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A Deathly Silence (RWBY/Drakengard 3)

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Update 448 - Sit Around The Fire
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    • [X] "There's no harm in waiting for dinner." Talk while Ruby and Dyna are in earshot

    There was a big group sitting around the pseudo-volcanic rock, all eating the same meat. There were no plates or bowls, but the meat was easy enough to keep a hold on. It was the first time Yang had ever tried deer meat. She wasn't sure how to place it either. It wasn't as fatty as beef. Ruby muttered something about acorns as she ate, and Yang briefly wondered if that was the difference in taste. Deers ate those, right?

    The Wolf Pack didn't put all their attention towards the meal. One of them were carving the bones into knives, another was making sure the deer pelt was clean and sorted. Ulfhednar kept rotating in and out of a small group on the side where they were arm wrestling, with the whole group giving a cheer whenever somebody won.

    Jaune was sitting behind a tree near the arm wrestling, cradling his arm and letting his Aura recuperate from the pain of defeat. Yang had to give him credit for going for it, but she wasn't sure how someone with that much Aura had lost it all so quickly.

    As she finished up her serving, Yang decided to get in on that. She teleported next to the stone being used as a table and planted her arm on the top. "Here, let me have a turn."

    "Alright." Brunn was sitting on the other end. Yang was a bit embarrassed to admit it to herself, but she mostly just recognised him by the brown cloak on his back. "You're on."

    The warrior's arm was a hell of a lot bigger than Yang's, but she'd felt the level of strength behind it before. It was impressive strength, but Yang had handled worse. She pushed back with enough force that she was clearly winning, but Brunn redoubled his effort and put the two in a stalemate.

    "Gnarly." Brunn admitted. "I saw you fightin', but didn't expect this much strength from those muscles."

    "Aura sure is something." Yang smiled. "Here, watch."

    Her free hand slammed into her thigh. Yang didn't feel the impact, but she felt the strength of her Semblance as her Aura depleted. Brunn's arm fell further as Yang pushed it down, until eventually the back of his palm touched stone.

    The Wolf Pack cheered. Yang heard Ruby get in on it as well, though she wasn't as loud about it as the small army of shirtless men. Brunn smiled as he shook his hand free, but Yang could see his disappointment.

    "That's enough play." Raudr declared. "Yang. Give us the story on Magpie."

    The Wolf Pack shifted away from the arm-wrestling rock, taking their seats around the boss. Yang teleported back to her hoverchair and pushed it forward closer to the group. Out of the corner of her eye, Yang saw Dyna shift her ear to listen in, and Ruby shifted a bt closer to Dyna when she noticed.

    "I told you I'd talk about the Corpse Goddess." The words were heavy on Yang's tongue. It was easy to use the term to distance the undead servant when she was using it in isolation, but when she had to explain the origin it felt distasteful. "Sit tight. It's a bit of a story."

    Where did Yang even begin? How does one start in explaining Cinder, or the Seals, to someone who didn't know anything?

    …No, that wasn't true. They knew about the Branwen, about the portals. That gave Yang a starting point. "How much do you guys know about what the Branwen do? About their duty?"

    "Magpie never told us the details." Raudr answered. "But we know they guard something. They're a reclusive bunch because of it, need to seek out new blood. We first met Magpie when he was searching for someone willing to continue the bloodline."

    Yang raised an eyebrow. She had planned to move on and just remain curious, but the eyebrow had been question enough for the one that answered.

    "The Branwen were offering a magic knife for assistance." The warrior who had their chest covered, wearing a wolf cloak dyed a light blue and pink, gave their answer. "Worst nine months of my life, but it's a magic knife. I'd give up my arm for a magic knife."

    "You'd cut off your arm if you thought it'd make you look cooler." Mosulfr snorted.

    "I'd look fucking awesome with one arm." The first warrior declared. "Get your sword out, I-"

    "Oi, no this again." Raudr cut in. "If any of you boys cut off your limbs just to look cool, I'm kicking you out."

    "You're a buzzkill, man." The warrior in the multicoloured cloak complained. "C'mon, I could learn to fight with one hand."

    "He's got a point, boss." Brunn declared. "Iblarulfr's the manliest of all of us, Alphather had to give him the wrong body to hold him back."

    Ok that answered Yang's earlier questions on that front, good to know.

    "If you want to lose an arm, go fight stronger Grimm until one of them does it for you." Raudrulf spat out. "It's pointless if you're not getting battle scars."

    "True." Iblarulfr nodded. "Guess that's something we can do once we've tracked down the man who bound his wings."

    "Ahem." Ruby coughed. "You're getting a bit off topic."

    "Right, right." Iblarulfr nodded. "Point is we know the Branwen guard something, and check out my cool knife."

    He pulled a wooden blade from beneath his wolf's cloak and stabbed it through his hand. There was no blood and the dagger didn't get stuck for a moment- The wood phased through his palm and came out the other side.

    "It's a great party trick." Iblarulfr declared.

    "...That's a pretty good party trick." Yang nodded. "But let's get back on track."

    The Wolf Pack knew the Branwen protected something. If they didn't know details beyond that, Yang should maybe hold off on them too. But…

    "So there's four groups of Branwen, as I understand it." Yang began. Technically three, since the Atlesian Branwen were apparently dead and gone. "They each have their role in guarding something. But there's someone who wants those 'Things' destroyed, and…"

    Yang bit her lip. Was she overplaying her hand here?

    Fuck it. "They got the… 'Thing' that was in Vale. That crack in the sky is because of that."

    "...Shit." Raudr muttered. "Magpie sure did undersell his job."

    "The person who destroyed the…" Yang paused. "Saying 'Thing' over and over is making it hard to talk. I'm gonna just refer to it as the Sky because of obvious reasons."

    There was a ring of nodding.

    "The person who damaged the Sky in Vale got away. They were hurt bad, but they got away. And…"

    Tch. She kind of needed to explain the Goddess Seal to get the point across.

    "The part of the Sky in Vale was represented by a 'Person'. The Goddess, to use a term." Yang continued. "It's unique among them as far as I know. But the person who killed her had a Semblance to raise the dead as slaves, and they raised the Goddess to use as a minion."

    "And she's the one who killed Magpie?" Brunn asked.

    "Yeah." Yang nodded. She could feel her eyes stinging. "The Goddess was a Branwen. She can open portals and knows when they're in use. So ever since that happened, she's been hunting down any portal that goes too far or is left open too long. I've had two close calls myself."

    "...You're tearing up, kid." Raudr muttered. "Who was she? The Goddess?"

    Yang took a moment to compose herself. "My mother."

    There was a gasp from behind Yang. She looked back to see Dyna covering her mouth.

    "I'm sorry to hear that." Raudr muttered. "So the necromancer's been corrupting the dead and using them against their own kin?"

    "That's about it." Yang confirmed. She took a moment to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Sorry. It's harder to talk about than I thought."

    "I got all I needed." Raudr confirmed. "You don't need to say more. Boys, how about you?"

    "I've got a word." Iblar declared. "Where's the necromancer now?"

    "If I knew, I wouldn't be here." Yang answered.

    "Yang!" Ruby called her voice. Yang looked back at her sister to see a disapproving look. "That's not a fight you can win."

    "It's not a fight I'd be alone for." Yang answered. "Nor a fight I could live with missing."

    Ruby's expression softened. "...I know. But…"

    "When you do find her." Iblar interrupted again. "I want to join that hunt too."

    "I imagine you do." Yang nodded.

    "Not just because she's why Magpie died." Iblar continued. "Turning blood on blood, defiling the dead… I'd want them dead from that alone."

    There was a cheer of affirmation from the rest of the Wolf Pack at that.

    "...Looks like I need to keep you guys in mind." Yang smiled slightly despite it all. "We'll pass it on to One when we get in contact so she can organise something, I suppose."

    "Which reminds me." Ruby spoke up. "What are we doing when we get to town? We're going to be back on track soon, right?"

    "It'll be late when we get to the settlement." Raudr explained. "Not much is likely to be open. But if you've got an emergency, they'd probably let you into their CCT outpost to make a call. I know the local mayor so I'll go kick his door in, get him to get the ball rolling on a rescue effort for your friends. And the rest of you…"

    "Need to sleep somewhere." Yang heard her voice creak. "Ah, goddamn me, we're not even talking about her anymore…"

    Raudr, mercifully, ignored Yang's moment of weakness. "There's an inn that'll be open. We've gone bone and pelt to trade so we can spend a night."

    "We've got more than enough, we can probably go drinking." Brunn declared. "Oh man, we're gonna get into a bar fight aren't we?"

    "Hell yeah, brosef!" Mosulfr pumped his fist in the air. "We've not had a good bar fight in ages!"

    Yang pulled away from the Wolf Pack as they descended into fantasies of getting into a bar fight. She pulled up next to Dyna, looking down at the dog Faunus. "You'll be wanting to get to sleep as soon as we get to town, right?"

    The girl looked at Yang with a strange look in her eye for a moment. "...I guess."

    "I'll be running to the CCT tower." Ruby muttered. "I have no idea who screens One's calls or who I'd need to go through to get to her, but they'll listen to me."

    "That's true." Yang mused. "Silver eyes are pretty distinctive. If it were me they might worry about some kind of impersonator."

    "Are you fine going with Yang to find a place to stay the night?" Ruby turned to Dyna. "I might be a while."

    Instinctively the girl shifted closer in the makeshift bench towards Ruby, but she forced herself to pause and look towards Yang.

    It only occurred to Yang then and there why Dyna might be looking at her like that. She just found out that Yang's mother had been killed too, that both of them had a mother forced into monstrous acts by an outside force.

    "...I don't know." Dyna muttered. "What should I do?"

    "You don't need to decide until we actually get to the settlement." Yang pointed out. "We have time to think."

    Dyna nodded and bit into her deer meat.

    "I'll probably bring Jaune with me too." Ruby mused, looking over to the blonde boy. "If the wolves start a bar fight while his Aura's still low from the arm wrestling..."

    Oh right, Jaune existed. Yang had kinda forgot about him for a bit.

    She didn't have anything to say beyond that though. A while passed in silence as Yang reached through a portal to grab more meat.

    Ruby tapped Yang on the shoulder and pointed to the side. Yang looked over to see a chunk of deer meat floating in the air. Neo, huh? "She's pretty far. What are we gonna do to talk to Neo at the settlement?"

    "It's gonna be late when we get there." Yang whispered back ."Cornering to talk to her might be hard because of it. She probably won't wake up in the morning and instantly run away, so it'll be easier to talk the- Wait, shit. The rescue effort."

    "Dunno if we'll get a chance to figure out when to talk to her about the whole Song thing without her listening in." Ruby muttered.

    "Codewords, then." Yang decided. "If it looks like we'll have a good time to corner her tonight, say something about a green sunflower so I know to lock the door before she can run. If that doesn't happen tonight, we wake up early to do it."

    "Hm." Ruby nodded. The floating deer meat disappeared as Neo finished eating it.

    Why didn't she just make the deer invisible- Oh, well. That would make a shattering effect, wouldn't it? Since it seemed like the shatter happened with the illusion appearing or disappearing. She could hide it behind more illusion but that might be more work than Neo cared for just to eat some food.

    …Yang should eat some more food too before people were back on the road.

    It would be a few more hours before the group reached the nearest settlement. The separation would happen as soon as they arrived- Raudr to speak with the mayor, Ruby to get into contact with One or someone speaking on One's behalf, and everyone else to book rooms in the inn.

    With whom does Dynamite Baskerville go with?

    [X] Yang - Dyna needed to get to a room to sleep as soon as possible, and she didn't have anything else to do anyway.
    [X] Ruby - Given how hype the Wolf Pack were about a potential bar fight at the inn, it was perhaps smart for Dyna to arrive later.
     
