Miracles of Ancient Wonder [RWBY/Exalted]

Book 1 Chapter 4.1
Miracles of Ancient Wonder

~

Chapter 4.1

~~~​

Team RWBY spent the night in the medical center. They each had a bed to themselves and even the relatively hard mattresses were heavenly compared to camping in the woods. That wasn't to say that the forest was necessarily bad, just lacking several important conveniences such as comfortable beds and running water.

They were woken up early in the morning by Professor Goodwitch, almost two hours before classes would begin, for a short debriefing about the events of the investigation.

"Being the subject of a formal investigation is one of the most difficult things that can happen to you in your careers as Huntresses. It is exhausting by design, both mentally and physically. Sometimes it even results in a great deal of bodily harm, such as what happened to Miss Schnee, or psychological stress. But that doesn't mean that these injures can't be healed. If, at any point, there's something that you want to talk about, either one of the Professors or Beacon's psychologists will make time for you." She looked at each of them in order.

Weiss also glanced at her teammates. They needed this far more than she did.

Ruby and Yang were both completely closed off. The former sat on a bed with her arms wrapped around her knees. She was watching Professor Goodwitch very intently, occasionally glancing at Weiss or Blake. Yang leaned against a wall with her arms crossed. She was barely paying attention, looking either at the floor or out the window. Blake, who was doing well by comparison, simply held herself very still with a neutral expression.

"Someone being hurt like that is regrettable. Howev-"

"Then why do it?" Ruby interrupted.

"Please explain, Miss Rose."

"If you'd regret doing it, then why would you do it?"

Professor Goodwitch's expression tightened. "There are times when you need to do something that you personally dislike in order to protect people."

"If something feels wrong, then it's wrong and you shouldn't do it."

"While your dedication to doing the right thing is admirable, the world is not so simple that everyone can do that."

"We're supposed to be heroes! Heroes don't do that."

Weiss grit her teeth, but didn't open her mouth. If Ruby's naivety was this infuriating to her, she could barely imagine how it felt to someone who was complicit in the investigation. Yes, they were supposed to be heroes, that's why they kept what happened a secret and only allowed certain Hunters to perform them in the first place.

Professor Goodwitch took a short breath. "Ruby, your earnestness means that you will be an amazing front-line Huntress some day. However, there are other methods of defending people. There are times when you may need to be deceptive in order to have someone reveal information they may not have otherwise."

Ruby grumbled under her breath.

"We can discuss this more during your personal debriefing." Professor Goodwitch looked at each of them in turn. "Each of you will have a personal session where we can talk about any concerns that you have. Please, take the next day and think about what happened, along with how you felt about it."

She waited for a moment.

"You've each been relieved from your classes and assignments until next week. You can go wherever you wish, but do not speak with anyone else about what happened during the investigation. We've sent out a message to all team leaders notifying them that Miss Schnee is safe and some other students will have questions for you. For their safety, it's very important that you keep what happened to yourself. Do you understand?"

Weiss and Blake nodded immediately.

After a moment, Professor Goodwitch repeated herself. This time her voice had a slight edge. "Do you understand?"

Ruby and Yang looked at her, nodded once, and then looked away again.

"Thank you. Now then, you'll need to leave the overnight room while the doctors are checking on Weiss' wounds. I've arranged for an early breakfast to be made for all of you."

She led the rest of the team out as the doctors came in. The remainder of the early morning was a blur of pain tests and rebandaging for Weiss. Though it wasn't really needed because she could stop the bleeding whenever she wanted to. While she may be physically weak, her Aura felt stronger than ever before. Something had clicked during her delirium. She didn't know what it was, but it felt like she could bend more Aura to her will and draw on enough to experiment freely, without any worries of revealing herself. The possibilities were endless. Though she did have her priorities, many of which could be worked on from a hospital bed.

She hoped that her teammates were doing something as constructive as she was while they de-stressed, but doubted that was actually the case.

Ruby was almost guaranteed to be fretting in the machine shop, Blake escaping into a novel somewhere private, and Yang fooling around with one of her fans in the woods. For all that Weiss dreamt of her teammates taking their elite status seriously, especially in the wake of an investigation, the reality of the situation always presented itself.

Thankfully, Ruby brought her backup scroll to her after breakfast. There was a lot of news for her to catch up on; not the least of which was the productivity reports that she'd been waiting for.

She scanned those with one hand, while the other rewrote all of her notes from the forest. While she could do all of the required math in her head, there was no reason to when she had a computer to do so for her. It would just take a fair bit of time to recreate everything, but she had time now. Time to wait and consider what the best course of action was, now that she was safe.

While she read and typed, Weiss also reviewed everything that had been revealed during the investigation. Her teammates had more hidden talents than she expected, which needed to be incorporated into her model of the situation. The source of Yang's medical skills, which according to Ruby had saved Weiss' life, and Ruby's continued existence were highest on the list of unknowns.

If Weiss had been as blatant with her abilities as Ruby was, she'd have been killed immediately. While her leader was missing all of the primary signs, the Professors could not have missed the multitude of secondary signs she'd displayed. They knew something that the Schnee family didn't, something very important. While that wasn't surprising, it did make predicting Ruby's actions, and Beacon's response to said actions, incredibly difficult.

What was it that made Ruby different? Strictly missing the primary signs would not have held off an investigation this long, especially the first one. Was it how her abilities displayed themselves? They were more blatantly different than anything else she'd seen. Perhaps Ruby was just fortunate that everyone forgot about her. That ability, by itself, merited more concern than had been shown.

When the door opened, Weiss glanced up and changed the tab on her browser to a very bright and colorful page. At the same time, she forced her Aura to flow over her scroll. This was the perfect moment to work on one of her theories.

Watching Blake fight had given her an idea which needed testing. Her teammate continuously replaced herself with phantom images. From the Schnee records, many Anathema had been seen performing similar feats. Weiss pressed her Aura outward and sculpted it as if it were the highest grade of Dust. The energy spiraled around the scroll as it faded from sight.

"Schnee." The brunette nodded and sauntered into the room with a confidence that few at Beacon possessed. She was tall, lithe and knew how to emphasize exactly what she wanted to with each movement. In this case, it was power and authority. She'd also accessorized her uniform to the point where it would be gaudy for anyone who didn't know exactly how to balance their outfit. Fortunately, she did. The sunglasses indoors was a bit ridiculous, but of course a member of the Adel family would do something like that.

