled out her scroll glancing down at the time as well as a small string of messages from Weiss asking them how long they'd be.
Typing back a quick reply Yang looked towards her little sister, the silver-eyed girl stared up at the building silently her hands fidgeting in the front pockets of her hoodie, a nervous tick that Yang recognised all too easily. "Hey" The blond called out softly, pulling her little sister back to reality, the young Rose's head turning to regard her. "You ready?" She asked
Ruby took a deep breath in and out through her nose "Ready" She replied
Marching across the courtyard Ruby by her side Yang pushed against the double doors into the lobby of the Foundry building, as expected the front doors were unlocked from them allowing the sisters entry without issue. The lights above them flicked on in response to their arrival, ignoring the empty check-in desk, the sisters turned and moved with purpose through the lobby and down the corridors leading them to the reinforced doors of the airlock to the foundry's main floor.
'No going back now' Yang thought to herself as she approached the door controls, fishing her scroll out of her pants pocket she swiped it over the interface, the light above the door flashing from red to green, followed swiftly by a resounding buzz as the reinforced doors slipped open.
AN: Well, this has been a long one, almost six months since my last update.
I didn't mean for it to take this long honestly, I was sat at around the 8k word mark when August 1st rolled around and I'd initially hoped to have this out at the end of that month or the first week of September at the latest but a lot happened that kinda sucked out most of the motivation I had to do, well, anything really up until around the start of October when I started feeling up to finally start writing again and tried to get the chapter finished off to an acceptable standard.
Overall, this section of the story has dragged on a bit more than I hoped it would have, the size of this chapter kinda played into that a little as a lot needed to be covered to not only wrap up some previous plot threads but also set up others for down the line. I thought I could cover that in around 10k words maybe 12k if I was pushing it, but it eventually stretched on into nearly 16k words because I couldn't find a good section to end things off on that felt satisfactory to me at the time.
This resulted in me going back and re-writing segments of the chapter to try and resolve things, without the entire chapter being too long and becoming a slog to get through, having sections feeling rushed or ending up with lower quality writing than the rest.
So, I decided to turn this into a two-part chapter, which should give me enough time to fully flush out and close off this Arc to a level I feel is up to a decent standard for the story and for you guys.