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    • [X] Yang - Dyna needed to get to a room to sleep as soon as possible, and she didn't have anything else to do anyway.
     
    [X] Yang - Dyna needed to get to a room to sleep as soon as possible, and she didn't have anything else to do anyway.
     
    Hm

    Looking back, I appear to have completely neglected to mention Jaune at all in the last two updates

    That's, hm. I could just write around that by saying Yang forgot about him for a bit but the last update had people discussing their plans once they get into town so it's a bit...

    Well when its not nearly 1:30 AM I'll need to do some editing to fix that, I think.
     
    Mortifer said:
    Well when its not nearly 1:30 AM I'll need to do some editing to fix that, I think.
    Click to expand...
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    Finally got around to putting a bandaid on my mistake here

    For those who already read the update and don't want to look back through it to see the added content, its here:

    Mortifer said:
    The Wolf Pack didn't put all their attention towards the meal. One of them were carving the bones into knives, another was making sure the deer pelt was clean and sorted. Ulfhednar kept rotating in and out of a small group on the side where they were arm wrestling, with the whole group giving a cheer whenever somebody won.

    Jaune was sitting behind a tree near the arm wrestling, cradling his arm and letting his Aura recuperate from the pain of defeat. Yang had to give him credit for going for it, but she wasn't sure how someone with that much Aura had lost it all so quickly.

    As she finished up her serving, Yang decided to get in on that. She teleported next to the stone being used as a table and planted her arm on the top. "Here, let me have a turn."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    And here:

    Mortifer said:
    Dyna nodded and bit into her deer meat.

    "I'll probably bring Jaune with me too." Ruby mused, looking over to the blonde boy. "If the wolves start a bar fight while his Aura's still low from the arm wrestling..."

    Oh right, Jaune existed. Yang had kinda forgot about him for a bit.

    She didn't have anything to say beyond that though. A while passed in silence as Yang reached through a portal to grab more meat.

    Ruby tapped Yang on the shoulder and pointed to the side.
    Click to expand...
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    Update 449 - Bar Fight
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    • [X] Yang - Dyna needed to get to a room to sleep as soon as possible, and she didn't have anything else to do anyway

    The Settlement of Kinrest was a well hidden place in the hills. Without the Wolf Pack, Yang would have only found it by sensing through the area with her magic. She wasn't sure what exactly about the location made it so well hidden beyond the fact that she didn't see it in the hills until they got to the front gate, but she supposed that meant it was rather well defended.

    The gate itself was the only major fortification Yang saw. Raudrulfr moved ahead and got the attention of the guards on top of the gate, and they opened the way without a word. Ruby had been rather anxious to get in contact with One, so she had grabbed Jaune and run off towards the CCT tower before Yang had even noticed that the tower was built into the side of a rocky cliff face.

    "...She better look after herself." Yang sighed. She held her hand toward the dog Faunus and waited for Dyna to take it, just to make sure the girl was safe in place.

    "If there was anything in this place that could threaten her, the town wouldn't be standing." Raudr observed. "Boys, head to the inn. Enjoy yourselves, but keep the fights to where yer allowed to fight. Don't wanna get kicked out."

    "Aye, boss." Was the resounding reply. The man in the bloodied wolf-cloak walked into the shadows, leaving Yang and Dyna alone with his men.

    …And maybe Neo. Yang wasn't sure if Neo was fast enough to follow Ruby and if she would try. Well, either Yang would find out or she wouldn't.

    The inn was, miraculously, not that far from the entrance gate to Kinrest. The wooden building was half-emerging from a hillside, but Yang could see through the front door and it was a lot bigger than the part of the building built at the side of the hill so it had to be built inwards.

    "So there's two desks inside." One of the Wolf Pack explained. "Around the front there's the people who'll prepare food, but this time of night they're only serving alcohol and maybe soda pop. Up back near the stairs is where you talk to for anything upstairs."

    "There's more than just places to sleep?" Yang asked.

    "The pokies." Mosulfr noted. Then he noticed Yang's blank stare. "Slot machines, y'know? Pull the lever, get your money stolen."

    "They were gettin' those pachinko ones last time." Iblarulfr noted. "I'm gonna go see if they have Serpent Devourer."

    "And miss the bar fight?" Brunn asked.

    "I can run down if I hear a fight." Iblar waved his hand dismissively. "See ya."

    Iblarulfr led the way inside, but the rest of the Wolf Pack followed inside a moment later. Yang and Dyna were the only two still out the front of the inn in mere seconds.

    "How many rooms do we have to get?" Yang mused. "Wolf Pack can care for themselves, so… Me, Rubes, you, Neo, Jaune… How many beds per room? We're gonna need to ask I guess."

    "Um." Dyna hesitated. "Can I get something to drink first?"

    "Sure." Yang shrugged. "We'll see what they have."

    The inside of the inn was really big. Was this really an inn? It seemed more like a tavern down here. Though Yang wasn't actually a hundred percent sure on the distinction between those two…

    The place was kinda crowded, with a few heavily populated tables and people walking the thin gaps between them. At one table was a bunch of people gambling over cards, at another was some kind of celebration. There were people eating, there were people playing chess, there was a lot going on here.

    They were all giving Yang a wide berth, which was appreciated. Her hoverchair was a fair bit wider than any of the people standing around here, so she wasn't exactly about to manoeuvre around people without that benefit.

    …Not everyone was so kind, though. Yang got distracted for half a second by someone watching an action movie on their Scroll in public, and while she was mesmerised by the well-done movement of fists, she felt Dyna's pull on her hand twisting behind Yang's back and someone brushed close enough that it jolted Yang in place.

    "Ow." Yang wasn't actually hurt, it was more of a surprise than anything. She looked to the man in black, who didn't even pause as he moved back to his seat. "Jackass. Dyna, you okay?"

    The girl let go of Yang's hand, kneeling down for a moment. Yang spun her hoverchair in place to see what she was doing just in time for Yang to see her standing with pictures in hand.

    "He dropped these." Dyna noted. Yang peered over her shoulder to look at the three pictures- One showed a cave, with a red pen having crossed the picture out. One showed the silhouette of a town with what looked like the torso of a giant man hovering behind it, or in the centre of it, or something. The last was hidden behind the first two and Dyna's thumbs. "From his pocket, when he bumped into us."

    Yang was inclined to just drop the pictures again, but Dyna was looking at the pictures strangely. "What's the matter?"

    "Isn't this…" Dyna tilted her head. "No, you wouldn't know."

    Ah. That was probably code for 'Dyna had seen one of these places with her mother'.

    "Should we go give these to him?" Dyna asked.

    Yang looked at the girl ."Only if you want to."

    Dyna's tail shook behind her quizzically. "Let's give them back to him."

    Yang nodded and turned her hoverchair completely. She took a moment to spot where the man had went- Oh boy he was literally sitting in the darkest corner of the building, what a tryhard. "Alright, follow me."

    Yang took the time to analyse the man as she drew closer. He was wearing some kind of dark cloak and there was something on his back behind it. More than one something, she could see the distortion of his cloak and there was clearly multiple somethings there. Probably a pair of big weapons, a gun and an axe, or…

    Actually, Raudr had mentioned running into a man who had his wings bound. Perhaps those were wings? Or perhaps some other Faunus trait, like a crocodile tail or something.

    Well, it didn't matter. As Yang drew closer, she made out more details. His hair was jet black, wild and ragged and looking almost like a weed trying to consume his skull. His face was hairless, but it seemed like he had shaved recently with a very shaken hand judging by how many small scars lined his lower face.

    He looked up as Yang approached, eyes as red as the portals Yang opened. As red as hers would sometimes turn. That didn't necessarily mean anything - People had all sorts of eye colours, and Yang's never got commented on even when her eyes would literally change colour - But Yang had already run into one group in this part with ties to the Branwen. What were the odds of meeting another?

    "Leave." The man spoke in a curt voice. His voice was rough, but not in the 'tough guy' sort of way. It sounded more like he hadn't spoken out loud in a long time.

    "You dropped something." Yang bit her tongue before she could call the old man a jackass. Or well, was he old? He looked like he'd be in his early forties or so, but who knows maybe he had just had a stressful life.

    Dyna stepped forward, holding out the pictures. They were in a different order, Yang noticed. The cave had been shuffled to the back, and while the town was on top Yang could see that last picture now. It was a picture of a woman wearing some kind of crown and veil, holding… Something in her arms, something that was cut off by the positioning of the pictures.

    The man looked at Dyna with eyes that felt like they were trying to bore through her soul, but he held out his hand gently and waited for Dyna to put the photographs in his hand.

    "You were looking." The man observed.

    "I- I thought I recognised the town…" Dyna explained. "I was thinking about it, and…"

    She trailed off, unsure how to finish the sentence. The man had already stopped paying attention, having turned to a mug of frothy looking beer the moment Dynamite had said the word town. Not even a thank you, huh?

    "Let's go get that drink for you, Dyna." Yang noted. "And then find a place to sleep."

    Dyna nodded and followed Yang back to the first of the two desks. Was desk the right word here? It was where people could order food to be sent to the kitchen, but Yang could also see the machines that would produce beer or soft drink behind the server manning the place.

    As Yang took Dyna back across, she could hear raised voices. She looked back to see the Wolf Pack speaking with what looked like a samurai wearing a wave-like robe over their armour. By which Yang meant it looked like the robe was made of waves, she could see it flowing like water even as nothing got wet.

    What were they talking about? Yang paused a moment to actually pay attention to the conversation, and…

    "I'm telling you, the best waves in Mistral are in the city itself, man!"

    "Fool that you are, to cherish the false superiority of a Capital. The abandoned cove of beasts have produced a better surf than the city has ever seen."

    "Nah nah bro, you've clearly never tried a high tide wave at the Capital. The waves there get so big, they have energy fields set up over the harbours. You can almost touch the moon, broseidon."

    "And I should trust a peltwalker? Your kind throw away your reason for fun. You must have dreamt of this so-called glory."

    "Oi oi oi…"

    Yang sighed. Really, going for the bar fight so fast? Dyna was still down here. So were a lot of people of a lot of ages though, so maybe…

    Ok yeah, as Yang looked around she could see that the people inside the inn were starting to move towards the sides. The person behind the… Would you say behind the bar in the bar in this situation? Yang was gonna say that, The man behind the bar pressed a button under the desk, and a glass shield shot out of the floor to cover the bar itself. That glass shield extended far past the serving station, covering a few tables. Then the wall behind the glass fell back and reshaped into what looked like amphitheatre seats.

    Ooh, did this place make a sport out of bar fights? Yang could see a door open up in the glass wall and people were already making their way through.

    "We should get to cover." Yang gestured to the glass. Dyna nodded, and Yang stuck right behind her as Dyna made her way towards the glass.

    Yang paused at the bar, looking up at the menu on the top. "Hey, you can serve drinks once we're behind the glass, right?"

    The bartender nodded.

    "Right." Yang nodded back and followed Dyna into the glass container. The bartender passed a list of drinks to Yang, and Yang passed it to the dog Faunus. She took a moment to think about her order, and in that moment Yang saw the fight starting.

    There was still a lot of people in the inn proper, but it looked like everyone out there knew what was happening. When the wave-robed samurai picked up a chair and slammed it into Brunnulfr's head, there was… Fourteen? People there? Seven members of the Wolf Pack, with Iblar upstairs and Raudr elsewhere. Then seven others, including the man with the photographs in the dark corner.

    …Y'know, this seemed like a low stakes fight. Yang hadn't been in enough of those recently, she fought Mosulr earlier to prove herself and apart from that she'd been in too many actually deadly fights recently. Might be good to let off some steam here.

    …But that would involve leaving Dyna alone. Even if that was probably safe, was that good for her emotionally?

