Ch 19 - Tropical Training
A/N: And after recent developments in the last two chapters, I'm gonna not get back to that for like another 10k words or more. Have fun sitting on those cliffhangers!
Anyways, after the fustercluck of an invasion, the next day has rolled around, and our band of misfits and miscreants in Kuo Kuanna are already getting ready for the next invasion. Also, Sun's gonna get pyromancy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Souls or RWBY. Dark Souls belongs to From Software and RWBY belonged to RoosterTeeth. I only own my OCs.
(Ruby)
As far as awkward meals went, lunch at the Belladonna Manor the afternoon after the invasion probably took the cookie cake. Once again, everyone was sat about the floor cushions around the low table in a dining room (it had blown Ruby's mind to find out that there was more than one in the Manor). Except this time, Uncle Qrow was also with them, and judging by the bags beneath his eyes, hadn't gotten that much sleep despite the fact that it was well into the day before anyone in the building had roused from the depths of slumber. That being said, no one was really pecking at their food, save Sun, who probably would have kept eating even if the room was on fire because that was just how he rolled, and Neo, who either didn't care or was used to things this far out of the realm of the ordinary due to her association with Patches.
Finally, her uncle broke the silence. "What, no questions?"
"Of course we have questions," Blake shot out, Qrow having seemingly broken the spell of silence placed upon the room. "How did you even get here, just to start off! Why are you here?!"
Qrow sighed. "Beacon… wasn't an isolated event. Cinder wasn't the brains behind that attack, and you all being friends with Vyliria means that you've painted targets on your backs just by being associated with her. Some of you more than others," he said, glancing right at the red reaper as he said that.
"You mean Salem," Yang spat out.
Her uncle's mouth gaped. "How-"
"I told Vyliria about Salem and the Brothers when I caught her up to what she missed over the past forever, and then she elected to tell them," Patches said as he waved a hand in RWBY's general direction. "Seriously" he groused, "how many times am I gonna have to say that I'm contemporary to literally all of Remnant's history?" He rolled his eyes. "Anyways, everyone in this room is caught up on Salem, the fact that there's godly relics hidden under the academies, the maidens, and the origins of Remnant."
Qrow looked down, and Ruby saw sincere regret in his deep red eyes, before he sighed. "Yeah, you're all on Salem's radar after Beacon, so I decided to keep an eye out for you. Fat lot of good that ended up doing, when I ended up needing the saving."
"Then why didn't you just come with us?" Weiss asked with a brow raised. "Ruby and Yang are your family, for crying out loud."
"It's… complicated," Qrow eventually got out.
"How is it complicated?!" Yang shouted. "Don't you trust us?"
"This has nothing to do with trust, it's… it's a long story."
"We have time," Weiss pointed out.
Qrow looked down, a hollow look in his eyes. Rather than going for his flask, he went for a teacup, taking a sip and then holding it as he spoke. "Did you know," he began, "that crows are a symbol of bad luck? It's an old superstition, but it's how I got my name… You see, some people can make glyphs, and some people can burst into rose petals… but some people are just… born unlucky. My semblance isn't exactly like most. It's not exactly something I do… it's always there, and whether I like it or not, I bring Misfortune…" He put the teacup down gently, only for it to crack as he did so. He gave a wry chuckle. "I guess you could call me a bad luck charm. It comes in real handy when I'm fighting an enemy… but it makes it a little hard on friends… and family…"
Neo started signing, and Qrow looked over as Ruby decided to translate. So if your semblance is literally bad luck, why the hell can you turn into a literal crow? Ruby blinked at the end of that, not having noticed herself.
Qrow gave a nod. "Huh, didn't think anyone had noticed. Do you all know about Ozpin?"
Patches actually looked confused for a second. "What about the bloke? He's dead."
Ruby's uncle chuckled. "Heh, maybe you don't know everything then. Pretty funny actually, since you also come back from the dead."
"Also?" Ghira questioned from the head of the table.
