Prologue

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The World of Remnant. A world full of different people, Faunus, creatures and sights. It’s also full of dangers, one of them called the Creatures of Grimm, soulless monsters that destroy everything in their path. To combat these threats, Huntsman Academies were built to train those to fight such threats, trained to put their own lives on the line for the protection of the people and peace. One of these schools is called Beacon Academy in Vale. It's run by Headmaster Ozpin and is known for training some of the greatest Huntsman in the land.

But that’s not where this story is going to begin. No, this story begins much farther away, in a small village that’s mostly Faunus live in. In one of these homes is a young girl with long silver hair and red eyes. She was at the age of six and lives with her mother, the local mechanic of the shop known as ‘Silver Fox’s Den of Gears.’ The young girl is named Viri Mal Kun, daughter to Sara Mal Kun. Viri is a bright girl with a bright future ahead of her, she believes that she would grow up to be a mechanic like her mother but sometimes she dreams to be a Huntress, like the ones in the stories she hears from in the village.

Little does she know, that her fate will be changed forever.

Viri was sitting on a stool, kicking her little feet as she did while watching her mother work on something that was akin to a metal leg.

“Needle nose pliers.” Viri’s mom asked, holding out a greasy hand to her without looking up. Viri looked at the toolbox and pulled out the pliers and handed them to her mother. “Thank you.” Viri’s mom said, giver her daughter a pat on the head.

“Hey…” Viri said, trying to rub some of the greases out of her silver hair. Sara looked up and saw her handprint on her daughter's head and snorts.

“Sorry, I’ll help you clean it out after this. Kay?” Sara informed her, gaining a nod from Viri. Sara smiled as she used her tools to fix up the mechanical leg and, after ten long minutes, she was finished and closed it up. “There, that should hold out a little longer. Able to let old man Luke to walk again.” Sara said to Viri as she took the leg over to the side where most of her tasks laid finished before her. Sara set the leg down and got some orange scented soap to help Viri get some of the greases out before getting her into a bath. As Sara ran her fingers through Viri’s hair Viri spoke.

“Mama… do I have to go to school next year?” Viri asked, somewhat pouting a little at the fact that next year she’ll be old enough to go to school.

“Viri, we talked about this. When you turned six in a few days you’ll be able to be sent to school.” Sara said to her daughter, running her fingers around her daughter's fox ears that twitched a little.

“But I wouldn't know anyone there! Can I stay here and you teach me stuff?” Viri asked, a little hopefully.

“Viri, you know that I'm too busy to teach you school work, and if I did I wouldn't teach anything a teacher could do better.” Sara said as she finished soaping up Viri's hair.

“But you're mama! You could do it!” Viri cried just as Sara picked her up and set Viri down on a counter with a sink.

“Maybe, bit wouldn't you want to meet other kids? Make friends?” Sara asked before adding. “Head down.”

With that said, Viri lays down so her head is over the sink. Sara took the hose and started spread it at Viri's head. Viri shivered from the cold but it quickly turned to warm.

“But I could meet them from walking out the door!” Viri told her Mana who had water running over Viri's ears before said daughter moved them.

“Oh really? If that's the case, then why is it you don't do that already?” Sara asked as she finished washing the soap out of her daughter's hair before looking for the towel like rag she had before using it to dry off her hair. “I know you aren't looking forward to this but let's face it Viri, you can't stay in this house for very long.”

“But… I'm six…” Viri said to her mother as she giggled.

“That's six in a few days missy. Tell you what, after your party, the two of us will go to Vale and go try out one of their candy shops. My treat.” Sara said which got Viri’s attention.

“Really! Can we go see the other shops there as well?” Viri asked her mama.

“Maybe~ but you have to go to school then.” Sara said, dampening Viri’s mood a bit.

“Aww… fine.” Viri grumbles.

“Good, now go upstairs and get a bath running as I get some food started.” Sara said and with a nod, the two headed off to two different places of the house. One was the bathroom and the other the kitchen. As Sara walked into the kitchen she felt a cold shiver run up her body and looked out of her window towards the trees, which now look more ominous than before. Sara frowned at this before starting her cooking. If she knew better, she would have Viri off to Vale, and away from this village that day.

Viri slept soundly in her bed, dreaming something that only a five-year-old can only dream of. It was very pleasant and fun but there was something… odd about it. An odd sound was being heard in her dreams… it sounded like… screaming? Why would Viri dream of someone scream? In fact, these screams sounded like ones of fear and terror. This dream ended when she heard someone banging at her door.

“Viri! Wake up!” Sara yelled as she forced Viri’s door open and walked in without turning on the lights.

“Mama? What’s wrong?” Viri asked, both confused and sleepy as she just woke up from her sleep.

“We need to leave sweety, come on!” Sara said, grabbing Viri and pulling her out of her bed. Viri was confused as her mother was dragging her away and down the hallway.

“What about our stuff?” Viri asked, still waking up from her sleep.

“No time, we need to get out of here Viri-” Before she could finish there was loud banging from above them, something crashing in and around. Viri’s eyes widen as her mother looked at her and made the quite sign with her hand to Viri. The young Faunus nodded as the two moved in the hallway, peeking into another room were Viri saw a large talon in their home as it burst through the wall. Viri was awake… she was wide awake and scared out of her mind as at the window there was a large bird’s head that was peeking in through the window. Its large white mask like head with red glowing eyes stared into the room. Viri wanted to scream in fear at this but held back as her mother told her to. The two waited for a few minutes, causing the screaming to grow louder.

Before long the head moved away, causing Sara to pull Viri along, towards the cellar. “I should’ve known… I had a feeling that something would happen but… not this bad…” Viri knew that her mama has moments that either meant something was going to go bad. As they walked Sara grabbed hold of a metal rod and the two of them headed down into the Cellar.

“Mama… w-what’s going on?” Viri asked, watching her mama lock the cellar and put a large think piece of wood to bar the way.

“Grimm… Grimm is what happened.” Sara said as there was a loud crash from above them. Sara pushed her daughter back into the cellar as large footsteps walked and trampled over everything. There was so much nose up above that they almost didn’t hear the Grimm crashing onto the cellar door. Viri grabbed hold of her mama’s body and Sara was holding her pipe out and speaking… more like Praying.

“Please… I know you’re listening… you're always listening.” Sara said as there was another crash above, “I’m sorry I left, I’m so… so sorry but I need your help.”

Viri looked at her mother before hugging her closer. “Grimm are in my home, trashing the place and they will soon get to the cellar… please, I don’t know how long the door will last. I need your help!... My daughter needs your help… Please… mom.”

Viri was confused at that last part as there was so much noise above that she held onto her mama for dear life. The crashing continued but it soon was replaced with some roars and cries. The two of them heard loud bangs and cries of pain from a beast like natures. Viri closed her eyes and Sara covered her ears as the sound of slaughter continued on before, finally, there was silence. No crashing… no cries or screams… total silence. Then they heard the sounds of footsteps from above, they weren't heavy but just enough to be heard from below before they both heard a set of knocks from the hatch. The both of them looked at one another before Sara spoke.

“Wait right here…” Sara said, causing Viri to shake her head.

“N-No… don’t…” Viri pleaded before her mother moved away from her and towards the hatched, another set of knocks and Sara removed the bar from the door. Viri soon saw some light coming from the hatch, lighting her mother’s face up.

Sara let out a huge sigh as she saw the being in front of her. “Guess… you heard me?” She asked the being, glancing over to Viri who was still hiding in the shadows. Sara looked back at the figure in front of her; the being was a woman with long silver hair and a pair of fox ears on top of her head, wearing a breastplate, arm guards, and a flowing white skirt that looked like silk but was better than steel or any metal on Remnant. In her hand was a large stone glave, black blood dripped from the blade as the woman stared at Sara, seeing her without injury and a metal pipe. She also had two large wings on her back, a shimmer of silver and white reflected off of them.

“Are any of you hurt?” A soft-spoken voice was heard from the woman above as she asked this. Sara shook her head.

“No… scared the hell out of me… how’s the village?” Sara asked, worried about her neighbors. “Are there… any survivors?”

“I'm afraid the casualties here are high but there are survivors, the brave few that fended them off or fled to get help.” The woman said to Sara. Sara nodded at this, dropping the pipe in her hand before looking at the woman. She slowly turned her head and looked at where Viri was, her red eyes stared at her mama in fear and curiosity. Sara moved away from the woman and kneeled down.

“Come on, everything is fine… mama’s here,” Sara said, coasting her daughter to come out of the shadows as the woman walked around, letting Viri see her finally, Viri thought she was some sort of angel. Viri looked at her mama before slowly crawling out of her hiding spot and walking into her hug.

“A-Are the monsters gone?” Viri asked her mom which Sara nodded.

“Yes, all the monsters are gone.” Sara said, holding her daughter close and now worried that there was no place that was safe for her daughter. Holding her close she picked Viri up and turned back to the woman. “Look… a lot has happened and… is there… still a room for me, back home?” Sara asked, making Viri wonder why would her mama have a place with the angel woman… or Faunus… she had pretty wings was the last thing Viri thought when she spoke in a stern tone.

“Maybe, maybe I use that room for another thing.” Said the woman, twiddling the glaive in her hand as if it were nothing. “A certain someone simply up and left one night with their boyfriend.” She added.

“Hey, I was young and dumb okay. I’ve grown up a lot…” Sara said with a little frown. “I just… wanted to be with him okay… before he dumped me.” Viri knew that she was talking about her papa, the man that left them when Sara was pregnant with Viri. “Please… I have no place to go, we have no place to go.” Upon hearing this the woman gazed upon the two, mother and daughter clutching at one another.

“Yes.” Were the words that escaped her lips as she closed her eyes. Sara let out a happy sigh at this.

“Thank you… so much.” Sara said to the woman before Viri spoke.

“Mama, where are we going?” Viri asked.

“Some place safe dear… I promise.” Sara said as she waited for the woman to do something, which Viri turned to look at. The woman stared at Viri, seeing that she was a younger version of Sara but with wide, curious eyes. It were almost like they were trying to figure out how the woman works from simple looks. The woman, taking a simple breath struck the air itself with her blade, tearing open a gateway through the very fabric of reality itself. Viri’s eyes widen at this in awe that something like this happen. The woman stepped aside and allowed Sara and Viri to walk through the gateway before following behind.

On the other side, Viri saw they were not in their home, or village anymore. All around them were rolling green hills, some trees on a few of them and a large sun hang above them. The sky was a very, very… blue colour. Viri stared at all of this in awe as the woman came up behind them.

“Where are we?” Viri asked as she was set down in front of Sara.

“The realm between realms, your mother once called it The Valley.” The woman said as she walked by the two. Doing so caused a set of double doors to emerge from the ground, the ground itself looking as if it was made of water as they rose up. “Come on you two.” The woman said as she opened the door. The two of them looked at each other before following the woman through the door. Inside the two see a well furnished room with a large TV, couch. A fireplace that was burning and some bookshelves. From where Sara could see, she saw a top of a line kitchen and dining room and from what she could guess, there's a lot more here.

“Whoa… This place is big…” Viri said in awe at this, wondering how could a place be so big yet had a small size from the outside that is just the door. Before anything could happen, there was a loud ‘Bonk!’ sound as Sara was now holding her head in pain as the woman was holding a wooden rolling pin.

“Ooooow!~” Sara groaned loudly as she looked back at the woman.

“I did not raise a daughter just to be disrespectful to their mother and father like you did.” The woman said sternly and with a frown.

“But a rolling pin!?! Really!... ooow~” Sara groaned again.

“I can always get your father's maul.” Said the woman with a stern frown. Sara paled at the sound of the maul before the woman's stern frown turned to a surprised one as Viri was now trying to hit her legs.

“Leave my mama alone! Stop hurting mama!” She yelled angrily for a little five years old could as she tried to defend her mom.

“Hmm… brave as her mother, a little foolish too.” The woman said to them both as Sara groaned while rubbing her aching head.

“Geez, feels like you hit me with a hammer…” Sara groaned as she looked at Viri and pulled her away. “That’s enough Viri… really.”

“But mama~, she hurt you!” Viri whined before narrowing her eyes at the woman. “Meanie.” With that she stuck her tongue out at her. The woman had to try to not laugh at this, seeing this more adorable than insulting.

“Is that anyway to call your grandmother?” Asked the woman with a chuckle, the rolling pin in hand fading away in a dim flash of light. This made the young Faunus girl blink in confusion.

“Grandmother?” Viri asked, looking back to her mother who sighed.

“Yeah… Viri, this is my mama, mama this is my little angel.” Sara introduced them to each other. Viri stared at the woman who’s supposed to be her grandma, who also has wings.

“But… she has wings… how does that work?” Viri asked her mama. The woman arched a brow, making her ears twitched. “But still… wings.” Viri pointed out to her after seeing the ears. The woman in turn rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers, within the short few seconds of the snap, her wings were gone, leaving behind a big bushy tail. This caused Viri to stare wide-eyed at her. “Magic!” she yelled.

“Oh yes, and there’s a lot more that she could do Viri.” Sara said, nuzzling her daughter happily which got a giggle from the young Faunus.

“Now then, your father should be home any minute and he wants to have a few words with you.” Sara's mother said, getting a pale-faced, nervous expression at the mention of her father.

“R-Right…” Sara said as she soon put Viri down. “Viri, no hitting your grandma.”

Viri stared at her mama before looking back at her grandma then back at her. Sara arched a brow at her before Viri spoke. “Alright, mama…” Viri said before pointing at her grandma. “But no hitting Mama anymore!”

“Only when she's learned the error of her mistake.” Said Viri's own grandmother before said granddaughter was gently lifted off the ground. “Now come, it was awfully late when I found you and the last thing I need is for you to be losing sleep.” She said as the once bare wall on the left of the hallway now had a door, one that looked strikingly similar to Viri's door.

“My room!” Viri said in shock as she was now in her old room, only that her windows showed her only a very starry night… and just that. “How did you do this… did you steal my room?” Viri asked her grandma.

“No, I'm sad to say that your room lies in ruin after the Grimm attack. I took the liberty to recreate it to the smallest detail.” Her Grandmother said as she floated Viri over to her bed and tucked her in. It was then her grandmother made strange hand gestures, making her hand shine an odd green light. “Sleep tight, little one.” She said. Viri stared at her hand before feeling her eyes grow heavy and she let out a cute yawn.

“Good… night…” Viri said before falling to sleep. The woman smiled at this before getting back up and turning to see her daughter there, watching her.

“You know, I enjoy tucking her in at night…” Sara grumbled to her mother, making said woman chuckle.

“Yes but you have important matters to attend to.” Her mother said, snapping her fingers, making Sara fly back and onto a chair. Before Sara could do anything as her mother walking over to her Sara felt a large hand been put on her shoulder. She slowly looked and saw a giant of a man standing behind her looking down at Sara.

“Uhh… Hi papa…” Sara said in a nervous tone.

“Hello dear.” The words of her father spoken in a deep and gruff voice, any words from him will make a simple mortal cower in fear. “Care to explain why were you gone for several years?” He asked calmly, though all knew that he was as livid as her mother.

“Umm… well… you see…” Sara stuttered to try to come up with something before simply blurting. “I-I was in love okay, I was head over heels for him and so was he. I thought we were going to be happy together forever.” Both her parents looked at one another before back at her, knowing there was more to this. Sara sighed as she looked down at the floor. “We were supposed to get married, one with a view of the ocean… it was going to be perfect but… when we found out that I was pregnant… he left… said he wasn’t ready… and just left.” Tears started to well up in her eyes. “I thought it was going to be perfect… then he got scared.”

“Dear, I think I have a new prey to hunt.” Said the giant of a man that was her father as he stood up.

“Please… don’t…” Sara said to him, making the man stop. “Like you said… it’s been several years…” Sara looked at her father with a tearful smile. “There’s a lot to catch up on… papa.” The man hugged his daughter as she was quick to wrap her arms around him.

“... He's still a dead man.” Was all the giant said which made Sara's mother rolled her eyes at this.

“Alright alright, now off to bed.” Said Sara's mother. Sara shook her head with a snort.

“Mama… I’m a grown woman, I don’t need to be told to-” Sara stopped when her mother looked at her.

“Bed. Now.” Was all her mother said, more sternly than before. Sara felt her whole body shiver at this.

“Y-Yes mama.” Sara said before running off towards where her room was before stopping. She looked over at the newly made room and quietly opening the door. Inside Viri’s room, she saw her daughter quietly sleeping in her bed. Sara walked over to the side of the bed before kneeling down and giving her a kiss goodnight.

“Sweet dreams Viri…” Sara said with a smile before quickly making her way out of the room and closing the door, allowing only a little light to shine through.

“Bed!” Her mother exclaimed, reaching the limits of her patience with her. Sara eeped before running off to her room, making it known that she was there from the door closing. Now this left the two parents and now grandparents in the living room. Sara’s mother was still a bit upset at her daughter for all what she has done over the years as Sara’s father quietly snuck up to Viri’s door, peeking in to see the sleeping form of his granddaughter.

Elsewhere…

Back at the village that was attacked by the Grimm, soldiers worked and tend to the wounded as a few Huntsman were taking note of the damages.

“How many villages was that? Three, four?” One of them asked.

“Three from my count. Heard this one lasted a few years though.” another said to the first. “This is what you get for little to no protection from either Huntsman or anyone. The Grimm shows up and tears everything down.”

As the two talked, one Huntsman was off somewhere in the village, in the ruins of a house that he knew. He remembered great memories of this place, living here with his girlfriend, enjoying life every day. He walked through the wreckage, taking note of splatter black blood on the ground and stopping as he saw something shined in the corner of his eye. He brushed off the fallen wood and found a scroll that was left here.

With a shaky hand, he opened it and saw an image of Sara, holding a much younger Viri in her arms, smiling happily. The man took a sharp intake of breath as he stared at the image.

“Sara… oh Sara…” The man said as he fell to his knees. “If I didn’t run… if I manned up sooner…” The man weeped, holding the scroll that was owned by Sara Mal Kun. “Sara… I’m so sorry…”

Ch: 1

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Young Viri PoV…

It’s odd and scary when you have to move someplace else, normally or magically as I found out. My new home was much bigger than the old home, I found out that I have a grandma… who Mama and she are upset at each other for some reason and I have my old room… literally! All my stuff is here from my drawings, books, toys and clothes! How I can tell? Well I was still standing in my room just woken up. The sun was shining through the windows and I stretched as I got out of bed… welp, time to explore!

I opened my door and peeked out to see if there was anyone around. Seeing that there’s no one I went out of my room and started exploring my new home. As I was looking through the hallway I turned the corner and found myself in front of a…

“Mountian man!” I said as I saw a very tall man in front of me, who had to look down at me to see.

“Ah, I see you're up little one.” Said the mountain man with a chuckle. The man was bald with some hair around his mouth. He was very strong looking as he kneeled down to me.

“Hi! I’m Viri, who are you?” I asked the mountain man with a happy smile.

“I am Jericho Mal Kun as I understand it, I am your grandfather.” He introduced himself to me with a smile.

“Really!?” I said in awe before adding. “You’re really tall! And big!” This got him to chuckle a bit.

“Yes, I get that a lot.” He said to me before picking me off of the ground, letting me sit in his shoulder as he walked and added. “Now come on, you shouldn't skimp on breakfast.” He said to me. I nodded at him as he carried me to the kitchen, me giggling happily as this happens.

As we got to the kitchen I saw Grandma making food and Mama at the table. “Hi mama!” I greeted her happily. She looked up and smiled at me.

“Morning Viri, having fun up there?” Mama said to me which I smiled at her as I straighten a bit.

“I’m on top of mount Grandpa!” I said proudly which got a laugh from mama.

“Great job, now come down and get some food Viri.” Mama said to me as I nodded.

“Umm, can you put me down please?” I asked grandpa to which he chuckled at and set me down beside mama. Afterwards, he simply sat down as well before Grandma came up to the table with a stack of homemade looking waffles. I started drooling at the sight of these waffles. “Yummy~” I said with a smile.

“Don’t eat them all.” Mama said with a chuckle. “But really don’t, these waffles are hard to resist.”

“Now you made it hard not to…” I said to mama which again made her chuckle. Grandma gave us all a stack of two, leaving a few extra ones to whoever is still hungry by the end of this.

“Eat up.” Grandma said with a smile as she sat down. It was then the first few minutes were spent eating, Mama was wolfing down hers while Grandma and Grandpa were looking at her oddly. She stopped and looks at them.

“What?” She asked, making me laugh.

“And you said to me to not go crazy.” I giggled at mama.

“You’re the one to talk missy.” Mama said as she gestured to my plate, already eating all but two or three bites.

“But… they are like tasty clouds…” I said to Mama. This got my grandparents to chuckle at us before Grandma spoke.

“Now then, I would like to bring up the topic of school for young Viri.” She said out to everyone. And just like that, perfect home is now ruined. I slumped in my chair at this, upset again.

“Oh no, you don’t make that face. We agreed to it Viri.” Mama said to me.

“Doesn’t stop me from being upset about it…” I grumbled. Mama narrowed her eyes at me when I said that as she ate her food.

“Anywho… I've decided to take it upon myself to teach young Viri. Homeschool as you'd put it.” Grandma said, using the word as if it were a foreign one. The two of us stared at her for a moment before mama spoke.

“Really? Homeschooling? Not to be rude but I was trying to get Viri in an actual school.” Mama said to Grandma.

“Well I say homeschooling is the better option.” Grandma said to mama sternly as she ate.

“How is it a better option? It’s better if Viri-” Mama was cut off when her mouth was actually zipped shut. “Mmph!”

“None of that, if you are to live here you are to live under my rules. My roof, my rules.” Grandma said to Mama before unzipping her mouth. “And besides, the most a public school would do is give leave Viri too shy to do anything.” Grandma said to her.

“But-” Mama started to say but Grandma gave her a look that again shuts her up. I felt bad about this as I finished up my waffles. When mama was finished she got up from her seat. “Thanks for the food.” Mama said before taking her plate to the sink. I watched her gave it a quick clean and headed out of the room. I felt bad about this, looking down at my plate with a bit of waffle left.

When I finished my food I took my plate to the sink and thanked Grandma for the food. She smiled at me before I left the two to go find mama. I found her in the living room with her arms crossed and looking unhappy. “Mama?” I said, getting her attention.

“Oh… hey sweety.” Mama said to me as I sat beside her on the couch. We didn’t talk about anything for a few minutes before I spoke.

“Did… did I make you mad?” I asked mama.

“What? Oh, no no you didn’t sweety.” Mama said as she looked at me. “I… I was trying to do what I think is best for you.”

“But why were you pushing for me to go to a public school?” I asked her.

“Because I believe you’re bright and creative, but I was worried that homeschool would make you into a shut-in dear. I wanted you to go out and have friends.” Mama said as she pulled me into a hug. “I just wanted the best for you.” I kept quiet at this but gave mama a hug as she did so with me.

“Yet you didn't think of the possibility of bullies, nervousness and shyness.” The voice of Grandma caught our attention. Also, the fact we were only a few feet away… this was a little awkward.

“Well the school I was going to send her to is now rubble, nervousness is a given with being new at a school and shyness…” Mama didn’t finish that as Grandma groaned as she rubbed her eyes a bit.

“Sara, the only reason I allowed you to go to public schools is that you outright begged me and your father too,” Grandma said to mama before adding. “You can't expect Viri to have the same excitement as you towards certain things. Besides, with this, I'll know if she is slacking off on her homework, unlike someone!” Grandma said to mama. Mama flinched at this, unable to counter grandma’s points until she looked up.

“I only begged to go because I didn’t have any friends when I was growing up! If I didn’t I would’ve been a shut-in!” Mom said back to grandma.

“No you wouldn't.” Grandma said as she took the remaining plates off into the kitchen as Grandpa walked out into view, holding a giant hammer.

“Off to work.” He said, patting my head before he left. I gave him a little wave as Mama let go of me.

“And how would you know?” Mama asked Grandma as she stood up from the couch. Grandma's only response was to arch a brow at her, almost as if saying ‘Are you serious?’ “And yes, I do know how dumb that sounds when saying that to you!” Mama said with a groan.

“Here, have this as proof.” Grandma said as she tossed mama what looked like a crystal ball, swirling clouds trapped inside before it took the form of… Me!? It showed me in some kind of classroom and… I wasn’t having fun. This seems to make Mama cringe a bit from seeing this.

“This… this can’t…” Mama tried to say when she stared at the crystal ball. It showed me as I tried to stay on my own while others either tried to get me to open up or simply mock me for being the shy one. Then comes what looks like a bully that seems to pick on me and even pull at my ears. I covered my ears when I saw this as Mama turned to grandma. “This can’t be real! Y-you are making this up!” Mama yelled. Grandma rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers, causing me to suddenly change out of my pyjamas and into a school uniform, fitted with a backpack as well.

“Fine, if you are going to be that way go on and take her to this address. Everything has been filled out.” Grandma said, taking the ball off Mama's hand giving her a folded piece of paper. Mama looked at this paper and at grandma.

“What is this place?” Mama asked, still holding the paper in hand.

“Oh for the love of… it's your old school.” Grandma said, now clearly annoyed at mama. Mama’s eyes widen at this.

“It’s still around?!” Mama said with actual joy in her voice. “I thought it got torn down a year after I finished!”

“That was a rumour one your old friends started to mess with the others.” Grandma said before another gateway appeared. “Now get.” Grandma said sternly. Mama blinked at this before she went over to get me.

“Come on, let’s go.” Mama said to me. I looked at her for a moment then at the gateway. The image of me being bullied and alone was… well scary. “Viri?”

“I-I…” I started to say as I gripped down at my bag. Mama saw this before kneeling down at me. The look on her face went from worried to a scared one.

“Oh…” was all Mama said as looked away from me. “Maybe… I was pushing a little too hard…” She said to me as she looked at the paper and stared at it. “Viri… stay here for mama, okay?” I nodded at her as Mama stood up, looking over at grandma who was sipping her drink and doing something. “Fine, you win. She gets homeschooled.” Mama said before she went through the gateway. Grandma didn’t say anything about this as I looked at her. I thought about this before frowning as I hopped off the couch and went up to grandma.

“What is it, dear?” Grandma asked me, glancing down from her crossword puzzle.

“Why are you being mean to mama?” I asked her. This got her full attention as she looked at me.

“Mean? I'm being her mother, mother's do not need to be soft-spoken and gentle at all times, sometimes a child needs discipline especially when they've done a naughty and your mother has a lot of that.” Grandma said to me and added. “For one, your mama has thought it better to run away with your Papa to live and love.” She said to me.

“And that’s a bad thing?” I asked her, crossing my arms and frowning.

“She ran away, disappeared.” She said before making a poof sound. “Poof, and not once has she said where she was or how she was doing. When I found you is the first I've ever heard of you.” Grandma said to me.

“That doesn’t make sense.” I said to her. Grandma opened her mouth to say something but I continued. “Why didn’t you use one of those ball things to see mama? Or was that a fake thing?” I asked her.

“Your mother had asked me to never use the ball on her, I keep my promises.” She said to me with a frown.

“So you don’t what she been through?” I said to her. “All the stuff she had to do to give me a good day. Yes Mama loved Papa and he left but mama still took care of me all on her own. She didn’t ask for anyone’s help when doing that until she asked for your help when the monsters came but you’re being mean to her! So again, Stop Being Mean To Mama!” I yelled before running off to my room. Mama told me not to yell at others but I couldn’t let grandma being mean to mama. I got to my room and closed the door and jumping on the bed, waiting to see if someone knocks on the door.

Sara PoV…

I walked through the gateway back home and saw it close as I sighed. It was a pain to pull Viri out of school when she hasn’t even started but it was done. I looked around and saw that Viri wasn’t to be seen.

“Viri?” I called out, wondering where she was.

“In her room.” Mom said to me, sitting by the table still as she sipped at her coffee and did the crossword puzzle. I looked at her oddly when she said this.

“Why is she in her room?” I asked, a bit confused on why Viri’s not out here and in her room. Without a word, mom waved her hand and a projection appeared, playing out what has happened after I left. “Ah! Viri I told you not to yell at others!” I said to the projection. After it was finished I sat down in the chair across from mom and groaned.

“Which makes me want to ask… why haven't you called me before? Why didn't you contact me when he…” Mom stopped, knowing that it was a sensitive topic.

“Because… I felt like I messed up.” I said to her, turning to face her. “Me running out on the two of you… I now know that it was a dumb thing to do.”

“Sara, we wouldn't have been mad… me and Jericho wanted our baby girl back home. We looked all over for you when you vanished… we've searched through nine realms for you.” Mom said to me sadly.

“I figured that was the case but… I thought it was mostly out of anger that I left.” I said to her. “I… I wanted to come back to you with Viri… I so badly wanted to but… I was scared to.” There were no words from either of us before I saw the table turned into mist and Mom walked over to me. I was a little worried about what she will do now that she stood in front of me. Then she hugged me, pulling me into a motherly embrace. I was surprised at this as she hugged me tightly. “M-Mom?”

“Hush nu dii mal yolos, monah los het.” She said in a soft and hushed tone. My eyes widen as I heard mom say something in that language, one that she used to use when I was much younger. Tears started to well up in my eyes as I slowly hugged my mom.

“I’m sorry…” I said to her as I hug her. “I’m sorry...I’m sorry...I’m sorry…” I said over and over again as Mom hugged me. She didn't say much after this, simply hearing me apologize over and over.

*Hush now my little flame, mother is here.

Young Viri’s PoV, a few days later

I don’t know how… but for some reason, both mama and grandma have gotten along much better than before. I think I had something to do with that! Yay me! Also, mama gave me a stern talking to about me yelling at Grandma… boo!

Right now I was out in The Valley, playing with a ball that I had before hearing someone walking. I looked over and saw Grandpa walking back from… somewhere.

“Hi grandpa!” I called out to him and waved.

“Hey there, kiddo. Whatcha doing out here all by your lonesome?” He greeted and asked me with a smile. I showed him the ball in my hand.

“I’m playing with my ball!” I said happily at him before seeing his hammer. “Grandpa, why you have a hammer?” I asked, pointing at said hammer.

“This isn't a hammer, kiddo. It's a maul, my weapon of choice to fight off the evil of Grimm.” He said in a heroic tone before looking down at me again. “I'm a Huntsman you see.” He said to me.

“Whoa~ That’s so cool~,” I said to him. I’ve heard stories about huntsmen and even learned that my papa was a huntsman as well from Mama but that was it. “Did you make your weapon?” This got him to arch a brow at me.

“But of course, I've been known to forge weapons of all kind. It isn't a surprise that I made my maul.” He said to me with a little laugh as he patted my head.

“You do! What else did you make.” I asked, getting more excited at the idea that grandpa did this as well.

“For one, your Grandmother's glaive. Forged it myself… though she was the one that gave it the neat design to it.” He said to me before humming and snapping his fingers. “Ah yes, there is one thing I've built that you might like.” He said to me before picking me up and setting me on his shoulder. I smiled at him as I rode on his shoulder with my ball in hand.

“Where are we going?” I asked him.

“Wait and see.” He said as he walked and before long I saw ruins scattering the land.

“Whoa,” I said in awe as what looks like the ruins of half of a castle stood. “That’s a castle!” I said which made him chuckle.

“Not really, it's the ruins of a castle.” He said to me before taking me inside, which unlike the crumbling outside, the inside looked well kept and there was a forge too. All around me were different weapons that were either completed or halfway there.

“Whoa…” I said when I saw all this with a gleeful expression. He set me down as he went over to an unfinished weapon while I looked at the many completed swords and stared in awe at their varying styles, from straight swords to curved blades, even a few zig-zagged ones!

“Here we are!” Exclaimed Grandpa before I looked back at him. What I saw made my eyes widen even more; it was a cannon! A large cannon rested in both hands of grandpa as it had a large chain dangling under it that was attached to the front and back end. It kinda looks like someone ripped a large pipe out of the ground and used it as… well, a cannon barrel.

“Cool!” I said happily.

“Wanna see it in action?” He asked me with a grin. I didn’t need to be asked twice as I nodded my head happily as he carried the cannon outside and I carried my ball. He walked up to a covered object before pulling the tarp back, revealing it to be a cannon mount before he set it up. “Just say when.” He told me, aiming at an outside wall. I smiled and counted to ten to say-

“FIRE!” I yelled happily. With that he tapped the side of the cannon, causing it to fire molten hot shrapnel at the wall, leaving very large cracks and holes as some even stuck onto it. “Whoa~! It almost took out the wall!” I yelled as I saw one bit of wall still standing… then falling over. “Never mind, all of it!”

“Ha! You are just like your mother when she was just a young lass as yourself.” He said with a laugh as covered up the cannon. I grinned at him before saying.

“Yes, I even helped mama out when she’s working on one of her work projects before.” I said proudly. Sure I never did anything very important with her but I did pass her tools and have a good idea on how things work. Grandpa chuckled at this before looking off somewhere.

“Viri!?” I heard mama call out of me as I turned around and saw Mama coming our way. “There you are! I heard a loud explosion and you were gone!”

“Sorry mama, I was with Grandpa.” I told her as Mama came upon us.

“Yes, and that explosion you heard was this.” Grandpa said before uncovering the cannon for Mama to see.

“Oh right, I guess that would explain- Wait! That’s the same cannon that I drew!” Mama said in shock.

“Really!?!” I said in shock two as now the two of us were staring at the cannon… me mostly still thinking it was cool.

“Yup.” Grandpa said with a smirk as he tapped the top of the cannon barrel. Mama stared at it and then the damage it did.

“HA! It’s awesome!” I heard Mama cheered happily as she turned back to Grandpa. “I got to ask, why did you make it? Sure I drew it but it was mostly just a gift I wanted to give you.”

“Well, I wanted to give you this for your twentieth birthday but…” He stopped, getting an oh from mama.

“Uh, sorry dad… I really caused a lot of headaches.” Mama said to him as I now stood next to her.

“Ah don't beat yourself up over it. The good thing is that your back and besides, I now have a good use for the cannon.” Grandpa said to her. Mama and I looked at one another before mama looked back with a smile.

“I’m guessing you showed Viri your forge?” Mama asked grandpa as I smiled at her.

“Yup.” Grandpa answered before adding. “I've seen her looking more at the swords than anything else.” He said to her.

“They were so cool looking.” I said happily as Mama ruffled my hair.

“Really now? Thinking of making one?” Mama said with got me to grin a bit.

“Maybe~,” I said which got the both of us to laugh a bit.

“Perhaps after Mavisath gives you the basics in forge safety.” Grandpa said… Mavisath? I tilted my head at the name.

“Who’s that?” I asked, making the two look at me oddly.

“Viri, that’s your grandmother.” Mama said, surprising me that Mavisath is grandma’s name.

“Any luck finding that scroll of yours Sara?” Grandpa asked mama, who grumbled at this.

“Ugh, no… even when mom and I went back to the village I couldn’t find it anywhere.” Mama said annoyed. “Probably got destroyed during the attack.”

“Well, you can always ask your aunt for a new one.” Grandpa suggested as he walked into the forge, with me and mama following behind.

“Ant?” I asked, thinking of the tiny bugs that I sometimes watch.

“Aunt, Viri, my mother's sister.” Mama said to me. “She owns a business in Remnant.”

“What’s she like?” I asked both of them. Mama thought about it for a few moments before answering.

“She’s… well… Both a nice woman… and scary.” Mama said as she shutters a bit.

“You say that because she always looks angry.” Grandpa said to mama as he walked by, holding a cauldron of hot stuff in it and pouring it into a weird hole.

“Well, she is! Last time I’ve seen her she looked like she wanted to rip my head off!” Mama said to Grandpa.

“That's because you brought up a sensitive topic for her.” Grandpa said to her while I listened. Mama flinched at that.

“How was I supposed to know? Aunty never really told me anything about herself when I asked her.” Mama told grandpa.

“Well whatever you may think, she is coming over today. She heard about your coming back and wanted to see you for herself.” Grandpa said mama, leaving the latter pale in the face. I was very confused about this all before I looked over and saw some blueprints… I knew they were since mama had some of her own and I find the name of them funny that they are truly blue paper. I climbed up a stool and took a closer look at one of them which was a sword of some kind. It looked like a normal longsword and… sorta boring to me. Nearby I found a pen and started to add to it, write some notes that are… legible and made it look a bit cooler.

“Viri!” I heard Mama snap at me before pulling me back by the ear. “How many times have I told you not to draw on blueprints!” She scolded me.

“Sorry~!” I said as she pulled me away from the table. While I was getting an earful, Grandpa took the blueprint and read them, humming aloud before walking up to the mould, ha I thought I knew the word, and grabbed it before tossing the hot stuff back into the forge.

“Going to need to make a custom mould for this.” Grandpa thought to himself out loud, getting both of our attention.

“Wait, dad you’re actually going to use those blueprints?” Mama asked before looking at the drawing I made. “It looks like a normal sword with… flames on it?”

“It’s a fire sword!” I corrected her. “Because fire swords are cool!”

“That I can agree with but the blade itself isn't normal.” Grandpa said to Mama before saying. “I'll get it done soon enough, as for you two. You should get going, Axycia would be at home any minute.” Grandpa said. Mama looked at this and shuttered a bit before the two of us headed out.

“Bye grandpa!” I called out to him happily. Grandpa smiled at me as a gateway opened up back home.

“See you soon kiddo!” Grandpa called out before mama and I headed through the gateway. When we returned we saw that we came out in front of the front door and saw grandma setting up the table.

“Grandma we’re back!” I said to her as she turned and saw the two of us.

“Hey, mom… we heard that… Auntie is coming…” Mama look a little shaken a bit. “I-Is she already here?”

“Why don't you ask her yourself?” Grandma said as a cough gathered our attention. “Ah there you are, sister,” Grandma said. Both of us turned to face the woman behind us. She looked a lot like grandma, almost like a twin but her hair was black instead of silver. She wore a black dress shirt and overcoat that showed off her pale brown pants and boots. Mama gulped at this before saying.

“H-Hello Aunt… Axycia…” Mama greeted with some stuttering.

“... Sara… been a while… Heard the village that you lived in was destroyed by Grimm…” The woman named Axycia said to mama, her voice was low and felt there was an edge to that.

“Umm… yes.” Mama answered her which Axycia narrowed her eyes. I looked at the two before stepping in.

“Hi!” I greeted her which she looked down at me. The two of us stared at each other before the woman picked me up.

“Ooo, and who is this little cutie!” Axycia said, her tone changing to a happier one than before. Mama stared at the two of us as I giggled at Axycia’s actions.

“That is Viri, Sara's six-year-old daughter.” Grandma said to Axycia.

“Well aren’t you adorable~,” Axycia said happily at me before setting me down in front of mama and patted mama’s head. “You have a nice cute daughter.” With that Axycia walked past us and met with Grandma.

“She seems nice.” I said to mama who stared at the two.

“I… yeah… I think.” Mama said before the two of us went over to the other two.

“So… now that you're here, why did you run off.” Axycia asked mama before looking at grandma.

“U-umm… there was this boy and…” Mama started to say but Axycia cut her off.

“Ah, blind love was it?” Axycia said to mama.

“It wasn't blind!” Mama yelled at her in defence. Grandma sighed at this and went back into the kitchen as the two talked… or yelled more like.

“Because of you, I lost out a large sum of money and workers after your wild goose chase!” Axycia yelled at mama, to which Mama scoffed and crossed her arms

“Oh please, like something like that could do a dent.” Mama said back at her aunt.

“It did to my employ count! I run a business and I can't do that without workers!” At this point, I didn't want to hear to yell at each other so I went off to find grandma. When I did I found her in the kitchen.

“Hi Grandma!” I said happily to her.

“Hello, Viri.” She greeted me back with a small smile. I smiled back at her before remembering something that was important.

“Oh… Ummm…” I stepped back and game grandma a small bow. “Sorry for yelling at you some time ago.” I apologize.

“Oh? Finally come to apologize to your mean old grandmother?” Grandma asked me with an arched brow, her smile never wavering.

“You're not mean… mama told me that…” I said to her, flattening my ears on my head sadly.

“It's quite alright, little Viri.” She said to me, turning to face me with a plate of cookies in hand. My eyes widen when I saw them and just stare… hungrily. “Ah, like mother like daughter.” She said, walking by me but not before handing me a few of the cookies. Three at most before she headed back into the argument room. I happily ate one of the three and squealed happily at the taste. They were so good!!

After eating one I went into the dining room where the yelling has stopped and the plate of cookies was now half gone and mama was eating a handful… no fair!

“Sara the point was for you to savour it not devour it.” Grandma said to mama with a frown before she turned to her sister. “And enough about what happened, I would like to move on from it and I know you do as well, sister.” Grandma said. Axycia frowned at this and nothing else for a few moments before sighing.

“Well, everything has been fixed so… I'll let it slide.” Axycia said to grandma.

“Nice to hear that.” Mama said to Axycia, which the latter rolled her eyes at.

“Just be grateful I didn’t ask for all that money I spent to make search parties.” Axycia said to mama.

“Axycia…” Grandma said with a tone of warning which got her to stop. “Is there anything else you're here for besides yelling at your niece?” She asked.

“Not really, just heard she was back and had to see for myself.” Axycia said to grandma.

“Umm, actually, I have something to ask.” Mama said to Axycia, not getting her attention. “I uh, was wondering if I could… get a new Scroll from you…”

“New Scroll? What happened to your old one?” Axycia asked mama.

“It uh… I lost it.” Mama said, sounding bad she lost her scroll. Axycia thought on it for a few moments before shrugging.

“Sure, why not.” Axycia said, surprising mama a bit. “It was a really old version of a scroll, the new ones have a tracker so you can find it better… still working on a means of transport so you push a button and just have it just in case you lose it.” The end there she was muttering to herself before pulling out of her pocket a scroll and handed it to mama. “There you go.”

“Thanks… But uh… it was one of the newer ones…” Mama said to Axycia who stared at her. I could literally be seeing the gears turn inside her head as she thought of this.

“I… I’m going now… right now… before I lose it.” Axycia said before heading out. Grandma watched as this happened before leaving the dining room without another word while Mama and I were left by ourselves. The two of us looked at each other as I was nibbling on my second cookie. Mama smiled as she had a few cookies in hand before the two of us went over to sit down and eat some cookies happily.

Ch:2

View Online

Six years has passed…

It was raining. The field was now covered in mud and grass. The forces of darkness and evil stood before me as I got on my trusty and mighty steed, a Robot dinosaur with laser shooting eyes, and unsheathed my totally awesome flaming sword of epic awesome before hearing the loud roars of monsters charging towards me. I let out a battle cry as I charged after then, about to do battle and then-

“Viri!” I rudely brought back to reality, my head laying on an open book as Grandma sat in front of me with an evident frown.

“Wha- huh?” I looked around, seeing that I was home, at the table doing some school work and not fighting the forces of darkness with a flaming sword and riding on a robot dinosaur. “What did I miss?” I asked. Grandma groaned at this before planting an entire stack of history books.

“Guess I know what you'll be doing this weekend.” She said before moving the stack towards me. “Reading all this.” She added.

“Aww…” I said with a bit of a pout. “But I did that last weekend.” it was true, I did read a lot of history books last weekend… I think one of the historic fields was the battle place in my dream now I think about it.

“I know… but now you're doing it again. You keep falling asleep in the middle of your lessons, so I have to punish you somehow.” She said to me before putting one more book on it. “And I found a new one for you to read, study and memorize.” She added. I frowned as I picked one of the books up and looked at it.

“Not this one.” I said to her, showing the book to her. “It’s burned into my head.” Grandma arched a brow at me.

“And what makes you say that?” Grandma asked as she took the book out of my hands. I then told her about my dream of fighting monsters, which was actually a historic battle between for forces, I just spiced it up with forces of darkness, robot laser shooting dino, and a flaming sword.

“It was so epic.” I gushed over my dream.

“Hmm… not accurate enough. All you got right was the battlefield and the enemy.” She said, putting the book back on the stack.

“Aww… I’ll have dreams of everything I read…” I grumbled which… didn’t actually sound that bad. “Okay…” I added before pulling down one of the books.

“If you want to avoid doing this, you have to actually pay attention.” Grandma said to me in a scolding tone.

“Sorry, grandma…” I apologize to her. I really tried to pay attention to her but I nod off after a point.

“I know this is boring you greatly but the alternative isn't any greater.” Grandma said to me before sighing while I looked down sadly. “I'm not mad Viri… just disappointed.” She said to me. I looked down at the table before grabbing one of the other books and flipped it open.

“Sorry grandma, I am listening but after a point, I start to nod off.” I told her before shaking my head.“B-but I'll do better! Please give me a second chance!” Grandma sighed at this, having gotten up as I spoke but sat back down.

“Alright… but if you fall asleep again, our lesson for today is over.” She warned me and I really didn't want it to end as despite being bored out of my mind by it, I like learning.

I guess the nap from before helped as I was able to stay awake for the rest of the lesson. As we finished I was finishing up with some note taking that I had to erase a doodle which made it look like a demon wolf was eating words.

“Hmm… am I boring you?” Grandma asked me suddenly. I looked up to see her standing over me.

“Ah! Umm, no. No, you’re not…” I said as I felt really bad now. “I-I’ve listened to you and… umm…” Grandma arched a brow at me before standing up from the table.

“Class is dismissed for the day.” She said to me before walking off. I stared wide eyed at her as she did this. I messed up on something! My eyes dart to the large stack of books beside me before I got up and started to try and carry them all to the couch so I could start reading them… I also learned that they were really heavy. When I set down the books and sat down with one, I couldn't help but feel guilty for the way I act in Grandma's lessons. I sighed as I felt my ears flatten atop my head before I heard the door open and saw Grandma come back into the living room with an odd looking box in hand. She looked at me and set the box down on the ground before opening it.

I stared at the box before seeing some flames came out of it before a small head peeked out and-

“PUPPY!” I yelled as a small puppy head peeked out, and it’s on fire… but still a puppy. It saw and yapped before pulling its head back into the box, only for it to hop out of it fully, tail waggling and panting excitedly. I happily smiled at the puppy in front of me… also that fact it’s on fire… that was… interesting but… “Aww, who’s an adorable puppy~” I cooed at it with a smile on my face.

“She's yours you know.” Grandma said to me before the puppy licked my face happily. I was surprised by two things, one was that the flames coming off of the puppy didn’t hurt me and two… Grandma was giving me a puppy?!

“I… I don’t understand… I thought you were upset with me.” I said to her as I held the puppy in my hands.

“I wasn't.” She simply said with a chuckle. “Despite your many… many instances of falling asleep during these sessions, you've shown to me that you're a bright young girl.” She said to me before quickly adding. “And for that, I decided to give you a gift.” She said. I blinked at her before putting the puppy down… and then gave grandma a big hug.

“Thank you grandma!!!” I said happily at her.

“Just know that caring for a pet is a big responsibility. You'll need to know how to feed her, bathe her and clean after her.” Grandma said to me. Just as she said the words ‘Clean after her’ I looked over and saw the puppy going to the bathroom on the stack of books… and setting them on fire.

“Ah! Noo!” I yelled as I rushed over which caused the puppy to run off. Now I had a fire dog running around and a stack of books that were also on fire… oh boy… Grandma watched this go on for a bit before she snapped her fingers, which caused me and my new puppy to float off the ground while the books were no longer on fire. “Wahahahaha…” I said as I was floating in mid-air and sorta spinning as the puppy was whimpering and doing a doggy paddle. I managed to swim up to her and grab her before Grandma snapped her fingers again, making me land on the couch. I blinked a few times as the puppy squirmed in my hold. “No, stop that… please?” I asked the puppy. Luckily she stopped squirming and gave me a lick on the cheek… it was both really cute and really freaky.

“Giving chase isn't something you do after she does a naughty thing.” Grandma said before walking up to the couch. “Anyway, have you come up with name?” She asked me.

“Umm… Amber.” I answered Grandma who blinked at this. “I like it.” I added as the puppy yipped at this. I smiled brightly at this before having the puppy face me. “No peeing inside, bad Amber, bad.” This caused the puppy to whine a bit and have her ears flatten on top of her head… just… too… cute!

“Alright then, I'll leave you two to bond during the weekend.” Grandma said before making the stack of books disappear. With that said, she gave my head a pat as she walked out of the living room and into the hallway.

I looked down and smiled at Amber and giggled a little at her licks before I heard the door open. I looked over and saw Mama, wearing some overalls, a shirt, and a bandana which she wore when working at Grandpa's forge. She looked over and smiled at me.

“Hey sweety, how was your… what is that?” Mama asked as she saw Amber. I smiled and showed Amber to her.

“A puppy! Grandma gave her to me!” I said happily as Amber yipped again.

“Oh… right… okay… excuse me as I just…” Mama left me as she went down the hallway that grandma went down. I looked down at Amber happily and played with her before hearing mama speak. “Why did you give Viri a puppy!?” She asked Grandma, causing me and Amber to get closer to listen in.

“Because she earned the reward, I don't see why you're so worked up because of it.” Grandma said to mama.

“Well… I never got a puppy when I was her age!!” Mama said before quickly asking. “Especially a fire one… why did you get her a flaming puppy?” I peaked in time to see Grandma shrug at this before she spoke.

“Sara, I still don't see why you're upset about this. You already have a pet of your own, Mister Cuddles.” Grandma said to mama. This made me blink… Mister Cuddles?

“Mister… Cuddles… is he still…” Mama tried to ask but grandma cut her off.

“Yes, he still around and well. Come and I'll show you.” Grandma said as the door to the valley appeared behind her. I watched the two of them go through the door and, out of curiosity, I followed with Amber behind me. I made sure to stay hidden and Amber knew this and somehow dimmed her flames while Grandma spoke. “Here you go dear, just give this a ring.” Grandma said to her, handing mama a tiny bell. Mama looked at the bell before giving it a ring. The sound of a ringing bell went out throughout the Valley. The response it got was a low, earth-shaking groan as thousands of birds took off flying over the ruins before a gigantic clawed hand gripped the top of it and pulled up a… a… a DRAGON!

The Gigantic dragon head swung around to face the two of them, it’s eyes larger than the two of them as Mama…

“MISTER CUDDLES!” Mama yelled happily as she ran forward and gave the head a hug. A loud earth shaking hum echoed the valley, the dragon pushing its head into Mama's arms. “Ohhh~ look at you! You got so big! And I’m sorry that I left you~” Mama said to the dragon who still nuzzled Mama a bit. There were loud thumps that shook the ground as this went on as I just… stared at the dragon.

“Not long after you left, he began to have growth spurts. After two years he was as big as your father, he kept on growing and growing so I left him out here so he could grow without damaging the house.” Grandma said as she gave the dragon's head a pet while Mama still hugged him. “He usually feeds himself but I feed him from time to time.” Grandma said only to quickly add. “So, still complaining about never having a puppy?” She asked, though upon saying this Mister Cuddles hummed curiously at this.

“Nope, I’m good.” Mama said happily as she hugged Mister Cuddles. If they said anything else or whatever I didn’t know as both Amber and I thought it was a good time to fall backwards and blackout from all this… mama has a large pet dragon… oh boy.

Four years later…

I was sitting outside on a hill, looking out into the Valley with my back to the tree and a book on my lap. It was one of grandpa’s old journals from pass missions he did and… they were amazing. Everything was here and in great detail too! I already read a number of his old journals and I just couldn’t get enough out of this. Beside me sleeping was Amber, lightly snoring as the grass around her was… a bit burnt from her flames but that’s normal for her when she sleeps. Found that out the hard way when I got her a nice bed just to find out she burns it the next day.

“Reading another one of my journals?” Grandpa's voice brought me out of my thoughts, startling me even while he was looming over beforehand. How did he sneak up on me!?

“Man how do you do that!” I asked, trying to calm myself after getting startled.

“I'm good in many things, stealth being one of them surprisingly enough.” He said to me before he sat down beside me. I shook my head at this with a chuckle.

“Also something I'm still wondering how you do…” I said with a chuckle before looking down at the journal. “You had really cool adventures in these journeys Grandpa.”

“I see you have interests in them.” Grandpa said with a chuckle before adding. “Perhaps the flames of a warrior yearns to be set ablaze within you.” He said to me. I looked up at him for a moment

“Wait… do you mean I have a shot at being a Huntress?!” I asked him.

“Everyone has a shot in being one, all you need is the passion of a warrior.” Grandma said, poking my chest as he said this with a chuckle. I blinked at this as I tried to imagine myself as a Huntress.

“That would be so cool!!” I said happily before looking at grandpa. “Do… do you think you can train me?” This got him to arch a brow.

“I don't see why not but if you really want to be the best Huntress around, ask your grandmother.” Grandpa said to me with a smile, which got me to arch a brow.

“Best Huntress? But… I thought you were the best Huntsman.” I asked him.

“Ah only second to your grandmother.” He was quick to answer back with a laugh. “I'm known to be practically unbeatable, but your Grandmother showed me better. Besting me in a one on one duel that ended with her victorious.” He said.

“Wow…” Was all I could say as I looked down at Grandpa's journal. “You think… I'll be a good huntress?” I asked him.

“Viri, there are no guarantees in life. If you want to be the best Huntress, work for it. Train your mind and body to be ready for anything against the Grimm.” He said to me, before chuckling and adding. “And let's not forget a weapon, a Huntress requires a weapon to be an extension of their body and soul.” He said before reaching on his other side and grabbing… my eyes widen when he pulled a wrapped weapon that I recognize.

“Is that… the sword I drew on the blueprints?!” I asked in shock as he placed the sword between us.

“I don't know, perhaps.” He said to me playfully before I took hold of it and began to unwrap it.

It was a longsword with a single edge and a curved weighted tip. The blade went down all the way and out which made a makeshift guard. Along the spine end was some pattern work which looked like a flaming four-tailed fox with four dark gems in it. The handle was long enough for either one or two handed with what looks like a long trigger. It was wrapped with some dark red leather and a small chain that connects to a small fox head.

“This is amazing!!” I said in awe at grandpa as I held it up with both hands. As I did I felt some sort of hum to it which was… ant.pleasant.

“There's a trigger by the hilt, give a press.” Grandpa said to me with a smile. I arched a brow at this before pulling the trigger. One of the gems lit up and flames shot out of the blade, making the blade glow red and flames licked the edge of it.

“Whoa! This is cool!” I said as I turned the sword, feeling the heat move around as it hummed more.

“Ha, I knew you'd like it.” Grandpa said with pride in his work before he stood up. “Enjoy your early birthday gift, kiddo.” He said to me before walking off through a door that appeared in front of him. I continued to mess around with my new sword… hehe, I have a sword!

I giggled at this as I stood up and swung it around a bit, slowly watching the flames when through the air. These actions caught the attention of Amber who now watched me do this.

“Hehe, looks cool huh girl?” I asked her with a smile as I held the sword in the air just as the gem went dark and the flames went out. “Oh… guess it’s on some sort of timer or something…” I muttered to myself before I did some practice swings in mid-air with a smile on my face. I kept doing this before one faster swing I did I slipped a bit and I let go of the sword. “Ah!” I yelped as I looked up to see… Grandma… holding the sword between two fingers.

“Obviously you haven't kept a good grip on it.” She said, quickly flipping the sword around and grabbing it by the hilt to which she was quick to perform some, well I'll be quite frank, badass moves before I suddenly found my neck mere inches away from the blade.

“Uh… haha… that was… really cool grandma… really…” I said, keeping my eyes at the blade… that was pointed at my neck. Grandma chuckled before pulling the sword back and handing it to me.

“I suppose this was Jericho's doing?” She asked me to which I nodded. She merely chuckled and shook her head. “Alright then, just be careful with it.” She said to me. I smiled as I took the sword into my own hands.

“Thanks grandma…” I said before I looked up at her. “Umm, Grandma can I ask you something?” I asked her. She arched a brow at me.

“Hmm, and what might that be?” She asked me back. I turned the blade downwards and held it there before speaking.

“I was talking to grandpa and he mention that you were a really really good huntress… was or still is but… do you think that… maybe you could, teach me to be a huntress?” I asked her. She was quiet at this, a little too quiet for my liking and it really began to get to me before Grandma spoke.

“If I do, there is no going back on this.” Grandma said to me, the biggest thing that it wasn't a no. I slowly smiled at her.

“Isn’t it always for huntsmen taking this job? No going back or…” I stopped when Grandma simply stared at me. “Never mind, I understand but I still want to do it.” Grandma smiled at this while Amber walked up to her and nuzzled up to her dress. Grandma returned the affection with a gentle pet before clapping her hands. As she did a pair of doors appeared, these doors didn’t look like the nice ones I’ve seen before, they were some kind of black iron and it feels like I was walking into a dungeon. The doors slowly opened to reveal a vast open space of… White empty void.

“Come on then, training starts now.” Grandma said as she walked through the opened doors. I watched her go inside the room before following inside with a smile on my face. As I did the doors closed and I was left in the room with grandma.

A few hours later…

I stood in the middle of the room, panting a bit after the training grandma put me through. It went from her making floating weapons to actual dummies to fight me and so on and so forth. I’ve gotten a few scrapes and cuts...and some stab wounds from different weapons but as I found out as soon as I get them they would heal over. Grandma told me that in this room, death doesn’t matter. Any wound I get would heal itself and stuff, so I didn’t worry about hurting myself.

Honestly, the whole time she was training me it was either her showing me how to fight or just me fighting weapons and dummies.

“That should conclude today's session.” Grandma said out loud, making the dummies vanish into nothingness before the door appeared. “Let's return home, I need to get started on dinner.” Grandma said as she walked by me.

“What? But grandma, I could still go a little longer.” I said to her. Really, I didn’t feel tired, at all. Sure I’m panting but other than that I’m really fine.

“Yes but would rather have a nice freshly cooked meal or microwaved dinner?” Grandma asked me, glancing back at me with an arched brow. I frowned at this but nodded, knowing that Grandma’s home cooking is way better than microwaved dinner. The door opened and grandma walked through it, stretching a little as I followed her out… right to the doorframe. As soon as stepped outside my leg turned into jelly and I fell face first into the ground… also OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

My whole body was aching, sore and just… ow. So much ow. “Uhh… grandma… I can’t move… also so much owww~!”

“And you're surprised? Sweetie, there's a reason why you felt like you could train for days on end.” Grandma said as she snapped her fingers and lifted me up from the ground. I groaned as my arms and legs dangled in the air.

“And… that was just a few hours…” I said to her with she smiled and nodded. “I don’t think… I’ll do a few days straight…”

“Viri, you'd be insane to think I'd allow you to do that.” Grandma said before adding. “But don't think I won't have you do so soon enough.” She said to me which made me groan a bit at the thought. Amber followed closely underneath me, looking up at me with clear amusement… Then she hopped onto my back and laid there as I floated behind Grandma.

“Hey! I'm no pillow!” I yelled, which then made me groan. “It hurts to even yell…” Amber snorted and snuggled up onto my back before I felt myself be lowered onto the couch.

“Oh cheer up, she's just having fun.” Grandma said to me with a little chuckle. “Come on Amber, time for nom nom.” Grandma said to Amber. With that the two of them headed out… leaving me here on the couch… alone. I groaned in discomfort due to how sore I was and soon decided to take a nap. As soon as my eyelids closed, I passed out.

Elsewhere, Third person

On Remnant, there's a Huntsman school named Beacon, one of four schools in the four kingdoms. The Headmaster of Beacon Ozpin was sitting at his desk, going through the entry letters. Normally he would do the ones for the next year but he also did the one for the next-next year.

“Hmm… this one is interesting… someone forged one…” Headmaster Ozpin said as he arched a brow at this. “Jona Arc… well, normally I would say no but…” The man put the letter in the accepted pile with a bit of a chuckle before going for another letter just as a buzz from his computer went off.

“Headmaster Ozpin, you have a visitor.” A female voice said through the computer. The Headmaster reached over and pressed a button to speak.

“Would you mind tell whoever is there that I'm not seeing anyone and have them reschedule for a later date.” Ozpin said before pulling away from the computer and picking up another letter and gave it a read.

“Umm, sir. The lady said she has come here to sign some students up for Beacon.” The lady explained which got Ozpin's attention. Normally they would send a letter of entry with their passed achievements and what schools they been in through. It's quite rare for them or some one comes in person. Again Ozpin would still turn them away but he was curious.

“Alright… send her up…” He paused before looking at the mug on his desk. “And bring up some coffee please.”

“Right away Headmaster.” the woman said. Ozpin put the letter down on the desk from someone named Cardin Winchester and waited for whoever is coming up. When the door opened up Ozpin saw it was a Faunus woman with silver hair and silver fox ears and tail. She wore a white dress as she entered his office.

“Headmaster Ozpin.” She greeted the man with a bow of her head.