    Hm…

    [X] Stay with Dyna. Yang could just enjoy the fight from behind the glass.
    [X] Yang just needed to take a moment to confirm that Dyna was good and she could join in.
     
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    • Update 450 - The Man's Too Strong
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    • [X] Stay with Dyna. Yang could just enjoy the fight from behind the glass.

    Yang's enjoyment needed to take a back seat to the needs of the nearby child that was dependent on her. That was something she had plenty of experience with. Yang bit back her frustration at that thought.

    It was a kneejerk reaction born of years of being the closest thing Ruby had to a guardian but Yang was already feeling guilty about it back when she was just understanding where her dad was emotionally. Now that he was dead, that kneejerk frustration at the years of having to be the one Ruby depended on was… Well, maybe it was deserved, but Yang didn't like how it felt.

    Before Yang could think about whether tonight was a good night to try to do some self-reflection, a mass of flesh smashed into the protective glass. Dyna recoiled, but the glass didn't so much as crack. Yang still shifted to half-block the girls view, leaving her still able to see the fight but making it clear that Yang was between her and the violence.

    …The last time Yang was doing this, it was because there was a fight going on and Ruby started drifting closer because the weapons were shiny. That would've been a few years ago, huh…

    Shaking her head to push that memory out of her head, Yang looked forward to watch the bar fight instead.

    There was a cacophony of visual noise in front of Yang. It was the kind of fight where she'd sort of switch her brain off and only process the information that was incoming threats, and leave the active planning until after she had taken enough punches to put together a proper threat assessment of who The Problem was. There was a lot of ghostly birds floating around, and the Wolf Pack were fighting like they were more beast than man.

    Even the comparison to beasts didn't seem appropriate. Yang would be able to predict the movement of a wild wolf. Wolves were thinking creatures. They went for easy prey unless they were desperate. They would prioritise avoiding injury over a meal unless they were starved. Infection was lethal to one without Aura, after all. And at the very least, you could tell who a wolf considered a threat based on who they were watching.

    Yang couldn't see the logic in the Wolf Pack at all. Even their eyes seemed to lie, and had no influence on who they were attacking. Maybe they were watching through the eyes of the mass of birds that went from perching on their shoulders to circling the melee, but looking at the men themselves it looked as if they had shed thought entirely-

    …Wait a minute.

    You already understand how to shed Thought and Memory, though you do not know that you understand.​

    Was this just the exact same thing that the Fairy Godmother had been talking about? Yang bit her lip and put that thought off to later. She still hadn't talked to the Wolf Pack about what their powers were, so this just gave her another reason to talk to them.

    For now, Yang was trying to understand the fight in front of her.

    Chair were being smashed into backs, broken bottles were being stabbed into faces, and people were being grappled by one person and then beaten by another. Out of the corner of her eye, Yang saw two members of the Wolf Pack pause their fighting to mash their lips together, before simultaneously smashing each other over the head with a pair of beer bottles. Their Aura's shuddered as the glass collapsed around them, and then both bodies fell unmoving.

    Their Aura's weren't broken yet, so… Was this just bar fight etiquette? Play dead when you're low? That wasn't something Yang had ever heard before, but she'd never been in a bar fight before.

    Elsewhere, the samurai with the wave-like kimono was dancing near the centre of the brawl, throwing out what were probably illusory waves that were pushing people away like children caught in the high tide. He didn't seem to be hurting people badly, but like half of the brawl was people trying to push through to grab him. Yang pushed him out of her threat assessment, he was annoying but not the one to watch.

    …No. The one to watch in a brawl like this was the guy still sitting in his seat.

    The man with the photographs was finishing his drink, a big frothy mug of some sort of alcohol. He wiped his mouth as he finished his mug and slipped the photographs under his cloak, near the protruding mass on his back. The fact that he was so calm despite the brawl reflected some level of confidence, arrogance or ignorance.

    As he set the mug on the table, Yang saw the green wolfskin behind him. Mosulfr was staring at the seated man in black, a hunger in his eyes. His hand shot forward and flared with Aura, and Yang saw the man in black raise an eyebrow as he stood.

    "Your Semblance is empowering?" The man's voice carried over the cacophony of the brawl somehow, even though it was as quiet as a whisper. "Very well."

    He took one step towards the brawl before someone Yang didn't recognise jumped on him. She didn't have time to see what that someone was before the man in black shut his fist upwards, and the stranger was suddenly buried in the roof above the bar.

    For a half-second the brawl turned silent, with all eyes turning towards the man in black. The shapes in his cloak shifted like something living. Were those wings after all, then? It was no matter, because the cracking of knuckles drew Yang's attention back to his hand. Scarred and calloused, with bulging veins running down to his wrists.

    "Who am I to turn down your invitation?"

    A pair from the Wolf Pack moved in unison, their bodies morphing from man to beast as they shot at the man in black. He leaned to the side to dodge the lunge of one wolf, his left arm reaching towards his right shoulder to grab the wolf by the tail. One canine was used to smack into the other, and both wolves fell to the floor.

    Mosulfr remained motionless, watching the man in black and smiling.

    The samurai cloaked in waves was next to the bat, rushing forward and expanding the liquid as he moved. Yang recognised this technique, it was similar to something that had been done in Mountain Glenn. Calder, who was Cenna's ally until he died. The point was to use the momentum of the water to smash into someone hard.

    The samurai slammed into the man in black, but the water created around him kept surging forward. The white rapid-like nature of the water blinded Yang to what was happening, but she could see the surge continue and slam into Mosulfr and the table near him. Both hit the wall and Yang saw Mosulr's Aura cackling underneath the rapids, but he was standing again before the water faded around the samurai.

    And when it faded, it was because the samurai fell unconscious. The man in black released his hold around the samurai's neck and moved forward into the rest of the brawlers, who were waiting patiently for him.

    Earlier, Yang had described the fight as a cacophony. Everyone was fighting to their own tune, and it was impossible to make out more than a few glimpses.

    Now? The fight was an orchestra. All those tunes playing towards the same goal, to fight the man in black. Whether it was the remaining Wolf Pack members, those still in human shape or the one conscious wolf returning to its feet to rejoin the battle. Whether it was the woman cloaked in lightning or the greying old man who was drinking from abandoned bottles before smashing them into his opponents, they were all working towards the same metaphorical sound.

    But in that orchestra, the man with the hidden wings was the conductor. The battle bended to his whims, his every action controlling the flow of the brawl. When he punched, everyone was watching his fist. When he grabbed someone, everyone got out of the way of the throw. The falling bodies were his own doing, with the sole exception of the wolfskin warrior who smashed his own skull against the man in black and knocked himself out.

    It was a display of violence that was honestly beautiful. And even if part of it was Mosulfr using his Semblance to make the man stronger, this level of strength went beyond what power Mosulfr had given Yang once. That man must have been a beast even before the buff.

    And as that beautiful violence drew to a close, Yang saw Mosulfr's smirk twist into a wicked, toothy grin.

    "That's as far as you go!" He declared. He withdrew his hand, a clear sign that he was activating the second part of his Semblance-

    And the Man in Black tilted his head. His Aura shined like a mirror, and Mosulfr cried out. The warrior with the green wolfskin cloak fell, his body suddenly frail.

    "Is that so?" The man with the hidden wings asked.

    "What just happened?" Dyna whispered from behind Yang.

    The blonde girl tried to consider the possibilities. "Mosulfr's Semblance makes you stronger, but then he takes it away and you get weaker equal to how much stronger you got. The man in black got stronger, but then Mosulfr tried to make him weaker."

    "It reflected?" Dyna asked.

    "It must have." Yang concluded.

    The man in black looked around to the bodies laid across the bar. "Is that all?"

    And as if in direct response, the rooftop shattered. From the floor above, the wolf with the blue and pink fur coat fell.

    "Goddamn it." He swore. Yang couldn't see his face, his back was turned to the protective glass "First I lose all my money to the pachinko machine, then the fight starts in the middle of a Gunslinger Gato Onza scene so I miss half the fight, and then-"

    He got no further before the man in black swung at him. The force behind the punch carried out far beyond the fist or the face that stopped it, the roaring wind cracking the glass in front of Yang. Dyna cowered behind her, but Yang simply stared forward as Iblarulfr stood firm.

    "That's a strong handshake." Iblar's body may have been firm, but his voice suddenly sounded more corpselike than anything. "But I get one. No matter how hard you hit, I'll always get one."

    His hand shot, the knife he had earlier stabbing into the eye of the man with the hidden wings. The man's Aura hardened around his flesh and stopped the knife with the tip at the eyeball, but the eyelid didn't even close.

    "Heh. Tough guy." Iblarulfr sounded like they were smiling despite it all.

    Then his body flew back. The man in black had not moved, so it wasn't that Iblar had been hit again. It was simply the first punch catching up to him. His body smashed into the protective glass and shattered it, showering the audience with shards.

    Thank goodness for everyone's Aura. Someone other than Iblarulfr could've been hurt if people were squishy and unprotected. As it was, the warrior was bloodied and unconscious, bit smiling all the same.

    The man in black looked around and left the room.

    "...Who the hell was that?" Someone in the crowd asked.

    "No idea." The bartender replied. "He didn't give me one-"

    "Ruin." A weak voice croaked.

    Yang looked past the broken glass to see Mosulfr crawling across the floor. He seemed unable to get past an unconscious body, so Yang opened a portal and dragged him through. "What was that?"

    "His name." Mosulfr answered. "That's the guy who beat the Boss. His name is Ruin."

    Ruin. What a rather fitting name for a man that strong. For a man that felt as imposing as him.

    The moment she heard the name, Yang felt a chill down her spine. Something in her blood was screaming. She did not want to meet that man again. But she would. That primordial, instinctual dread that laced her body wouldn't let her think anything else but that.

    The name Ruin was going to stick with her, whether she wanted it to or not.

    ~~~~~​
    It would be a small time longer before Ruby Rose finished her distress call form the emergency CCT relay.

    [X] Record only the core of Ruby's communications, for Yang is about to ask the Wolf Pack about their magic.
    [X] After witnessing that fight, Yang has not the energy to talk. Record briefly her putting the Faunus girl to bed, and spend longer on Ruby Rose.
     
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    • [X] Record only the core of Ruby's communications, for Yang is about to ask the Wolf Pack about their magic.

    Alright, let's get more power.
     
    [X] Record only the core of Ruby's communications, for Yang is about to ask the Wolf Pack about their magic.
     
    Update 451 - Thoughtless
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Record only the core of Ruby's communications, for Yang is about to ask the Wolf Pack about their magic.

    Ruby Rose paced across the surprisingly big communications room atop of the CCT tower as she waited. Her call had already made it to Mistral, but it had been a while since she had been recognised and patched into One. Was One still in Atlas? What was the timezone difference there? Ruby really had no idea.

    She should maybe learn considering how many friends she had in different timezones now. Or, well. Family mostly. She still didn't have many friends and of those who were friends and not family it was basically just a short list of uh. Weiss. Jaune was a Disciple but that was closer to friend than family. Galatea definitely wanted to be family but wasn't there yet. That was basically everyone she felt confident calling a friend? And they were all in the same timezone as Ruby right now. But still, that was more friends than she usually had and also also she had family in other timezones.

    Jeez, One was taking a while. Ruby looked over towards Jaune, who was polishing his shield. Oh that was nice, he was taking care of his weapon slash shield combination. Even if it was a very dull and boring weapon which…

    Well, Ruby could maybe talk to him about modifying it into something interesting later. Or maybe she could pitch it no-

    "Six."

    Ah, One! Ruby turned to the giant screen at the side of the room. One's face was looking down upon her. Ruby's aunt was always a bit… Emotionally reserved, was it? She was always in control of the emotions she was showing at least. But in that moment, as Ruby saw the turmoil in One's red eyes fade into relief. It was so minor that anyone unfamiliar with One would have thought her uncaring, but Ruby could see it all the same.

