Chapter 58

Though the Grimm Dragon was frozen and encased in concrete and thus a threat to no one, it still attracted Grimm to Beacon, and said Grimm still managed to benefit from its presence, becoming smarter to the point of near-human intelligence. Ruby had begged Qrow to allow them to first stop at Beacon to recover Ash's body and give him his due rights, Qrow's response was to tell her what happened to the team of full-fledged, experienced Huntsmen who had gone with him to find and recover Ozpin's cane: The Grimm had hunted them. Of the five Huntsmen that had accompanied Qrow, two were still alive, including him, and even he had new scars to show for it.

So, with the idea of recovering his body shot, RWBY, JNPR, and Qrow held their symbolic funeral for their friend at Patch's coastline, the lattermost hanging back respectfully, the former two looking out to the sea, at the setting sun. It was the kind of silence that consumed everything, they couldn't even hear the ocean or the work being put into fortifying the island. Yang, having been the first among them to have met him, stood at the head of the group and had a small headstone in her hands, and appeared hesitant to actually plant it in the ground, as though doing so would be admitting to the fact that he was gone, forever.

The silence went on for longer than she would have liked, so Ruby decided to speak up first, despite not knowing what at all should be done at funerals. Her mother had passed so long ago that she barely even remembered putting her in the ground, only that the day had been at odds bright and sad.

"I uh..." She swallowed thickly, and approached Yang, who turned to face her. "You guys remember when he came in, riding that giant Terran warboat, with the music playing?" She asked, looking hopefully from her sister to the assembled teams, some of whom smiled at the memory, the rest nodded. "I asked him why he did it. The music, I mean." She grinned, "he said..." She frowned through her smile, trying to concentrate. "I... He said something along the lines of putting on a show and tricking people are strong allies when your opponent isn't expecting it -"

Blake spoke up, "theatricality and deception are powerful allies to the unitiated."

Ruby beamed, nodding, "yeah! And he said they were even stronger when your real allies are in a bind. Riding in on a symbol of their strength, having torn it apart himself and taken a few of their guns... Coat flowing in the wind, and all that? It would scare the terrans and inspire us, he said." She paused, and then went for the punchline. "He also said it would have been really fun. How many people really get chances to do that?"

Some subdued laughter spread about the eight of them, and she saw Yang's shoulders slump, as though a weight had slid off of them.

Weiss picked up, "it's always symbols with him, isn't it?" She asked, "you know I asked him why he always wore that garish coat of his." She nodded to Pyrrha, who nodded back. "He said it reminded him of a superhero, and every superhero needs a superhero cape, and a superhero cape, flowing in the wind, it gives people hope. But since he didn't want to tie something around his neck all day, or clip it to his armor, he bought a coat and used that."

Nora spoke up, "but why would he always drop the coat when he'd get ready fight, hm?" She giggled.

To which Jaune blinked, "he never dropped it when we were training together..." He said, resting his hand on the purple hilt of the blade fastened to his hip.

Nora's immediate response was, "that's because you two training wasn't ever really a fight... More like you flailing angrily and him pretending to get hit!" She smiled, big and wide.

Jaune let out an exasperated sigh, "thanks, Nora." He said, as Ren grabbed his lifelong friend by the ear and pulled her back towards him.

Pyrrha then spoke up, "that's not to say he thought less of people, though... " She nodded to the side, "truly, he was the first one I'd ever known to treat me as a person, instead of a famous huntress... He always said he didn't know I was famous, but I knew he was just sparing my feelings." She said, a thin smile playing her features. "He was kind like that... Always willing to listen and give advice. Whenever he came up in conversation with some of my friends, they'd always compliment him with that... Few but him had as much respect, for anyone he would run into... Few but him could give anyone that much hope." She gave Ruby a brief glance at this, so quick that it went unnoticed by most.

Blake, among the few who caught it, slid her hands behind her back, and picked up from there. "This is a man who didn't even judge avowed terrorists until he interacted with them." She said, "I... Knew... The current leader of the Fang, and to see him respect a human like that was astonishing to me. An accumulative twenty minutes together and Adam went from the man who robbed trains and called for war, to..." She nodded out to the east, towards Vale. "What we have now." She appeared halfway between smiling and frowning at this, her brow furrowed as even now she found herself conflicted over how she felt about these developments. "I must admit I still find myself laughing at how he basically knighted Adam, like he did."