"Adel," Weiss responded evenly, waiting to see how she would have to play this. Coco was Weiss' senior at Beacon by a year and a team leader, but her family was junior in most external matters. Which made interactions complicated. The Adel family was wealthy enough to have to be invited to most events, but lacked the influence for a seat in the back room. If Coco was here as a member of her family, then her attitude would be a slight Weiss couldn't ignore.

"As the leader of team CFVY," she spoke slowly, as if the words themselves were distasteful. Weiss inwardly sighed with relief, even though her expression relaxed into a soft smile. "I've come to express my sincere gratitude for your assisting my teammate last Friday. Velvet's too shy to say it herself, but she appreciates knowing that you would stand up for the Faunus."

"Think nothing of it. It's what any Huntress should have done." Weiss shook her head with a smile, deflecting any debt that might be related to their families. If Coco wished to speak as students and Huntresses, then Weiss was happy to oblige.

"Whew." Coco recognized the change and her posture relaxed a moment later. Her confidence was still there, but the pressing need for authority had vanished. "You have no idea how worried I was that I'd be diving into a shark tank. I came to Beacon to get away from all of that snooty nonsense."

Weiss couldn't help agreeing, though she also ran her tongue along the points of her teeth. Coco had no idea just how close to the edge she had been. In many ways, being surrounded by Beowolves felt safer than being on the ballroom floor. At least the Grimm were openly hostile.

Coco ran her fingers through her hair and flicked it over her ear. "Seriously though, thanks. Someone like you standing up for her like that means a lot to me."

"I'm glad I could help. Have things been better for her?"

"Sort of." Coco wiggled her hand back and forth. "On one hand, people are standing up for the Faunus whenever someone tries something. On the other, Velvet's become the go-to target for all of the human trash at Beacon."

Weiss smirked at someone else using her own phrase. "Has someone been looking out for her?"

"Duh. Yatsuhashi is surprisingly sneaky." Coco's gigantic teammate successfully hiding from someone was an odd thought. "I'm not sure if she's noticed him tailing her."

"That's probably better overall then, but still disappointing," Weiss sighed. She knew that one speech wouldn't change everything, but she'd hoped for it to have more of an effect.

"Hey, change takes time." Coco shrugged. "People hating racists as much as the racists hate the Faunus is still good."

"True enough."

For some time, they waited in silence, watching each other. Weiss was happy to continue as long as she needed to. Coco had obviously come here for more than one reason and this was a much more uncomfortable situation for her than it was for Weiss. Besides, other plans and thoughts could be formulated during the lull.

It also allowed her to test her Aura manipulation from earlier. Coco hadn't reacted to what should be on the screen yet and Weiss herself couldn't tell where her scroll was. She still tilted her legs so that it would be pointing directly at the other girl. Who didn't seem to notice.

Weiss resisted the urge to smirk. This had a lot of potential. If only she could find a means of concealing her Aura like that, then she would truly be safe.

"You can really play hardball." Coco broke after less than a minute. "There was something else I came here for."

She twirled her wrist, closing her hand and then reopening it. Between her fingers was a small flower pin. Its petals were alternating rainbow colors that burst from a gold and silver stem. Weiss had seen them on a handful of upperclassmen and Professor Chartreuse, who was in his early thirties at best. Coco herself had one on her left lapel.

"It's for you. For surviving your investigation."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. She had assumed that the pins had some meaning, but didn't expect it to be that.

"I thought I'd stop by before the hordes of well wishers arrive."

That didn't explain what she wanted to know. "There are more students who've been investigated than I've seen pins. Also, why would you come here in particular if you wanted to give it to me? Classes have barely begun."

"Velvet said you weren't in class, so I excused myself from mine and noticed your team going to your room without you. There's only one reason why you wouldn't be with the rest of them." Coco pointed over her shoulder, at one of the corner beds. "That bed was mine."

She walked over to Weiss and held the pin out for her. "It's for those of us who were badly injured as part of the investigation. If there's anything you want to talk about, then you can come to anyone who wears it. That's the promise it symbolizes: support and understanding."

Weiss searched Coco's face for any trace of deceit. To wear something like that would be taken as a sign of weakness in every other society she'd interacted with. To the masses, only someone of questionable character would be accused in the first place. To the elite, an accusation was a tool which could be aimed at you a single time. It was also something that was seen as inevitable; and as such, to be publicly affected by what happened was a sign of mental or physical weakness. Such accusations very rarely became actual investigations, so very few had any idea what it entailed.

Of course, the severity of the investigation for a normal person paled in comparison to what happened to a Hunter. A trivial accusation would have been leveled against her eventually, if only for political reasons, and she may have to whether several once she started performing more actions of consequence. Passing an investigation as a Hunter was as close to an ironclad defense as you could get. They protected their ranks with more dedication than anyone else, except for the Atlesian military.

"I didn't believe it at first either, but things really are different here. The secrets, the masks, the posturing… None of that matters." Coco smiled softly and Weiss matched it, but her smile wasn't real.

As much as she loved that idea of an open community like that, and knew that Coco wholeheartedly believed in it, she had a secret that mattered more than anything else. One she could not afford to let anyone she didn't completely trust know about. Blake would be informed only when she had more control over her unconscious reactions. But until then, Weiss' true status was something that must be kept secret, no matter how lonely it was.

Even so, the offer did warm her heart more than she could afford to allow it to. If she showed those feelings, then she might accidentally give herself away by caring too much. It was better to be deceptive in a manner that still got the meaning across. There was only one question she had to answer. What sort of relationship did she want to leave this encounter with? There were a number of options with short-term or long-term benefits, depending on their roles.

"Thank you." Weiss pouted slightly and made her lips tremble slightly. She laced her statement with another, unspoken, one. 'I truly appreciate this, but cannot openly wear it right now.'

Given everything Coco had said, she expected that it would be similar enough to what Velvet had done in the past to provoke the right reaction. When Coco cooed softly, Weiss knew she'd been right.

"When you're ready." Coco handed the pin to Weiss. "It took me a while to get used to it too."

Weiss nodded. Someday.