    "I am glad you are well." One noted. "My people have already found your location based on the signature of the tower. The rescue process is already on the way."

    Ruby let out a sigh of relief. She didn't need to try to remember the name of this town? Thank goodness One was so on top of things. But there was other things. "Some of the people stayed behind in the airship when it went down. We're organising a rescue party but I came here right away so I don't know what's happening there."

    One watched Ruby closely. "What happened?"

    "There was a White Fang member." Ruby explained. "A big name apparently? I mean even if he's not, what he did seems like a big deal…"

    "Leonax Zounkla?" One asked.

    "Yeah, that's the one." Ruby nodded. "How did you know?"

    "Based on SDC records, Leonax's affinity for Beasts has forced them to abandon several mines throughout the wild parts of Mistral." One explained. "The parts of Mistral which some argue don't count as part of the Kingdoms. The proximity of Kinrest to those mines is enough that Leonax is responsible for one of the travel warnings making things difficult right now."

    "Travel warnings?" Jaune asked. "Uh, one of?"

    "The Mistralian government has a few restrictions on where they'll send airships without a strong guard." One kept her eyes on Ruby, answering as if Ruby had asked the question. "Not all of which appear to be public knowledge. Kinrest has a travel warning for Leonax Zounkla, the War Chief, and the potential Grimm activity from the recent raids on nearby towns."

    "You'd think our airship would've known about Leonax, then." Jaune muttered.

    "The travel warnings only appear to be relevant for landings." One mused." I'd be curious to hear later how your journey was disrupted. But it's more important that the rescue efforts are handled smoothly."

    "Right." Ruby nodded. "How long until you can get people here?"

    "I suspect it won't be until noon tomorrow." Anyone but Ruby would've missed that small touch of annoyance in One's voice. "Perhaps sooner, but the fact that there are others who need rescuing… Where are they?"

    "In the jungle nearby." Ruby explained.

    "An airship rescue would be difficult." One answered. "It would be for the best if you could get them to the village. Can you do that for me, Six?"

    "I can." Ruby promised. "I won't let you down."

    "Thank you." One had the faintest hint of a smile. It was enough that she had to be forcing it, but the fact that she was making the effort at all meant something.

    "...Hey." Ruby paused. "I know that you're busy a lot, auntie, but-"

    "We can talk longer if you wish."

    Ruby beamed.

    It was another few hours before the call would end.

    ~~~~~​

    The Wolf Pack were sitting around a ruined and broken table. Most of them had their feet up on the shards of wood as they drove blades into their hair, the exceptions being the two that knocked themselves out before Ruin could defeat the rest, and Raudr who had not been present until just now.

    Everyone else in the inn was sitting around a new table that had been pulled out after the fight, so like. Yang had to guess they had chosen to keep the broken table on purpose.

    "Wonder if he's still here." Raudrulfr mused. Nobody had to ask to know he meant Ruin. "He doesn't know about our ways, but I'm honour-bound to hand over my hair."

    "Seems like a weird tradition." Yang noted. "...Though I guess I just love my hair."

    "So do I." Raudr explained. "It's meant to be a punishment."

    "Fair enough." Yang shrugged. "I wanted to ask you guys about your powers earlier but forgot to. Dyna's asleep now, so I'm asking now."

    "Why do you want to know?" Raudr asked.

    "Because it seems an awful lot like you guys are throwing your minds away in a fight." Yang answered. "And I was brainstorming about an ability of my own earlier and was advised that I should 'Understand how to shed Thought and Memory' by someone I trust but who is also frustratingly vague."

    Raudr raised an eyebrow. "'Thought' and 'memory', in that order? Quotation marks and all?"

    "They were spoken like they were important terms, but I'd think of it as a capitalised word rather than in quotation marks." Yang explained. "...Just how you think about it, I guess."

    "Might be able to help you there." Raudr nodded. He ran his coat through his bloodred wolfskin cloak. "'Thought' and 'memory' are what we call the soul ravens we call about, because they carry what we discard to find the Ecstasy of the Alphather."

    "These cloaks are relics of the Alphather, the first Ulfhednar." Iblarulfr explained. "He imparted in them some of his Ecstasy, for inspiration in the poetry of fists and the brawl of speech alike."

    "I can never predict you when I see you fighting with those birds out." Yang noted. "So… You discard Thought and Memory, and you get inspired by it?"

    "The Ecstasy of the Alphather pushes our bodies in ways that the human mind wouldn't be able to comprehend." Mosulfr explained. "But 'memory' watches and passes to us any technique we learnt of in the past, and 'thought' watches and passes to us the plans we would come up with anyway."

    "Like a guided Berserker Rage?" Yang asked.

    Raudr growled lightly. "Those bearskins came after us. It's an Ulfhednar Rage."

    "...Right." Yang nodded. "So you splinter your mind into two Soul Rave…"

    -there was one spirit moving. An ethereal figure with a beard reaching to his knees, a face hidden by a large brim hat, a spear in one hand and a pair of ravens perched upon either shoulder-​

    The memory of Weiss' inner world, the spirits within her Semblance, stunned Yang to silence.

    "...No way." Yang muttered. "But it's so similar, isn't it? The shape of the animal, the spirits…"

    "What are you talkin' about?" Raudr asked.

    "This Alphather of yours." Yang spoke. "Is his name Wodan?"

    The Wolf Pack stared at Yang with wide eyes.

    "...You know something." It wasn't a question that came from Brunn's lips, even if it was shaped like one.

    "I've already got a few magical things I'm investigating which lead me to looking into Wodan." Yang explained. "A friend of mine has a power that ties back to him as well. And-"

    The memory flitted through Yang's mind. Back during the Battle of Fafnir, when her body had been too tired to continue. Weiss has created a construct, probably a Nevermore from memory, and Yang had been able to anchor her soul on that. Was that what the Fairy Godmother meant when she said that Yang already knew how to shed Thought and Memory?

    "Goddamn it, everything ties back to Wodan I guess." Yang bit her lip. "My friend, the stuff I'm looking into, you guys…"

    The Branwen, that one guy that had been in the tournament prelims in Vale…

    "Legend says the Alphather sought knowledge of every inch of the world." Raudrulfr observed. "And in the end turned his eye to the secrets that lay beyond the veil of death. Even the stuff he didn't create, he likely touched."

    "Hey, maybe you can speed something up for me." Yang realised. "Do you guys know anything about a Hanging Tree?"

    "Unless you mean a place for executions, nothing." Raudr shook his head. "Certainly nothing that would've drawn Wodan's eye."

    "...Guess I need to look into that more." Yang sighed. "Anyway-"

    The door to the inn opened. Yang looked back to see a familiar girl stepping in. She had hidden away her red cloak like she had promised to Weiss, but Yang had already moved to greet Ruby before her mind had finished looking at the face. It was a reflex, like taking a hammer to a knee.

    "Hey, Rubes." Yang greeted.

    "Yang." Ruby smiled. Behind her, Jaune awkwardly shuffled in. "...What happened to that table?"

    "Bar fight." Yang shrugged it off. "So what's the situation?"

    "One says to expect rescue by midday tomorrow." Ruby explained. "You guys?"

    Raudr stood and approached. "Mayor's sending a rescue party, but he wants guards. Duties yours if you want it, but I'll go otherwise-"

    "I'll go." Ruby said without thinking. "I mean, I'm stronger."

    Raudr raised an eyebrow. "I know that's true. But saying that to an Ulfhednar is just asking for a fight, you know."

    "Eh, but you're a pugilist." Ruby sighed. "And you don't even have a transforming fist weapon like my sister does. Sounds boring."

    Raudr looked from Ruby to Yang.

    "I'm sorry about my sister." Yang bowed her head. "She has a complexity addiction with weapons and thinks people who just punch things are oversimplifying things. It's a character flaw."

    "Yang!" The younger girl pinched Yang's cheek. "Stop making it sound like I'm in the wrong about this!"

    Raudr chuckled.

    "Um, can I go?" Jaune asked. "Do I need to book a room, or-"

    Yang pulled some keys out of her pocket and threw them at Jaune. "Got you a room to yourself."

    "Neat." Jaune nodded. He read off the number of the key. "Well, I'll be off then."

    "We should probably also get to our room." Ruby noted. "Something something green sunflower."

    Ah right, the codeword about Neo. Man Ruby really wasn't subtle.

    "Right." Yang nodded, then turned back to the Wolf Pack. "If I get the chance to talk to you guys later, I will."

    The Wolf Pack all cheered at Yang. Half of them called her Bro for some reason. Yang waved goodbye and followed Ruby upstairs.

    "Got a big room for the non-Jaune's here." Yang explained. "Four beds. Dyna's sleeping there already."

    Ruby nodded as Yang passed her the key. It took them a moment to reach the room, and Ruby pushed in almost impatiently.

    There were four beds in the four corners. Dyna was in the back-left, buried under a mountain of blankets.

    And on the back-right bed, Neo was also sleeping.

    "...Well, so much for that plan." Ruby sighed. "I guess we'll just have to try to corner her in the morning to talk about the whole Song Addiction thing."

    Yang hummed. "We could just wake her up."

    "...I mean, I guess." Ruby mused. "That seems kinda mean, though."

    Man, Ruby really did pick the weirdest moments to care about that stuff…

    [X] It's gonna be mean to talk to Neo about the Song addiction thing anyway. May as well do it now.
    [X] If Yang locks the doors and keeps the key inside a portal, Neo won't be able to leave. They can wait until morning.
     
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    • [X] It's gonna be mean to talk to Neo about the Song addiction thing anyway. May as well do it now.

    She's gonna jump out the window or something otherwise.
     
    [X] It's gonna be mean to talk to Neo about the Song addiction thing anyway. May as well do it now.
     
    Update 452 - Too Nice
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    • [X] It's gonna be mean to talk to Neo about the Song addiction thing anyway. May as well do it now.

    Yang had been expecting it to take a while to shake Neo awake. Maybe that was her mistake, given that Neo used to live outside the Kingdoms as a thief. It made sense, in hindsight, that Neo would have a hair trigger for waking up.

    It was still somewhat surprising how quickly it had taken. One second Ruby was putting her hand down on Neo's shoulder, the next Neo's umbrella-blade was at her throat. The girl dressed in tricolour blinked as she took in the sight of who had woken her up before letting her umbrella shatter. Or put it under an illusion, rather.

    The girl seemed rather grumpy as she looked up at Ruby and Yang. She took a moment to reach for her Scroll, taking the time to type her first comment into it.

    'Why am I awake what did I do'.

    Yang noticed the buttons at the edge of Neo's writing app. There was a text to speech button there, but not only was it crossed out on the screen, but it looked like the screen had been cracked right there to prevent it from being pressed.

    "You didn't really…" Ruby paused, trailing off. "Well, you did do something. Sorta. Man this is hard."

    Yang sighed. She was going to have to just rip off the bandage. "Hey Neo, how did you get stabbed with your Aura up the other day?"

    Neo blinked, then frowned.

    'Oh so now I'm getting in trouble because someone stabbed me. It's like I'm talking with cops again.'

    "That's not what she meant." Ruby shot Yang a concerned look. Not exactly angry, but Yang could tell that she wasn't very happy with Yang just going for it. "It's just. Neo, did you let yourself get hurt just so I'd need to use my Song to heal you?"

    Neo hid her face behind her Scroll as she type up her next comment. A few seconds in, she held her finger over where the delete button would have been. The mute girl went through three more repetitions of typing in deleting before pressing four keys and flipping her screen.

    'Yeah'

    …Yang wasn't expecting her to just admit it. But then, she hadn't had much of an idea of how this conversation would go.

    "Why?" Ruby asked.

    Neo was typing for a while after that.

    Yang looked over at Ruby, but Ruby put a finger on her lips. Yeah, she was right. Probably better to let Neo type up uninterrupted.