Then Ren was the next to speak up, "I think he more than anyone believed in second chances."

Soon, all eyes were on Yang, who, with tightly pursed lips, knew that the time had finally come and that there was no more delaying it. So, with a grunt, she set down the heavy hunk of concrete and stone on the grassy cliff overlooking the ocean. "The first thing he did when he met me was throw the shield at me." She admitted, as she straightened the headstone out. "I took one look at it and knew, 'Oh... I am gonna punch his lights out.'..." She hummed, a distant smile on her face as she stood up. "We basically played tug-of-war with that thing for a good five minutes, before I eventually went -" She lifted her hands to her sides, "- 'oh screw this!' - and thought that if I couldn't get at his face, then I'd break his arms by punching the shield." She chuckled, "I should've known with how much he hid behind it there was something more to it than met the eye. Up until he started flying at Beacon I thought that was his trick, actually - that he could absorb impact energy and reflect it back at people... That he used the shield to make everyone think that it was doing it - because who'd believe it was used hardlight, anyways?" She got some agreeing nods, as she stepped back from the headstone. "But then I punched it, it sent me flying, and that was the fight done... Pretty much set the tone for everything to come: You underestimate the shield, you underestimate him, you lose."

The setting sun illuminated the headstone, upon which was a circle surrounding a star, his name, and his epitaph:

Goud Etiolate: A Symbol.

It had taken an inordinate amount of convincing to be let out and allowed to come here, but Cinder Fall was nothing if not persuasive, even to the lady of the castle. After all, if Salem respected Aldric enough to have buried him, then she would respect him enough to allow his partner the decency to visit him before he decomposed. Of course that hadn't been her true purpose in leaving the castle still so wounded as she was, to be transported across the planet and flanked by some of the strongest Grimm on the world, which so few had seen and fewer still were still alive to tell about it, but to say that she genuinely felt regret that he had died, and wanted to confirm his death with her own eyes would be to display weakness and doubt to the one woman in the world she could not afford to display it to.

Fortunately she had at least been able to finagle some privacy out of her and her escorts, and as such when they arrived at the place she had first met him so soon and yet so long ago, her gigantic escorts and the seer accompanying them split off to patrol the clearing. It didn't take long for Cinder to find the freshly dug patch of Earth in which he was entombed, and loathe though she was to admit, approaching it, she could indeed sense him down there, body so slightly preserved by the cold dirt covering it.

Standing over the otherwise unmarked grave, Cinder peered down at it, what few portions of her face not covered in thick bandages remained blank, her lips pressed in a thin frown and brow just barely furrowed by the light spilling through the gray clouds above. Considering all he had survived, Cinder had honestly once found herself thinking that he, if anyone, wouldn't die until well after their plans had come to fruition. She knew they would one day run afoul of someone with silver eyes, but with how he acted, how he managed to think his way through everything, she thought he would have had a plan for that kind of eventuality. That was the kind of person he was: To see all eventualities and plan for them all. It was why he had been able to take to this life so well.

She did find herself wondering, as she knelt down, her red dress crumpling around her knees, and her good hand slowly brushing over the freshly dug earth, if the reason she was alive now was due to his death in the first place. That perhaps he had had a plan, and that if Ruby Rose had come in Pyrrha Nikos' place, he would use himself as a wall of sorts, something to take the brunt of her attack. Such a thing wouldn't be impossible, especially if he knew as much as he should, having Ozpin's ear for as long as he had, but if that were the case, Cinder didn't know what to think about that. It filled her chest with something strange, a feeling she hadn't experienced in quite this way for many years, since bandits had taught her her life lesson, a feeling she couldn't readily identify.