~~~​

Ruby stared at the workbench and briefly closed her eyes as tightly as she could. She took a long breath, clenched her fists, and then opened her eyes to see the damage. Crescent Rose's components were laid out in four piles: undamaged, cosmetic damage, fixable, and unsalvageable. The final two piles were by far the largest. It hurt to see her like this. But, Ruby would rather rebuild Crescent Rose from scratch than have Weiss be injured worse.

She picked up the side grip and rolled it in her hand. It fit almost as snugly as it had before, her fingers traced the shallow dips she'd worn into it with long hours of practice. The only problem was a deep gash where her palm rested. Technically it was fixable. She could sand the edges down and fill the gash in, but the metal would be so much weaker after that was finished. It would be a much better idea to replace it, even if her grip would be a little weird for the next few months.

With a lot of practice, and some shaping as it was made, she could get it to the right point much faster. Pyrrha was probably still practicing most nights. Hopefully she wouldn't mind someone else joining her. Ruby could also pick her brain for other astrology stuff too. Her prediction had be so wrong it was almost funny.

Ruby sighed and shook her head. Weiss shouldn't have been hurt like that. It was absolutely terrible that it could even be allowed to happen! If the rest of them hadn't come along, then Weiss would've died. At least, Yang still thought that she would've.

That was something else that bugged her. Her teammates used their Auras way more than anyone else, besides Jaune, did. When she listened to the Professors, only Doctor Oobleck was comparable and what he was doing was obvious. Weiss knew how to use Sorcery, but Ruby didn't know how that would help her when she was arguing. Maybe it was a breathing thing? She could be changing her voice somehow in order to argue better. That didn't fit with either Blake or Yang though.

Once her sister had a chance to calm down, she'd ask about it. She could when they were down in Vale, but then everyone else would also be there. That'd be a little awkward, especially because she was still keeping secrets from Yang too. Secrets that she'd promised not to reveal.

"The system is rotten to its core." A particular quote came to her mind again. It had been coming to her ever since the ride back. She'd never believed it before, but now that-

"Umm, Ruby?" Nora poked her head through the workshop door. She smiled nervously and waved as Ruby looked up.

"Hi, Nora." Ruby waved back.

"So… We were wondering-" Nora jumped forward, shot a dirty look at the door, and then shuffled into the room. When she got to the bench, she glanced at the piled and hissed, "Ohhh, that sucks.."

"It's alright. I'll get her back together real soon." Ruby tried to smile in a reassuring manner, but just matched Nora's nervousness. At the same time, she couldn't help wondering why her friend was acting like this. She'd shared a lot of really important things without being this bad.

"Well I- Wait she?" Nora blinked a couple of times and scratched the side of her head.

"Yeah, Crescent Rose just feels like a she. You know?"

"I guess it's kinda curvy."

"That's not really why I-"

"Ohh, what about Magnhild? He or she?"

"He, definitely he."

"Really? Cuz if I was going to pick a gender I would've said she's a girl. You know: elegant, sexy, powerful." Nora slammed a fist into her other palm. "Just like me."

"Uhh.." Ruby drew out the word and thought back to all of the times that she'd seen Nora fight. Only two of the words she'd just used made sense and they weren't the two that Ruby would use to describe Nora's weapon.

Someone in the hallway coughed.

Nora glanced back to the door without moving her head. A shadow, that Ruby hadn't picked up on before, shifted. It was someone very tall. Who was standing next to two other people, who were also tall. Then she heard Jaune's Aura pulse and everything suddenly made sense.

"Nora, is there something you wanted to talk about?"

"So, Jaune got an email this morning and he wanted to find you guys. But none of you were in your room so we went searching for you. Eventually we found Blake, she was hiding in the corner of a study room reading a little black book. It was one of those books that- you know -Pyrrha and Jaune take one look at and turn bright red, but I'm totally cool with. Not that I've ever read anything like that! I mean could you imagine me reading a book about sexy ninjas, psssh." She babbled very quickly.

Ruby quirked her head to the side and opened her mouth, but Nora just kept going, "Anyway we asked her a bunch of questions and she didn't really answer any of them. But she said that you or Yang could tell us more about what happened! Also that she didn't know where Yang was. She thought you'd be down here and now I know why and I'm so sorry that your scythe got damaged like that."

"It's fine. It was worth it to-"

"Okay, so it's fine, but it still sucks and-"

"Nora, get to the point," Jaune shouted from the hallway.

"Right, right. I'm sorry." Nora ran her hand along the side of her neck and looked everywhere except at Ruby. "So, yeah. We were wondering… where's Weiss?"

"What?"

"You see. Jaune's email said that there was a chance that Weiss might've possibly been investigated and we didn't see any of you in class today, or your room, and Blake clammed up when we mentioned her. So… Jaune kinda assumed that something potentially bad may have happened to her, but I thought that she was just being Weiss and giving everyone the cold shoulder because she was annoyed at us for not trusting her. I mean it's not like something really bad would happen during one of these investigation things. If a bunch of everyday, run-of-the-mill people could figure out that someone's an Anathema, then our teachers have to have better ways. Right? I mean, we told you about how our old priest figured it out and he wasn't even a Huntsman-"

Ruby continued watching Nora spout word after word. Did she even need to breath?

"-So, that's why we wanted to know where she is and if she's okay." Nora finally stopped and took a huge breath.

"Umm…" Ruby didn't know what the rules for visiting the medical wing were like, or if Weiss even wanted people to know, but telling JNPR seemed like it should be okay. "Well… She did get hurt really badly on our mission. So she's in the medical center... She actually almost died."

Nora's awkward smile immediately fell off of her face.

"WHAT?" Jaune roared and started moving for the door, but he was held back by Pyrrha grabbing his arms.

"What happened?" Nora whispered so softly Ruby could barely hear it.

"She-" Ruby cut herself off and thought about her friends. Could any of them also be on the investigation list? If what Weiss and Yang... and all of the Professors... said was true, then letting them know would just cause them more pain when it happened. And now Ruby knew exactly what pain that could be.

Would letting them know make it that much worse? Or would it allow them to be ready for it and not get hurt as badly? None of them were bad, so knowing about it shouldn't be an issue.