"Ozpin… is different from most," Qrow began. "A long time ago, he chose to take on a mission from the Brothers. And before anyone asks, yes, it's those Brothers. When he dies, after a while, his soul moves to a new host, a like-minded soul, and they eventually merge. He reincarnates, always leading the fight against Salem to protect the relics. I was actually supposed to be searching in Mistral for his next host right about now, but I decided that family took precedence, and conveniently, your undead friend was already headed to Mistral, and agreed to take Oz's cane with her. She tends to make ripples wherever she goes, so all Oz will have to do when he comes back is hear about her arrival in the city, track her down, and then he can start getting back on track. But, it wasn't just reincarnation that Oz got. He also got magic. Most of it ended up going into making the four Maidens, just like in the Tale of the Seasons, but he kept a bit. And, back when STRQ was still a thing, he had given Raven and I a very small amount of it, a 'parlor trick,' was what he called it, that lets us both turn into the birds of our namesakes."
"You can… turn into a crow?" Blake asked.
Qrow gave a wide smirk, and Ruby was suddenly struck by an uncontrollable urge to blink. When her eyes opened, her uncle was gone, and a black corvid with red eyes had taken his place. Her eyes bugged out when the crow leapt off the cushion, flew a lap around the room, then set back down, another uncontrollable blink occurring before her uncle was back in his seat, his grin even wider. "You were saying?"
"He just… turned you and Raven into birds! What the hell!?" Yang shouted.
Ruby blinked, surprised by the sudden acid in her sister's tone. "Wait. Why are you upset by this, Yang?" she asked. She turned back to Qrow, before addressing him, "So your semblance is actually bad luck, and it's just magic that lets you turn into a bird?"
Qrow chuckled. "Yeah, Ozpin gave me the power to turn into a bird. I can turn into a biiiiird, Ruby. I can turn into a biiiird!" he replied in a joking manner.
"And there's no drawbacks?"
"Yep. Raven and I both agreed to it when Ozpin asked. We can shift back and forth whenever we want, however many times we want."
Ruby nodded, and then addressed her sister again, "So why are you acting like this is a bad thing? That sounds exclusively beneficial."
Yang stopped glaring, and blinked a few times, before having the courtesy to look apologetic, and then Ruby turned back to Qrow again.
"Also, I have one more question," the red reaper said, "Why is your name spelled with a Q? It literally makes your name into a pun considering what you can do."
Yang's eyes widened, her previous anger apparently forgotten as she took a sharp inhale. "Why did I never realize that?!"
Qrow blanched. "Ah, crap…"
Ruby only realized her blunder when the puns began, and instantly regretted having spoken.
(Neo)
For some reason, Blondie, Red, and Ice Queen were surprised that behind the manor rested a full on outdoor workout area with a sparring ring built in, a wooden canopy overhead in the event of rain. How else did they expect Ghira to have as much muscle mass as he does without an area dedicated to maintaining it?
They spread out in the workout area, simply surveying the environment before deciding on an actual regimen for preparing for the next invasion that would hit Kuo Kuanna. Well, most of them, that was. Neo had something else in mind, personally, and it appeared Blondie did as well, calling over Sun… who had yet to really annoy her in any meaningful capacity, so she hadn't come up with a petty nickname for him (and Monkey-Man felt a bit too racist to use on an island full of faunus).
"Please tell me this is what I think it is," Sun said as he approached.
"If you're thinking pyromancy, then it sure is!" Yang shot back with a grin.
"Yeeeeeeees…" was his reply, almost looking like a giddy schoolkid.
Which was Neo's queue to offer an insincere mental apology for her imminent interruption, before she snapped her fingers and drew everyone's attention. With said attention gathered, she jerked a thumb at herself, before pointing the index finger of that same hand at Blondie, before twirling Hush, letting it rest on her shoulder as she extended the rapier blade within the parasol.
"Huh?" was the blonde brawler's oh-so elegant response.
"I think she wants to fight you Yang," Red helpfully piped in.
"Now? I mean, I was kinda about to start something. Can't we do it later today?"