Life is fragile... She thought, curling her gloved fingers in the dirt until they made a fist, a small clump of earth gathered in her palm and crushed flat. But... We were not supposed to be. Her frown turned into a grimace as, as though summoned, she felt a wave of pain flow from her left arm and into her face, ending only where the scar tissue ended and the healthy flesh began. Damn it, Aldric. There was so much you could have learned. So much we could have done... Heights to which you and I could have grown. Even your father and his hammer would have paled in comparison to us... She turned her one functioning eye towards the patrolling, demonic Grimm, wondering if even Salem herself could have compared to the two of them in a year.

The injured Fall Maiden turned her gaze back down to the ground, she cursed herself for allowing Aldric to simmer in his fear of his own power. She'd wrestled with breaking him of that mindset as early as Amber, but seeing him unconsciously channeling his powers through the 'Power Glove', and seeing him outright focusing them into that belt of his, it had made her think he was slowly reaching the point at which he could have been as unstoppable as she knew he could be. To cease with the fear of what titanic power may bring to oppose it and to instead embrace it, to make those weapons he was so hesitant about drawing, to channel powers he had once considered the stuff of fiction, to think so laterally that the two of them could inspire the other and cause them to endlessly grow. The two of them, so powerful and so strong, nothing, not bandits, not Grimm, not Terrans and certainly not Humans and Faunus could have stood in their way.

It would have been freedom of the truest, purest form. Like nothing else.

But no.

He had to die just before the point of no return. Right when they could have begun that ascent to 'power overwhelming', as he'd called it. Be it intentional to save her or accidental due to a bad roll of the dice, Aldric had died just when he could have reached heights that truly no one else could have. In her mind, she wished Emerald were still alive, such that she could at least still pretend he were too, and when the time came to once again run afoul of Ruby Rose, she could still play up the ruse, if only to relish in the look of anguish in that girl's face when it dawned on her that the friend she cared so much about had been a sham from the moment they had met. But the satisfaction brought by such imaginings were too dashed by being predicated on the wish that another friend were alive, then spawning the realization that Cinder was alone.

Alone with nothing but the power she'd sacrificed so much for.

Standing up, the frown wiped from her face, Cinder realized she could identify the feeling in her chest.

It was hollow.

Mankind has had ten thousand years experience of warfare and if he must fight he has no excuse for not fighting well.

Blake had told her she'd read that in a book the terrans had translated during the cultural exchange, and at first, Ruby Rose had thought it cool, even after having been on the receiving end of an invasion. Now, however, she realized that it wasn't nearly as cool as it was terrifying, because it took only one month after the 'opening shots' on Earth for the Terrans to create an army the likes of which neither of their worlds had ever seen. During Earth's equivalent to Remnant's Great War, their population had been two billion people, of which seventy million had been conscripted to fight, and it was called one of the most devestating and destructive wars in their species' history.

Ruby had thought those numbers mind boggling, considering she was pretty sure she'd read somewhere that Remnant had a combined two and a half billion, of which perhaps twenty million were soldiers, and a few hundred thousand were huntsmen.

But then Weiss chimed in with what the Earth's population was now.

At nearly eight billion people, that meant there were perhaps more than an entire billion of them ready to be drafted for a fight, more than half of Remnant's total population left still billions more that perhaps didn't fit the peacetime requirements or could still contribute in less obvious ways. With such a staggeringly, unimaginably high population, Ruby found herself less and less surprised to hear what she had, after the group had made it to Vacuo.

Having secured air travel before Vale had decided to lock their airspace down in preparation for the terrans, RWBY, JNPR, and their huntsman 'chaperone', Qrow, managed to make it to Vacuo a few days after they had departed Patch. Meeting Shade's headmaster had been a strange affair, the man being such a far cry from Professor Ozpin, brash, arrogant, and cavalier almost to a fault, that Nora and Weiss still to this moment were convinced that it hadn't actually been him. Despite his casual appearance and approach to things, he at least managed to understand how much trouble they were in when going up against the Earth, and it was he who dropped the bombshell:

The terrans weren't invading at all.

At least, not in the conventional sense.

Earth didn't have airships, not at all like Remnant did, so to transport huge masses of soldiers and military equipment, the only way they could do it would be through boats. Some of their aircraft could do the job, but not in nearly the same capacity, and to actually do said job, they would need to be able to do it without the risk of being shot down - returning to their warships. This meant their entire capacity to invade Remnant was almost one hundred percent reliant upon their ability to first bring over their warships to clear the way.