“Hello, sorry for a bit of a mess. I was in the middle of something.” Ozpin clasped his hands over his desk before saying. “Now, what can I do for you miss, and do take a seat.”

“I've come to enroll two of my granddaughters here, I've brought the necessary papers and documents.” She said to the Headmaster before handing him two neatly done folders. Folders? An odd sight to see for the Headmaster as usually the information is given to him via computers. He took the folders and gave each of them a quick look through.

“Personally trained… normally one has to go through a combat school to have a better entry chance but, well there were some that didn't go to one.” The headmaster said before adding. “I'm guessing these two are coming in a later date? One of them… Viri, is a bit too young.”

“In two years, they'll arrive and attend in two years.” The woman said to the Headmaster, simply and informatively. Ozpin nodded as he looked at the folders. There was a lot missing here that left him wondering but since they were coming in two years meant there was some breathing room. With a little sticky note to write on he placed a one in each folder and put them on top of a pile.

“Well in two years I'll see them in Beacon's Halls.” Headmaster Ozpin said with a smile.

“I'm glad to hear that.” The woman said to her before she soon added. “With that done I will be taking my leave. If anything occurs, simply contact my number.” She said to him. Ozpin nodded at her before she got up to leave. As she left He looked at one of the folders again.

“Hmm… this'll be interesting.” He said to himself.

Ch. 3

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It's been two years since Grandma started training me to be a Huntress and so far my skills have improved over time. I was much better with my sword, got stronger and faster and even unlocked my semblance, which was to control fire, which was… fitting for me. I've even convinced grandpa to teach me some weaponsmithing and tinkering.

So Huntress training, plus smithing training, plus school work from grandma, equals a very busy me. Oh… and taking care of Amber. There's that, who now was a fully grown flame wolf. Funny note on her, her favourite food is burnt food. It oddly fits.

Right now I was out in the Valley with Amber waiting for Grandma or someone to meet us here. I had a suitcase at my side, waiting as a door opened and Mama came out with a bag.

“Alright, I packed you some more clothes, a brush and toothbrush and paste. Also some snacks for later.” Mama said as she handed me the bag.

“Thanks, Mama.” I said to her with a smile. I already have two toothbrushes and toothpastes but hey, never bad to have another set. Mama smiled at me before saying.

“Listen to your teachers, make some friends and don't get into fights.” Mama told me.

“What if I do?” I asked her.

“Then aim for the head.” Mama said before the both of us giggled. Mama soon gave me a hug after that. “Oooh, my little girl is now all grown up~ you make me so proud!”

“Thanks mama.” I said to her with a smile before a doorway opened up with Grandma walking through, holding my new id tag for Beacon Academy and a ticket.

“Everything ready?” She asked us both as she walked up to us. Mama looked at me and gave me one last hug.

“Write to me, if you don't I'll come over and go all mom on you.” Mama said which I chucked at

“I will. Love you mama.” I said to her.

“Love you too.” Mama said back before pulling away before I looked over at Grandma as a doorway appeared behind her. She gestured for me to follow her before going through, to which I followed suit, ending up in some sort of station. It looked almost like a train station but… there were some glaring differences, like the parked airships.

“Here, your school id and Airbus ticket.” Grandma said to me before giving me a small smile… And hugging me. I was surprised by the sudden action but soon returned the hug. “Be sure to write home, dear.” She whispered to me.

“I will.” I whispered to her before pulling away. I smiled at my grandma before we both heard a PA system turn on.

“Attention, Airship to Beacon Acadamy is now boarding. Attention, Airship to Beacon Acadamy is now boarding.” The lady said before I looked back at grandma and gave her one last hug.

“I’m going to miss you, Mama and Grandpa…” I said to her as Grandma gave me a hug back.

“We will miss you too, dear. Now go before you're left behind.” She said to me, turning me around soon after she finished hugging me and gave me a gentle shove. I took a few steps forward before turning back to give her a wave before hurrying off to the airship. I made it just in time to get on before they stopped boarding and was getting ready to take off. I found a seat to sit down with a sigh and waited for the ship to get going.

Five minutes later I got my wish and the ship was now heading off towards Beacon. I looked out of the window to watch the clouds and land below move on the pass as I watched. Honestly, it was kinda… awe-inspiring. As I did this I heard some sort of buzzing going off. It took me a few moments to realize that it was coming from me, more specific my bag. I took my bag off and opened it to see a black and red scroll buzzing and lighting up. I took it out and stared at the glowing light shining up at me before I pressed it, causing it to expand and a screen appeared. The screen lit up and I saw… grandma?!

“Surprise!” Grandma said with a smile and a laugh at my surprised reaction to this.

“But… what… how...huh?” Was all I could say when Grandma was laughing. “Grandma how did you…”

“You can thank your Aunt for that, she was the one that wanted to give you one.” Grandma said to me with a chuckle. “Anywho, just know that your mother knows about the scroll as well so expect her calls to be frequent.” She said to me informatively before, hopping into view behind her was Amber barking at me happily. This made me smile as I sat back down with Scroll in hand.

“I will expect that Grandma, oh and look!” I said, turning the Scroll around to show her where I was. “I’m on the ship! I'm almost there!!” I said happily. This got a laugh from her before she said.

“I see, well do be sure to call often, make some friends… maybe even find that special someone~” She said to me, adding the last bit with a teasing tone. I rolled my eyes at this before smiling.

“I’ll do… maybe most of those.” I told grandma before saying my goodbyes and turning my scroll off. As I turned to look out the window I felt someone bump into me, basically shoving me into the wall. “H-hey! Do you mind-” I turned just in time to see someone throw up into a garbage can. “Oh… uhh…”

I waited awkwardly for her to stop barfing before was she was able to speak. “Ugh… I hate flying…” ShHe said to himself. The man had blonde hair that's braided, a black jacket and white armour. Looking at her gave me the feeling of a knight templar from some stories mama told me when I was young. She looked at me before saying. “S-Sorry about that… I couldn’t really help… oofh... help myself.”

“It’s fine… you sure you’re okay?” I asked her.

“Yeah… Yeah… no not really. I had some pills… for this sort of thing but…” She started to say before having another round of barfing.

“Guess they are in the Cargo Hold?” I asked her as soon as she stopped.

“Yeah.” She said to me. The rest of the flight for her was basically simply hugging a trash can before finally, we landed and we were allowed to get off. When I did I looked up and saw the large, castle-like school in front of me. I took my Scroll out and took a picture, well tried to figure out how to take pictures before getting it and taking a picture of the school just as workers were offloading the luggage, and I saw the blonde barf girl going through one of them. I walked over to her just as she pulled something out that looks like a bottle of pills and took a pill. She sighed a bit as I got up to her.

“Feeling better?” I asked her.

“Yeah… yeah better now.” She turned to me and added. “I’m really sorry for bumping into you and… maybe barfing on you.”

“It’s fine, and you didn’t barf on me… thank gods for that.” I said to her which made her chuckle nervously.

“That’s good…” She said before closing the suitcase up and looking at me. “Hey, my name is Jona Arc, nice to meet you.” She introduced me and offered my hand. I smiled and took her hand.

“Viri. Nice to meet you too.” I greeted her as well. She waited as I pulled out my stuff and opened my bag to pull out my weapon… I think we were allowed to do that… I mean, one guy has a giant hammer over there.

“Whoa… that’s your weapon?” Jona asked me, now seeing it.

“Yeah, pretty cool right?” I asked her as I put the sword on my back.

“Yeah… One could say that.” Jona said to me as I smiled. The two of us both headed off towards the place where we were supposed to drop all of our luggage off before going to the gathering hall for an assembly. Along the way I notice someone walking a little bit ahead of with a bag. All I saw of her is that she had silver hair with blue high lights and a tail. She also was carrying a bag with her that had a tail poking out of it… it was also on fire. I blinked at this in surprise as she looks familiar to me. “Hey, you okay there?” Jona asked me, shaking me out of my stupor.

“Huh? Oh, yeah I’m fine. Just thought I saw someone I knew.” I said to her. We got to the place and dropped our stuff off before making our way back to the front of the school just as there was a loud explosion. “What was that!?” I yelled as I saw a large smoke cloud rise up from the middle of the area. The two of us looked at one another before headed over just as some woman with white hair and dress marched off in a huff, followed by some servants I guess.

“Hey, need a hand?” Jona asked the person on the ground. I looked over to see a short black haired girl with a black and red dress and a red box on her back. She looked up at her then at me, showing us that she had silver eyes.

“Umm, thanks…” She said as she took Jonas hand and was pulled up. When she was on her feet she was actually… younger than the two of us. “For the record, that was totally not my fault!”

“Uhh, don’t know what you mean but… sure, it’s not.” Jona said as she looked at me with a questioning look. I shrug as confused as she was.

“So… Who are you?” I asked the younger girl.

“Me? Oh I’m Ruby, Ruby Rose.” the girl, Ruby, introduced herself to us. The two of us gave her our names and after some conversing, I told the two of them that I was going to head on ahead to the gathering hall to see what’s going on there and I’ll meet up with them.

I found the gathering hall pretty easily with all the signs and saw many other people in the room. I took this time to wander a bit to see what else I could find… and then the strangest thing happen.

“HEY COUSIN~!” A female voice yelled as I felt someone wrap their arms around me for a hug and I felt two, soft pillows on my back. I blinked a few times before looking back a bit, seeing some silver and blue hair.

“Umm, mind letting me go… please?” I asked the lady who’s hugging me.

“Aww, okay.” She said, letting me go and stepping back, allowing me to turn to fully see her. The woman had long silver hair with blue highlights that went all the way down to her ass. She wore a black hoodie with short shorts that showed off her legs and some simple shoes. What stood out was the blue horns coming out of her head in front of her fox ears and her… well… bombshell of a body. She was curvy and very busty, which explains the two large pillows. She smiled happily at me, her piercing blue eyes stared at me as she reminded me of grandma.

“U-Umm… hi? Who are you?” I asked, blushing a bit as I stared… I wasn’t the only one as any boy and girl looking in our direction was staring at her.

“Aww, you really don't recognize me?” She asked me, tilting her head with a laugh. I tilted my head a bit as I stared at the woman in front of me just as the top part of her bag lifted up and I heard a small bark. I looked and saw… Amber?! Amber barked again, somehow a puppy again than the normal fire wolf from before.

“Wait… what? Huh?” I asked, completely confused by this whole thing.

“Come on, it shouldn't be that hard. We spoke in the airship ride here.” She said to me with a smile as Amber, pup Amber, looked at me with excited eyes and her tongue out in a cute manner. I stared at her before it finally clicked.

“Wait… grandma?!” I said in shock. This got hed to smack my head and say.

“Shh~ I'm your cousin.” She said to me while I rubbed the back of my head. I rubbed my head as I stared at the woman saying she was my cousin.

“I'm missing something here am I…” I said as I gave Amber some pets which she enjoyed. “What are you two doing here?” I asked them.

“Well, for one I'm here to keep an eye on you. Don't get me wrong, I trust that you'll attend your classes and do your assignments but your mother wanted me to be by your side in case something ever happened.” Grandma said… oh gods, it's weird calling her grandma when she's like this. She looks just two years older than me!

“Okay… can you tell me why you look like you climbed out of someone's… wet dream?” I asked her in a quiet tone. I also tried to make it sound I wasn't rude as well.

“I'll have you know that this is what I used to look like back in my single days. Just ask Jericho.” She said to me with a pout and hands on her hips. My jaw literally dropped as she said this.

“Wow… just… wow.” I said as I looked around, seeing that everyone was staring at us… well, her. As we stood there I heard whispers of others were saying.

“Damn… didn’t know Faunus could look like that?”

“I would definitely would tap that.”

“How did she get that body yet also be here to be a Huntress?”

“Going to sleep good tonight.” And so on and so forth.

“Hmm, good to know that I still got it.” Grandma said in a quiet yet prideful tone.

“You enjoying this way too much.” I said to her flatly. My grandma… still weird, smiled at me before the assembly started and we saw the Headmaster, whose name is Ozpin, give an… ominous speech before letting us off to enjoy the day. We were also told that we would be assigned dorm rooms after the event tomorrow which means we all have to sleep in a large gym. From the whispers I heard, a lot of guys are excited for tonight… I wonder why… as I walk around with the hotter younger version of my grandma… okay, need to deal with this.

“Hey uh… when you’re like this… what do I call you? Because grandma now sounds… really weird.” I asked her.

“Just call me Mavis, it's the name I used to use when I was a well-known huntress in this world.” She said to me. Wait, well known? Grandpa mentioned something like that a long time ago. Ooh I wonder if this place has any information of her past missions!

“Okay… Mavis… still somewhat weird but I guess I’ll get used to it… soon… maybe.” I said as I held the bag which held Amber who was taking a nap. “What happened to Amber by the way? She was way bigger when I left.”

“She can do a lot more than burn things, Viri. She can make herself big as a wolf or small as a pup.” Mavis said to me with a chuckle.

“Oh… cool.” I said as I checked up on Amber who again was sleeping soundly. “Aww, how adorable.” I cooed happily before the two of us went off again, finding something to do until we ran into someone. The person in question was a long haired blonde woman wearing a yellow top that showed off her midriff, a brown jacket over top and some black short shorts and some boots. She had a yellow scarf around her neck, some black fingerless gloves and yellow bracelets. She seemed to be looking for someone before noticing us… well, Mavis.

“Hello~” I heard her say to herself before coming a little bit nearer. “Hi there, nice to meet the two of you. Guess you are also new to Beacon right?” She asked us… well Mavis but really us.

“Uhh, yeah. I’m Viri and this is… my cousin, Mavis.” I introduce us to the woman who looked around my age.

“Hey.” Mavis greeted the blonde with a wave and a smile, a little happy hop in place as well. This got the buxom blonde to smile more before saying.

“The name’s Yang, also new here too.” Yang said happily before moving over a little closer to Mavis. The latter giggled at this but made no attempt to step back. I watched the two of them… chat a bit and… wait are they flirting as well?! Just… what?!

“Okay I will just… go…” I said as I moved a few steps back and saw that they had no real reaction to this as I went off a few steps before I saw Ruby came the other way.

“Oh hey!” Ruby called out to me as she got up to me. “Nice to see a friendly face.”

“Yeah… kinda.” I said with a little laugh. “What’s up Ruby?”

“Oh nothing, just looking for my sister. Say have you seen a tall woman with blonde hair and…” She stopped as she looked past me and saw Yang and Mavis. “Oh there she is… who is she talking to?”

“That… would be my cousin… and they are actually flirting with one another.” I said which brings up a number of questions about all of this. I looked back to see Ruby staring at me… or at something. “What? Got something on me?”

“No, but what is this!” She asked me as she turned me around to look at my sword.

“What? My sword?” I asked, pulling my sword out. “Cool isn’t it?”

“It is! Oh, it’s beautiful!” Ruby said happily which made me smile. Someone who understands the beauty of my sword.

“Well I should be, my grandpa made it from a drawing I made.” I said to her with a smile. “He showed me how to keep her up in good condition and ready for a fight.” I explained to Ruby.

“Wow, that’s amazing. Say, does she have a name?” Ruby asked me which made me blink.

“Name? Uhh, no not really. Haven’t really come up with a name.” I hummed at this as I tried to think of a name before seeing the fox imagery and fire. “How’s… Molten Fox sound?”

“That’s cool!” Ruby said happily. The two of us chatted for a bit about different things, mostly weapons and parts, she even let me see her own weapon, a scythe sniper rifle named Crescent Rose and… oooh~

The two of us soon ended when we shared contact info of our scrolls, in which I needed help with before Ruby had to head off. Just in time too, I felt Amber wiggle and move around in the bag. Eventually, she poked her head out, she was still concealed but her snout was out, sniffing loudly.

“Something up Amber? Need to come out?” I asked her as she sniffed a few more times before burying back into the bag. “Okay then.” Soon enough Mavis came back up to me, holding her scroll out before finishing typing something and putting it away. I arched a brow at this. “What was that about? And are you done with… flirting with Yang?” I asked her, shuttering at the fact she did that.

“Is there something wrong with a little flirting?” Mavis asked me with an arched brow.

“Well, over the fact that you are married and… no that’s just it. How can you do something like that behind grandpa’s back?” I asked her with a frown. She arched a brow at this.

“What do you mean?” She asked me in confusion.

“I mean… you are married to Grandpa right? Or is this some kind of… I’m much younger now and technically I’m single?” I asked her. I’m still trying to figure out the whole goddess thing with her.

“First off, yes. I'm married to Jericho. I love him with all my heart.” She said to me with a smile before adding. “And I'm not going against his back if he already knows.” She said before pulling out her scroll to reveal a message from Grandpa.

“Ha! It's good to know that my beloved still has the looks to make them swoon.” Was the text with a laughing emoji at the end. I stared at this before Mavis put the scroll away.

“I’m… going to let this go… I feel like I’m going to get a headache from all of this.” I said to Mavis who chuckled.

“Doubt it.” She said to me simply before taking the bag with Amber inside and saying. “I'm going to take Amber out for some walkies and feed her.” She told me before adding. “You go and socialize, don't think I haven't seen that Ruby girl.” She said to me with a smile. I nodded at her as Mavis headed off, swaying her hips which, from some people that were around, drew their attention. I shook my head at this before heading off to socialize a bit… I hope.

As I was walking I was stopped with some yelling as… some dragon Faunus guy was running around on fire as a group consisting of a guy and two girls looked on with intrigue.

“Fucks sake put it out!” Yelled the Dragon man as he began to roll on the ground, only for it to not work.

“Stop whining, you're the one that suggested this.” Said another guy, a normal looking human by all regards besides his dirty steel grey hair, which slightly covered by a trilby hat. “Besides your skin isn't peeling off so-”

“Fuck off you twat!” The dragon Faunus yelled before one of the girls, a very gothy looking rocker chick walked up and dumped a bucket of water on the guy. “Finally~” Sighed the dragon man.

“Wuss.” Said the other man with a smirk, only to be flipped off by the dragon Faunus. I slowly blinked at this and had every mind to turned away and walked off… but Mavis did say I should socialize more but I ultimately decided to just move on down the street. Sure I would've went to talk to them but… I thought otherwise.

I continued on walking before I ran into someone. “Oh sorry, didn’t mean to-” I stopped as I looked up. Did I walk into a giant?!

“Huh?” The female giant said as she looked down at me, her long red hair braid down I guess her back and her face was tanned and freckled seemed to invaded her face. She wore a white shirt and overalls that covered her body. From the looks of it she was a Faunus, juging from the tail and ears that look like they belong on a cow. “Oh sorry, did I run into you?”

“Uh, no… other way around actually.” I said to the tall woman who smiled at me. “Uh, you new here too?”

“Oh yes, I’m trying to find the gathering hall for the assembly.” the woman said. I blinked at her as she said this.

“Umm, the assembly… happened. You missed it.” I told her.

“Oh… was it important?” She asked as I thought back on it.

“Uhh, it’s just the headmaster saying hi, telling us that there’s a event tomorrow and we would get our rooms after it.” I explain to her. “For tonight we are going to sleep in the gym.”

“Oh good to hear… um where’s the gym then?” She asked me. I stared at her before leaning over and seeing said building behind her.

“It’s… it’s right over there.” I told her which she turned around.

“Oh thank you! You're really nice.” She said to me happily. I smiled at her, though it was a little forced as she went off towards the building.

“Okay then…” I said to myself as I went off to look around some more.

A few hours later…

It was night time as all the new students were getting ready for bed, again they allow the boys and girls to sleep in one large room but if anyone did anything and they would kick us out of school. I was sitting against a wall with my stuff close to me and Molten Fox on my lap as I gave her some maintenance. I wore my PJ’s while doing this so I could not worry changing after I was done. As I worked on this someone came up to me, making me look up to see Mavis standing in front of me wearing a outfit that… well drew in heads. She wore a top that simply covered her chest and some shorts that would act like underwear… how she’s able to get away with this is beyond me.

“Hi Mavis.” I greeted her.

“Hey Viri.” She greeted back with a smile before she began to stretch a little bit. “Hope your day was as fun as mine.” She added. I arched a brow as a number of guys were staring at her as she did this.

“Yeah, I bet you did.” I said to her. “And my day has been alright.” I told her before she laid down beside me, on the bag she had set up before leaving to change.

“Meet anyone interesting?” She asked me with a smile, intrigued about my day.

“Well, I did meet some woman. Very tall Faunus woman that-” I stopped when I saw the one I was talking about. “Oh, that’s her over there.” I said, pointing over to the woman in question.

“Oh my~ quite the looker.” She said with a chuckle and a smirk. I looked at Mavis and back at the woman in question. She was in a oversize shirt as she rolled out a sleeping bag.

“Sure… anyway, ran into her, literally, and asked me where was the gathering hall. I guess she was late so I told her where we were all going to head to sleep for the night… even though it was right behind her the whole time.” I explained to Mavis. “Don’t know her name though, she never asked for mine and I didn’t ask for hers.”

“Maybe you should get to know her, I know I would.” Mavis purred jokingly and I knew that too but… ew.

“I… eww… just eww…” I said to her with a frown. “Was this how you acted when you were my age?” I asked her. Her response was to lightly slap me with her tail.

“Rude of you to even suggest that, I'll have you know I was a renown huntress when I was your age.” She said to me with a serious frown before she flipped onto her back. “And besides, I'm letting loose my playful nature.” She said to me. Just as she said this some guy that was nearby looked over and let out a catcall towards Mavis, getting both of our attention. We saw him grin at Mavis before something flew into the air and hit the guy in the head. The item in question being an empty can that… circled back around and hit him again all the while Mavis moved her hand around similarly to the can. This caused the guy to run away from said soup can as it chased after him.

“Well, that happened.” I said as Mavis chuckled a little.

“I don't take remarks such as that lightly.” Mavis said simply with a little laugh. Just as she said that, Yang walked by in a yellow-orange tank top and black shorts.

“Hey you two, did you see a guy getting hit in the head with a soup can?” She asked us, which I pointed in the direction. “Thanks… also hello Mavis. Enjoying yourself?” Yang asked with a grin.

“I am now.” Mavis said back with a purr and a smirk. This got Yang to chuckle before walking off, in the same direction of the guy. When she was out of earshot I looked at Mavis.

“You said you don’t take remarks lightly.” I said to her with a frown.

“I don't. Yang is just hot.” Was all she said to me. I shuddered at this, seriously that's my grandma! I shook my head as I tried to get ready for bed.

“This is really weird hearing you say that you know. I still can’t help but think your…” I glanced around to make sure we were not being listen to. “That you’re my grandma that is now younger and is going by the idea that you’re my cousin.” I whispered to her.

“Oh hush now, it's not the weirdest thing you'll ever experience.” She said just as Amber poked her head out of the bag, which got me to panic a little.

“Ah! Amber!” I said and looked around, making she now one is around. “Sorry girl, can’t come out yet… can’t have anyone see you.” This got a whine from Amber that was in the bag which made me sad. She used to be running around in the open but…

The bag soon lifted off the ground and over to Mavis, who quickly glanced around and did some odd hand gestures that made the bag glow a bit. Soon after she did this, she opened the bag and took out Amber, which sent me into a panic.

“What are you doing! Everyone will see her!” I said, eyes darting around to everyone around us. They… didn’t seem to notice anything.

“Oh calm down, they won't be able to see her until tomorrow morning.” Mavis said to me as Amber panted happily before hopping over to me. True to her word no one seem to notice her which made me smile as I gave her a big hug.

“Oooh, it’s so nice to do this again…” I said as Amber gave me a few licks which made me laugh a bit. After a few minutes both Mavis and I got into our sleeping bags and Amber curled up beside me.

“Sweet dreams Viri.” I heard Mavis say to me as Amber yawned.

“Night.” I said to the both of them before closing my eyes to sleep.

Ch. 4

View Online

The next morning we were all awakened and was told to get dressed and armed ourselves for the event we were doing. We all headed off toward some airships and rode them towards a cliff face where a large forest stretched out for miles. Everyone stood atop some metal tiles, each and every one of us.

Mavis was to my right, holding the bag with Amber in it as the wolf in question peaked her head out enough to see. To her side was Yang, who made some quick glances to Mavis.

“I think she into me.” Mavis whispered to me.

“Her and everyone else I think.” I whispered a reply as I dropped some burnt food into the bag which Amber was happy to eat. Mavis rolled her eyes at this.

“So…” Yang started to say to Mavis, getting her attention. “Have a few people you want to team up with? I have a few in mind myself.” Yang finished that with a wink to Mavis.

“Oh~ I l think I do to.” Mavis said with a giggle, clearly enjoying her flirts with the blonde. I rolled my eyes at this just as the Headmaster and I think his assistant… vice headmaster… whatever the name is. The person was a short-haired blonde woman with a black and white dress and a cape… yes, a cape.

“Good morning everyone, hope you all slept well.” Headmaster Ozpin said to all of us with a smile before clearing his throat. “For years you all have trained to become warriors. And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest.”

“Now,” The woman started to say. “I’m sure many of you have heard rumours about the assignment of teams… Well, allow us to put an end of your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… Today.” This caused the other students to mutter and whisper to one another.

“These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to pair up with someone whom you can work well with.” Headmaster Ozpin said to all of us.

“So… what? We pick our teammates now?” One of the other guys called out.

“Good question, and no. When you first land the first person you lay eye contact upon… will be your partner for the next four years.” Ozpin said simply, causing Ruby to yell ‘What!?!’

“Whoa, hold on! What if see someone that doesn’t work well with us?!” A female student yelled out.

“Well… better make it work.” Ozpin answered before continuing. “Now then, when you partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You’ll meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die.” The last part didn’t sound like he was joking, he was saying ‘This forest will kill you if you slack off.’ he continues on with what we were supposed to do; Go find some ruins, get a relic, return to the top of the cliff, done.

“Now, any questions?” Headmaster Ozpin asked all of us.

“Umm, yeah uhh-” I heard Jona started to ask before getting cut off.

“Good, now take your positions.” Ozpin said as we all got ready, other than Jona. As she and Headmaster Ozpin were talking, I heard the sound of something launching and some students were getting launched… literally. As a few more got launched I looked over to Mavis.

“See you down there?” I asked, heard the launching getting closer.

“We'll see soon enough.” Mavis said to me before she was launched into the air but unlike the others, she looked to be in control. I shook my head at this before I was launched into the air… man those things are powerful.

Using my own semblance to make thruster like flames to control my flight. I flew around a little bit before finding a spot before landing on the ground. I glanced around and saw nobody around, making me slowly get up.

“Okay… got to find Mavis…” I said to myself as I headed out. Even with some time talking to other people, I was still really shy with them and if I'm partnered up with a total stranger I wouldn't enjoy that…

As I walked through the forest my mind wanders to the ideas of other people I could work with as a partner if need be.

“Well… there's Jona… she seems nice, but she seems a bit too inexperienced for me…” I muttered to myself, don't know why I thought that, just a feeling. “There's Yang but she would try and flirt with Mavis more… and she would do the same… then there's Ruby-”

I stopped when I heard a twig snap and I hid in some bushes as some Beowolf Grimm came out and sniffed around. I had my hand on Molten Fox, ready to torched the Grimm if need be. After some time they moved along before I came out a minute later.

“Right, so Ruby… she's cheerful and nice, and a big weapon nut like me… maybe Ruby would work if I don't find Mavis.” I said to myself before a new thought. “Hmm, though it would change if she found a partner already… or anyone at that…” This cause me to pick up the pace as if I had to guess, everyone wants to pair up with Mavis. I came across a clearing, panting and a little out of breath as panic began to set in. “What if Mavis already has a partner? What if I run into someone I don't know! I would spend the next four years with them!!” I said as panic started to set in as I glanced around unsure if anyone would come out and see me.

It was then that I heard humming from above which brought my attention to the source and to my relief, it was Mavis floating down with the bag in her arms while humming a little tune. She touched ground and glanced back at me, smiling as she did.

“Don't tell me you actually thought I'd have you partner up with some stranger now did you.” She said to me while a happy bark from within the bag let me know that Amber was safe and sound. I stared at her for a few moments before tackling her in a hug.

“I thought you gotten partnered up already!!” I cried, holding her close. I felt like a kid doing this and I could tell that mama would laugh at this if she saw me like this. I felt Mavis pull me away from her.

“Calm down Viri, you're eighteen. Not six.” Mavis said to me with a little laugh.

“Sorry… just worried that I would pair up someone random here.” I said with a little laugh. Mavis smiled before opening the bag, causing Amber to hop out and burt into a blazing fireball that grew in size before reforming into her ferocious wolf like self.

“Remember Amber, stay close to us and don't run off.” Mavis said to her while Amber stretched before looking up at me. I smiled and scratched behind her ear before looking around.

“Now… we need to find the ruins… which is in the northern end so…” I looked up at the sky to try and figure out which way is north.

“Or you can just follow me.” Mavis said to me while Amber barked and followed behind Mavis as she began to walk. I blinked at this… right…

I followed behind her as Amber was walking next to us. I didn't know how far the ruins were but I'm guessing they were pretty far… as I thought this I saw on the Mavis lower back was a weapon, from the looks of it she had a short sword. Has she always had a sword? If so then why is it that I notice this now?

“Umm, Mavis… what kind of weapon do you have?” I asked her, getting her attention.

“Hmm?” She hummed back at me, glancing back to me while she lead the way. “What, this thing?” She asked as she took the sword into her hand. “It's a special blade I crafted with the help of Jericho.” She said to me.

“What can it do?” I asked, now more interested. Just as I said that some rustling came from some bushes and a Ursa came out and growled at us. I took a step back and Amber growled as she got ready for a fight, Mavis however simply hummed as she towards the beast, her sword splitting by the blade to form a fan before delivering a flurry of swiped before she stopped, closed the blade up and the Ursa fell and dissipated.

Mavis turned and gave a bow to us as if it was some kind of show. “Wow…” I said in awe at her weapon. “So it turned into a bladed fan?” I asked, still watching the Ursa dissipate. She chuckled and showed me that it was indeed the case, instead of it being a normal fan, each bit was fitted with a blade. I was in awe at this as I got a closer look of her weapon before she closed it, making it look like a normal short sword and putting it away.

“That looks really cool.” I said happily. She smiled and chuckled before saying

“Come on, we've wasted enough as it is.” Mavis soon said as she lead the way forward. The two of us continued on, fighting Grimm along the way, making me use Molten Fox which I was very happy about.

A few hours of walking before we came up to a large clearing with some ruins in it. In said ruins were pedestals which each held… chess pieces?

“Huh.” I said as we got a closer look. “Reminds me of when Grandpa and I played chess back when he was showing me how to forge weapons.” I said as we walked up to the pedestals, only to find a napping beowolf between them all. My hand went to my weapon as it hums a bit. Mavis did the same but as we did the large Grimm seemed to have woken up. It let out a large yawn and look at us, instead of looking… well evil and Grimm like, it just looked annoyed.

Amber soon barked at the beowolf, to which it responded with a tired bark in return before walking off into the forest, ignoring us both as it did.

“Interesting…” I heard Mavis mutter as she walked up and picked up a chess piece. I went over and saw it was the Bishop piece and it a white gold colour. So I guess the white bishop. I looked around and saw some of the other pieces were missing.

“Guess other groups came around then.” I said as Mavis tossed the piece into the air and caught it.

“It seems so.” Mavis said before looking back outside. “We should be heading back now, don't want to be the last ones left now do we?” She asked me with a glance back. I nodded at her and looked over at Amber, who seemed to be with the Beowolf, who was laying down.

“Amber, we're leaving.” I called out to her which she turned her head and barked before coming over to us. It was then I felt myself be lifted off the ground, no doubt by Mavis as she too did the same. Amber quickly climbed into the bag before we practically flew back up to Beacon cliff. I had to kept reminding myself that Mavis was doing this, as falling isn't something I'm quite fond of and I doubt anyone would benefit from a Viri pancake.

When we landed we saw a moderator walking over to us and Mavis showed him the chess piece.

“Hmm, alright. Head to one of the pelicans ships and they will send you back to Beacon.” He said to us as Mavis handed him the piece. The two of us headed towards the ships and headed back to Beacon, guess we’ll rest before the others came back.

A Few Hours Later…

After the last group of students returned from the Emerald forest, we were all asked to make our way to the Gathering Hall to be assigned to teams… but I thought we were in teams?

“Wasn’t that the point of the event? We were partnered up with our teammate?” I asked Mavis as we made our way to the place.

“A team of two is not a team, Viri. We are missing two more to count as a team.” Mavis said to me, her blade being played around in her hand as she also carried the bag with Amber in it.

“I still don’t get why we had to get-” I stopped as I remember back at the chess pieces and that they’re were two sets of four pieces, one white, and the other black. “Ohh… I get it now… wait so we going to pair up with two strangers than?” I asked, a little nervous about two strangers being part of the team.

“I would assume so but don't fret, you'll have me.” She said to me, arm around my shoulder as she said this. I took comfort in what she said. Yeah… At least I'll have her with me. I smiled at her as we entered the Gathering Hall and sat down. When it started Headmaster Ozpin came up and explained how this was going to work which was what I thought of; both teams of two that grabbed one of two matching chess pieces would be a team of four. There was some muttering as the Headmaster started to read off some names, which they come up and were given a team name.

I saw a number of people went up and were given a team name, hey even Ruby and Yang were part of a team together with two others, a woman with black hair and a bow in her hair and a woman with white hair in an offset ponytail and white dress. Their team was named Team RWBY who was lead by Ruby. We all clapped for them before Ozpin spoke.

“And finally, Mavis, Amaran, Umbra, and Viri.” he called out our names and we stood up and walked onto the stage. I saw that Amaran was the woman I met before and Umbra was another woman with a hood over her hair and pale white skin. We all stood in front of the headmaster as he spoke. “You four have gathered the white bishop piece, you are all now part of Team MAUV, lead by… Mavis.” Everyone clapped for us as the Headmaster turned to the crowd. “That is the end of today's assembly, each leader will now be getting a message and map of the school grounds to find your rooms. You are all now dismissed.”

Everyone got up and headed out of the Gathering Hall, no doubt to see their dorm rooms for the first time. Mavis and I, along with our teammates headed out of the building. I looked back at the two and got a good look at them. Amaran wore a large red shirt with the logo of a bull on the front and had some ripped up jeans on with some brown work boots on. Her hair was still done up in a braid as her cow like ears twitched a bit as she smiled happily. By far she’s the tallest out of everyone… maybe matching grandpa’s height.

Umbra on the other hand was about my height, wearing a white and black hoodie and gray cargo pants. Her hood covered most of her head, it was more like a cowl than a hood as it almost covered her face but I saw she had pale skin and some wisps of brown white hair was peeking out.

“Well, let me be the one to say hello to my new teammates.” Amaran greeted us happily.

“It's nice to meet you two as well.” Mavis said to the both of them as she lead the group across the halls. I looked over at the other two and just saw… well Amaran as she walked behind me so I guess I’ll try to talk to her.

“So… Amaran, how are you?” I asked her, sounding a little awkward.

“I’m doing good. What about you?” Amaran asked me.

“Same… sorry I’m not really good at talking to new people.” I said to her which she smiled at.

“It’s fine, take your time with talking Viri.” Amaran said with a kind smile. I chuckled at this.

“So, where did you come from before coming to Beacon?” I asked Amaran curiously.

“Well, I was born in Mistral but my family moved all the way to Vale. Bought and maintained a farm for some time now.” Amaran explained as she smiled happily as she looked like she was remembering some good times.

“If that’s true, then why did you come to Beacon and become a huntress?” I asked as I arched a brow.

“Well, my dad did say that I was more… adventurous then my brothers so when the option of going to a combat school opened up, I took it.” Amaran said with a shrug.

“Oh, you have brothers? How many?” I asked, somewhat changing the topic.

“Seven.” Amaran answered with a smile.

“Whoa… that’s a lot of siblings.” I said in surprise at her.

“Mom did want a big family.” Amaran said simply. I stared at her in disbelief before Amaran added. “And when I left she had a little boy or girl on the way.”

“I… okay.” I said to simply, not really wanting to get into more detail on Amaran’s large family. I looked back at Umbra who was quiet for this entire time.

“So… Umbra. Where did you live before coming to Beacon.” I asked her… and got nothing from her. “Umm, Umbra? Hello?” I called to her, again nothing. I frowned at this before I looked at Amaran. “Is she shy or just ignoring me?”

“Hmm, I think she’s listening to some music.” Amaran said to me which made me look at her oddly before she turned and waved in front of Umbra’s face. She blinked a few times before reaching up and clicking something.

“Huh? What?” She asked us, surprised by this as well.

“Uhh, you were listening to music?” I asked her curiously, to which she nodded. “How? I don’t see any cords.” Umbra answered that by pulling back her hood to show off her ear which I noticed that there was some hair growing off on to of it that matched her hair colour. I also saw something in her ear as well.

“Wireless earphones, no hassle with cords.” Umbra explained to me before pulling them out. “What were you asking?”

“Umm, where did you live and do before coming to Beacon?” I asked her again.

“I used to live up in Atlas, mostly in an army base.” She answered simply.

“An army base? Why there?” Amaran asked, now curious on our teammate’s living conditions.

“My Uncle was the commander there and my parents died when I was young.” Umbra answered her before adding. “And please… don’t ask for any more than that.”

“Got it.” I said as Amaran simply nodded. It would be bad to poke into other people's personal life when their parents are… well. Before we could continue Mavis has led us to a door which I guessed is our dorm room. Mavis opened it up, revealing a large room with four separate beds and drawers beside them all. We all entered and looked around our new home for the next four years.

“Pick your beds.” Mavis said to us all as she sat on her chosen bed. The rest of us did just that as Umbra went to the one in the far corner and Amaran took the one across from hers which means I got the one across from Mavis. As I went to it I saw that my luggage was already here. I looked up as Mavis taking the bag and dumping Amber out onto the bed… in front of the other two. I looked over at the other two and saw Umbra pulling her hood back, showing that her hair was white and had some brown spots on it. Like what I saw, her ears also had hair growing on top of them, making her look like a great horned owl… Was she a Faunus too? Does that mean I’m part of an all Faunus group? Neat.

“What in the…” Umbra said when Amber rolled over and stood on the bed, shaking a bit as she must’ve been in the bag since the ride back to Beacon and the assembly.

“I know dogs but… not ones that are on fire…” Amaran said as she stared at Amber, me looking at Mavis and gave her a look that says ‘What are you doing?!’

“I'm letting Amber loose so she can take my bed, do you honestly believe I'd keep her in the bag for so long?” Mavis said to me with an arched brow as Amber rolled around in the bed, growing back to her older self again.

“A fire dog… that grows…” Umbra said in shock. “I want to ask questions but I don’t know where to start.”

“Everyone, this is Amber, mine and Viri's pet fire wolf.” Mavis said while Amber burnt up the bed a bit as she rolled around, panting and barking happily. “She doesn't bite nor does she hurt to touch.” She added.

“Fire… wolf?” Amaran said slowly, still staring at Amber. “Is she some kind of new breed of animal?”

“Or maybe an experiment of a wolf with red dust infused in her.” Umbra said, causing all of us to stare at her oddly. “What? I like Sci-fi books.”

“Right… I think there’s going to be an issue with having Amber out in the open Mavis.” I said to her.

“Well… mostly the fact your pet is on fire.” Umbra pointed out.

“She isn't on fire, she is fire.” Mavis said to the owl Faunus with a chuckle. Amber finished rolling about in the bed, the sheets burnt to her liking while Mavis put away her clothes in the dresser. We all stared at the now burnt bed.

“I don’t think the school would enjoy the fact that one of their beds is now like that.” Amaran said as she looked to me. “I mean… other than the fact that you two own a wolf made out of fire.”

“I’m just… I got nothing.” Umbra said as she sat on her bed. I looked over at Mavis before saying.

“What are we going to do with the fact that anyone that could walk in here and see Amber in the open?” I asked her, now worried for Amber if she gets taken away.

“Trust me Viri, that won't be happening.” She said to me before Amber hopped off the bed and went over to me. I ached a brow at Mavis before Amber rested her head on my knee, which I looked down and smiled as I gave her some pets.

“Guess it can’t be helped… you enjoy your new bed?” I asked Amber, gaining a bark from her. As I continued to pet her I heard the window open and Umbra moving over the other window.

“Getting pretty smoky in here. Is this going to be a thing?” Umbra asked us as she opened the window.

“Also, where would you be sleeping Mavis?” Amaran asked before Mavis answered by simply laying down in the air nonchalantly. Everyone stared at her in silence when she did this.

“Huh… I did see her fly off in the air at one point…” Umbra said out loud before heading back to her bed. As she did all I saw on her bed was a small bag that was at the very end of her bed. She didn’t have a lot with her.

“Guessing your Semblance is able to fly?” Amaran asked Mavis in a questioning tone.

“Nope. I'm able to move things around with a wave of my hand. Telekinesis you might call it.” Mavis said to her. “And what's yours?” She asked soon after.

“Well… you can say I can become very strong for a time.” Amaran answered Mavis.

“And take a beating, saw her in a fright with a large boar Grimm and got hit by it. Didn’t even move her.” Umbra added on as she laid in her bed.

“So… super strength and durability?” I asked the Cow Faunus.

“Yup, my brother calls it the Juggernaut. Though it drains my aura when I’m using it quickly.” Amaran answered before adding. “What you can do?”

“Huh? Oh uh, I can control fire.” I answered as I made a little flame appear in my hand.

“I kinda see why you have a pet wolf made out of fire.” Umbra said as she saw this, making me chuckle a bit.

“And what is yours, Umbra?” Asked Mavis to the owl Faunus, looking over at her.

“Predator sense.” Umbra answered Mavis… what?

“What do you mean Predator sense?” I asked her.

“It means what it sounds… kinda… okay so when I use my semblance my senses grow sharper and better. I can see, hear, and smell better for a set amount of time.” Umbra explained to all of us. Mavis hummed at this before Amber went back up to her new bed, making herself comfortable and laying down. The rest of us either put away our clothes in our dressers and hung out for the rest of the day.

Ch. 5

View Online

It’s been two weeks since the start of school at Beacon academy with my new team with Mavis. I finally was able to settle down after the excitement for being in a new school and actually being on a team. Sure at first it was a bit… awkward but after getting to know one another we all became good friends… well, I think so.

Right now we were in class learning about some combat strategies, well most of us. I saw a few students with their heads down sleeping, one being Mavis who was sitting beside me sleeping. I always was faced with a dilemma when I see her like this, should I wake her up so she could listen, or leave her be as she already knows all of this beforehand.

Deciding to think it be better if the teacher didn’t have another student sleeping in their class I nudged Mavis enough to wake her.

“Mmm… five more minutes.” I heard her mumble almost incoherently as her voice was muffled. I frowned at this as the other two were still busy taking notes of the lesson. I sighed at this and paid attention to the class as Mavis slept through it until the bell rang for the next class. While we were packing up, we shook Mavis awake. “Mmm… wha?” I heard her mumble again as she opened her eyes and saw us before she straightened up and stretched her arms before floating her bag to her hand and standing up. “So where to?” She asked me as she yawned. I pulled out my scroll and looked checked my list.

“Mmm… Professor Theodore’s class.” I answered Mavis as I put my scroll away and added. “That means more team strategy.” These classes are Umbra’s favourite class mostly for her upbringing with Atlas military classes when she was young. As we were packing up Amaran went over to Mavis.

“Here you go sleepy head,” Amaran said as she handed Mavis a copy of the notes from class.

“Thank you, Amaran but I’m fine,” Mavis said, showing her own notebook, the very same she slept over and… hey! That was my handwriting!

“Oh, well okay then. How did you get some notes in I will never know.” Amaran said.

“Jee I wonder,” I said as I glared at Mavis as she smiled before packing her things just before a certain blonde walked up to her.

“Yo~” Yang greeted Mavis happily as Mavis smile at her as the other two were ready to go.

“You two will catch up?” Umbra asked me which I nodded, seeing my two teammates go and me looking back at the two.

“Hey, sexy.” Mavis greeted the buxom blonde with a chuckle. Yang smiled at this.

“Well that’s debatable, have you seen a mirror?” Yang asked which the two chuckled at before asking. “So what’s your next class? I got professor Oobleck, honestly, I think he drinks twenty cups of coffee a day.”

“He drinks an unhealthy amount of caffeine,” Mavis said before quickly adding. “I have Theodore, so see ya soon gorgeous~,” Mavis said as she happily floated with me following behind her. I followed behind her until we were out of the classroom.

“You two flirt with each other every day. When will one of you just… ask the other out?” I asked my floating cousin. She giggled before turning upside down, her bag close to her chest as she spoke.

“I have not done that because I promised Jericho that if anyone else were to get involved, they have to make the first move.” She said to me with a smile as her bag opened up to reveal a yawning Amber. I nodded at her as I reached up to pet Amber, something she enjoys greatly. We caught up to the others as they were nearing the next classroom. When they neared Amaran looked at Mavis with a small frown.

“You know, you floating around with your semblance makes you a bit lazy Mavis,” Amaran informed her as Umbra was listening in.

“Already heard that one before,” Mavis said as she floated by Amaram with a chuckle. Amaran shook her head as we all entered the door into the classroom… well, it was a classroom, it wasn’t a normal classroom. Instead of normal desks to sit and take notes, the room was laid bear with lots of room to move around. Some machines were set up that, after a week of learning of them were that they were VR machines that the Professor use for tests. I never saw them in use and I was interested to see what they do.

The classroom filled up with the attending students and it wasn’t until I heard a bark that I looked over to the door, seeing a group of third-year students, the same ones I saw during my first day and beside one of them was the same beowolf as the one me and Mavis stumbled upon in the forest… wait… Before I could ask Amber poke her head up out of the bag and saw the Beowolf who she seem to get excited at.

“Looks like Amber sees a friend…” I said which I looked back at the Beowolf, still questioning why there was a Grimm here.

“Well he is the only canine in Beacon, so the excitement to see a fellow wolf is expected,” Mavis said as following behind the group is the Professor himself. Professor Theodore stood up straight as he walked into the middle of the room, he had a limp to his walk and used a cane. He wore a dark, ashen gray suit with a black vest underneath with some hints of blue under that. He had some short black hair with wisps of gray in it and a graying beard. He cleared his throat and tapped the ground with his cane.

“Good morning everyone, I hope you spent the weekend training for today’s test.” He said out to the whole class with a smile as the four third-year students stood by him.

“I say,” Umbra muttered to us. “Again, I can’t believe you two were trained like that.” She said, reminding that during the weekend Mavis had all of us go through a number of training courses.

“Oh quit your complaining, we only spent half the days training instead of the supposed full day as I planned,” Mavis said to Umbra while she placed the bag with Amber down as the professor spoke.

“Today you’ll be taking a VR test, this one of a perfectly reconstructed mission of my old War days.” He said as a monitor projected screenshots of an old war base, soldiers posted around heavily armed for combat. “This test will be stealth based, coordination and teamwork are a must have for this one. Reach your objective, plant the explosive and exit the compound without being spotted.” Professor Theodore explained to us all as the four students around him began to hook themselves up into the machine. “Team INDG will demonstrate the proper coordination needed for your tests.” He said to us. We all gathered around before seeing some screens light up and soon the image of a snowy base was shown. The screen moved across the place and showed us what it looks like but it was quick enough that we can’t gleam anything off of it.

“So Umbra, think this is your specialty?” I asked her.

“Not… really. Professor Theodore said this was during the war and… well, I don’t know if I get anything without some sort of reconnaissance of the place.” She answered me as the screen showed team INDG appear.

It took them ten minutes… ten minutes to bypass security, to sneak past or knock out guards. Ten minutes to plant the bomb on the fuel tanks and extracting. All without having to utter a word as well, either within VR hand signals.

It was… impressive to see them do this without fail, though I guess it makes sense since they are third years. “Not going to lie, it’s going to be hard…” I said to the others.

“Yeah… I’m not one for stealth.” Amaram said before gesturing to herself. “I’m more hard labour and straight forward, not… this.”

“Boom!” Said the team leader as the scores were put up in a leader board, with their time being at the top. “New best time- ow!” The Team leader, Indigo his name I soon found out, reeled in a bit of pain when the professor walked the back of his head with his cane.

“Do not treat it as a game, Indigo. I’ve told you many times before.” The Professor said with a frown as the others unhooked themselves off the machine.

“Sorry, grandpa.” I barely heard Indigo said as he rubbed the back of his head. Theodore nodded and hummed before dismissing the group, getting the wolf to look at Amber as she poked her head out of the bag. She yipped at the wolf and I saw it wag its tail a bit. This caused Amber to jump out and taking her much larger form, making a few students jump in surprise. When Amber got up to the Beowolf, the two barked at one another before Amber ran out with another chasing after her.

“Young love.” I heard Mavis mutter with a happy sigh before class continued with another team getting their turn in the test.

Later…

Well, it didn’t go as bad as I thought, our group were close to completing it a little over twenty minutes until one of the guards spooked Amaram and she decked him in the face, causing us to fail.

“Sorry guys…” Amaram said sadly to us.

“It was a noteworthy attempt, girls,” Mavis said to us as she floated past us. “There’s always practice.” She was quick to add as we got our things, the next period about to start. It was Grimm Studies with Professor Port, which also meant that it was a whole period of listening to him tell stories of ‘The good old days!’ as he likes to call them.

And like I expected, it was mostly Professor Port going over a different type of Grimm, today’s it was the Deathstalkers and went off on a story when he found himself in a nest of them. Some of us stayed awake for his lessons, others not so much. When the period was over it was time for lunch, yay~.

We began to pack our notebooks and I turned to Mavis, expecting to see her napping but I was surprised to see her awake and smiling, did she really enjoy the professors' stories? She can’t possibly believe he actually did all those things… can she? She saw my odd look and soon arched a brow. “What?” She asked me.

“Just surprised that you’re awake for one of Professor Port’s lectures,” I said to her which earned me an arched brow and smile from Mavis.

“Oh, it’s always interesting to hear his takes on the events he goes on about during his classes,” Mavis said to me with a giggle and soon added. “They are all true, to a degree of course but true nonetheless. He always leaves out the bits with others joining to help but I guess it cannot be helped if he liked to remember things his way.” She said with another giggle before she began to float off the ground again, bag hanging below her as she held the straps for it. I stared at her for a few moments… they were real?! After gathering my thoughts from the shock, I packed my own things followed my team out.

We all headed off towards the cafeteria to get some food and sit down at a table, one that just so happens to have Team RWBY also sitting at. Take a guess at which one of us picked the table to sit in… If that guess wasn’t Mavis, then it’s wrong, so very wrong.

“Hey!” Ruby greeted us all with a smile. The other two, Blake and Weiss, gave us a wave as Yang greeted Mavis with a smile.

“Hey.” I greeted Ruby with a smile as well before I dug into my food, overhearing the other two talking, and I mean Mavis and Yang.

“So how was your last class,” Yang asked Mavis.

“Well, it was Port, so about as well as it usually goes,” Mavis answered with a chuckle. “While his tales are interesting, he does go on longer than he should.” She added, giggling before taking a fork and ate a bit of the food, which wasn’t terrible but not great either.

“Actually I think his tales gave some insight into how to fight the Grimm, even though the Professor does embellish on his tales,” Blake added into their talk.

“Really? I kinda zone out when he starts talking.” Yang said which got Blake to roll her eyes. This got Mavis to giggle with a mouthful of food before she swallowed the food. We all chatted for a bit, Mavis and Yang mostly talked to each other than the rest of us before we were interrupted by someone.

“Hey there.” A guy said to Mavis. He was tall with short brown hair and white skin, he had a smirk on his face as he looked at Mavis. “My name is Cardin Winchester.”

“Okay, and?” Mavis asked him back with an arched brow, unaware as we are to what this guy was doing here. This got him to chuckle a bit before saying.

“Well I just came over to say that I have some tickets to a movie, and I’m wondering if you want to come with me,” Cardin asked, getting some odd looks from Team RWBY.

“How sweet of you… but I already have plans.” Mavis said back to him with a smile, gesturing towards Yang who did her best to hide her surprise.

“Wait, I thought we-” Ruby started to say but was cut off when Blake covered her mouth as Cardin stared at Mavis.

“I, you… what?” he asked in surprise.

“She said she has plans. Get your ears cleaned.” Amaram informed Cardin, the latter shot a glare at her before walking off in a huff. As he left I leaned over to Mavis.

“I didn’t know you had plans with Yang?” I whispered to her. This got her to chuckle a little and shake her head.

“I don’t, I only said that to get him off my back,” Mavis said to me in a playful whisper. I rolled my eyes at her before Yang spoke up.

“When did we make plans?” Yang asked Mavis, who turned to answer her but Yang continued. “I mean, I was going to ask if you want to hang out this weekend but as it seems you already made plans… with me… does that mean that’s a yes?” Mavis blinked at Yang in silence before smiling.

“Sure.” She said to the blonde. The two of them smiled at one another as we all continue eating our food. When we finished up and the bell rang for the next period, which was a study period so we all headed to the library and went off to study or something. This left me with Mavis alone at a table in the library.

“So, seems someone has a date~,” I said teasingly to Mavis.

“At least I found a date, can you say the same?” She asked me with a smirk and an arched brow. My smirk fell as she said that.

“I… haven’t found anyone, alright,” I said to her, slinking down in the seat. After a few moments, I sat back up. “Actually I have to point out that you stole my notes!” I pointed out to her. She arched a brow at me when I said this to which prompted me to grab her bag and pull out her notebook. “Your notes were in my handwriting! You imagined them into your notebook!” I pointed out to her as I opened it and checked the pages. “They are all in my handwriting!” I said.

“I may or may not have had our notebooks enchanted. Anything you write on yours shows up in mine.” Mavis said to me with a giggle as multiple notebooks opened up, all of which were in my handwriting from all the different classes.

“That’s cheating!” I said to her, frowning that she would make me do all the work. She told me that I had to do all my work myself, seeing her doing this made me upset.

“It’s not cheating, Viri. It is me making sure you’re not spending time improving your drawing skills.” Mavis said to me with a frown before adding. “And I use it to stay in Beacon, would you rather they kick me out?” She asked me. I didn’t say anything as she was right if she got kicked out I would be on my own. I sat back down and frowned at myself, giving her notebook back.

“Sorry,” I said to her.

“Oh don’t be so hard on yourself, the magic is able to work both ways so you have a better advantage than anyone in Beacon.” She said to me with a smile as she soon showed me an answer to the question I wrote down for myself regarding DeathStalker’s durability and how to counter it.

“To use its own stinger…” I read as she finished writing. She nodded at me before gesturing to my own notebook, which was open. I looked at it and saw the same question and answer, the answer was in her own writing.

“Either using its own stinger or in some occasions, hitting it really really hard,” Mavis said to me with a chuckle as she closed her notebook. I chuckled again as I pulled a book that I grabbed from before and opened it to a chapter to study. Before I could get a little more reading in I heard someone walk up to us.

“Well hello again.” Cardin greeted Mavis in a chipper tune. “Didn’t expect you to be here.”

“Hello to you too, can I help you with anything?” Mavis asked him with an arched brow as I looked up from my book.

“Well, I just came back to say that, if this weekend isn’t going to work out… how about the next weekend? Just a walk around the park and some lunch?” Cardin asked Mavis with a smile. This got Mavis to giggle a bit.

“That’s very sweet of you to offer but I’m afraid I’ll to pass,” Mavis said to him kindly, turning down an offer for a date. Can’t this guy get the message? I saw his one eye twitch a bit before chuckling.

“Really, well I think you’re missing out on something for turning me down so… easily, so I ask again, maybe reconsider.” He asked, a little more forcefully.

“Well when that something turns up I’ll consider it but until then my answer stays the same,” Mavis said, once again her smile having never faltered for even a second. I looked up to see that Cardin was looking a little bit frustrated at Mavis’ answers. After a few moments, he spoke.

“Say, are you… a betting woman?” He asked Mavis which made me frown a little as she glanced at him.

“I like to take risks, so I suppose that makes me a betting woman,” Mavis answered, arching a brow at the man in front of her while I did my best to look disinterested though I’m beginning to think he hasn’t noticed me at all, which I am thankful for.

“Well, how about this; a match, me vs you. If I win you go out with me and cancel on… the blonde chick and go out with me. And if you win… I’ll leave you alone. Deal?” He asked me.

“Deal.” She said with a smile before Cardin chuckled and left us after giving us the training room number to meet up in. As soon as he left our line of sight, Mavis made an odd looking notebook appear and she hummed.

“Hmm, quite the man he is. Not seven second later is thinking of cheating.” She said with a roll of her eyes.

“He’s going to cheat? How do you know?” I asked her, surprised to hear her say that Cardin was going to cheat. She turned the book over and let me see the contents of which I stared oddly at as I read. Sure enough on one page that was magically written had his name on it. “Oh… wow, it also says that if you question it, he will say that he only asked for a match, not a one on one match… that asshole. Should I go tell the others about this?” I asked her.

“For what?” Mavis asked me as she flipped through a few pages of the book. She stopped at one page with an arched brow before shaking her head. “I don’t see why others need to be involved.” She said.

“Well, Cardin is going to get his team to fight you, don’t you want to have an even playing field?” I asked her. She arched a brow at me, as if I should be realizing something- oh… “Right… never mind. Forgot who I was talking to.” I said to her as I crossed my arms. I keep forgetting that Mavis is actually a strong Huntress on her own account.

“But if you wish to inform the others of the upcoming fight, do feel to do so. I’m sure they’ll enjoy the spectacle.” Mavis said with a little laugh before standing up. “I’ll be heading back to our dorm to change into something more fitting for fighting.” She said to me before floating off, leaving me to my own devices… until Amber quite literally popped her head from under the table. Where did she come from!?

“Ah! Where did you come from?!” I yelled in surprise as Amber looked up at me as she rested her head on my lap. I smiled a gave her ears a scratch. “Were you sleeping under the table?” She huffed a bit as I stood up, heading off to tell the others what was going to happen.

Later, in the training room.

Seems the word about the challenge got around as there a large crowd of people here to see the fight. I sat in the front row of the stands waiting to see Mavis kick Cardin and his teammates' asses.

“This’ll be interesting.” I heard Umbra said beside me as Amaram looked around.

“There are a lot of people around…” Amaram said to us. “We been here for two weeks and everyone is this itching to see some combat?” I shrug at her as I looked around. As I did I saw the same group of third-year students here as well, some muttering to one another as the Beowolf was next to one of them. Out on the arena was Cardin in the same outfit I saw him in holding a large mace in his hand and smirking to himself.

“Hello.” I heard the voice of Ruby and saw that she and her team was here as well.

“Hey, Ruby, here to watch as well?” I asked her.

“Yup got a free period right now,” Ruby answered as she sat down beside me.

“So who has Cardin challenged?” Yang asked me before looking past me and added. “And where’s Mavis?”

“Those questions can be answered at the same time; Cardin challenged Mavis,” Umbra answered that.

“What? Why?” Yang asked us which I answered.

“Because Cardin can’t take the answer no,” I said simply as Cardin looked around for Mavis, who has yet to be found. As we waited we informed Yang what was going on and at the end, she looked pissed.

“That asshole! If I was down there I would beat the crap out of him!” Yang said angrily. I could’ve sworn that her hair glowed brighter and her eyes went red. Luckily Ruby was able to calm her down.

“I have to say, it’s odd that Cardin would hit on Mavis since she’s a Faunus,” Weiss said which caused me, Umbra and Amaram turn to look at her.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Amaram asked with a frown on her face.

“Choose your next few words carefully,” Umbra added. Weiss looked at the three of us with a worried look.

“Cardin and his team openly pick on Faunus once in a while,” Blake answered us. We all nodded as we continued to stare at Weiss, probably making her very uncomfortable.

“C-Can we stop staring at me… please. Look, I think Mavis is coming now and- Uhhhhhh.” Weiss stopped talking as her whole face went red, same goes to her teammates. I looked back to see what’s- Uhhhhhh!

True to her word, Mavis finally came around… wearing a bikini and some leggings… What!?! There was no other way to describe what she wore, everyone in the hall looked at Mavis in awe and disbelief. When I looked at Mavis herself, I had expected her to see some flare in her walk… but what I saw was her tightening a pair of fingerless gloves as her sword fan rested on her hip.

“Why is she wearing… that?” Ruby asked, covering her eyes and peeking out of her fingers.

“That’s… not decent at all! How is that proper combat armour!?” Weiss asked in a flustered manner.

“Says the one in a skirt.” Blake pointed out, less flustered as her teammates.

“It’s a combat skirt,” Weiss said in a matter of fact tone.

“Yeah~” Ruby added as the two high five each other. Yang was the only one that didn’t say anything, the reason being that she was staring at Mavis wide-eyed and blushing. Mavis turned to look at us, at Yang more specifically before blowing a kiss towards the Blonde.