Neo narrowed her eyes, drawing Hush once more and leveling it at Yang, blade extended. Normally, Neo wouldn't have been this insistent. Normally, she'd have watched and waited, observing any new tricks Blondie might have come up with before deciding to have another bout to show her that their fight on the train beneath Mt Glenn wasn't a fluke.
Normally, Neo wasn't still pissed about all the puns Yang made, and in desperate need to vent her annoyance via judicial application of boot-to-the-face upon the source of said ire.
Yang looked at Sun, who shrugged, and said, "I mean, a spar can't last that long. I can wait another twenty minutes, no problem."
"Alright then," Blondie replied. "If you want that rematch now so badly, then I'll be happy to start off my day by evening the score and kicking your ass."
Neo just smirked and rolled her eyes, knowing that even if she hid it well, that it would annoy her opponent.
"Okay, but you two can only go until one of your auras hit half," Red cut in. "We gotta get a lot of training in today, so you two can't burn yourselves out in the first fifteen minutes." Both women offered a nonverbal agreement, before moving over to the sparring ring.
And so it was that Patches merely gave her a pat on the shoulder and a knowing smile, while Red and her teammates were all yelling for Yang to kick her butt. Scrolls were synced to track aura, they squared off on opposite sides of the ring, Neo rolled a few of her joints for some last-minute limbering-up, and Patches counted them down to begin.
Yang started things off, just like Neo knew she would, leaping into the air with fist cocked back and swinging down at her. The mute flipped over the blow that left a crater in the dirt, but rather than land a counter, she opened Hush as she passed over her foe, just in time for the parasol to block a blast of flames from her other hand. The pyromancy had been a rude surprise all the way back on their first fight on the train from Mt. Glenn to Vale, as it had introduced a near-complete unknown to the duel, but in the end her skill had still meant that the blonde had just been an extreme annoyance rather than something she could play with. Now though, she knew what to expect, and far be it from her to fall for the same trick twice.
Landing on her feet, Neo swung the still-opened canopy of Hush at Yang twice, who stepped back from the first swipe, before ducking to the side of the next. Yang quite literally fired back with a great combustion, that Neo only just directed to the side by grabbing the blonde's wrist with her free hand and pushing it off course. She pushed further in an attempt to unbalance the brawler, before transitioning into a leg sweep that Yang leapt over, Neo backflipping away from the cones of buckshot sent her way as both a retaliation and a means to propel Blondie away from her.
They both landed on opposite sides of the ring. Neo closed Hush and took a deep breath. Alright, the gloves are off.
She shattered, and so did the Neo that came up behind Yang upon contact with a chaos bed vestige. The real Neo came in from above, boot connecting to her opponent's face, the first of many kicks she intended to land before she judged penance for the downright horrendous puns as sufficiently paid. Yang staggered back, pyromantic flames billowing forth from her hands in spirals, forcing Neo to disengage. She used the closed form of Hush to swat two explosive rounds fired from Ember Celicia to the sides, before diving out of the way of a great chaos fire orb, the lava splashing from the impact, hissing as it ate into the ground.
"Can you try not to destroy my workout area?" Ghira asked from where he, Kali, and the others watched from the sidelines.
Neo had the courtesy to flash an apologetic look while Yang offered a verbal response in the same vein. Of course, the very next move in their spar was Blondie tossing a barely-less-destructive chaos bed vestige, which only impacted glass before the heterochromatic engaged the brawler in a melee. She dodged three thrown fists, juked to the side of a great combustion, and used Hush to push a wrist out of the way of her face just before the gauntlet attached to it spewed buckshot. She twirled Hush as she spun a full circle, using the momentum to help her when she jabbed the handle into Yang's nose. The brawler flinched back, but caught the mute by surprise when she jerked a leg out and took her feet out from under her. Before she could break into glass, a fist impacted her stomach, followed by a blast of fire and shotgun pellets from a combo of pyromancy and Ember Celicia. She tumbled across the floor, but still had enough wits about her to crouch behind Hush as she opened the canopy once more, which promptly tanked a fireball of some sort. She created an illusion of herself standing up, and ran in an arc towards Yang, who shot the fake, but was ready for the real her, wrists blocking her first two strikes, before Neo spiced things up by creating an illusion on herself that appeared to be going for a head level attack. Blondie raised her arms to guard against it, only for Neo to actually backflip, boot connecting to her opponent's chin at full force and knocking her ass-over-tea-kettle.