Her breath caught in her throat. Ruby thought about it felt when Weiss was bleeding in her arms again. How her body was so cold because all of the heat was leaking into Ruby's clothes. Ren and Nora had almost lost everything once already. All they had left was each other.

"She was stranded in a horde of Beowolves," Ruby said just loud enough for all of JNPR to hear.

Pyrrha gasped, yanked Jaune to the ground, and ran in the room while he recovered. "Ruby! You're not supposed to tell anyone about-"

"We tried to get to her as fast as we could," Ruby said with each word getting louder, until she could be clearly heard over Pyrrha, "But we were too late. Her Aura broke and an Alpha Beowolf got to her first. I… I don't know if it was a planned part of the investigation."

"Ruby!" Pyrrha stared at her. "Why would you-"

"Because they should know about it. Because… Because something's wrong." Ruby felt the handle warp as she squeezed it. "That's not what Hunters are supposed to do. It's just like Weiss said on Friday. You don't leave people to the Grimm, no matter what."

Pyrrha opened her mouth, but she didn't say anything. She clenched her fists and turned away.

Nora was frozen, staring at the ground.

Jaune slowly poked his head in, wincing when he saw them. "Do… Do you think we could see her?"

~~~​

Nora peeked into the overnight stay room. Weiss turned to her and nodded. "Nora."

Weiss' face was completely still, like it was whenever she was working on something. Which was a little weird because she didn't have her scroll. Well, she was in the hospital and was still being fed blood so a little weirdness was okay in Nora's book.

Nora watched the blood bag drip twice while the others were still catching up to her. This wasn't at all what she expected to have happen. Either Weiss was a demon, and then she would get found out and be killed. Or, she wasn't one, which meant that Jaune was just really weird.

Standing around and staring at the injured person was also weird, but Nora hadn't exactly done something like this before. She needed to say something, something to break the ice.

Nora dashed over to Weiss' bed and latched onto her with one of the biggest hugs she could. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Weiss winced and tried to get her arms in the way, but she was no match for Nora's hugging might! Now that she'd seen just how bad it was, she completely agreed with Ruby. Weiss needed all of the hugs!

Though, Weiss didn't seem to agree with that idea. She tried to push Nora away, but she wasn't strong enough to do so normally and she was still really hurt so right now she had no chance. Seriously, she still had a bunch tubes going into her. After a brief moment of thought, Nora let go, slipped her arms under Weiss', then wrapped her arms around just Weiss' torso so she didn't press against any of the tubes.

Weiss groaned. "Why?"

"I was the one who went to Professor Port."

"What does that have to do with this?"

"I talked to him early last week about how I was worried that you might be an Anathema because of how weird Jaune was around you! Like, more than normal boy weird, I'm not sure if you're heard it, but he does this thing where his voice almost cracks, only instead of cracking it just goes really, really high. He really didn't like me saying bad things about you, Jaune that is, so we were fighting and arguing about it all week, but always just in our room so you didn't overhear. And then you gave the big speech on Friday. It was a really good speech, but it also felt a lot like the last time an Anathema told me to do something. The weird feeling where you're still you, but you're also not you and you can watch your body moving and it's ignoring you when you try telling it not to do something. It's actually terrifying and I really don't recommend ever doing it. Especially because I can still feel a lot of what she said in the back of my head, demanding that I train even harder to be a perfect soldier."

Nora paused to take a big breath while Weiss froze. For a brief moment the color drained from the other girl's face and her pupils dilated to the point where they almost took over her irises. But, within the blink of an eye, everything but her heart rate was back to normal.

"So, while you were gone we kept arguing and I said that if you were really a demon they'd find out and kill you, but I didn't really think about how they'd find that out. Last time it just sort of happened and then I hammered her. Sure, it happened after a fight, but I was sure that the teachers would have something else they could do. Something like really intense good-cop, bad-cop or locking you in a room until you confessed or something. Not like, you almost being eaten by Beowolves-"

Weiss snapped her head up and narrowed her eyes at someone behind Nora. It was probably Ruby, but all Nora could see was Weiss' hospital gown.

"-especially because you're not a monster. And that means that someone must've left you to be eaten on purpose and… and I'm so sorry, it's all my fault!"

Weiss closed her eyes, took a breath, and opened them again. "Nora, none of what happened to me was your fault."

"But she-" Jaune started to speak.

"None of it was her fault." Weiss spoke over him. "It was inevitable that I would be investigated. I'd have been disappointed in the Beacon's staff if they hadn't."

"Weiss, do you really think that they'd-" Ruby said softly.

"And Ruby," Weiss cut her off too, "through explaining exactly what happened, has made the future that much more dangerous for the rest of you."

"What?" Ruby stepped towards them. "Weiss, they should know because something wrong happened. Hunters aren't supposed to trap people with the Grimm."

"First off, something like that happening is a very rare exception to how things are done."

"It shouldn't even be an exception. It should never happen anywhere!"

"Secondly, why do you think that Pyrrha, Yang, and I would not tell you what happened during our first investigations? Everyone who knows doesn't talk about it for a very good reason."

"Ruby, I agree with Weiss," Pyrrha said, before Ruby could respond, "This is something that happens and there are good reasons why these events should be kept a secret. The more you know, the more danger you will be in."

"They deserve to know what our Professors are doing." Ruby stepped closer again.

"Do you really think that-" Weiss sat up straight.

"Yes I do!"

"Don't interrupt me!"

"Girls, I-"

"Jaune, be quiet," Weiss snapped at him.

"Stop being mean!" Ruby shouted.

"I'm not being mean. He doesn't have anything useful to contribute."

"Weiss, that is fairly mean."

"You don't need to defend me, Pyrrha."

"You see, Pyrrha's on my side. What else can you call that?" Ruby was practically on top of them.

"Being honest." Weiss leaned closer to Ruby.

"I'm being honest! You want to keep everything a secret."

"Your honesty is going to hurt people!"

"They're all good, they couldn't be-"

"Don't worry Jaune, she didn't really mean to-"

"Pyrrha, it's alright she's just-"

"Good? What world do you think-"

"AHEM!" Ren coughed very loudly. The rest of the room quieted down.

Nora turned around and locked eyes with him. He must've read her mind. They needed something to defuse the situation before it got completely out of hand.

"Cookies?" He pulled a bag full cookies from one of his sleeves. "I picked them up this morning to celebrate team RWBY's return."

He was a lying liar! That was Nora's cookie stash that she'd hidden under his bed. All of her weights were under hers, so there wasn't any space for cookies.

She took a moment to look at Weiss and Ruby. Weiss was watching Ruby, but Ruby kept glancing at the cookies. They needed another push.

"Mine!" Nora sprang into action and lept for the bag. Ruby moved at the same time, lunging for it.

Ren lifted the bag up and let them smash their heads into each other.

"Ow!"

Nora giggled and rubbed her forehead. Weiss was still staring at Ruby, but Ruby was giggling and smiling. They'd probably be arguing about this again soon, but there weren't right now.

And that was enough for Nora.
 
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Book 1 Chapter 4.2
Miracles of Ancient Wonder

~

Chapter 4.2