With this in mind, all of the kingdoms' plans had been sound: Shore up the wormholes with everything they had. Anything from Earth had to go through them, and that would act as a bottleneck, removing whatever advantages they had. Of course it worked both ways - Remnant couldn't go through to Earth without being put in their crosshairs too - but their intent wasn't to attack, but defend.

In theory, this wasn't the worst plan.

In practice, it hadn't worked out at all, because of one major fact: It was far easier to break Remnant's hold over one wormhole, with a gigantic fleet and hundreds of thousands of fighter craft, than it was for Earth to split their entire planet's navy up between the four portals and try to break them all simultaneously.

And Vacuo's portal had been the 'lucky' winner.

In an attack that had lasted for eight straight hours, thousands of cruise missiles shot across space and time, and hammered Vacuo's fleet, overwhelming their defenses with swarm tactics. When Vacuo was finally forced to retreat or risk total destruction of half of their combined numbers, Earth's ships started streaming through constantly, with dozens coming through every hour and immediately scattering to the seas, making for the coasts of the four kingdoms, and with their unique ability to fight opponents even under water, that meant that the moment they started getting ships through, not even Remnant's oceanic Grimm could challenge them.

With every passing day, Remnant's seas came more and more under Terran control.

Now terrified of the prospect of a land invasion, Vacuo first brought their ships back to guard the kingdom, and then sent word out to the other kingdoms to warn them that the terrans were here.

But the ship was engaged by a cadre of terran jets, and brought down, scant minutes after crossing over the water.

As was the second, shot down a few kilometers off of the coast by a terran warship.

And the third, that went over land to try and bypass the seas and get in contact with their neighbors in Vale, blown out of the sky by a trio of missiles.

And that, the Headmaster explained, was when he and the Council of Three realized that the Terrans didn't truly intend to invade, as they had last time. They certainly could, of course, but with Remnant far more prepared for a ground war than they had been last time, such a prospect would be a lengthy and costly one, especially with a Grimm threat at home to deal with.

No, instead their plan was to isolate the four kingdoms, first from communicating eachother by destroying the CCT network, then from reaching eachother by blowing their airships out of the sky and sinking any oceanic vessels that tried to make a break for it. Earth's intent wasn't to fight Remnant, but to starve it. As self-sufficient as the four kingdoms were, each one had something they needed to import. All of them had at least one thing that they'd long since drained the sources inside the walls of.

Dust.

With Earth's warships blocking the sea, their satellites and jets monitoring the air, they essentially had free reign over the planet, and that meant what soldiers and equipment they did have with them right now could maneuver with nigh impunity, clearing up coastal zones of Grimm to set up forward operating bases, and sending squads into the continent to find Dust mines and refineries and attack them. Some refugees had even come from the city-states and villages unaffiliated with the Kingdoms, telling tales of Terran soldiers rolling in and declaring martial law, and all of them had the same demands: Any exports to the Kingdoms, with a priority on those of Dust, had to stop, or there would be consequences.

Earth's plan wasn't to attack Remnant, it was to specifically not do so. Not until the four Kingdoms were so critically low on Dust, and Earth's conscription efforts had jumped their military numbers so high, that the decades-long grudge match everyone had been expecting would turn into a yearlong example of a huntsman beating a starved civilian to death. It wouldn't be two planets going to war against eachother and fighting until the other was simply unable to do so anymore, but rather it would be two planets consistently and constantly working to outmaneuver the other until such a time that an invasion into the other's capitols wasn't a death sentence for everyone involved.

The only viable plan Vacuo, and the rest of Remnant, had now was to try and take the fight to the Terran navy and send out squads of soldiers and huntsmen to harass their soldiers before Earth could truly establish its foothold, form, and cement its blockades.

And that led them to here and now: With the only risk to terran soldiers coming from towns that would choose to fight back, Huntsmen who chose to take the fight to them, or Grimm that got the jump on them, that meant the Terrans had the agency to use their greatest advantage over Ruby and her allies: They knew who the Maidens were, had a much easier time of finding them, and could send people to do exactly that. Perhaps the worst prospect though, was that since Salem clearly had sources on Earth, that meant when the Terrans figured out where the Maidens were, she would figure out where they were.