“Hurp!” Was all Yang could say before falling down onto the ground. We all looked down at her as we saw hearts in Yang's eyes.

“Oh, geez…” Ruby said before shaking her sister. “Come on, wake up! You’re going to miss the match!”

As Ruby was trying to wake her sister up from her coma I looked back to see Mavis doing some stretching and Cardin… laughing.

“Well look at you! Already putting a show on for me? You’re sweet!” Cardin said loudly at Mavis.

“The show isn’t meant for you, you’re just an unwanted audience,” Mavis said back to him simply as she finished her stretched.

“Big talk for someone that’s going to get their ass kicked,” Cardin said as he did a gestured and the rest of his team came out. Each of them armed and ready to fight. “Oh, did you think this was a one on one fight? Sorry but all I said that this was a match, didn’t say anything about how many are fighting.” He chuckled.

“You sure she’ll be alright?” Amaram asked me. I looked at Mavis for a moment and saw she wasn’t worried.

“I think so,” Umbra said to her as Mavis spoke.

“Come on, I don’t have all day.” She said to her opponents as she got ready to fight, the Aura bars displaying above their heads. The other four looked at one another as they got ready as there was a ten-second countdown. As it counts down to five seconds Yang regained consciousness.

“Wha- what happened? Did I miss it?” Yang asked looking back as there were three seconds left. Two… one.

With a single pushing gesture of her hand, Cardin’s mates were tossed out of the ring like ragdolls and counting them K.Od. While Mavis giggled and Cardin, in shock looked back to see his groaning team.

“Nah, you didn’t miss much,” I said to her as Cardin looked back at Mavis who was smiling at Cardin.

“Would you look at that, just us. It’s like our first date.” Mavis said with fluttering eyes, taunting the mace-wielding jock. Cardin huffed at this before gripping his mace and charge at Mavis to slam his mace on her, only for Mavis to sidestep away, almost dance-like which caused Cardin to get a bit angrier as he spun around, swinging his mace out wide and again Mavis dodged gracefully. “Our first dance, though you need some lessons,” Mavis said, bending backwards to dodge an incoming swing of the mace. “I think you might have two left feet.” She said before using her own feet to kick up Cardin and quickly dropping to the floor only to propel herself back up, kicking Cardin down onto his back with Mavis standing on top of him.

“Wow… she’s good.” Blake said in awe at Mavis’ skill as Weiss nodded as Yang was cheering as Cardin rolled up to his feet as Mavis simply hopped off of him.

“Gah! Hold still!” He yelled as he took his weapon and tried to hit her.

“Gods above you’re really bad at this,” Mavis said with a laugh as she dodged, danced and simply moved out of the way of each attack Cardin had to offer.

“Fuck off!” Cardin yelled as he slammed his mace down onto the ground, making a shockwave towards Mavis, to which got her to backflip and float upwards a bit. She positioned herself upside down before doing a kissy face. Cardin growled as he tried to hit Mavis’ face only for her to swing around, making him slam down onto the ground as she was once again upside down.

“I’m beginning to think you’re not even trying.” She said to him with a laugh before Cardin growled and swung once again before shocking everyone when he managed to strike Mavis clear across the ring, getting her to tumble onto the ground. We watched as a good chunk of her Aura went down and Cardin chuckled.

“Finally, not so tough now bitch.” He said to Mavis as he walked over to Mavis and wined up to slam his mace down. Mavis didn’t move as Cardin brought his mace up to slam down on her.

“Get up!” I heard Yang yelled in worry as me and my team looked at Mavis in worry that she wasn’t moving.

“Why aren’t you moving…” I muttered to myself in a worried tone as I stared at her. Just as Cardin slammed down his mace, the entire room was filled with the sound of a large bell-like ringing. I blinked a first until I saw Cardin started vibrating as if he hit something hard… then I saw Mavis push his mace up with her finger.

“Hmph to cocky for your good, that was a free hit I gave you,” Mavis said to Cardin, her Aura skyrocketing back to where it once was. She arched a brow at the still stunned Cardin before poking the mace of her opponent all over, making it ring like a bell more and more suddenly making Cardin toss his mace up into the air, which was quite the feat of strength for him I have to admit. Before the mace hit the ground, Mavis grabbed the handle of it and spun it around only to give Cardin a taste of his own medicine, hitting him and launching him across the ring. Just after Mavis did this, she grabbed her sword fan and sliced off the head of the mace before kicking it towards Cardin. The mace head went and hit a place no man wants to get hit… at all… everyone flinched when Cardin got hit.

“Oooooooo~” Cardin groaned in a high pitch voice as he fell over. Is Aura bar fell before displaying a skull and over Mavis’ head it said, winner. Everyone cheered at her victory.

“I think it’s best we see other people,” Mavis said out loud, closing up her weapon and strapping it back onto her hip before walking off the ring.

Team Rwby and my team got up to go met up with Mavis which we found her in the changing rooms grabbing her bag.

“Congratulations!” I said to her with a smile. She turned to look at us with a chuckle.

“Thank you, to be honest, it didn’t feel like much of a fight,” Mavis said her bag in hand and her weapon on her hip. Which made me realize something. It can cut through metal, which was both awesome and terrifying.

“Can I ask something?” Ruby asked Mavis, getting her attention. “Can I see your weapon...please~”

“Hmm? What for?” Mavis asked with an arched brow, holding back a laugh at the starry-eyed leader of RWBY.

“I just want to see it up close!” Ruby said in an excited tone. With a chuckle, she took her fan blade and handed it to Ruby, who got giddy when she held it. As Ruby was busy drooling over Mavis weapon I looked back at her.

“That ending was… ow.” I said which got a chuckle from Mavis.

“It wasn’t much of a… graceful way to end things but it was effective,” Weiss said to Mavis.

“Good job,” Blake said simply with a smile. Mavis smiled at them before looking at Yang, who has been quiet.

“That was an awesome match,” Yang said with a smile.

“Yeah, you showed that Cardin not to mess with you,” Amaram said as Umbra gave her a thumbs up. Mavis laughed at this before taking her weapon back, Ruby having practically drooled onto it while she stared at it.

“Uhh,” Mavis said in a little disgust before making her weapon float on its own and spin dry itself.

“Sorry…” Ruby said before Yang pulled her into a one arm hug.

“You need to work on that sis,” Yang said teasingly. Ruby smiled at her as looked at Mavis.

“I… I have to ask, why that outfit?” I asked her, gesturing her bikini.

“Rude to ask about one’s sense of style,” Mavis said with a little frown as she grabbed her weapon again.

“I didn’t… oh never mind.” I said with a grumble, which got her to giggle and say.

“I’m just messing with you,” Mavis said to me before floating off the ground. “I decided on this as my outfit cause I make it look good.” She said before striking a suggestive pose.

“Well, I like it,” Yang said with a smile which everyone rolled their eyes or shook their heads.

“So… do you think Cardin will try anything after having beaten him?” Amaram asked Mavis which got everyone’s attention. “He doesn’t seem the be the one that would take losing lightly.”

“He better not, else he has to deal with me,” Yang said, cracking her knuckles.

“I’d like to see him try,” Mavis answered before floating above us. “It was entertaining and if he thinks he can beat me with cheap tricks, he has another thing coming. Perhaps the flagpole out in the courtyard can use a new flag.” She said to us with a chuckle. We all stared at her, unsure if she was being serious or not. For me, I think she is being serious.

“Well then… how about we celebrate your win with some food?” I suggested which got everyone’s attention. Mavis giggled before sitting stop Yang’s shoulders, much to the latter’s delight.

We all headed out of the changing room to find a nice place to celebrate Mavis’ victory. We even called up Jona to invite her team to join us as well.

This sure was an exciting day today, can’t wait to see what happens next.

Ch. 6

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It's been a few months since the match between Mavis and Cardin. Mavis has been slowly getting known as one of the top students in Beacon Academy. The downside of this was that Cardin didn't take his loss to her greatly so he tried to get back at her…. Only for him to get himself in trouble. He can't seem to take the hint after some pretty bad embarrassments, he even tried to go after some of our friends… yeah didn't end up good for him with that.

Right now I was hanging out with Ruby, doing the normal thing on a weekend; playing fighting ninjas super! The two of us were playing for a few hours and the score was tied for match point of five.

We were in this match for some time before Ruby's character cut the head off of mine and I lost. “Ha! I win.” Ruby cheered as I hung my head in defeat.

“Yeah yeah good game,” I said to her with a chuckle as I put my scroll away. I stood up and stretched a bit as turned the game off. The both of us have been hanging out a lot ever since Mavis and Yang hooked up… something that everyone saw coming from a mile away. It was a little odd for me to see that but I'm not stopping them from doing whatever. As I finished stretching I looked over to see the disaster waiting to happen but yet it hasn't happened as of yet bunk beds and saw several pictures hanging up near one of the top bunks. Looking closer I saw they were pictures of Ruby and Yang with some guy that was older than them. He had short blonde hair and tanned skin and has some features that matched up with Yang. I've seen this picture before but haven't asked about it… till now.

“Hey, Ruby, who's the guy in these pictures?” I asked her which she looked over to see what I'm talking about.

“Oh, that's my dad,” Ruby said happily. Ah, right. Should’ve been my first guess… though looking at the two, they don’t look a lot alike.

“Is it… normal that you don't look a lot like your dad?” I asked her, unsure if that's true or not.

“Well, that's mostly due to the fact my dad isn't my real dad,” Ruby explained which made me go wide-eyed before Ruby continued. “Yeah, shocking but, if you were looking at the two of us, we don’t look a lot alike. We even got it tested and… nope, no match.”

“Right…” I said to her as I looked up at the photos but didn’t see any of her mom. “Why don’t you have any pictures of your mom?”

“I do, they are on the other side,” Ruby said which the two of us moved over to the other side of her bed and sure enough, there were a few pictures of a woman with the same hair colour as Ruby, be it a bit redder.

“Oh wow, she’s beautiful,” I said to Ruby as she grinned.

“Isn’t she. I love my mom so much. She was one of the reasons I wanted to be a huntress.” Ruby said with a smile on her face. “She was a huntress as well, was in a team with my dad and uncle and she would tell me tales of their adventures to me and Yang when we were younger.”

Ruby continued for some time talking about her mom happily which I listened and smiled as she told them before long a question came up. “Hey, do you know who your dad is?” I asked her. Her smile faltered a bit as she looked down at her lap.

“No… I asked my mom but… she doesn’t talk about him.” Ruby said to me sadly. I didn’t say anything to her for a few moments, kinda understanding how she’s feeling about this.

“Yeah… I know that feeling.” I said to her, sitting down onto the bed, making sure it didn’t fall on top of me which thankfully it didn’t. “I don’t know much of my papa either, other than he’s a huntsman.”

Before I could continue or anything the door open and both Yang and Mavis walked in, hand in hand.

“Oh hey, Ruby, Viri.” Yang greeted us with a smile.

“Hey, you two.” I greeted back as Ruby waved. I looked over at Mavis and saw that Mavis was walking for once. “See that you aren't floating around.”

“She does but I keep her head down,” Yang said as she squeezed Mavis’ hand with her own.

“You keep telling yourself that, Yang,” Mavis said to Yang encouragingly and teasingly with a chuckle before looking at me. “So had any fun while we were gone?” Mavis asked with a smirk, which got Yang to hold back a sudden laugh.

“Well, I won our game,” Ruby said proudly as she smiled at me, I simply rolled my eyes at this.

“I'm never going to hear the end of this,” I said with a chuckle. Mavis and Yang blinked at this before the former shook her head with a groan.

“Nevermind then.” She muttered before beginning to float off the ground, letting go of Yang's hand as she did before resting her head atop the blonde's head. Ruby and I looked at one another confused before shrugging as I felt my stomach rumble a bit.

“Hmm, hey you two gotten lunch yet?” I asked Mavis and Yang.

“No, we were planning to head into the cafeteria after dropping some things off,” Mavis said before Yang dropped her gauntlets on her bed, leaving Mavis to do the same with her weapon. Ruby and I smiled a bit before all four of us headed off to the cafeteria to grab some grub. We chatted on the way there, laughing a bit at some funny stories that Yang was telling us as we got closer to the place.

I rounded the corner while talking to Yang and I ran into somebody. “Oops, sorry,” I said to whoever.

“It’s fine, I wasn’t looking where I was-” the voice belonged to a man and I looked at him and saw that he was a tall man with short hair and a trimmed beard that were both a dark brown colour. His eyes were the same dark brown colour as his hair as he stared at me with wide eyes, surprised to see me. He continues to stare at me before Yang spoke.

“Hey… you okay there?” Yang asked, snapping the man out of it.

“Huh? Yes, I uhh… sorry I have to… go… yes go, this way.” the man said as he walked around us and quickly headed down the hallway. Odd. we continue towards the cafeteria before Yang spoke up again.

“Hey, you okay?” Yang asked Mavis which I turned my head to see that instead of her happy go lucky smile was gone, instead was a look of anger. She took a deep breath and her look of anger was gone.

“I'm fine, Yang Yang,” Mavis said to her with a smile. Yang arched a brow at her but didn’t say anything as we continued. When we got to the cafeteria Mavis and I grabbed some food and sat down to wait for Yang and Ruby.

“Hey… what was that back there? It looked like you were about to break something.” I asked her, to which she arched a brow at me.

“I don't know what you're talking about, Viri.” She said to me, picking at her food with the fork in her hand.

“It has to be something, you rarely get angry. Heck even with Cardin you treat it like a game.” I pointed out to her before adding. “The fact that you got angry means something is up.” She shook her head at this before speaking.

“Viri, it's fine. There's nothing wrong.” She said to me, her agitation being held back but I knew it was there. I stared at her for a few moments before deciding not to push it as the other two came over and sat down with us. The four of us happily ate our food all the while I thought of the guy that we ran into. Don’t know why but… something about him was bugging me.

“So what are you guys going to do tomorrow?” Ruby asked Mavis and I. “Me, Yang, Blake and Weiss are going off into the town and explore for a bit.”

“Hmm, I don’t have anything planned… I thought I would give my weapon a bit of maintenance.” I answered Ruby as I looked over at Mavis, wondering what she had planned. She merely shrugged at this before saying.

“I was planning on simply hanging out with Yang but she has left out the bit where she was already busy for tomorrow,” Mavis said to Yang with a frown. Yang flinched at that a bit.

“Uhh, sorry babe… I’ll make it up to you?” Yang said as if it was a question.

“Hmph.” Mavis humphed before continuing to eat her food. As Yang tried to work out things between them and Ruby excusing herself to use the restroom I looked off into the cafeteria and saw the man I ran into before walk in. He looked around at the place before spotting me, I mean… there’s no one else in the cafeteria other than us and a few small groups. He gestured me to come over to him. I arch a brow at this since I didn’t know who he was, at all but… I don’t know there’s something about him that bugs me.

“I’ll… be right back.” I said to the other two who were still talking to one another as I stood up and walked over to see the man.

“Thank you for coming over.” He said to me as I got there.

“Yeah, sure… who are you and what do you want?” I asked him as I cross my arms.

“This won’t take much of your time but…” He pulled out a scroll and opened it as an image appeared to show me. “This woman… do you know her?”

I was surprised at this, it was an image of mama holding me when I was young… why does the guy have it?!

“Where did you get that?!” I asked, shocked he has that image. The man was surprised at my outburst and looked at the photo, a look of sadness formed on his face.

“Why I have it I don’t want to go into but let’s just say that she was… is someone close to me… someone that I had a wronged…” He said simply before looking at me. “But judging from your reaction you do know her, have you-”

“Of course I know her, she’s my mama,” I said, cutting him off. His eyes widen as we stood there… staring at each other… this was getting awkward.

“Oh… right… okay…” He said slowly before putting the scroll away. “I will… uhh… wow, this is-” He didn’t finish as a fork flew between us and impacted between us, scaring the hell out of us. We both looked over to see that it was Mavis that threw the fork… a shadow of darkness of evil intent surrounds her. Her gaze was on the man beside me, she shook her head as if to let him off with a warning. “Uhh, right… I think I better… go.” He said as he slowly walked out of the place without breaking eye contact with Mavis. When he left I turned to her with a confused look.

“What was that for?!” I asked her as I marched over to her.

“You are not getting answers from me, if you want the truth then speak to your mother.” She whispered at me before getting up from the table and walking off with the tray following behind her, leaving the other two confused.

“Uhh, what was… that about?” Yang asked me as Ruby, now back from the washroom, looked completely lost.

“I… I don’t know… But I have to go make a call.” I told them as I made my way towards my dorm room. So many questions buzzed in my head on what just happened and who this guy was. When I got to my room I saw that no one was here so I grabbed my scroll and started to dial up mama. When she answered she was wearing her bandana and looked like she was in the forges.

“Hey honey didn’t expect you to call so soon.” She said to me with a warm smile. “Is there something you need?”

“Hi mama, do you have a moment? I need to ask you something.” I asked her. When she told me that she was free I told her about my encounter with the man from before, the fact he had a photo of her, and what happened with Mavis. When I was finished mama looked shocked.

“And… and this happened a few minutes ago?” Mama asked me which I nodded.

“Yeah… don’t know why Mavis is so mad at this whole thing. When I ask about it beforehand she doesn’t give me an answer.” I said to her with a frown. “She simply said ‘Go ask your mother that.’ so… what gives?” Mama didn’t say anything at first, she looked like she was distracted with something.

“Viri… that man’s name is Ray Walker… he was the man I was with when I had you… and ran off.” Mama said to me. My eyes widen when I heard this. That man was my papa? I didn’t say anything to mama as I was too shocked at this that mama continues to talk. “It’s been so long since I saw him last… did he seem alright?” Mama asked me.

“Uhh, what? Oh um… well, he was fine before almost getting hit by a fork.” I answered her.

“Ah… well… let’s hope your grandfather doesn’t find out about Ray being there.” Mama said to me which got to arch a brow.

“I thought you would also be mad at him mama,” I said to her.

“I am… but it's been so long and… I don’t know…” Mama sighed a bit.

“Did you… miss him?” I asked mama which she looked at me through the Scroll.

“I… Viri when he ran away when I told him I was having a baby I was hurt back then and… a lot has to happen and I can understand that he was scared. We were young and we were together for not a long time.”

“I thought you said it was a few years.” I pointed out to her.

“When it comes to a relationship time is different!” Mama retorted at me which got me to giggle. “What I’m getting at that is that I’m not over the fact he ran out on me… but I’m not overly mad at him.” Mama was quite a bit before smiling. “I still remember him going out of his way to book a seat at a restaurant I loved, even though he could only get one seat and he had to talk through a scroll.”

Mama sighed with a smile on her face before looking at me. “Viri, thank you for telling me all of this… and if you see Mavis, please tell her to not kill Ray… I still need to talk to him.”

“I will,” I told her before saying goodbye to her.

“Oh wait, and if you see Ray again. Tell him to keep the scroll.” Mama said before hanging up. I sighed as I fell back onto my bed, I just met my papa… so many emotions ran through my head as I laid on my bed. I couldn't think of how to properly react to the revelations as there were parts of me that told me I should feel happy and excited while the other me said I should be angry at him for what he did. Maybe tomorrow I can have my answers.

The Next Day…

When the next day came around I was sitting at my desk with Molten Fox in front of me as I did some maintenance on her. While I was enjoying the time, somebody wasn't having much luck, that person was floating around in the room upset.

Mavis has been like this for the better part of a few hours now, Yang having had plans she seemed to have forgotten when making time for Mavis. The latter of which has made us sure that she isn't mad at Yang for being with her friends, she is mad for having forgotten her prior plans. That's all she has been seeing during her moping about.

“You know… you could've gone with them and hung out… right?” I said to Mavis as I worked on my weapon. Mavis stopped her mindless floating and waved her hand when I opened my mouth to ask what she was doing my vision was darkened when a cleaning rag was sent to my face. “Real mature…” I said to her with a grumble.

She didn't answer me as she continued to float around the room. I shook my head at this as I went back to work on my weapon until there was a knock at the door. Both of us looked at one another before I got up to go check who it was.

“Hello? Who’s-” I stopped when I saw it was the guy I met yesterday, my papa.

“Oh… good, I found the right room this time.” He said with a sigh. Behind me, Mavis stopped floating around and looked over at us, glaring at the man in front of me.

“Yeah… do you need anything?” I asked him, curious on to why he was here.

“Right, that. So… how much do you know about… me?” He asked me nervously. I arched a brow at him.

“I know that you’re my papa that ran out on her when you learned she was having me,” I told him bluntly. He winced at this as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Right… yeah, hearing that out loud still sounds bad…” He said. “And I agree that was the wrong thing to do, no the worst wrong thing to do.”

“You think,” I said bluntly as I cross my arms. The two of us didn’t say anything for a few moments, and during this, I could feel Mavis’ glaring grow.

“So… how’s your mom?” Papa asked me, it almost sounded like he was worried about something.

“Mama’s fine. She’s working in a forge.” I answered simply which caused him to let out a sigh.

“Oh thank above… I was so worried about her, and you.” Papa said to me with a smile. “I went to the village, to talk to your mom and… well, get beaten by her, which is justified for what I did… shitty for me to do and… after what I saw…” he didn’t finish but I got the picture.

“We were saved by grandma,” I told him which he seemed to freeze up a bit.

“... Oh… okay uhh…” Papa’s eyes dart around a bit. “S-She isn’t around is she?”

I had to pause for a moment, knowing said person he was talking about was right behind me. “... No, she’s not.”

“Oh thank lords…” Papa said thankfully which made me giggle a little. “Don’t know if you know but she’s terrifying. Both her and your grandfather… I don’t know which though.” Papa said before looking around, no doubt thinking that grandpa or grandma would appear. I was holding back a laugh before saying.

“I talked to Mama yesterday, she… wants to see you again.” I told him which he looked shocked.

“She does?” He asked, unsure if I said that right which he got his answer as I nodded. A small smile appeared on his face. “I would like that… I really would… anyway, I have to go, got some work to be doing so…” He cleared his throat and stood up straight. “Make sure you’re paying attention in class, do your homework and… eat your vegetables.”

“Are you trying to parent me?” I asked him while arching a brow.

“I don’t know, is it working?” He asked which caused both of us to laugh a bit before he said. “And… Viri, if you need anything, anything at all, you can give me a call… I ran from something that I can’t forget, and it will take me a lifetime to make it up.” I smiled at him before I gave him a hug which surprised him before he hugged me. When we parted I watched him go down the hall as I closed the door to face Mavis.

“Well… he said he was sorry and stuff.” I told her. Mavis merely frowned at this and shook her head before floating off into the bathroom. I blinked at this just before the edge of the door shone brightly. I arched a brow at this before walking up to the door only to be sent to the ground as it swung open.

“Help! The doors are attacking!” I yelled as I was on the ground. “Oh, the horror!”

“Okay, look, please don’t do what you’re thinking. I just want to talk to him.” I heard Mama say as she was talking to someone. I looked up to see her talking to someone who I don’t know… wait, no… he looks familiar… kinda.

“I'm just going to talk to him.” Said the man, holding a familiar cannon in his arms, loading it up as he walked by me while Mama held him back, her feet dragging against the ground.

“Are you going to talk to him, or is that cannon going to talk to him?!” Mama yelled as she was trying to stop the man which wasn’t working.

“Uhh, what’s going on?!” I asked, very confused about what’s going on. Mama looked over at me before saying.

“Hi Viri, this is your grandpa… who now looks much younger now, and I’m trying to stop him from shooting your father, please help!?” She informed me and asked.

“I just want to talk to him.” I heard Grandpa say once again as he made it to the door. Normally I would question why grandpa is doing this but after knowing what he’s going to do with the Cannon and what it could do I decided that I didn’t want my papa to be blown up to itty bitty little pieces. I got up and helped my mom try to stop him but… Man, he’s strong!!

“Dad! Please! Don’t do this!” Mama yelled as we were being pushed across the floor.

“I just want to talk to him, I just want to shoot him.” He said before ripping the door off its hinges, his left eye twitching and his cannon lighting up as it was ready to fire.

“If you fire that thing the whole school will come down!” Mama yelled at grandpa as he aimed down the sight attached to the cannon barrel. Oh, lords he really couldn't give a shit! The cannon began to emit the ominous glow as his sights were trained on an unaware Papa only for Mavis to step in front of him and push the barrel to aim out the window before it fired, echoing across the hall as it shattered the window and the shot went off into the distance before exploding.

“As much as I would love to do this as well, we should give the man a chance,” Mavis said to Grandpa, who looked at Papa as the latter looked back at us in shock and confusion. “Just trust me, dear,” Mavis said to Grandpa, took a deep breath and sighed.

“Fine… but he has a lot of explaining to do.” Grandpa said before Mavis nodded and fixed the window with a snap of her fingers. Mama and I looked at the two of them just as we heard someone fell and looked over to see Papa fell onto his behind, a look of shock and fear on his face. Mama and I looked at one another before walking over to Papa.

“Am I dead? I don’t know if I’m dead!” Papa asked, still getting over the shock of what just happened. It wasn’t until Mama kneeled to him.

“Ray… you’re not dead.” She said to him before the two looked at one another… then mama punched him in the face.

“AH!” Papa yelled as he fell backwards, holding his eye. “AAAAOoooow~... Yup… I deserve that.”

“Yes, you did…” Mama said to him as Papa looked up at her, now with a black eye.

“Sara… you look… the same from a long time ago…” Papa said to her which Mama smiled a little.

“And you’re still an ass,” Mama said softly. She looked back up at him and added. “The beard is new.”

“I like it, makes me feel better about myself,” Papa said with a chuckle. Mama giggles a bit before she helped him up to his feet. “Ray… we need to talk.”

“I know… uhh, am I not going to get shot at?” Papa asked, nervously looking back at my room.

“If I have a say, no you won’t,” Mama said to him.

“Not giving a lot of courage there Sara…” He said to her which Mama shrugged before Mama and I helped Papa back to my room where Grandpa was fixing the door. Papa looked at him then at Mavis before blinked at her. “Ohhh… you’re the one that threw a fork at me.”

“Hello, Ray.” Mavis greeted, her tone lacking any emotion to it. Grandpa was frowning still but at least… hey, where did the cannon go? I looked around at the place for it as Papa hung his head.

“Should’ve known…” He muttered to himself as mama sighed.

“Mom, please. Can you give him a break…” She looked back at grandpa. “Can both of you do that? Yes, he made a mistake-”

“Said mistake was a big one, Sara.” Papa points that out to her.

“Why are you taking their side of things! Really?!” Mama yelled at Papa.

“I’m wondering why you’re not on their side,” Papa said as we set him down on the bed.

“Well… that’s because after a long time thinking about it… I’m not as mad as I was before.” Mama said to Papa.

“We'll leave you two to your… catching up.” Mavis said before taking Grandpa's hand and saying. “I will go and take Jericho to be distressed,” Mavis said to which Mama groaned.

“Oh, lords mom…” Mama said to Mavis who looked at mama oddly.

“Sara Mal Kun, get that head of yours out of the gutter! I meant taking him to the War World.” Mavis said to mama in a scolding manner. Mama blinked at this.

“Oh… right… sorry.” Mama said, blushing a bit. With a huff and a roll of her eyes, Mavis took Grandpa back through into my room and exited the way they came, through the bathroom, leaving the door to the dorm room completely busted open. The three of us stared at the doorway and then at each other before Papa spoke.

“Again, your parents are really… scary.” Papa said to mama before adding. “Anyway, I’ll fix the door.”

“It wasn’t your fault that it got ripped open, I should make my dad pay for it since he did rip it open,” Mama said with a huff. This got a chuckle from Papa as he looked at mama.

“Sara… I’m so sorry. If I didn’t run, all of this wouldn’t have happened.” Papa said as Mama shook her head.

“Just… can we stop bringing that up? It’s in the past and I don’t want it to be brought up again.” Mama said simply as she looked at papa. “I just want to know what you were up to all this time.”

“Well, it’s a long story,” Papa said to mama with a soft smile on his lips.

“Well, I have nothing better to do today,” Mama said as the two of them sat on my bed with me listening in. I was happy to see my parents together, and not fighting. I just hoped that maybe, just maybe, they would try and get back together.

Elsewhere

Far up in the kingdom of Atlas, General Ironwood was heading down the hallways towards the communication room of Atlas Academy as he was informed that there was an odd message that they got. When he got there everyone turned and gave him a salute.

“At ease,” he ordered as he walked over to the one who sent him a message. “So, you were the one that heard this?”

“Yes sir,” a young man answered. “I was doing my normal routines when I picked it up, sir… I could hear anything but some static and muffling so I had to… improvise.”

Ironwood arched a brow before looking over and saw what the young man mean by improvising. “Is that… an old radio?”

“Yes sir, have to tinker with it but… just listen.” The young man said as he turned the radio on. “I recorded the message as best as I could…” Ironwood stopped him as the radio was giving off some static before a female voice came through.

“I repeat, can- SSSS- ea me. This is- SSSS- hunters of the City of Yharnam. We need- SSSS- lp, we have people that need transport. I don’t know how long we-SSSSSSSSSSS~” the message was then devoid of static as Ironwood thought about it.

“This is… real?” He asked the young man.

“I… I don’t know sir, but from what I got from it and traced the signal and… you’re not going to believe it, sir.” The young man said.

“Well, spit it out.” the General asked firmly. The young man nodded and pressed a key on his keyboard and one of his screens changed to a map of Remnant.

“It’s coming from nowhere.” He answered as a red dot appeared in the middle of the Sea of Souls. “From the looks of it, it’s near Vale but again, there’s nothing out there.”

“Hmm… Soldier, I have one question for you.” Ironwood said to the young man. “Do you know the story of the City of Yharnam?”

“Not… really. Just that it’s some sort of old fairy tale.” The young man said. Ironwood stared at the map for a few moments before saying.

“That’s the thing of fairy tales, some of them are true…” He muttered before turning away. “Thank you for reporting this.” With that, he started to walk off.

“Uhh, sir permission to speak freely?” The young man asked which General Ironwood turned his head and stopped. “Where… are you going?”

“To make a call to the Headmaster of Beacon.”

Ch. 7

View Online

It’s been two days since the whole fiasco with Papa and my Grandparents and things have… sorta calmed down. Mavis was still mad at Papa for everything he has done and the fact she had to deal with the door issue. Mama and Papa took whatever time they had to talk and hang out and, I believe, they are slowly getting back together. The only thing I’m worried about is that grandpa would try and shoot Papa.

The things with Mavis and Yang calmed down as the next day after school Yang took Mavis out for the rest of the day which seemed to cheer Mavis up greatly from the fact Mavis was not frowning at Yang all the time. Right now I was in class writing down some notes when the intercom went on.

“Can both Team MAUV and Team INDG report to the Headmaster office. Can both Team MAUV and Team INDG report to the Headmaster office.” the Intercom sounded before turning off. The teacher, who was Professor Theodore, turned and looked at us.

“Well then, you four go ahead.” The Professor said to me and my team before we all got up to leave, waking Mavis up from her floating nap.

“Okay I get the naps, but floating as well? That’s kinda distracting.” I said to Mavis as she floated behind us and yawning. She simply shrugs before the four of us headed off towards the Headmaster office. Once we got there we saw that Team INDG was already there as well as Headmaster Ozpin is also here.

“Ah, you’re here, good.” Ozpin said as we stepped forward. “Before we continue, I have to ask… has anyone heard of the story ‘The City of Yharnam’?” He asked all of us.

“Yes.” Umbra spoke first. “It’s supposed to be a fabled city where the first Huntsman, or Hunters, came from.”

“Excellent Miss Wilde.” The Headmaster said to her before walking to the side. “Now… tell me, all of you, do you all believe such a city is real?” He asked us.

I didn’t know what to say about this and from the looks from Team INDG, they seemed kinda annoyed. It wasn’t until Amaran spoke up.

“Umm, Headmaster Ozpin… isn’t the the idea of a story of a city be… well, a story?” Amaran asked.

“That’s true Miss Rondel but…” The Headmaster paused a bit as a screen appeared and a man with short black hair with white on the sides. Over his right eyebrow was some sort of metal plate and he wore a white uniform.

“Some stories are actually real.” The man said on the screen. I tilted my head a bit before whispering to my team.

“Who’s that?” I asked to which Umbra answered.

“Headmaster Ironwood of the Atlas Military.” Umbra said to me.

“Oh fuck me…” I heard someone say and looked to see that it was Indigo. He took a deep breath and looked his teammate. “Fill me in on the mission, eh?” He asked his blonde-haired dragon friend, to which he nodded as a response before Indigo left the room. I frowned a bit as General Ironwood sighed.

“Not one word…” he said before clearing his throat. “Now then, to get to the matter at hand, Two days ago we picked up a message that was an S.O.S from the City of Yharnam, normally this wouldn’t cause such a ruckus but… as you can see, this is where the signal came from.” With that said a map appeared on the screen and a red dot appeared… in the middle of a large body of water.

“I’m… still confused. What’s the City of Yharnam?” I asked out loud to which Headmaster Ozpin answered.

“Miss Mal Kun, do you remember The Great War from your History class?” Headmaster Ozpin asked which I nodded. “Well, before it started there was five Kingdoms of Remnant, Vale, Atlas, Vacuo, Mistral…” as he said this four symbols appeared on the screen, each one of each kingdom. “And Finally, Yharnam.” As he said that a fifth symbol appeared, this one looked odd, kinda like someone put some letters together. “I’ll spare many details of it but during the Great War, Yharnam had no part of it.”

We all looked at each other after the Headmaster said this before continuing. “Yharnam was a small island kingdom that made due with what they were given. But during the war any and all communications and trading were cut off with that kingdom and as the story goes, it went on forgotten in time.”

“Until now, there has been no word from this kingdom which went into myth over the years.” Ironwood added after Ozpin as we all listened.

“Can we just get on with the important bit please?” Asked the goth-looking girl, blowing some bubble gum as she and the rest of her team looked bored after the whole rundown.

“The important bit, is to go to the island and find whoever sent the S.O.S and help as best as you can. If needed I'll send ships over for transport of civilians and wounded.” Headmaster Ironwood said to all of us. “I have already sent a group there, nothing to big but enough to help you on the island.”

“Umm, if you don't mind me asking sirs… but why us?” I asked the two Headmasters. “Why not fully trained huntsmen?”

“Miss Mal Kun with everything happening with the festival coming in a few months and other huntsmen out we can't send anyone right away. It would take some time.” Headmaster Ozpin said before adding. “And your group shows promise as well as Team INDG.”

“Yes, and as a more simpler option, Vale is much closer to the island.” General Ironwood added. “I’ll get some men on standby when you radio in. I wish you all the best of luck.” With that, Ironwood’s image disappeared. With that, the rest of Team INDG left the office to join up with their leader while Mavis looked at the off-screen with a concerned frown before she shook her head.

“Hey, you okay?” I asked Mavis as the other two looked over at us.

“Nothing. I was just in my own thoughts.” Mavis said to me before she turned to the door. “Shall we go get ready?” She asked us all. I nodded as we all headed down to get ready and put on our combat outfits. Once that was done we headed outside to wait for the others and the airship. Mavis was in her bikini outfit with her sword on her hip as I wore a dark red top that had no sleeves and showed off my midriff and fiery patterned scarf around my neck. Long black gloves that went up to my elbow and black pants with some cloth wrapped around my waist and went down behind me.

Umbra looked like someone from a sci-fi film, wearing what she says is a scout Atlas armour that she brought with her with permission. It was a dark blue armour that covered her body other than her head and she had a cape that almost covers her body. In her hand, she had a helmet that was the same dark blue colour as her armour and had some tech looking eyes on it. Her weapon was on her back with was a sniper rifle that was compact into a carrying case like shape.

Amaran looked… well, she looks like she belongs in a western setting with her long brown overcoat, brown pants and cowboy boots. She even wore a cowboy hat to complete the look. She was holding her weapon which was simply a shotgun with an axe blade on it and some sort of revolver in a gun holster.

“Everyone set?” Mavis asked all of us as Team INDG walked into view, unlike us they didn't change into more combat oriented attire. From where I stood I saw that Indigo had some tonfas in holsters on his hips, the tall dragon Faunus had two large curved swords on his back and a quiver on his hip, the gothic woman had a grenade launcher that she carried and the last one, who was another Faunus, had gauntlets on.

“Uhh… guessing you four are ready?” Indigo asked us, looking at Mavis with an arched brow.

“Ready as we'll ever be.” Mavis said to him with a smile. As we waited I heard some footsteps coming from behind us which when I turned around I saw Yang coming up to us.

“Oh good, you guys didn’t leave yet.” Yang said happily.

“Shouldn't you be in class now?” Mavis asked the panting blonde with an arched brow.

“Are you really going to ask me that?” Yang asked Mavis as she looked up at her to see her expression didn’t change. “I have a free period.”

“Well that solves that question.” Umbra said before walking a little bit away. Yang shook her head before saying.

“I wanted to come to see you off.” Yang said with a smile on her face. Mavis smiled at this before the two shared a touching moment by sharing a kiss. It wasn't a new thing to see from the two as they've been together for about a month or two already and they seem to be moving up fast. Amaran simply smiled at them before looking over at Umbra, who I guess knew this was going to happen and gave them space. I looked over to the other four who were waiting for the airship. When the two parted they smiled at one another happily just as the airship came around.

“I'll see you when I get back.” Mavis said to Yang, the latter smiling at this already excited for her eventual return. When the airship came down, an armoured looking one I want to point out, we all got on and lastly was Mavis who gave Yang a kiss and climbed aboard the ship. We all gave her a wave before the large side door closed up and flew off. As it happened I saw Amaran already had some safety belts on her and she was gripping the seat she was on.

“Not good with flying?” Mavid asked Amaran, the latter shaking her head while Indigo arched a brow at this, his team chatting amongst themselves.

“Never one to be flying… I prefer having my feet on the ground… solid ground.” Amaran said with a little laugh. “D-Don’t mind me. I’ll stay q-quiet here.”

“So what exactly are we expected to find?” Indigo asked out to us, his two female teammates chatting while his other mate is napping already… And snoring rather loudly. I looked over at Umbra but she had her earbuds in her ears so she wouldn’t be able to hear us.

“Your guess is better than mine.” I said to Indigo.

“Creatures worse than Grimm in terms of brutality. They may seem like people at first but they have long since abandoned their sanity.” Mavis said, sounding knowledgeable about the place we’re heading towards.

“I-If it’s like the stories my gran tells me when I was young…” Amaran didn’t finish as she had a scared look on her face.

“I… never really heard of the story of the place.” I said, a bit confused of this place.

“The short version of the story, it’s a city of nightmares.” Amaran said to me. Mavis shook her head at this but said nothing as I looked over at Indigo, who I have yet to find out on why he left when Ironwood came up.

“Hey… why you leave before when General Ironwood appeared?” I asked Indigo which got a frown from him.

“You should mind your own business.” Indigo said with a frown which got the attention of his other two teammates. The lioness faunus frowned at this.

“Sorry about his attitude, he isn't good with the subject of his dad.” The lioness said apologetically to us. We stared at the Lioness for a few moments, her words setting in.

“Wait… what? His dad?” I asked, confused about what she meant. This time it was the goth chick that spoke.

“The General of the Atlas Military is Indigo's dad, the two aren't in good terms though Ironwood has tried to make amends.” The goth girl said to which Indigo groaned as he covered his face with his hat.

“Ah… right…” was all I could say about this. The rest of the trip was mostly kept in silence as we headed towards the place.

A few hours later…

Had I knew that two teams would be stuck in an airship for a few hours, I would’ve brought some games to play as we wait. And from what I could tell, the other team was getting bored, so bored in fact that the sleeping one woke up.

“Mmm… we there yet?” He asked tiredly to everyone. Before anyone could answer that there was a loud bang coming from the outside of the ship… and then another… then a few more as there was also loud scraping and tearing sounds. The light in the room we were in turned red and our ride started to get rough.

“That’s not good… is it?” Amaran asked everyone. Before anyone could say anything, again, the intercom turned on and a male voice speaks.

“Hold on back there! We have… something attacking us and is trying to tear the ship apart! We’re going to try and land just outside the city so we can-” His voice was cut off of a loud crashing sound and screeching. “NO! NO NO NOAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The bloodcurdling screams of both pilots were heard before it was cut off.

“Now, that’s the worst thing ever!” I said as the ship started to take a nosedive. Mavis, albeit briefly, panicked as well before she closed her eyes and her expression of strain began to show. I didn't know how to explain it but the ship began to level out before we all jumped at the softer than expected impact. There was a brief moment that of quite before loud screeching came from the outside and the sound of screaming and agony as someone was… uhh...

“Oh shit…” I heard one of the guys of INDG say as they peaked out the windows only for a bloodied hand to slam against it.

“Keep calm, everyone…” Mavis said in a calm tone as the horrid sounds began to grow distant by the second. “Is everyone alright?” Mavis then asked.

Amaran and Umbra nodded at this as the seat Amaran was sitting at now has two holes as she ripped the stuffing out of them. I looked over at Mavis and mouthed a thanks to her for making our crash landing less crashy. I looked over at the other team to see if that were alright.

“We're alright but uh… I don't think our pilots are.” Indigo said before Umbra got up to open the cockpit doors only for Indigo to say. “I don't think that's a good idea newbie.” He said to her.

“Do you have a better idea?” Umbra asked before looking at Mavis.

“Go ahead Umbra.” Mavis said though she looked as if she wanted to say otherwise. Umbra turned and opened the door… which caused the smell of blood hit us as on the floor was the body of one of the pilots.

“Oh lords…” I said as I saw the body which looked like it was pecked to death and more. Torn up suit and flesh, no doubt from claws and the helmet… oh gods. His one eye starting with a look of pure horror. Umbra looked at this and looked a bit queasy as she slowly closed the door.

“I've seen animals die like that… but to see a person like that…” Amaran said as she looked a little nauseous. Indigo and co were busy checking themselves before unbuckling their seat belts finally.

“Told you not to open it.” Indigo said before popping the emergency lock which soon caused the door to launch off the Bullhead. “Fuck, what the hell attacked us?”

“Don't know man, wasn't a nevermore that's for sure.” Said the blonde dragon faunus man as he followed suit.

“Whatever it was, I'd rather not have to see it myself.” Said the lioness faunus which was soon followed by the goth.

“Ditto.” The goth said with a little groan, her once pale face now had green in it. It was at this moment that I actually didn’t know three of the four in Team INDG names.

“Do you all think it’s a good idea to stick around here?” Amaran asked nervously. “I don’t think whatever attack us would simply leave us alone.” Everyone didn’t say anything as the sound of the outside wind was now haunting. We all turned to our leaders to see what we do next, and those were Indigo and Mavis.

After a few moment the two of them agreed to get out of the crashed ship and looked around where we were. When we opened the door and stepped outside we saw that we were in some kind of forest. Tall dark trees stood high up above us, the branches look more like thin skeletal clawed arms than branches. The ground beneath us was somewhat damp as the air was cold as I could see my breath. I also had a sense that we shouldn’t be here… at all.

“Well… this is… cheery.” I said as the others came out and looked around and I looked over at Mavis and stared at her. “And aren’t you cold?!”

“Oh it's just a breeze, chill out.” Mavis said before giggling at herself which got me to take a deep breath. “I think we should all agree that we should continue towards the city, best not to let whatever attack us come back for more.” Mavis said which got the other team to hum in agreement before the lead the rest of us as we walked around the Bullhead, seeing the damages, claw marks holes and blood stained and littered the side of the Bullhead, worse more was the cockpit window, shattered and bloodied, the body of the pilot stuck as if it was facing its killer.

I gulped at the sight as we all headed away from the crashed bullhead and made our way into the forest, which seemed to be getting more and more creepier as we go, so much so that Amaran, Umbra, and I had our weapons out as we kept an eye out for anything.

“Didn't General Ironwood say that he sent out a group ahead of time?” I asked quietly. Nothing was said immediately after I asked which caused me to bump into something, when I looked down I saw that it was an Atlas rifle. “Uhhh, guys…” I said to the others as I picked up the rifle. “I'm getting a bad feeling about our Atlas group.”

“Check the clip, see if it's been used.” Umbra said. I nodded and went to pull the ammo clip off the rifle to look at it, and saw it was empty.

“Empty…” I said simply to the others.

“I don't think that's the least of our worries right now.” Said the lioness faunus as she and the rest of her team walked up to a bloodied patch of grass. Faintly, I could hear some foreign noises that sent chills up my spine.

“Oh gods…” Indigo whispered as his mates looked over towards the area he faced, which was obscured by a tree for me and my team. The sound of crunching and ripping was coming from ahead of us as there was some...thing, eating. From what little light there was I saw a creature that was thin and hairy as it held some sort of club… only for it to take a bite out of it… then I realized it wasn't a club… it was a leg.

“That's… Atlas gear.” I heard Umbra whisper as Amaran gulped.

“I… I think I'm going to be sick.” She said as the others looked queasy. The thing twitched every now and again, almost uncontrollably so and while we were trying to get over our shocks, Mavis was the only one that hasn't really reacted accordingly, seemingly picking up a thick branch and tossing it at the creature, striking it on the side of the head, getting its attention. It held its head in pain, its thin, bone like fingers wrapping around the head fully before seeing us and let out a blood curdling screech before going into all fours and sprinting at us, only for its own shadow to come up, grab it and pull it down onto the ground so hard, we heard the sounds of bone shattering from here.

I looked back at Indigo, seeing his hands raised up with a dark indigo colored aura surrounding his hands as he panted.

“You… okay?” Umbra asked Indigo as I stared at the creature crushed on the ground.

“I'm fine… can't say the same for… That.” Indigo answered as his dragon faunus friend walked up to it, getting a closer look at it.

“Hmm… lack of muscle mass, showed signs of shaking, clearly eating a person. This thing was a fucked up cannibal.” He said aloud… cannibal? Wait that thing is a person!?

“I'm sorry, but did you say… cannibal?” Amaran asked wide eyed. “As in… it was a person?”

“Yup, it's got human like features. Definitely human, can't find any trace of faunus traits anywhere as I can see.” He said back with a nod before Umbra opened her mouth to speak. “No, I'm not turning it over to get a better look. You want to do that, feel free but ain't touching that shit.” He was quick to say.

“Let's not… I don't think my stomach can take it.” Amaran pleaded, getting a nod from the Lion Faunus and goth. Umbra looked at everyone before simply nodding.

“Okay, I'm going to ask the one question that's probably on everyone's mind… what the living hell is going on here!?” I asked towards everyone, yelling it as the overwhelming panic began to set in as to what we're up against here.

“I can't answer a question I don't know the solution to, Viri.” Mavis said to me though I knew that this was a lie, simply put because she knows everything. The others weren't sure how to answer. I looked at the three who were looking at one another before I spoke.

“Also, what are your names?! It's been bugging me all this time!” I asked them which got a surprise look from them.

“I'm Nava Wite.” Said the Lioness in a formal introductory tone, albeit as best as she could in our current situation.

“Dewm.” The Goth said only to be bumped by Nava, making the goth groan. “Dew.” She said. Weird. I looked over at the dragon faunus.

“I'm Ghaul.” He said with a small nod. I lightly smiled at this, finally knowing their names before we stopped in front of a large pair of rusted gates, they were open but not with ease by the looks of it. Around the hinges and the ground, the gates were covered in these odd rotten looking tendrils.

“The farther we go, the more creepier everything becomes.” I muttered to myself.

“Yeah…” Amaran said before looking back into the forest. “Not to build on the suspense but… does anyone feel like we're being… watched?”

“It's in your head.” Indigo was the one that spoke up first, which got Nava to punch his back for this. He didn't seem to care much and rolled his eyes. The rest of us continue on before we started to see buildings. The buildings looked old and dark, windows were boarded up so and there was no light coming out of them. They also had this gothic architecture to it as well. We continue on before Umbra stopped us.

“Wait, I think I see something.” She said as she nodded in front of us. We looked and some someone stumbling in front of us, it was a being that was wearing amore from head to toe, even their face was covered as they walked around. “I think it’s one of the Atlas Soldiers. Guess some of them came into the city. This one wearing a full body armor.” Umbra informed all of us. The person in the armor groaned and moaned, both of which were sounds of pain and agony. I arched a brow at this as Nava walked up to soldier.

“Hello? Is everything alright?” Nava asked the Atlas soldier. The soldier stopped in their tracks, their body began to twitch wildly before letting out a chilling scream as the soldier grabbed onto the Nava, attempting to take her down only for Dew and Indigo to help Nava.

“Hey back off, Jackass!” Indigo yelled as he soon shoved the soldier. The soldier snarled and now went after Indigo as the three were now wrestling with this guy.

“What the hell is going on?!” I asked, unsure what the hell is going on. Umbra frowned a bit as her eyes glowed blue for a moment before they went wide.

“But… this makes no sense…” She muttered before yelling. “Move!” The three with the soldier looked over as she brought her sniper up. All three of them blinked before moving out of the way as Umbra fried a few shots at the soldier. Each hit made him stumble back a few steps before one hit him in the head, making the soldier fall backwards.

Silence fell on us as we stared at the body and Umbra. Nava calmed down and dusted herself off, covered in some gunk from the soldier before we all saw the body violent shake. Nava, Dew and Indigo took some steps back before the Atlas soldier sat up with a snarl, the bullet hole on its forehead clearly showing that it has been shot. The wound itself began to close up as tendrils began to take the place of its skin.
6
“Oh hell.” I said as I held Molten Fox in my hands. I heard Mavis hum at this before seeing her bladed fan fly past me and cutting through the armor with ease and decapitating the thing in Atlas uniform. No movements came from the thing and it simply slumped back down onto the cobblestone ground, headless but… not bleeding? Ghaul slowly moved over and look at the headless body. A look of confusion and disgust form on his face as the rest of his team went to look as well. As this was going on I looked back to see Umbra lowering her rifle down, a look down at it and shaking her head.

“Hmph, that thing was not a person. Far beyond it, a beast or a monster.” I heard Mavis mutter as her fan blade returned to her waiting hand. “Yharnam is no more than a husk of what it once was.” She muttered again as she walked ahead of the group. The rest of us looked at one another before we all followed behind her, leaving the body behind. As we walked, we saw the not so empty streets of the abandoned city littered with bundles and masses of these odd rotten tendrils. Something about those masses set off alarms in my head.

As we walked in the streets, there was a loud bang that came from nearby that made us jump. “What was that?!” I asked, now a bit jumpy with everything going on. Mavis’ eyes widened before she broke into a sprint towards a seemingly shoddy built shack, to which we soon found the body of an Atlas soldier, a gun in their hand and the barrel still smoking… oh gods.

“What the fuck is this place?” I heard Indigo ask aloud, taken back at this as we are.

“To put it simply… your worst nightmare.” Mavis said as she looked around and faced down the street we came from, distant noises similar to the groans and moans as before. “Come on, we can't stay here for much longer.” Mavis said before she quickly added. “We need to take shelter in one of the buildings, quick.” She said and Ghaul was quick to act, running over to the building opposite to us and kicking the door open. We all quickly headed inside the building and both Ghaul and Indigo were quick to barred the door with random furniture that went back to the one wall. When they were done we all hid as the groans and moans grew louder. I peeked out of the window and saw a dozen other people stumbling about, though I saw they had tendrils coming out of them… but what caught my eyes were two, larger creatures of tendrils and flesh walking in the middle of the group.

When the large group continue on, I saw a something come out of the alleyway that looks like person but the head of the being was bald and… no face. The skin covered it’s head and simply walked out of the alley. When one of the stumbling people things made a loud groan, the tall pale thing reacted and a long almost frog like tongue sprung out from its horrifyingly inhuman mouth, attaching itself onto the stumbling man and pulling him close, quickly silencing the growls and snarls by biting the head off the thing that was once a man.

I saw all of this and slowly lower myself down. “Okay… I’m going to have… so many nightmares after this.” I said quietly.

“For fucks sakes, this is the last time I do any mission by the Atlas general.” Indigo said with an angered look as Ghaul beside him shook his head. Dew and Neva looked one another as I looked at the other three, Umbra put her helmet on, covering her face as Amaran was looking of into the home. I looked over in where I saw Mavis was and slowly went over to her.

“Hey… you okay?” I asked her which she turned to look at me.

“I'm… well I could be better but I'm alright. How about you? Are you alright Viri?” She asked me with a worried tone, making sure she spoke in a whisper.

“No, I’m scared out of my mind.” I said to her. She surprised me when she hugged me, no doubt to help calm me.

“We'll get through this, Viri.” She whispered to me, not in her usual voice… But in Grandma's voice. I stared at her for a few moments before smiling at her.

“Yeah...though we have a whole island of monsters to get though.” I said to her quietly. “Also… what are we supposed to do?”

“Right now, we rest and wait for the beasts to pass. Next we'll scout the nearby buildings for survivors, after that I'll contact Atlas for a Bullhead pickup. Keep a sharp mind and don't let these monsters get the best of you.” She whispered to me as she glanced at the others. “I wish I can tell you more of this place but now is not the time.” She said to me.

Before I could say anything we heard a few loud bangs coming from outside that made all of us jump. “What was that?!” Amaran asked as more gunshots went off alongside the guttural screams from the creatures as Dew and Indigo peeked out of the window.

“What the hell?” Indigo said out loud in confusion as did Dew, though she said hers rather quietly. Mavis and I looked at one another before walking over to the window to see what’s going on.

Outside with the horde of monsters I saw someone cleave a few heads off of their bodies. The two larger creatures that were on them were letting out blood curdling screams as their bodies were set on fire as being continue to cut down the others.

It was hard to keep up with the being, who from the looks of it is a woman, moving around, slashing down the monsters with haste and the two larger monsters soon fell down onto the ground, still burning and writhing in pain.

In matter of moments, the woman took down the horde and stood in the middle of the pile of bodies. The woman looked around at the bodies before taking her weapon, which was a large sword, and did something to it which set the blade on fire before she went on with setting the bodies on fire.

“Hmm, she isn't one of beasts that's for sure.” Mavis said out loud for everyone to hear. “But something feels… off about her.” Mavis added and got Amaran and Umbra to arch a brow at her.

“Off… how?” Amaran asked as Umbra went over and peeked out of the window. I looked over at Mavis, seeing her eyeing the barricaded door before she flicked her wrist which in turn caused the barricade to move out of the way of the door before she walked over to it, in which I reacted by following closely behind my team leader. I wanted to be close by if things didn't go so well. Mavis opened the door, getting the unknown woman to quickly react which made her change her sword turn… into a gun? And firing it at Mavis within the instant of turning. It came to no surprise that the bullet didn't get so far before being stopped mid air. We stared at the woman as she lowered her gun sword and stared at Mavis. It wasn’t long before the woman tilted her head at Mavis.

“Just… just what are you wearing?” She asked Mavis, who rolled her eyes at this question.

“I am Mavis Mal Kun of Beacon Academy here on a rescue mission ordered by the General of the Atlas army, we've picked up a distress call and located to this island.” Mavis said to the woman informatively. “I have a team waiting inside, we're searching for survivors.” She added, letting the woman know of the others.

“Oh, you heard my distress call… lovely. Did you get the one or half a million I’ve sent?” The woman asked in an annoyed manner before adding. “Not mad at you, mad at the whole situation.”

“Then I suggest you cut it, we're not here to hear your annoyances, we're to extract survivors.” Mavis said before the other began to come out, weapons at the ready in case any more monsters show up.

“Well you won’t find anyone in this part of the city… already checked for the upteth time already. Any survivors are on a farm outside the city.” The woman informed us. Mavis nodded at this before Ghaul spoke.

“So we went up here for nothing. Fucking fantastical news.” He said before being bonked on the back of his head by one of Indigo's tonfas.

“Why are you complaining, we found out there’s survivors.” I said to Ghaul with a frown on my face before looking back at the woman. “Is it too much to ask if you show us to this farm?”

“I’m going to say yes as most of you, if not all, want to get the hell out of this city.” The woman said to all of us, which we nodded. “Alright, come with me, and be quick… I think my little outrage with this group attracted some unwanted sights.” as she said that my ear twitched as I heard some groaning and moaning of pain coming closer. Mavis nodded before Indigo had his team follow her and the woman. “By the way, how did you all get here?” She asked Mavis and Indigo as we quickly made our way. Indigo gave her the simply gist of what happened to us as we went through a few alleyways to avoid some monsters. “Ah, ran into some Vultures uh. Sorry bout your pilots.”

“Interesting name for such creatures.” Mavis said with an arch brow at the woman.

“Well they kinda act like vultures, only for the fact their claws can rip through metal and their beaks are as hard as reinforced spear heads. But for me, they are just not that pretty.” the woman said as we stopped and got down low as a group of those monster beings came and went without noticing us. “What I hate are those Carriers.” She whispered to us.

“What are Carriers?” Amaran asked in a whisper.

“Well, they are what you just saw, humanoid beings that have the virus inside them. Sure they look normal but if they see anyone not infected they will sprint at them at speeds to infect them…” The woman informed us which reminded me of the one Atlas soldier. The woman motion us to keep moving and we followed her. Before long we were closing in on the city gates again but when we saw the gates we stopped and stared wide eyed at what stood in front of it.

In front of us was a tall, pale looking creature with long arms and legs. It towered over us as it’s tail moved behind it. It turned it’s head and I saw that it looked… alien. It’s teeth were sharp and jagged like as they came out of its mouth and it's eyes were a pale white colour. I saw Ghaul slowly moved his hand to his weapon as did the others but the woman spoke quickly and quietly.

“No… if you do anything that’s hostile to it, you will die.” She said to us. We all looked at one another as the woman stared at the creature in front of us. It stared at us all for a solid two minutes before it began to walk off into an alleyway, ignoring all of us. When it was gone Umbra spoke.

“What… was that?” Umbra asked the woman which was the same question we all had.

“An Alpha…” The woman answered as she went over. “I’ll explain more when we’re not in danger of getting attacked.” We all continued to follow behind her as she guided us into the thick and cold forest, Mavis having not spoken a word the longest out of everyone. As we followed the woman I went over to her and whispered.

“Hey… you alright?” I whispered to Mavis.

“I'm quite fine, Viri, I'm just deep in thought.” She answered, looking over to me with a little smile.

“Okay, you were just quiet and I was a little worried…” I looked back at where we were before saying. “But really… what was that that thing?”

“That was a product of the virus that plagued the city, those who were immune to the virus’ negative outcomes were evolved into higher beings but with monstrous visage.” She whispered to me, which got me interested in this before it fully sunk it. That was a person!?... wait.

“If that’s true… then… does that mean the whole city…” I didn’t finish as Mavis looked over at me with a nod.

“Yes Viri, the whole city, if not the whole island itself is inhabited by monstrous creatures.” Mavis said to me with a nod. I didn’t say anything after that as we continue on, the whole island… full of monsters.

We continue on for a few more minutes before the trees parted and we came up to a large building which looked like a farmhouse. Indigo and his team looked around the area before speaking.

“We'll set up a defensive perimeter, you go check on the survivors.” Indigo said as his team soon spread out as quick as he finished speaking. Mavis nodded and looked at us before gesturing at Umbra and Amaram.

“You two join with INDG, with what we've seen they'll need the support if anything comes around.” Mavis said, an authoritative tone we've yet to ever hear her use until now. Umbra and Amaram nodded at this before heading out as well, leaving Me and her with the woman who was looking back the way we came from before back at us.

“So… how long has this…” I tried to ask Mavis but she was quick to answer me.

“Eighty years, it started during the great war.” Mavis was quick to answer me before turning to look at me. “It wasn't always this, it started off as a simple flu.” She said to me.

“A simple flu?” I said, frowning as the woman went a few steps away from us, kneeling down by a log. I arched a brow before seeing her pull out a book and she sat down on the trunk of the log and seemingly zoning us out.

“Yes, a flu.” Mavis said back with a frown as we walked over to the farm house. “There's more to it obviously but I'd rather not leave you scarred by events long past.” She said to me with a shake of her head. I made a face at her for holding out on the details… though I didn’t push her for more as this place is already creepy enough.

“So… what should we do? We found survivors so should we call in for pick up?” I asked Mavis.

“Not just yet, we need to see if any of them are infected and warn the troops before the pick up. We're getting them out but I want to have the risk of spreading infection to a minimum.” She said to me before knocking at the door to the house, which if I were to be honest wasn't such a good thing. I know for a fact that if it were me, hearing a knock out here would scare me shitless.

We stood there as no one came to the door. Both of us looked at each other for a moment before Mavis knocked again. “I… don’t think knocking is a good idea.” I said to Mavis.

“Right… politeness of knocking is out the window.” Mavis said with a pout before opening the door herself, revealing it to be not closed at all. “If anyone is in there, we're coming in! We're to help!” Mavis exclaimed as she opened the door.