~~~​

Ruby leaned against the wall and rapidly tapped her fingers on her thighs in an incoherent beat, just like she'd been doing for the past few minutes. The beat didn't really mean anything, but it helped her stay focused. She needed to remember every phrase she'd thought up, every argument and counterargument. All of her verbal weapons needed to be sharpened and ready, just like when Weiss and Blake debated.

She had an idea, an incredible idea, an idea that might fix everything! It took her most of the previous day to work out and she still wasn't entirely sure of it, but it was the best one she had so far.

The only question was, could she convince Doctor Oobleck to let her use the lab unsupervised?

She'd need it for hours upon hours to get the new turbine components built. Hopefully it would get faster after the first few blades were finished and she found her rhythm. But she'd still probably wind up glowing by the end of it. Pushing her Aura into her work made it so much easier, but she couldn't exactly do that in the student machine shop without being asked all sorts of awkward questions.

But, his door was closed. And it had been closed for the past hour. She'd been checking every ten minutes or so just to be sure she didn't miss him.

Ruby couldn't do any more theory work without confirming that at least some of her thoughts were right. The student shop also didn't have all of the tools she needed. She could practically hear him lecturing her about machine safety; all while his tie dangled perilously close to the gears. They spent so much time replacing components after it actually got caught and his Aura tore them up by making the fabric nigh invulnerable. She still wasn't sure if he did that on purpose or not.

Actually... She could hear him, but he wasn't lecturing.

Ruby shifted a little bit to the side so she could listen better.

"... fortunate that nothing worse occurred," Doctor Oobleck spoke as quickly as he normally did, which made understanding him a little tricky thanks to all of the echoing.

"It was an absolute mess, Barty. One of the worst I've ever seen." Professor Port said, slurring slightly.

"I agree. Though, you have proved my own theory wrong. Well… mostly. We still have three strong candidates, four due to have to reconsider certain observations, and will need to plan different stage twos. Simpler stage twos. Stage twos which may be able to rely on the shock from this one to more easily accomplish their objective."

Ruby barely resisted gasping. She didn't even suspect that Doctor Oobleck also participated in these. It was like a surprise punch to the face. Bad, but not as bad when compared to the knife in the back that she'd already received.

"The level of complexity and lack of control was high enough that I would have judged the result in the tail end of appropriateness. It was more reminiscent of an old-style stage three than anything else. This will make all those aware of it, which is now all of the candidates, more apprehensive about future investigations. Obviously this result is something that we would not want to recreate or utilize as standard operating procedure, but it may be able to prove useful to the current scenario. There is one piece about it that's still puzzling to me though. Why?"

"Why what?

"Why were so many additional variables added? Seemingly without any justifiable reason."

"I don't know."

"You don't know? Weren't you the one who suggested the change?"

Ruby clenched her fists. If they were talking about what she thought they were, then it was probably her fault. When she saw him pulling Blake in, she jumped on the potential to go as well.

"Glynda and I planned out which pairs would apply the most pressure if they were placed together."

"Appropriate and within reasonable bounds."

"When it came time to actually call on Miss Schnee, the idea of expanding it further came to me. None of them knew what to expect. I didn't either in the end."

"You shouldn't despair too much. In some ways, you could say it was a success."

"For everything that mattered, it was a miserable failure. The people most emotionally affected were not those under investigation and the final trial was far too out of control. We almost lost one of our most promising students because I was too sure of myself, too sure of what she was and too sure of being able to predict the Grimm." Professor Port growled.

"They are rather unpredictable at the best of times."

"I had thought they would be more sadistic, draw the pain and fear out of her and gorge themselves on it. I hadn't counted on one of the others being that much more affected than she was. And now that poor girl..." Professor Prot slammed his fist onto something and caused a cascade of loose papers. Knowing Doctor Oobleck, they'd been precariously balanced on the edge of whatever was hit.

"We all make mistakes. We're just fortunate that she could recover from this one." All of Professor Oobleck's usual energy was missing. "I pray that the remainder are as painless as possible."

For a long time they didn't say anything else.

Ruby could picture the scene without any difficulty. She'd watched her dad and uncle talk like this often enough to know about the long silence, the fists clenched so hard they broke mugs, and the way it never really ended. Something that did this to the people running it could never be right.

"It's a heavy burden. Especially considering how fine the line was for this case," Doctor Oobleck whispered. "You can never be sure exactly what will affect someone or how they will respond."

Professor Port grunted.

"You acted within reason overall. All of the signs lined up for an Argint scenario. We have to be more sure with those than anything else."

"That is what I feared. It's been decades since he-"

"Is something the matter?"

Ruby yelped and opened her eyes. She raised her scroll in defense, but lowered it when she realized that Professor Ozpin was the person standing right next to her.

She took several quick breaths to calm her racing heart. If anyone was actually able to do something about all of her problems with the investigations it would be him. He was Vale's Chief Huntsman and must have signed off on something regarding Weiss' investigation.

"I… Ummm..." Ruby stammered. What could she say to convince him? "Yes... Yes! You see, there's…"

He raised an eyebrow and smiled.

Ruby opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. Then rolled her lips back and forth. "There's something wrong with how the investigation happened."

"Mmh," He made a noncommittal noise.

"No one should be hurt like that and there's no reason why it should be so secretive and… and there has to be a better way."

Ruby felt the pressure. She pushed against it with all of her might. There's something wrong.

"Is that why you're waiting for Doctor Oobleck?"

"Yes! I mean… No, not really."

The world didn't move.