    It took another minute or so for Neo to show her next reply.

    'You really want me to go into this? You're waking me up for this? What do you want me to say? That the Song is a transcendent sensation that makes itself feel more important than anything else I feel? That it's an overwhelming sensation that makes any problems I have feel insignificant, that makes me feel hollow without it? Maybe you want me to talk about how it feels like shit to think about how dependent I am on it but when I get my hit I'm too busy enjoying it to think about how bad it is that it's all I think about? Just let me sleep.'

    Ruby was a faster reader than Yang was. She was stepping closer to Neo as Yang was finishing the paragraph.

    "Neo…" Ruby's voice was soft. Unsure. "This isn't okay. I…"

    Neo rolled her eyes. Her Semblance shattered around her Scroll, the mechanical text giving way to messy handwriting. 'I'm not an idiot. I know it's not okay.'

    "We have to do something about it." Ruby cut in. "I-"

    'No we don't.' Neo responded. 'Just give me what I need so I don't have to think about it.'

    "I'm not going to do that." Ruby shook her head. "Neo, it almost ruined you and Roman when Five-"

    'You're going to do it.' The shattering effect of Neo's Semblance cut Ruby off mid-speech. 'Because I'd be miserable otherwise.'

    Yang cleared her throat. "That sounds like your problem."

    'Ruby's got a kind heart.' The shattering effect was happening non-stop as Neo constantly reformatted the view of reality for her message. 'She'll give me more of the Song. She'll see me miserable and she'll know she has a way to make it stop. She won't be able to help it.'

    Neo smiled. 'Am I wrong?'

    Yang glared at Neo. She could tell her eyes were burning red without even being able to see it. But as time passed and Ruby failed to provide a counterargument, Yang turned to look at her sister.

    Ruby was frozen, her one silver eye watering as she stared at Neo. There wasn't any question about it. Neo's words hit Ruby deep. She wasn't able to argue against them at all.

    "I…" Ruby stuttered. Her eye was shut with enough force to scrunch up her face. Before Yang could say a word, Ruby turned her back and ran.

    "Ruby!" Yang called after her sister as she fled the room. She started to follow Ruby, but turned to glare back at Neo.

    The mute girl was looking after Ruby herself, regret clear on her face. But she pushed down on that guilt and curled up beneath the blanket on her bed all the same.

    Fuck it, whatever. Yang left Neo behind and followed the trail of rose petals down the hall. They led to a now-open window in the side of the inn, and Yang looked out them to see a silhouette perching on the roof of a nearby watchtower.

    Yang's portal had her at Ruby's side in a heartbeat. "You good, sis?"

    Ruby looked up at Yang. She was reaching for her back where her red cloak would have been, had she not been going incognito in this moment. Looking for the familiarity, was she?

    "Yeah." Ruby sighed. "Sorry. I overreacted there, I just…"

    "Wanna talk about it?" Yang asked.

    Ruby took a moment to answer. "I think Neo might be right."

    "We don't know that." Yang shook her head.

    "No, I think I know." Ruby muttered. "I… Argh. What did I think we were doing tonight?"

    "We were going to try to make sure Neo wasn't doing dumb things just to get hits of the Song." Yang noted. "We… Might've figured that out a bit. We know her mindset. Now we can try to figure out how to approach her based on that."

    "I…" Ruby sighed. "Just gimme a moment. Need to get my head clear here."

    "That's fine." Yang nodded.

    "I wish more people had your immunity, Yang." Ruby noted. "...The part where you can't get addicted. I wish I could just heal you completely immediately."

    "...Yeah, that'd be nice." Yang nodded briefly, then paused. "Wait, goddamn it. I'm an idiot and forgot about a thing."

    "What thing?" Ruby asked.

    "Councillor Morgan wanted to see if I'd be willing to try and reverse-engineer my Seal Remnants."

    Yang raised her arm and forced the remnants of the Goddess Seal to emerge, burning blue into her arm.

    "Mum was able to purge my head of the Red Sky stuff with this before she died." Yang was surprised at how level her words were as she spoke of it. "Maybe I could replicate that. Purge Neo of the Song's influence…"

    "That'd be nice." Ruby muttered.

    "Guess that answers whether or not I'm helping the Councillor there." Yang decided. Then she paused. "...IS there a murmur on the wind?"

    Ruby paused, tilting her head. "I think I can hear someone talking nearby…"

    "Hold on, I'm curious." Yang closed her eyes and located the conversation in question.

    Not far from the watchtower was the gate out of Kinrest. And in front of that gate were two men, one wearing a red wolfskin cloak and one with his wings bound behind his back.

    Raudrulfr and Ruin, Yang realised.

    "You've been looking for me all this time?" Ruin asked Raudr.

    "Aye." Raudr confirmed. He held out the rope spun from his own hair. "I owe you this much."

    "I don't have much interest in collecting trinkets." Ruin turned his back. It looked like he was about to make his way out of town in the middle of the night.

    "An Ulfhednar's hair is more than just a trinket." Raudr shook his head. "A bit of the wolf is left behind. There's magic in this."

    "I don't care." Ruin didn't even turn back to face Raudr.

    "Well I do." Raudr insisted. "If you don't take it now, I'm gonna follow you until you take it."

    Ruin closed his eyes. "Fine. I'll take the damn thing."

    The two men drew closer, just so the hair could be exchanged.

    "My men will need a while to finish their own braids." Raudr noted.

    "I'll keep in mind to never fight one of your kind again, if this is what results from it."

    "Don't be like that." Raudr backed away. He looked Ruin over. "Part of me wants a rematch. But you're going somewhere, aren't you? Somewhere important."

    Yang was definitely eavesdropping more than she needed to, but at this point she may as well just observe the entire conversation. She was curious.

    "Maybe." Ruin turned away again. He was already walking away before Raudr spoke again.

    "...You sound like you don't know." Raudr narrowed his eyes. "And those photographs… You don't know, do you?"

    Ruin stopped mid-stride.

    "...Aye." Ruin confirmed. "I don't know where I'm going."

    "Full amnesiac, or just partial?" Raudr asked.

    "Closer to full." Ruin nodded. "I don't know much. My photographs are all I got to lead me where I've gotta go."

    "And where's that?"

    Ruin turned back and glared. "Nobody else needs to know."

    "Fair enough." Raudr nodded. He met Ruin's glare with his own gaze, analysing the look in his eye. "Good luck with your quest. I hope you find whoever you need to kill."

    Kill?

    …No, Yang could see it. That look in Ruin's eyes just said. Something. It wasn't exactly hate or any strong negative emotion, but now that Yang was looking for it she could see the killing intent.

    Someone was shaking Yang's shoulder. She pulled her senses back to her body to look over at Ruby.

    "Ah, sorry." Yang gave a bit of an abashed smile. "Got distracted."

    "What with?" Ruby asked.

    "Raudr and Ruin were talking." Yang explained. "...I know you missed Ruin, but that guys… He feels dangerous. It's hard to look away from him, the same way it's hard to look away from a fire or a big knife in a kitchen."

    "...Fair enough." Ruby yawned. "...We should get some sleep soon, so we can be ready for tomorrow."

    "Want me to go see if Neo's already asleep again?" Yang asked.

    "Please do."

    Yang nodded and teleported back into the room in the inn.

    Not much happened from there. Ruby was in her bed a minute later, and even if Yang couldn't tell how long it took her to get to sleep it wasn't too long after that.

    She hoped for peaceful dreams that night.

    ~~~~~​

    The fact that Yang was lucid dreaming was probably not a good sign, as far as peaceful dreams went.

    What did she usually dream about when she was this aware of her dreams? She wasn't really sure, but this was closer to the dreams she had in Mountain Glenn, when the Red Sky was trying to get into her head. She needed Starling to cover up her dreams back then, and even then the protective dream had cracked away to give her a vision.

    So yeah, the fact that Yang was aware of her dream right now was something of a bad sign.

    She took a moment to look around of the environment in her dream. She was standing in… Some kind of ruin. It looked like she was surrounded by columns that had once held something up, but the columns had been burnt so that whatever they were holding had been destroyed, and it had happened long enough ago that there were vines and moss climbing up the burnt-black columns.

    But it wasn't entirely untouched either. Yang could see handprints in the columns where dust had been brushed aside. Where…

    The ground shook beneath Yang's vision. No, it was the vision that was shaking. The world was moving, but nothing in it reacted to that movement. The dust wasn't disrupted, the grass wasn't flowing, nothing like that. The impact had been to vision alone.

    Yang turned her back to see the source.

    And the black-scaled dragon looked back at her.

    "What the-"

    "Dragon of Vale." The black dragon intoned. "Leave this land."

    Yang took a step back. It was only as she did so that she realised she was in a body that could step, in this vision.

    And it was only as that thought passed her mind that she realised the body she possessed.

    Four legs, pressing into the ground like great machines of war. Great wings that felt like they could swallow the sun. Scales that shimmered like gold.

    This wasn't a vision born from Yang's Branwen Blood. This was her right as a dragon.

    And if this was her form…

    "You're a Human Dragon too." Yang realised. "Of Mistral."

    "This is my territory." The Dragon of Mistral declared. "You are young. Your Roar is that of a newborn. I have shown mercy until now because of that."

    "I'm not going to leave Mistral." Yang snapped. "I don't give a shit if it's your territory, I have a tournament to fight in."

    "I won't surrender my title, whelp." The other Dragon snarled.

    "I don't want your fucking title." Yang snarled back. "I want to be part of the fucking tournament with my sister. I'll be gone as soon as it's done. I don't even know who you are."

    The Dragon stalked to the left. Yang matched the movement, circling the Dragon of Mistral in movement.

    "I sense no lies in your words." The black-scaled metaphorical dragon decided. "Fight in your tournament, Dragon of Vale. But dare not ever stand in my way. Otherwise…"

    Pain laced through Yang's back. She let out a cry as she felt scales and flesh rent asunder. Her dream-wings slammed above her back to try to crush the presence suddenly there, but the weight leapt off her back and landed in front of the Dragon of Mistral.

    With bloodied claws and fangs bared, the Vraal looked to Yang with lethal intent.

    "...If we ever meet again, Dragon of Vale? My Beast shall have its way."

    Those words echoed through Yang's mind as she woke in a cold sweat.

    It took her a moment to take in the world around her. The bedsheet beneath her had a damp silhouette painted into it where Yang's sweat had poured from her back onto the mattress. Ruby, Neo and Dyna were all still sleeping, even as the sun started to peek through the blinds of the window. Yang felt her hands clawing for Ember Celica, and it wasn't until her gauntlets were secure around her hands that she felt herself calming.

    That dream…

    Yang tried to put it out of her mind. She needed to calm down before she did anything else. But she would need to talk to Ruby about this at the very least. Pass it on to One later, she might have a use for this information.

    But the Dragon of Mistral bore his title as true as Yang, and he had flaunted his Pact with a creature that seemed to live and breathe in murder and death.

    Yang hoped more than anything that this was the last she heard of either of them.

    "Yang?"

    In the time it had taken Yang to get ahold of herself, Ruby had woken up. Yang looked over to her and smiled.

    "Hey, Rubes." Yang waved. "What are you doing awake?"

    "Need to get ready for the rescue mission before One's airship gets here." Ruby explained, stretching her arms as she got out of bed. "You?"

    "Bad dream." Yang explained. "...Well, a vision I think. We're gonna need to talk about it later."

    "Ah." Ruby paused mid-stretch. "I'm scared now."

    "I don't think it's that bad." Yang shook her head and started stretching as well. "Should I be getting ready too?"

    Ruby paused. "I was thinking it'd just be me and Jaune heading back up, actually."

    "Hm?" Yang tilted her head.