“That… also isn’t a good idea…” I said as she stepped into the house a bit. She walked a few feet in before stopping. I sighed and walked in after her and was about to say something before someone else did.

“D-Don’t move…” A female voice said. I looked up to see a woman holding a shotgun at Mavis who was glancing at the woman.

“See, this is what I kinda think will happen…” I muttered to myself before saying. “We’re not here to harm you, just to help.” I said before taking a step forward which got the woman to point the gun at me.

“Don’t move!” she yelled as I got a better look at her, she had long brown hair and pale skin. She looked fearful as she pointed her gun at me. “W-Who are you two… where did you come from?” She asked us, glancing at Mavis and then back at me.

“My name is Mavis Mal Kun, I am with a group here in search of survivors on behalf of the Atlas military after picking up a distress call.” Mavis said to the woman.

“A-Atlas? You mean one of the other k-kingdoms?” The woman asked, still not putting the gun down as she frowned. “You m-mean someone n-now gives a d-damn about us?”

“Ma'am, please put the weapon down. The sooner you do, the sooner we can get you and whoever else out of this place.” Mavis said to her calmly as ever, not alarmed by the deadly weapon pointed right at her. The woman looked at her then at me for a few moments more before slowly pointing the shotgun down.

“You better be r-right about this.” The woman said to Mavis with a frown on her face. “I’ve already spent my whole life here in this hell. I want to live without fearing for my life every passing moment.” She said in a desperate tone.

“Trust me, ma'am. This is no joke, after we check on the others I'll be calling for a Bullhead to pick us up.” Mavis said to her, which left the woman confused at the mention of a bullhead.

“Bull… head?” She asked in confusion as we looked at one another.

“Right… so uhh, is it just you here?” I asked her.

“No, I have three kids here…” the woman answered me.

“Anyone else?” Mavis asked as she took out her scroll, getting ready to report to Ironwood.

“It’s… it’s just us.” The woman said with a sad tone to her voice. I frowned at this while Mavis spoke up.

“I'm sorry… truly I am.” Mavis said to her, knowing something I didn't… I think. I rather not dwell on it. “Before I call Atlas, I have to take a look at the children if you wouldn't mind.” Mavis said to the woman. This got an odd look from the woman.

“Why…” She asked as her hand gripped the gun in her hand. “Why do you need to take a look at my children?”

“We need to know if they are infected or not, a repeat of the incident that occurred here out in the mainlands would be catastrophic.” Mavis said to the woman, who was quick to get more defensive.

“My kids are fine. They have been for the longest time, there’s no way they are infected!” the woman said angrily at Mavis.

“Look, we’re not trying to do anything wrong. We just need to do a quick check and-” I tried to say but the woman cut me off.

“My children are fine!” She said as she looked back at Mavis. “And if you try to get close to them I’ll have to use this thing.” With that said she raised her gun up. Mavis frowned at this as the woman was being difficult. Before anyone could say anything a new voice spoke.

“Mom?” we all turned to see a little boy that… wow. He had short brown hair and looked alright… if you get past the sharp teeth, long tail, claw like hands and pale white eyes that stared back at us. “Is it safe now?”

“J-Just go back upstairs Vandil.” The woman said to him which the boy frowned before walking away. The woman turned back and spoke. “There, you saw one of them, he’s fine so all three are fine.” She said to her.

“Umm…” Was all I said as the woman held her gun up.

“They're fine.” She said through gritted teeth as her hands started to tremble.

“Ma'am, we're not here to harm anyone.” Mavis said as she grabbed her weapon and placed it down onto the ground before kicking it off to the side, reluctantly I did the same. I'm sorry Molten Fox! “We just want to take a look at them, nothing more.” Mavis added. The woman looked at Mavis and then at me then beck before sighing.

“Fine… I'll show you… to their room… but mind if I give you something to… cover up?” The woman said before turning around to put her shotgun away and I swore Mavis looked like she was about to blow her own head off with the look on her face. When the woman turned around, Mavis snapped her fingers and created a coat that concealed her scantily clad form. When the woman turned around she was surprised to see Mavis like this before shaking her head and showing us up the stairs.

“By the way… what do you people do? You have weapons and wear… odd clothes.” The woman asked us as we climbed the steps.

“We are people known as huntsmen, we take on missions to help people and defend from monsters.” I explained which caused the woman to look back at us.

“Huntsmen? So you're like Rose then?” She asked, wait Rose?

“No ma'am, we're not Hunters. We may seem the same but there are things that separate Huntsman from the Hunters of old.” Mavis said to the woman simply. The woman stared at us before we came up to the room where I guess the kids are in. She knocked a certain way which made me realized that maybe there was a way to knock that wouldn't have made the woman point a gun at Mavis before slowly opening the door.

When she did both Mavis and I looked over and saw three kids, one was the boy from before and two girls… they all look around the same age and actually have some of the same facial features other than the teeth, tail, eyes, and claws.

“Hey… good news. We might be leaving this place, there's just one thing these two ladies have to do and that's check the three of you.” The woman said to the kids before looking at the us and, reluctantly, moved out of the way for us to walk in. Mavis walked up to the three kids, the three of them wearing loose rags, old and tattered as well.

“Hello you three…” Mavis greeted them in a gentle tone, smiling down at them as she spoke. The three kids looked at one another as Mavis kneeled down to them.

“Who are you?” One of the girls, one with long hair, asked Mavis.

“I am Mavis Mal Kun, I'm a member of the rescue team sent to search for survivors.” Mavis said to them before adding. “I'm truly sorry that it took us this long, I would have gone myself in search if I knew there were others still unaffected.” Mavis said with a saddened look before taking a deep breath. “Anyway… before I contact my superiors, I need you three to do something for me.” Mavis said to them before pulling out her scroll as it shifted and changed into what looked to be a scanner. “Just hold still and take slow and steady breaths.” She said to them. They all were taken aback at the scanner as there mother stiffened a bit when she saw this as the three did what Mavis has asked. “There we go, you three are as healthy as can be.” Mavis said to them with a smile as she stood up, before looking at the mother and asking. “Now I will have to ask you to do the same, miss.” Mavis said to her calmly.

“Alright…” The mother said as she step forward and stood in front of Mavis. Mavis smiled at this before scanning her. The mother waited with baited breath before Mavis smiled.

“You're all healthy and clean, no sign of the virus.” Mavis said to the woman, who let out a held breath at this.

“That’s a relief…” The mother said before looking over at her children and then back at Mavis. “So… you’ll send word?” Mavis nodded with a smile before the scanner changed back into a scroll in which she began to use… Though not to let Atlas know instead it was Aunt Axycia she was notifying via text. Aunt replied that she will personally be there for the pick up in a few minutes.

“There we are, our ride will be here shortly.” Mavis said to them. The mother blinked at this in surprise as she was shocked that this was happening.

“I… thank you…” She said to Mavis. “Thank you so much.” Mavis smile as she moved out of the way and allowed the mother to be with her kids. Better to let them be the two of us walked down the hallway.

“I have many questions.” I said to Mavis which she nodded. “Mostly… what’s up with the kids? Are they Faunus or…”

“No, not faunus. They were born with virus within them but as luck would have it, they have proven to be immune to all its negative qualities.” Mavis said before humming and adding. “That creature we encountered at the gates of the city. That was in fact a fully evolved city goer. Trust me, it's complicated but just know, that luck was on their side when they were born.” Mavis said to me with a little chuckle. “And as for your other question, the reason I contacted my sister is that I'm not quite so sure how the Atlas Soldiers would react to the children, worst case scenario they would deem the children a risk and…” She stopped at that, closing her eyes as she tried to finish her words but just couldn't.

“I… get the idea…” I said to her as we headed outside of the farmhouse and saw the Hunter woman from before. A thought came to mind and I acted on it. “Uh… it’s Rose right?”

“Hi.” The woman, Rose, greeted me. “Sorry that I didn’t tell you all my name before, I believed getting out of the city was more important.” She informed us. I nodded at this before both Mavis and I told Rose what was going on. “So there’s a transport actually coming? Are you sure that they aren’t going to get blown out of the sky by the Vultures?” She asked us, to which I looked at Mavis.

“I doubt that'll be the case.” Mavis said to her as she and I walked out into the fields, able to see the city in the distance. Huh, the view is pretty good. If only it wasn't filled with nightmares.

As the two of stood there I spoke. “So… what will happen to this place?” I asked her. “Even though it’s filled with horrors, it’s actually a nice place to look at… maybe.”

“You leave that to me and my sister.” Mavis said to me with a little smile as we waited and the wait itself was rather dull for everyone thankfully enough. As we waited and gathered up the others we heard loud screeching from around us as up in the sky we saw shapes flying in the sky.

“Vultures… someone is coming.” Rose said as she watched the creatures fly off.

“Mavis… you do think Aunt Axycia can get past that?” I asked Mavis only for her to nod. I was going to to say something but a loud thud came near us and we saw that it was a large, bird like creature that was smoking.

“Uhh, what?” Rose asked just as there were more of them coming down. We looked up to see a ship flew over head and landed down near the house just as the mother and kids came out. The door opened up and I saw my aunt there.

“Come on! I think I kicked the nest a bit too hard!” She yelled as the Vultures were screeching and coming towards us. We all hurried into the small ship and the door closed just as we felt it take off. Axycia was there with a smile on her face. “Oh good to see my two nieces again.” she said cheerfully as she reached over and gave both me and Mavis’ cheeks a pinch.

“Ahhh! Stop that!” I said as this got a laugh from Axycia as Mavis glared at her. Before she could say something we heard the screeching coming closer and the Vultures attacking the hall. Axycia turned a banged on the door to the cockpit.

“We’re in! Let’s go!” She yelled before the ship felt like it went up a bit and we all were lurched back as it shot forward.

We were pressed back into our seats for about a minute before it slowed down a bit and my aunt sighed. “Well, we are now about a few miles away from the island, how was the mission?” She asked all of us. Both Nava and Dew were taken aback by all of this, no doubt in shock as to how we know Auntie, a CEO of a high end business rivaling the Schnee Dust company.

“It was… something.” Ghaul was the one to answer which Indigo chuckled at.

“We only found these four.” Mavis added while the rest of the team finally took notice of the kids.

“Whoa.” Indigo said, slightly taken aback by this as he straightened up. The Mother frowned at him as Auntie looked at the three kids.

“Ooo, they look adorable!” Axycia said happily at them as Rose sat next to the family. She looked at her then at the kids then away as she seemed to have nothing to say. Axycia smiled at them before back at Mavis. “Well they look alright, maybe some good food and some baths would do wonders for them.” She said happily as most of the others let out a sigh.

“I would love a bath… a long one.” Amaram said simply.

“I'd rather forget today happened.” Dew said with a groan while Nava looked at Indigo, who frowned as he looked down to the ground in thought.

“Well tell you all what, after we get back to Vale, I’ll get you all into a nice spa day with the best food ever and have a few days for yourselfs. How does that sound?” Axycia said with a smile. “I feel like you all need it.”

“That sounds lovely.” Mavis said with a smile before looking at me.

“Yeah… Yeah a relaxing time is what we all needed.” I said, getting some nods from everyone else as the ship flew off towards home.

Ch. 8

View Online

It’s been a few days since the events of Yharnam, which a lot of us from both teams still have nightmares from, and our few days of relaxation which everyone surely needed, more so of the family and Rose. Aunt Axycia told us that she’ll deal with Atlas about the family and what will happen to Yharnam. If you ask me, that place should be napalmed to the ground. During our stay there I noticed auntie was humming a song that sounded familiar to me. I don’t know what it was but it just sounded familiar.

Another thing I learned was that Rose was a Faunus, with wolf ears on top of her head. She asked to come with us to Beacon as she wanted to see our school and maybe see our classes and stuff. We asked why though since she is a Hunter and had that training but the confusing part was that she said she didn’t get training, she simply woke up there and everything was her getting a crash course in it.

Today we were just getting back from out several days long break, which the majority of us spent in a spa while Indigo and Ghaul said they needed to do something involving video games. Though they didn’t say play, I think I heard one of them say review… Do they review games? Since when?

When the ship landed we were greeted with several people looking on us, seeing what’s going on. Auntie saw us off the ship before saying. “Hope you all enjoy your much-needed R and R.” She said to us which most of us nodded happily.

“Yes, we have,” Mavis said with a smile as she floated off the ship, though when she did a familiar blonde boxer just so happened to appear before her. The two embraced one another as team INDG headed off, leaving me with Umbra, Amaram, and Rose.

Before anyone could say something my aunt stepped off of the ship and looked at me. “Hope you lot enjoy your classes, I have a little chat with your Headmaster. Come with me, Rose.” Auntie asked kindly which Rose looked over at me oddly before doing as she was told. The rest of us looked at one another before Amaram spoke.

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to go spend some time to myself.” She said to us.

“Going to call your family again?” I asked which she nodded before heading off. No doubt that she has some worries about her family after what has happened at Yharnam, made her worry about her family. I looked over at Umbra who has already put in her headphones and started to head off to do something. What that is I don’t know.

I decided to head back to my room, seeing that we all will resume classes after lunch. When I got there I saw Amber was sleeping on her bed happily, I smiled at this as I gave her a pet before going over and sitting down on my bed to wait for lunchtime.

As I was relaxing in bed there was a knock on my door. Curious on who it was I got up and went over to open the door to see it was Ruby.

“Hey Ruby, how’s it going?” I asked her with a smile.

“Oh, same old same old. Yang is hanging out with Mavis so I wondered if you want to hang out?” Ruby asked me. I smile at the young scythe wielder as I let her into the room where we spent time chatting about things or play some video games. Overall I had an enjoyable time hanging out with Ruby, it also made time go by till it was lunchtime which we both headed to the cafeteria.

When we arrived, we saw that it was packed and to no surprise either as today’s lunch was good ol’ fashion pizza. Not the healthiest of foods to eat in an Academy for Huntsmen but who am I to complain. Ruby and I got our plates with one giant slice for us before we found Mavis and Yang with the rest of team RWBY.

“Hey, guys.” I greeted everyone as we sat down with them. They all said hello back as I started to eat my food. I glanced around to see both Umbra and Amaram were nearby. I waved at them to see if they wanted to come over but they shook their heads. I shrugged as I looked back at the others as they chatted with one another happily. In the middle of one the many chats, discussing weapon maintenance and the do and don’ts when it suddenly got dark… like really dark.

“Uhh… who turned down the light?” Mavis asked out loud before the ground shook as an explosion boomed across the room.

“Ahh!” I yelled as the shaking made me fall back onto the ground which I used to crawl under the table. The shaking continued for a few moments before it stopped and the whole room was filled with worry chatter. When people slowly began to get up, one last explosion rocked the ground and shattered the windows. After the ground settled, an alarm went off which ushered everyone to run out the doors, some with weapons drawn.

Before long it was just Team RWBY and my team were left as I got up from under the table.

“You okay?” I heard Ruby asked me as I looked over at her.

“I’m alright…” I said before looking at my pizza which has some shards of glass in it. “Can’t say about my food.”

Ruby frowned at her food as I saw Yang was over top of Mavis, probably to shield her from the glass. “You okay?” She asked Mavis.

“I’m quite fine, Yang Yang,” Mavis answered with a giggle as the shards that covered Yang was lifted off of her, which reminded the blonde of her girlfriend's semblance. “You didn’t need to that but… Thanks.” Mavis said before kissing Yang as thanks. Yang smiled as she got off of Mavis and went to check on her sister as the other two climbed up from the floor. Blake wincing a bit as she pulled a shard out of her arm.

“That was annoying.” She muttered as she rubbed her arm a bit.

“What was that?!” Weiss asked in shock as Amaram and Umbra came over. I saw that they were alright as well as Umbra had her Scroll out.

“I think our answers are waiting outside,” Mavis said before she floated up to the shattered window, looking outside of it only to gasp at what she saw. I arched a brow at this before moving over near her.

“What’s going on? What you see?” I asked her. She didn’t say anything, just waving her hand and I felt myself slowly float up to the window. I had to hold onto the wall when I did before looking out to see what she saw. Even though it was very far away I saw what looked like a giant airship that crashed. “Oh, lords.” was all I said. I saw the familiar Atlas symbol on the side of it from here. “An Atlas ship? Why is there a large Atlas ship here? Other than being crashed.” I asked Mavis.

“I don’t know Viri.” Mavis was quick to answer before she landed and looked at the others. “We should go to the Headmaster about this.” She said to all of us. We nodded and headed off towards Headmaster Ozpins office. As we made our way we saw many students making their way to see the ship.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of ship is it?” Umbra asked me and Mavis. I looked at Mavis before saying.

“I… don’t know. All I know is that it’s big and it had Atlas’ symbol on it.” I told her. Umbra frowned at this and didn’t say anything more as we got to the elevator and went up to the Headmasters office. When the door opened we saw that Headmaster Ozpin is a conversation with someone.

“James, I’ve been pretty patient with you for many things, but I think a line has been crossed when an Atlas ship the size of a city crash-landed in the Emerald Forest.” The Headmaster said with a frown on his face.

“I know this looks bad, and I assure you that all of this is getting handled as fast as it can.” I heard the voice of General Ironwood say.

“As fast as you can? James I can see the ship right out of my window!” Ozpin said loudly, which was a first of hearing him yell. He took a deep breath and let it out to say. “There’s only a month left till the festival, something that shows that each kingdom is united and for everyone to have a happy event. I don’t want the people to be worried that Atlas can’t hold itself together.” He said to General Ironwood before glancing over to us. He slid his hand over and put a finger up to say to us to wait for a few moments.

“Look, I got some bullheads getting ready with medical gear and able to get everything under-” General Ironwood started to say but was cut off by Headmaster Ozpin.

“And when will that take? No, if anyone is still alive in there then I’ll send some groups there and get them to pull anyone out before it’s too late.” Ozpin said to him.

“Oz, I know you mean well but-”

“Which will it be James, letting whatever secret die in that ship of yours, or let me help you?” Headmaster Ozpin asked firmly. After a few moments of silence, there was a sigh.

“Fine. I’m still sending some men over there.” General Ironwood said.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way… and James, after the festival we going to have a long talk about this.” Ozpin said before cutting the call and looking over at us. “I have a feeling I know what you all are here for.”

“Permission to be the group to go onto the crash sight?” Mavis asked the Headmaster before the latter spoke.

“You think you and your team is ready? I heard of what happened over there… I don’t want to force you all to go when you’re not ready.” The Headmaster said to us which got some odd looks from Team RWBY.

“It’s been a few days, I think we can handle a crashed ship,” I said to the Headmaster. He nodded at me before saying.

“I believe that… but I think I would rather you all have some backup… Miss Rose, you think you and your team can do just that?” He asked Ruby who blinked in surprise.

“Uhh, yeah… right?” She asked her team who nodded at her. “I mean yeah we got it!” She said happily.

“Good, now Team MAUV, Team RWBY, I want both teams to go into the downed Atlas ship and help get any or all survivors out, and maybe find out how it came to be that such a large ship crashed.” Headmaster Ozpin said to us. Mavis and Ruby nodded at this before we all went to grab our gear and soon met up in the courtyard, where a Bullhead was waiting for us. Before I hopped on, I noticed that most, if not all of the students and staff were standing outside, gazing at the blazing crash.

“Viri lets go!” Mavis called out to me before I hopped on. When I did, I grabbed onto the support strap, not wanting to sit down for this ride. The Bullhead took off and headed over to the crash site.

“I want to point out we have no idea what we’re getting into!” Amaram yelled over the wind before the doors closed. “Like, what kind of ship is it?”

“It’s known as the Forerunner, Atlas’ Prized warship,” Umbra said to all of us. “It’s as big as a city, has enough firepower to level one, and suppose it holds a lot of Atlas’ secret projects.”

“That true?” Yang asked, surprised at this before Weiss nodded.

“Yeah, I didn’t know much about it but my dad had something with that thing getting built. Lots of Dust went into it.” Weiss said to us before looking at Umbra. “How do you know that?”

“My Uncle, he’s one of Atlas’ best snipers. Trained me to be like him.” Umbra explained before adding. “Also he’s part of the special forces… also, he’s supposed to be on that ship.”

“Oh…” Amaram and I said as she lowered her head a bit. We all didn’t say anything before Ruby put her hand on Umbra’s shoulder.

“I think he’s alright. As you said, he’s part of the special forces, I think he’s tough enough to handle this.” Ruby said with a smile which got a smile from Umbra. The ride was short but bumpy, something related to the crash causing a bit of turbulence before we touched down.

“RWBY look around the site for any survivors, me and my team will search inside if possible,” Mavis said to everyone.

“Alright, come on guys,” Ruby said before the four of them headed off as Mavis and our team headed inside the ship after finding a way inside in the form of a giant hole. The place was a mess, everything tossed from the crash and some machines toppled over or destroyed. Exposed wires that sparked every so often greeted us as we made our way inside.

“How could a ship this size just crash? I doubt it was some sort of system failure.” Amaram said as we looked around. Before any of us could even speculate, I bumped my foot on something and when I looked down, I saw the body of a dead Atlas worker. The worker wore what looked like an odd exo suit of some kind. It was strapped onto the person’s body from top to bottom but the most notable thing was that it was torn apart, same goes to the body.

“Guys… I think I have a good idea of how.” I said to the others as they looked over and saw the body. It was then we all looked down the hallway to see it was littered with bodies.

“I thought we were done with this…” Amaram groaned as Umbra went over to take a closer look at the bodies.

“Claw marks… something got inside the ship, tore everyone to pieces.” Umbra said out loud.

“We can only assume, for now, come on we have a job to do and not a lot of time to do it,” Mavis said and to prove her point, the ground shook violently, the ship getting unstable and this seemed to worry Umbra greatly.

“Remember I said the Forerunner can level a city? Yeah, I’m not kidding. If this ship explodes, it’s taking everything with it. The forest, Beacon, everything.” Umbra said in a worried tone.

“Oh dear,” Mavis responded to this with worry as me and Amaram were taken aback by this. “We’ll split up to cover more ground, we’ll meet up back here in five and no more than that,” Mavis said to us before Umbra and Amaram nodded, already partnering up with one another while leaving me with Mavis. “Come, we’ll need to shut down the reactor before it goes critical,” Mavis said to me, making herself and me float up and over the corpse riddled halls, dropping me when it was clear. On the way to the lower levels of the ship, we stumbled across various labs and testing facilities, all of which were in shambled from the crash. We came upon more bodies, these being soldiers judging by the guns.

“I’m doubting that this was done by the crash alone…” I said to Mavis before our scrolls buzzed. I frowned at this before pulling it out and saw it was Umbra.

“You guys hear me?” Umbra asked us. “Amaram and I got to a console and I’m working on it now. There’s some power left so I can buy you guys some time.”

“What? How? We split up a few minutes ago.” I asked her as Mavis and I continue.

“ As I said, my uncle was pretty high up in the ranks… and he allowed me to come along on this ship.” Umbra said as Mavis and I looked at one another before Umbra continued. “Okay Amaram is glaring at me, I actually snuck my way into the ship a few dozen times. Anyway, I can get you through a faster route.” She said as a door opened.

“Huh, convenient,” I said to Mavis as we continue as Umbra led us through the ship. It wasn’t until we heard something that made us stop. “Uhh, what was that?” I asked, hearing some groaning and metal being forcefully bent.

“I’m not quite sure but it sounded close,” Mavis said to me as she and I drew our swords. We continue slowly moved closer to the sounds. When we got there we saw two busted up doors that were bent outwards.

“Oookay… Umbra, we found some busted up doors… how bad is that?” I asked as I heard a camera above us turn and look at the door.

“Oh… shit. Those are containment doors for a maximum security door… it’s said that not even a Bullhead with explosives going top speed could dent them.” Umbra explained.

“Lovely…” I said to that as I looked at Mavis. “So… what now?” I asked her. Mavis walked up to the doors and looked inside, her frowning expression softened at what she saw. I arched a brow at this before walking over to her to peek inside. What I saw was a large Grimm like creature kneeling in front of two smaller Grimm… children? Wait what?

“P-Papa…” I heard a young girl said to the large creature. I looked over at Mavis and mouthed the words ‘Papa? That thing is a dad?’ The creature of Grimm hummed as it embraced the children until one of the kids saw us and yelped in fear. Mavis and I looked at one another and then back to see the Grimm turning its head at us.

“Oh hell,” I said simply as I raised Molten fox up… only for Mavis to make me lower my sword.

“Don’t Viri… trust me.” Mavis said to me as the Grimm growled, being sure that the two kids were behind it.

“Stay… away.” I heard a rough, growly voice echo the room. I glanced at Mavis for a moment before putting Molten Fox back and backing away.

“Sure, okay… staying away now.” I said to… it?

“We’re not here for trouble… We’re looking for survivors.” Mavis said to it, him… fuck.

“No survivors… killed them all…” The voice said again before the ground shook again, though less violent than the last one.

“Well, hate to be the bringer of bad news but… this ship is about to explode… and take out everything around us.” I informed them as the two kids were clinging to the Grimm brute.

“It won’t…” It said before the ground shook once more… then whatever lights were on were shut down, everything from wires to working monitors was shut off. The Grimm picked up the kids and began to walk past us and I saw that it walked with a very noticeable limp. I looked over at Mavis as she too saw this as the Grimm grunted a bit.

“You… okay?” I asked him. Don’t know why I did but I did it anyway. The grimm didn’t answer, only falling his knees clutching a nearby beam to keep him up.

“Papa!” One of the kids said as the two were at his side. The other kid didn’t seem to say anything but it… no wait he, he tried to help carry his father up as best as he could, causing the other to do the same. What shocked me more is that the blackness of his skin oozed off of him like if it were some sort of black tar. When the tar fell off of him the Grimm brute looked… more like a man with gray hair, pale white skin with black veins. He seemed to be panting as the two kids were trying to pull him along. I tilted my head a bit, feeling like I know him from somewhere.

“Guys, what’s going on over there. The power went out, I can’t see anything.” Umbra said to us before I brought my scroll up to me.

“We’re okay Umbra, maybe a survivor made his way to the reactor, turned it off?” I asked her as I looked at Mavis.

“You think so? Amaram and I will take a look. You two going to be alright?” Umbra asked us as Mavis and I looked at one another.

“Yeah… I think so.” I said before putting the scroll away. “So what now?” I asked Mavis.

“Please… take my kids…” I heard the man speak up in desperation. I looked at him in time to see him shake his head. “I can’t move… I’m dead weight. Please, take them to safety.” He said to us, almost begging us to do so while the kids clinging onto the man. I looked at him then at the kids again before looking at Mavis.

“Thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked her. Mavis arched a brow at me before I walked over to the guy and carefully slung his arm over me. “Upsy das- Gulg!” I said as the man weighed a ton! It took some time but I was able to… sorta carry him. Mavis took the kids and lead the rest of us back to the meeting point, avoiding the body filled hallways. When we got there, we saw Umbra and Amaram waiting there. When they looked at us, their eyes widen.

“Oh, jees.” Amaram said as she came over to me and helped me with the Grimm guy. She was taken aback from his appearance but she helps me as he was heavy.

“What happened?” Umbra asked me as Amaram and I help the guy outside before setting him down some ways away from the crash. The kids following suit before Mavis spoke up.

“There were no survivors on our part besides these three. It’s the best of an explanation I can give you at the moment.” Mavis said as the Grimm like children ran up and embraced their father, who hugged them back.

“Not much on our end… but we did find one survivor.” Umbra said to Mavis. Mavis arched a brow at her before Umbra added. “My Uncle. He was at the reactor turning it off.”

“And where is he now?” Mavis asked her with an arched brow.

“Over here.” A voice said which drew our attention. I saw a man wearing an Atlas uniform, he had graying black hair and had the whole grizzled man look to him with a beard. He looked up at us and arched a brow at Mavis but didn’t say anything about it. “Which one of you is the leader of this group?” He asked before looking at Umbra.

“No, it’s her,” Umbra said as she nodded to Mavis. The man looked back at Mavis for a moment before snorting a bit.

“Interesting attire.” He said to her.

“Can we get back onto the matter at hand?” Mavis asked out loud, clearly annoyed at the comment. I rolled my eyes at her as I glance over at the Grimm man who was holding his kids close to him.

“I thought there would be no survivors here from what he said?” I asked out loud which the man shook his head.

“Well that’s not true, I would’ve been if I didn’t strike a bargain with him for my life.” The man said to us. Mavis and I arched a brow at this before I spoke.

“Why though?” I asked. The man looked at me then at the other three.

“I’ve seen many Grimm in my time, but not one like those three. It’s a rare sight to behold .” The man answered me before adding. “Then the scientists here decided to separate the father from his kids… didn’t turn out well.”

“Why were they on the ship in the first place?” Mavis asked while crossing her arms.

“Well, this ship is one of Atlas’ places to keep things hush, this being one of the most hush projects.” The man shook his head a bit. “Didn’t get much out of it other than some studying, must be losing my touch… anyway, you can see what happen when the big one woke up. It was like fighting against a force of nature, I hid as best as I could but he had a nose of a bloodhound, only way to still be living if I struck a deal with him.” The man explained.

“And that deal?” Umbra asked him.

“Show him where his kids are at. Plain and simple and I wasn’t one to stop him.” The man said to her. I looked back at the three and them looked down to the man’s legs.

“Did… did something happen to his legs?” I asked Umbra’s Uncle.

“Hmmm, I think they paralyzed him from the waist down with one of their devices, making it that if they want him to walk they can, limit his movements… didn’t stop him from ripping the doors open.” the man explained with a frown. I looked at him for a few moments before looking back at the three Grimm… people… don’t know how to call them, before looking at Mavis and pulling her aside.

“So… what are we going to do?” I asked her in a whisper. “Don’t think anyone would like it when we walk out of here with three Grimmafied people.” Mavis didn’t answer me, simply pulling out her scroll and texted auntie. What she said is beyond me as it was typed and sent too fast for me to read. “Uhh, what was that?” I asked her. Mavis looked at me before making sure we were far away from everyone before saying.

“I can’t do much with so many people around else I would blow my disguise, my sister, on the other hand, has ways around that. She’ll be coming over to take the three off.” Mavis explained to me which I nodded.

“Right… hope she doesn’t mind dealing with Atlas.” I said to Mavis. She only shrugged at this as we walked back to the others.

“So… what now?” Amaram asked. “The ship isn’t going to explode but we have these three to deal with.” She gestured to the three Grimm people. “I don’t know what we are doing but I think you have some sort of plan?” She asked Mavis. As she began to fill the other two in I went over to the three and kneeled in front of them. The two kids shrank a bit in fear of me, which was disheartening to me, as their father stared at me.

“How are you feeling?” I asked him. He didn’t answer me, at least not immediately, he simply looked down at his kids.

“I’m… fine.” He said to me. He held both of the kids close to him as they held onto him as if he was going to disappear if they let go. The man hugged them both in return with a little smile forming before the smile soon vanished as the air ran cold, the area going dark as a dark, seriously sinister-looking portal appeared. Umbra and Amaram both looked at this with shock as they drew their weapons, Mavis and I doing the same. Seriously, something this evil-looking can’t end up being nice! The man stared at this with a frown as coming out of the portal was a robed figure. White hair ran down in front of this being and the being’s skin is stark white and black veins over their arms. I stared at this and simply shook my head. Why can’t it be like a dark portal opened up and a unicorn comes out??

The being stood in front of the man before removing their hood, showing that this being is a woman, her skin was white with the same black veins as her arms. Her eyes were black with red pupils and a black mark in the middle of her forehead.

“Finally, found you.” She said to the man, getting a sigh from him as the kids shrunk back in fear.

“What do you want… dear?” The man said, gritting his teeth at the last word. The woman tilted her head at him.

“You know how worried I was when you disappeared…” She said to him as her eyes glance over at us. “And, you all will stay where you all are unless you want the Creatures of Grimm to overrun the area.” She threatened in a soft tone. We all looked at one another, questioning what she meant when she looked back at the man.

“Say what you want… I’m not going back and the kids are staying with me…” He said to the woman, managing to use a nearby tree to stand and hold himself up. “I’ll be damned if I let you take them.” He said in a growl, his eyes, the same colour black and red as the woman’s, shone a menacing blood red colour. The woman stared at the man for a few moments before looking down to the man's legs then back up to his face.

“Why? Why stay away? No one out here would take you and the kids. Look what they’ve done to you.” She said with some anger in her voice. “If you come with me, you’ll be safe.” As she said this she looked at the two kids and reach her hand out a bit. The two fearfully hid from her, causing the woman’s hand to twitch back at this. Her expression changed from stoic to anger and annoyance at this. The man saw this and ushered the two behind him.

“The kids don’t want to go back, you see that. They don’t want to live in neglect by their mother, they don’t want to fight for this stupid war of yours.” The man said before he frowned deeply and added. “A mother would love and care for their children, putting them above all else… you’re not a mother.” He said to her. The woman’s face twitches a bit as her eyes narrowed before her gaze was cast back down to the kids, their fearful whimpers letting us know how their feelings right now. Her glare… softened, her expression taking a sudden shift to a saddened one but confused expression as well. She opened and closed her mouth as if to speak but never could. Eventually, she closed her eyes, the same shadows she came from took her away, leaving no trace of her ever being there. This left the grimm man with a deep frown before I saw Team RWBY.

“Hey! You guys alright?!” Ruby called out as her team came closer to us. “You guys were taking a long time in there. Everything alright?” The others looked at each other with some confused looks, mentally asking what can we say.

“Who or what is this?” I heard Weiss ask as we all looked over and saw she was looking at the Grimm guy. The man in question didn’t say anything as he held his children close to him.

“Is he one of the crew?” Blake asked before adding. “But why does he look like that?”

No one answered before Ruby walked up to him. “Hey, are you okay?” She asked the Grimm man.

“I’m… fine, relatively speaking.” The Grimm man said before I noticed one thing… where did Mavis go?

“Great! It’s good that you’re alright.” Ruby said in a cheerful tone. This seemed to make Weiss look at her wide-eyed.

“Uhh, Ruby… I don’t think he’s alright…” Weiss pointed out, getting a scoff from the man. “I mean… he looks oddly… Grimmish.” The others looked at each other in silence as Ruby frowned at her teammate.

“Weiss, there’s no reason to be rude about one’s looks,” Ruby said firmly, making the heiress look at her in shock.

“I-I’m not! I’m just stating what I’m seeing!” Weiss yelled which Ruby simply narrowed her eyes.

“You know… that’s just Ice Queen.” Ruby said before the two of them started to go back and forth. All the while they did this, Yang, Blake, Amaram and Umbra both stared in shock as the man’s skin began to blacken like the Grimm before he grew in height and soon, the same creature of Grimm me and Mavis stumbled into was standing upright and towering us almost menacingly while his kids hugged his legs, feeling safe with him.

“Uhh…” Both Blake and Yang said at the same time as my teammates looked at me as I put my hands up.

“Look, I was shocked as you were when I saw that… And I don’t want to mess with him.” I said as Umbra’s Uncle, who I haven’t gotten a name yet! Stepped up to the Grimm man.

“So… you got your kids… and downed one of Atlas’ prised airships, what are you going to do now?” He asked.

“I think I can take care of that.” A voice said as we all turned to see my aunt there with a smile on her face. “Sorry I was late, traffic was terrible.”

“Traffic?” Amaram asked as my aunt ignored her simply and walk up to the Grimm man and looked up at him.

“My you’re big… nothing wrong with that, just stating it.” She said before adding. “If you want your kids to be safe, I would ask you to come with me.” I could hear his growl at Aunties words, hearing the words and seemingly detesting them. Auntie arched a brow at this before saying. “Look, I’m being nice here. Also coming with me is a better option than waiting around for Atlas to start looking around. I doubt they want to let a being like you running around… and tell me, can you keep your kids safe during that time?” She asked the Grimm man. The latter stayed silent, his growls ceased before he let out a sigh as his clawed hands took gentle holds of his two kids.

“Fine…” He said with the same echoey growling voice from before. Axycia smiled at this before she turned to walk away, making a simple motion for the three to follow her. My Aunt looked back at all of us before saying.

“If you want, you can come as well. A simple trip to your school is no problem.” Axycia said to all of us. We all looked at each other before noticing that Ruby and Weiss were still bickering at each other… not noticing what’s going on. Blake groaned at this while, Yang… well… She was looking over towards the direction of the Grimm Man. Was she curious about him?

Eventually, after some catching up in Ruby’s and Weiss’s part, we found ourselves within the rather large Bullhead of my Aunties’ company. Both Weiss and Ruby were blatantly staring at the Grimm man, who has yet to change back as of yet. The latter said nor did anything, simply sitting between his kids and judging by the odd marks of his mask, frowning.

“Hey… where’s Mavis?” Amaram asked, making me look at her. Right, Mavis didn’t join us when we got onto the Bullhead.

“Don’t worry about it, I believe we’ll see her back at the school,” I answered Amaram who nodded at me. The trip was mostly silent as no one talked to one another, Yang was simply staring at the Grimm Man. I wonder what’s up?

“You okay?” I asked Yang which caused her to snap out of whatever she was doing.

“Huh? Oh, yeah… I’m fine… really.” She answered me but I had a feeling there was more going on. It wasn’t long before aunty started to speak to the Grimm man.

“So… do you have a name for yourself?” Axycia asked the Grimm man who turned to face her.

“Why would you care?” The man asked in his growly voice, which spooked Ruby and Weiss while I waited patiently to hear who this guy was and by the looks of it, so did Yang.

“Well, I think it would be better than simply calling you ‘Grimm Guy’ Unless you prefer simply Grimm,” Aunty said to the man before revealing a file, with a photo on it of man, exactly like him except with a more humanly look and blue hair. “And besides, I’m led to believe you are someone I and many others have been searching for a long time ago.” She said, placing the file down on a table that rose up from the ground of the Bullhead. Everyone saw the photo and the only one who had any real reaction was Yang, who’s eyes widen and she looked at the two. The Grimm guy stared blankly at the photo before shifting back into his more human-like self, where I soon saw the resemblances between the photo and him, albeit the photo shows a younger man, there was no doubt in my mind it could have been him, give or take a few years.

“Yeah… It’s Azu by the way.” I heard him mutter to Axycia in a sad tone. Everyone looked at one another in confusion other than Yang who continued to stare at the man named Azu. Aunty nodded a bit before pushing the folder a bit into the middle of the table.

“Eighteen years ago, the Island of Patch was under attack by the Grimm. The Combat School of Signal tried it’s best to hold the Grimm off, but had trouble. Then, almost at once, the Grimm simply… left. Few were killed while a lot more were wounded… and there was only one missing.” Aunty said as she leaned in a bit. “That one goes by the name of Azu Xiao Long, husband to a woman named Raven Branwen and the brother to Taiyang Xiao Long.” This caused both Yang and Ruby’s eyes to go wide in surprise as well as the others. “It’s been some time of searching before the people of the Island, and some Huntsmen, to simply write that the missing was dead… so Azu, what I want to know is what happened to you.” Auntie said as she leaned forward a bit.

“I don’t… know… one moment I was fending them off, the next I was strapped against the wall of a dungeon.” He said simply before I looked over at Yang. The two stared at each other for a bit as the two Grimm kids looked between the two of them.

“A dungeon huh… tell me, you remember anything else? What happens after you awoke in the dungeon?” Axycia asked. Azu took a deep breath and sighed.

“Many things, many… horrible horrible things… but I’m not willing to say anything else…” He added, looking down at his kids and saying. “Not yet.”

Axycia stared at the Azu for a few moments in silence before finally speaking. “Alright.” She said as she pulled away, taking the folder back with her as well.

“Papa…” the female child beside Azu spoke up. “Will we be safe now? I don’t want to get separated again…” she said to her father as the other moved closer to Azu. This caused Yang to look away from the three and look out of the window.

“Neither do I… but I’m sure we’ll be safe,” Azu said to his little girl sweetly, pulling her closer to comfort her and doing the same with the boy. No one said anything after that as I looked over to Yang who stared out of the window. I wanted to ask her what’s up but I feel that it’s would lead to a dead end.

“If you don’t mind me asking, you said that your name is Azu Xiao Long?” Weiss spoke up to the man. “As in… the same last name as Yang?”

“Yang?” Azu said the way he said the name made it seem like it was familiar to him. He closed his eyes at this but said nothing else for the time being all the while Yang herself looked out the window, only glancing at the man as if she couldn’t believe her eyes.

The room got awkwardly quiet as we all looked between the two of them, who either are not looking at each other or have their eyes closed. “I’m… feeling like that wasn’t something I should’ve asked…” Weiss said as she looked at Yang. The rest of the ride, which wasn’t much, was spent in silence before we felt the ship land and while everyone got off, Yang and Azu stayed on, the kids sitting beside him. The rest of Team RWBY was quiet about this, preferring to leave Yang to handle this instead of butting in.

When I went to look at my team, I saw them walking off with Mavis in tow along with Umbra’s Uncle which left me and Auntie by the bullhead, eavesdropping. I did my best not to look like it but Auntie didn’t care she was seen doing this.

Neither of them said anything to each other for about a minute or two before Yang finally spoke. “I was told you died.” She said to Azu. “Dad- your brother said that you died trying to protect home. Trying to protect me.” Yang said, breaking the silence.

“Honestly… For the longest time, I thought I did.” Came Azu’s response before he sighed and added. “The night the Grimm attack, it happened so fast. It came out of nowhere and they were so many… I didn’t care, I did what any sane person would’ve done… protected my daughter.” Azu said before he soon added after a brief. “I don’t why the Grimm took me specifically. I wasn’t anyone special, I wasn’t no Huntsman like my brother.” I heard him say. Oh? Not a Huntsman, then how did he fend off the supposed horde?

“He did say you were one hell of a boxer,” Yang said with a half-hearted laugh. When she stopped Yang frowned. “I was also told that after you disappeared… mom took off.”

“No surprise there…” Azu said with a sigh and a shake of his head. “Raven was… complicated to say the very least.” He admitted to Yang. The two fell into silence after that for a few moments before Yang spoke.

“I met mom, had a bit of a talk with her… didn’t end off on a good note.” Yang said before adding. “But that’s not what I want to talk about. If you were still kicking… why didn’t you come back?” Yang asked, now staring at Azu, frowning.

“I would’ve… but after escaping from… my captures with these two, I ran to a little bit of a snag when an Atlas patrol apprehended me, sedated me and the kids and dragged us off into Atlas’ prized ships.” Azu answered back, hugging his kids' closer as they whimpered a bit at the mention of Atlas. “I would’ve… truly… I just… I just wish I didn’t miss so much of your life.” Azu added with a sad look. Yang didn’t say anything at first before she stood up.

“There’s… a tournament coming up. Me and my team are going to be in it, maybe you could… watch it?” Yang said before shaking her head and adding. “No, not could, will! You’ll watch it and if you don’t I’m going come find you and slug you! Got it!. This got a chuckle out from Azu.

“I’d like to see you try, kid.” He said with a chuckle before Yang walked off the Bullhead, to which I reacted in the most normal way possible. Leaning on the Bullhead like some bad girl type, I mentally slapped myself at this. I looked over at Yang who looked over at me with an arched brow.

“Sup,” I said to her, again mentally slapping myself. Yang stared at me before shaking her head and walking off. I glanced into the Bullhead, seeing Azu and the two kids sitting patiently and quietly but I did notice the little smile he had before my auntie chuckled at me.

“That was the best you had?” She asked me between chuckles.

“I panicked okay,” I answered her as I looked away. After a few moments, I looked back at my aunt. “So… what’ll happen to the three of them?” I asked her.

“Oh, nothing too serious. I just need to do some paperwork and they’ll be free to go anywhere. I’ll provide them with a home of their own, secured and safe.” She said to me simply.

“And Atlas? What about them?” I asked her which she simply chuckled.

“I shouldn’t be worried about them, in fact, they are the ones that should be worried.” She said with a grin on her face.

“Yeah… I’m uhh, going to go now.” I said to her before quickly heading off, wanting to go about my day before Auntie goes all… Well, here on me.

Ch. 9

View Online

It's been a month since the whole Atlas airship crashing and events around it. The cleanup crew finally finished getting it cleaned up after a long time. Seriously, I got little rest with the sounds coming from them! And they were far away!!

Other than that, Azu and the two kids settled down in a place that Aunt Axycia set up for them to stay. They now live between Beacon and the border of Vale. Auntie Axycia had to pull a lot of strings to do that and had to deal with Atlas and Ironwood, who had revealed his unawareness of what went on within walls of the ship.

Yang has been in touch with Azu but they were short and straight to the point as she was still a little awkward and hesitant to talk to him. I heard Ruby and Mavis did have some help with that for getting her sister to talk to her father.

Other than the events that happened, the school has been going on pretty smoothly and with the tournament getting ever so close, everyone was at the edge of excitement. Headmaster Ozpin allowed everyone have free time off school to either get ready for the tournament or simply relax. Though it didn’t help that right before the break Altas Ships flew overhead. My guess was that due to the mishap with the large airship crash, Altas was being extra cautious about things.

Another thing we had to look forward to… well mostly me that is, is Veterans Day. Where we are supposed to Honor those who've laid their lives during the Great War. I could never truly understand my own interest in that topic, from soldier diaries to old news clippings even. Hell, I've managed to make a scrapbook of them thanks to Professor Theodore's help. Speaking of which, during the month I've managed to learn a little more about his service in the Vale military back in his day, though he did keep it vague at times.

"You truly have an unnatural obsession with this." Mavis' voice brought me out of my thoughts as I was busy reading up on a book of various battles across the four kingdoms, the current one I read up on was the attack on Vale by the once mighty Mantle army… damn it~

“Is there something wrong with that?” I asked, pulling the book I had closer to me.

"People don't tend to take interests in a devastating war long since passed." She said to me as she floated about in the room, both Umbra and Amaram out and about while I hung around the dorm with Mavis. Honestly I expected her to go be with Yang but no~ the one time I could've benefited from her going and she doesn't!

“You make it sound like it’s a bad thing…” I said before give it some thought. “Is it?” I asked her.

"Never said anything like that but I do wonder how this history is more interesting than the history lessons I gave you." Mavis said with an arched brow. I blinked at this, remembering that when I was a kid I’ve shown disinterest in history… and now I’m reading up history. I slowly hid behind the book as I didn’t have an answer. "Anywho, it's almost time for that meeting of yours with the professor." Mavis said, idly typing at her scroll. Honestly, if it weren't for the floating she'd look like an actual teenager. The meeting she was referring to was the one Theodore had given me after me asking for more insight on what it was like during the war.

“Right, thanks.” I said as I closed my book and put it down on my side desk before getting off my bed. “See you later then.” I said to Mavis before heading out of the dorm room. I was heading off towards Professor Theodore's classroom. On the way I soon noticed Two classmates walking down the same hallway. Those classmates were Indigo and Blake. “Hey!” I call out to them, who looked back to me.

"Oh! Hey Viri." Greeted Blake with a smile as Indigo waved idly, looking down at his scroll as he did this. “What are you doing?” Blake asked me.

“Going to Professor Theodore’s classroom, got some questions for him.” I told her.

“Really, well the both of us were heading that way as well.” Blake said to me. I smiled as the three of us heading together to the classroom. I looked over at Indigo who was staring at his scroll.

“Indigo? You okay there?” I asked him. “Find something cool?” Indigo blinked and looked at me.

"Well… kinda." He said to me before adding. "I found this online, it's trending all over the place right now." He said before showing me his scroll and- Oh my gods are those actual Great war era uniforms!

It was some kind of trailer to something and the video seemed to show cinematic shots of battles of different places, it was very well done and, well, awesome. “Whoa… this looks cool!” I said as it got to the end and I saw a close-up shot of a soldier who was looking at an old airship that was flying towards him. “Wait… is that Professor Theodore?” I asked as the soldier looked exactly like a younger version of the professor.

"Yeah, it is. Me and Blake were heading over to him to talk about this." Indigo said to me as I looked back down at his scroll. Wow… I would have not guessed that the professor would look really cool!

Before I could practically gush over what I saw and the fact that my professor looked like a badass in the video, we arrived at his classroom and when I peaked in, I saw that he had cleared up the training machines and his desk. After a few moments I gave the door a few knocks.

“Professor Theodore?” I called out to him, hoping that I could get his attention. I pushed open the door, and what greeted was… an eerie silence, which was shattered by occasional explosions. Through the door looked to be a trench instead of the normal classroom, it looked… well… horrid. The trenches were muddy, that's the majority of it, the rest is debris everywhere. The Professor was sitting by the trench wall, as if waiting like a posted soldier. He soon noticed us.

"Oh, I didn't hear you walk in. Apologies, as of late I've been revisiting old sights." He said to us simply with a chuckle. "Well, come on, take a seat you three." He said to us and we were… well Indigo did so without any second thought while me and Blake weren't all to sure about this. Blake looked around at the place before gingerly took steps into the muddy fields.

"Oh come on, you seriously think it's real? This is all projection. It's fake." Indigo said to Blake and I before giving Blake a poke. "Don't tell you're afraid of getting a little dirty, kitty." He said to her with a laugh.

“Oh shut up you.” Blake said before she walked over to Indigo as I closed the door. As I did I turned and joined the three as a large explosion went off nearby that made me jump.

"I know why you're here Miss Warren but I'm curious as to why you're here Indigo." Theodore said to the man in question, who simply showed him the still image of his younger self. The professor chuckled at this. "Ah yes, that. Well, I was approached one day about a year back by some people, telling me that they wish to make an authentic game of the Great war for those newfangled games consoles of yours. Honestly, I figured why the hell not?" Theodore said to him.

"Huh… neat." Indigo said before Blake arched a brow at Indigo's response to this.

“I expected you to have more excitement than that Indigo.” Blake said to him with a nudge of her elbow.

"Hey! I can't help it." He said in defense… a weak one but it was still a defense. I rolled my eyes at this as I looked at the professor.

"Anyway, Miss Warren. Here are the promised notes, clippings and tactics during the defence. What you see before you was Vale's first defensive line against the Mantle naval invasion." The Professor said to me as another explosion ran close by. My head snapped over to the spot as I jumped a bit.

“Thanks.” I said as I looked back and took the notes. I heard Indigo chuckle a bit which earned him an elbow from Blake.

"It was a valiant effort on our part, despite our lack of proper readiness." The professor said just as the trenches came to life, soldiers donned in the Great War Era Vale uniforms, all waiting nervously and on edge. "Many that held this line have yet set foot in a proper battle." He added.

“Was this your first battle as well?” Blake asked him as a few more blasts went off. This got a laugh from the professor.

"No, not by a long shot. You see, this battle and the ones after this, are nearing the end of the war. At that point I had already seen what chaos is…" He said to her with a little smile before the night sky shifted into day, the explosions silenced and soon, a young Theodore poked his head up from the top of the trench, rifle in hand and a pair of binoculars in the other. "Now there's a handsome man if I do say so myself." He said jokingly. Blake looked at the younger version of Theodore then at Indigo, then do that two more times before saying.

“What the hell happened?” She asked jokingly.

"What?" Indigo asked Blake who laughed while Professor Theodore chuckled.

"Yes it is quite a shame, you not inheriting my dashing good looks." The Professor joked, which only got Indigo to groan and lay flat on the ground. After this little joking session, the professor went on to explain the events that transpired, which was helped by the change in scenery. I learned that it took a total of four days for the forces of Mantle to make its move and well… I felt sorry for the fallen soldiers that helped keep the line of Vale. "We were no match for their forces, their weapons and armor at the time were revolutionary." He said before we got to see young Theodore firing his handgun, dragging a heavily wounded soldier behind him but… it was for naught. When the soldier died of blood loss, the young Theodore looked disheartened but fought on before being shot through the shoulder. Instead of the expected shock, the young Theodore whipped his gaze and gun towards the man responsible and shot him dead before grasping his shoulder and running.

“Ow…” I said as I watched young Theodore run off. “How didn’t you fall down?” I asked the Professor as he rubbed his shoulder, the same one that his younger self got hit in.

"Ah well, I'm known to be quite a pain to keep down." He said to me with a chuckle as the scene soon changed to the outer limits of what looks to be an olden time version of Vale with young Theodore being attended by what appeared to be medics. "No it didn't hurt… but I wasn't one to be taken down so easily." Said the professor as the scene changed to that of an actual hellscape, the skies were blackened by the fog of war, gun fire was all that I could hear with the occasional barked orders and dying soldier.

"Oh lords…" was all I said as I saw all of this in front of me. Indigo and Blake kept silent as they watched all this unfold. The buildings around the area either demolished or on its last few legs… this… it's Vale.

"We couldn't hold them after the first line was gone, their war machines trampling us like ants." The Professor just as a Mantle soldier came to view, an odd looking piece of weaponry with a long bit of tubing… a flamethrower. Said soldier began to roast the trenches before being charged by the young Theodore who held the rifle from before, now fitted with a blade that now laid embedded inside the flamethrower user. Just as the young Theodore pulled out his blade, another Mantle soldier came charging with a bladed rifle of his own, leaving Theodore no time to dodge out of the way and… stop the blade by letting it stab through his hand before disarming the soldier and beating him to a pulp, though this didn't stop the same Mantle soldier from fighting back with equal ferocity, grabbing a nearby stone and striking it against the side of Theodore's face, getting the latter off of him. The man grabbed his bloodied blade before trying to stab Theodore once again only for the latter using his hands to stop him, the blade going through both hands, getting an enraged Theodore to yell in agony before pushing his hands, butting the man with the back of his knife.

As everything went on, I shifted uncomfortably. Sure this was interesting but, watching it happen is totally different than actually seeing it. I looked at Professor Theodore and back at the other two, seeing the elderly professor was basically unkillable from what I saw.

"If it weren't for the adrenaline, I would've been writhing in agony." The Professor said before young Theodore turned the tables by grabbing the knife and leaving it embedded against the Mantle soldier's head before shakingly getting up just before he was helped up by some friendlies.

“What happens next?” I asked him, making the professor turn his head to look at me.

"You want to see more?" He asked me, honestly surprised by my question. I guess it's reasonable, most people wouldn't want to see true horror. I didn’t say anything as the other two looked at me oddly for my question.

“Uhh… maybe I shouldn’t have asked that.” I said out loud. Indigo and Blake looked at one another before looking back at Theodore.

"I'm not disapproving of your curiosity, I welcome it in fact. Simply put, most people rather not see this part of history." He said to me before Indigo spoke.

"Yeah even I don't dwell so much on the big Vale battle." Indigo said to me, which only served to peak my interest more… I think I need to talk to Mavis about my weird sense of curiosity. Before the scene changed, I heard a buzz and an alarm before Professor brought out his scroll.

"Oh dear, I'm afraid that's all the time I have for now. I need to go get ready for the event." He said before standing up with the help of Indigo.

“Huh? Oh.” I said remembering that there was something called ‘The Veteran’s Walk’ which was as it sounds, the veteran’s of the war get to walk into the streets with floats and balloons. I stood up with Blake as Professor Theodore was now standing with Indigo and grabbing his scroll.

"Perhaps you should attend the event, you can more insight of your own from others like me." Theodore said to me with a smile before he looked at Indigo. "Come on, you remember your role in this." He said to Indigo before they both left, leaving me and Blake to ourselves as the room reverted back to the simple classroom.

“You know what they are on about?” I asked Blake who shook her head.

“No, Indigo didn’t say anything but I did figure he was up to something.” Blake said with a small frown.

“What? Other than be a shut in?” I asked which caused Blake to look at me funny.

“Shut in? What are you talking about?” She asked me, making me feel confused.

“You know, him always in his dorm, not really coming out and times where he came back from a game store…” I explained before Blake giggled a little and started to tell me what Indigo was actually doing.

An hour later…

A Video game reviewer. All this time I thought Indigo was just a shut in just to be told and shown that he was actually a video game reviewer. His reviews are blunt, straight to the point and full of dry humor that I can’t help but laugh at. Mostly at the parts that he actually make up insults.

I was back in my room now watching a bit of his other reviews and soon found that whenever a video game has a colon in the name, he reads it with a dry heaves which is a couple of games. Mavis was still in the room floating about while I laughed to myself, hearing Indigo go on about a generic action shooter so generic he decided to review it in limerick form.

“Lords, he’s funny.” I said with a giggle as the one video just ended. I looked up to see Mavis floating over head.

"What are you on about?" Mavis asked me with an arched brow just as I sat up and stretched my arms.

“Remember I thought Indigo was a shut in some time ago? Well turns out he does video game reviews. He’s really funny.” I answered her as I put my scroll down. If I held onto it I would find another video.

"Oh, he does?" Mavis said with an arched brow before chuckling. "Well that explains his interests in games though I don't quite see the appeal in them." Mavis said to me with a chuckle before she floated down and began to strip off her clothes, no doubt to change.

“Eh, people will like them and others won’t.” I said as I looked away from Mavis as she changed clothes. As this went on I thought back to the classroom and the point where somethings peaked my curiosity. “Hey Mavis, can I ask you a question?” I asked.

"You just did~" She answered back with a laugh.

“Oh haha, very funny.” I said with a roll of my eyes before moving on. “Anyway… I have to ask because earlier today when I was in Professor Theodores classroom I got to see hologram images of the Great war, in detail mind you, but instead of getting grossed or shocked, I became more curious the more I watched… is that normal?” I asked.

"Well, that just means you have a unique sense of curiosity. That isn't bad, it's good to be different from others." She said to me before dressing up in something… modest? Wait what? Mavis wore a white t-shirt and some jeans which hugged her curves but other than that it was… modest.

“Wow… you look… good.” I said to her.

"Thanks, you should get ready too. The Veteran's walk is just in an hour and we still have to catch a ride to Vale." She said to me while I blinked. Why did we need a ride? She can just snap her fingers and we'd be there.

“Wait, can’t you just snap your fingers and teleport over there in an instant?” I asked, getting out of bed to find some clothes to wear. Mavis looked at me with a slight frown.

"Just because I have unlimited power doesn't I'm going to ferry you around, if I do I'm going to start charging you." She said to me with her arms crossed.

“Sorry sorry…” I said as I pulled my shirt off of me and rummage around my dresser. Did I do laundry last? “Hey did I do laundry last? I don’t remember.” I asked Mavis as I opened another drawer.

"Yes, you did." Mavis said to me, putting on some shoes to match her outfit. I nodded at this right before finding what I was looking for and slipped on a new shirt with a design of a flaming fox with multiple tails on it. I turned back and showed the shirt to Mavis.

“Does this look good?” I asked her. She nodded with a smile before some flames crawled from underneath the floor before reforming a very happy Amber. I smiled at this before kneeling down and giving Amber some pets. “Hey girl, you seem more happy than normal.” I said with a smile. Amber nuzzled into the affection and waggled her tail, I arched a brow as I haven't ever seen her this happy before.

"Oh my, seems she enjoyed her time with Oni." Mavis said as she walked up to Amber. "What do you say girl? Managed to get that cute Beowolf?" Mavis asked Amber. Amber answers with a happy bark as her tail was wagging happily and Mavis smile grew bigger.

“I guess that’s a yes.” I said with a laugh. After showering Amber with affection, which was a lot, Mavis and I headed to the Bullhead station, where we managed to catch up with the rest of the team waiting as well as Team RWBY.

“Hey!” Ruby greeted us with a smile on her face as the others saw us. Everyone got up from where they were sitting and Yang gave Mavis a kiss on the lips.

“Hey baby.” Yang greeted softly to Mavis.

"Hey back." Mavis greeted with a giggle before Yang sat back down before Mavis sat on Yang's lap. I rolled my eyes at the two before looking back at the rest of Team RWBY as well as Amaram and Umbra, who both did the same as me.

“Hey guys.” I greeted the two as Umbra waved and pulled one of her earbuds out of her ears.

“Hey Viri.” Amaram greeted me as she had a small bokay of flowers in her hands. “Seems you’re going to go see the walk as well?”

“Yeah, kinda got a interest in the Great war history.” I said to her which Umbra snorted a bit.

“Really? And all those books about Vale history didn’t clue us in?” She asked with a laugh. This got a laugh from me as we all waited for the Bullhead to come by.

The ride was relatively short but I did spend it chatting with Ruby, having seen the latest in weapon modding through a subscription magazine I get every month, which she signed me up for. When we landed on Vale Station, we were quick to hop off and head out into the streets, passing by some shops from either clothing or dust… Though Mavis did stop to window shop at a few of the clothing stores. One of the stores she window shop Yang looked over and saw her looking at a somewhat skimpy bikini… and Yang’s face went red. Mavis saw Yang's beet red face and dopey smile before humming and smirking.

"Perhaps I should buy it." I heard Mavis mutter while the other went on ahead. I stayed behind as Yang went even more red than before.

“Careful, I think you’ll overheat her.” I said to Mavis before getting a giggle from her.