"What seems to be the trouble then?"

"He's been in there for a long time and I need to use his lab. But that's not really-"

"What would you need his lab for?"

Ruby paused for a moment, "I have a theory about the Dust furnace that I need to test, but I can't build the turbine blades in the student lab. The tools aren't precise enough and they can't handle the temperatures needed. If I'm right, we'll be able to burn much more evenly and prevent damage from the hot spots."

"Interesting. There's an old lab of mine that you can use, room six eleven in this building. The password is seven nine three zero."

"I-" Ruby blinked a couple of times. "Thank you, but-"

"I look forward to hearing about your results. That project has an incredible amount of potential for saving lives." He took a sip from his mug and strolled away.

Ruby stared at Professor Ozpin while he left. That was much easier than she thought it would be. Now she had a lab to work in and she could…

He'd never responded to any of her complaints about the investigations.

"Professor Ozpin!" Ruby shouted.

"Yes?"

"You didn't…" She paused. The moment had been lost. "Never mind… Thanks for letting me use your lab."

"You're very welcome." He nodded. "Have a nice day, Ruby."

Ruby sighed and looked back at Doctor Oobleck's door. Maybe she'd be able to get something useful done today.

~~~​

For the next few days, Ruby threw herself into her research. She finished her new turbine blades early because Professor Ozpin's lab was as awesome as it was strange. It had all of the machines that Doctor Oobleck's lab did and was way more organized, which made it much easier to focus. Though that also make it a little harder to get inspired by random pieces that were lying around.

There was a variety of high-grade Dust and several tables which could be used without clearing them off. He even had some materials she'd never heard of before! They were all labeled by part number instead of easy to recognize names. Everything had its number and its place… so long as she was on the modern side of the room. The rest was very archaic.

He had a number of very finely made hand tools laid out on a long wooden table. Old oil paintings hung over the table in such a manner the portraits watched Ruby while she stood in front of it. They were paintings of Professor Ozpin's family.

Each featured an older man. She could trace the line of history as she went from him in his suit, to a Colorless Knight-Commander, to a Grey Period Aristocrat, and eventually all the way to a happy old farmer with a wind-swept beard. The resemblance was uncanny, kind of like how Uncle Qrow always said that Ruby looked just like her mom and she could see it in old pictures from her mom's time at Beacon.

Each of the men had a different style. But all, save the first, had one thing in common: the cane that Professor Ozpin wielded. Goosebumps ran down the back of her neck when she thought about how it might feel to fight with and what songs it might play. With so many wielders making themselves part of the weapon, it must be an incredible artifact. Ruby hoped that Crescent Rose could be like that really far in the future. But for now, she had to build her precious scythe up the hard way.

Despite the paintings making Ruby feel like all of Professor Ozpin's ancestors were watching her, she managed to get a lot of work done. Maybe the weight of history pushed her to succeed? That made as much sense as anything else she could think of. Everything just moved more smoothly. She had enough time that she even completed her redesign for Crescent Rose.

She'd been putting off some upgrades and now there was no excuse to ignore them. A heavier blade and shaft were first on the list. Once they were done, she could use more powerful rounds, without needing to worry about recoil throwing off her aim, and each strike would be that much more damaging. A few months ago, she wouldn't have been strong enough for such a change to make a difference, but now it would be a huge one.

It did mean she had to re-balance every other component's weight to make up for the new distribution, but it would be so worth it. Most of that could be accomplished with different Air Dust to steel ratios anyway. If Weiss let her buy it, she might even be able to gild the edge of the blade in Fire Dust infused Orichalcum. Oh, it would cut so well, but would also mean that the butt-spike needed to be heavier.

The work was long and solitary, but so much more satisfying than losing arguments. Ruby couldn't win against Weiss, not while looking at her in the hospital bed made Ruby want to tear her own heart out.

With Blake's help, she might've had a chance. But, Blake and Yang were doing their vanishing thing again. Ruby was the first one back to their room every evening and neither of her teammates returned before midnight.

Ruby half expected them to not show up for the trip to Vale. but in the end, they all made it to the air-bus on time. They even had it mostly to themselves, benefits of leaving in the middle of the day. However, no one really wanted to talk about anything on the ride. Blake had a new book, Weiss and Yang had their scrolls, and Ruby had her music. Ruby watched the clouds roll by instead of her teammates. So much for coming together as a team.

No! She couldn't think like that. She was a team leader and needed to do… leadery things... to raise everyone's spirits. There just wasn't anything interesting to talk about while en route and the trip wasn't so long that a little silence really mattered.

They set down in a big square in the middle of one of the semi-expensive shopping districts. Ruby'd been there a couple of times before because it had a really good Dust shop and weapons facility.

As soon as they got off, she pulsed her Semblance to dash to the front of the group.

"Alright team! We have a day of fun coming right up! First on our agenda is-" Ruby cheered and turned around to see Weiss still messing with her scroll.

"Weiss." Ruby said deadpan.

"Hmm?" Her partner finished typing something and then held it out in front of her. She pressed the off button until the screen was blank.

"We're supposed to be- What're you doing?" Ruby quirked her head to the side.

Weiss raised an eyebrow at her, then looked at Blake and Yang.

"Oh." Yang pulled her scroll out next and turned it off.

A moment later, Ruby and Blake did as well.

"Why did you have us do that?" Blake put her scroll away.

"Because I don't know what sites any of you go to and there are viruses which can remotely activate microphones." Weiss moved to the front of the group, noticeably favoring one leg.

"And why would that be important?"

"I assume that Ruby has a number of questions that we don't want to risk having recorded." Weiss looked at Ruby, who blinked a couple of times.

"This was actually supposed to be a day where we could relax and have fun." Ruby giggled nervously. Why was Weiss willing to talk about that now? "But, I do have a couple of questions. Umm..."

"Exactly. We just need to find somewhere where we won't be overheard." Weiss turned to Blake and waited.

After a moment of staring at Weiss, Blake raised an eyebrow. "What are you looking at me for?"

Weiss rolled her eyes and turned to Yang next.

Yang scowled and then sighed. "I know a few places."

"Okay, serious talk can come first I guess." Ruby chuckled. "Where're we headed?"

Yang licked her lips. "Well… We could hit up the White Panther, but…" She looked each of them up and down. They each had their regular combat clothes, except for Weiss; she had a heavier coat and skirt on instead. "We're going to need different outfits to get in."

Weiss and Yang both smirked and glanced at Ruby.

Ruby squinted at them. "What's wrong with how I'm dressed? It's nice, easy to move in, and comfortable. It even matches my hair and eyes! That's like ninety percent of what matters."

"Come on sis, you promised me you'd give it a shot." Yang threw her arm over Ruby's shoulders. "Just think about how nice you could look."

Ruby groaned. "Fine, but no ladystilts."

"That's the spirit." Yang slapped her on the back and started walking. "I know just the place to start."

"Start?" Ruby and Blake both asked. Yang grinned at them and continued her march forward.