    "I don't think there's much need for Dyna to come along, and someone needs to look after her." Ruby explained. "And… I kinda don't want to see Neo right now. Last night was…"

    "...Yeah, fair." Yang nodded. "Are you sure?"

    "It should be safe." Ruby answered. "Also I think we should have someone here when One's airships arrive and that should be either me or you. Dynamite's a kid, Jaune's still new to this, and Neo is. Y'know."

    "She's got a Song in her head, yeah." Yang nodded. "I… Don't like it. But I can wait here."

    "Thanks." Ruby smiled. "I promise you, nothing will happen to me. We've been through the route before and nothing happened."

    "Well, we had the Wolf Pack to guide us then." Yang pointed out.

    "And I'll have a vehicle now." Ruby countered. "And hey, if it's a problem, I'll just ask the Wolf Pack to come back to me too."

    …Hm. Was that necessary?

    [X] It'd probably address some of Yang's concerns if the Wolf Pack went too.
    [X] Nah, Ruby was right, Yang could trust she'd be safe for a few hours.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Update 453 - SOS
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Nah, Ruby was right, Yang could trust she'd be safe for a few hours.

    It didn't take long for the rescue party to be ready to go.

    Yang looked down from the hillside entrance of Kinrest to look down at the vehicles set up in a convoy. There were two small vehicles with gun turrets perched at the back for someone to shoot from, a supply truck, and some kind of van that was there to transport people. It wasn't much, but it'd be enough to carry everyone from the airship.

    Yang could hear people near the convoy debating if they needed another transport, just in case something happened to the initial vehicle. Something about the resource usage and if there was a meaningful risk. Yang didn't know enough about the logistics to get involved, so she stayed in place.

    "I'm not going to be gone long." Ruby pointed out. Yang looked over to her as she toyed with her scythe, perched on the hill next to Yang.

    "I didn't say anything." Yang said.

    Ruby smiled. "You were thinking it."

    "I was thinking about the vehicles." Yang pointed down to the convoy.

    "You were thinking it subconsciously." Ruby rolled her eye.

    "...Fair enough." Yang nodded. "Make sure you stay safe, alright?"

    "You too." Ruby nudged her fist against Yang's arm softly. "And keep Dyna out of trouble too, alright? I mean everything seems safe enough here, but…"

    "I'll keep an eye on her." Yang promised. "So when are you putting your cloak back on?"

    "When I meet up with Weiss, probably." Ruby answered. "Since I was keeping it off in the first place because she was worried."

    "Hm." Was now a good time to tell Ruby about Weiss' anti-Faunus statements earlier? …It might be a bit too gossipy right now. Yang was thinking maybe it was for the best to confront her in person at some point. "Stay safe. Don't be gone long."

    "I just said I wouldn't be." Ruby stuck out her tongue. "Worrywart. You're going to give yourself warts worrying so much."

    "Is that a saying I didn't know about?" Yang asked.

    "...I mean, that's got to be why they call you that kind of person a worrywart, right?" Ruby asked. "Where else would the wart come from?"

    "That's a fair question." Yang conceded. "Well if you take too long and I get warts, I know who to blame."

    "Hey, you can't blame that on me!" Ruby objected.

    "Can and will, sis."

    Ruby groaned. Crescent Rose transformed in her hand so she could prop it into the ground beneath her, letting her lean against it all dramatically. "My own sister, accusing me of such sin."

    "This is perhaps the stupidest conversation we've had in years." Yang decided. "And it looks like the convoy is getting ready to leave."

    Sure enough, the vehicles were moving into alignment. They weren't ready to go just yet, but they were almost there.

    "Ah, right." Crescent Rose folded up as Ruby prepared to jump. "Love you, Yang."

    "Love you too, Rubes." Yang waved as Ruby leapt away.

    She spent a while more watching as her sister perched on top of the civilian transport vehicle. Well, she could probably snipe from up there…

    As Yang watched, a bunch of people in simple uniforms got into the armed weapon vehicles. There were also a few people without any uniform piling into the civilian transport, mercenaries or Hunters or whatever. Jaune was there too, looking very out of place.

    Ruby shouted out another farewell as the convoy started moving, and Yang shouted her own extra farewell after her. Then she watched the convoy disappear into the horizon, and continued watching long after that.

    Eventually Yang realised she should probably do something else and teleported back to her room in the inn. Once her hoverchair was on the ground, she leapt through another portal to lay down in the bed.

    "Are you tired?" Dynamite Baskerville asked from her own bed, some distance away.

    "Sorta." Yang answered. "I'm not sleepy or exhausted or anything, but a chance to just lie down sounds delicious right now."

    "Hm." Dyna hummed. Yang wasn't looking but she wouldn't be surprised if Yang was nodding. "...So what are you doing now?"

    "I'm gonna wait until the airship turns up." Yang answered. "And I'm taking every second to relax until then that I can. What about you?"

    "I don't know." Dyna answered. "I'm tempted to do uh… I don't know what the term for it is. Mum used to do a thing where she'd just flicker her Semblance on and off a lot. Enrichment or something."

    "That tracks." Yang answered. "People tend to get a kick out of using that part of their soul. Kinda like exercise."

    "My Semblance is self-detonation, though." Dyna reminded Yang. "I uh. Might be loud."

    "...Yeah, you might be." Yang mused. "I wouldn't mind, but I feel like some people here might be concerned."

    "Yeah." Dyna paused in her speech. "I don't know what else to do. But if I don't do anything…"

    She didn't answer the question. She didn't need to. It was sort of self-evident what that sentence was going to end as. If she wasn't doing anything, all she had time to do was think. And if all she was doing was thinking, then there's one thing that would be on her mind more than anything else.

    "Let's try talking to people, then." Yang bit back a sigh as she left her comfortable position to teleport into her hoverchair. "Maybe we can find out some interesting gossip."

    "Hm." Dyna didn't say much else. Yang saw the change in her expression as she forced a smile, first overcompensating into a rather gaudy and toothy grin before settling on a slight upturn of her lips.

    Covering up the sadness with a fake emotion. Yang wondered how Cenna and Dyna would get along if they met.

    The downstairs of the inn was a lot quiet in the middle of the day. The Wolf Pack was sitting in one corner, the majority of them laying across the table cradling their heads. Yang recognised that position, it was what Uncle Qrow looked like the morning after a big drinking night and then he woke up with a hangover bad enough that even Dad didn't want to mess with him.

    And then there was Brunn sitting next to the rest of them, eating a big plate of some kind of meat or another.

    "Hey." Yang waved from a distance, keeping her voice somewhat low so as to not set off the hungover wolves. "What's up?"

    "Not much." Brunn answered. "These dipshits are regretting last night and Raudr's off doing something or other, I dunno what. He's the only other one with a clear head right now."

    "Did you not drink last night?" Dyna asked.

    "Semblance." Brunn shook his head. "Immune to poisoning. Apparently it includes hangovers. But not intoxication? Also not medicine. Don't ask me how it works."

    "Soul magic runs on convenient rules until it doesn't." Yang nodded along. "It's not like it's consistent. Some people lose their Semblance when their Aura runs out, I get to keep using mine forever, rules are more like suggestions."

    "Aye." Brunn nodded. "In my experience, actual magic is a lot more consistent within its rules than a Semblance is."

    He took a moment to bite down on some more meat. "So what'cha doing, gals?"

    "Looking for gossip." Yang answered. "Got any war stories? Hey, who's that War Chief you guys were talking about anyway?"

    "Ugh, that one." Brunn turned up his nose. "Honourless hodad."

    "Scum." One of the hungover wolves complained.

    "They're the sort to try and surf in still water." A third said the words in a tone usually reserved for death threats.

    "Ouch." Yang winced. "You really hate this War Chief, huh."

    "Some would give them credit for not killing in their raids." Brunn muttered. "I say burning down a village and leaving the survivours for the Grimm is just as cruel."

    "Who's the War Chief?" Dyna asked.

    "A lone bandit who lives in these parts." Brunn explained. "Real bastard. Raudr fought 'em once and they used some kind of cheat ability to take them out of the fight without finishing it properly."

    "Maybe someone should do something about that." Dyna noted, looking away.

    "Maybe we should." Brunn nodded. "All of us jump 'em at once."

    "We tried that." Iblarulfr reminded him.

    "...Ah, right."

    There was a loud sound from the outside of the building. Was that an airship?

    "I'm gonna check that out." Yang decided. "Gimme a moment."

    In a flash of red, she was outside the inn.

    Sure enough, an airship had landed in the open space between the hills. But it definitely wasn't one of One's, or one of a big Kingdom. It was a pretty small and beat-up thing, a ton of holes in the hull and some very recent burns lining the side of the ship.

    A siren shot out from within the airship. It took Yang a moment to realise it was morse code. She didn't know morse code but that made her think it was some kind of SOS. That sure matched with the young woman who rushed out of the airship, soot in her hair and panic in her eye.

    The door behind Yang opened, and she heard dozens of footsteps marching behind her. Other buildings were opening up to let people out into the open too.

    "Help." The young woman rushed to Yang first, the first person out. "Our village- It's burning-"

    "Easy." Raudr stepped forward- Where had he been?- And put a hand on the young woman's shoulder. "Bandits?"

    "I don't know." The woman answered. "There were a lot of attackers. They were fighting amongst themselves. I think one of them might have been…"

    Raudr's eyes turned to steel. "The War Chief?"

    The young woman nodded.

    Raudr swore under his breath.

    "How long has it been?" Yang asked

    "Ten minutes." The young woman answered. "The airship- They told me to get help with the airship."

    Yang's hand was curled into a fist.

    She was supposed to stay here. She had a job to do. Stay here for the airship One was sending so they knew what was going on. Ruby would be expecting Yang to wait here too.

    But didn't Yang want to be a Hunter?

    What kind of person would she be if she just ignored it?

    And…

    At the back of her mind, Yang could see a burning village. A fragment of a memory. How long had it been since she had gone on that school excursion and found her destination under attack? It was an ancient memory, long buried by everything else that happened since.

    Yang couldn't even remember all the details of what had happened there. She had met Two. She had fought the leader of the bandits and lost. Winter had saved her and then actually beaten the bandit leader. That had been where most of Two's orphans had come from.

    That had also been where Nora and Ren had been when Yang first met them. Now Nora was dead, and she hadn't seen Ren in ages.

    There was just a lot of baggage in Yang's head associated with the idea of a village being attacked by bandits. There was no way Yang was going to sit aside while it happened.

    "I can help." Yang decided. "I can teleport, so once this airship's close enough I can get there faster than anyone else."

    "Aye." Raudr nodded. "I'm coming too. If the War Chief is there, I'm taking my salty runback."

    Yang turned to look at Dyna and found Neo standing behind her. Oh, Neo had stayed? That was surprising.

    Which had Yang thinking. Dyna obviously couldn't come. Someone needed to stay behind to look after Dyna. Neo could be trusted for that, right?

    But Neo was also a really useful combatant. Turning invisible was really strong. Maybe it was smarter to bring Neo along, and ask the Wolf Pack to watch Dyna?

    No time to think. There was a village actively burning down right now.

    [X] "Neo, watch Dyna."
    [X] "Dyna, stay with the Wolf Pack."
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Update 454 - Fight Like Hell
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] "Neo, watch Dyna."

    The girl with the tricolour hair nodded at Yang's order. Dyna's eyes widened and she tried to step forward, but Neo caught her before she could move too far forward.

    "Stay safe, Dyna." Yang told her. "I'll be back soon."

    She looked back to the airship. The Wolf Pack was boarding, with Raudr at the back. Yang tilted her head to get a look past them all and teleported into the small airship's corner. From outside the airship, Yang could hear someone talking about sending a hoverbike after the convoy.

    That made sense, yeah. They probably sent their best warriors along with Ruby and would want to send word of this War Chief being on the move. And it meant Ruby would find out sooner rather than later. Hopefully the matter was resolved by then.