"Oh but I'm sure she'll be happy overall." Mavis said before heading inside the shop to no doubt buy the bikini in question while I looked over at Yang. She seemed to be nervous about something.

“Hey, you’ll get use to her wearing skimpy outfits… trust me you do.” I said to Yang as she looked at me oddly.

“Huh? No it’s not…” Yang didn’t finish as she looked back at the store, again looking nervous. I arched a brow at this, wondering what’s up.

“You okay?” I asked her as Yang continue to stare onwards.

“Yes… no… maybe… I don’t know.” Yang answered as she scratched the back of her head. “I… I want to get more… serious in the relationship but…” Yang looked over at me with a worried look. “What if I fuck it up? What if I ruin this? This has been one of the best things that ever happened to me and if I mess it up then I’ll…”

I saw Yang starting to panic a bit which I put my hand on her shoulder. “Hey, calm down. If you want to take things more seriously, then maybe talk to Mavis about it. I believe she would love to… move on to better things with you.” I said. Yang looked at me, taking calming breaths before she smiled.

"Thanks…" She said to me quietly just before Mavis walked out with a bag in her hand.

"Hey girls, did I miss anything?" Mavis asked with a giggle before she greeted Yang with a kiss.

“Me?” Yang asked with a smile as she gave Mavis a few more kisses. “I bet you missed me?" She asked jokingly before Mavis spoke.

"Maybe~" Mavis said before she wrapped an arm around Yang's before we began to walk towards the area where the event is being held. Soon we catched up with the others as there was now a large number of people standing to watch the walk happen.

As it started we all started to see some veterans come walking down the street, each of them in some old yet well kept Vale army uniforms. Some walked down the street while some of them were pushed in wheelchairs as some gave the crowd some waves. As this went on we even saw an old tank come forward as well the crew that went with it. It was the same for those that were in the air force as a truck was pulling an old propellor plane as well for the ones that were part of the artillery as another truck pulled some artillery guns. I had a big smile on my face as I watched all of this going on.

“Whoa check out the cannon!” Ruby said with a bigger smile on her face as she saw the artillery cannons move on by. Yang chuckled at this as Amaram turned to Umbra.

“Did this happen in Atlas? The Walk I mean.” She asked her teammate.

“Kinda, it’s a bit different but mostly the same.” Umbra answered. Soon the cheering crowd went silent, which got us confused before we saw what came next. Walking forward I saw Professor Theodore, wearing the same uniform as I saw him wear in the hologram, and behind him was a number of other people but they were shadow like. It was like the shadows of old soldiers came back to do that walk.

“Are those… the people that were lost in the war?” Blake asked out loud. The crowd that gathered on the sidewalks kept silent, giving the fallen a moment of silence as they walked by. The Professor continue walking with one of his pant legs rolled up to show that his leg was actually an old prosthetic and he had his cane with him to walk.

As he walked through the street I caught a glimpse of someone in the crowd and shocked to see it was my aunt wearing a robe over her head. She watched Theodore walk down the street with a sad look in her eyes and soon hanging her head a bit.

"I do hope this gave the answer of the battle's outcome." Mavis said to me with a hand on my shoulder. So… he was the only one left?

“Yeah… yeah it kinda does.” I said to her before leaning a bit closer to her. “Also… I think I see aunt Axycia in the crowd on the other side of the street.” I informed her. She hummed at this with a nod before the walk continued on.

After the walk there was a small fair going on so everyone could get to talk to the veterans. I got some more info about the war from them as well, which made them wonder if I was doing to for a report for school.

It was an interesting experience, learning from different point of views about what it was like in the war. I held my notebook, now filled with the words by the other veterans. I have enough material to write my own book! Hehe.

After doing all that, I decided to search for Aunt Axycia, curious to know why she would be here. I didn't think she'd care about others. After a few minutes of looking I soon found her somewhat hiding behind some stands. I arch a brow at this, not really sure why she’s here.

"Doing some spying?" Asked Mavis' voice and my immediate reaction could've been better honestly. I let out a yelp in surprise and I turned to face her.

“You know I hate it when you simply appeared behind me!” I said which got a laugh from Mavis.

"But your reaction makes it all the more better to do it." She said with a laugh before soon calming down and noticed Axycia. "So what are you doing? Spying on my sister? I didn't know you roll that way." She said to me.

“Ugh, ew.” I said with a frown. “I think you’re joking but… ew.” She chuckled at this before waiting for an answer to her actual question. “Just to let you know I saw her watching the part with Professor Theodore in it and saw her look sad.”

"Oh? Have you figured out as to why?" She asked me as if she… Wait a minute! She knows!

“You know?!” I asked in shock as she smiled at me.

"Maybe~ but I ain't telling." She said with a poke of my nose and a knowing smile. I pouted a bit at her as we looked over at Axycia who was looking like she was spying on something or someone. I turned my head a bit and saw that it was… Theodore?

“Why is she spying on Professor Theodore?” I asked Mavis who looked over as well.

"You'll just have to find out yourself." She said to be before quickly adding. "Shove!" She exclaimed, pushing me forwards suddenly. I stumbled forward a bit which got a lot of attention from everyone around me. My face went red when I did this and I tried to recover some of my dignity. I looked over and saw that my aunt didn’t seem to notice me as she was too busy with her own thing.

I took a deep breath and casted a glare back at Mavis, seeing her laughing before giving me a wave. I huffed at this before making my way over to Auntie. As I got closer, I began to hear some of Auntie's mutterings.

“He’s much older now… I shouldn’t have left… gods I shouldn’t have left him.” I heard her mutter to herself sorrowfully. I was confused by this as I walked up behind her, getting my own conformation that she was indeed looking at Theodore.

I arch a brow at this and wondered… does aunty have a thing for Theodore? I heard aunty sighed at this before pushing back and turning around before seeing me. The two of us stared at each other for a few moments, her eyes widen at me before she started to slowly to turn away from me, almost like she’s going to walk away.

"Uhh… hi auntie." I said with an awkward wave with an equally as awkward smile.

“Hi dear… enjoying the fair?” She asked, looking a bit nervous about this.

“Yeah… are you?” I asked back with an arched brow, getting her to fidget a bit in place. This was so unlike her.

“Yes I’m enjoying it.” She answered as she fidget a bit more.

“I see… why were you hiding a few stands away then?” I asked her, crossing my arms a bit. She began to fumble about with her words before managing to utter.

“That’s… I could ask the same to you.” Axycia retorted at me.

“I’m wondering why my aunt is being a creep.” I answered her which made her twitch a bit.

"She really hit a nerve there huh?" Asked the voice of Mavis beside me, which made me jump and turn to her, seeing her with a slushie in hand before taking a sip of it.

“I...you… uhh…” Aunty seemed to be fumbling with her words at this, her face was completely red with embarrassment.

"Oh come on sis, this is so unlike you. You're never like this." She said before appear beside Auntie and saying. "So what's got my baby sis so worked up?" She asked her.

“Oh don’t call me that, you’re a millennia or so older than me.” Aunty said as she cross her arms.

"Yeah so?" Mavis asked back, slurping at her slushie nonchalantly. "You're still younger than me, so you're still my baby sister. You can't outrun that!" Exclaimed Mavis as she poked Auntie. "And as your big sister, I'm telling you to talk about your problem with Theodore." She added on which caught Axycia by surprise. "Beeteedubs, I kinda figured it that out on account already knowing." Mavis said to Axycia to which she shifted uncomfortably at this.

“I… I don’t have a problem with him…” She muttered to herself. “I just…” she didn’t finish as she looked down to the ground sadly.

"Sister, I can see the regret in your eyes and it's eating you up inside. It isn't healthy to keep it bottled up… let us help you by letting us know." Mavis said to Auntie, her slushie vanishing as she spoke while I stood back and awaited proper explanation. I knew if I'd butt in now it wouldn't lead me anywhere. Aunty looked up at us and then as Mavis and hung her head.

“Theodore and I… well, we were once a couple.” She said to us. While this came to a surprise for me, Mavis shook her head lightly at this.

"But you weren't… were you?" Asked Mavis, to which Axycia took a deep breath.

“I was… I looked different at the time. I was a… young faunus woman at the time.” She said to us while Mavis snapped her fingers, getting the whole world around us to stop fully. She stopped time. Holy shit… this is pretty cool!

"Ah yes, your attempt of reconnaissance of the populace at the time for your growing company." Mavis said as she simply sat on the air. "That plan caught a bit of a snag didn't it." She said to Axycia.

“I thought I could blend in more if I was a nobody.” She said to Mavis as she soon sighed sadly and added. “I didn’t think he would see me.” Mavis smiled a little at this and chuckled.

"That just means he has a sharp eye for a human." Mavis said with a little chuckle, which actually got one out of Auntie as well. "But… how did it feel? When you both gazed at each other's eyes?" Asked Mavis… is this suddenly a therapy session? Axycia muttered something before sighing.

“I… I honestly thought the world just stop for a few moments.” Aunty said to her. “And not in the normal way we do it.” Mavis chuckled at this before looking over at the frozen Professor.

"And what about when he was drafted into battle during the war?" Mavis asked Axycia simply, looking back at her now silent sister.

“I… I was afraid… I knew it was going to be a big war and all that but… I was afraid that he wouldn’t come back.” Axycia said to her. “I would watch TV readings and see the fallen soldiers names, hoping that he wouldn't be in it.” Mavis sighed at this with a nod before finally saying.

"But then you saw it… after the Battle of Vale." Mavis said to Axycia who soon sat down on the ground, her breathing becoming shaky.

“My… my heart sank… I thought he was gone… I just… I didn’t want it to be true… but… everything hurt.” Axycia said as tears started to fall. Mavis floated over to Auntie and gave her a hug.

"The pain you felt that day, the sadness… I felt it too." She said to her before quickly saying. "You left soon after the news of the battle but he was still alive and you know why? Because he wanted to see you when he came back." Mavis said to Axycia, which actually caught her by surprise.

“He did!?!” She asked in surprise before looking down at the ground. “And… and I left… I just disappeared from Vale…” She said to herself mostly.

"It isn't too late you know…" Mavis whispered to her sister calmly with a smile. "That man you loved is still there, no matter how long has passed." She added.

“I… I would love that but…” She sniffled a bit before continuing. “He wouldn’t recognize me.”

"Then let me help you with that." Mavis said, floating up and snapping her fingers, causing Aunties' body to glow brightly before it began to change. When the light dimmed Axycia looked like an Owl Faunus. Her eyes were a brown colour as her hair was the same colour. Her ears were the same as Umbras as they were somewhat feathered but I also saw some feathers in her hair, going from brown to blue colours in a cute pattern. Axycia looked at herself after this before looking at Mavis.

“You want me to go to him like this?” She asked her.

"Not just that… tell him." Mavis said back to Auntie, leaving her surprised while Mavis smiled. "You deserve happiness, sister. You will never be able to achieve it if you never try." Mavis added while I was busy neatly stacking things up. I made a house of oranges!

Axycia stood up from her sitting position before giving Mavis a big hug. “Thank you…” She said to her.

"What are sister's for?" Mavis asked her with a smile before saying. "Now go, we'll be back here." Mavis said to her while Axycia took a deep breath.

Axycia (Olive) PoV

Time was still frozen as I slowly made my way over to him. “I can do this… I can do this…” I said to myself over and over again as I drew near, waiting for my sister to make time move forward again. “I can do this… I can do this… I…” I stopped when I was about a few feet away. “Can’t do this, this was a bad idea, no I should go back and say no… I can’t, I can’t!” I said as I turned away from him. As I turned away, Mavis was the first thing that greeted my gaze.

"Yes you can, sister. I know you can, all you have to do is suck it up and take a leap." She said to me as she soon turned me around to face Theodore. "Now go!" She exclaimed and soon added. "And I won't be resuming time just yet." She said to me before pushing forward. I stumbled forward before I was again a few feet away from him. I gulped a bit before looking back at my sister and Viri who are watching on. Mavis and Viri both gave me thumbs up before a voice spoke out.

"Oh dear… have I gone off the deep end already?" Asked the man that once stood frozen behind me. My body froze at this before slowly looking back at said man, who now was able to look around at the place. Everyone around us was still frozen so… that means the two of us are able to move around. "Hmm… peculiar…" He added, poking at a frozen bird with his cane before I shifted a bit, my shuffling practically echoing and catching his attention. "Oh, someone else… is…" He spoke as he turned to look at me, his eyes widening. As our eyes met, my heart almost came out of my chest. I let out a nervous laugh as my legs were trembling.

“H-Hi…” I squeaked at him, my voice failing me to hid my nervously.

"O-Olive?" He asked, no doubt wanting to be sure that what he saw was true. I shifted uncomfortably as my words were jumbled in my mouth, I just simply nodded, eyes darting to him and then away. "You… you look as a beautiful as I remember you." He said to me with an awestruck tone.

“And you… look older.” I said to him before adding. “I-I’m sorry…” I hung my head down as I couldn’t meet his face.

"For what?" He asked me quietly, moving a little closer to me as he spoke.

“I… disappeared…” I said to him, tears welling up in my eyes. “I thought you died… the final battle… they said your name and…” I couldn’t finished as my tears started to fall.

"Ah… that." He said quietly before soon adding. "Despite what may think… I never blamed you for leaving. After all, the news of the loss of lives here in Vale…" He added before sighing. "Though… I had hoped I could find you, so I can show you that I was alive and well… for the most part anyway." He said, looking down at his prosthetic leg.

“Had I known you were still okay… I would’ve came back but… I was too ashamed of myself.” I said to him, sniffling a bit. “I just… I’m sorry Theodore.”

"Don't be… just seeing you again was all I ever wanted." He said to me, caressing my tears away. I finally looked back at him, seeing his smiling face as he looked at me, it both made me happy and sad. I stepped forward and gave him a hug, shaking as I cried. After a long while, I calmed down enough for him to speak

"So… eighty or so years and you don't look a day over twenty, whatever miracle product you have I wouldn't mind having." Theodore said with a chuckle as he pulled back from the hug. I again let out a nervous laugh.

“Yeah uhh, about that.” I didn’t want to keep this from him any longer and with my sister approval I just… explained who I was. It took some time so we sat down so I could talk to him and explain who I was. He listened to every I spoke, even gave me time to muster up the courage to continue. By the end of it, he was silent for a solid minute. That minute was like an eternity for me as I was starting the sweat bullets from the wait alone. That's when he let out a laugh… huh?

"All this time I had though I had fallen for an angel… never have I ever imagined that she wasn't an angel, but an actual Goddess!" He said with a laugh before soon calming his laughter into chuckles. I smiled at him for this and chuckled as well.

“Yeah… you did have a sharp eye.” I said to him. I smiled at him before that smile drooped a bit. “I saw that you had a family, your grandson is Indigo?” I asked him even though I already knew it was true.

"Ah yes and yes I have. I met her about a decade later… you would've actually liked her." He said to me, regarding the woman he met after me. "She was reckless and dangerous, just as you were to be quite honest." Theodore said to me.

“Really now?” I asked with a little chuckle. “I guess you were happy with her then.” He smiled and nodded before saying.

"I was but… then she wanted to know about you, she knew about my decade long search but nothing of you." He said to me before chuckling. "Gods Bless that woman, she told me that if I ever found you… she would be glad to see me happy with you." He said to me, which surprised me.

“She must’ve been something else huh.” I said to him with a smile.

"Yeah… She was." He said before letting out a sigh. "You know… with what you've told me, it makes me wonder why is it you fell for a mortal like me?" He asked me, looking at me with a little smile.

“I don’t know.” I simply said to him before adding with a smile. “I just did.” This got a laugh from him as I leaned against him with a smile on my face. “I’m just… happy that you’re not mad at me for disappearing. I always was afraid that you would curse my name when you see me again.” I said in a small voice. This got a chuckle from him.

"You know I wasn't one to be mad at you." Theodore said but his voice sounded… younger. I hummed a bit as he said that before saying.

“I would’ve understood why if you were but… guess that you’re not one to just get angry with someone.” I said, thinking that his voice change was me hearing things. I soon noticed Mavis and Viri from the corner of my eyes, seeing Mavis do some motions with her hand before noticing my gaze and giving me a thumbs up.

"Perhaps we can make up for lost time?" Theodore asked me, chuckling as he had embraced me with one arm. I blinked a little before looking up at him and seeing… Theodore was now younger, the same age that I saw him before. I blinked again before gave it some thought and then I started to laugh a little.

“Maybe we should.” I said as I leaned against him happily.

"But… on one condition." He said to me, which got me to look up at him questioningly. "No disguises this time, I want to get to know the real you." He said to me. I arched a brow at this before adding.

“If I do, you would probably know who I really am.” I said with a little laugh. He rolled his eyes at me but smiled anyway.

"Come on." He said to me with a little laugh. I gave him a shrug before I let out my breath as I shifted back to my normal form… except for my ears, I didn’t get my normal fox ears but have some feathered ears as I had with Olive, only they were black and gray in colour. I looked over and arched a brow.

“Well?” I asked him. He smiled and stood up, using his cane to do so.

"Beautiful." He said to me with a smile. There was a little shock in me when he said that before I smiled at him before standing up with him.

“I try my best.” I said with a giggle. He smiled at me and offered his hand to me which I happily took into my own and when I did, time began to unfreeze itself. No one seemed to notice us, well not yet at least. "You going to be upset when people find out that you're walking with a CEO?" I asked Theodore with a mischievous smile.

"Hun, I've had my fair share in the spotlight." He said to me with a laugh before we began walking down the crowded streets, no clear destination in mind but who gives a damn right now.

As we walked I noticed we walked by Mavis and Viri, the latter apologizing to some man about oranges. I smiled at my sister and mouthed the words 'thank you.' She gave me a wave and a thumbs up before me and Theodore continued on.

Ch. 10

View Online

It’s been a month since the Veterans Day and things have been heating up for the Tournament that has been coming up. For some reason, there were issues with something that they won’t release to the public which caused the Tournament to be pushed back but now it was a few weeks away and everyone is pumped. Aunt Axycia has been having the happiest time of her life as she got back together with her old love, Professor Theodore. Heck, even his life changed to be better, though he did give me a surprise report on what I learned about the Great War.

“I think this would be at least… a B plus.” I said to Mavis as we walked down the hallway towards Professor Theodore's classroom.

"B plus? Why aim so low? You're the only one who got such in-depth knowledge about the event." Mavis said to me, giving me a poke on the cheek. "May I remind you the late nights you had working on your report?" She asked me with narrowed eyes.

“Most of my reports that I gave him were around B’s…” I said to her with a little frown. “And I mean, he must’ve gotten other reports that were better than mine. Besides, I’m happy that it’s not a low grade… I know that from you teaching me.” I pointed out to Mavis.

"Damn right." She said to me as we continued in towards Theodore's classroom but soon stopped when we saw the professor talking with Rose. The two seemed to be talking about something as we approached them, just catching the tail end of their conversation.

“... with everything I have seen, I feel a little- oh hello.” Rose greeted us as we came up to the two of them. Professor Theodore looked back at the two of us and smiled.

"Ah, good morning you two. Early as usual, I was just speaking to Rose here." Professor Theodore said to us before Mavis nodded and gave Rose a wave.

"Heya." She greeted simply with a smile. Rose smiled back at Mavis as I looked at Professor Theodore and handed him my work.

“Here you go sir, hope it’s not too late.” I said to him before he took a brief look at it and smile.

"I can already tell you poured a lot into this one." He said to me with a smile and a chuckle before looking at Rose. "Now remember, if at any point you need help don't be afraid to come look for me." He said to Rose before heading into his classroom. Rose simply smiled at him before looking back at us.

“So… how are you two?” Rose asked the both of us.

“We’re good, how about you?” I asked Rose, who shifted from one foot to another.

“Eh… I’m alright… still a little weird with, well everything.” She answered me.

"Still?" Mavis asked with an arched brow. "One would think a month and a half would be enough to make things less weird." Mavis said to Rose who crossed her arms a bit.

“Well, kinda hard when I spent longer in that hellscape.” She said as she shook her head. “I… sorry, I just feel… I feel like I’m an outsider looking in.”

“Well… give it some time, and remember you have friends.” I said to her which she looked at me for a few moments.

“Right… friends.” She said to me before her ear twitched and her head snapped towards something before groaning. “Ah… jumpy… always jumpy.”

"Hmm…" Mavis hummed at this before speaking. "No, this won't do. What you need is a day at a relaxing spa." Mavis said to Rose and by her tone, she wasn't joking. Rose stared at her blankly before I asked.

“You… know what a spa is… right?” I asked her which Rose slowly nodded.

“Yes… it’s a bigger bath… right?” She asked us, looking between the both of us. Mavis then gave her a blank stare before taking a deep breath and pulling out her scroll.

"I'm letting Ozpin know we'll be spending the day destressing her." Mavis said to me, literally sending a text to the Headmaster. Hey wait… When did she get his scroll number?

“Wait you want me to come along as well?” I asked Mavis who was typing away and Rose looking at us confused.

"Duh, not doing this alone." Mavis was quick to say just as she finished her text. I arched a brow at this before looking at Rose as she scratched her hair a bit… did I see flakes come out of her hair?

“Did… do you take baths?” I asked her.

“Yeah… once a while… last one was a few days… weeks ago?” She said as if it was a question before I gave her a somewhat disgusted look. Rose looked a little worried at me as she brushed her hair back. At least she doesn’t smell.

"Alright let's go." Mavis said with a flick of her wrist, getting Rose to lift off the ground. "Also… ew." Mavis said to Rose, regarding her bathing habits. Rose frowned at Mavis as the two of us headed off, with Rose floating behind us.

“I can walk! My legs aren’t broken!” Rose yelled, wiggling in mid-air.

"I know but it'll be quicker this way." Mavis said back to Rose as we headed out to the Bullhead landing station, where Mavis said there was one waiting for us.

“How is this quicker?!” Rose asked her with a frown. I looked at Mavis and leaned over to her.

“I’m actually curious, why are you carrying her like that?” I whispered to Mavis.

"You rather have her spread those germs?" Mavis asked back in the same whisper. I thought about it before the both of us looked back at her, now simply looking at us with a frown.

“Good point.” I said to her. After that we soon arrived at the Bullhead and hopped on, Mavis getting Rose to strap in before the ship took off towards Vale. On the way over Rose was looking out of the window as we flew past everything.

“Every time… It looks so different…” I heard her muttered to herself. Both Mavis and I looked at one another before I spoke up.

“Rose, what do you do with your time?” I asked her. Mavis looked over with an arched brow, interested to hear about this as well.

“Well… Since I don’t have to fight for my life anymore… I uhh… read… write some journals… work out a bit.” She answered me which was true, she seemed a bit more buff since we came back from Yharnam.

“Do… Do you ever go out of your room?” I asked her which she shrugged.

“Every once in a while. I don’t have much to do really.” She answered me.

"You need to look into getting yourself a hobby, you can't just stay inside everyday." Mavis said to Rose as the ship shook a bit, a bit of turbulence. Rose arms went down on the seats as she looked around and out of the window a bit before looking back at us as we were staring at her. She blushed a bit and looked away. Mavis and I looked at one another for a few moments.

"Now then, as soon as we land we'll head straight for the Vale spa." Mavis said to us just as we felt the ship land, our ride finishing before the doors opened for us to hop off. This time Mavis let Rose walk out on her own.

The three of us walked down the streets and saw a number of other people around us. I looked back and saw Rose looking… nervous around everyone, her eyes darting from person to person. Mavis saw this as well and made sure we hurried along and before we knew it, were inside Vale's luxurious, go-to spa. Rose looked a little more uncomfortable, though this time it was unknown to me why as the lobby had calming scented candles lit.

“You okay there Rose?” I asked her which she turned to look at me.

“I… I never had the luxury of experiencing scented candles… and I think that was a good thing because… they are a bit overpowering…” Rose explained as she made some faces and shaking her head. Overpowering? They seem fine to me.

"Good news!" Mavis exclaimed, almost literally popping out of nowhere with a pamphlet. "I booked us some appointments." She said, handing each of us a pamphlet. I looked at the pamphlet and smiled as I saw some good ones; a full body massage, seaweed wrap, that feet in fish water clean with real fish.

“Oh this will be great!” I said happily as I looked over and saw Rose reading hers. “You picked any good ones.”

“Umm… not really… what do you guys think?” Rose asked the both of us.

"I've already picked some out for you, Rose. Trust me you'll thank me later." Mavis said to Rose as a couple of staff members came in, gave us a bow and we soon followed them before Rose was taken elsewhere.

“What did you pick for Rose?” I asked Mavis which caused her to smiled at me.

"Well, just the necessities for her. Full body washing, full body massages, hot stones, etcetera." Mavis said to me before we headed into the dressing rooms, stripped and donned the robes before heading to our first stop, a deep massage. We laid down on the tables and allowed the two workers get to work. This… is how to relax~. I sighed happily before turning my head over.

“Those things… don’t sound that bad.” I said to Mavis who simply chuckled a bit.

"Trust me… She'll think it all sounds bad." Mavis said before her masseuse reached a good spot on her back, getting a happy and relaxed moan from her. I chuckled at this before letting out a happy sigh as my own masseuse got to a good spot as well. This went on for some time before the two finished up and we were allowed to move on. As we walked down the hallway I notice in one of the rooms I saw Rose was being tended to… and someone was scrubbing her hair a bit forcefully. She didn’t seem to mind… though with her frown I wasn’t too sure.

"Come on slowpoke!" Mavis called out to me before grabbing my hand practically dragging me behind her as she hurried along down the hall.

We soon arrived in a room for something called mud baths… why is bathing in mud a soothing thing I will never really know. Mavis got giddy at this and was all too happy to hop right in after ditching her robe.

"Ooooh~ yeah… that's what mama likes." I heard her say with a giddy laugh. I arched a brow at this before walking over and pulling the robe off of me just so I could slide into the mud bath. It was… oddly soothing.

"This is… nice." I said with a smile on my face. The two of us laid there for some time as I started to feel any aches or pains I had started to go away.

"I need to send this to Yang." Mavis said with a giggle, her scroll appearing before snapping a picture of herself before he sent it, all without having to use her hands. After a few moments there was a buzz and Mavis read whatever was sent to her and snorted a bit. Mavis sent yet another text back with a mischievous smirk. I arch a brow at this as Mavis was giggling a bit as she texted her girlfriend. I tried to see what she’s texting but I was too far away to see from where I was. "Oh~ I think she's angry at the mud now." Mavis said with a giggle, which quickly prompted me to ask.

“Why is she angry at the mud?” I asked her, though it took me a second to answer myself. “No, wait nevermind.” She giggled at this before the main doors opened, revealing it to be a couple of staff members guiding Rose in. Rose looked… well much cleaner that we last saw her and also blushing a lot.

"Well look at you, clean as a whistle." Mavis said as she saw Rose walk in, holding her robe tightly.

“I feel very exposed right now…” Rose informed us before looking down at us. “What are you two sitting in? Mud?”

“Yeah, it’s actually really relaxing.” I informed her with a smile which Rose arch a brow at.

"Yup, so ditch those duds and hop on in." Mavis said to Rose with a grin, to which Rose gave an unsure look about this. Mavis gave her a deadpanned look at this point before she flicked her wrist, causing the robe to come right off of Rose. She yelped as this happened, her arms covering her body, her very scared body, as she glared at Mavis.

“Did you have to do that!” She yelled at Mavis, blush so much that she could be mistaken as a tomato.

"Oopsie~" Mavis said with a playful giggle before adding. "Oh relax, we're all girls here. Don't have to hide yourself, more so if you step into the mud~" Mavis said to her with another giggle. After a few moments Rose was reluctant to step into one of the open Mud baths and sat there simply.

“There, feel better?” I asked her which Rose answered after a minute’s wait.

“First I was washed from head to toe and now I’m in mud… kinda counterproductive and yes it’s nice.” She informed us.

"Oh I made sure the bathing was first, seriously you need to work on your bathing habits." Mavis said to her with a deadpan look before adding. "Just… ew." She said with a shudder. Rose didn’t answer with words but she did blush in embarrassment.

“Don’t worry, we can help you with that.” I said with a smile on my face. Rose looked over and gave me a smile as the three of us relaxed for a bit.

After a while we all got out of the baths and with one quick motion, Mavis had the mud that covered us slid ride off of us and put back into the baths while we were left spotless. After donning our robes, Mavis smiled and soon spoke.

"Now it's time for the sauna!" She exclaimed excitedly, so excited that she began to float off the ground. Rose and I looked at one another before following after her into a wooden room with a heater in the middle. Each of us sat down just as the heater made a hissing sound and steam came out of it, making the room hotter.

Rose was sitting nearby, shifting uncomfortably in her robe, holding onto it tightly as if on guard for someone to rip it off of her. I arched a brow at her as me and Mavis took ours off and sat comfortably down before Mavis flicked her wrist, causing Rose's robe to fly off of her body.

"Ah! No!" Rose yelled before glaring at Mavis. "Would you stop!"

"Oh just sit down." Mavis said simply with a giggle as the robe folded itself. "And you shouldn't wear the robe inside the sauna, it'll leave you smelly and that's the last thing we want." Mavis said to her. Rose frowned at this before complying and sitting down, her arms covering her chest.

"Oh come on, you'll never relax if you keep being embarrassed about the situation." Mavis said to Rose with a frown. "We're your friends Rose, we aren't going to stare or laugh if that's what's got you so worried." She added while crossing her arms.

"It's not that I'm embarrassed… okay it has a little bit of that but… I feel really open." She said to us with a little pout.

"If this is because of the whole Yharnam ordeal, it's long since passed. You don't have to be on edge twenty four seven, take some me time and relax." Mavis said to Rose with a sigh, the steam filling the room.

After a few moments of sitting in the room, Rose slowly moved her arms down and started to relax, which got me to smile. “This… is actually really nice.” Rose said simply.

"See? All you need to do is unwind." Mavis said to Rose with a giggle. While it was steamy within the room, I was able to see them both still even through the steam and well… I looked at them, narrowing my eyes at them before looking down at myself.

“Out of the three of us… why am I the smallest?” I muttered to myself, giving the side of my left breast a poke.

"What's that?" Mavis asked, having somewhat heard me and turned to look at me as a result.

“Nothing! Just… talking to myself… again.” I said quickly and blushing a bit. Mavis arched a brow as the steam hid away my blushing face before the next few minutes was spent in relaxation… and a side of envy on my part. When we were done with the sauna, we headed into the communal showers to freshen up… Well me and Mavis did, Rose was fumbling about with the shampoos.

“What’s with this thing?” Rose asked as she fumbled with a bottle of shampoo.

“You put that stuff in your hair.” I said to her which Rose looked at me. “You know, to make your hair clean.”

“Don’t you use soap for that?” Rose asked which Mavis giggled at her. Mavis walked over to her, which in turn made Rose blush as her gaze was attracted to Mavis longer than I'm sure Yang would've liked.

“Uhh… what are you doing?” Rose asked, now a bit nervous with how Mavis is now very close to her.

"Oh just hold still, and my eyes are up here." Mavis said, snapping her fingers to get Rose's gaze up before grabbing the bottle of shampoo and opening it. She poured some onto her hand and began to rinse Rose's hair with the other. "Stop squirming." Mavis said. I watched Mavis scrubbing Rose’s hair who was squirming a bit until her head and hair was now covered in soap. "You have to learn to wash your head and to bathe regularly cause not only will it make you presentable, it's better for your health." Mavis said to her informatively and in doing so, pressed up against Rose's back.

"Ah!! Why are you pressing yourself on my back!" Rose yelled as her face went red.

"To catch some water, you dummy. I'm getting a little dry here while I'm washing your head." Mavis said before giggling and adding. "And for that reaction, which was priceless~" She added and just before Rose could yell again, Mavis began rinsing her hair off the shampoo suds. Rose simply grumbled during this, her wolf ears flat on top of her head.

I simply watched this happen as I was washing my tail. As I was facing away from the two, I looked down a poked at my chest a bit.

"You two better grow soon." I muttered to myself as I scrubbed soap into my tail more. After the showering we headed back into the dressing rooms where we got properly dressed and soon headed into the lobby, where me and Rose waited while Mavis sorted the payment out. I looked over at Rose and saw her feeling her arms a bit.

“So… this is what it feels like to go to the spa?” She asked me which I giggled a little.

“Yeah, and be fully cleaned.” I said with a smile. Rose hummed at this before looking over at me.

“Is… there anything else I can do for relaxing?” Rose asked me which took me by surprise. I smiled at her, giving her some suggestions that she would probably like before Mavis walked up to us.

"Alright, girls! We got the rest of the day to ourselves, so why not go do some clothes shopping for dark broody here?" Mavis asked us both with a toothy grin.Rose looked down at herself as her clothings was the same ones she had since coming here.

“What’s wrong with my clothes?” Rose asked with a frown. “They are perfectly fine.”

“Rose, when we were walking here, everyone was staring at you.” I informed her.

“Really? I didn’t notice.” Rose said to which Mavis rolled her eyes.

"If you like being the center of attention fine, but me and Viri here are shopping." Mavis said to Rose, which got her blink. In a short few moments Rose started to look around and look nervose.

“Uhh… I don’t… like that.” She said to us which Mavis and I look at eachother. She gave me a smirk before looking back at Rose.

"I know just where to go." She said before she waved her hand and the doors opened before she happily walked ahead, me and Rose following behind her.

Mavis’ PoV

After a few hours of clothes shopping, the three of us finally returned to Beacon in some new clothes. Rose was still getting used to her new clothes… the ones me and Viri picked out to her… well mostly Viri's.

"I don't know what your problems are. My choices were quite alright." I told them both, holding the bags with my clothes as we hopped off the bullhead.

“Your choices were more skimpy and showy.” Viri pointed out to me, to which I huffed at her and said.

"Well they would've looked sexy on her." I said in my defense while Rose was looking into her bag, quite happy I might add. Yes while I did the whole skimpy outfits for fun, Viri took it upon herself to get Rose clothes that she was interested in, which took a while since her wardrobe consisted of what she is wearing right now, so explaining fashion on the getgo was a bit of a bother. Viri rolled her eyes at this before I felt my scroll buzz a bit. I took it out and saw it was Yang, texting me to see where I was.

"At Bullhead Station, just got back from the city." I texted back to her with a smile as both Viri and Rose went on ahead to their dorms, leaving me to go about my day to myself. After a few moments Yang text back.

"Cool… hey, can we meet up somewhere? We need to talk.” She texted back to me.

"Okay where?" I texted back with an arched brow as I snapped my fingers, getting my bag to disappear back into my dorm room while I began walking towards the Academy proper.

‘At my dorm room. The rest of my team are out.’ Yang’s text said, to which I arched a brow before shrugging and lifting off the ground and heading over to RWBY dorm room, soon arriving and tapping the window. After a few moments Yang came over and opened the window.

“Why do you always go through the window?” Yang asked me.

"Aww here I thought you'd be happy to see me. Oh well…" I said as I began to float down in sadness.

“I-I am! I’m really happy to see you and, uhh…” Yang stuttered with her words over what I said… even more so than normal. I gave her a smile and kissed the tip of her nose before floating back up and through the window.

"So Yang Yang, what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked her, stretching my limbs and seeing the rather precariously built bunk beds. Yang didn’t say anything for a few moments before finally speaking to me.

“I… want to talk about us.” She said to me. I laid in the air and looked up at Yang, arching a brow at her as I did this.

"What about us?" I asked, now correcting myself and standing upright as I grew concerned over what's happening.

“Yeah… well you see… You’re just, the most amazing woman I have ever met.” Yang said to me. “You’re smart, beautiful, skilled, heck anyone would be lucky to be with you.” Yang stepped over and took my hands in hers. “I’m happy that I’m that lucky lady to be with you. Mavis, I love you so much.” I smiled at her warmly, a blush donning my cheeks.

"I can say the same about you." I said to her, walking up to her, feeling her hands grab my waist before we shared a deep kiss. After a solid minute or two of nonstop kissing, I parted from it and spoke. "I love you too." I told her. Yang smiled at this before a blush came on her face.

“And uhh, this comes to why I asked you to come out here…” She said nervously. “See… I uhh, kinda want to… move on with our relationship…” She said with a nervous chuckle, to which I arched a brow at her for.

"Is that it?" I asked to which she nodded and I laughed. "Oh thank gods, I honestly thought it was something else." I said with a sigh of relief.

“Hey, it’s a big thing for me to say that...and uhh… was that a yes or?” Yang asked me. I gave her a smile and chuckled.

"Yes Yang, I'd be happy to." I told her with a genuine smile. Yang smiled happily before the two of us kissed each other again, this time it made my heart flutter happily.

Ch. 11

View Online

“Like… this?” Rose asked, tapping on a new scroll I got her, causing the scroll to start making sounds that, funnily enough, make the Huntress jump.

“Yes, now that Scroll scanned your finger, it will now be used by you,” I explained. It’s been a few days since Mavis, Rose, and my trip to the spa and clothes shopping and now I wanted to give Rose a Scroll so she could talk to anyone without walking all over to find them, though that also meant showing her how to use one as she stated she has never actually used a scroll before.

It was… awkward at first but overtime of an hour or two Rose finally got the hang of it… sorta. Honestly, it wasn’t so bad doing this other than the time I went to get help from Mavis… and when I found her she was with Yang… naked… along with Yang... and uhh… yeah, that was awkward. The two were no doubt uhh… doing it but what made more awkward was that they somehow have hidden away in the courtyard. Besides the obvious awkwardness, I was taken back at how quiet they managed to be but enough about that, still trying to bleach that out.

“You okay?” Rose asked me. “You seemed to have shivered.”

“Huh? Oh, I’m fine.” I said with a laugh to cover my awkwardness which caused her to arch a brow at me before going back to the scroll. I let out a sigh that she didn’t push the subject more, I don’t want to remember that… again bleaching.

This went on before I saw Mavis coming over to us, a skip in her step and a huge smile on her face. Oh, gods that could only mean one thing…

"Hey girls~" She greeted us, stopping just in front of us and practically hopping in place. Rose arched a brow at this and spoke.

“What got you in such high spirits?” Rose asked, pushing something on the scroll which seemed to extend it into a tablet size, making her jump a bit.

"Oh I just came back from my date with Yang, oh it was wonderful." She said to her, floating off the ground as she was on cloud nine. Huh? She went on a date? Guess that explains the hurry she had this morning… also dirty mind! Dirty!

“Oh, that’s great,” Rose said before looking at the scroll. “How do I… undo this…” She muttered before pushing a button which caused the scroll to close up. This seemed to make Rose happy for figuring it out herself.

"Still with the scroll lessons?" Mavis asked us to which we nodded before she spoke. "Why don't you look at the tutorial that every scroll comes with?" She then asked us.

“I can figure it out!” Rose said with determination in her voice as I rolled my eyes and looked at Mavis.

“She wanted to figure it out on her own,” I informed her. She shrugged at this before floating above us for a moment or two before speaking.

"Anything interesting going on with you two? Anything exciting? Besides the scroll learning." She asked us, sounding bored already.

“Not really, no.” I said simply as Rose was still working on her scroll. This made her blow a raspberry out of boredom. This, in turn, caused Amber to bark out in annoyance as she laid on the floor not too far from me with Oni beside her, a very visible bump on her. “Sorry, Amber,” I said to her and it caused Amber to let out a snort as she laid on the ground before Oni snuggled up to Amber with a quiet hum.

"You two need some excitement," Mavis said to us simply, flipping over to face us. "Why not hunt some Grimm or train or get a mission from the mission board?" She asked us. Right as she said that there was a buzz from Rose’s scroll.

“I didn’t do that!” She said in shock and I saw she was getting a call from an unknown number. We all looked at one another before I reached over and answer it, showing an image of aunt Axycia.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” She said to us.

"No, just bored~," Said Mavis in a complaining tone as she floated away for a second.

“She’s just bored, what’s up aunty?” I asked her with a small smile.

“Well, I just thought on calling you for something I need help with.” Axycia said which got Mavis attention. This got her to float back over, her interest immediately caught by this.

"And that is?" She asked while Rose kept quiet… That is until Auntie saw her and arched a brow.

“Rose, you mind if you let me talk to my two nieces please?” Aunty asked her which Rose frowned a little.

“But this is my scroll…” She said before looking at me and Mavis. “Fine…” She said with a sigh and headed off away from us.

“So… what were you going to say?” I asked my aunt.

“Oh simply go and scout around a world I found some time ago.” Aunty answered simply which surprised me. A world she found?!

"What for?" Mavis asked, this time sounding a little suspicious of Auntie when she said this.

“Let’s say I’m a little curious about this place, that’s all.” Auntie said with a shrug of her shoulders before adding. “And no, this time I really do mean it.” She was quick to add which made Mavis narrow her eyes.

"Fine, what about it is that got you so curious?" Mavis then asked. Auntie shrugged and simply answered with.

"Cause I'm curious about it." She said which made Mavis roll her eyes while I was left a little confused and excited.

"You mean that!? Wait, there are other worlds?!" I asked them both and looked at Mavis before the latter shushed me with a frown.

"Tell the whole school why don't you." She said to me, to which I blinked… oh right… secret. "And yeah, there are countless other worlds to explore, did you honestly think Remnant was mine and my sister's only creation?" She whispered to me.

"Oh… wow." I said in awe and heard Auntie chuckle.

"I guess the two of you are on board yes?" She asked the two of us.

"Sure. Beats doing nothing." Mavis said as she floated a bit away, though somehow she didn't sound excited. How can't she!? It's a whole new world to explore!

"Well then, you two get ready. A bullhead will come to pick you up and I'll send a message to the Headmaster about this. Toodaloo." With that the call was cut off. With that said I took the scroll and gave it back to Rose, who was busy reading a book on the Creatures of Grimm. After that me and Mavis went to our dorm, where we got dressed in our usual mission gear… though once again I still don't know how her outfit is combat efficient.

"I still don't see what your problem is and it's already been months now, why bring it back up again?" Mavis asked as she strapped her fan blade to her hip as I grabbed Molten Fox.

"What you're wearing doesn't count as clothing!" I exclaimed as I was outraged by this. Mavis rolled her eyes at this before saying.

"How about this, if ever I have a wardrobe malfunction in my combat gear I'll change my look." She said to me, floating off the ground as she said this. "But until then…" She said before whacking me in the back of the head. "Get used to it!" She yelled at me. I looked at her and made a face before the two of us headed off. As we walked I rubbed the back of my head… ow~. We soon arrived at the landing pads, where a Bullhead bearing the Mal Kun Company logo stood stationary there and waited for us.

The two of us climbed in and as we sat down the doors closed and the bullhead took off. The doors to the cockpit were closed so it was just the two of us. Mavis sat across from me with her arms crossed, looking annoyed though I hoped it wasn't towards me.

For about five whole minutes the silence was bugging me. "Hey… you okay?" I asked, seeing Mavis still annoyed about something.

"Honestly… I'd rather be hanging out with Yang… and you had a hand in my current mood." She said with a pout. My ears flattened on top of my head and shifted uncomfortably.

"Sorry…" I apologize to her. She soon sighed and said.

"It's fine… but you need to realize that you shouldn't judge what others wear. Not everyone is going to have the same sense of style." She said before wagging a finger at me and adding. "What if you were to stumble upon a town of nudists?" She asked me, practically scolding me at this point. I blinked at her before the thought of a town full of nudists came to mind… my face turned bright red at this thought. We felt the Bullhead lurch a bit, which kinda freaked me out a bit as memories of our time Yharnam made themselves known to me again while Mavis blew a bit of hair from her face. "Calm down, we're only breaching through the veil between worlds." She said and I reached for the window to see this myself. "If you do that don't be complaining about headaches." She warned me.

"Really? Can't be that- duhhhhhhh~" I droned on as all I saw outside was a mesh of colours, things, and everything in between. After a minute I pulled away. "I saw something and it stared back…" I said in shock.

"You've either stared too long or you managed to catch sight of the World eater." Mavis said nonchalantly, summoning a nail file to do her nails- wait back up a sec what!?

"World Eater, what?!" I asked/yelled at Mavis in shock.

"Well, I should clarify, World Eaters, as in more than one." She said to me, not giving me much go on with this. "It's in the name, they eat worlds. Worlds that have long since lived out their time." She added, her tone sounding as if this was a normal subject to speak of… it isn't. I didn’t want to, everything in my body didn’t want to but my curiosity won out and I took another look. I didn’t see much other than colours and… stuff, but I did see something large, chaotic and shapeless as it moved into the void… then a red dot turned towards me.

Everything was a blur but I soon found myself next to Mavis with my arms around her saying the words “It saw me, it saw me, it saw me, it saw me, oh lords it saw me~” I cried with tears down my face. It was worse than the monsters from Yharnam. Ten times worse.

"Oh calm down, you overreacting over something so dumb," Mavis said to me with an arched brow before adding. "They are incapable of hurting us and have no need to do so." She added, finishing up with her nails. "I should know, made them myself." She said as she gently blew at her nails. I frowned at this and pulled myself off of her.

“Right… don’t have to be rude about it…” I muttered the last bit but with a twitch of her ear meant she still heard me. She only smirked and snapped her fingers and in an instant a bowl of chocolate fudge ice cream appeared floating in front of me.

"How about now?" She asked me simply as I was handed the bowl of chocolaty goodness. I stared at it for a few moments before letting out a little pout of frustration as this did cheer me up… a bit.

“Thanks…” I said as I took a spoon full of ice cream and put it in my mouth… it was really good~! Mavis smiled and chuckled as I ate the ice cream as a child would eat theirs, the whole ride being ice cream and nothing but the ice cream… that is until I ran out but it just so happened to be when we landed… I think. My eye went to the window and an image flashed in my mind, one seeing one of those… things, staring back at me as I looked out of the window. And I don't want to do that.

"If it'll make you feel better, I'll get you a whole tub of that chocolate ice cream." Mavis said to me as she unbuckled herself from the seat and stood up.

"Do you really think Ice cream will fix everything for me?" I asked as I set the bowl down… okay maybe that wasn't the right choice of words for right now...

"Do you want the tub of ice cream or not?" Was all she asked with an arched brow at me. I frowned at her before unbuckling and standing up.

"No, I'm fine…" I said with a frown before adding. "And maybe you stop treating me like a child." This caused Mavis to arch a brow at me and frowning.

"Viri Mal Kun… did you honestly think I'd give that promised tub of ice cream for now? I meant to have in the dorm, not so you can get fat." She said to me, scolding me as she did. I blushed at the fact I misheard her about promise of the tub of ice cream… and for pointing out my weight. I tried to open my mouth to speak, to at least retort that she was still treating me as a child but then I saw her body change… to Grandma… I shrank down at her gaze as she frowned at me. "If you truly want me to stop treating you like the sweet little girl I've helped raise alongside her mother, then so be it." She said as she walked out of the Bullhead. I stood there shocked as I tried to figure out what happened before hanging my head and tried my damndest not to start crying.

After a few moments I walked out of the Bullhead and looked around to see… we were in a forest… but there was something very different than the Emerald Forest and any other forest I've been in… it's more colourful. And I mean… colourful, my eyes hurt from just how brightly green the trees were.

I shook my head and saw Grandma standing nearby looking around and I sighed, knowing that I messed up. I walked up to her to apologize. “G-Grandma… I’m sorry that I acted like that… I didn’t mean to be disrespectful or anything…” I apologized to her. Its then I heard a sniff from her and that's when it hurt me the most… but not as much as the bone crushing hug she trapped me in- Help!

"Oh I'm so sorry for being so mean and inconsiderate of your feelings." Was all I could hear as she kissed my head over and over, my spine!

“Ugh! It’s… fine… my back… ugh my back is broken…” I struggled to say as her bone crushing hug was… crushing. Before I knew it I was on the ground twitching a bit as I heard Grandma's tone… Shift.

"Now we can focus on our exploration!" She said in a cheery tone, her body changing back into Mavis. What? I looked up to watch her skip off into the forest without a care in the world as I wondered what the hell just happened… and try to stand up. Ow ow ow…

After getting to my feet and stretching a bit I headed on after Mavis, wondering where she went off to. Not understanding what the hell just happened nor wanting my bones shattering, I decided to move and explore on my own, hopefully Mavis can find me later.

The forest looked cheerful and pleasant than back home, again the trees were… very green, but there were very colourful flowers and the sky was very blue. I notice some animals and birds around and the latter were singing a happy song that made me feel like I stepped into a fairy tale story. As I was walking my ears twitched and I heard something nearby… it sounded like some sort of animal. I looked over and saw a bush was shaking a little as more yips were coming from it. Was the animal alright? Curiosity got the better of me again, and I went over to see. The yips sounded like that of a baby fox that was scared, which made the little animal lover me inside bawl up as I push the oddly cold bush out of the way before I was shocked to see the creature.

It was a baby fox alright, but what I didn’t expect was it had snow white fur and Grimm like mask with ice blue eyes. A Grimm Fox… that was also white. Those two things didn’t match up in my head as it was trembling in fear. That also didn’t match up.

“Hey hey… it’s okay…” I said softly as I got closer which caused it to shrink a bit and push away from me. “No no, I’m not here to hurt you…” I said to it as I kneeled down. I tried to be gentle and soft as I tried to coax it out of the bush, seeing it looking a little thin I reached back and pulled out… a cookie that Mama sent me every few months, this and a few dozen more after she learned Ruby’s addiction to cookies. “You hungry?” I asked the fox grimm which it saw the cookie and slowly crept closer to me and gave it a sniff. After a moment or two I felt it breath out, causing my fingers to go numb and having me drop the cookie to pull my hand back. I stared at my hand as my semblance kicked in and wamed my hand up, which was odd because it only did that if I was really cold. I looked back and saw the pup was eating the cookie, which now had… frost on it… a Grimm that can breath ice? Now this is interesting.

The Fox Grimm quickly finished the cookie and I pulled a few more out to lead it out of the bush. It took a while but finally I stood up with the babie Grimm Fox in my arms, eating more frosty cookies. “Ooo, you’re so adorable!” I cooed at the Grimm which looked up at me adorable. My smile turned to a sad frown. “But… where are your parents?” I asked and as if it understood me, it’s ears flattened and let out a sad whimper. “Oh… I’m sorry.” I said, trying to cheer the Fox up with a cookie. It nibbled on it, enjoying the treat before my ears twitched and I turned and saw Mavis using her scroll, texting as she walked. I stared at her for a few moments, seeing if something else would happen but nothing did. “Hey… you alright?” I asked her, getting her attention.

"Not really…" She answered before I noticed her looking a little green. "I've been watching this movie and well, ugh… Mortals have an odd sense of humor… disgusting." She added before tossing her scroll aside and adding. "Going to need a new scroll." She said, making it a note to herself.

“I’m… not going to ask.” I said as the baby Grimm now took notice of Mavis by wiggling a little bit to see her, which got Mavis’ attention.

"Daaw~ and who's this little cutie?" She asked, kneeling down to get a better look at it. The Fox Grimm looked at Mavis and sniffed the air a bit, almost like they were getting her scent. Mavis reached over to pet and when I was about to stop her, the little Grimm fox leaned its head into her hand.

“Guess you are good with animals…” I said softly to her as I thought of the many cookies I had to give just so the Grimm could come out of the bush.

"It's a perk of being me." Was all Mavis said of this before she gave the little fox plenty of love and affection. This made the Fox Grimm make some adorable sounds which I believed was them enjoying it. "Who's a little cutie? You are, girl, yes you are~" Mavis said to the fox before glancing up at me and gesturing with her eyes towards my side and when I turned to look, I saw a whole jar of cookies beside me. Not questioning why there’s a cookie jar beside me, I pulled it closer and pulled out a cookie to give to the Grimm as I explained the short interaction with the Fox Grimm. "That's so sad…" Mavis said… now in tears, okay what the hell is wrong with her? I didn't bother asking yet as this sadness got her to gently hug the fox grimm. "You poor little thing… so scared and alone." She cried out…. Hey wait a minute where the hell was that gentleness when I was getting my back snapped in two!?

Debating that my back was needed to be in two pieces aside, I looked down at the Grimm Fox who know wagging her tail as she was enjoying the hug. “What should we do?” I asked Mavis.

"I say we keep her, I couldn't bear leaving this little gal alone." Mavis said, peppering the little fox with kisses and I could see that she was enjoying this after who knows how long of being alone.

“I don’t see why not, she seemed to enjoy the attention.” I said with a laugh.

"Do you want to come with me? Does the little cutie want to come home with me?" Mavis asked the fox in a mushy tone, giving it kisses as well. The pup made a happy yipping sound which I took it as a yes and the two of us smiled at one another. "Oooh~ you're so cute~" Giggled Mavis before she began to float off the ground with the fox in her arms. I chuckled at the sight of this before standing up while holding the jar of cookies.

“Alright, so now what?” I asked out loud only to be met with more giggles as Mavis was still being mushy with the baby fox. “Right, hmmm…” I said to myself. My answer came with a loud booming sound like thunder. I saw the Fox Grimm’s hairs stand on end, tail poofy, before jumping off of Mavis and hiding in a bush. “Yeah I know the feeling…” I said as I felt my own tail go poofy as Mavis floated down to the bush. I was going to ask what’s up when a large shadow came over us. We both looked up to see what possible is the largest Nevermore I have ever seen, it was Twice the size of a normal on. The two of us stared at it as it flew overhead, flashes of light came off of it as it did as more thunder was heard. “The hells was that?!” I yelled in shock, trying to get a better look of the Large Grimm.

"You go look, I'll be over here." Mavis said before me up onto a branch where I began to quickly ascend the rooftop of leaves before popping my head out and seeing a large, yellow colored and sparking Nevermore fly over the forest while lightning crashed onto its body but instead of hurting it, it charged it…. Cooool~ It let out a screeching sound as it flew off towards some mountains, some of the lightning that was coursing through it shot down to the ground.

“First a Fox Grimm that breaths frost, and now a Nevermore shooting lightning.” I said to myself as I watched it fly off. As the Nevermore flew off and I watched it go, my ears twitched as I heard what sounded like distant shouts, angry ones at that and me being me, I got curious. I went down to the ground, on the other side of the tree, and headed off towards the shouting.

Doing so rewards me with a couple scrapes on my legs thanks to some thorny plants but when I saw the source of the shouting, oh boy did I do a double take. Bipedal pony people… yeah, not something I thought I'd ever be seeing or thinking. The two… pony people… were odd looking, one of them was a green colour with purple… hair? Mane? And had wings on his back, the other what white coloured and had an orange… mane, I think it’s mane, and as he turned his head I saw a horn. A walking Pegasus and Unicorn, I really stepped into a story book.

“Damn it, this one sure is slippery. Hope the owner pays us good.” And storybook feeling is done as I looked past them and saw a Faunus, panting and looking scraped up worse than ever. They looked scared from the looks of it. The Faunis had white skin which was thin looking, don't know if it was due to being malnourished or they were just really thin. They had what looks like shoulder length hair and bat ears on top of their head and their eyes were frayed over. The clothing they wore was ragged and torn looking.

They looked afraid for their life and did their best to keep quiet and be hidden. Were they… were they looking for that faunus?

"Celestia damn it, where did it go!" One of the Ponies yelled in frustration.

"How hard is it to find one stupid Faunus!" The other one yelled as he pushed back some bushes, this one being the Unicorn. "The owner better pay us double to find it."

"I know, and if we do find it, I think we deserved some payback. I got a lot of frustration to let out." The Pegasus said as he turned to his partner.

"Didn't think you swing that way mate." The Unicorn said which caused the Faunus to go a bit green from what they were implying… I don't blame them, I was getting sick at it too. Though in the faunus' horror, a twig snapped and alerted the two towards the faunus as the latter tried their best to move away unseen but ended up against a boulder before the two saw them. "Ha! There you are!!" The Unicorn yelled as his horn glowed green and the Faunus' body had the same glow as their body seemed to lock up.

"Gave us quite a hard time, but now we got you." The Pegasus growled at them.

"P-please… let me go~" The faunus said, their voice sounding feminine, so were they a she? The two bipedal ponies only chuckled at the words..

"You hear that? The bitch wants us to let it go." The Unicorn laughed as well as the Pegasus.

"Yeah, but after what you put us through, we are going to relieve ourselves of anger and frustration." The Pegasus said as the two got closer. They began to work their pants and- oh gods…

As quickly as I realized the situation, I felt a hand tap my shoulder before I looked over and saw Mavis and the little fox grimm. Mavis handed me a blow pipe and simply gestured at one of the two ponies before she counted down from three. When she hit zero, we both blew out a dart that struck the two and surprised them but before they could fully process what had occured, they fell onto the forest floor with their pants between their ankles, leaving the Faunus mortified.

"O-oh gods no…" She said in horror as she backed away from the two, hitting her back against a tree. The two of us walked over to the two and looked down at them.

"Ponies… they are Ponies...just… my poor childhood." I said to Mavis as the faunus looked ready to cry.

"Now is not the best time to lament your childhood." Mavis said to me with a frown before she made her way over to the faunus. I looked over and walked over as well.

"Hey, everything is alright now." I said to her as her eyes were darting around.

"Who's there? Please don't hurt me!" She yelled in panic, despite facing me full on… was she blind? That would explain the eyes. I looked over at Mavis for a moment then back at her.

"We're not going to hurt you, I promise. The ones that were are taking a dirt nap… and will have some broken bones soon." I said, imagining myself kicking the Ponies. My poor poor childhood~

"What my partner is trying to say is that you're now out of harm's way." Mavis said, frowning at me as she did before placing a hand on the faunus' shoulder. "Are you alright? Are you hurt in anyway?" She then asked, to which the woman held her arm a bit, a nasty cut on it before Mavis nodded and began to heal it with a wave of her hand, which surprised the faunus woman.

"T-thank you… thank you…" She said, holding onto her knees and letting loose some held back tears. Mavis and I waited for her to calm down while tying up the two shit heads. By the time the woman calmed down, Mavis spoke.

"I am guessing that you… you were slave. The rags, those ponies, all clues to your origins." She said to the woman which made her shake her head and cry out.

"Please… please don't take me back… I don't want to go back." She cried out before Mavis shook her head.

"We weren't planning too." Mavis said to the woman as she helped her up and added. "We'll be taking you to someplace safe. You need worry anymore." She said to the woman. The Faunus woman stared towards where Mavis was with red eyes as I gave her a smile.

"What's your name?" I asked her, getting the Faunus to look over at me.

"T-Tak… my name is Tak…" She said to me, which was… odd. Didn't sound like a girls name… is it a girls name?

“Nice to meet you, names Viri.” I said with a smile on my face before adding. “And the other woman is named Mavis. We’re… cousins.” I explained to her, which got a nod from Tak before we eventually arrived back at the Bullhead, the skies above getting dark just before entering. We let Tak sit down on one of the seats. While Tak kept to herself, Mavis took me out of the bullhead and began to whisper.

"Here the essentials, this world has faunus remarkably like Remnant but they aren't treated equally. They are treated as animals or property. Tak is a runaway slave and before you think about, Tak is a he. Trust me I know these things." She said to me, going off on a barrage of information. After a minute or two of processing everything I stared at Mavis with a look of disgust over how Faunus are treated and… well mostly that.

“What? How… that’s awful!” I said in a whisper which was kinda hard at the moment.

"Yes yes how awful but you cannot judge the way of life in this world… yet." She said and when I was about to rebuke her I stopped when I realized the last bit of her words. "Don't dwell it, let's just go home." She said to me before she took me back into the Bullhead, where the small fox and Tak waited in silence… which when I processed the other bit of information, Tak is guy!? Seriously? I can't… I don't know how to tell. Mavis went over and picked up the little fox and laid the fox atop her lap after sitting down.

As I sat down the doors to the Bullhead closed, scaring Tak from the sound alone and it soon took off, scaring her- Him, again. I put a hand on his shoulder and said.

“Don’t worry, we just took off… and that maybe weird to hear but we’re safe now.” I said to Tak with a soothing tone. He didn't say anything and simply hugged his knees, I guess he was still pretty shaken up. I don't blame her- Him! Fuck!

The ride was… quiet relatively speaking, we managed to go through the whole veil between world thing Mavis spoke of, luckily those things were nowhere near as it was quiet and the ride was fast, soon we touched down and me being me, I expected to be back in Beacon. When the doors opened however, I turned to see...my aunt walking on in.

“Well that was fast. I honestly expected you two to be gone for… well, a few days.” Auntie Axycia said before looking at all of us, mostly at Tak and the Fox Grimm.

"Change of plans like I said." Mavis said to her simply, getting a nod from Auntie. Tak has still yet to utter a single word or noise, the only thing letting me know that he was still alive even was his shaky breathing. Auntie looked over to her- him damn it, and then walked over to kneel down.