"Stop hitting my face!" Yang shouted.
Neo smirked, letting her semblance get to work and create an illusion of a sign next to her. Stop making terrible puns, cow-tits.
Blondie's eyes narrowed, but it definitely wasn't the reaction of blind rage she'd been hoping to provoke. Neo supposed that her foe must have gotten better at managing her temper since their last fight, but it had been worth a shot. They both went straight at each other, Yang sliding onto her knees as she raised burning hands, and then slammed them down onto the floor. The (somewhat less destructive) flames of a normal firestorm pyromancy erupted from the ground, but Neo had already opened her parasol and leapt into the air, positioning the canopy below her so that the flames launched her up. At the apex of her ascent, an idea popped into her head, and she conjured an illusion of a simple plank of wood as she twisted in midair and closed the canopy of Hush once more. It shattered when she kicked off of it, but it had already done its job in the second it had existed. Yang crossed her wrists overhead to block the blow she threw at her, but Neo just let go with her left hand, grabbing Blondie's wrist and using it as an anchor to twist herself and spring off, wacking her in the back of the head with a one-handed strike before shattering out of the way of another strike, only for her opponent to correctly guess where she'd end up and catch her off guard with a chaos bed vestige. She went flying back, a non-insignificant chunk of her aura lost from the attack, but righted herself before a ring out could occur.
Yang was right back upon her, eyes wary for her semblance and ready to turn at a moment's notice. So Neo did the unexpected, and stayed where she was, employing a trick Roman had taught her a long time ago as she whipped something out of her pocket and tossed it at her foe's face.
Yang screamed as she staggered back, one hand furiously rubbing at her eyes. "Was that just pocket-sand you little twerp?!"
Neo's only response was to take advantage of Yang's temporary blindness by hooking the handle of Hush around an ankle before taking her from her feet, winding herself up for one last kick to the face of the blonde brawler. The blow actually sent her out of the ring, which honestly annoyed Neo because Yang had only been at 62% aura, and she probably would have been able to get out at least two more kicks to her face before the 50% threshold that had been agreed upon.
"That's the match!" Red called out, and Neo relaxed, twiliring Hush once before hooking the weapon on her belt. Blondie pushed herself up on her hands and knees, grumbling as she stood up. "Damnit," she muttered. Bloodshot eyes glanced over to Neo, and Yang continued. "That was a good fight. But I guess I still have a bit to go to make sure I don't come up short in my next fight."
Neo gave a very unamused glare, and promptly flipped her off.
(Sun)
It was several more minutes before Yang had somewhat cleaned herself off from her sparring match (and repaired most of the damage she'd caused to the ring), and by that point, Sun Wukong was practically vibrating with anticipation. Call him immature, but he'd challenge anyone who did to try and keep calm when the power of flame was practically in their fingertips, and would soon be literally in his fingertips. Suffice to say, the monkey-tailed faunus had a massive grin on his face when Yang finally strolled up to him, and the rest of her team, along with Blake's parents, looked on in curiosity.
"Right," Yang said, one hand briefly scratching the back of her head, "There's a couple things I wanna run by you before we do this, just to make sure you know exactly what you're getting into, okay?"
Sun raised an eyebrow, but otherwise his enthusiasm wasn't particularly dampened. "Uh, sure. No problem."
"Alright. So the first thing with a pyromancy flame is that it's not a physical object. It's a part of you, as much as your arm or your tail. It's something that's always there, whether it's active or not. You can have it inactive, but you can never actually put the thing away. You following me so far?" the blonde brawler looked him in the eyes, waiting for a confirmation.
"Yeah. So the flame is always there, even if I'm not actually using it, and my hand isn't on fire, right?"
Yang nodded. "Right. So this next one segues directly from there. Since it's not a physical object you can give, you can't just hand a pyromancy flame to someone like you would some lien so they can go buy pizza."