~~~​

The first store was very much not Ruby's type of place. It was full of tight dresses and heels and tiny purses that could barely hold a scroll, let alone a weapon. Weiss and Yang ran around, critiquing each other's choices, while Ruby and Blake sat on the sidelines.

The first one Yang stepped out in had a neckline so low that Ruby could practically hear their dad screaming about it. Also it had no back so...Nope!

Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Ruby would never be caught dead wearing something like that and certainly did not want to see her sister dancing in it; especially because she had no idea how it was staying on.

"Too much?" Yang spun around slowly.

"Yang," Ruby asked, shivering slightly, "what sort of place are you bringing us to?"

"Oh you know, a club. Loud music, fog machines, lots of dancing. The type of place where you can grab one of the tables on the top floor and no one will bother you... As long as you keep buying drinks. Well that and glare off the people who want to hit on you."


"Uhh…" Ruby held a finger up, there was a major problem with part of that logic if they were going to be talking about serious stuff.

"Don't worry, we can order virgin drinks."

"Uhh!" Ruby got a little louder. That wasn't her primary complaint, but it was still a concern.

"It means that the drinks won't contain alcohol." Weiss came out of one of the changing rooms.

Her dress was more conservative, but would still be too much for Ruby. While her front was covered, as was her injured leg, the other side of the dress had a slit going really far up her thigh and it had just enough of a back to cover hey injury.

Weiss inspected Yang, who spun around again, and shook her head. "It shows off your legs and chest well, but it needs a jacket."

"I know, but nothing here has enough shoulder room." Yang moved her arm in a circle and walked around Weiss. "Also nice, but way too formal."

Weiss frowned and crossed her arms.

"It's a night club, princess. Not a ballroom."

"I thought that this would show off enough skin while covering the bandages."

"Ohh, good point. Hmm…" Yang wandered around the maze of racks for almost a minute. She came back with a short dress that was covered in tassels and a new pair of shoes.

"Will that be long enough?" Weiss tilted her head to the side.

"You're pretty short so... probably? Just don't do any high kicks." Yang held it up to Weiss' side, then over to Ruby's. "You know, this style would work pretty well for you too."

"Yang, that's white and silver." Ruby grumbled.

"I meant in red and black." Yang passed the dress to Weiss and turned toward that rack again. "I think they had one in the right size."

"I'll pass."

"Suit yourself."

They spent almost half an hour trying on more dresses. But in the end, none of them bought anything.

The second store was a bit closer to Ruby's taste. It was full of leather, unfortunately all of it was shiny and incredibly tight. Weiss joined Ruby on the bench and everything went much faster because Blake knew exactly what she wanted. It was all so far outside of what Weiss liked that she couldn't encourage Yang too much. So, Yang got herself a new skirt and shorts, Blake got her pants, and then they were done.

The third was Weiss and Yang's show again. This time it was shoes, just shoes. And almost all of them were heels of some sort!

The next few stores were all frilly things and accessories. Ruby was able to grab a couple of bracelets, so they weren't completely useless.

Then she and Blake sat through a long argument about whether Blake's bow was appropriate or if she should wear a hat instead.

"The bow won't get knocked off and it works, especially if she picks out something frillier for her top. It might not be her regular style, but ribbon sleeves look so good when you move with them right." Yang pointed at a shirt which had strips of fabric that could technically be called sleeves for the arms.

"There are plenty of hats that you can move with without accidentally knocking them off of your head." Weiss held her favored choice out. Ruby didn't know anything about hats, but it would probably look nice. "It would also give more of a dashing appearance, which would easily fit in with other clothing that she already has."

"Why not just not wear the bow if it causes so much trouble?" Ruby said, then shrank back into her seat when both of the glared at her.

Blake, for her part, hid behind her book and never commented.

It was back to clothing for the next set of shops. Weiss and Yang even picked out an item in each store; One piece, out of the who-knew-how-many they tried on. They were halfway through the day and no one had a complete outfit!

Ruby just nodded along whenever one of them asked for her opinion. They always picked out matching colors and it all fit, so it always looked good... Even if every third outfit had something that made her too embarrassed to look at them.

When they finally went somewhere that Ruby liked, she picked out what she wanted as quickly as she could. She'd been to this place before, it was actually one of her favorites. They carried the right colors and used the symbols she'd decided on too: guns, flowers, crosses, and swords. Though that did mean that there wasn't too much of a selection for the others.

She picked out a nice black dress with a rose on the side, a full corset, and two new packs of tights. It was all very simple and easy.

But, Weiss, Yang, and even Blake shoved bundles of clothes into her arms while she was on the way to the changing room.

At least they had the decency to grab complete outfits. There were four in total… She was pretty sure they each handed her one so that didn't exactly add up, but whatever.

The first one was really good! A dark red dress, which had a combat skirt and no sleeves, and a leather jacket. She might've grabbed that herself.

When she stepped out in it, Yang gave her a thumbs up. "That'd be good."

Blake and Weiss both nodded as well.

The second was a little out there. It had a poofy shirt, velvet tights, a bright red sash, a high collared cape… And plastic Beowolf fangs.

Ruby stuck her head out of the door, saw Yang grinning, and threw the fangs at her sister. They smacked her in the cheek.

"Hey, these weren't my idea!" Yang tossed them back, but Ruby caught them.

"Who else would try to dress me like the villain of a bodice ripper?" Ruby glanced at her other teammates and noticed the corners of Blake's mouth slowly creeping up.

"It felt appropriate." Blake hid her smile with her book. Ruby glowered and shook her head.