“Hello there, my name is Axycia Mal Kun. I heard your life was… difficult.” Auntie said in a tone that she was caring for the young Faunus. Tak kept up his silence but hugged his knees tighter but the silence was soon broken when Tak spoke.

"I don't want to go back…" Even with his words being but a whisper, everyone heard it clearly.

"I promise you, Tak. That is the last thing we'd ever think of doing." Mavis said before looking over to Axycia. "You know what to do, sister." She said to Axycia with a nod.

“I’ll get on that right away, no I already did that yesterday.” She said and I gave the two of them an odd look before Auntie turned back to Tak. “Tak, you must be exhausted. I think a bath, clean clothes, and good food is what you need right now.”

"A… a bath?" Tak asked just above a whisper as Axycia took his hand and while nervous, Tak followed auntie as she guided him off the bullhead. When they were off she looked back at us.

“Do enjoy rest of your day.” She said with a smile on her face before she took Tak off. I looked over at Mavis who was still petting the fox Grimm.

“So… what now?” I asked her as she looked up at me with a smile.

"We head home, and do try not to dwell on the world we went to. Now is not the time to do so, you have a test tomorrow." She said to me before snapping her fingers and bringing us back to our dorm room, where luckily Amaram and Umbra were out and about. The little Grimm seemed to be a little disoriented when noticing the quickly changing scenery. If it wasn’t for Mavis, she would’ve fell down. She did let a little whimper which got Mavis’ attention. "Oh~ I'm sorry cutie, I'll warn you the next time that happens." She said before making a cookie appear for it and the little grimm fox saw this after shaking her head from the disorientation.

“So… came up with a name for her?” I asked Mavis as I went to pull out some text books to do some last minute studying.

"Sylph! Cause it sounds super cute." Mavis answered, surprising me that she has already thought of a name and from the looks of it, the Fox Grimm like the name as well as her tail was wagging. The rest of the day, Mavis was cuddling and being mushy with Sylph as I studied.

Ch.12

View Online

A month has passed since Mavis and I were sent to a new world and saving Tak. My mind has been stuck on that world ever since we came back, Grimm that look different and able to do things that they never did before and Pony people were some thoughts I’ve been thinking about. New doodles now join some old ones in my notebooks as my thoughts

Moving on to something else, the Tournament that has been pushed back and what not has now begun and the whole school is excited about it. Team RWBY has entered the Tournament with a few other teams while my team didn’t. Amaran and Umbra didn’t want to and Mavis was… Mavis.

During one of the days we had free due to the Tournament, I was asked by my Aunt if I could show Tak around the school… which I wanted to ask how since he’s blind but I did.

“So over here is Professor Ooblecks classroom, who I honestly think he drinks like… a gallon of coffee each day.” I told Tak as we walked by the caffeinated Professors Classroom, whom I believe is being one of the announcers in the tournament.

"That doesn't sound healthy…" Tak said in a quiet and shy tone, it was cute really. I looked over at him as he was following me behind. Even if I know Tak is a boy, not a girl, it’s really hard not to see him like that, as of right now as Tak was walking around in a yellow sundress with violet lines on it. It looked really pretty and fancy, making me think that my Aunt got him that… actually from what I heard Aunt Axycia has been treating Tak nicely.

“Yeah, but he seems to handle it,” I told Tak with a little laugh before the two of continuing down the hall. Some points Tak would raise a hand and feel the walls as we walk, making a mental map of the place is what Tak said to me. “So… how have you been… since coming here from your home.” I asked him. His mood took a sadder turn before he spoke.

"I… have these nightmares… nightmares of me being back there again, forced to… to…" He didn't get to finish his words as I was quick to change the sensitive subject, while mentally slapping myself.

“Uhh… that’s a nice dress you have! Yes… nice.” I said to him with a nervous smile on my face. “Did you just got it recently?” This seems to work thankfully as he soon nodded to my question.

"Um yes… Axycia bought it for me just yesterday." He said to me, to which I still found odd. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy Auntie is helping out Tak but… I don't know, it's just odd to know that she is being super friendly.

“And… how has Axycia been treating you?” I asked Tak which he arched a brow. “Call it me being curious about my aunt.”

"She's… kind, caring, thoughtful… she's like the mother I've never had." He answered with a smile, his praises towards Auntie sounding genuine. I smiled at this before pulling back to beside him.

“That’s good, and hey I always wanted a cousin,” I said with a big smile on my face. He smiled at this as well before I held his hand and guided his way down the halls, which did get some stares though not towards me, however. Everyone was staring at the feminine Bat Faunus that I was showing the place around. Some guys stared at us walk past, a little blush on their faces. As we were walking we ran into someone who I didn’t want to meet: Cardin.

“Oh, it’s you.” He said to me with a frown. Ever since Mavis kicked his ass, Cardin has some beef with her and the others in my team.

“Hi, Cardin.” I greeted him with a frown. He shook his head before seeing Tak.

“Who this?” He asked as he looked at Tak. He arched a brow at him before smiling. “She looks cute.” This got a squeak from Tak and blush as well before he managed to say.

"T-thank you…" Tak said, thanking him for the compliment in a quiet tone. I arched a brow at Cardin as he walked a little closer.

“What are you doing here? Taking a tour of the school?” He asked Tak, completely ignoring me. Tak nodded with a nervous hum before saying.

"Y-yes, Viri has been giving me a lovely t-tour," Tak said with a little stutter to his words.

“And we’re still on it Cardin, so if you don’t mind if-” I was soon cut off as Cardin moved in front of me of Tak.

“ Hey, how about I take over on this tour, give you a more… an in-depth tour of our school.” He said it as a flirt but I took it more creepy if anything.

"U-um, I'm fine with Viri but… thank you." He said to Cardin, rejecting the advances lightly. I frowned at this, seeing Tak so uncomfortable like this. Unfortally, Cardin continues on his advances.

“Come on, you would have a better time with me than… her.” He said with made me frown as I put my hand on his shoulder.

“Cardin, Tak said no,” I said to him which he shrugged my handoff. Tak shifted in place, looking almost ready to panic but keeping his calm well enough… for the most part at least until Cardin placed a hand on Tak's shoulder, which got a squeak from Tak.

“Hey!” a voice called out which Cardin and I turned to see Weiss there looking at us with a frown. “What you think you're doing?”

“What’s it to you? Just going to show this lady around.” Cardin explained to Weiss as she came up to us.

“Well from what I saw, you look like a creep.” Weiss pointed out. “And let me remind you that there are students from all four Academies here. What would you think will happen when word goes around that you’re some creep?”

Cardin didn’t say anything after this and frowned before quickly walking away in a huff. I went over to Tak to see if he’s alright. He was shaking and his breath was too but other than that he was alright as a while he heard Cardin walk away, he took a few deep calming breaths.

“You okay?” Weiss asked as she came over to us.

“Somewhat, thanks, Weiss,” I answered her before looking at her with a small smile.

“That’s good to hear, what about you…” She asked, glancing at me as Weiss was talking to Tak.

“Tak,” I informed her of Tak’s name which he now realized that he was being talked to.

"Oh u-um… Hi." He greeted Weiss with a nervous smile and a small wave of his hand. Weiss smiled at him.

“Hi, my name is Weiss Schnee.” Weiss greeted Tak with a smile. “Are you taking a tour to attend Beacon?” She asked him.

"I'm… I'm not sure about that b-but I am interested in the academy itself." Tak said to Weiss with a little smile which was a relieving sight to see.

“Well, if you do come, it would be nice to see you in the halls Tak,” Weiss said with a warm smile.

“Wah, Weiss Schnee being a kind and warm person? Shocking!” I said with a little laugh as Weiss frowned at me. I gave her a cheerful smile before she said her goodbyes and leaving Tak and me alone. I looked over and saw Tak frowning a little, possibly to me. “Oh, I’m just kidding around. Everyone here in school sometimes calls her ‘Ice Queen’ for a reason or another.” I explained.

"She sounded nice and sweet to me…" Tak muttered to which I couldn't help but agree oddly enough, I even tried to say the many things that make Weiss the opposite… but decided against it, I kinda want to see if Weiss would do a one-eighty or something. Blame my curiosity.

As we continue on the tour, we soon met up with the other two of Team RWBY; Ruby and Yang. They were walking towards us chatting and Yang was carrying… a punching bag?

“Oh hey!” Ruby called out happily and Yang smiled as Tak and I came closer.

“Hey Viri, who’s your friend?” Yang asked as she looked at Tak. I looked back at him and introduced him to my two friends.

“Tak, this is Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long. Ruby and Yang, this is Tak.” I said to the three. Tak smiled nervously and waved at their direction.

"H-hi." He greeted the two with his quiet and nervous tone.

“You okay?” Yang asked me. Tak looked around nervously as I just smiled.

“It’s fine, he’s just nervose with everything,” I told them. Everything went silent for a good three to five seconds before Ruby spoke.

“Viri… did you say… He?” Ruby asked as both she and Yang looked at Tak.

“Yeah… oh right.” I said, realizing that unless told, Tak looks like a girl. “Tak here is a guy,” I informed them as both their jaws dropped.

"U-um…" I heard Tak mutter as he tugged on his dress a bit while the two were quiet… he must've thought they were judging him.

“Wow… uhh… this is a first…” Yang said finally.

“Well… you remember that time with Uncle Qrow? You know, with the skirt?” Ruby pointed out… wait what? What this about an Uncle and a skirt. This caused Yang to short a bit.

“Oh Oum, that was funny.” Yang chuckled before clearing her throat a bit. “Right, so uh, sorry Tak. It was quite a surprise to see and hear that… uh…” Yang seemed to be stumbling with her words to not sound rude to Tak. Ruby decided to jump in to change the subject.

“You have a lovely dress! Where did you get it?” Ruby asked with a smile which Yang looked at her oddly.

"U-um… it was gifted to me." Tak said quietly, unsure how to react to the two's earlier laugh.

“Well, it looks lovely on you! Right, Yang?” Ruby asked Yang who was a little slow at this before Ruby elbowed her side.

“Uh, yeah… it looks really lovely on you Tak.” Yang said with a smile. I looked at the two of them before finally getting to the one thing with Yang; the punching bag.

“So… what’s with the punching bag?” I asked the two of them which Yang blinks at me before shifting a bit.

“It’s… a gift for my dad.” Yang said simply.

“Oh… but, why a punching bag?” I asked her as Yang looked back at it.

“It’s better than a coffee mug, or so I have been told,” Yang answered me to which I arched a brow at, thinking Mavis had something to do with this while Tak stayed quiet, which the other two seemed to notice.

“Uhh, we’re not making you uncomfortable are we Tak?” Ruby asked with a worried tone.

“Yeah uhh… sorry.” Yang followed up on saying. Tak smiled a little, making look cute with the smile before he said.

"I-it's okay… I'm just… I'm not that well with meeting new people." Tak said with a nervous smile and shifting a bit.

“That’s understandable,” Ruby said with a smile before saying. “But hey, it’s nice to meet you, and now you have some more friends!” This caused Yang to smile as well. Tak blushed at this and bowed his head a bit in thanks.

"Thank you…" He said in a hushed tone to which they both smiled back. The two of them smiled before they headed off, leaving me with Tak again.

“Those two are nice, and uh… sorry for putting you on the spot.” I said to Tak, feeling bad for what I kinda did.

"It's alright… I should get used to it at one point or another…" He said to me with a little smile as we began walking. I wanted to end the little tour with some lunch.

As we went to get some food I leaned into Tak a bit to whisper. “Hey, what kind of food do you like to eat?... and do you need help eating?” I asked him.

"I can eat on my own," Tak said with a little frown as we walked by more students who went about to their classes.

“Sorry, had to ask because…” I stopped as I felt like I was making it worse. “Never mind.” As we walked, we were quiet as there wasn't much to talk about between us. I mean, Tak is a nice guy but I still don't know much about him yet and I'm worried that I might push the wrong buttons by asking the wrong questions.

Maybe if I keep things away from his homeworld is good… “So… what do you do with your free time when you’re at my aunt's place,” I asked Tak.

"Well… Axycia likes to help me learn more about… the way I see things in life." He said to me, gesturing down to his bare feet. "She also spent some time teaching about Remnant." He added. I smiled a little at this, hearing this from Tak as I saw a smile forms on his face.

“That’s nice to hear,” I said to him before rubbing my neck and adding. “Truth be told, I haven’t heard my Aunt do stuff like that since I was very young when she did some things for me,” I added while Tak and I walked out into the courtyard for a simple shortcut through to the cafeteria.

"Like I said… she's like the mother I never had." He said to me with a little smile before it vanished and he muttered. "And the mother I always wanted…"

I looked at Tak sadly as I heard that before reaching over and giving Tak a one-arm hug which surprised him. “If you let it, Axycia would love it if you treat her like a mom,” I said to him, going off a hunch I have. He nodded at this before arrived at the cafeteria, where many others were already seated with their lunch trays and a small line. “So… you want to stay with me as we pick some food out or should I have you sit at a table?” I asked Tak, wanting what he wants to do.

"I'll wait by the table." He said to me with a smile before I guided him to an empty table and helped him sit down to which he thanked me for before I went to get some food. After waiting in line for close to five whole minutes, I finally got two trays of food and headed back to the table which I was quick to see Tak being talked to by some guys. From the looks of it, Tak was blushing badly. I frowned a bit as I made my way over to the table.

“You guys beat it, don’t you see you’re making my friend uncomfortable,” I said to the guys who looked at me with a frown. I arched a brow at them before they all walked off as I set the tray down and pushed Tak his. “You okay there Tak?” I asked him, a little worried about him now.

"Y-Yeah… I'm just not the one for attention." Tak said before reaching for the fork and taking a bite out of his food. I nodded at this as the two of us ate our food and chatted about random stuff, just to move things along. When we finished up our food we put our trays away and headed off to finish up the tour.

When that was done, we saw ourselves outside walking in the courtyard where I saw a Bullhead with Aunties company logo on it and Aunty as well. She seemed to be waiting before looking over and seeing us. With a smile, she came walking up to us.

“Hello you two, have a good day?” Aunty asked us which we nodded. Aunty smiled before looking at Tak. “Tak, did you have fun on the tour? No one bothered you?” She asked in a way that if Tak did say anything, Aunty will make that person's life a living hell.

"W-well… there was this one guy…" Tak said quietly, no doubt referring to Cardin before I stepped in for further details.

“There was this one guy that was a little pushy but that’s because he saw Tak as a cute girl, my friend Weiss came and got him to back off,” I explained before I notice Aunty having a look of silent anger cross her face.

“I see… tell me, what’s this young man’s name?” She asked sweetly but I felt a sense of dread coming off of her. This made me lean in closer to Tak.

“If you tell her his name, his life is going to go through hell,” I whispered to Tak.

"I-I don't know… he never really said." Tak said to Aunty, despite knowing Cardin by name already. Auntie nodded at this before letting out some held breath. "Other than that, it was fun," Tak added with a smile.

“That’s good to hear!” Aunty said happily, that sense of dread now gone as she smiled brightly. “Now if you want, you can stick around a little longer, or you can come with me back home. I have a few things to deal with but I’ll have some food made as we get there.” She told Tak.

"Okay, mom," Tak said with a smile. There was a brief silence as both auntie and I stared at Tak after he said this.

“M-Mom?” Auntie asked in shock at what Tak said to her.

"D-did I screwed up?" Tak then asked us, no doubt feeling the stares aimed at him and it only served to make him nervous. Axycia simply stared at Tak for a few more moments before pulling out her scroll and pressed something on it.

“... Hello? Hi, push all my appointments and calls to tomorrow… or the day after tomorrow.” She said in her scroll before arching a brow. “Why? Because my child has free time and I’m going to treat them greatly that's why.” Tak smiled happily at this, the biggest smile I've seen from him yet. Soon I watched the two of them walked off towards the bullhead, Tak walking beside my aunt before he went and gave Axycia a hug which she was happy to return.

I smiled and soon watched as their bullhead took off… Awesome! I got a cousin, score! With a smile and a pep in my step, I headed back to my dorm, wanting to watch the new review from Indigo he posted an hour ago.

Later

I was laying my bed with my scroll out, watching some videos as Mavis was floating overhead, being mushy with Sylph in her arms. The latter having been cared for and groomed by Mavis and by the looks of it, the fox grimm is having the time of her life with Mavis.

"Who's a little cutie~? Who's a little cookie loving cutie?" Mavis asked Sylph as I rolled my eyes. Sylph made some happy sounds from all the attention she was getting as I finished up the video I was watching.

“I’m still wondering where you found such a creature,” Amaran said as she was on her bed with a book in hand and Umbra on her bed, listening to some music. “She looks like a Grimm but, not one I’ve ever seen before.”

"Well she's special, like Oni but cuter!" Mavis exclaimed as she hugged the little fox. The mention of Oni caused me to look down at Amber, who laid beside my bed, still pregnant with puppies. Amaran chuckled a bit as she went back to reading, I smiled as I scrolled through the video list before seeing a message popped up from Auntie. I arched a brow at this before opening it and giving it a read. I stared at the message before looking up at Mavis.

“Hey Mavis, can you come to see this?” I asked her, getting Mavis’ attention from Sylph.

"Hmm? What is it?" She asked, hovering over to me with Sylph hugged close to her. As she got close enough I showed her the message.

“Seems that Aunty got informed about some kind of find and wants us to check it out,” I explained to Mavis as she reads the message.

"Oh! It says here it's just off the coast of Vale on one of the nearby islands." Mavis informed us all on its location. Huh, I wonder what Auntie found as last I checked, the islands in questions were apart of the Great Invasion by Mystral, which makes me wonder how they could have missed something like that if they scoured the islands like the old reports say. Methinks it be the case of the lazies!... Or something.

Amber saw my expression shifting face and snorted, finding it amusing before letting out a yawn as I gave her a little glare… before scratching her behind the ears. I can never stay mad at her.

"So, what should we do, oh great leader of the team," I asked Mavis who floated back upwards.

"Should we go check it out?" Asked Mavis to everyone else while cuddling with Sylph. The other two looked up, even getting Umbra to pull out her headphones so she could hear the explanation from Mavis.

"Is this going to be the same thing like Yharnam?" Amaran asked, sounding a little nervous about this.

"Not that I read. It looks like we just go into some ruins." I explained. Amaran let out a sigh from this as Umbra spoke.

"Don't see why not. It be neat." Umbra said with a smile and shrug.

"And what about you?" Mavis asked Amaran with an arched brow. Amaran blinked at this before giving her answer.

"Sure, like Umbra said it'll be neat," Amaran answered with a kind smile. With a shrug, Mavis spoke.

"Then it's settled." She said before going over to her dresser and stripping there and then to get dressed in her usual outing gear. The rest of us did the same as we got out of our relaxed clothing.

"Do we need our full Huntress gear?" Umbra asked all of us.

"I don't know," Mavis answered plainly with a shrug, finishing up herself while Sylph nibbled on a cookie. "Maybe, maybe not. Who knows." She added with another shrug.

After a few minutes later we were all ready to go, Umbra was wearing a different outfit than the last one, she was wearing a dark leather jacket with a black undershirt and some pants with many pouches.

"Does this look good? I didn't think my normal armour would be useful." Umbra said.

"Really?" I asked Umbra which made her look at me for a moment before saying.

"No, it's just a bitch to put on," Umbra informed me while Mavis was busy bidding farewell to Sylph.

"I know how much you want me to stay but I have to do this," Mavis said to Sylph, who let out little whimpers at her before Mavis hugged Sylph. "You're only making this so much harder for me~," Mavis said, bursting into a waterfall of tears.

As this was going on I kneeled to Amber who raised her head up. "I'll be back Amber," I said to her which she snorted and gave me a lick. Her tongue flickered with flames which made me giggle. As I stood up Mavis put Sylph down on my bed and we all headed out. There were some more whimpers from Sylph before the door closes, Mavis was still crying.

"I miss her already~" She cried out dramatically while me and the others looked at one another.

"It'll be just a few hours, don't worry," Amaran said in her motherly tone and a kind smile.

"That's a few hours too long!" Mavis exclaimed before crossing her arms with a pout and walking ahead of us.

We headed outside and saw a Bullhead waiting for us with the Mal Kun logo on it. We climbed aboard which we saw that it had some other things in it, such as some bags of dried fruit and bottles of water. I picked one of the bags of fruit up to look at them.

"Rose would like this," I said to myself with a smile. I looked over at Mavis, seeing her by the window seat and looking out of it in silence. I frowned a little as I pocketed the fruit and sat down with her as the doors closed up and the Bullhead took off.

As we rode the other two were chatting with each other until Amaran spoke up. "Hey… does anyone feel… cold?" We all looked at her before realizing that it was colder. At first, we thought it was the AC in the Bullhead, which I wondered if Bullhead get AC, until I noticed a familiar white tail sticking out under the seats.

"Uhhh…" was all I said until Mavis looked at where I was looking at.

"Sylph?" Mavis said in confusion before waving her hand, causing the fox grimm to be pulled out from under the seats and into the air, where we all saw her holding a butter knife between her teeth.

"How did she get out of the room?" Umbra asked out loud as Sylph hopped over to Mavis lap. Amaran and simply stared at the frost Grimm as she sat on Mavis' lap.

"And… why does she have a butter knife in her mouth?" Amaran added. That was a good point, why does Sylph have a butter knife?

"Oh she just wants to join mama in her mission, don't you little cutie~!" Mavis was quick to say, snuggling Sylph in her arms with a big smile.

The rest of us looked at one another before Umbra shrugged and put on her headphones and listened to her music while Amaran was busy keeping herself calm as the Bullhead flew towards our destination.

After what felt like an hour we soon landed on the ground and the doors opened up to let us out. Once we did we got a good look around. There wasn’t much to look at, a small forest nearby, some dilapidated buildings and what looked like a ruined castle.

“Well, this place looks lovely,” Amaran said and she was right, it did look lovely, kinda like those images of rolling green hills with the sea in the background. Mavis floated beside us, holding Sylph in her arms as she saw the scenery.

"Hmm… one would think this would've turned into some tourist attraction by now." Mavis said out loud before Umbra walked up. She looked around at the place for a bit, her eyes looking a little more blue than normal.

“I don’t see one or thing on here...hmm.” She said as she thought about it. “Not… much to see here other than the ruins.”

“Yeah… I guess the historic tourist attractions.” I added on before looking around some more. “But, this place has been here for a while, why didn’t anyone come here beforehand?”

"There have been a few, though that was during Wartime." Mavis said to me as floated on ahead. The rest of us looked at one another before following behind.

“Hey Umbra, do you have really good eyesight?” Amaran asked her as she looked around. “I can’t see as well as you can.”

“Uhh… yeah… I have really good eyesight.” Umbra said simply. I arched a brow at her, feeling that she’s hiding something. I took out my scroll at the feeling of it vibrate before I saw that Auntie had sent a message detailing of the find, which came as no surprise when I saw that it was the only standing building here, that being the castle looking place where we soon found ourselves in front of. The large doors looked… worse for wear, scratches and chunks torn off not to mention the rusted metal and the foliage that covered it. Amaran had to push the doors as hard as she could for it just for it to budge.

"You've been slacking on your training," Mavis said to Amaran simply, hovering above her head.

“It’s… heavier… then it looks!” Amaran grunted before opening the door wide enough for all of us to walk through.

"It would've been easier if you followed the training program~," Mavis said in a sing-song tone.

“Yeah… but I like having my arms feeling normal, not jelly.” Amaran said to Mavis, the latter simply rolled her eyes and floated in. As we all headed inside we all looked around and saw a large number of suits of armour, not the normal ones we see on tv, I mean medieval knight armour.

“Oh Oum… please tell me they aren’t going to get up and attack us?” Amaran asked in a worried tone as I went over and move the helmet off… which detached and rolled away. I looked in and saw that there were only dust and old bones.

“Only bones, so I doubt it.” I said to her which Amaran wasn’t convinced.

“What if they rise up into skeleton knights or something?” Amaran asked more worried, this got Umbra to frown.

“How can you believe in that, that’s High Fantasy stuff, like that old gamebook you had.” Umbra said with a frown.

“Hey, my little brothers love that game, and that also brings up the question on why were you reading it that one time?” Amaran asked Umbra and the two continued talking as I went over to Mavis as she set Sylph down which made her sniff the helmet that rolled off.

“So, what your thoughts on this?” I asked her. Upon hearing this, Mavis hummed at this.

"Well… this looks familiar, that's for sure." Mavis whispered to me, sounding as if she is forgetting something. "I can't seem to recall… I'll figure it out eventually." She said. I looked at her with an arched brow before the four of us headed on deeper into the ruins. As we walked I put up my scroll and started to record everything we see.

While we walked, I began to see more suits of armor, though a lot of them were looking a bit different than the others. “I guess they were attacked.” I said out loud.

“More like sieged.” Umbra said to me. “Some of the stuff outside looked like old siege machines, and the placement of the bodies look more like a fight that was pushing in one way.” As she said this she gestured to a few suits of armor to the others. “See, the further we go, the more of the other suits of armor we find.”

"Seems to be the case." Mavis muttered, Sylph in her arms as the fox watched the littered halls. Amaran was still jumpy. We continue on before finally we came to a large set of doors that were still sealed shut. The two guards that I guessed were meant to be here are on the ground and had large spears through them, but from the looks of it the raiders didn’t get the door opened.

“Looks like door number one is important.” I said out loud.

"It's on the tip of my tongue…" I heard Mavis mutter on behind me before Amaran felt the door and despite the aged wood and rusted metal, she was shocked.

“Oh my… these doors are… wow.” Amaran said in shock. “Even with all the damage of anything that was here, even time itself, these doors withstanded all of it!”

"Impressive." Mavis said, taking a moment out from her thoughts before Amaran grunted and pushed, trying to get the doors open but to no avail, not a single inch. "Oh dear that's not good." Mavis said at this sight.

“Ugh… it’s like… trying to move a mountain!” Amaran grunted before she fell onto the ground. “I can’t make it budge.”

"Perhaps because you weren't meant to." Mavis said, gaining the attention of both Umbra and Amaran while I walked up to the door and looked at it. "If it stood the test of war and time, to expect for such a thing to budge is… well kinda dumb, you'd need a key or maybe there's some sort of switch." I heard Mavis said to the other two. Umbra and Amaran looked at one another before they each went over to the guards, looking them over to find a key or something to open the door. I looked around at the door, looking for a switch or something.

“Hey Mavis, can you see any buttons or switches up above?” I asked her, since she could float higher.

"No." She was quick to answer this, not even taking the time to float up to check. I frowned at this as I didn’t actually know if she did this due to being lazy or not. I looked back at the door and got a closer look.

“Maybe if I dust some of it off, I could find- ah!” I yelped as the door started to glow, catching the attention of the other three. The doors glowed for a few moments until they're was some loud clicking sounds and the doors finally opened. We all stared at it before Amaran and Umbra turned to look at me. "I-I don't know why it opened!" I yelled. This only served to make Mavis laugh a little before she walked ahead of us with Sylph.

"Well let's go see what's beyond this door." She said simply, getting yip from Sylph. The rest of us looked at one another before following in behind her. Unlike the other rooms, this one was left untouched by any battle from the outside, torches ignited along the walls, showing different tapestries. The three of us continued on looking around in awe at what we see.

"Hmm…" I heard Mavis hummed quietly before I noticed one tapestry that really caught my eye. It showed two beings, one that was a white colour and the other a dark colour handing something to six kneeling knights. For some reason I feel like I recognize the two beings in the tapestry, but the details are very vague.

"Oh~" I heard Mavis have a sudden realization, albeit a quiet one while I was confused at this. "Oh boy, this isn't… oh no." She added in mutters before noticed six thrones all lined up in a circle, five out of six of them had their respective knights slumped and long since passed except for one, which happened to be holding some form device or relic of sorts.

We all looked over to the one with the relic and stared at it. "That… it looked like one of those dice in board games." Umbra said out loud.

"It a D20." Amaran corrected her which got some odd looks from us. "I'm from a big family, some of my siblings play a lot of games."

I shrugged at this as I looked at the other five knights. "Did they… lock themselves in here?" I questioned.

"It appears to be the case." Mavis chimed in, walking up to me while Sylph watched cutely within her arms. "Seems as if they chose this fate themselves." She added.

I didn't say anything as I looked at the six figures, then at the door. They all sat there for who knows how long and died in this room.

"Hey… you guys think this a little odd?" Umbra said which got everyone's attention. "The other five died from old age or hunger, or thirst… but this one looked odd." She said, pointing at the one with the relic. Now that she pointed it out, the one holding the relic is sitting upright instead of slouched over. I looked at the figure and stared at them.

"What makes you special?" I asked the figure in question. It didn't seem all the special besides the seated positioned and the object in hand. The same rusted metal armor as the other five. That's when I noticed something odd, unlike the others, this one had their gauntlets off and… well it wasn't bones that held the object… it was stony hands.

“I’m no expert but… that’s not normal…”Amaran said as she pointed the stony hands. I arched a brow as we looked down at the stone dice.

“Mavis… any thoughts on this?” I asked Mavis just to see her staring at the figure with wide eyes. “Uhhh, you okay?” I asked her.

"Oh nothing… umm… have you tried taking the thing in their hands?" Mavis asked me before adding in a whisper. "Whatever you do don't get tempted." She whispered to me. I arched a brow before walking forward and looking down at the relic. After a few moments of staring at it, I reached down and picked the relic up like Mavis said. Uncenermonicly I picked it up… simply.

“That… wasn’t so hard.” I said to everyone.

'Use it… the relic of desire will grant any wish…' Some creepy echoey voices spoke out to me. I looked around at the place.

“The heck? Did anyone hear that?” I asked the others. Oddly no one answered me… what?

'Use-' Was all I heard before Mavis snatched the thing and frowned at it before looking at me.

"Sorry bout that, I'll tell you later." She said to me in a whisper before she spoke up. "Now then, anything else of inter… est?" Mavis said as something caused her to trail off. We all looked over and saw the stone body slowly started changing. We all stared at the figure as they turned from Stone to flesh.

"Ugh. .. Fos. .. Kolos Zu'u?" A voice spoke out, definitely not Amaran or Umbra. We all looked at each other and then at the knight who was now… moving.

“Uhh… what should we do?!” Amaran asked with a worried tone.

“I don’t know! I didn’t know this sort of thing happens?!” Umbra said in shock as we all backed away. The once stone encased knight stood up, holding her helmet covered head in disorientation while also muttering some weird stuff.

"Faal Tholaar... Kolos…" They muttered though judging from the sound of their voice this was a woman… I think. As they looked around, I could practically sense the sadness from them. "Zeymah... Briinah… Zu'u fend lost saluk asamit voth hi pah." They uttered in sadness.

“Does… does anyone understand what she’s saying?” I whispered to the others, seeing their heads shake. I looked back at Mavis and whispered. “Do you have anything?”

"I mean… it's a long shot but I have something in mind." Mavis said as she handed me Sylph for a moment, the latter licked my face as Mavis walked up. The three of us watched this happen just as the knight looked up and sees Mavis. The two stared at each other before the knight quickly got off the chair and was kneeling down in front of Mavis.

“Uhhh… what?” Umbra asked out loud. Amaran was equally confused as the two looked at me.

“Hey, I’m confused as well.” I said to the two as Sylph continued to lick my face.

"Dii ekrah, hi dun daar kendaar voth hin nuvah." Said the knight to Mavis, only glancing up to meet her gaze for a brief second. Mavis took a moment before responding, taking this time to clear her throat and began to speak.

"Alok dii vahlok, zey do thy krosis." Mavis spoke out in the same language the knight spoke, only fueling Amaran and Umbra's shock and surprise while the knight went on, detailing something to Mavis while she listened quietly. Again they looked at me as I'd I was some translator or something.

"Just to let you both know, I have nooo idea what they are saying." I explained to them. Amaran and Umbra looked at each other before looking back at the other two.

"They sound like… they know each other somehow." Amaran said as we all watched on. Whatever those two spoke about, it sounded important and somehow involved the object in Mavis's hands. Umbra stayed silent at all this, possibly trying to get over the fact this was all happening right in front of her.

"Tinvaak ni thy kruziik vun, uth lost mahlaan ahrk hin heyv los fullfilled. Tinvaak vun do jul, fah Zu'u drun hi stin." Mavis said to the knight, who kept silent for the longest time. We all waited for a few moments as the silence was setting in… and waited a little bit longer before the knight cleared their throat.

“Mine apologies mine lady… it hath been a long time since I spoke in a different tongue.” The knight said… oddly.

“What?” I whispered to myself.

“It’s old speak, it used to be what everyone spoke a few hundred years ago.” Amaran explained to me in a whispered.

“Well… this’ll be sorta annoying.” Umbra said with an annoyed frown and soon asked. “Who here knows how to speak old speak?”

"You know you all suck at whispering." Mavis said to us plainly, having heard all three of us. We all didn’t say anything about this, not knowing if we spoke too loudly or Mavis has really good hearing. "Anywho, we should get going now. I rather be out in the sun than cooped up in here any longer." Mavis said to us before looking at the knight. "You as well." She added.

The knight nodded at this and stood up before all of us headed out of the room. The knight stopped at the door and looked back at the six thrones, five of which held the other knights that were still slumped over, the Knight sighed sadly before following us out.

As we walked out, I moved back to Mavis and handed her Sylph. “So… mind telling what’s going on?” I asked her quietly, enough so no one can hear us.

"Stuff and things." She said to me, her smile going wider once she had Sylph back. I felt my eye twitch a little at her answer, but I took it as Mavis won’t tell me in front of everyone. So I kept quiet as we all finally got outside where the sun was still shining and it looked like a nice day. "Ah much better." Mavis said out loud before she added. "Now then, I suppose you have questions." Mavis said to us all.

“Yes.” Amaran, Umbra, and I said at the same time.

“Like, who is this Knight that… was a statue.” Umbra asked,

“And how they know you.” Amaran asked.

“And other things.” I finally added. Mavis frowned at me, no doubt for the vagueness of my answer but she soon spoke.

"Hmm… I was planning to tell you two tomorrow… eh what the hell." Mavis said with a shrug before snapping her fingers, causing the once broken doors to fully restore and repair themselves, the rust practically melted off of the metal as it was replaced while the wood looked good as new. All that before they closed shut. We all stared at the now repaired doors, Umbra and Amaran looked on with shock as I was… sorta not really that shocked.

“Wha…” Umbra said in shocked as Amaran looked at Mavis in confusion as Sylph licked Mavis’ face.

"I'm a lot more than a simple hot piece of ass." Mavis said to them with a smirk before giving Sylph some kisses. The knight stood behind Mavis not saying a word as they looked around the area.

“I’m so confused at all of this now.” Amaran said as she scratched her head a bit before looking at me. “Did… you know what this is about?” She asked me.

“Well… yeah.” I answered her, shifting from foot to foot.

"From the very start." Mavis chimed in before floating and adding. "I'm actually not even her cousin but let's not go around telling everyone that." Mavis said before her body changed right before their eyes and the knight almost on instinct knelt down at this.

“Wha… the… fuck??” Umbra said before looking at me, now I was feeling uncomfortable with Umbra looking at me.

“Viri… just what is going on?” Amaran asked me. I hung my head a bit before speaking.

“It’s...complicated.” I answered her.

"Don't be too hard on her, you two. I trust you both to keep my secret, and I trust the both of you a lot." Grandma said to the two, her tone now taking a serious one. "I've been debating on telling you both for a while now." She added while the knight stayed knelt down before she gestured the knight to stand up.

“I… I need to sit down.” Amaran said as she soon sat down on a large rock. Umbra looked at Grandma, then at me.

“Sorry…” I simply said to her as I scratched my head. “And even if I told you, would you believe me?”

“No, not really.” Umbra said bluntly. “I mean… this shouldn’t be possible!” Grandma arched a brow at this.

"Anything is a possibility, Umbra. No matter how outrageous or how childish they may be, anything is indeed possible." Grandma said to Umbra calmly while Sylph was… well she was all the more happier to cuddle with Grandma. "Oh and before you think about it, I have never influenced anything in any of your favors regarding Beacon nor previous missions… with the exception of the city but let's not bring that up, the less it's brought up the better." Grandma said to Umbra and Amaran but the former glanced at me.

“Right… none of us, but what about Viri?” Umbra said, crossing her arms. “As far as I could tell, you helped her out with stuff.”

"True but I did nothing of the sort." Grandma answered back before adding. "Every exam, every grimm she took down, every assignment she has ever done was all her own doing. If you count me boringly floating about watching her do those things influencing then yes, I did that a lot." Grandma said to Umbra. Umbra didn’t say anything after this as I looked back at Grandma as she held Sylph in her arms.

“This… this is a lot.” Amaran said to everyone before looking up. “Had I known this is what I’ll be getting myself into when joining Beacon, I would’ve questioned a few things.”

"I think you two are overreacting just a tad." Grandma said to them while the knight walked off towards the beach, no doubt to look out into the horizon. Umbra shook her head as Amaran looked up at Grandma.

“Can you blame us? This is a little… out there.” Amaran explained to her. “If I didn’t see it for myself, I wouldn’t believe it.”

“I’m… still trying to believe it myself.” Umbra added after Amaran.

"Take your time, I'll be over there giving our knightly friend some information." Grandma said before hovering over to the Knight, leaving me with the two. I looked over at the other two as Umbra sat down on the grass, looking like she was trying to figure out everything that just happened.

“This… feels like a dream.” Umbra said as she shook her head. My ears flattened on top of my head, feeling bad that this all happened to them.

“Well… what can we do about it?” Amaran asked her teammate. Umbra looked at her for a moment before shaking her head.

“Again, I’m really sorry about not telling you two.” I said to the two of them. Amaran simply smiled and waved it off.

“It’s alright.” She said with a small smile on her face.

“Yeah… not your fault.” Umbra added with her own smile. I looked over at Grandma and saw her talking with the knight lady, who happened to have taken off her helmet and… Wow.

The woman was a Faunus with long gray hair, and she looked young… give or take. A pair of wolf ears on top of her head and from my angle where I stood, I saw that her right eye was covered with an eyepatch.

We all stared at the two of them as they talked for a few minutes. The knight was quiet throughout most of their talk for all I saw. Grandma came back with the knight in tow before the latter gave the three of us a bow.

"Apologies for my silence, I am Amelia of the Guardian Order." The Knight said with a bow before Amaran and Umbra looked at one another.

"Hi… I'm Amaran and this is Umbra and Viri." Amaran introduced all three of us to her. We also all noticed that her speech changed to more modern talk. Umbra simply waved at Amelia as I gave her a small smile.

“Hello.” I greeted her.

"Amelia will be joining us through our years at Beacon, she has nowhere else to go and… has lost her purpose as she has told me." Grandma said to us all before then adding. "So why not have her be defender of the people like us." She said. We all didn’t say anything to Grandma as we looked at one another.

“I mean… I don’t think anyone has any problems with that. Right?” I asked the other two.

“Not at all.” Amaran answered with a smile. I looked over at Umbra as she tilted her head.

“I feel like this is sorta like what happened with Rose…” Umbra said. This got Amelia curious before Grandma said.

"A woman from the fifth kingdom… I'm sorry." Grandma said to Amelia, the latter's ears flattened atop her head at this. As we heard ‘The Fifth Kingdom’ Umbra, Amaran, and I shivered a bit. “Anywho, can I trust you both to keep my secret?” Grandma asked Amaran and Umbra. The two looked at each other for a few moments before answering.

“Sure.” Amaran answered.

“Yup.” Umbra also answered as the two smiled at Grandma. “I mean… who would actually believe us if we did tell?”

"Oh that? No one, I just wanted to know if I had to wipe your memories. I have to keep myself hidden after all." Grandma said to the two of them, making them both freeze at this while I… Well I didn't know she could that… and it sounds cool.

“Y-You’re not going to do that… right?” Amaran asked, now sounding worried about having her mind wiped. Umbra looked worried as well from hearing this, even covering her ears in some sort of defense from getting her mind wiped.

"No… and I meant your memories regarding the revelation." Grandma said with a frown. "If you thought I mean more, I meant nothing of the sort." She added. The two of them let out a breath they were holding as I looked over at Amelia who was staring at the ruins of the castle. A sad look on her face as she looked upon the ruins.

“You okay?” I asked her, getting her attention.

"It's… hard to walk away from this… From my fallen comrades. Perhaps they are in an afterlife much deserving for each of them." Amelia spoke out, once again surprising me with her modern speak.

“Do… you need a few minutes alone?” I asked her, kinda awkward standing here. I’m not really good with this sort of situation. She looked back before sighing.

"I can only hope that with the guidance of my goddess, I may find peace…" She said with a sigh, calling Grandma her goddess. I gave her a simple smile.

“Well… if you need any help, just ask.” I said to her, hoping I’m being anyway helpful. Amelia nodded at this before I heard Umbra bring up the issue of traveling back home as the Bullhead that took us here is nowhere to be seen.

“I mean… unless you want us to swim, which is not going to happen!” Umbra said with a bit of a huff as Amaran rolled her eyes at her.

“Still not over pushing you into the pool that one time?” Amaran asked and Umbra grumbled more as Amelia and I came over.

“That’s a good point, how are we getting back Grandma?” I asked her, getting my teammates to look at me oddly. “Yes I know it’s weird… it has been weird for the first few months of school.” Grandma chuckled before looking at Amelia and saying.

"Now remember, you cannot reveal my presence to anyone. The order and worshippers have long since passed, and as much as me and my sister took your worships like compliments, some of them were… too obsessive." Grandma said to Amelia, who nodded at this and said.

"As you wish my lady." Amelia said with a bow of her head. The rest of us looked at one another in silence as the two had their chat. It wasn’t until Umbra leaned over to me and whispered.

“So… how are we getting back?” She asked before adding. “Are we like, going to teleport there or… what? Fly?” The word fly made Amaran make an odd sound.

“Please no, I’m already have issues with planes and Bullheads. This would make me panic.” Amaran explained, already looking a little green.

"Well, we have plenty of options of travelling but for Amaram's sakes…" Grandma said before snapping her fingers, causing a rather well made looking wooden door to appear with a key on its lock. With a simple turn of the key, the door opened up to reveal our room with Amber… on my bed- not again!

Amber looked up from my bed, which was on fire and her tail was wagging happily as she saw me. My head dropped down as I have to go out and get new sheets… and blankets… maybe a new mattress. Ugh...

Ch. 13

View Online

It was a few days since the mission to the small island and meeting up with Amelia, which she was taken aback by how everything is. It took her awhile to not be in awe at… well, everything. Today was Team RWBY’s first match, which was a four vs four matches in the arena. I had my scroll out on my new bed watching it happen from the comfort of said bed. It was a good match… and I also saw Mavis in the stands. Like, how can I not see her?! She’s the only one in the stands wearing a skimpy bikini! I sighed at this as I continue watching the feed.

She made sure Yang could see her and it only motivated the buxom blonde while Sylph, who she brought along, had nestled into Mavis' cleavage for better height and a good view of the fight below. Overall, she was getting a lot of attention, and not just from Yang. Every guy and girl near Mavis was staring at Mavis as she cheered on happily for her girlfriend. I shook my head as the cameras were going a bit quicker over where Mavis was sitting.

I sighed as I put down my scroll only to hear a knock on the door, and with Umbra reading an old book of hers while listening to music and Amaran taking a nap I got up to answer the door.

"Hello?" I said before I was greeted with Tak, who was wearing a light blue sleeveless blouse with dark pink shorts and a big sun hat on top of his head. I smiled happily at seeing Tak. "Hey Tak."

"Hi Viri." He greeted with a cute smile, seriously he's just the most adorable boy I've ever met.

“Someone’s on a good day,” I said with a chuckle before asking. “How have you been?”

"I've been pretty good, mom has been taking time off her work more to hang out with me and teach me things," Tak said to me with a pretty smile.

“Cool, say you want to come in?” I asked Tak, wondering if he wanted to come into my dorm room instead of standing outside in the hallway. Before he could answer, a couple of students went by but not before they made whistles towards Tak.

“Hey there sexy, come around often?” One of the students called out before him and his friends laughed and continued walking. I rolled my eyes at this as I looked at Tak, seeing him blush a bit.

"S-sure." Tak finally answered me with a smile despite his blush. I allowed Tak to walk in, letting him see that I wasn’t alone as Umbra looked up at us.

“Hey Tak.” She greeted with a wave, removing one of her earphones. He waved back with a smile before looking at Amaram, who smiled at him.

“Hey, how have you been?” Amaran asked, stretching a bit as she just woke up from a nap. I closed the door and went over to my bed, which Tak followed and hopped on it, feeling how springy it is.

"I've been good, I kept to my studies and I'm learning a new way of sight without eyes." He said to Amaram, which got Umbra to arch a brow at this while I was a little surprised to hear this.

“Oh really? How?” I asked, crossing my legs and listening in. This also got Umbra’s full attention as she pulled out her other earphone.

"Well, it's best on making a certain sound and using it to make a mental map of the place similar to echolocation," Tak said very informatively, looking at Umbra directly. "Even without my usual method, I can still 'see' where everyone is." He added using air quotes on the word see.

“Kinda like what an actual bat does,” Amaran said with a smile on her face. “That’s cool Tak.” Tak smiled at this before Umbra spoke.

“How do you do it? The echolocation I mean. Do you make clicking sounds or something?” Umbra asked to which Tak smiled and closed his eyes before blowing two little bubbles out that… Well, they didn't look like normal bubbles. We all stared at the floating bubbles as they floated around.

“Okay… bubbles?” I said out loud. I didn’t know what else to say other than that. That is until they popped, where a loud sonar-like sound rang out through the room once from the first bubble before the second followed suit.

"Okay, that's neat," Amaran said with a smile on her face. Tak smiled at this as I gave him a nudge.

"Yeah, really cool," I said with a smile on my face. I looked over and saw Umbra being silent about this. I arched a brow at her which she blinked at me.

"Oh uh… yeah. Sonar bubbles, really cool…" Umbra said before tilting her head a bit. I rolled my eyes at her before looking back at Tak.

"Is something wrong?" Tak asked Umbra, his smile faltering as he sounded nervous that he had messed up in some way. Umbra didn't say anything, simply raising her hands behind her head, making some fake ears.

"Don't mind her Tak, she's trying to figure out how you use your sonar bubbles in her head," Amaran explained to him as I spoke.

"She zones out when it happens," I added, which got a nod from Tak.

"Oh… Okay then. So did you see the match? I heard it was a good one." Tak said to me with a little smile.

“Yeah, it just finished and Team RWBY moves on to the duo's match,” I answered Tak with a smile. “Which I think it’s tomorrow… or the day after…” I said unsurely as I reached for my scroll.

"So you don't know then," Tak said with an unamused look to which I pouted at and retorted.

“It’s not my fault! The commentators get distracted by...ugh.” I said with a blushing frown. “Damn it Mavis…”

"Mavis? What did she do?" Asked Tak genuinely curious and before I could even answer, the woman in question came in through the door with a bit of a bounce in her step and Sylph in her arms.

“She being herself,” I answered him before looking at Mavis. “Hey, Mavis.” I greeted Mavis with a small smile.

"Hey Viri, hello Tak." Mavis greeted me and Tak as she began to float up, stripping off her skimpy bikini but not in a hurry to put something on. Ugh, I hate it when she does this. Mavis also had put Sylph atop her belly, where she was curled up and petted by Mavis. We all got used to Mavis doing this but… still a bit annoying.

“How was the match in from your seat?” Amaran asked, not exactly looking at Mavis to be polite.

"Exciting! A show of great fighters testing their meddle with one another." Mavis said before then quickly adding. "But I was mostly to cheer for my boo," Mavis added, unsurprisingly enough.

“Yeah, everyone in the stadium can guess that,” I said with a flat stare at Mavis. “Honestly, you could’ve just painted clothes on with your getup.” as those words left my mouth both Umbra and Amaran looked at me with wide eyes.

"And that's one idea I'll be using very soon, thank you~," Mavis said in a sing-song tone while Tak giggled a bit. I facepalmed at this as the other two frowned at me.

“Why did you give her that idea?!” Umbra asked with a frown.

“I was being stupid and not thinking.” I groaned. Amaran simply shook her head at me. Mavis giggled at this before remembering something.

"Oh! Before I forget, Tak I may or may not have heard that Weiss is on her way back to the academy in search for you." Mavis said to Tak, whose eyes widened at this.

"R-really!?" He asked in shock before covering his mouth and blushing. "W-what for?" He asked Mavis, to which Mavis chuckled and shrugged.

"I don't know~" Was her answer with a teasing tone. I looked at Mavis and Tak oddly, unsure what was that about.

“Was she with anyone or by herself?” I asked Mavis.

"Hmm?" Hummed Mavis before she arched a brow and said. "How am I supposed to know? I only heard that she was looking for Tak." She said to me. Umbra, Amaran, and I looked at Mavis surprised to hear that Weiss would be looking for Tak, the latter blushing greatly.

"Um uhh… uh…" Tak's breathing quickened before he felt his clothes and asked." H-how do I look? Do I look okay?" He asked quickly.

“You… you look great Tak.” I answered him, confused about why he’s acting like this. The other two nodded as well as Mavis who was now sitting up and holding Sylph in her arms.

"Indeed Tak, you look marvellous," Mavis said to Tak who was still blushing. I was sooo confused~ I looked at the other two who seemed less confused. Tak got up and dusted himself off and grabbed his hat.

"I'll- I'll go look for her," Tak said to which everyone nodded and said their goodbyes while I was left to curious… fuck my extreme sense of curiosity sometimes. I just wanted to lay in bed all day today. As soon as Tak left and a few moments past I looked back to the others.

“Okay, what was that about? I’m so confused.” I asked the other three who looked at me.

"You… you are just so special…" Mavis said with a laugh while Amaram and Umbra chuckled along, only fueling my confusion.

“What? I don’t get it?” I said, now completely confused which caused the other two to start laughing. “What?!” I yelled. With a snap of her fingers, Mavis was clothed decently enough, Sylph managing to get trapped under her shirt before poking her head out from Mavis' cleavage with yap.

"Come on, let's go follow them," Mavis said before giving Sylph a sweet kiss atop her head.

"You lot can go do that… I'm not coming through." Amaran said with her hands up. "I want to give Tak her- I mean his space with this." This continued to fuel my confusion and curiosity. Umbra, on the other hand, stood up.

"I'm coming, let's go." She said to Mavis and me.

"Great!" Mavis said cheerfully before adding to Amaram. "We'll tell you how it goes!" Mavis said to our cow faunus roommate. Amaran nodded at her and the three of us headed off. With that said and done, Mavis took point with following behind Tak while Umbra followed closely behind while I was still confused. Sylph was still happily enjoying this, getting to come along for the ride. Sylph and Mavis are close to each other. They've been inseparable at times and while it can be annoying at times, I can never really be mad when Sylph gives me the cutest faces. I mean… how can I!

We continued walking for about three, four minutes before finding Tak with Weiss, who seemed a little upset about something but she still had a small smile as Tak was talking to her. I strained my ears to overhear what they are saying but the one time I can’t hear, it’s now!

“I can’t hear them… does anyone read lips?” I whispered to the other two.

“Well…” Umbra started to say which caused Mavis, Sylph, and I to look at her oddly. “You never know.”

"What?" Mavis asked the two of us with a confused expression. Me and Umbra both gave her an unamused stare, to which Mavis eventually sighed and said. "Fine~," She said before with a wave of her finger, we began to be able to hear Weiss and Tak clearly as if we were next to them.

“I mean… I don’t think I did anything wrong.” Weiss said, somewhat sounding upset. “If it wasn’t for Pyrrha things would’ve been a bit… awkward.” Tak was saddened by this, feeling the sadness from Weiss no doubt.

"I'm sorry to hear that but… if I can be completely honest… your dad sounds like a jerk!" Tak exclaimed suddenly with a stomp of his foot.

“That makes two of us…” Umbra mumbled a little.

“You know Weiss’ father?” I whispered to my question to Umbra who soon nodded.

“Jacques Schnee, President of the Schnee Dust Company. My Uncle met him a few times and every time he comes back upset about something. I just chalk it up to my Uncle not liking Mister Schnee.” Umbra explained to me. I arched a brow at her before our attention turned back to the two.

“I mean… I have been getting some calls from him but I… wasn’t able to answer them.” Weiss said to Tak, who was listening to her every word. “Maybe this is for a few days… then everything will be back to normal.”

"But… what if they don't?" Tak asked her worryingly, surprising Weiss that he'd be this worried for her.

“Then… well, I don’t know.” Weiss said with her smile faltering a little. “If I don’t get it back then I’ll have to talk with my dad. No doubt he’ll be somewhat mad at me. He’s still not over which school I picked.”

“Mad over which school she picked? What she meant by that?” I wondered.

“I don’t know. Atlas Academy is on par with Beacon with learning and training… if you get over the idea it feels like a military camp.” Umbra explained before looking up at Mavis. “What are your thoughts Mavis?”

"I'd rather be free to express myself than be trained to be one of countless Atlas drones." Mavis said in almost dramatic tone at the last bit, which Sylph followed with a drone-like yip. I couldn’t help but chuckle at this as we continue to listen in.

“But that’s enough about my issues, how are you Tak? You seem happier than the last time I saw you.” Weiss asked with a smile on her face.

"W-well I have my mom to thank for that," Tak answered with a little blush, to which Umbra and Mavis both giggled at. I arched a brow at them before continue listening.

“That’s good to hear,” Weiss said with a smile. “So… uhh… are you busy right now?” This time Weiss was blushing a bit, which was something on Weiss’ pale skin.

"N-no not really… I'm free for the whole day." Tak said to which Weiss smiled at for some reason while Mavis and Umbra leaned in anticipation for something.

“Well… I’m also free so, want to hang out?” Weiss asked Tak, the latter’s eyes widening when Weiss asked that.

"Yes!" Tak answered loudly before catching himself, blushing madly and saying. "I- I mean yes… that sounds fun." He said to Weiss. Weiss smiled at Tak before the two of them walked down the hallway beside one another. Tak skipping beside Weiss happily. When the two were well off out of earshot, the three of us stepped out from where we were hiding.

“Huh, that was nice of Tak to hang out with Weiss,” I said with a smile on my face. At this, I heard simultaneous slaps on the forehead behind me and turned to see Mavis and Umbra facepalming… Was it something I said? “What? What’s wrong now?”

“You’re… you’re so...what’s the word?” Umbra asked Mavis as I frowned at them.

"Dense? Oblivious?... Dumb?" Mavis went on, trying to help Umbra finish her words.

“All of the above,” Umbra said with a nod which made me feel very insulted.

“Oh well nice for you to say,” I said angrily before crossing my arms. “I guess I’ll just go be a dumbass someplace else.” With that, I stormed off down the hallway. I took the first turn I could as I felt my feelings being hurt. So what I couldn’t tell what was going on, it doesn’t mean they have to be mean about it.

I huffed at this and soon found myself out by the courtyard, where I soon found Amber nestled up under the usual tree. Oni wasn't there but there was a huge possibility of him showing up at any given moment. After I got closer, Amber’s ears sprang up before lifting her head to look at me.

“Hey, Amber.” I greeted her half-heartedly which Amber tilter her head as I sat down beside her. Due to her… large size, she could act like a large warm flaming pillow. “I… had some issue with Mavis and Umbra.” I said before explaining what had happened earlier. It took a bit but by the time I finished, the one thing that greeted me was a disappointed groan from Amber. What!? “What?! You think I’m a dumbass as well!?” I yelled at her, which she huffed a bit, making my ears flatten on top of my head. “Sorry… didn’t mean to yell… just frustrated.” I said to her. She gave me a hum before she began to drag her paw on the dirt, drawing a rather well-made heart shape. I stared at it for a few moments before looking back at Amber.

“I...Uhh…” I said to her before something clicked. “Wait… Tak and Weiss?” I asked her. She gave me a nod to answer me before Oni appeared, looking tired from what looks to have been a fight. Maybe training? Anyway, he soon laid down beside Amber, who quickly smiled at this and snuggled up closer to Oni, giving him a loving lick as the two nuzzled a bit. I smiled at this before feeling that I should leave the two of them alone.

I re-entered the school and simply wandering the halls. During the wandering, I soon ran into Mavis, this time Sylph is on top of her head. She had a smoothie in hand with two straws… where did she- forget it.

"Hey Viri." Greeted Mavis, as if what happened earlier didn't happen, though looking back now I really should've known better.

“Hey.” I greeted back, looking down at the smoothie. “Where did you get a smoothie from?” I asked. She arched a brow at me simply. “Right… dumb question.” I said, ears flattening on top of my head. “I’ve been having a dumb day today huh?”

"Mmhmm." She hummed with a nod before sharing the smoothie with Sylph, who drank from the other straw. "Amber finally gave you the big hint?" She asked me simply. I hung my head at this.

“Yes… it would’ve been nice if you told me right at the start.” I told her and this rewarded me a boop on the nose.

"But that would have made things easy. You need to figure things like this out yourself, Viri." Mavis said to me before we both heard Sylph let out a burp. The two of us looked up at her and Mavis giggled a little as Mavis and I continue down the hallway. As we walked we soon saw Indigo and Blake walking in front of us. Blake had her arms wrapped around Indigo’s arm. "Well now~," Said Mavis in a low tone as she arched a brow with a smirk. I looked between her and the other two, this time I understood what was going on.

“Those two look good together,” I said with a smile on my face. Mavis chuckled before Indigo and Blake headed down another hallway, leading into the dormitories. Both Mavis and I looked at one another for a moment, chuckling a little before we continue back to our dorm room.

Ch. 14

View Online

I should be doing something outside. It was a nice day outside, birds chirping and the tournament was still going on with many many people walking around. But, no here I was in my room, tinkering away on Molten fox. Every free moment I could get I was working on my weapon, didn’t want to have my skills in this sort of thing to dull from lack of trying.

Amaran and Umbra were out at the moment, Umbra going to the shooting range with something she got from her Uncle, and Amaran was out shopping. Mavis was… somewhere, I didn’t know where she was as she simply was gone when I woke up in the morning. Maybe to hype Yang up for her match with Weiss against two people from… I think Atlas? That would be interesting to see, Weiss against two Atlas Huntsmen.

I wasn't watching the match per say, more hearing about it through my scroll while I worked on Molten Fox. It was the usual commentators doing a play by play, they detailed each move made by either side and the match has already been going on for quite a while, even before I tuned in. Soon, however, the match came to an end with Yang and Weiss barely scraping up a win. I smiled before hearing the familiar sound of Mavis popping into the room via her powers and when I turned to look at her, I felt my eyes twitch.

Mavis was standing in the middle of the room naked other than the fact she painted ‘clothes’ on her. I facepalmed at this. “I didn’t mean it literally?!” I yelled, mostly at myself for actually not believing that she would do it. Mavis rolled her eyes at me.

"Then you shouldn't have mentioned it." She retorted, Sylph atop her head as they both stuck their tongues out at me. I shook my head as I turned back to my work and started to finish it.

“How did you get past the security in that… and last the whole match without getting found out?” I asked Mavis.

"Trust me, people saw," Mavis said with a giggle before adding. "I have a way with words you know." She said.

“Right…” I said to her as I finished up my work. “Heard Yang and Weiss won, though Weiss got burned in the process though,” I added.

"I know they won, I was there." She said, giving the top of my head some knocks while Sylph snickered. I grumbled a little as I looked over to Amber who was laying on the ground. she has been there for most of the day panting a bit but she saw Mavis and Sylph came in and gave her tail a wag, making it look like a wave.

“I think Amber is very close to due,” I said as I got up and went over to move some pillows for Amber. She nuzzled my leg as a show of thanks as I did this.

"I'll be ready to help her deliver, don't worry," Mavis said to me as she cleaned the paint off of her with one quick motion as Sylph yap, hopped off of Mavis and nuzzled up to Amber. Amber nuzzled back before laying her head on top of her paws.

As this was happening, there was a knock on the door which both Mavis and I turned to look at. I frowned as I didn’t expect anyone to come to our dorm room but I got up and went to answer it. When I opened it I saw it was Aunty.

“Hello Viri, you’re not busy I hope?” She asked me with a smile on her face.

“No, I’m not busy. Mavis is here as well.” I Said, informing her which got her to arch a brow. She didn’t say anything as I let her in. As I was closing the door I turned to see Auntie looked at Mavis.

“Didn’t you have time to put some clothes on?” Auntie asked Mavis, the latter shrugging.

"I live here, I can be naked or not whenever I want to," Mavis said to Auntie as the latter walked in and saw Amber with Sylph.

“Those two look like they’re getting along,” Auntie said with a smile.

“Yeah, they have been for some time. Why you ask that?” I asked Auntie who simply waved off the question.

“Just me being me, anyway as much as I wanted this to be a simply me coming over to say hi, I have something I want you two to go check out,” Auntie said to us, which got a groan from Mavis as a result.