Sun blinked, confused. "Wait, so how are you gonna give it to me then? How did you get it, in the first place?"
"A pyromancy flame is a part of you. It's part of your soul. So when Vyliria gave me a flame, she gave me a tiny piece of her own flame, and that included a very tiny piece of her own soul. Like, so miniscule it might as well as only be there on paper. Blake got the same."
He took a step back, raising his hands. "Wait, wait, wait! You're gonna give me a piece of your soul?! Is that safe?"
"Eh, it's fine," Yang responded as she waved a hand. "Maybe like, once every couple of weeks, if I was tired and looked at the moon, I'd get this very faint sense of regret-filled nostalgia, but it was barely there, and I could recognize it wasn't me. I asked Vyliria about it once and she told me that rarely getting a sense of an emotion that the person who gave their flame felt very strongly when they went to a specific place or looked at someone or something was perfectly safe. Not normal, because after the attack on Beacon she'd told me that she had really strong feelings relating to Gwyndolin and the moon if I was feeling anything at all, and that normally, I'd only get a vague sense of familiarity if I went somewhere or saw someone she'd been to or interacted with a lot."
"And I didn't even have that problem to begin with," Blake remarked.
"So… basically giving me a flame is a big trust thing, and important, but not dangerous."
"Yeah," Yang said. "You'd better be willing to commit to learning if we do this."
Sun nodded, and took a breath. Rather rarely for him, he took a few moments to seriously think this through, before making a decision. "Okay. I'll give it my best."
Yang grinned. "Alright then. You right with your right hand, right?" No one was amused, but Sun still nodded. "Spoilsports," she muttered. "So give me your left. You'll be able to cast with both hands later on, but it's better to start off with the non-dominant hand." The monkey faunus held out his left hand to Yang, who grabbed it with her own. "Alright, gimme a sec to remember what Vyliria said…"
"Is it necessary?" he asked.
"No idea," Yang replied, "But it sounded cool, so I'm gonna say it anyways!"
"That… doesn't inspire confidence."
"Oh, just shut up and let me light your hand on fire!" Yang paused, and looked introspective for a moment. "Huh, I can see why Vyliria told Blake that saying that was funny." She took another breath, and was back to being serious. "So, according to Vyliria, and she does have pretty solid evidence to back it up, though it might be different for our case because of the Brothers, our souls came from flame. Fire both reveals and obscures the world, and is not easily controlled. The people of Lost Izalith, who invented pyromancy, sought to control their flame way too much, and it ended up ruining their city, killing most of the people, and turning the rest into demons." Yang's hand started to burn, and Sun flinched, but there was no pain as the fire started to lick its way across his own hand. Said hand began to feel very warm very quickly, and that feeling was quickly mirrored deep inside him. "Respect this flame, because it's a part of you, and more valuable than anything else you'll ever own," she continued, looking Sun dead in the eyes as he swallowed and nodded. The fire began to burn on his hand on its own, yet still caused no pain. "When everything else fails, when your weapons are broken, that fire will stay with you, willing to burn against the darkness until the very end. It's not a tool, or something you can completely control. Fire wants to burn, and you can only direct the flames. You're about to wield something very powerful, that will become stronger or weaker as you do, and that can burn you just as easily as it can anyone else." She blinked, and lilac eyes were now a burning red. "Fear the flame, Sun Wukong, lest it swallow you whole." Another blink and they were back to lilac, and she removed her hand. A small, flickering flame hung in Sun's palm for a few moments, before sinking into it. His whole hand started to burn for a handful of seconds, before it went out.
At that, his eyes widened, and he gave a panicked, "Uhhhh-"
Yang snickered. "Sun, it's just off! Unless you want your hand to be on fire all the time?"
"Oh." Sun gave a sheepish chuckle. "Yeah, that makes sense. So, uh, how do I turn it back on then?"
"Well, to quote Vyliria, 'Feel for the fire within your soul, feel the path it takes to your pyromancy flame, and call it forth.' When it gets there, just let it out," Yang finished.