    It didn't take long for the airship to take off. It was one of the roughest rides Yang had been on too. If it wasn't for the hoverchair's own inbuilt stabilisers, Yang would be thrown into the wall every few seconds. The Wolf Pack were holding onto attachments in the roof to keep their balance.

    "What's with this airship?" Yang called out to the pilot in the front. "Did it get damaged?"

    "A bit." The pilot answered. "But it's always been a bit shit. We only keep this thing around for emergencies, so we maintain it just enough for that. I'll be surprised if it makes it all the way back to the Sentinel."

    …Sentinel?

    No, not important. If the airship was in danger of not even making it to the town under attack, then Yang should prepare to close the distance.

    Eyes wretched shut, Yang reached her soul out past her body and searched the world ahead of her.

    As much as she wanted to take in the world around the airship, she didn't have the time. She simply pushed her mind onwards, looking for signs of civilization.

    It was a strain to look too far from Yang's own body. It was easy to lose track of the passage of time like this. Not as easy as when she looked through the memories of things, but…

    Well, there was only so far Yang could actually look from her own body. Past that there was a disconnect. Maybe she was actually looking into memories of the past that far off, except it was the past of just a split-second ago? The mechanics didn't matter really. Point was, it was harder to look ahead once she looked far enough and if you stabbed Yang's body right now she might not even notice.

    It took longer than Yang would have liked, but she found civilization eventually. It was… She forgot the term that had been used for it, but it was something she had heard discussion of not too long ago. A village built around the shell of a giant mecha, it's generator in its core providing power to the people and its shadow providing shelter to the Grimm.

    It didn't look like the machine could move, though. That or it wasn't able to move with the precision to deal with the issue at hand.

    There was fighting in the streets. People in worn out uniforms in mimicry of Mistralian police on one side, and people in patchwork outfits that resembled the pirates Yang had fought not too long ago. Those would be the bandits.

    But where's that War Chief?

    No matter. Yang could see a third faction already, a group which more closely resembled her idea of landlocked bandits. They were wearing mismatched armour of various sources, giving Yang the impression that they had been stolen piece by piece. Given the melting pot of cultures that Mistral was made of, that ended up with real abominations of armour that incorporated what looked like traditional knight armour, a kabuto-style helmet, and very specific sort of golden decorative gauntlets that resembled a centurion.

    Those lot were fighting the pirate-dressed group and the local guard alike, a three-way brawl over this random settlement. Yang couldn't see anyone out of place that would be like the War Chief, but she could see damage across the buildings. There were no open flames, but there were buildings already reduced to ash and there were scorch marks in the stone paths. There had been fire here, and unless the source had been killed there might be more fire coming up.

    Then Yang found a civilian. A boy her own age, surrounded by pirate-dressed bandits. One stepped forward while brandishing a scimitar. Yang wasn't just going to watch what happened next.

    Without communicating a word to the Wolf Pack, Yang ripped open a portal and leapt through. It was a good thing she didn't hesitate, because her thoughts earlier had been right. That far away, Yang's vision lagged behind the reality. The scimitar was falling upon the boy, and Yang only barely caught it in time. There was blood seeping out of the wound it left on the boys neck, but Yang held it from cutting further than the skin.

    "Run." Yang warned the boy. He fled, and the pirates glared at her. Well, she was assuming the pirate wearing two eyepatches was glaring at her, at least.

    "Who the fuck are you?" One of the pirates asked.

    Yang hit him hard enough to leave a crater in the wall he fell against. She teleported out of her hoverchair to grab his head and slam it through the wall entirety, breaking the wall down and his Aura alongside it.

    A shadow fell over Yang. She teleported away again to let the pirate trying to attack her fall against the wall. Ember Celica fired and smashed that pirate into the wall with explosive force, knocking him down too. The third, with two eyepatches, raised her hands.

    Yang's body rose. Gravity wasn't pulling her down, so her body carried the momentum of Ember Celica's recoil.

    "What now, interloper? The blind pirate asked.

    Yang reached her soul into the soul until she found a big enough rock. It shot upwards and caught the pirate in the chin. Gravity reasserted itself as the pirate stumbled, and Yang descended and punched down.

    All three were unconscious by the time Yang was done.

    "Fascinating."

    Yang turned to the source of the voice. It took her a moment to actually see the source too. The sunlight may have peeked through the sky, but in the far distance above Yang there was a stray fist of the mecha the village was built around. The shadow of that fist was heavy enough to make things darker, and the figure she looked up to was standing in some of the only light that reached past that fist.

    It took Yang's eyes a moment to adjust to what she was looking at. On the rooftop opposite the hole she had put in a wall, there was a knight whose armour seemed almost complete and uniform.

    It was only if you specifically looked that you would notice the gauntlet on the right hand being a lot smaller than the steel covering the arm next to it, that the pattern of steel shifted slightly from torso to legging, that the fur cloak on her back was covering a gap in the armour around her nape and didn't fit the design of the armour it was attached to.

    "Xiao Long." The knight declared. "Friend of the Intoner."

    She stepped off the rooftop and fell towards Yang. Yang teleported back to her hoverchair just in time to avoid the sword that stabbed into the ground. It was a short, thick, double-edged blade with no apparent transformative properties.

    "Who the fuck are you?" Yang asked.

    "You wound me." The lady knight pulled her sword from the ground as she stepped closer. "I worked hard to get my throne, and you don't even know who I am?"

    "Pieces of shit are a dime a dozen among bandits." Yang spat.

    The bandit knight lunged forward.Yang threw herself forward to duck under her blade and punch upwards, and the woman grabbed Yang's arm for half a second before the uppercut knocked her back. Yang felt something burning into her arms and teleported back to her hoverchair to pull up her sleeve and check.

    On her forearm, where the bandit's palm had touched her own hand, a sprawling circular scar had started to form. An injury burnt through even past Yang's Aura. A dangerous Semblance. Depending on how deep that wound went, getting grabbed in the wrong place could mess with her joints.

    "I suppose it doesn't matter if you know who I am." The bandit threw herself off the ground and landed on her feet a metre away from where she started. "You're still gonna bring me back to that Intoner. She's not going to escape again."

    …What the fuck was this woman talking about? Yang's first kneejerk reaction was that it was a threat to Ruby, but she wasn't sure when a Mistralian bandit would have encountered Ruby before. Five, then? Yang wasn't too sure on what Five's life had been before she kidnapped Ruby…

    It didn't matter, Yang reminded herself. This woman was a bandit who referred to a throne she had taken, so she seemed like she might be the leader of one of the attacking factions. If Yang beat her, that was one faction down a leader.

    So Yang went back in. That double-edged blade was safer then the bandit's grasp, so Yang took a hit from the sword so she could punch faster. Her gauntlet caught the bandit knight in the cheek and started to burn, the woman channelling her Semblance through both her helmet and Yang's gauntlet to burn into Yang's knuckles. Scars in Yang's hand didn't stop her from throwing a punch, but Yang made sure not to stay in contact for too long.

    Ember Celica fired, but that double-edged blade cut the Dust Round in half and devoured the Dust before it could detonate. Then she stepped forward and drove the sword into Yang's stomach, that same burning scar circling out from the tip of the blade.

    Shit. Yang couldn't touch the woman at all, huh? Not even her weapon was safe.

    Yang teleported into the air and reached beneath the ground with her soul, ripping a stone out of the ground again to hit the bandit in the back of the head. It bounced off her helmet without even phasing her, and the woman leapt up to cut Yang out of the air.

    Yang's body morphed into bird-form to avoid the sword-strike. The bandit leader fell faster to land on the rooftop of a scorched but intact building, and Yang dived towards her to build up speed before retaking her human body and punching her in the face.

    The knight fell, and Yang teleported on top of her to pin her down. She reached into the gap of the armour to rip the helm from her head, then paused.

    She was expecting the bandit-knight to be older. Early-thirties at best. But eyeballing her from here, she looked roughly the same age as Five. However old that was. Yang didn't know if the Intoner's knew how old they were.

    That was still a few years older than Yang was, but that was really young to be a bandit leader. But the hate in the knight's eyes were all Yang needed to confirm that she was being serious. Nobody normal could look that hateful.

    The woman looked up with suntanned skin that was heavily scarred. Circular, like the one on Yang's arm. The woman had essentially etched tattoos into her flesh, and Yang couldn't decode their meaning beyond simply being there. Her dark hair was cut as short as Ruby's, and sweat was pressing that hair on her forehead in place.

    …Why was she sweating? It took a lot more than this fight to make someone with Aura sweat. Unless it was hot…

    Oh. Yang could feel the heat now. It was easy for her to miss, but if she tried to feel for the heat she could confirm it was there.

    "Shit." The woman beneath Yang widened her eyes. "She's back."

    Yang didn't have time to speak before she felt a force smashing into her back. The rooftop beneath her collapse, the building collapsing inwards. Yang teleported away as soon as she could, and even then she was nearly buried by the rubble that fell onto her.

    Throwing that rubble off her, Yang looked towards the collapsed wooden shell and saw the source of the impact and the heat that came with it.

    Standing in the centre of the ruin, holding the bandit knight by the hair, was a warrior whose youth was even more shocking. She was somewhere around Yang's age- No, younger, she looked to be Ruby's age. Her long hair was scattered wildly around her body, dark but tinted green.

    Her skin was a strange colour, largely unnaturally grey but darkened by the sun in places that came across like paint splattered on a canvas. That skin was also rather exposed. She wore a skirt that looked too big for her and was bound in place with bandages, and those bandages were also tied tight around her right knee, her left arm in its entirety, around her waist and around her chest. Apart from that, her body was completely bare.

    But as Yang's eyes went upwards, she saw a shimmer of light reflecting from the horns in the girls hair. The horns were slicked back across her head, like the ears of a dog under threat. They were jagged like thunderbolts and dyed a darker black than Yang had ever seen.

    And past that green hair was another shine, green like scales.

    The girl was a Faunus, that much was undeniable. But as Yang's eyes fell upon the scales, she came to realise she had only seen those kinds of scales twice before. This girl wasn't just a lizard-Faunus or something of that scale.

    Even as the words felt impossible in Yang's mind, she couldn't deny it. The girl standing before her could only be one thing.

    A Dragon Faunus.

    She dragged the bandit knight upwards, pulling at hair that was coated in blood. "Finally found you, Rais."

    "Fuck you." The bandit spat out. "What the fuck did you do to my men?"

    "Weaklings, all of them." The Dragon Faunus threw the bandit knight towards Yang and cracked her knuckles. "And I don't think you'll be giving me a better showing at all."

    She turned to Yang, her eyes as narrow as a snake.

    "...You, on the other hand?" The Dragon Faunus smiled. "You seem like you'd be worth my time."

    "You're the War Chief." Yang realised.

    "So you've heard." That smile grew wider, fangs bared like a predator. "Let's see if you're worthy of my wall. Of the Legacy-"

    A flash of red shot towards the War Chief. For a moment Yang was sure it was Ruby, but how would she even know to come here yet? The dust the red blur kicked up blinded her for a moment, so for a moment Yang couldn't even begin to wonder the cause.

    But as the dust settled, and the growl of a wolf filled her ears, Yang knew it was Raudr.

    But then she saw the figure and couldn't help but second-guess.

    What she saw wasn't a man cloaked in red wolfskin, nor a wolf dyed red in blood. He looked more a Beowulf than a man, except worse somehow. Yang wasn't sure how to describe it. Perhaps it was just that a Beowulf was a Grimm, so the idea of something looking like a Beowulf while retaining a soul simply made his presence all the more alien an unnatural.

    The monster's claws were held in place by the open palm of the War Chief. The size difference between the two reminded Yang again that the War Chief could only be about Ruby's age. And yet she had a reputation for burning down villages?