"Again~?" She said with a groan as she floated about. Auntie looked over and arched a brow.

"Yes, again. I thought you would enjoy getting out and doing a mission." Auntie said to Mavis.

"Well… the last few you sent us on were either a nightmare land, a world full of racist Ponies, and a small island with some ruins." I said to her. Mavis nodded at my words while Auntie pinched the bridge of her nose at this, knowing that this argument is in our favour at the moment.

"You've already tricked us twice into heading into the most dangerous places imaginable, you could easily send in your people for this," Mavis said to Axycia with her arms crossed. Auntie turned and narrowed her eyes at Mavis.

“That’s true… and I did.” Auntie said before arching a brow. “Guess what happened to them.”

I felt like the two of them were about to fight until Amber snorted out some flames which got everyone’s attention. Honestly Amber looked like she was a very tired mom who had it with everything.

“Uhh, Amber is close to due and she’s… easily irritable. Honestly, if you two start arguing, she’ll set the place on fire.” I informed Auntie. Mavis huffed and rolled her eyes before saying.

"We're not going unless you tell exactly what you're planning with whatever we find." She said to Auntie with narrowed eyes.

“Well, this mission is I have you and whomever you bring with you is to go to an island that was once used by the Atlas military.” Auntie started to explain why she has an interest in this island. "They have a… strange history with the island. It once housed Atlas' greatest Research and Development, where they developed most of what they use now but it also housed plenty of Dust based research, which led to the creation of a new, rather dangerous type of dust." Auntie said as she showed us a small vial of what looked like purple ooze. The two of us looked at the ooze with some frowns.

“What exactly does it do?” I asked her before hearing some angry yips from behind me. We all looked back and saw Sylph growling towards us with her tail all poofed out as if she was facing off with another Grimm. “Uhh, what got into Sylph?” I asked to everyone.

"She must not like whatever that is," Mavis said in regards to the vial in Auntie's hand.

"As she should be. This stuff is… well if it gets into the wrong hands a lot of people will get hurt or die… or even worse." Auntie said before she made the vial vanish. "Atlas has recently been trying to recover the notes, formulas and documents from the old facility but I want to prevent them from ever getting them."

"And what do you plan to do with them?" Mavis asked her sister simply.

"Burn them." She replied simply as well. Both Mavis and I looked at one another for a moment before looking at Auntie as she continued. “This stuff is the worst, and I don’t want it to see the light of day.” Mavis soon nodded and snapped her fingers, getting her mission gear on.

"So find the research and notes, everything to do with it?" Mavis asked Auntie with an arched brow as Sylph got up, gave Amber a nuzzle and hopped onto Mavis' arms.

“Yes, everything,” Auntie informed us in a serious tone. “Again, I don’t want this to fall in anyone’s hands. The wrong ones or anyone I don’t care which.” She added while Mavis had snuggled Sylph in between her breasts comfortably for the latter.

"Alright, then but what is it that are we expecting to encounter there?" Mavis asked which Auntie shrugged, not filling me with much confidence.

"The usual Grimm maybe." She answered Mavis. Mavis and I looked at one another before I asked her a question.

“Is it going to be just us or will there be others?” I asked her, already putting on my hunting outfit.

"You anyone in mind?" She asked me with an arched brow as Mavis grabbed her fan blade. I gave it some thought as she put her weapon on her hip.

“Well… I think Umbra and Amaran are busy so… hey, what about Rose?” I asked Mavis, who was busy thinking herself. "I mean… she’s not doing anything, other than staying in her room or going out for some training.”

"I say we should bring along Amelia as well, she has every capable aspect of a good fighter for when the need comes," Mavis said to us, suggesting we bring along the usually recluse knight. I arched a brow at this before looking at Auntie.

“Is that fine?” I asked her to which she nodded.

“I know of Amelia, and I believe Rose can be trusted.” She said before standing up. “Again I’ll arrange transport… special transport.” With that she was gone, leaving me and Mavis to get the other two. First and foremost we headed out to find Rose as she'd be the easiest to find.

Both of us soon arrived at Rose’s room and we knocked on it. After a few moments, the door opened up to Rose.

“Hey, what’s up?” She asked as she was whipping her hands on an oily rag. The familiar smell of oil was coming from her room.

"We came by wondering if you'd like to join us for a mission out of the kingdom," Mavis said to Rose while Sylph yipped at Rose. Rose looked down at Sylph for a moment then back up at Mavis.

“What’s the mission?” She asked, tossing the rag over her shoulder. “on second thought, don’t tell me now, tell me on the way.”

“Why on the way?” I asked Rose, tilting my head a bit.

“Well if it’s a timed thing then it’s better to get going than standing around,” Rose answered as she went back into her room and started grabbing things. It took a few minutes but soon she came out with a familiar long leather coat and hat on top of her head. She also was holding a...cane? “So, are we off?” Rose asked us before Mavis shook her head.

"No, now we look for Amelia before we head out," Mavis said while Sylph let out a yap. With that being said the three of us headed off to find Amelia. The hallways were mostly empty as all the students are watching the tournament going on or are in said tournament.

After a few minutes of walking, we soon came up to another door which I guessed was Amelia’s room. Mavis knocked on the door and the three of us waited for Amelia to answer.

"I don't think I've seen her leave the room much since her arrival here," Mavis muttered mostly to herself but me and Rose heard this. I blinked at this as she had a point there, Amelia hasn't really gotten out of her room since she first got here and I really paid no mind at first but now it's worrying.

“Is that… bad?” I asked Mavis in a worried tone. “What if something had happened?” To which Mavis shrugged at me before knocking on the door again, to still have no answer. We all looked at one for a moment before Rose went over and put her ear to the door.

“I… I hear something going on in there… kinda like music.” Rose informed us of what she hears. Wait, music? I moved over and put my ear to the door as well and sure enough, I heard some muffled sounds, even some clicking. Both of us pulled away and looked back at Mavis.

“It… sounds like someone is in there...and there’s clicking as well.” I informed Mavis. With a frown Mavis poked at the lock of the door, gaining some clicks and turns before the door popped free for us to push open. Viri pushed the door opened and we looked inside the room to see a pretty bare room. There was only a bed, desk, dresser and closet in the room where we looked over to see Amelia sitting in her bed with… a controller? I looked over to where she’s looking and saw that she was playing a video game. The game itself was… odd to say the least, by the looks of it she was playing a knight and was in the middle of a grand boss battle against something called Slave Knight Gael? Weird name.

“I have a feeling that I know this game…” Rose said mostly to herself but it did get Amelia’s attention as she looked over to us with wide eyes.

“Uhh… hi?” She greeted us just as there was a loud slashing sound and we all saw that her character was turning into ash and the words ‘You Died’ appeared. “Ah… not again…”

"Ah, so you've been busy," Mavis said with a little laugh. Amelia looked back at Mavis with a little blush on her face.

"Yeah… I was." She said before getting off of the bed and standing up, stretching. "What can I do for you, my lady?"

"My lady?" Rose asked, arching a brow at the old knight.

"We came by wondering if you'd like to accompany us on an expedition," Mavis said to Amelia, ignoring Rose's confusion.

"I will be honoured to my lady," Amelia answered without batting an eye. Mavis smiled at this as Sylph tipped happily at Amelia. "I just need a bit to put on my armour."

"Armor?" Rose asked out loud before looking at me.

"Don't ask," I said to her.

"We will wait," Mavis said to Amelia before she petted and kissed Sylph, giving the little fox some love again. The three of us stepped out of Amelia's room as she started to change. As we waited we heard loud clangs and pieces of metal being moved around.

"When she means armour…" Rose started to say.

"She means actual armour," Mavis said to Rose as Sylph nuzzled onto Mavis happily. "So, everyone is ready?" She then asked us all. I nodded at her as Rose looked at Mavis.

"Are you… going in like that?" Rose asked Mavis.

"Of course I am, this is my mission outfit after all," Mavis said to Rose nonchalantly, having had this conversation before with many others. Rose stared at Mavis for a few moments before looking away, not saying anything.

After close to thirty minutes the door opened and Amelia walked out in full armour, her helmet under her and welded a halberd in her other hand. How she had a halberd in her room and didn’t make it stand out, I did not know.

"Ready?" Mavis asked Amelia while Rose was busy looking at the knight in surprise.

“Yes, my lady,” Amelia said with a small bow before looking over at Rose. “Is there something wrong?”

“What? No… just surprise that I’m seeing a knight up close.” Rose said before giving Amelia’s armour a few taps. “And someone walking around in full plate.” Mavis shrugged at this before floating ahead of us all, no doubt towards the Bullhead waiting for us at the landing station. All three of us soon followed behind her and it wasn't long until we found ourselves at the Bullhead with Amelia looking at it as if it were a beast.

“What kind of beast is this!” Amelia exclaimed, pointing her weapon towards the Bullhead. We all looked at her for a few moments before I spoke up.

“Amelia… it isn’t a beast, it’s something that flies through the air and transport people.” I tried to explain to the old knight, who still looked uneasy about it.

"Amelia, it's no beast. Just a ship, like a boat… but for the air." Mavis explained to Amelia, who soon calmed down enough to not look as if she'd attack the Bullhead. After she has calmed down we all soon entered the Bullhead and sat down. Amelia jumped a bit when the doors closed up and when we took off.

Amelia looked out the window in awe as we flew in the air as the rest of us kept silent or, in Mavis’ case, caring for Sylph. It was the most awkward flight I've ever had, the silence was just all of the ugh. My only wish is that I never have to go through this again, seriously it's so awkward I felt myself die a little...

"Oh dear heavens, just talk about something already!" Mavis exclaimed loudly, stopping her mushing over Sylph. Everyone jumped a bit when Mavis yelled this out. Ameila was the first to clear her throat after this.

“So… Lady Rose.” Amelia started to say which got Rose’s attention.

“Lady? Uhh, you can call me Rose.” Rose said, shifting uncomfortably.

“Alright… Rose, I heard you came from the Fifth Kingdom yes?” Amelia asked which Rose frowned a little out of confusion.

“Fifth Kingdom? Oh, you mean Yharnam?” Rose asked. Before Amelia could answer that, I jumped in to cover.

“Her family is from there,” I told Rose who looked at for a moment before shrinking into her seat.

“Right…” Rose said as she looked away from everyone. Amelia looked over to Mavis with a sad look before speaking.

“I’m guessing you’re from there as well?” Amelia asked Rose who rocked her head back and forth.

“Ehhh… yes? Kinda? I was there for some time and… it was hell.” Rose answered bluntly.

"Hmm.." Mavis hummed as she went back to nuzzling with Sylph. The latter of which was happily licking her face while the silence soon fell back into place, only occasionally being broken by Mavis and Sylph. "You three are the worst at small talk," Mavis said to all of us. I shrank a bit as I wasn’t helping as Rose crossed her arms.

“Sorry, my lady,” Amelia said apologetically to Mavis. Rose tilted her head at this but didn’t say anything. Dear lords… this is so awkward.

The trip was luckily over as we felt the bullhead land and the doors open. We all stepped outside to see we were in a clearing in the middle of the forest. As we stepped out I turned back just to see the Bullhead was blending into the surroundings, this caused both Rose and Amelia to jump back before Rose went over and gave it a few taps.

“Well… that’s not going to get annoying later.” Rose said to herself as Mavis had her Scroll out and a map on it.

"Hmm… where to?" Mavis asked out loud before tapping a few things into her scroll. "Let's head deeper into the island, we'll hopefully pick up a lead there." She said to us all as she took point. The rest of us followed behind, pushing through some bushes and branches.

“Why is it… that every secret lab or warehouse… is always deep in the woods!” I asked, ducking under a branch that was about to smack me in the face.

“I believe it’s due to the seclusion Lady Viri,” Amelia answered me as her armour was taking each branch smack with ease, earning loud bangs coming off of it.

“Honestly, one would think a better place would be someplace no one would expect,” Rose added. “I mean, a secret lab where will it be? Oh, how about the middle of the forest!”

“What have you been reading to make you think that?” I asked Rose who pulled back a heavy-looking branch.

“I’ve been reading some comics that Nora has,” Rose answered as she pushed the branch back so none of us get smacked by said branch.

"You need to find better reading material," Mavis said to Rose as Sylph barked her agreement at this. "See, she agrees with me."

Rose simply rolled her eyes as we continued through the forest. Our trek was soon halted when we stumbled into an unusual sight, a simple wooden sign with a rather crudely written message.

"Pis off?" Amelia read out in confusion.

"Seems somebody doesn't want us, or anyone, here," Rose said as she tapped the sign a bit and watch it shake. I looked over at Mavis as she stared at the sign.

"You think someone is still around?" I whispered to her.

"Quite possibly," Mavis answered which didn't give me much hope of this going off without a hitch. We soon continued… for about five feet before Rose found something and we saw that it was another sign… and there was one every few feet. All saying another form of the first sign.

"Someone doesn't like people," I said as I stared at a small group of signs.

"That or make a bigger sign…" Rose muttered to herself sarcastically.

"This one is different." Amelia called out to everyone as she pointed at yet another sign that simply read "push me".

We all stared at the sign for a few moments before Rose spoke out. "So… anyone going to push it?" She asked all of us.

"I'm not, who knows where that sign has been. Think of the germs." Said Mavis, finding an excuse to not touch the sign.o

"And… what if it's a trap?" I added, not sure if something bad would happen. Rose and Amelia looked at one another in silence before Rose took her cane and pushed the sign. There were a few clicks and… nothing happened… well, until a body fell in front of us, making me yelp out.

"Oh look away Sylph!" Mavis said covering the fox Grimm's eyes dramatically. I calmed down enough to get a better look at the body. It wore the same armour as an Atlas Soldier… only said armour was covered with silly faces.

"Now I've seen some messed up stuff done to a body but this… this is dumb." Rose said with a frown.

"This is such disrespect to one of the dead," Amelia said with a frown as well. Mavis was the only one holding back a laugh and doing so quite well actually but I knew she was doing so.

"Well, seems we've got our answer if someone is here," Mavis said to everyone before looking over at the signs. "Let's follow the signs, it'll most likely lead us somewhere." She added with a shrug as she kept covering Sylph's eyes. The rest of us nodded and we headed out. As we walked I noticed that Amelia had her halberd at the ready and Rose as well… though she used a cane.

We passed sign after sign until we came to a large overgrown building that's been defaced by more of those signs, even a very large one that says 'Pis Off!!'

"I bet this is the place," Rose stated before giving it another look and adding. "I think whoever is here is some madman."

"Seems like it, though why would they put up so many signs," Mavis said, wondering this out loud as we walked closer. Once we came up to the doors we saw it used and barred with rusty chains.

"Lovely. Looks like someone doesn't people bugging them… or letting someone out." Rose said as she tapped the chains a bit only for them to fall off. “Or maybe they are for shit and giggles,” Rose added as we all stared at the chains.

“It seems so… shall we head in?” Amelia asked all of us. I looked at Mavis as Sylph growled at the door. It made look more adorable. As we entered the facility, we were greeted with the sight of an overgrown research facility. Everything from what appeared to be the front desk and even the halls beyond it was covered in vines and bushes even. We stepped closer to the front desk before Rose looked over it and around.

“This place… seen better days.” Rose said before looking back at all of us. “So… what’s the plan?” She asked and seemed to be directed towards Mavis as she was holding a growling Sylph in her arms.

"Find whatever we need to find and get out, preferably as quickly as possible," Mavis said, looking down at the map displayed on her scroll as a blip appeared. "Aha! This way!" She exclaimed, taking a sharp left down yet another overgrown hall. The doors, no doubt once sleek and shiny, now rusted and covered in nature. There were labs of all different kinds, from testing weapons to simple robotics. As we entered the room we looked around at the place and- ooo~

I saw what looked like an old greatsword with a split down the middle. Two bladed greatsword? At closer expectation, it looked like someone turned a rail gun into a greatsword… that is so cool!

I picked the weapon up and gave it a once over, seeing it was still in great condition even from who knows how long it has been here.

"Ooo can't wait to figure out what you do~" I cooed at the weapon as if it was a living breathing thing.

"Viri come on!" Mavis called out to me from out in the hall, bringing me out of my thoughts of wondering what this thing could do. Looking in the direction that the others are and at the weapon, I pulled Molten Fox out and replaced the Greatsword in her place.

"Later," I said as I ran back over to the others with Molten Fox in hand. A warm hum feeling coming off of her as I reunited with the others.

"Sorry, got distracted," I said to them. Mavis glanced back at me before looking down at her scroll and it was beginning to look like this would be a lot easier than I thought… That is until Amelia pulled Mavis back suddenly.

Where Mavis was lit up with electricity that looked deadly. We all stared at it with wide eyes.

"Holy shit," Rose said in surprise as Amelia looked down at Mavis.

"Are you alright my lady?!" Amelia asked in shock.

"Yes, thank you," Mavis said as she caught her breath from the sudden scare before embracing Sylph, who whimpered at this. The currents didn't look like they were about to leave any time soon.

"So… is there another way around this or…" Rose asked, looking at the place as if she was looking for something. Mavis didn't answer this as she looked at her scroll. I was looking at the electrical doorway.

"Man… this was surprising," I said out loud as I saw some sparks came off it. "That… that doesn't look-" before I could finish a stray bolt sparked me and hit me. My whole body froze up as electric pain before falling over.

"Oh shit!" Rose yelled as I twitched a bit.

"T-this i-is… s-so d-dumb!" I yelled as I twitched at the same time. Eventually, I managed to regain myself, sitting up and grasping my head with a groan only to hear the sound of something really, and I mean REALLY heavy fall, which echoed through the halls and spooked everyone.

Rose and Amelia turned towards the sound, weapons out as Mavis looked up in that direction as was trying to smooth out my hair and tail from the shock. We looked over to see a large machine that looked rusted over face down on the ground. I let out a sigh.

"A machine just fell over… that's all." I said which got a groan from Rose.

"Why did you say that?" She asked which I was confused before we all heard the sound of something scraping on the walls, loud enough that made all of us cover our ears. From the scraping came laughter and not the happy go lucky joyous kind, I mean the crazy kind. I managed to find the source of the noise being through the electric fence, it was caused by a man in a mask with only a pair of orange pants as clothes. It looked like it used to be a part of a jumpsuit but the top half was torn off.

"You woke the wrong dog!" The man yelled suddenly at us, manic-like twitched gave me the hint of him not being right in the head.

After a few moments of staring at the madman, Rose spoke up. "You know… he's well built for crazy." Rose jokes. Amelia and I gave her an odd look before backing at the madman.

"Umm… hello? Who are you?" I asked the man in front of us as he was breathing deeply… creepy. He soon dropped the object in his hand and had his arms outstretched.

"Over here, my sweetmeats, your prince of justice and genocide has something to say: Gone are the days of the tentacle and the age of the gods and mercy is far away... We are fighters of the middle, the second act in the three-part MEAT play, AND I WILL WIN BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR!" He yelled at us after rambling on maniacally, the mask only having one eye to see through and I could see the crazy in his one visible eye. "NO LONGER NOMINEE!" He yelled as he reached for the electrical fence as if they were physical objects and to no one's surprise he was shocked incredibly so but the horrifying this is he didn't let go.

"By the gods…" Amelia said under her breath as Rose winced a bit.

"That… has to hurt." She said as I thought back a few minutes ago when I was zapped.

"Yeah," I said to her as Sylph whimpered a bit.

"THERE IS NO FENCE ON THIS FENCE!" The man yelled as the electrical currents were seemingly absorbed into him, leaving him unscathed but with a slight blue hue. His eye was an electric blue now.

"Okay… what?!" I yelled in shock as the madmen began to crack his neck.

"Looks like this is a fight we can't avoid," Amelia said as she gripped her weapon. I glanced over at Rose as she held her cane in her hand like a sword before I looked at Mavis with a 'What we do?'

Her answer was in the of a worried shrug as she focused on protecting Sylph while the maniacal man laughed, raising his hands to shoot out literal bolts of electricity that Amelia was quick to use her halberd, using it as a lightning conductor.

"Freaky," Mavis said as Sylph whimpered at this.

"I'LL CUT YOUR EYELIDS OPEN SO YOU CAN SEE THE END!" Yelled the man, grabbing his weapon and charging it with electricity upon touch before swinging it wildly while charging it at us. Amelia was the first to act as she levelled her halberd and thrust forward at the man. The spear point jammed itself into the gut of the man as he grunted before swinging his axe at the knight, causing her to duck under the blow.

"Does he feel no pain?!" Amelia yelled as Rose came up and smacked the man with her cane, delivering heavy blows that the man seemed to shrug off.

"Nobody kills me but ME!" The man yelled as he grabbed Rose's cane and swung his buzz… Axe? Imma call it a buzz axe. But before any serious injuries could occur, Mavis blocked his strike with her fan blade before pushing him back away from us, letting us get ready for another attack. "I will swallow your souls and spit out its meat chunks!" He exclaimed loudly as the sparks around his body became more violent only to suddenly lash out at us.

Some of the volts went to Amelia who gritted her teeth through the pain as some volts went to me… and my hair went poofy again. Oh, come on!

Rose frowned at this as she flicked her cane back, causing it to change form as blades came out. With a slash the cane extended outwards into a bladed whip, wrapping around the man's arm with the buzzaxe and pulled on it.

"That's a bad friend touch." This time he creepily said this before tugging the whip back with great force, judging how Rose was lifted off her feet and sent flying toward the guy only to be slammed aside.

"That… was a bad idea…" Rose said with a groan before I looked back at the man who knocked Amelia aside as if she was nothing. I held Molten Fox up, ready to defend myself for anything. My sword lit up with flames as the man stood in front of me with electricity sparking off him. He only chuckled before he let out a grunt, the sparks around his body dispersing and this made him reel back. This gave me a window to strike.

I rushed forward towards him as he staggered a bit, as I got close to him I swing my blade at him, my blade drove itself into his chest, actually hurting him as he held out in pain.

"Pain!" He yelled before shoving me back, leaving Molten fox impaled on him much to my dismay. Mavis took this time to help Rose while Amelia was ready to defend.

"Come on, we're too enclosed to fight!" Mavis exclaimed and well… she wasn't joking.

"Does anyone have any ideas? So far if he grabs anything with electricity it will power him up." Rose asked as she moved her shoulder, checking if it was broken. Amelia looked over to her Halberd that was knocked away before grabbing it.

"From the looks of it, the man is now weakened, if we strike now, we can finish him off." Amelia offering the idea. I looked back at the man with Molten Fox in his gut, it made me frown as I was without a weapon… oh, wait.

I reached back and pulled the greatsword I had and held it out towards the man. It felt a little awkward in my hands as I held the sword.

"Another pain stick… put it in me!" He said, taking me as a challenge while also pulling Molten Fox out of his stomach. Once he did that he tossed near Amelia before he pulled out a vial of red… Dust? What is… "I'll show you what a badass is!" He yelled before turning his wrist to reveal some kind of injector port or something before slamming the vial down on it, causing his hand to twitch wildly as his veins shone a fiery red glow. We all watched as his one eye glowed red as the wounds he has gotten closed up.

"... I say we should run." Rose stated which we all agreed to quickly before taking off where we came from. As we ran Amelia grabbed Molten Fox and the madman let out a crazed laugh as he charged after us.

"I will make steaks out of your eyeballs!" He yelled during the chase, which didn't help with the fact that he was gaining on us!

"Okay… so the plan is running?!" I asked everyone as we ran.

“No Lady Viri, we are not running,” Amelia said as she ran beside me. “We are advancing in the other direction!”

“Lords she has a funny bone!” Rose yelled before ducking under some random equipment. “Is he still behind us?!”

“RAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” The madman screamed as he sawed that piece of equipment in half and continue to run after us. The Dust must've been giving him some sort of superhuman like abilities, seriously it's straight out of some video game or comic.

“That’s a yes!” Rose yelled as we ran faster. It wasn’t until we finally got outside that we split off in random directions, seeing who the madman will go after just so whoever he isn’t following can turn around and go after him.

Sadly, the person he’s chasing is… me. “AHHHHHH!” I screamed as the madman chased after me like a bat out of hell… it’s terrifying.

"There is no barbecue UNTIL I SAY THERE'S A BARBECUE!" Yelled the Madman before I glanced back in time to see him exhale a large ball of fire that I managed to just barely dodge out of the way, getting the trees to be lit ablaze. This, of course, caused the fire to spread rather rapidly around us, almost as if he could control it. I turned back to see the man towering over me, looking down at me with his one eye. All I could do was try to crawl my way away from him. "You're going on the great meathook in the sky." He said to me menacingly as he prepared a killing blow.

“STOP!” a voice that I didn’t recognize screamed out towards us and the madman stopped moving. I looked over to see… Weiss? No, wait… it can’t be her.

The woman wore a business-like blue dress with white hair that’s done up in a bun. She looks a lot like Weiss if she was older. The psychotic man turned to look at the woman, which allowed me to make some space between me and him. Upon facing her, his weapon dropped onto the ground. The two stared at each other for a bit as the fire raged on before I took a moment to reach for my weapon… oh, wait Amelia has it… crap.

The woman took a few steps forward, trying to stay out of the fire as she stared at the madman. "Please… take off that mask. Let me get a look of your face." The woman asked softly. For a solid minute, nothing happened, besides the roaring fire which this lady paid no mind for now. Then… Then the man's arm struggled to move up to his mask, almost like he was conflicted. As this was going on I was somewhat listening as I was trying to keep the flames from spreading by using my semblance to keep them from spreading. So far I moved the flames to one tree as it raged on fire.

I looked back in time to see the man drop his mask, revealing his scarred face. His one working eye, now an interesting shade of purple, completely differed from his other eye, the latter being similar to that of a blank orb. He was panting, almost as if out of breath as he stared at the woman. The woman stepped forward towards the man to get a closer look.

"I knew you were here. I knew it." The woman said with a smile on her face. "You know how long I've been looking for you?" She walked up to the man and I wish I could have told her to stand back but if I halved my attention, this fire is going to go crazy.

"S-snow angel…" The man said… Softly? This surprise caused me to lose focus and the fire burst free once again, engulfing the area around us which made the madman look… Worried but as luck would seem to have it, it began to rain… hard. It was odd since it was clear a few moments ago. The woman let out a yell from the sudden rain downpour but before long I saw the fire was doused.

"The sky weeps in sadness as my soul does!" Yelled the man suddenly before looking back at the woman… Then at his buzzaxe. Uh oh…

The man stared at his buzz axe and even reach down for it but his hand stopped mere inches from it and I could hear his struggle. He looked very conflicted for those few moments before he grabbed his weapon finally.

"Snow Angel… not… meat…" I could hear him mutter despite the pouring rain before he dropped his weapon once more. At this moment, the woman spoke up.

“You must’ve been through a lot… I’m… I’m so sorry.” The woman said to the man. She reached out to the man’s hands and took hold of his hand in her own as tears began to well up her eyes.

"Angel… shouldn't be sorry…" Said the man softly as through the corner of my eye I spotted my knight in shining armour, Amelia with Molten Fox on her hip as she snuck her way over to me.

"Lady Viri." She whispered to me, kneeling beside me as she did. Her armour was already soaked in the rain as were my clothes. I looked back at the other two who were simply looking at one another before I slowly stood up.

“Is everyone else alright?” I whispered to Amelia.

"Yes, Lady Mavisath and Lady Rose are safe. The former is the cause for this rain to help douse the flames." Amelia whispered back informatively before I looked over her shoulder, seeing the other two.

“That bastard of a husband… can’t believe this is how low he would go just to be on top.” The woman said tears started to fall from her eyes. Both Amelia and I looked at one another for a few moments before looking back at the other two just as the woman hugged the maniacal man, which surprised even him.

"Willow…" I heard the man utter under his breath and while they embraced, I saw Mavis and Rose arrive to see this before Mavis spotted me and Amelia.

"Is everything alright?" Mavis asked both of us. Rose looked over at the two before whispering.

“Well… he’s not trying to carve us and trying to barbeque us. That’s a start.” Rose whispered. I looked to Mavis and nodded a little.

“Everything is… fine I think? It seems that the two of them know each other.” I explained to Mavis as I looked back at the two. “If it wasn’t for her, I would’ve taken a buzzaxe to the face.” Mavis, Rose and even Amelia gave me an odd look at the word Buzzaxe but I didn't care much for that.

"I see… hmm." Mavis said with a hum before looking at the woman. "Interesting, that's Willow Schnee." She added in a curious tone. Wait, her last name is Schnee? So is she Weiss' mom or some sort of relative? Before anyone could do or say something I notice that the woman, err miss Schnee, was walking towards us.

“Ah… umm, hello everyone… sorry for what… has happened.” Miss Schnee said with a sad look on her face before looking at me. “Are you alright?” She asked me.

“Uhh, yeah… I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” I answered her as the rain slowly started to stop. Mavis arched a brow at Willow then at the man before back at her.

"You seem to be well acquainted with that man, ma'am," Mavis said with an arched brow. "Have a history together I presume?" She asked Willow only to realize something. "Oh sorry, that's kinda rude of me. I'm Mavis Mal Kun." Mavis said, introducing herself. Miss Schnee looked at Mavis for a few moments before bowing her head a little.

“Hello, my name is Willow Schnee.” She introduced herself as the rest of us did the same. All the while the man kept his distance, motionless beside his breathing as he stared into nothingness. What's up with that guy?

We explained our situation and our reason for being on this island, which surprised Willow. She mentioned how no one outside of the Atlas elites ever knew about this place. Our whole explanation took us a bit and all the while the man, who Misses Schnee has told us was named Delic, stood in the center of the open area.

"I understand your wish to save him but… how do you plan on helping him?" Mavis asked Willow, regarding her plans to help Delic. This made Misses Schnee frown a bit.

"I… I don't know." She said sadly before adding with a sigh. "I thought maybe I could find something here and… and do something." She said while giving Delic some sad glances.

"I'm sorry to be the negative one here but are you sure he can be saved?" Amelia asked Willow, the former's armour having dried off by now and her Halberd on her back.

"I…" Misses Schnee started to say before looking down at the ground. "I believe so… I'm going to try."

The rest of us looked at one another in silence with uncertainty. Rose turned to Misses Schnee and spoke.

“Look, hate it to break this to you but… I doubt that he will ever be normal again.” Rose explained quite bluntly. Miss Schnee looked at Rose in shock than in outrage.

“Y-You don’t know that! How would someone like you ever know that!” Miss Schenn screamed at Rose.

“That’s true, I don’t know that for sure but let’s face facts here, that man tried to kill us, and we simply walked into the building. He may be fine now but sooner or later he’ll snap and then he will go out on a rampage.” Miss Schnee stared angrily at Rose before that anger turned into sorrow.

“I… I just want him back… I want Delic back…” She cried where she stood. This got a reaction from the once motionless man, he glanced back and saw Willow's sorrow… and looked hurt.

"Pardon my partners' lack of thought here, I do believe there is some way to help him. Truly I do and it's best to never give up hope." Mavis said while casting a glare at Rose. Rose shook her head at Mavis as Amelia and I watched on. "And I may know of someone who can help but I'm going to need to head into that old research facility," Mavis said, which got a grunt from Delic as this seemed to have angered him. "And destroy whatever evidence of the experiments that led to this man's psychotic nature." She then added which surprised Delic, having not expected this. Well, kinda think of it, maybe we aren't the first to come here. Like maybe Atlas have tried to reclaim what was theirs, explains the body from before. I saw Miss Schnee sniffle a bit but a look of anger was on her face. I wonder what that’s about.

Rose didn’t look as happy as well, though not very. She had her arms crossed as she watched Mavis walked off towards the building.

"I shall await her return." Amelia simply announced, standing at attention with her halberd in hand. I looked over at Rose and saw her walk over to a nearby tree. I went over to her to see how she is.

“Hey, Rose.” I greeted her, which made her glance at me.

“Hey V.” Rose greeted back, using a nickname she gave me some time ago.

“How is it going with you?” I asked her which caused her to frown a bit.

“I don’t know… I didn’t want to come off as a rude bitch but I’m looking at the facts here; Delic had something done to him that caused him to go all badass psycho and we didn’t do much to him until he seemed to power down for a bit.” Rose explained.

“Until I stabbed him with a flaming sword.” I pointed out to her, flattening my ears on top of my head.

“Hey, we didn’t know what else he could do… but… ugh.” Rose said, scratching her head a bit.

“Something wrong?” I asked her. It took a few moments but Rose spoke up.

“I just… when I met up with Mavis I saw her point to the sky and then storm clouds appear, as if she could control the weather!” Rose explained to me. I was silent for the next two or three minutes, blinking and processing what she had just said.

“You… saw her do this?” I asked her in shock.

“I was like… five feet behind her!” Rose said loudly before sighing. “I didn’t stop her to ask her about it due to worrying if you were now ground Viri.” After she said this, the ground shook and an explosion surprised all of us, the entire research facility just went up in a fiery inferno that shocked us all. However, before anyone could react in horror to the fact that Mavis was in there, she came out from the thick forest cuddling Sylph who wagged her tail in happiness. We all looked at her, then at the burning building, then at her.

“My lady!” Amelia yelled as she ran over to her. Rose frowned a little.

“Aww… I wanted to blow stuff up as well.” Rose grumbled a bit. I rolled my eyes at this before I went over to Mavis, who was laughing as Sylph was licking her face. It took some time but soon we all headed off into the forest before ending up near the shore. On said shore, we saw a Bullhead that was- wait wasn’t it in the forest before? Oh, and I saw Aunty Axycia there as well.

Mavis went over to talk to Auntie while the others and I walked over to the Bullhead except for Delic and Misses Schnee. The latter two waited a bit away from the rest of us. Delic has been keeping quiet oddly enough, after having been chased and yelled at by this guy nonstop earlier I didn't think being quiet was his thing.

"Think you can do it?" Mavis asked Auntie as I tuned into their conversation a little later than I would've liked. Auntie thought about it for a few moments, humming as well.

“It’s… possible. Doing this without some… special assistance, I can do so much to help.” Auntie said to Mavis. The latter smiled before calling Willow over and upon sight of the Schnee, Auntie's eyes widened. “Oh… well, this just got interesting.” Auntie said with a smile. I arched a brow as Willow looked at Auntie with wide eyes.

“You’re… the CEO of Malkun Industries.” Willow said in shock at Auntie.

“Yes, yes I am. And you’re Willow Schnee.” Auntie said with a little bow. “Nice to meet you.”

Willow looked at Auntie with some worry but tried to keep a brave face while facing her. Mavis noticed this and spoke up.

"I've spoken to her about Delic's situation and mental state, she proposed an idea that may help in bringing back the man you once knew," Mavis said to Willow while Auntie nodded at this, confirming this to be true.

"Although, it will take my people quite some time." Auntie chimed in to which Willow replied.

“I don’t care, I’ll do anything if it can get-” Willow started to say but Auntie cut her off.

“Done.” She said which got a surprise from Willow. The latter was stunned but looked grateful before going over to Delic and bringing him over. "Before we continue, however, for safety reasons he'll need to be handcuffed," Auntie said to Willow who nodded at this before Delic brought both his wrists out. Auntie placed some odd-looking bracelets on his wrists before a beep was heard the bracelets emitted an odd hum. After all that was said and done, Auntie boarded the bullhead with Delic and Willow in tow before taking off, leaving us down on the island.

“So… now what?” Rose asked before looking at Mavis. “Are you going to make clouds for us to ride on to get back?” Upon asking this, Sylph let out a snort, finding this funny as did Mavis.

"No, I was thinking something much simpler." She said before snapping her fingers, engulfing us in that familiar golden light before seeing that we were in my dorm room, luckily Amaram and Umbra were still out by the looks of it. Amelia blinked a couple of times, the blinding light does that to one while Rose was stunned for a few moments before diving towards a garbage bin and started to vomit.

“Yeah… I did the same thing when that happened to me.” I said as we all looked around at each other… as Rose vomits. Mavis, of course, rolled her eyes at this.before we heard a whimper in the room, and we knew it wasn't Sylph, which only meant…

"Amber!" I exclaimed loudly, remembering her situation suddenly. I looked over and saw she was laying on her bed, whimpering and panting as she on her side. I ran over to her with a worried look.

"She's in labour," Mavis said before looking around and simply kneeling beside Amber. "You all wait outside, I'll handle this," Mavis said to us all but I didn't want to leave Amber like this. "Viri, she'll be fine. I promise." She said to me. I didn’t say anything but I soon stood up and followed the others out of the room, Rose now carrying the garbage bin with her. As the door closed I sank to the floor and pulled my knees up as I waited at the door. Though just a minute into the wait, I began to hear something heading this way and when I looked up, I saw that it was Oni that ran over here as if life depended on it. When he stopped by the door, he began to pant and paw at the door.

“Yeah… Yeah, I want to as well buddy.” I said to Oni who whined at the door some more. Amelia gave me and Oni sympathetic looks while Rose groaned, her head practically inside the garbage bin. Time went on, I don't know how long though, it felt like hours! And each passing moment only made me more scared of the thought of losing Amber being a reality.

Just as I began to truly panic, the door to the room opened up for us to enter and while Rose decided that she'll just turn in for the day, me, Amelia and Oni were quick to enter the room, shutting the door behind us. When we looked over we saw Mavis sitting on a chair with a sigh as Amber was lying in her bed and… oh, my lords Puppies!

I saw five little puppies laying next to Amber who was giving them some affectionate licks to each of them. Oni went up to Amber and the two nuzzled one another before Oni saw the pups and laying down beside Amber. I grew excited at the sight of them and I could tell Oni was the same.

“Oh, Amber…” I said as I went over to her and saw her wag her tail a bit. I sat on the bed and felt her nuzzle me as we heard some of the puppies made some adorable sounds.

Ch. 15

View Online

It’s been a few days since the events on the island where the now burned down Atlas laboratory is at and Ambers birth of five new… flame puppies? Kinda hard to describe them as they look like Grimm Beowolves that are on fire. It was much easier than I thought so nevermind.

Everyone, when they found out about the pups, simply gush over the fact of them which soon led to me finding out that Team RWBY also had a dog as well, a dog named Zwei, a small black-headed Corgi who’s very friendly with everyone he meets.

Anyway, everyone gushed over the puppies and dogs, even Indigo who I never thought I would see him gush over something. It was pretty funny to see though Blake wasn’t around to see the puppies. Don’t know why though.

For now, I was busy with Ruby looking at the Greatsword I got from the Atlas lab, though I didn’t tell her where I got it though I don’t think she cares right after getting a good look at the weapon. We have been at it for hours and already took it apart.

“The insides of it are pretty old but it’s still in great condition,” Ruby said as she held up one of the pieces and took a look at it. “And from how it’s built… I believe it can be used as a Rail gun.” Ruby added.

“Neat,” I said as I was cleaning some of the insides from dust and other things, making them… well clean. “I wonder if it can be changed so you could insert some dust charges?” I wondered out loud which made Ruby laugh a bit.

“That would be cool,” Ruby said with a smile. As the two of us working we were talking about anything in our minds, which we laughed or smiled at each other’s times. It was fun. Through our fun weapon tinkering time was interrupted when we heard Ozpin call for Mavis through the PA system, which was odd, of course, but I figured I'd ask after she gets back.

This also got Ruby to look at her clock and made her gasp. “Oh no! Yang’s match is about to start!” Ruby said before she stood up. “Sorry but I have to run.”

“It’s fine, go cheer on for Yang for me,” I told her with a smile as Ruby ran out of the door. I chuckled at this as I finished up my cleaning with the Rail gun-sword. After finishing the cleaning and putting it back together, I went into the bathroom to clean my hands a bit before deciding to give Tak a call, see what he’s up to so I went to my scroll to give him a call and waited for him to pick up.

"Hey Viri." Answered Tak, a video of him popping up in my scroll. With what I could see, he was wearing a rather revealing little dress, though not revealing in Mavis' standards but enough for Tak to catch some glances.

“Hey Tak, how goes it?” I asked him as put the remade greatsword into a case that Mavis made for me to carry it. Looking back at Tak I saw him smiling at the scroll.

"I just got back from my date with Weiss, she got me these." Tak said before moving his hair back to reveal a beautiful looking diamond earring hanging from his ear.

“Oh wow… they look amazing!” I said with a smile on my face. “And Weiss picked them out?” I asked Tak who had a big smile on his face.

"Yeah, she told me their beauty couldn't rival mine." He added with a swoon, to which I chuckled at.

“Yeah, I bet she would say that,” I said to Tak. “Are you with her now? I believe she is going to watch the match with Yang is in.” I asked Tak.

“Actually, I’m with Tak.” I overheard Weiss in the background which made Tak turn the Scroll over so I could see Weiss was also there. Both of them sitting in a rather large couch together.

“Oh sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt anything,” I said, embarrassed of interrupting whatever they were doing.

“It’s fine Viri, we were going to watch the match here anyway.” Weiss said as she snuggled up to Tak happily. The latter looked happy to be there with Weiss and I was happy for them.

"The match is about to start, I'll call you later. Bye!" Tak said with a smile and a wave before hanging up on his end. I smiled at this before looking over at the case for a moment.

"Hmm… I haven't visited Mama or Grandpa since last week…" I said to myself before standing up and grabbing the case with the greatsword in it, wanting to show mama and Grandpa it. I walked to the door and pulled out a key which made the door open to back home. I walked in and smiled as I was home again.

As I was taking in the nostalgia sight I heard footsteps coming towards me.

"Hello?" The voice of my mama spoke out and I saw her walk into the room. She wore a bandanna and an apron before stopping in her tracks when she saw me. "Oh, honey!"

"Hi, mama." I greeted her with a smile before mama came over to hug me. I hugged her back before the two of us pulled away.

"What are you doing here? Did something happen?" Mama asked me worriedly.

"No nothing happened mama," I answered her which made mama let out a sigh.

"Good to hear. What's that?" Mama asked when she saw the case I was holding.

"It something I found on a mission. Me and Ruby were tinkering with it but I wanted to show it to you and grandpa." I explained to mama. When I looked back at her I saw her arching a brow and smiling. "What?" I asked her.

"Oh, nothing. You've been hanging out with Ruby quite a bit huh." Mama said with a chuckle.

"Yeah… why?" I asked her as Mama simply smiled.

"Oh, nothing. Anyway, your Grandpa is in his shop. I was on my way back there." Mama told me before leading me towards there. On the way, we chatted a bit about anything and everything as we passed the ruins and testing areas for grandpa's new creations and passing through a small cluster of trees before we got to the forge. "Dad, guess who decided to come to visit," Mama called out. Just as she called out, an explosion was heard with some laughter.

"Haha! It works!" The voice of my grandfather called out just before he walked out, covered with soot and dusting his hands off. "So who do I have the pleasure of having in my forge?" He asked us before rubbing his eyes from the soot and soon opening them and seeing me, his smile widening. "Haha! There's my little wild fox!" He said with a laugh before he walked over to me.

"Hi, Grandpa!" I greeted him with a big smile before the two of us hugged each other, not caring that he was covered in soot and dust.

"So what brings you here, little fox?" He asked me with a smile.

"Oh just came to visit and show you two something that I found during a mission," I answered him with a smile before looking towards the doorway he came from. "What were you doing in there grandpa?" I asked.

"Nothing, just making something for myself." He said to me with a proud smirk and stance. I giggled at this as well as Mama before remembering the case.

"Oh yeah, check this out," I said as I moved over to an open table and set the case down. As the other two came over I opened the case up and showed mama and grandpa the rail gun greatsword.

"Ooo~," Mama said as she got a look at the sword.

"One of those techy swords eh?" He asked me to which I nodded at before he looked and saw. "I can see that it's Atlas made, I can do better." He said to me before soon offering. "I can whip you up a much stronger and reliable blade." He said to me. I smiled at him before saying.

"I know you could, but I found this cool," I said before adding. "I mean, a greatsword that can be used as a rail gun! That sounds cool." After my little happy childish moment, I looked over to Grandpa and saw him looking at me with an arched brow and a smile. "Yes, I would like a better blade grandpa," I said to him. He smiled and took my sword before I followed him back into the main forge, feeling the heat of the ever-burning furnace.

"I'll just need this flimsy thing gone," Grandpa said as he popped off the blade of the greatsword rather easily. "Atlas is known for their guns, not their swords. You hit one of their mechs with this and it'll shatter." He said to me.

"Huh… so what are you going to do with these?" I asked as I looked at the blades of the great sword.

"Most likely melt them down, make a cup out of them probably. That's all its good for." Grandpa said to me with a little laugh as ma entered the forge.

"Is Atlas steel that bad?" I asked which Mama answered.

"Depends on what it's used for," Mama answered before walking over to us. "I convinced Ray to switch from Atlas' metals. Papa helped me prove a point by bending your father's axe blade quite effortlessly." She said.

"Oh wow," I said as Grandpa chuckled at this. I looked over as he was looking over at some metal he had around. "Grandpa, you think I could help?" I asked him with a smile.

"I don't see why not, just don't burn yourself on the forge again." He said to me with a chuckle. My ears flattened on top of my head, remembering the one time I burned myself.

"I thought I wouldn't burn myself," I muttered to myself. Mama laughed as she heard this before she brought out the necessary tools while Grandpa cracked his knuckles.

"Time to work the ol' charm." He said with a smirk before walking over to the forge before setting up the forge and I soon found myself being seated at the drawing table. "Well? That blade of yours isn't going to design itself you know." He said to me. I blinked at him before realizing what he meant. I turned myself around and pulled a paper over to me and started to think of some kind of blade.

Looking over at the greatsword itself I saw that it was really… bulky. I drew the look of the greatsword at first then start drawing a sleeker version of the greatsword. At the end of it, I saw that I drew a simpler looking blade that had two blades instead of one. Maybe they could simply split apart and act like a railgun? While thinking this I drew a third drawing of what it would look like as a railgun, so far it looks the same but with lasers coming out of it and some smoke coming off of it. I kept adding to it and at the end, I had to get a new piece of paper with the two designs, one was one solid blade with a long handle for someone to hold with two hands, the blade was long and straight, with some fox-like designs on the blade. The second was the same but the blade was split down the middle and the handle had ‘glowing’ parts to it, showing that it had energy before firing. The question was how to fire it?

"Times up!" Exclaimed Grandpa as he yanked the drawings from me suddenly, to which I reacted in a childlike manner… honestly, I feel like a little kid when I'm around my grandparents.

“Hey! I wasn’t done yet!” I whined as I tried to reach for them, Grandpa keeping them out of reach as Mama was chuckling at this.

"Going to have to try harder next time, little fox," Grandpa said to me before seeing my drawings, humming at them as he went to the railgun and grabbed it before, with the help of his tools, took out some bits and pieces of old Atlas Tech. "While you were drawing, I took the liberty of giving this a test fire and while I must say your improvements to it certainly help it but without them, this would be a piece of junk," Grandpa said before soon adding. "Nearly all of the key components were rusted out or running on fumes." He said to me before taking a couple of things from a nearby storage room, one of many here and soon came back with some replacement parts… And a prism? As quick as he took the other pieces the new ones went in as well as the prism. After he was done with that he looked at me and said. "Go ahead and give it a go while I make your blade." He said to me, handing me the heavy railgun. Grunting a bit, I took the Railgun part of the sword outside.

"Okay...how do I exactly… fire you?" I asked out loud, having just realized that me nor Ruby have figured that part out just yet. I hummed and looked at it before spotting the trigger, along with several other coloured ones. I decided to go with the plain one for now and when I did… nothing happened. "W-what? Come on, don't do this to me." I said to it as if it were a person. I panicked, thinking this was all a dud before spotting. "Safety?" I read the little label before flicking the small switch, getting the gun to hum to life with a bright red hue.

"Yes!" I exclaimed happily before pointing it towards one of the many targets laid out for me before pulling the trigger and with a futuristic hum and bright light, a very deadly looking laser shot out from the gun and quickly missed the intended target, or all for that matter and struck the top of the forge, destroying a rather large chunk of it and making a big mess. "Oh… uh oh…"

I reached over to turn the safety back on before looking at the building, hoping it wouldn't fall over. I sighed eventually before looking down at the gun. "I think it's best I wait for the blade before using you again," I said to it. Looking at the base of the rail gun I saw the other buttons on it. So… many other buttons.

After a few minutes of debating of pushing the buttons, I picked the rail gun base up and carried it inside, wanting to see how grandpa is doing. Upon entering the forge again, I saw him and Mama working the forge itself.

"Easy now, pumpkin. Slowly pour it onto the mould." Grandpa said to Mama, who looked super focused with this, being super careful.

"Yes, dad…" Mama said as she did just that. I would've expected something else than that but she was again super focused. It wasn't long before she finished pouring the molten metal into the mould. As she pulled away she waited nervously for the metal to cool. After thirty seconds of waiting, the metal cooled off there and then, the moltenness of it left behind a stainless metal blade which looked sharper than anything I've ever seen before.

"Haha! A natural you are!" Grandpa said with joyous laughter as he patted Mama's shoulder. Mama smiled at this happily before she noticed me standing here.

"Oh Hey Viri, when did you get back?" Mama asked me as she set the tool she was holding down.

"Just now," I answered her as I put the rail gun part down. Grandpa looked at me and arched a brow.

"Oh, I know that look… your mother had that look when she was more or less your age." He said to me with an arched brow, which got me to laugh nervously.

"Wha?! Umm, I don't know what you're talking about…" I said, thinking back at the large hole on top of the forge.

"That is the look of a Blacksmith!" He exclaimed loudly with a hearty laugh. I blinked at him, did he not know?

"Huh?" Was all I could say and mama laughed at this.

"I had the same look." She said to me with a smile. I blinked at this as I was still trying to get over the fact that didn't hear what happened outside.

"If you ever wanted to try your hand at smithing, I'll be happy to show you." Grandpa soon told me before then adding. "And do hand that over before you blow another chunk off my workshop." He said to me with a smile. Busted...

"Sorry, grandpa…" I said to him as I hung my head a bit.

"Don't look so glum, mistakes are a part of progress." He said to me before gesturing me over to him. I handed him the gun before he spoke. "Is this something you had in mind?" He asked me, showing me the new blade. I looked up in shock as the blade was exactly how I drew it.

"Whoa…" I said in awe as I looked at it. "But… how did it cool so quickly?" I asked.

"Ha! A master craftsman never reveals their secret to just anyone." He said to me, getting Mama to let out a giggle at this. "Anyway, this blade here will get you through practically any situation." He said to me before taking it, moving it and the gun closer before my eyes widened as I saw the blade's bottom move like liquid, attaching itself properly as if it belonged there in the first place. Once it was fully on, he gave me a full-on look before turning it into gun mode and that's when I saw the magic happen, the blade itself splitting into two and parting just wide enough for the gun barrel to pop out.

"Whoa!!!" I said in excitement as I watched this happened. "That's so cool!" Grandpa chuckled at this and soon turned it back into sword mode and said.

"Now for the finishing touches." He said before putting his hand on the blade. His hand began to shine and so did the blade. I watched as the designs of Foxes form on the blade.

"How did you do that!?" I asked grandpa as he finished up and chuckled.

"Well, being with your grandmother has given me some things, I guess in layman's terms I could be called the God of Smithing." He said with a chuckle before handing the sword back to me. "I already have a name perfect for your new weapon. Mental Fury." He said to me as I grabbed the sword, surprised at its lightweight.

"That's so cool! I love it!" I said happily as I turned the blade around. Mama smiled at me as I was holding the blade as if it was a birthday present.

"Happy to hear that and remember what I said about those lessons," Grandpa said to me with a chuckle and with a smile he said. "And do visit more, it doesn't feel the same without my little curious fox around." He said to me.

"I will grandpa," I said to him as I put the greatsword down and gave both mama and grandpa a hug.

"Do come back to visit Viri," Mama said softly which I nodded at her. She kissed me on the cheek before I said my final goodbyes, heading back out of the forge and through the door that was still there. I shut it behind me and looked at my sword, seeing it got me all giddy. I put it down by my bed before pulling out my scroll to see that it's been several hours. Whoops. Also, I have a large number of texts from Ruby. Double whoops.

I felt bad that I ignored her texts so I pulled it up to see that the first one was her and her team watching Yang fight against someone named Mercury. As I read the texts I saw that Ruby was detailing the match… though I had to get through a lot of her saying that Yang is so cool.

All that changes when I got to the last one which read 'Yang won… but she attacked Mercury!!' Wait what?!

I reread the last texted to make sure I read that right. Why would Yang do this?! I left my room and headed down the hallway to find everyone else. Eventually, I found Yang, seated within Theodore's classroom, the professor himself nowhere to be seen but Mavis was beside Yang, hugging the blonde.

"I… I didn't do it… there was no way that I could have done it." I heard Yang said to Mavis sadly. The latter kissed the blonde on the cheek, hugging her blonde lover.

"And I believe you." I heard Mavis say to Yang, who sniffled at this as if she couldn't believe that Mavis was here with her. It was a few moments that Mavis realized that they weren’t alone anymore and turned to see me at the door.

“What happened?” I asked her as Yang sobbed into Mavis's shoulder. She shushed me but I soon heard her voice.

"It's rather complicated to explain." I heard her voice say… oh right, she can do that. "Take out your scroll and take mine, I want you to see the video of the match. Trust me." She said through the mental link as I did just that. I pulled out my scroll and saw there was a news feed of the match. I watched the part where Yang did it but as I did something in my head… twitched. It was annoying but as I watched Yang walk passed her opponent and then fired at him, that twitch never left. I rubbed my head at this before going over to Mavis’ scroll to watch her video. It was the same only that Yang’s opponent was much farther away. As Yang turned away he ran up to get one last hit in only for Yang to punch him. He started screaming in pain and the same thing happened in mine. There was no odd twitch in Mavis’ video than the one I saw on my scroll. I looked up at Mavis with a confused look as I rubbed my head a bit.

"What you saw on your scroll was an illusion, created to make it look as if Yang attacked that man out of nowhere." She said through the mental link and as far fetched as that sounded… I believed her. I mean, what reason do I have not to trust Mavis?

“Right…” I said mentally to myself, hoping that Mavis can hear that, as I looked at the video on her scroll and saw that the Team Mercury is on left the tournament and headed off back home and Team RWBY was disqualified. “How’s everyone else?” I asked Mavis.

"It's a little divided but I'm not the only one that believes her words." Mavis answered me as she gave Yang some loving kisses. I nodded sadly at her before I decided to give the two some space and headed out of the room. When I did, I made my way back to my dorm room.

It was a long silent walk back but upon reaching my room, I heard the voices of my two teammates and began to hope that they were on our side in this whole thing. I looked up just as they entered the room.

“Oh, hello Viri. Didn’t think you be back so soon.” Amaran said to me.

“I was gone for a few hours Amaran,” I said to her. “I also heard what happened at the match today.” This caused Umbra to frown.

“You mean the match that Yang decided to be an ass in front of thousands of people and attack her opponent when it was obvious that she won,” Umbra said angrily. Okay, I guess Umbra wasn’t on the same side as me.

“You can’t simply believe that? Can you?” I asked her as Umbra looked at me as if I was crazy.

“Viri, I saw it. Everyone did!” Umbra yelled at me as Amaran tried to calm her down. “And Yang has the gaul to lie that she didn’t do it while it was a total lie in front of us.”

I frowned at Umbra as I looked at Amaran. “You can’t believe this is true?” I asked her.

“I wish I could Viri but… I was with Umbra and I had a pretty good view of what happened. At least she didn’t get kicked out of the academy.” Amaran said as Umbra flopped down onto her bed with a frown on her face. I frowned as well as I saw both my teammates believed that Yang did what the fake video showed. I could only hope that Mavis can convince them and show them the truth. For now… I'll just sit here and wait, arguing over the fact that Yang hasn't done anything wrong.

Ch. 16

View Online

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. The sky was a bright blue, the clouds were a soft and fluffy white and the birds were singing their song. Yes, today was going to be a great day…

"AHHHHH!! MY DESK IS ON FIRE AGAIN!!!" The keyword 'was'. I aimed the fire extinguisher towards my desk and fired the foam onto it, dousing the flame that burned my desk… again. When I was finished I looked upon the ruined desk that soon crumbled to ash and burnt wood. I sighed at this as I set the extinguisher down as Amaran opened all the windows to let the smoke out.

"That's the fifth extinguisher we went through in the past twenty-four hours. I would say that's impressive but… I don't want to jinx it." Umbra said as she helped Amaran out with the windows. She wasn't kidding, the past few days have been weird for me as things in our dorm room were spontaneously catching on fire. At first, I thought it was Amber doing this but that wasn't the case as it happened again without her being nearby, AND IT'S HAPPENING AROUND ME!!!

"Do you two think these are recyclable?" Amaran asked as she opened the door to a closet full of empty fire extinguishers.

"I believe so, there's a place in the city." Umbra informs our Bull Faunus teammate. I sighed a bit as I looked at my ruined new desk.

"Guess I have to go desk hunting… again." I said, somewhat annoyed about this. The school did get me a few new desks but after repeated times that this happened they stopped, thinking that I was doing this on purpose. I'm not doing this on purpose!!

I sighed at this before bidding the other two as they went out to do some shopping. I looked around at the place, the smell of burnt wood hangs in the air which drove me to do the most logical thing to do; go find Mavis.

I exited my dorm room and wander the halls in search of Mavis. As I did my nose started to itch and I feel a sneeze coming on but for some reason, I couldn’t be able to sneeze. Ugh, this is going to be annoying.

After going all over the school in a mad search for my teammate, but really it only took five minutes, I found Mavis outside with Amber. The two were sitting under a tree as they watch Amber’s pups play with each other. Even though I’m slightly annoyed with everything that’s happening with me, the sight of the pups playing brought a smile on my face. Mavis noticed me walking over and gave me a wave, Amber raising her head to greet me with a tail wag.

"Hey Viri." Mavis greeted me with a smile before arching a brow and adding. "You seem on edge. What's up?" She asked me.

"My desk was burnt to ash… again." I answered her which made Amber snort a bit. "And I said I was sorry!" This caused Amber to rest her head down onto the grass. I sighed a bit before feeling my nose itch a bit.

"And? Have you thought not to control your semblance when it flares up?" She asked me with an arched brow soon after I scratched my nose a bit.

“I’ve tried but when it happens it just… happens. Oh, lords am I losing control of my own semblance?!” I cried out, a wave of worry washed over me. I was soon brought out of my thoughts by Amber as she came over and headbutted my leg a bit, her way of saying ‘Calm down.’ “Ahh… thanks, Amber.” I said to her, kneeling down and scratching behind her ear.

"You aren't losing control of your semblance, Viri. If you were the academy would be engulfed in flames by now." Mavis said to me simply which made me blink at her bluntness.

“Ah… that’s terrifying.” I said the image of a burning Beacon comes to mind as I said that. “If that’s the case… what’s happening?” I asked her, scratching my nose some more. As I said this I heard some barks from behind me. I turned and saw all the puppies bounce over towards Rose who was kneeling down and happily playing with them.

"Well if it's not the lack of control, there's only one other thing it could be." Mavis said to me before looking over to Rose, leaving me in suspense as she greeted Rose. "Hey, Rose."

"Hey hey." Rose greeted us all the puppies were happily playing around her feet. One of them was gnawing on one of her boots but Rose didn't seem to mind that much. "What's up?" She asked us as I felt the urge to sneeze grow stronger.

"Ugh, Mavis are you going to say what you're going to say? Leaving me hanging with the answer is a bit annoying." I said to Mavis, sounding somewhat childish. Rose arch a brow at this.

"What's going on?" Rose asked the both of us as she picked up a puppy.

"Viri here is having some troubles." Mavis said back to her with a held back laugh. I frowned at this, she was about to say something but was not saying it!! And Ahhhh! My nose!

"Does it have to do with the fires?" Rose asked as I close my eyes and shake my head. This held back sneeze is bugging me!!

"Yes actually." Mavis said before snapping her fingers, although nothing seemed to happen as far as I knew. "Viri, you're experiencing, what you would normally call, second puberty." Mavis said to me and while Rose, after letting the puppy go, keeled over in laughter she continued. "Which is, in turn, a result of your divine heritage." She said to me informatively through Rose's laughter.

"Huh… what you…" I couldn't finish my words as the held back sneeze was becoming too unbearable to finish as the sneeze going to happen soon.

"Oh wow, that's too funny!" Rose laughed before looking up and seeing my state. "Uhhh, okay… why do you look like you're about to-"

"AHHHHHHHCHOOOO!" I sneezed so hard there was some backlash as a pillar of fire erupted from me and shot straight into the sky. This lasted for about a minute before dying down and I fell forward, now sore for some reason. But hey, I don't feel the sneeze anymore.

"Oh dear." I heard Mavis say as I soon felt the pups lick the side of my face. I smiled a little as I slowly pushed myself up, seeing the pups climb onto me.