Inside of a month, the situation had gone from poor to completely out of control. In the time it took for Ruby and her teams to get in contact with just one lead, the Terrans had set themselves up to blockade an entire planet, and Salem had positioned herself to be ready to checkmate them all. They were in a race against time, and time began already almost out. The only advantage they had anymore was that while the Terrans knew who to look for, they didn't yet know where.

As said by Shade's headmaster, "there are only two things in this world we specifically didn't build inside the Kingdoms: Dust facilities, and the Maidens' bunkers... And the latter is the only thing we build so far out in the Grimm-controlled wilderness that they're essentially satellite kingdoms, forced to be self-sufficient or die." He explained, leaning back in his chair and scratching his bushy gray beard. "So there's that. Those asshole terrans have an entire planet to search with those satellites of theirs. That may buy us a few months."

Now, Ruby knew Qrow when he was drunk, and she knew him when he was sober. One thing she never saw during either of those times was something she was being introduced to now: Qrow scared. There was a fear in his eyes that Ruby had never seen before, not in him, not in anyone - the kind of existential dread of a man who knew the secrets of the universe, and was seeing those secrets not only come to light but actively work to destroy literally everything he knew and held dear, right in front of him. Qrow was seated in a big, fluffy chair in front of the lounging headmaster's desk, one of his fists clenched so tightly that the entire back of his hand was white, his nostrils were flared, and his lips pursed.

Ruby looked to the rest of her assembled teams in the room, to Yang and Weiss, who had appropriated a couch, to Blake and Ren, who were leaning against the wall, and Nora, Pyrrha, and Jaune, each following Ruby's example and flanking Qrow. None of them looked any easier than Qrow - Weiss and Pyrrha perhaps looked the worst of them all, their usually controlled countenance bleeding away to barely controlled fear, and not for no reason, either, because she knew all eyes would be on Atlas, her homeland, for how Remnant would respond to Earth's attempts to blockade the planet. As much as the rest of the world could function well enough on their own, the simple fact of the matter was there wasn't a military juggernaut quite like Atlas. Much how Earth's actions earlier in the year had set the tone for how powerful they could be, no doubt it would be Atlas' response that would set the tone for how strong Remnant could be. All eyes would be on the great white north, Human, Faunus, and Terran.

"Then we've got to take the kid gloves off, Dawn." Qrow responded, after swallowing through his dry throat. "You're saying our timeline is..." He shook his head, "months, at best. It usually takes longer than that just for Ozpin to come back, and the friends he made on Earth won't help us if we can't find Salem - and we can't do that if she battens down the hatches after getting the four Maidens. Literally all she'll have to do after that is fucking wait until us and Earth are done tearing eachother apart and then she can just roll right up to the academies and take the relics. We're on track to be our own to end a war that's been going on for thousands of years. We literally do not have the time to play around. You need to tell us where she is, and you need to find a way - I do not care how - to get word to Ironwood and Lionheart. To get them to send word back to us so we can go straight to Summer and Spring." He insisted.

But Dawn laughed, "man, Qrow, I wish I had your enthusiasm." He shook his head, leaning further back in his chair, it creaking under his weight. "Or at least your flask. I don't want to be aware when the world ends, you dig?" He let out a long, airy sigh, and allowed his head to hang over the back of his chair. "How do you expect me to get word to Mistral, Qrow? How do you expect me to get word to Atlas?" He wondered.

"I can think of two ways right off the top of my head." Qrow instantly retorted.

"The Garden stays out of political affairs, Qrow, and I haven't had any coins for ten years." He leaned up, "what's your second option?" He had a curious grin on his face, as he adjusted the thick sunglasses to better frame his eyes.

"The ocean." Qrow responded, "as much as the terrans dominate oceanic warfare, they'll be looking for big metal ships and Grimm. They won't be looking for anything smaller."

"Okay?"