    "Ugh, you again." The War Chief threw Raudr's monstrous arm back. Yang wasn't sure how he did it, but Raudr took that momentum to turn it into a kick to the War Chief's head. One that missed as the War Chief leaned back, then shot forward hard enough to headbutt him into another building.

    The War Chief threw her bandaged arm back, and a blinding light shot out from her back. Light that took the shape of wings as it dulled, still bright enough to hurt if you looked directly but dark enough that it wasn't an active flashbang.

    "Run away, little doggie." The War Chief declared. "You can't beat me."

    Raudr leapt at the War Chief regardless, the mere act of movement throwing so much rubble out of the building he was in that Yang had to open a portal to shield herself. That portal blinded her from the fight until the War Chief took to the skies on her wings of light. Raudr slammed his clawed food into the ground and created a shockwave strong enough to throw rubble into the sky, and he used that rubble as a stepping stone to leap towards the Dragon Faunus in the skies above.

    But before Yang could watch the two come into melee range, a hand from behind her closed around her eye. Pain shot through her as a scar formed upon the pupil and iris, and when her eye sealed shut on instinct a second scar formed to hold the eyelid in place.

    Yang let heat form in her skull, and the hand pulled away with a cry of pain from the burn. Yang turned back with one eye sealed shut to see the bandit knight standing behind her.

    "I'm not done with you." The woman spat. "If the Son of the Alphather is distracting the War Chief, then I'm paying you back for opposing me once."

    There was the sound of a sonic boom, and a red blur smashed into the building behind the bandit woman. The rubble shot outwards, jagged stones as sharp as bullets. Yang expanded her soul to sense the world around her and used that to help pinpoint the position of every shard of stone, used it to dodge every stone she could and turn her arms to wings when her body was too large.

    But then a hand closed around her avian legs and threw her downwards. The bandit knight rose her sword above Yang as she pushed herself off the ground as a human once more, only to suddenly turn upwards. A wooden log, pulled free from a wall, was cut in two by the bandit knight. Had the War Chief thrown it?

    No time to figure it out for sure. There was another collapsing building, Yang didn't even see where. She felt the rubble approaching her from behind and teleported out of the way, but then she saw Raudr flinging her bloodied arm forwards and the red-hot blood caught Yang as collateral damage while he aimed for the War Chief.

    It was as hot as lava and made Yang scream, but the War Chief moved forward fast enough to dodge the burning blood and extinguish the flames before Yang could finish processing that those flames were forming.

    Yang could see Raudr running towards the war-chief with some sort of rope in his hands, and it took her a moment to realise that the 'rope' was bloodied and red. What the fuck was this form? Were those his fucking intestines? What the fuck-

    A crossbow bolt flew through the air and tangled into Yang's hair, only barely missing her as it flew past her. She looked past the flying rubble and dust to see the bandit knight standing, a latch in the armour over her arm opened to reveal a crossbow hidden inside the armour. She loaded a second bolt and prepared to fire.

    There was so fucking much going on, Yang couldn't even think to dodge the crossbow bolt before Raudr's mass started surging towards Yang again. He was fully berserk, he didn't see her at all. She teleported away and hung over the battlefield, with only the fist of the giant mech guarding this city standing overhead.

    In the distance she could see more fighting. The rest of the Wolf Pack going through the rank and file bandits of both factions. Good for them. Yang was going to keep her attention focused on this big brawl here.

    Fuck it, it was time to test a theory. When she had fought Shuck she had been able to sense the world around her as she fought, but she had still taken hits. She didn't want to take any hits here. Not when there was a Dragon Faunus fighting, one who might have the Power of Dragons.

    They didn't have the weight Yang would expect of the Dragon of Mistral, but the Power of Dragons was shared by natural-born Dragons too. Would a Dragon Faunus have the same? Would she punch through Yang's Aura as easily as Yang could to hers?

    It wasn't a risk worth taking.

    But there was another risk that was worth taking.

    Memory and Thought. Disconnect part of your soul to help you fight. The Wolf Pack did it to go berserk- Though Yang couldn't see the birds that should have come with Raudr if he was doing that- And Yang was pretty sure she had done it when she had anchored her soul with Weiss' Semblance instead of her own body.

    Yang had used Weiss' Semblance as a crutch to do that. What did Yang have to do that with now? If she was going to do the same thing…

    Anchoring her Memory or Thought into her body wouldn't create the disconnect that Yang needed. That was the current status quo. But Yang's body wasn't her her body and soul now.

    Anchoring her soul to the Dragon's Roar in her heart didn't feel right. When Yang had followed the instinct of the Dragon's Roar, she had seen Hell( Bahamut) itself.

    But the Remnant of the Goddess Seal was burnt into Yang's flesh. Perhaps…

    Yang pushed her mind into the Seal in her flesh. The blue runes burnt bright and painful, and Yang's world was nothing but pain for those moments. But then she opened her eyes and she saw herself falling.

    …Did it work? Yang's body was still falling, so she would need to brace for impact. As that thought came, her arms moved to cover her head. It felt wrong to think that she had moved her arms, but that her arms had moved.

    …Had she done it, then?

    Yang looked around her as she fell into the ground. The bandit knight fired an arrow at Yang from behind, and Yang moved it through one portal into another to hit her in the leg. It bounced off her armour, but also her Aura.

    …Which meant her bleeding head had been through her Aura, and Yang was right to fear the War Chief's fists.

    But even as Yang fired off a Dust Round into another portal to blow up the ground where the bandit knight stood, she looked to the battle between the War Chief and Raudr.

    At this point, every building within the block they fought had been reduced to rubble. She could see the unconscious bodies of the three pirates she had knocked out earlier, jagged stones piercing their bodies. One of them had a stone through their neck, blood filling their lungs and mouth. Dead.

    On some level Yang felt some sort of emotion, but it felt distant to her. The part of her feeling that emotion wasn't the same part of her that was thinking right now.

    She supposed that meant she had partitioned her soul properly. Or perhaps improperly. She wasn't sure yet.

    Meanwhile, the battle between Raudr and the War Chief had taken to the skies. There were more intestines falling from Raudr's beastlike form than his body should contain, wrapped around spikes of wood and stone and weapons ripped form the unconscious pirates. The War Chief flew on her wings of light, and Raudr ran across rubble that he kept creating whenever he was forced to touch down.

    The bandit knight ran at Yang with her sword. Yang caught the blade in one hand and ripped it free before the scar could form in her flesh. Then she beat the knight with the hilt of her own sword, forcing her to stumble back.

    She still wasn't taking in all of the battlefield, but with her attention split like this she found that her body was automatically moving to dodge projectiles she was vaguely noticing. She didn't feel like she was doing it herself, but rather that she was making note of danger to another party that was dodging for her.

    It felt like she was a puppet on strings. That thought made her feel sick. But right now it was a sensation she would endure.

    The bandit knight escaped to the distance while firing her crossbow bolts. Why hadn't Yang pushed the attack more? She should have kept attacking, not just that once in reaction.

    In the skies above, the War Chief spoke once more.

    "Surely you've realised by now!" She declared over the sound of her movement. "You can't hurt me, doggie!"

    She was right, Yang realised. Despite how fast Raudr was moving, despite him now flinging blood that was so cold each drop had frozen into a solid projectile, not a single hit had been landed on the War Chief.

    "I never forget a fight!" The War Chief continued. "And even with the madness of your magic, I've seen everything you can do before! I'll never, ever be hit by someone who I've fought already!"

    Yang fired Ember Celica straight upwards. The War Chief's wings grew into blades to cut through the projectile, but Yang opened a portal to catch the projectile at the last moment and have it come down from on top of her instead. The blast dizzied the War Chief enough that her wings flickered out of existence, and she fell.

    Raudr tried to push the advantage in his berserker rage, but the War Chief swatted him out of the sky like a bug. He hit the ground before the War Chief did, but his body contorted as he landed. Yang wouldn't say he 'Stood up' as much as his body rearranged itself, and suddenly the parts of his body that were on the ground were his feet.

    With the War Chief still wingless, Raudr howled.

    All around the battlefield, the force of the howl came from below. It was impossible given where Raudr was standing, but it was a great wailing wind from the earth itself. It was the lighter things first, shards of wood and stray leaves. Then the rocks and the rubble, until even the human bodies were flung to the sky. Yang looked down to see Raudr alone remaining on the ground, even as the earth itself ripped asunder to shoot upwards.

    To the far left, the bandit knight tried to find her footing. She took a beating, her Aura catching a log to the chest and coming to close to breaking that Yang could have sworn it shattered. In the end she was able to kick off the body of the dead pirate-bandit, escaping the range of Raudr's howl and breaking her Aura on the earth below.

    Yang's body turned into that of a bird as it dodged everything. It took her a moment to think that perhaps she should also escape the rubble entirely, but it took a moment for her body to follow through on that thought. Tch, Yang saw how it was. Like this she was able to sense the world around her and trust her body to react to things she noticed, but decisive action lagged behind a bit.

    No matter. Yang watched as the War Chief endured the projectiles, enduring the rubble as it beat into her and her body flew higher as well. Raudr's howl continued so long that Yang had to wonder if there was air left in his lungs, until eventually there was nothing left to throw up at the War Chief.

    Then Yang heard the crack.

    This town was built around an ancient mech, a giant robot that remained in place over the town. This entire battle had taken place in the shadow of the machine, of the stray hand extended outwards. And now, as Yang looked upwards, that hand had been damaged.

    Raudr's howl reached a crescendo, and then suddenly stopped. The rubble had risen high enough to do what it needed to do. Yang could see the gash it had created in the wrist of the mech.

    The War Chief fell.

    The rubble fell.

    And as the force of gravity grew too great for the weakened foundations, the hand of the giant mech snapped off and fell as well.

    Yang watched as the fist fell. She was out of its path and was not in danger-

    Raudr.

    Yang's eyes widened on reflex as she realised she had overlooked him. She could portal to him, pull him out from the wrist before-

    But her body reacted too slow to her thoughts. A portal opened next to Raudr just as the War Chief fell to the ground on the other side of him, and then the giant fist crushed them both.

    Yang stared forward. She turned from bird-form to human and teleported onto a rooftop. At the back of her mind, something told her that the still alive but unconscious pirates had been outside of the radius of the falling fist, as was her hoverchair. That didn't make her feel better about Raudr.

    He still had Aura up, so perhaps…

    As if in answer to Yang's concerns, the mecha's fist began to rise again. It rose higher and higher before suddenly shattering, the shards shooting outwards in every direction. Yang dodged them all without even needing to think about it, her attention focused to the source of the shattering.

    Raudrulfr was alive. He was unconscious, the skin of the wolf receding to reveal a human face, no sign of Aura left on him, but he was alive. He didn't even seem wounded, despite how much of his own blood he had shed. Despite the rope made from his own intestines.

    But standing above him, alive and awake, was the Dragon Faunus. She had her fist raised, the cause of the mecha's fist breaking. She panted heavily, her Aura depleted as well. But as Yang watched, a pulse of light emerged from her fist and cloaked her. She fell to her knees, but her Aura returned to her in that same moment.

    Now was Yang's chance. If she attacked now, she could catch the girl unaware. But her body was too slow for decisive action, the portal too late. When Yang punched forward, the War Chief's fist matched her own.

    The younger girl glared up at Yang, green eyes of a serpent looking into the red eyes of a Goddess Remnant.

    "No more distractions." The War Chief's voice was pained and exhausted, but even as she spoke Yang could hear it rejuvenating. "It's just you and me now."

    So it was.

    [X] Yang needed to realign her Memory and Thought. This state made dodging a nonissue, but her body was lagging behind on anything that wasn't sheer reflex.
    [X] Survival mattered more than anything. As long as Yang kept her Memory and Thought partitioned, she would survive.
     
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