Sun closed his eyes, following the instruction. He did feel it, and tried to visualize it flowing to his hand. Said hand began to feel warm, and Sun cracked his eyes open to watch the gentle orange flame licking across the extremity. A full-blown grin followed. "That's awesome."
The blonde brawler shot a grin right back. "Yeah, it definitely is. Now, come one, let's start with some basics, and let someone else take the sparring ring. We got work to do."
And for once in his life, Sun Wukong was looking forward to some intense academics.
(Blake)
With that first spar out of the way, and Yang teaching Sun the basics of Pyromancy, Weiss and Ruby had done their own spar, before the former broke off to train with sorcery whilst the latter began to work on her scythe skills against her uncle, even giving him a surprise with one of the techniques Vyliria had taught her back in Beacon. Blake, on the other hand, had come up with her own plan in the last few minutes. And that plan involved the only person in their party that she'd yet to witness fight in a meaningful capacity. Making up her mind, the cat faunus, strolled up to the one bald member of the impromptu gathering. "Patches?"
The man looked up from his conversation with her parents. "Yeah?"
"Can we spar?"
Her response was a full-blown laugh, that trailed into silence as the undead began to realize her expression wasn't changing. "Wait… you're serious? You want to spar with me?"
"I haven't seen you fight yet," Blake offered as a way of response, trying (and failing) to gauge what he was thinking.
Patches looked at her critically for a few seconds, before shrugging his shoulders with a slight, smug grin. "Alright. Suit yourself. We'll go to half aura or ring-out. Just remember, you asked for this."
Blake narrowed her eyes, but shortly afterwards, they were facing off in the sparring ring. She privately wondered if Patches was actually that confident in his own abilities, even despite a seeming lack of knowledge in any of the schools of magic, or if this was just his usual… personality in play. Though she put those thoughts aside as Ruby took a break from training with Qrow (who took the respite as an opportunity to take a long sip from his flask) to count them down.
As soon as her leader waved her hand down to signal them to begin, Blake was off, dashing towards a seemingly relaxed Patches as she swung both blades of Gambol Shroud at his neck. Yet in the time it took her to blink, the man had twisted out of the way of the strike entirely, twirling Splitleaf as he did so, a shot barking out to propel it faster as it struck the back of her head. Her footing was completely ruined, and she tumbled forwards, almost out of the ring given her momentum, but instead she used a shadow clone to change her direction, landing with her hands and pushing herself back into the air. She sheathed her kusarigama and used her free hand to toss a ball of black fire at Patches, who batted it to the side where it splashed into the ground with the flat of his halberd. The undead took a single breath in as Blake landed, and then gazed at her with that insufferable smirk still plastered on his face, even as he dashed towards her at full speed. Blake separated the bladed cleaver from the rest of her weapon once more, crossing them in front of her to intercept an overhead swing from Splitleaf, but Patches merely took the locking of weapons as an excuse to leg-sweep her. As her feet were taken out from under her, her opponent lashed out with the wrist which bore a metal gauntlet, aiming for her face, but she had another Shadow take the blow… only for her real body to be battered by buckshot as Patches perfectly predicted where she'd rematerialize and preemptively fired. She tumbled to the ground, rolling out of the way of a downwards stab from the halberd, only to have the wind knocked out of her completely as Patches' foot lashed out and caught her in the abdomen. The kick sent her flying well out of the sparring ring, slamming into a tree at the edge of the workout area with a painful crack.
Her parents ran over to her as she groaned on the ground, everyone else stopping what they were doing at the rather abrupt, yet spectacular, ending to their spar. Patches actually winced for a second, her faunus ears picking up a muttered, "Might've overdone that a bit."
Kali turned and glared at him. "You think?!"
"Okay, okay, definitely overdid it," he said as he raised his hands in a placating manner.
"What the hell even was that at the end?" Qrow commented, while Yang ran over to check on Blake as well.
"Horsehoof ring," the undead supplied. "Let's me kick real hard, and a personal favorite of mine. In my defense, she literally asked to spar with a guy who's been running around on this planet for longer than it's been named Remnant. Don't know what she was expecting would happen, but it obviously didn't match reality."