"Jeez… I heard of explosive sneezes, but that's kinda pushing it." Rose said before she looked up at me and her eyes widen. "Uhhh…"

"What? What's wrong?" I asked her as she pointed at me… well not at me but around me.

"Tail…" she said in awe which I frown a little. Of course, I have a tail, why is that so- "second… tail." Rose added… wait what?

I looked back over my shoulder to see my tail was there but when I looked over my shoulder I saw… a second tail.

"What the hell!?!" I yelled, seeing that I didn't have one tail but two. Dos, one more than the usual. Two tails! What's next? Am I going to turn yellow and be able to fly? Why two tails!?

"Will you calm down, Viri. You're overreacting." Mavis said to me as, despite my freakout, the pups hung onto me. I wanted to yell at her at the idea of calming down was crazy but I bit my lip to hold back my yell. There was a groan from nearby as Rose pushed herself upwards.

“Is that a thing I should be worried about? Every time you sneeze fire explodes outwards?” Rose asked, checking to see she was burnt or burning, which luckily she wasn’t.

"No, Rose. I doubt the next outburst would be as violent as the first one." Mavis said to her before continuing. "And there will be significantly fewer fires from now on as long as she doesn't hold back the surges." Mavis added which only added on to my confusion and when I was about to yell at her to start making sense, one of the pups poked its head into view from above, it laying atop my head.

“Surges… you say that as if there’s going to be more of them…” Rose said as I giggled a little at the puppy on top of my head. Amber came over and sat beside me as her pups returned to happily playing around as if what just happened never happened.

"Yes, there's more." Mavis said back to Rose with a roll of her eyes as one of the pups was in her arms as she hugged and petted it. She must've picked one up at some point.

“And they’re not going to be as… explosive, as this one?” Rose asked, glancing back at me before backing at Mavis who rolled her eyes at this.

"I just said that they weren't going to be as violent. Have you not been paying attention?" Mavis asked back, sounding a little annoyed at Rose.

“Sorry, still getting over the fact that I was a foot away from a fire pillar explosion, my nerves are, at the moment, shot right now.” Rose said as she tried to clean one of her ears out. I watched the two glare at each other for a moment before I decided to speak up.

“Umm… just wondering, is there something else different about me other than the second tail?” I asked Mavis, getting her attention away from Rose. "What's this about Divine Heritage?" I also asked.

"You're part goddess." Mavis said bluntly as she looked at me, idly petting the puppy in her arms who seemed to relish in the affection. Me and Rose stared at her as my brain trying to connect the dots.

"She's… part goddess?" Rose asked Mavis before adding. "Uhh… goddess of fire since… you know." Rose didn't finish as she believed she got her thoughts across.

"Yes she's part goddess and no not goddess of fire. That bit has yet to be decided." Mavis said all the while I took a while to finally realize the gravity of this revelation.

“I’m part goddess… and no one ever thought of telling me?!” I asked loudly before continuing on with equal outrage. "Like, really!? This is a pretty big thing to keep from me!"

"No one else knew but me, Viri." Mavis said to me simply with a straight face. "Your mother didn't think you'd had inherited the divine heritage." She added as she continued to play with the pup before soon putting it down as Sylph, who I never noticed was here, took the pups place in Mavis' arms. The pup in question looked up at Mavis sadly then it turned into confusion when the pup saw Sylph there, then turned into playfulness as the pup chased after a falling leaf.

“Wait… mama is also a goddess?” I asked Mavis, as the image of my mama in her workshop tinkering away would also a goddess herself filled my mind. She gave a sort of 'eh' hand gesture.

"More so than you, yes. She is half Divine, half-mortal. Your grandfather at the time being mortal himself." Mavis said and my mind went nope when she said at the time. "You are more… A quarter or so divine." She added though I didn't care much for the specifics as it didn't change the fact that I'm part, Divine. "Need me to explain the specifics?" She asked me as she saw my confused look. I would've answered yes but I knew if I did it would only lead to a headache.

“No… no I’m good.” I answered her as Mavis chuckled at this as she held Sylph in her arms.

“I’m with Viri with this one.” Rose said as she scratching her head, maybe trying to figure it out on her own and got a headache. “Let’s just wing it and see what happens.”

“I don’t know about it just… winging it.” I said to her in an uncertain tone which Rose simply shrugged back at.

"Anywho, you're free to return to your dorm, Viri. You won't be setting things on fire at random anymore… until the next surge but we'll cross that bridge when we get there." Mavis said to me and it got Rose to look back at Mavis, extremely worried now that. "Oh don't look at me like that, it'll be fine." Mavis was quick to say.

“Right… anyway, I’m going to head out now.” Rose said as she turns on her heel and walked off.

“Where are you going?” I asked her as I stood up.

“Gym! Going to spar against some new blood!” Rose said before disappearing behind a wall.

"And what will you be doing?" Mavis soon asked me with an arched brow. I looked back at Mavis and thought about it.

“Umm… I don’t know…” I said to her as I thought about it. I didn’t have anything planned today. The fires that happened in the past few days stressed me out but now… I didn’t have anything to do. Mavis arched a brow at this as she petted Sylph in her arms, the small frost fox let out some happy sounds from this that made her smile.

"Then head back to your dorm or hang out with your friends. Or you start doing that homework you've been piling up." She said to me with an arched brow though I don't know why is acting this way as if she hasn't been doing the same. I would’ve argued with her but at the moment, I didn’t really feel like it.

“Alright… thanks.” I said to her before I left Mavis with Amber and the pups. Walking down the hallway I saw the other students carry on with their day as if everything is normal and when they saw me I expected them to be shocked at the fact that I have two tails, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, they greeted me normally, not shocked or surprised that I have two tails… that was odd.

As I was walking I noticed a group of students gathering nearby and as I grew closer I saw that they were watching something. Getting a bit closer to see what they were watching I saw that it was a match… odd, I thought there wasn’t a match happening?

The match in question was a one on one match to see who goes to the finals. On one side was some guy that I never met before getting tossed around by a female Faunus with a hammer. Like really, getting tossed around all over the place.

The Faunus in question was a tall, buff woman with fair skin and long black hair. She held her hammer with one hand and when I got a better view of it.. it looked like a hammer. Nothing else, just a plain hammer.

"I mean… what ain't broke." I muttered to myself as the woman knocked her opponent out of bounds and won the match.

"Man, she's terrifying." I heard someone said around me.

"Yeah, plus with the other three are one hell of a team too." Another added in awe.

"Who knew Atlas had such a badass team." A third chimed in as I heard more people talk about it… the problem to me though is that I don't remember such a team. I rack my mind for anything about a team from Atlas but came up with nothing. Where did they come from?

It wasn't long before everyone left and I was standing in the hall by myself. Seeing that I didn't want to be a roadblock I walked down the halls deep in thought. Should I find Mavis and ask her about this… no, she would just say I wasn't paying attention to the tournament.

As I was walking in thought, those thoughts came to a halt when I bumped into someone… and fell over.

"Ah!" I yelped as I fell, who or what did I walk into?! I looked up and saw… the same woman from the match- no wait, there's a difference. Same to the other woman, she had fair skin and long black hair and those are the similarities, she wasn't as buff than the other lady and maybe a tad shorter. I also saw some small horns coming out of her head.

"Need some help, cutie?" I heard her ask me, giggling down at me as she offered a hand. I blushed at this... cutie?

"Thankaaah!" I yelped as she pulled me up to my feet quickly, making me almost lose my balance. Almost. Also, her hand grip is insane!
"Umm… hi." I greeted the strong woman in front of me.

"Heya." She greeted back with a smile before continuing with. "So what's your name? Or you rather I keep calling you, cutie?" She asked me.

"Ah… sorry, I'm Viri Malkun. What's your name?" I asked her before adding. "And… can you let go of my hand?" I asked her kindly as her grip was like a vice.

"The names Camilla Lancaster." She greeted while letting my hand go for me to rub as it was throbbing in pain. "Though people call me Cammy for short." She said to me.

"Hi Cammy, you're a new student?" I asked her since I haven't heard of anyone with the name Lancaster as their last name. Upon me asking this, she chuckled and shook her head.

"No silly, I'm here with my team from Atlas." She said back to me which confused me greatly as I don't recognize her at all, let alone lacking the knowledge of another Atlas team.

"Huh… really." I said before I thought of something; she looked very much like the Hammer lady from the match. "Didn't your team have a match today?" I asked her.

"That was my sister taking us to the finals." Was her immediate response. Sister? Huh, I guess they do look a lot alike.

"Congratulations for that." I said happily to Cammy, who grinned happily though throughout this I did my best to hide my confusion. "The rest of your team must be excited by this."

"You could say that yeah." She said back to me with a giggle before she lost her smile briefly before putting two fingers up to her air, which I soon saw had an earpiece in it. "Sweet." She said with a smile before adding. "Pick me up some food too while you're out." She said before letting the earpiece go. "Sorry about that. Had a call from my sis." She said.

"It's fine." I said with a smile as my tails moved behind me as we talked. "If you don't mind me asking, where were you heading before I ran into you, literally."

"Around. Scanning the competition." She said to me honestly which was… well quite nice of her to do. She did so with a happy go lucky and carefree smile. I arched my brow at her and chuckled.

"Someone sounds confident in their chances to win." I said to Cammy with an arched brow at her cockiness.

"You could say that." She said back to me with a giggle. I chuckled at this too before speaking.

"Anyway, sorry for taking your time, and sorry for running into you." I said to her in an apologetic tone. She merely smiled and said.

"You already made it up to me for being a cutie." She said in a more flirtatious tone, giving me some suggestive looks. My chuckle turned into a nervous laugh as my face turned redder, making Cammy giggle more.

“Oh well… umm… I’ll just… umm…” I stumbled with my words. My mouth wasn’t really working. Wording is hard, uuh! With a giggle, she walked by me.

"I'll catch you around." I heard her say and when I looked back she had more sway in her hips and uhh… well… uhh. My thoughts were scrambled and I stared before she disappeared which made me blink a few times, now able to think clearly. My face was still red at this which I decided to beeline my way back to my dorm room.

Upon arrival, I made a quick beeline into the bathroom where I splashed my face with water in hopes to get my face to stop burning up with the blush. Afterwards, I exited the bathroom and the first thing that brought my attention was the lack of a burning smell and the fire extinguishers. The second thing that grabbed my attention was my desk… which wasn’t a burning pile of ash. I went over to is and stared at it before I started poking at it. It was my desk, I should know because I saw the number of small and large bite marks on it from the puppies and Amber that one time.

“It’s my desk… only, not burnt to a crisp.” I muttered to myself before turning around and seeing a half-naked Mavis looking over at me from the table, a plate of chips in front of her. The two of us stared at one another as she munched on some chips as she gave me a little wave. “You know… I’m more surprised at the fact I’m not bothered by the fact you’re almost naked.” I said flatly.

"You should try to loosen up yourself too. It helps." Mavis said back to me with a chuckle while I wasn't much of a fan of the idea.

“I don’t think so…” I said before looking back at my desk. “Umm… did you… fix my desk?” I asked her, wondering if she used her magic to fix my desk.

"No." She answered me simply before continuing with. "You kinda did that yourself." She said to me. I stared at her oddly as she munched on another chip.

“Wha? How did I do that? I burned it.” I pointed out to her, the memory of it burning still in my mind. She took a handful of chips and answered.

"That sneeze of yours." She said to me before munching on the chips lazily before continuing. "It set off a whole chain of events and undid some all in the span of that sneeze." She added. Mavis took her time to explain to me that due to my powers flaring up, I’ve created an alternate reality on top of the old one which caused them to implode on one another to form a brand new one that we are in… all in the short time of me sneezing. At this point, I was laying in bed as all of this made my head hurt.

“I destroyed everything and remade everything… from just sneezing…” I said in shock to which Mavis looked at me and said.

"Don't think of it as destruction, think of it as an edit." She said to me before grabbing a handful of chips again. I looked over at her and arched a brow.

“Edit…” I repeated Mavis’ words and thought about it some more. “And… you know the edits I’ve done?” I asked her.

"Yup." She said before I frowned at her, getting a roll of her eyes before she continued. "Most of them were small, nothing too serious. The biggest change or rather additions is that new Atlas team in the tournament." She said to me.

“Atlas team…” I repeated before I bolted upright. “Ooooh! I knew I wasn’t going crazy!” I said quite loudly. “I’ve seen one of them in the match, and ran into another teammate!” At the mention of this, my cheeks reddened at the memory of Camillia. Mavis arched a brow at me.

"Something you want to add to that?" She asked me simply.

“NOPE! NOTHING! THANK YOU I GOT NOTHING!!!” I yelled, the blush refusing to leave even after rushing back into the bathroom and splashing more cold water on my face.

"Something tells me there is~" I heard Mavis call out from the room as I dried my face off before going back, only to be greeted with a very interested Mavis. "Spill." She said, poking my forehead.

“Okay…” I frowned, knowing that she’ll bug the hell out of me if I don’t. “I ran into one of the team members on that new Atlas team, Camillia and… umm, she’s… something.” I said, the blush returning in force. At this rate, I might have to dunk my head in water. She poked me with a teasing smile curling her lips.

"She flirted with you didn't she." She guessed and while she wasn't wrong, there was a little more than flirting than I'd like to admit.

“M-Maybe…” I said as my head went to the memory of her walking away… uh… Mavis started to laugh at me which drew me out of my thoughts.

"Don't be so embarrassed~ it's only natural." She said to me before giggling to herself and adding. "I'll tell you what though if I wasn't dating Yang I would surely have my go on that fine piece of ass." Mavis said with another giggle.

“What?” I asked, blinking at her. Did she know who Camillia is? Of course, she would know, Mavis is Mavis.

"Anyway, you aren't the only one to have an encounter with one of the Lancasters." She said to me before explaining how in this timeline… reality… thing, the team simply going by Lancasters have fought Team CRDN and how they basically crushed the competition from there.

“Wow… looks like they’re going to win huh.” I said to Mavis which got her to arch a brow but shake her head nonetheless before saying.

"Anywho, during today's big match I stumbled across Rose staring mouth agape at the screen in the gym." She said to me, reminding me that the gym here has a big screen to display big events like tournament fights. But I didn't see the big deal in what Mavis just said. The latter noticed my confusion. "She was drooling~" She added.

“Wow. Didn’t think Rose was like that.” I said in surprise as Mavis giggles. I couldn’t help but join in as I went back to sit on my bed. My tails wrapped around me and I was able to run my hands through them both… sooo soft~. I got so lost in the feeling of two soft bushy tails that when I was brought back out of my thoughts, Mavis was… Well, she was dressed.

"You done getting freaky with your tails?" She asked me with an arched brow before continuing with. "I heard the Lancasters are staying here for the duration of their stay. If you want my advice, I suggest you go meet them." She said to me.

“Alright…” I said to Mavis before staring at her for a few more moments. “... Going to see Yang again?” I asked her.

"More than just that~," She said in a happy sing-song tone. I rather not have heard that. I shook my head at her before standing up again.

“Should I bring something as a gift?” I asked Mavis who arched a brow at me. “What, I’m being nice.” She shrugged at me and said.

"I don't know." She said simply before adding. "Anyway, I'll be going now. Don't wait up!" She said before hurrying out the door at an incredible speed. I blinked at this before looking at my shelf for something I can use for a gift. Mostly on my shelf are some textbooks, some smithing and tinkering books and weapon maintenance.

“I don’t think these would work…” I muttered to myself. After a few minutes, I went with a spare weapon maintenance book I had because of a sale. “I… hope they like it… hehe.” I laughed nervously as I made my way to the room they would be using. After finding their room I learned that they’re not there but in the gym training… jeez. So after making my way towards the gym, I found myself in a large main room with training equipment and a sparring ring. Looking towards the ring I saw Rose there just as she was in a training match with another student. From the looks of things, she’s been on a roll for a while as there were a number of sore students around.

Looking around some more I spot a… familiar sight of the back of Cammy… uhh… I felt my face heat up from the sight. She was with the other woman, the really, really buff one. They seem to be chatting about something as there were two others, dressed in casual attire training. Really big man, almost, if not as big as the woman training with a… woman? I stared at said woman and some part of my brain told me to not trust my thoughts on her. I shook my head as I made my way over towards the first two, which caused Cammy to notice me and grinned happily.

"Hey~ cutie!" Greeted Cammy happily which made the larger twin turn back to look at me with an arched brow.

“Umm… hello, again Cammy.” I greeted her with a smile before looking up at the other woman… jeez, she’s tall. “Hello to you as well.” She smiled down at me and waved.

"Hey." She greeted simply before looking down at her sister. "She the one you were on about?" She asked Cammy, the latter nodding while I fidgeted in place.

“Umm, I hope it’s nothing bad.” I said worriedly… wait why am I asking if I did something wrong?! This caused Cammy to giggle a little and the other woman, who was her sister, to arch a brow at me.

"No. My sister likes to flirt around, mostly to people she finds interesting." The larger woman said before adding on. "I'm Lana by the way." She introduced herself.

“Ah… right.” I said to Lana before remembering why I was looking for them. “I umm, just wanted to say hi and give you all this.” I said as I handed Lana the book which she took and look at. Honestly, I watch her eyebrow rise higher every passing second. Was this a bad thing to do? I was just being nice! After a few moments, I realized that I didn’t give her my name. “Oh umm… I’m Viri by the way.” I added.

"Well, I appreciate the gift Viri." Lana said as she put the book down on a bench before I looked over at the training session in time to see the feminine person make the big man tap out after putting him in an odd chokehold.

“Wow.” I said to myself as the feminine person pulled away from the big guy and stood up with a big smile on her face… still that feeling that I’m being deceived here.

"That's Nova and Don, mine and Cammy's brothers." Lana said and there it is! I knew it! "The oldest is Don and Nova is the youngest out of all of us." She added as the big man, Don, got up from his down position as Nova cheered happily for his victory.

“Ahh… wait, you’re all related?” I asked though it wasn’t surprising as me and Mavis are cousins and Yang and Ruby were sisters. Just the idea of a team of brothers and sisters never crossed my mind. Neat.

"Yup." Cammy answered with a smile before Lana added.

"Our superiors at Atlas realized we work better when paired with each other so they made us a team." Lana said to me, explaining a little bit as to how it came to be.

"I won I won I won I won!" Nova cheered happily and playfully, skipping with joy.

"Don't let it get to your head, twerp!" Don called out with a little frown, getting a giggle from Cammy.

"You're just sour that you lost." She said to him, getting a huff from him before he turned and walked over to their things, sitting on a bench nearby. Nova smiled happily before noticing me and coming over to us. Honestly, if I didn’t know I would’ve thought Nova was a girl… but I do know!

"Heya! The names Nova!" He greeted and introduced himself with a grin before asking. "What's yours?"

“Viri.” I answered with a smile as Nova grinned more. I looked back at Lana before saying. “I saw your match, congratulations by the way.” I said to her.

"Thanks, I plan to win the finals." She said to me with a confident smirk. Cammy meanwhile was busy cleaning the mess the brothers made before calling out for Lana.

"Hey, we sparring or what?" Cammy asked Lana, getting her attention.

"Yeah in a minute." Lana said back before looking back down at me. "Nice meeting, Viri." She said to me. I smiled and waved as Lana turned and walked over towards Cammy so the two of them were going to spar. I looked over at Nova who smiled at me before looking back at his two sisters. Guess I’ll leave them alone to their training.

I walked over towards Rose just as I saw her pinning a guy down and having him tap. “Do you ever go easy?” I asked Rose as she rolled over to me.

“Why? In a battle, the other side isn’t going to go easy on us.” Rose said with a grin. “Besides, it’s good training.”

“Right…” I said as the other guy climbed out and there wasn’t anyone else for Rose to spar against. I saw a water bottle nearby and grabbed it to hand it up to Rose. “Here.”

“Thank you.” Rose said to me before taking a long drink from it. As she did she looked off in a direction and tilted her head. I looked in said direction and saw it was towards Cammy and Lana who were now sparing. “Damn… she’s hot.” Rose said after her drink.

“Who? Cammy?” I asked Rose, only for her to shake her head.

“Nope, the other one.” Rose pointed out as I looked to Lana. “Saw her on the screen, but damn… she’s a lot hotter up close.”

"She's single!" The voice of an excited Nova rang out, scaring the hell out of me and Rose as a result.

"Ahh!!" I yelped as Rose looked like she's about to hit Nova for appearing out of nowhere.

"Geez lady, where you come from?!" Rose asked loudly. Nova blinked and looked around him, confused at Rose's outburst.

"Umm… Rose… this is Nova." I introduced him to her before leaning in to whisper. "Also, she's a he."

"Ohhh… wait really?" Rose asked which I nodded. "Oh shit… sorry bout that." She said to Nova.

"Oh it's fine, people get me confused all the time." Nova said as I gave him a good look over, seeing that once again if I hadn't known Nova was a guy I could without a doubt confuse him as she. "Heck, you aren't the first one today. You should've seen my first few hours here." He said to us which got me curious.

"What do you mean?" I asked Nova which got Rose interested in with a smile.

"Well after we landed and got settled in, some of the cute guys here started testing their luck with me." He said to us with a smile before adding. "I like the attention but some of them can be a little… well, pervy." He added. Both Rose and I made a face when Nova said this.

“Ugh, really? If any guy does that to me I’d knock him out.” Rose said which made me roll my eyes.

“Yeah, but every guy here fears you Rose.” I pointed out to her which Rose smirks a bit.

"Anywho, you have the hots for bigger sis?" Nova asked Rose, changing the subject back to Lana with Rose. This took Rose off guard a bit before answering this.

“Well… I guess so… I mean, she’s hot and strong, and… a lot of other stuff that I don’t know yet.” Rose answered with a little smile. “Though, I’m guessing a lot of guys and girls try their luck with her huh?” She asked Nova.

"Actually it's not as common as you might think." Nova said to Rose before continuing. "It's Cammy who gets the most attention out of the two."

“That… kinda sounds right if you think about it.” I said as Rose hummed at this.

“Interesting.” Rose said mostly to herself. A smile formed on her as Nova giggled at this.

"Whatcha thinking?" He asked her with a smile, his hands behind him as he shifted back in forth in a cute like manner of excitement.

“Many things…” Rose answered with a smirk on her face. I rolled my eyes at this and chuckled.

“That doesn’t sound creepy.” I said in a sarcastic tone which Rose looked over to me with a frown. I looked over at Nova. “So, is there anything else you need, Nova?” I asked him.

"Nope!" He said before looking at Rose and said. "Good luck~," He said before skipping off giggling happily. Rose chuckled at this.

“He’s interesting…” Rose said before leaning back and looking at me. “So, want to spar a little?”

“Uhh, not really…” I answered her which Rose arch a brow.

“Viri, you’ve been fighting with your sword for so long, you better know how to fight hand to hand.” Rose said to me.

“Ahh, well umm, I don’t have anything to wear, no gym clothes and stuff.” I informed her and Rose shrugged.

“I think they have some spare clothes here.” Rose said to me. I frown a little, really not wanting to do this but with Rose, I doubt she’ll take no for an answer. With a sigh, I exit out of the gym to go pick up my workout outfit and returning to it. After changing into said clothing me and Rose stood in the sparring ring. The clothes were something Mavis gave me, which of course show more skin than I would like. I stood across from Rose wearing a top that hugged my chest tightly and some shorts that did the same. As I stood there I had a bit of a blush on my face.

"Uhh… Viri, what are you wearing?" Rose asked as her face reddened as well as my own.

“T-this is the clothes Mavis gave me… and you know how she is.” I answered Rose as I used my tails to cover myself a bit. She nodded at this before I noticed Cammy and Lana still training, going at one another with all they've got. Cammy seemed to be more into kickboxing while Lana relied more on her fists and even her whole body when charging.

"Right… well, let's see what you can do and go from there." Rose said as she went to a fighting stance as I did the same. I knew a little about fighting hand to hand but compared to someone like Rose means nothing. The two of us sparred for a bit, me trying to get a hit in while Rose kept dodging, she's slippery! We kept going until Rose kicked my legs from under me and I fell. Rose stood over me and said. "You need to work on that V."

"Ugh… yeah…" I panted as Rose helped me up. Afterwards, I went to get some water for the both of us and came back only to find Rose staring at Lana as the latter tossed her sister off the ring, declaring victory.

"She looks so amazing…" Rose muttered to herself happily just as I gave her the water bottle. "Oh, thanks." She said as she took the drink.

"No problem." I said as I had some of my own… mmm, water. "So… going to ask her out?" I asked Rose.

"I wished but I think it would be too soon for that." Rose informed me before adding. "I think it would be a bit creepy if I ask right away…"

"It's creepy when you just stare." Nova's voice rang out from behind us suddenly. Both of us yelped in surprise as we turned to see him there.

"Would you stop that!!!" Rose yelled. "Really, it freaks me out!" This made Nova giggle a bit.

"Sorry, it's just so darn fun to spook you two." Nova said before adding on. "Anyway, you should try getting to know her. The times she got attention were mostly an effort to get to Cammy." Nova pointed out informatively. Rose frown at this.

"That's… that's just mean and dumb." Rose said, not happy to hear of this before stepping out of the ring. "I'm going over there to say hi."

"Have fun with that." I said to Rose which got her to smile a bit, leaving me with Nova.

"Whatcha going to do now?" Nova asked me, turning to look at me with a smile. I hummed at this, not really sure what I'm going to do.

"I don't know…" I said before glancing down at myself. "Maybe change out of these clothes…"

"Want to hang out?" Nova asked me simply with a smile and when I looked at him I finally noticed the cattail swinging behind him. I blinked at him before smiling.

"Sure, I just need to go to my dorm to shower and change." I said to him which got Nova to arched a brow.

"But there are showers in the changing room here." Nova said to me and while this was entirely true, I just didn't like public showering.

"Sorry but I'm not one for public bathrooms…" I said as I rubbed my arm. "I'll be right back though." He pouted but nodded anyway before I left for my room.

I made my way to my dorm room and when I got there I opened the door to see that both Amaram and Umbra were there… and they were kissing… wait what?

I stood there stunned before they both notice me there, blushing and in shock. The two of them stared at me as I stared back.

"You two…" I started to say as they nodded. "How long?"

"A couple of months." Umbra answered me with her own blush.

"Right…" I said to them before seeing my clothes. "I'm just… going to take a shower and… yeah." I quickly grabbed my clothes and went into the bathroom to shower. The shower lasted a bit longer than normal and when I went out the two were gone. The memory of the two were still fresh in my head as I shook my head, quickly grabbing my scroll before heading back out, hoping Nova isn't mad at me.

Speaking of, as I opened the door in was greeted by Nova. He wore a tank top shirt that showed off his midriff and some shorts as well as I saw a bit of his underwear showing… I think it’s a thong. He also had his hair let down, making it even harder to tell he was a he and not a she. Beside Nova was Cammy, wearing a gray top that hugged her chest and sides leaving her belly uncovered as well as some tight red pants.

“Oh… hey Nova, Cammy.” I greeted them both which they both smiled at me.

"Hiya!" Greeted Cammy happily.

"Heya!" Nova greeted equally as happy. "Were those two your teammates? The owl and bull faunus?" He asked me with a curious expression.

“They are...” I said to Nova, blushing again from the memory of what I saw.

"They left in a hurry with blushing red faces." Cammy said with a giggle as Nova did so as well.

"So mind giving us a tour of the place?" Nova asked after having his giggle with his sister.

“Huh, oh sure.” I answered him and soon the three of us were walking down the hallway. On the way, we ran into Ruby who seemed surprised to see us.

“Oh, hey Viri!” Ruby greeted me with a big smile what made me smile as well.

“Hey, Ruby.” I greeted back as Ruby looked at me and then at the other two. “Oh right, Ruby this is Nova and Camilia Lancaster.”

"Yeah, I know." Ruby said back to me, which made me blink before she added. "Hey I saw that match with you and your sister, you guys were awesome!" Ruby added.

"Daww~ thank you~," Cammy said while Nova simply giggled his sister's response. I blinked yet again before saying.

“Right, anyway I was showing them around Beacon.” I explained to Ruby.

“Neat… umm, do you think I can tag along?” Ruby asked me which was surprising. “Weiss is out in Vale with Tak, Blake is with Indigo and Yang… uhh…” I watched her face turn red which made me understand what’s up.

“I get it, I don’t mind… what about you two?” I asked the two siblings.

"Sure!" Both Cammy and Nova answered enthusiastically with nods before soon enough we all headed off to start the tour, which with Ruby to help would be a cakewalk… Right?

We showed them the cafeteria and classrooms as well as the other training halls. While we were on the way to the library I heard Cammy.

"Don't look now but some cute guys are looking this way." Cammy said to Nova, who took on a sexier like walk as a couple of guys walked, most of which stopped and turned at the sight of Nova and Cammy though I would think mostly at Nova.

"Hey boys~" Nova called out to them in a flirtatious tone. Cammy giggled at her brother from this. Ruby and I looked at one another as Ruby gave me a questioning look about this. I simply shrugged and shook my head as we continue on, the other two were getting cat calls for their flirtatious actions. This went on for a good while as I continue with my tour. Honestly, it kinda works when we’re in a more populated area I had time to chat with Ruby while leading the other two along. When we finally arrived at the library I heard the two talking.

"I don't know, they all looked cute… hunks too." Nova said to Cammy before the latter spoke.

"Aww come on, there should be at least one that caught your eye." Cammy said which got a pout from her brother. As this was going on we entered the library which was empty other than a few students who are busy reading or taking a nap. Some of those who weren't napping noticed Cammy and Nova as we walked in.

"Whoa. This is more impressive than Atlas' library." I heard Cammy say out loud.

"Really?" Ruby asked, surprised to hear that from Cammy. Nova giggled a little at his sister's reaction.

"Yeah. This place looks and feels cozier than Atlas' dull white and sleek looking libraries. I even heard their thinking of making everything digital." Nova said before he moved a bit of his hair, revealing the same earpiece as Cammy was wearing. Both Ruby and I saw this and got a closer look at the earpiece.

"Oooo~" the both of us said in awe which made Cammy laugh.

"Huh?" Nova looked back at us to see us looking at him with curiosity. "What's going on?" He asked us.

"Nothing, just getting a closer look at your earpiece." I said, pointing at said earpiece.

"Yeah, I never saw anything like that before." Ruby said in awe. Cammy once again giggled before she spoke in Nova's behalf.

"It's an experimental piece of tech given to us by Mal Kun Tech. It's called a focus, it basically does everything a scroll does but without the need for a scroll." Cammy said and got a nod from Nova in agreement to what she said.

"Yeah like calling, surfing the web and all that cool stuff." He said to us before Cammy giggled and said.

"Surf the web? Is that what you call browsing pictures of half-naked men?" Cammy asked, teasing Nova to which he simply stuck out his tongue.

"What I do is my business." He said defensively and simply. As the two talked both Ruby and I glanced at each other, blushing at what Nova does sometimes.

"Umm, well as cool that is I think I'll stick with my scroll for now." Ruby said, maybe trying to change the subject a bit.

"Yeah… though it could be useful for other things." I pointed out.

"Yeah!... umm hey Camilia-" Ruby started before Cammy cut her off.

"You can call me Cammy, cutie." Cammy was quick to say to Ruby with a giggle, making Ruby herself blush at this.

“Ummm… okay, Cammy do you mind if we try out your earpiece?” Ruby asked Cammy, still blushing at her earlier comment. Cammy thought about this before shrugging and taking the piece off and handing it to Ruby.

"Go ahead." She said simply while I noticed Nova giving some of the guys something to look at. Ruby smiled childishly as she put the earpiece in.

“So… how does it work?” Ruby asked, now having the earpiece in her ear and not know how it works. As she did her eyes widen as she stared off into the library. “Whoa… whoa!” she said in awe, making me wonder what’s up as Cammy giggled some more.

"Pretty neat huh?" Cammy asked while I looked at Ruby as if she's gone crazy.

“Uhh… what’s going on?” I asked Ruby as she reached out to grab something.

“Viri, I can see a lot of different menus and… stuff! This is so cool!” Ruby said in a giddy voice. I watched as her hand started moving as if she was touching and moving stuff in the air.

"It's pretty cool I know. We all had the same reaction." Cammy said to Ruby, giggling at Ruby's antics while I watched curiously to know what she saw.

“Let me try!” I said happily as Ruby seemed to do something before pulling the earpiece out and handing it to me. I quickly put it in and soon my vision was filled with different menus and stuff. “Whoa… this is so cool!”

“I know!” Ruby cheered with me. I explored the many menus available with the wave of my hand as if it was really there before Cammy took the piece back.

"That's enough, you two are making a bit of a show with your antics." Cammy said as she put her back on and adding. "Not that I mind though." She said with a giggle. It was then that I noticed that Nova had vanished somehow… Where did he go?

“Hey, where did Nova go?” Ruby asked, also noticing that Nova disappeared. The two of us looked around as Cammy was busy waving her hand around, probably moving everything back to how she likes it. When I finally spotted Nova, he was reaching up for a certain book but was just out of reach and nearly gave up… that is if it weren't for a student coming to his aid.

"Need a hand?" Said the student, a young deer faunus man nearly twice Nova's size. Nova himself smiled at this offer before looking over and stared up at the man with mouth agape. The student himself took the book and handed it to Nova, who managed to take it. With a reddening face, he spoke.

"T-thanks uh… thanks…" Nova said as the guy smiled and spoke.

"Don't mention it." He said before turning and walking off, having done his good deed. Nova was left with a very red blush and nervous smile. I arched a brow at this as we all stared at Nova as he held his book in his hands tightly. I heard Cammy chuckled a bit to herself.

“That guy was nice.” Ruby said with a smile on her face. I looked at Nova as he muttered.

"I- Uh.. Umm… Who was…" He seemed to be at a loss for words after the encounter which in turn made Cammy giggle.

"Seems someone just found the one~," Cammy said teasingly but not loud enough for him to hear. I arched a brow but smiled at Nova who stood where he was, blushing adorably. This caused me to giggle a little as well. After a few moments in walked over to him to see Nova was happily staring off into space.

"Nova… hello~" I said, waving my hand in front of his face. He blinked at this and shook his head.

"H-huh? Wha?" He uttered in confusion while Cammy was busy holding back her laughs beside Ruby.

"Enjoyed your trip into la la land?" I asked Nova with a smile as he fidgets a bit… honestly, he looked so adorable!!

"W-who was he?" Nova asked me, regarding the deer faunus student that helped him out earlier. I've seen him a few times before, a second-year student by the name of Edwards, an odd name but I heard his family was the traditional naming type though his last name, Bonze, would beg to differ.

"I believe his name is Edward Bonze." I answered Nova who sighed happily.

"Even his name is so dreamy~," Nova said to himself before sighing happily once more which made me hold back a laugh at this.

"Someone's head over heels for him huh?" I said, chuckling a little. Nova blushed some more as Cammy walked up to us.

"You don't know the half of it. This is the first I've ever seen him like this." Cammy said before going to her brother and hugging him.

"He was so dreamy~," Nova said with a love-struck face. Cammy held her brother close as Ruby came up beside me with a smile. I looked over at the two siblings before speaking.

“You want to head back to your dorm room?” I asked as Nova sighed happily again, making Cammy giggle a bit more.

"We'll find our way back, thanks." Cammy said as Nova giggled, happily slipping off into his fantasy land. Wow, he got it hard. "Oh just wait until Don and Lana hear about this~," Cammy said to herself before picking up Nova with ease which came as no surprise before they left the library, which me and Ruby followed suit soon after, heading back to the dormitories.

Ch. 17

View Online

*THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!*

That was the sound of Rose hitting me and knocking me down to the floor of the sparring ring we were in. I rubbed my head a bit before Rose loomed over me.

"You're getting better! That's one more hit than before!" Rose said proudly. I rolled my eyes at this before Rose offered a hand to pull me up, something I was happy to take. It's been a few days since I kinda sorta changed history and met Lana, Cammy and Nova. Rose at this time has been pulling me to the gym since then, I thought it was more her flirting with Lana but she has been giving me lessons in some hand to hand combat, which kinda hurts.

"Alright, once again this time keep your eyes here." She explained, gesturing her face. "Most inexperienced fighters will look where they want to hit, giving their opponent a big tell were to defend."

"Do I do that?" I asked Rose as I went into my stance, which was similar to Yang's boxer stance.

"Oh absolutely." Rose answered bluntly which didn't help my self-confidence. The two of us continued our sparring, much slower than before as Rose did take time to show me a few things before swatting my strikes away. At least she isn't throwing me onto the ground like before.

The tournament was still going on and was coming to the end of it with the last two teams, one was Indigo's team. Though I was happy his team was doing great, it was due to this that none of his videos were coming out which was upsetting for me. The other group would be Lana's team, it made me wonder who would win in a one on one match?

I sighed as I got back up to my feet, ready for yet another round of training but soon saw Rose keeping an eye out, no doubt for Lana. Now that I think about it, every time we train she seems to be trying to impress, some of her moves were flashy and eye-catching. At first, I never took Rose being someone to do flashy stuff, always doing it simply and not going to lie when she did this with Lana nearby it was somewhat annoying, mostly I would be flipped around is a spectacular fashion and drew in a crowd, which wasn't fun but after doing this a few times I've gotten used to it… mostly.

"Hey, do you always have to be so… flashy?" I asked her which made Rose arched a brow.

"I mean, I don't have to. I just want to." Rose answered me which I frowned at.

"You don't have to do that to get Lana's attention, you could just go talk to her again." I pointed out to Rose.

"And not show how awesome I am? Now that's just crazy." Rose said with a grin which made me roll my eyes.

"Where did you even learn this?" I asked Rose.

"Online, why?" Rose asked as I gave her a flat stare before sighing.

"I don't think that'll work." I said to Rose which she frowned at.

"How would you know, haven't seen you wooing anyone." Rose pointed out which made me blush.

"That's-" I was soon cut off when I saw Rose lunge at me, making me panic and pull back, falling back down onto the ground. "That's cheap!" I yelled.

"When you're fighting, nothing is cheap." Rose said as she walked over to grab a water bottle. I grumbled as I went to get my own. When I did, I looked over at Rose again and saw her looking out once again. I was about to say something but Lana soon came into view with her gym bag, walking by us.

"H-hey there." Rose called out to Lana with a smile on her face only for Lana to ignore her and continue walking. "Huh? Hey, wait!" Rose yelled out before hopping out of the ring and chasing after Lana. I watched her go before seeing a few other students waiting to use the sparring ring.

"Oh, sorry." I said before getting out of it. As I did this I looked around to see if Rose and Lana were still around, which they were as they were at the entrance of the gym.

"What do you want?" Lana asked Rose, finally turning to look at her with an annoyed frown and her arms crossed. I grimaced at this as this was not looking in Rose's favour.

"I said hi to you, isn't saying hi back something one does?" Rose asked with a frown, either not noticing Lana's annoyance or simply ignoring it. Lana arched a brow at this while keeping her annoyed frown. This time Rose seen this. "What? Why do you look annoyed?" Rose asked Lana confused. She shook her head at this before saying.

"I don't have time for this." Lana finally said before turning and heading out, leaving Rose hurt and confused. Man… that's got to hurt. Rose stood there like that a few moments before I went over to her.

"Hey… are you-" I started to say before Rose cut me off.

"Just leave me alone." Rose said before she headed off back into the Gym, towards the changing rooms. I stood there sadly as I looked over where Lana was going and saw her turning the corner.

"Hello!!!" The voice Nova greeted me which me scream out in fright. I turned around and saw Nova there with a big smile on his face.

"Why do you always do that!!" I asked, trying to slow my heart down before it comes out of my chest.

"Because it's funny and super easy to do, duh." Nova said as he stepped back a bit, showing that he was still in his training attire of rather short shorts and a sleeveless tank top.

"Okay, but can you please knock it off? You're bound to scare one of my tails off." I said to him, hugging said furry appendages while Nova hummed and answered back.

"Nope." He said to me with a playful smirk. I frowned at him before sighing before looking back at where Lana went.

"Hey… was your older sister mad at something?" I asked Nova, wondering if Lana had a bad day or something before Rose tried to talk to her.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Nova asked me, clueless about this as I. I then explain to him what happened beforehand, Rose showing off a bit, Lana walking past us and the two of them talking.

"I should've told her that that online dating advice were a bunch of junk." I said as I crossed my arms. Nova took in this information and hummed a bit before he spoke up.

"Well, that's because she's trying it the wrong way." Nova said to me, cocking a hip and putting his hands on them. "Lana hates it when someone's trying to be super flashy and smug. Like Rose's recent spars with you." He said to me, bringing up the way too showy moves.

“She has been trying to be more flashy with our sparing.” I said with a groan as I rolled my shoulders. “Why is it always me?”

"Yeah which hasn't been going well for Rose if she's been trying to get my sister's attention." Nova said as other students headed out or back in for more training.

“Yeah… do you think Rose still has a shot?” I asked Nova, trying to find a positive in all this. Nova blinked at me before thinking about it.

"Not if she just gives up. She has to actually get to know Lana to actually make a good impression on her." Nova said to me honestly. So there is hope for Rose! Nova soon gave a better explanation as to why Lana doesn't care much for showiness or flashiness of anything, how she prefers the people who actually walk up to talk and not boast. "There was this one guy who did manage to get Lana to like him but he thought he was hot shit because of it, as he would put it, taming Atlas' Beast." Nova said to me, making me blink before he added. "Safe to say neither of us would be seeing any of him any time soon." Nova said to which I looked at him pale-faced before he quickly corrected. "She didn't kill the guy! She just humiliated him in one of their spars." Nova corrected.

“Right… is Lana really known as that?” I asked Nova before adding. “Atlas’ Beast I mean or was that something that didn’t stick?”

"Sadly, she's sort of known for that nickname and I totally understand why she has it but… I don't know, calling her a beast is just wrong." Nova told me sorrowfully, showing sadness for his sister. I frowned at this, seeing as it’s wrong to be calling someone a mean nickname for something they did. "So… where is Rose anyway?" He asked me.

“She went into the changing rooms, she hasn’t come out yet… odd.” I said as I looked towards the changing rooms, normally it doesn’t take Rose long to get changed. “What’s taking her so long?”

Before either of us could say anything I felt someone grab both of my tails and made me yelled in fear before looking back to see Nova’s sister hugging both of my tails with a big smile on her face.

“C-Cammy! Why!?!” I yelled at her as my face grew red at her actions.

"Shhh… fluffy." Cammy said to me simply as Nova giggled a bit at this before looking off someplace else. I tried to move away but Cammy held on to my tails, giggling as my face grew redder. Why me… This continued up until I noticed Rose was there, staring at the two of us with an arched brow.

“Something I should be informed about?” Rose asked me which made my face go scarlet.

“N-N-No, there’s n-n-nothing going on!” I answered Rose which made Cammy pout a bit.

"Oh come on, nothing? Like nothing at all?" Cammy asked as if wanting another answer and if it was by luck, Nova wasn't paying attention to this whatsoever, something else caught his full attention.

Trying to ignore Cammy’s actions, I followed Nova’s gaze and saw Edward working out. Cammy and Rose took note of this and looked over where I was looking.

“Uhh, who’s that?” Rose whispered to me and Cammy, who was still holding my tails! Again I tried to pull away but she has some grip!

"That's Edward Bonze, Nova's biggest crush~," Cammy said in a sing-song tone which made Nova blush as his attention was pulled back to us.

"U-Ummm…" Nova couldn't utter a word to rebuke Cammy's words. With Cammy distracted a bit and feeling her grip loosened I manage to pull my tails away from her, causing Cammy to look at me with a pout. I didn’t say anything to her before looking at Nova with a smile.

“Go talk to him.” I said to Nova which made him redder.

"S-should I? I don't… I don't think that's a good idea." He said to me, nervous about the chance to go up and talk to Edward. "What if he… What if he isn't into... well, you know." Nova said to me, blushing madly at this. I didn’t say anything at this, seeing that I didn’t know either. I looked at the other two which caused Rose to blink in surprise.

“Don’t look at me, I don’t know how to do relationship.” Rose said before pointed at the gym door. “You saw what happened when I tried.”

“That’s… you just got bad info.” I said to Rose before looking at Nova. “And you don’t know if you don’t try.” I said to him. Nova took a deep breath while Cammy gave him two thumbs up and we watched as headed towards Edward, leaving me with Cammy and Rose… and Cammy grabbed my tails again, fuck. “Why!?” I asked Cammy, earning me a giggle as she hugged both of my tails. Rose stood by watching all of this before looking back at Nova. Why didn’t she help me?!?!

"Because they're soft and cuddly and so huggable!" Cammy said while Rose looked to be in deep thought, getting a little more nervous as time went on. Was she worried about how she handled things with Lana, or something else? I couldn’t think much about that as Cammy was still hugging my tails!

“Can you please stop! I can feel you hugging them!” I said to her with a mad blush. Before Cammy could say anything Rose spoke to her.

“Hey, you know where Lana would be right now?” Rose asked Cammy. Cammy and I stared at Rose for a bit, making her feel a bit uncomfortable before Cammy thought about it.

"Well… she likes to hang around the lounge area, usually by herself." Cammy said, letting my tails go as she added. "Going to try your luck?" She asked Rose.

“Yeah, it's better than doing nothing.” Rose said before asking. “You think she’s going to hit me for trying?”

"I don't know… maybe?" Cammy said which didn't work in Rose's favour but she ultimately took a deep breath and gave herself a look of determination.

“Alright, off I go.” Rose said before she headed out of the gym, leaving me with Cammy. The two of us watched her go before she turned around the corner so I could talk.

“Think she has a chance?” I asked Cammy. The latter shrugged simply at this before saying.

"I don't know. My sis hasn't really been keen on looking for a special someone yet but no reason to doubt." She said before giggling and adding. "Anyway I'll catch ya later, I've got some errands to run." She said to me before looking back and saying. "Call me if you want to have some fun~," She said with a shake of her hips before leaving me a blushing mess. Why does she make me feel like this?!

Shaking my head I looked back at Nova who was talking to his crush. He was blushing like crazy while managing to speak to the still working out Edward but he must've said something to make him stop, which in turn made Nova freak out a bit before Edward himself smiled and chuckled at something before pulling out his scroll. Before long Nova came back, clutching his scroll close to his chest with the reddest blush I've ever seen.

“So… what happened?” I asked Nova as he held his scroll as if he would let it go it would disappear.

"He… he gave me is scroll number…" Nova said just above a whisper, I could barely catch that if it weren't for my better hearing. "He…" Nova started but didn't finish as his eyes rolled up to the back of his head and he soon fainted. I was quick to catch him before seeing that Nova had a happy look on his face, holding his scroll in his hands.

“Oh dear…” I said to myself before looking around, kinda wishing Cammy was here to help. I didn't know what to do and I was honestly beginning to panic if someone thought the wrong thing.

"Hey Viri." Mavis's voice surprised me as she spoke over my shoulder. I jumped a bit at this before looking over to see Mavis smiling at me.

“Oh… hi umm…” I looked back down at Nova then back. “Mind helping me with him?” This caused Mavis to giggle a little as she saw Nova’s expression.

"Alright." She said to me before snapping her fingers and taking us to our room, Nova was put onto my bed while Mavis herself was greeted by a happy Sylph. "Momma misses you too." Mavis said, kissing Sylph as the latter licked her face. I smiled at this before moving over to my dresser, noticing that the other two weren’t here. Guess they were out on a date or something.

“Thanks for the help Mavis.” I said to her as I was looking through for some clothes to wear other than my workout clothes.

"So what's got him so giddy?" Mavis asked me as she held Sylph closely with a smile.

“Oh because he had gotten his crush number on his scroll.” I said before going on explaining that Nova has a big crush on a Faunus man named Edward and while I was doing this I was changing into some comfy clothes.

"That's so cute~," Mavis said regarding Nova's crush before snapping her fingers and summoning an image of Edward and she soon purred. "Now that's a hot piece if I do say so myself." Mavis said with a sultry purr.

“Hey now, what would Yang think?” I asked as I put on a nice shirt before picking up some pants. Mavis looked at me with a smirk and arched a brow.

"She'd think the same." Mavis said to me which did make me blink in surprise at her answer.

“Huh? I thought… you know what, I’m not going to ask.” I said as I finished putting my pants on. I looked over at Nova before asking. “So, we’re going to leave him here for now?” I asked Mavis.

"Hmm…" I heard Nova hum as he stirred a bit. Mavis looked at me with an arched brow as Nova so opened his eyes. "Am I dreaming?" Nova soon asked before looking down at his scroll before squealing happily as he hopped out of the bed and bounced about in glee.

“No… no, you aren’t dreaming Nova.” I said sharing a chuckle with Mavis as the two of us watched Nova hugged his scroll happily. Sylph made a happy sound as she now laid on top of Mavis’ head as she watched Nova bounce around a bit happily.

"Woohoo!" Nova cheered as he finally flopped down onto the bed with a happy sigh while Mavis spoke.

"Excited, aren't we." She said to him with a smirk. Nova himself blushed at this but his smile still remained.

“I don’t blame you…” I said with a smile before I went over and gave Nova a hug. “So, going to ask this because I believe Cammy is going to ask you, when are you going to ask him out?” I asked Nova.

"Um…" Nova said before looking down at his scroll and saying. "I don't know really…" He finally answered me. Mavis giggled before she floated over and hugged him before finally saying.

"Well if you ever need any tips just give me a call." Mavis said to him with a smile. Nova giggled at this as he blushed at Mavis which simply smiled at him. I smiled at him before I sat on my bed.

“I feel like you two are going to be hanging out with each other a lot.” I said to the two of them. Mavis chuckled before my thoughts went back to Rose and Mavis soon spoke.

"Curious of Rose?" Mavis asked me and honestly, I couldn't help but be curious at this. "You go and look for her, I'll be here giving Nova some top tips." Mavis said to me before ushering me out the door in a hurry before slamming the door behind me. I blinked at this before I soon saw Amber and the pups were playing in the hall. I stared at them and saw the pups either playing with each other or with Amber and simply looking very very adorable, I shook my head and remembered that I wanted to go see how Rose and Lana were doing.

So with that in mind, I made my way towards them… right after I give Amber a pet and each pup some loving. After that, I made my way towards where I believe the two were after remembering what Cammy said. On the way towards the lounge, my scroll buzzed and I pulled it out to see it was a notification… oh, Indigo uploaded a video!

“Sweet!” I said happily before checking the video out. It was several minutes long and if I watch it I’ll be halfway done before I get there. Well, better than just walking in silence, I pulled out some headphones and put them on before playing the video. It started off normally like any other, normal intro, animations, music until it gets to the end and… someone else comes in? What?

I continue walking down the hallway, watching the video which showed some random guy tear into some other game that wasn’t the one the video said it was. I never heard of the game before but the guy has a lot of say on this game. It was really confusing before Indigo’s voice was heard. Next scene Indigo was back and the other guy was gone… though I did his feet in the corner. Was this supposed to be two reviews in one video?

Whatever the case it was over… or so I thought as the black little figures Indigo uses during his videos walked up to the now-empty review desk and began rambling about in gibberish about dog food before it cut to black with a loud bang. I blinked at this as I looked up and saw the lounge doors and soon put away my scroll as I walked up to the doors.

I opened the doors and step inside to look around if Rose and Lana, or anyone, was here. It was kinda hard to see that since the Lounge area was a large room filled with different things to do. There were times I come here to relax for a bit and I just pick a spot somewhere to chill. There were times I’ve seen other students taking a nap here. I didn’t see Rose and Lana from where I stood, which meant I had to go look for them in here. Sighing a little I began looking around for the two.

After about five or so minutes of looking around the room, I soon found the two sitting on a large couch in front of a screen that was dark and showed nothing. No one was around them at the moment and they didn’t seem to be talking at the moment, either they were in the middle of their talk or they haven’t even started. Keeping myself hidden I tried to listen in to what they're talking about. Sure it’s rude to eavesdrop on other people but blame my curiosity.

“So…” Rose started to say to Lana. “Umm… well…” Rose was stumbling over her words as she tried to find the right words to say. “... I fucked up, didn’t I?”

"Really? What gave you that impression?" Lana said back, looking at her with a frown and an arched brow.

“Hey, I was trying… badly.” Rose said to Lana before hanging her head. “I looked it up, I thought it was good and…” Rose didn’t finish as she was frowning as well, possibly to herself before looking back. “I’m not good at dating or asking someone out.” This got Lana to arch another brow.

"Dating and asking someone out?" Lana said in pure confusion while Rose nodded and began to admit.

“Well yeah. I had a crush on you when I first saw you and was quite vocal about it.” Rose admit to Lana. The latter blinked and blushed a bit before she rubbed the back of her head as she soon spoke.

"Well… I thought you were just trying to show off to incite some unneeded competition or some shit." Lana admitted to Rose, which made me wonder why Nova gave me that whole story with Lana and some other guy.

“What? No.” Rose said, sounding surprised at this. “Again I did all of that to try to get your attention, it for all the wrong reasons,” Rose muttered the last bit. Lana simply stared at Rose with wide eyes as Rose continues. “If it wasn’t for that page said about dating I wouldn’t really start showing off. But now to get to the point.” Rose looked over at Lana and took a deep breath before saying. “Lana… you want to… go out sometime?” Rose asked. This caught the bull faunus herself by surprise and soon blushed before thinking it over, which in turn made Rose all the more nervous as the seconds went by.

"Sure… I'm free later today. Maybe we can catch a movie or something." Lana said to Rose, holding back the awkwardness she felt… wait… how did I know that?

“Oh… great!” Rose said happily at Lana. “It’ll be great!” Rose added with some glee in her voice. I smiled at all of this, seeing that two were becoming a couple. With that being said, I slowly pulled away from where I was, heading off out of the lounge room.

When I left the room and down the hallway for a bit, humming to myself before I passed a room and saw both Tak and Weiss there. Deciding to go say hi, I walk into the room which as I did I saw the two of them in what looks to be training. I say training, but it kinda looks like they were somewhat dancing.

Weiss was like a ballet dancer as she zips around the room with her glyphs and caused some of the bots to explode or get shredded by her attacks which were very impressive. Tak was doing some of the same but it was more like he was figure skating with a wavy ribbon, that also slicing through the bots with such elegance which was also deadly. Honestly from the sight of this was like a deadly dance from the two of them. It was amazing and scary.

I moved over to the stands to watch the two before they were finishing up the remaining bots by joining dances. When all was said and done, the training bots were laid scattered and in heaps as Tak and Weiss worked up a good sweat.

"Did we do it?" Tak asked Weiss to which the latter smiled.

“Yes, you did amazing Tak.” Weiss said happily as she smiled proudly. “If I had you as a partner in the festival, we would’ve won greatly and easily!” Tak blushed cutely as he looked down.

"You're just saying that…" He said with a blush as I noted his attire. It was some skin-tight clothing, a regular shirt and some shorts all of which looked really tight in him.

“I'm dead serious, Tak. We're amazing alongside each other, there's no way we could've been beaten in the tournament.” Weiss said happily. Tak smiled at her with a bit of a blush on his face before the two of them looked over at me. “Oh, hey Viri.” Weiss greeted me with a smile and wave.

"H-huh?" Tak said in surprise before looking around only for Weiss to help him face me. "Um… hi." He greeted me.

“Hey Tak, Weiss.” I greeted the two of them with a smile before looking at Tak. “Tak I didn’t know you were skilled with a weapon,” I added as I looked at his ribbon-like weapon.

"Um… well, Mom taught me." Tak said to me with a little blush which made me imagine Auntie ribbing dancing. Hehe… funny.

“Yeah, and you’re really good at it. If I didn’t know better you would’ve been a great huntsman.” Weiss said happily. I nodded at this.

“Yeah, that’s amazing Tak.” I said to him which made Tak smile more with a redder blush.

"T-thanks." Tak said with the big blush as Weiss gave him a calming kiss on the cheek. I smiled at this as Weiss hugged Tak as well which Tak smiled even more.

“Anyway, sorry if I’m interrupting your training or something?” I asked both of them which Weiss shook her head.

“No, we just finished up… unless you want to go for a little longer.” Weiss asked Tak with a questioning look at him as Tak gave it some thought.

"I was hoping we could have lunch." Tak said shyly as Weiss chuckled and kissed him again lovingly while my own stomach grumbled as well.

“Care for another joining you? I feel a little hungry myself.” I asked both of them, giving them a sheepish smile. Weiss thought about it before looking at Tak to see what his answers.

"Sure." Tak answered with a happy smile before he and Weiss went into the showers and came out minutes later looking refreshed and in new clothing. We looked over and saw Tak walk over to us wearing a stylish dress shirt that was blue with white snowflakes on it as well as a black skirt with blue highlights on it and some black stockings and shoes. Weiss smiled at Tak before giving Tak a kiss on the cheek.

“Wow Tak, you look… wow.” I said in awe and soon made him blush again before he said.

"Weiss got these for me." He said to me, shifting his skirt a bit.

“And they look amazing on you sweetie.” Weiss said happily before looking at him with a smile. “Which reminds me, we should go shopping at that store we went to for those, I heard they’re going to have a sale.” Weiss said with a smile. Tak got excited at this while I let the two be as they discussed what they should buy and whatnot while we headed to the cafeteria. As we looked for a table, I saw Yang was sitting alone at the table. I frowned at this as mostly everyone still believe that Yang was a cheater in the tournament. I nudge the other two and nod towards her table.

“There’s Yang, let's eat with her.” I said to the other two. Tak looked at Weiss as Weiss herself didn't seem to want to… oh.

"I say we should… she's our friend." Tak said to us, well mostly Weiss but still. Weiss stared at Tak for a few moments before her expression softens at Tak.

“Alright.” Weiss said to Tak and look at me and simply nodded at me. Soon the three of us went over to the table and Yang looked up at us.

“Oh, uhh… hey guys.” Yang greeted us in surprise.

“Hey.” I greeted her as I sat down along with Tak and Weiss. Weiss simply gave Yang a friendly wave at her which Yang waved back. “How have you been?” I asked Yang.

“Me?” Yang asked in surprise before glancing around a bit, seeing the others keeping their space away from her, and in a sense, the rest of us. “I’m doing alright.” Yang answered before taking a bite out of her food.

"Are you sure?" Tak asked, showing Yang that he cared deeply about how she felt. I smiled at him, seeing his compassion for others.

"Yeah… yeah, I'm fine, really." Yang confirmed as she glanced at the other tables where the other students are sitting. "I mean, being labelled as a cheater and getting the whole team kicked disqualified from the tournament sucks but… there's always next year." Yang said, putting up a smile that was really forced.

"Yang…" Tak said, even he knew she was forcing a smile. During all of this, Weiss was quiet as she listened to Tak trying to help Yang.

"Really guys, I'm fine…" Yang said with a chuckle before we all stared at her for a few moments as that smile soon crumbled to a sad frown. "Okay okay, I'm not fine. This all sucks. I can't do anything without everyone walking away or calling me a cheater!" She then looked at Weiss with a pleading look. "I did not cheat, honest!"

Weiss stared at Yang in silence for a few moments before she slowly moved her hand over Yang's hand. "I… I believe you, Yang, really." Weiss said with a smile on her face. Yang's smile grew at this before the two pulled their hands away.

"Thanks…" Yang said to Weiss to which she simply nodded. Tak smiled at this before Yang was soon surprised at two arms wrapping around her neck.

"Hey~" Greeted Mavis as she floated behind Yang. Another smile adorned on Yang's face though this time it wasn't forced and more genuine than the last one as she turned her head a bit.

"Hey back." Yang greeted happily. I smiled at this as it's nice to see Yang happier than before and with Mavis that was a given. Though… speaking of Mavis, I have a feeling that… I don't know, there's something different about her. I had these odd thoughts ever since she started coming back to the dorm room later at night. At first, I thought she was going out to see Yang but… I can't help but think otherwise. When I asked Yang about this, she only furthered my suspicion as Mavis only visited her half as many times as she snuck out.

"Hope you weren't so gloomy, you know how I get when you're gloomy." Mavis said before latching onto Yang, wrapping her arms and legs around Yang and saying. "Hugs forever!" Mavis exclaimed.

"Thanks babe." Yang said happily. I again smiled at the two as Mavis so moved over and sat beside Yang, still giving her a big hug as the rest of us chatted and ate. As we ate I occasionally glanced at Mavis as she laughed and chatted with the others, getting the sense that she's hiding something big.

Tales of the Molten Fox

by ExoDemonG

Prologue

Ch: 1

Ch:2

Ch. 3

Ch. 4

Ch. 5

Ch. 6

Ch. 7

Ch. 8

Ch. 9

Ch. 10

Ch. 11

Ch.12

Ch. 13

Ch. 14

Ch. 15

Ch. 16

Ch. 17