"So send a runner in a small ship to Menagerie." Ruby noticed Blake's head shoot up at this, "if they stay below terran radar they can make it there in days. They talk to the chieftain there and get him to give the message to aquatic faunus. It won't be as fast as delivering it by air, but it would be almost as fast as taking it by boat. They'd get the message out, get our responses back, and when we come back here we can go pick them up at the coast -"

"And where does their choice factor into all this?" Blake asked, shoving off of the wall and crossing her arms, a frown decorating her face.

Dawn nodded from side to side, "I gotta agree with the lady on this one, my man, though not for the same reasons. They're not the biggest fans of us humans. What makes you think they'd help us?"

"I know a guy who owes me favors."

Dawn arced an eyebrow, "this a good guy?"

"He's in the loop." Qrow responded, "and he's a friend in a high place. His word would at least get us some volunteers, and he's in Menagerie right now."

"Who?" Blake asked, only to be ignored by the both of them.

"Realize that throwing his weight around to help humans would probably cost him that high place, Qrow."

But Qrow shook his head, "that's a risk we'll have to take."

"I'm just being ignored." Blake looked irate.

"Yes." Qrow and Dawn said in unison, each briefly glancing in her direction, before turning back to eachother.

"Realize that even flying low wouldn't guarantee that ship getting by undetected. I'd need to distract the Terran Navy." He said, clearly enunciating each word. "And to do that anywhere near as well as I'd need to guarantee that thing never got spotted, that would require a majority of the ships we have left. You'd essentially be sacrificing Vacuo for one message." He explained, a look of interest replacing the earlier one of flippancy. "They see Vacuo's defenses so weak they'd see lien signs. We can't operate under the assumption that the Terrans wouldn't take their chance to establish a major foothold on Remnant. So you won't be able to rely on coming back after you secure Winter."

Qrow leaned back, cursing. Ruby, confused, spoke up, "can't we just meet them in Mistral? Or Atlas?" She asked.

"That would require us getting there, kiddo." Qrow responded.

"Another distraction, if we're even around by then." Dawn elaborated.

"And as much as it would be easy to call in a favor with your aunt..." Qrow's eyes closed, "I can't get in touch with her. Not without leaving you guys, and I'm not doing that." He rubbed at his face.

Ruby blinked, "my aunt?"

"My Mom?" Yang piped in, head tilted.

Ruby noticed Weiss whisper something to Blake, but Blake shook her head and whispered back as Qrow spoke up. "Her semblance lets her open portals to anyone she has a strong connection to." He nodded to Yang, "you, me, your dad, maybe a few others if they're still alive. She could get us over the border, but convincing her would be difficult, and getting to her would require me going myself, and I'm not leaving you all to fend for yourselves if the Terrans or Salem's Masters are there for Winter."

But the younger huntresses and huntsmen all appeared to be of one mind, and Ruby proved to be their mouthpiece. "This is bigger than us, Uncle Qrow. If she's there and she's safe -"

"Oh she's not." Dawn chuckled. "Safe, I mean. If they aren't already there they will be soon. I've killed five men already trying to break in here."

"Then we can pick her up and leave... Keep on the move until you come back to get us. If not, then we still leave, we just won't have her." She explained.

Qrow shook his head, "kid, they're either going to capture her or take her powers right then and there. Either way they'll be sending heavy hitters, and they so much as look at you they'll take their shot." He explained, "I'm not leaving you alone to that."

Nora piped in, "oh come on!" She drawled, "what's one more guy gonna do?! And what would you do if we got there and there was trouble, huh? This way you'e our escape plan!"

Pyrrha picked up, "it's not like we would have to worry about Grimm, on the way there, or while we were on the run." She smiled thinly and elbowed Jaune, who let out a 'hey!' as he tried not to fall over.

"Better..." Weiss spoke up, "if we can get this woman to bring us to Mistral, then we'd only need to get a message out to Atlas. If saving time is the goal, this would be the best way to do so."

Qrow sighed, still appearing conflicted, so much so that he even cast a glance at Dawn, who laughed and held his hands up. "Hey, you're Oz's right hand, I'm just a grunt with a high rank. You're on your own, pal."