Ghira and Kail held Blake as she slowly uncurled from the fetal position and wheezed air back into her lungs. "I'm fine, Yang, just winded."
"Y-you sure?" the blonde asked.
Blake gave a wry smile. "Yeah, just get back to teaching Sun."
Something cold landed in her lap, and Blake looked down to see an ice-pack, before looking up to see that it was Neo who had tossed it. The mute shrugged, and flipped her scroll to show a message written on it. Didn't train just when I was with the Branwen tribe. Also trained with Patches. You're gonna need that, because that'll bruise even WITH aura. Learned that the hard way.
"Thanks," Blake offered. Neo just responded with a shrug and went skipping her way away.
Which is right when a guardsman entered the training area from within the house. "Sir," he directed to Ghira, and he continued when her dad gave a wave to show he was listening, "The Albain brothers are at the front door, for the meeting you had scheduled."
Ghira gave a sharp inhale. "Blast! I forgot about that with everything that's happened in the past day." He looked over to Blake and her friends. "You're all welcome to come along. We're all but certain to end up talking about last night. Though Weiss may want to stay on the opposite side of the room from them, considering that they represent the White Fang here."
Blake gave a sharp inhale of her own. This might not end well, she thought as she stiffly rose to her feet and began to make her way back into the manor.
(Weiss)
If Weiss had thought the conversation/interrogation with Ruby's Uncle that morning had been awkward, this gathering blew that out of the water. Mostly on the count of the glaringly obvious fact that two members of a terrorist oranization basically built on a desire to murder her bloodline were at said meeting. The Albain brothers were dressed nearly identical to one another, with black vests with white edges, with detached sleeves that were white but ended in black gloves that went from the wrist to the middle finger. Their pants were baggy and white, and they both wore brown sandals. Atop their heads were dull red cowls with white edges, golden buttons keeping them clasped atop them, and both hoods crafted to resemble the head of a fox. One of the brother's had the ears of the animal, and the other had the bushy tail.
"Your Grace," the one with the tail addressed Ghira as they situated themselves in Ghira's office, "is it necessary that the Schnee sit in on this meeting?"
Blake's father narrowed his eyes, and Weiss swallowed as she felt indignation run through her veins. "Weiss has been all but disowned by her father, and has very publicly expressed her disagreements with Jacque's attitude towards the faunus. Furthermore, she was involved in the events that transpired last night. She has as much of a stake in this as you do, and you'd do well not to profile her based on her appearance and name, lest you brand yourself a hypocrite, Corsac."
"Our apologies, your Grace," the other (Fennec, by process of elimination), placated. "Old grudges die hard, and many of our brothers and sisters in the Fang will have great difficulty in not associating every Schnee with what we fight against." Though even as he said that, he undermined the statement by flicking a displeased gaze towards the blanchette, which Weiss returned with just as much disdain.
Ghira likewise remained skeptical, but elected to proceed nonetheless. "Very well. Then let us discuss the events of last night and what we'll be doing to ensure the safety of Kuo Kuanna and its residents in the coming days and weeks."
"Yes, let us begin," Corsac replied. "Sister Ilia informed us that you know about the individuals responsible for the murders that have been occuring."
"Yeah," Patches cut in, drawing the room's attention. He tossed over a data chip that could be plugged into scrolls, and Fennec caught it. "Everything that you need to know about those three are on that, but to give you the short version: The most dangerous one is the one with the glowing hand dressed in black armor. It's a darkwraith. That thing was human at one point, but now it's just an abomination hellbent on sucking the literal humanity out of anything it can get its hands on. It grabs you, and you're dead. No ranged capabilities, but it's a nightmare in melee, which is also where it can grab and drain you, and its reflexes means it can dodge or block practically any projectile you can throw at it. The other two are undead - you kill them, they'll come back. Both of them are highly dangerous, but not on the same level as the darkwraith. Think the equivalent of extremely experienced veteran huntsmen. Who also have spells that they can toss about. All three are using an artifact from before the moon broke that lets them project a red phantom of themselves. The 'invaders' can die without any adverse effects on their actual bodies, as well as making it basically impossible to locate them."