Qrow rolled his eyes. "Fine." He said, "fine... Fine." He shook his head and turned to Ruby, "you better understand though. We're not here to fight. If she's dead, or under attack, or anything that isn't perfectly safe and sound, she's a lost cause, and you'll need to turn right around and get out of there."

Ruby swallowed, but nodded.

"Now..." Qrow turned to Dawn. "You. Fess up. Where is she?"

Dawn grinned a wide, toothy grin.

"Nekrad." The Fall Maiden rasped, a disbelieving look on her face.

Inside of a dining hall in her leader's castle, Cinder Fall and Salem had been sought out by a Seer Grimm, who had word from a group who had been seeking out a Maiden. Upon its spherical head was the Master and Huntsman duo tasked with finding the Winter Maiden. Hazel Rainart, the bear of a man, had been the one to drop the bombshell, but Cinder found her single functioning eye attracted to the Master of the two, he being the only other Terran she'd ever seen or spoken to in a peaceful setting since Aldric, or those few seconds with his father. 'Ben' was a far cry from the other two she had met, in that he not only held himself in a different way, with his head held high and his arms clasped behind his back and a proud frown on his face, but he was old. The man was thin and frail, ancient skin hanging off of weakened bones, eyes squinted almost shut, with him appearing to be in his eighties at the youngest estimate.

The news they brought, though, was what surprised Cinder the most. She knew of Nakred, but not because it was recent news, but because she'd read about the place out of a history book. Once upon a time it had been one of the major Vacuoan cities established outside of the kingdom, a haven of industry, it had stood as a symbol that the planet could be taken back by the Grimm with hard work and determination. But when the Great War began, it was a major target by Mistrali forces, and in two years it went from a veritable modern paradise to a smog-choked ruin, the city having to be abandoned by its kingdom or risk its people dying from exposure. Of course then the Grimm moved in, and ever since it was just left to fall to ruins, the understanding being that it would be far more costly to take and rebuild the city than it would be to first fortify Vacuo and then establish a brand new one somewhere else. A wasteland unto itself, Cinder remembered the history book actually saying it was a place that no one thought even remotely worth visiting again, let alone taking back.

But, it seemed, Vacuo had had different plans.

"Yes, kid. Nakred." Hazel responded, sparing the wounded Maiden only a brief glance before turning back to the witch. "As best we can understand there were already some underground elements built there even all that time ago. They just expanded and fortified it. Figured hiding their Maiden in a city lost in the war and taken by the Grimm would be smarter than heading out into uncharted territory."

Salem hummed at this, dark eyes briefly scanning over the ground as she thought. "Sound in theory... With how fast they abandoned that city, a great deal of valuables were left behind. Chief among them Dust, so what better place to hide a diamond than in ruins filled with other precious prizes?" She nodded, "to say nothing of the Grimm in the city. Do you know where they are specifically?"

Hazel cast a glance at Ben, who nodded once, and spoke with an aged tremolo. "My people have determined their complex to be located near the eastern edge of the city. They're already moving in and getting ready to fight." Despite the age present in his voice, he still spoke with a strength and a conviction that belied his years, nearly causing Cinder to wonder if he truly were as old as he appeared.

Regardless, all eyes were soon on the bleach-skinned Lady of the Grimm to make her decision. She held her hands behind her back and looked up to the ceiling, losing herself in thought for a few moments, before lowering her eyes back to the seer. "Unfortunately as great as this is, Cinder simply isn't in any state to travel, much less fight. So I will need you to retrieve the Maiden and return here with her."

Ben nodded, and Hazel gave a gruff, "understood." Before the seer cut the connection.

Salem turned to her young, wounded Maiden, and, noticing the questioning glance, waved the unspoken question away. "It is better this way, Cinder." She said, "a lower chance of you being further injured or, worse, dying... And I've a theory I would like to test with this."

"Oh?" Cinder rasped, before taking a sip from her ever-filled goblet.

Salem nodded, "what a wonderful outcome it would be if, by absorbing this Maiden's soul, yours would be revitalized." That gave Cinder pause, as the implications of it dawned on her.

The prospect of having to wait weeks, not months, before she could be healthy again, and more powerful than before on top of that, was an attractive one.

Cinder grinned, and nodded once. "Indeed."