"Thank you," Fennec said in a terse manner. "And the woman who appeared to fight these 'invaders' and then left after they were defeated? She matched the description you gave for phantoms, save that her coloration was blue."
"That was Vyliria Avalon," Kali supplied, "and at this point, I'd be surprised if there was anyone on the planet who hasn't heard that name. Last night, Patches told us that she's part of an order who use similar artifacts specifically to hunt people who invade." She threw a glance to Patches, who just nodded in confirmation that her summary was correct.
"Very well," Corsac responded. "And we can assume that she will appear the next time they strike?" Ghira gave a grunt of affirmation, before the White Fang member continued. "And would you happen to have a manner of warning to inform us of when they arrive?"
"Oh!" Ruby exclaimed, drawing all attention to her, even as she shrunk in on herself with a sheepish smile. "When they showed up, I heard this really loud bell sound, but Neo didn't. But Patches and the rest of my team told me they heard it too. I think it's because we have magic, and Patches was around when it used to be a constant threat. So, we'd hear when they show up, so we can let you know."
Both Albains gave a flat look towards Ruby, but nodded in sync. "Very well," Fennec replied.
"If there is no other information that is pertinent, then we will be on our way to disseminate this information among the White Fang," Corsac continued.
Ghira gave a look to his wife, Blake, and then Patches, none of which had anything to add. "Yes, that appears to be all. Have a good day, gentlemen."
And in Weiss' opinion, those two couldn't have been out the door fast enough.
(Adam)
They were here. She was here. Because of course she was, and of course Blake would bring the Schnee. And the first thing they'd done was save faunus' lives, as if to rub it in his face that all his efforts had been a failure. Adam grit his teeth, feeling that new, burning brand on his throat flare in response to his anger. He'd have to alter his plans, though perhaps he could use the current circumstances to his advantage. After all, the situation in the city was far from stable, and the White Fang was being taxed from how extended it was as it kept order in the city as panic rose. He could have Ilia continue to watch the Belladonnas, and now the Schnee, and at the same time task the Albains with requesting reinforcements from Mistral. If he could make the situation appear dire enough at home, it might be enough to draw Sienna from her headquarters in Mistral all the way over here, to personally see to the problem. And if she came to him, it would be all the easier to slip Wilt between her ribs and move onto the next steps of his new plan.
He rose from his solitary mediation in his private room. He grabbed his weapons. There was work to be done.
()
A/N: So, first off, props to anyone who gets the reference I made to a certain video on youtube. I just had to do it. Secondly… why does Yang get pissed that Ozpin turned Raven and Qrow into birds? I get that initially Raven gave the impression that it wasn't voluntary or something like that, but the second that Qrow confirmed that not only did they give consent, and that it also has literally no drawbacks, that should have been the end of that.
Next up, the long awaited rematch between Yang and Neo. Granted, it was a spar, but all the same, regardless of how much stronger Yang is when compared to her canon self (and not to mention, she's not minus 1 arm), Neo is still Best Girl, and still knows how to easily handle an opponent who has more raw strength than she does.
And then I decided to toss in Patches curb-stomping Blake, just to showcase that regardless of what you can bring to the table, the sheer raw experience Patches has, which outdoes even figures like Ozpin or Salem, is not something to be trifled with.
Then we finally introduce the Fennec brothers, who I'd honestly forgotten about when I was planning the first few chapters of this branch of the story, as well as take a quick peek at what Adam is up to.
This chapter took sooooo long, even if it was just tying up loose ends to wrap up this part of the story's Volume 4 equivalent, so that it's set up to start fresh when I get to V5.
Now that I'm caught up to V5 on two thirds of the story, I can finally get to what I'm sure you've all been waiting for, to cap things off with a VAAPPR bossfight against the Nuckelavee, and then finally move on to content that parallels Volume 5 of the show. I'll see you all next week.