"How do you know what those are?" Weiss looked from Ruby, to Blake, and back to Ruby. "What books have you two been sharing?"

"I-I… Umm… Nothing..." Ruby slunk back into the changing room and slowly closed the door.

"Wait. You read what now?" Yang called out. Ruby did not answer her.

The third outfit, a tank top with a rose trailing down the center and cargo pants, was pretty good too. The bullet pendant was what really made it work though. Now that she thought about it, these were probably Yang's. They were different enough from what she normally wore to be interesting, but still were comfortable.

Weiss raised an eyebrow when she came out, but didn't say anything.

"Yang, would these really work for your club? I mean, I like them, but..."

"Nah, probably not." Yang waved a hand back and forth. "But you needed some more variety and I was pretty sure someone else would come up with something good for clubbing."

"Thanks."

"Now about those books." Yang had an evil grin on her face.

"What books? I know nothing. La la-la la la." Ruby hustled back into the changing room.

The last bundle seemed to be just a black half coat and tight leather pants, which was definitely a no. But when Ruby picked it up, something metal fell out. She could feel the blood rising to her cheeks when she looked at the offending piece of clothing.

Ruby moved for the door almost immediately, but stopped herself right before she knocked it open. If she just yelled at them, she'd never find out who did it. She needed to do something else, something to make one of them react differently…

She slammed the door open. "Who? What? Why?"

Ruby waved the spiky, metal bikini top at them. "Which of you put this in the pile?"

All three of them held completely still. Ruby looked at them one by one, trying to figure out who it could be. None of them were twitching even a little bit.

Ruby took a deep breath and immediately shifted over to the brightest smile that she could give them. "I love it!"

"Uhhh…" Yang gaped.

Blake gave her the normal Blake knows you're lying look.

Weiss responded with a withering glare. "Seriously? You complain all day about the amount of skin the Yang and I were showing and now you like this?"

"Ha! Got you!" Ruby pointed at Weiss with her free hand and grinned.

Weiss regarded her for a moment. "Well played."

Ruby covered her mouth, but wasn't able to contain her giggles. She let the bikini fall to the floor so she could wipe her eyes. "Weiss… Hehehe… Your face… You actually believed that I…"

Weiss shook her head, but ended with a smile.

"Why did you give me that though?"

"I thought your reaction would be amusing."

Ruby froze for a moment, then sighed. "I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

"Yep. You're incredibly easy to tease." Yang picked the top up, gave Weiss and Blake a sidelong glance each, and held it out for Ruby. "So are you going to…"

"No!" Ruby dashed away from them.

"Heh." Yang laughed. "Never change, little sister."

Ruby wound up getting all three of the good outfits, at Weiss and Yang's expense because she really just wanted the first one. Blake picked up a plain white shirt as well.

On the way out, they stopped to look at one of the nice coat racks. Or rather, Ruby walked into Blake when she stopped.

"Ohh, that's a good one. Really pricey though." Ruby checked the tag. Yep, it was way too much. Though the coat was beautiful, black silk with a red inner layer.

"Do you want it sis?"

For a moment she considered it. On one hand, it did look really cool. On the other, Blake was eyeing her the entire time that she spent thinking and not in a funny way.

"Nope, it'd get in the way of my cape." Ruby shook her head. "I think it'd look pretty good on Blake with a different lining though."

"NO!" Blake shouted, then covered her mouth with her hands. Her bow also bounced, ending with its points as high as Ruby'd ever seen them.

"Uhh, Blake?" Ruby carefully raised a hand. "Are you okay?"

Blake gulped and took a long breath. "I'm fine, I just… I just need some fresh air."

Ruby carefully watched her, as did Weiss and Yang. Ruby looked at the two of them, then back to Blake.

"That's alright, I'm all set too so… There's a nice Dust shop that we can go to."

"I… I really don't want to look at Dust or weapons, Ruby."

"Oh…" Ruby sagged slightly. "How about a book store? There's a good one nearby."

"That would be nice."

"Okay." Ruby turned back to Weiss and Yang.

"Dinner at A Simple Wok?" Yang asked.

"Yeah." Ruby pulled out her scroll to check the time, but it was still off. She scoured the store for a clock, eventually spotting the cashier's scroll. "Meet there at seven? Assuming you two can finish in an hour."

"I think we can handle that." Weiss nodded to Yang.

"See you then." Ruby held the door open and waited for Blake to follow.
 
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Book 1 Chapter 4.3
Miracles of Ancient Wonder

~

Chapter 4.3

~~~​

"So, are you ok?" Ruby matched Blake's pace while they walked.

"I'm fine. That coat... just reminded me of someone from my past." Blake walked with her arms crossed, bags dangling from one elbow.

"Not a good someone?"

"No, no he wasn't."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Oh… I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. I just..." Blake sighed wistfully rather than finishing the thought.

"Blake, we're your friends. I don't want you to feel bad. So if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here." Ruby reached up to pat Blake on the shoulder, but hesitated. Blake had always been touchy regarding physical contact and now was not a good time to push it.

"Thank you."

They walked without talking for a while. Ruby caught Blake glancing at her over and over, then biting her lip and looking away. Even though the pressure was there; Ruby didn't know which way she wanted to push it. She'd been running into a wall more and more often with Blake, so whether or not she was capable of succeeding at moving the world was in question.

Ruby also didn't know if she really wanted to. Blake was hiding something from them, something that seemed incredibly painful and personal. Was it something that should be pried into? It didn't sound like it would be dangerous to the team, so it wasn't pressing. If it wasn't a risk like that, was there a good reason to push Blake for an answer? The best one that Ruby could think of was that sharing things let you work through them and feel better.

But, Ruby honestly didn't know if she could help. She wasn't exactly overflowing with experience regarding relationships gone bad, no matter what type they were. All she had to go on were stories books, her dad breaking down, and Yang's behavior at Signal… Beacon as well come to think of it.

Fantasy books were books, not something she could rely on. Given Blake's reaction, it probably wasn't like what happened to dad when mom died. Yang had gotten through those problems by going out with someone else who made her happy. She was pretty sure that was how her Uncle Qrow handled things too. Well, that and whiskey, which probably wouldn't be a good idea even if they were older.

Ruby briefly met Blake's eyes and smiled. Plan Yang could work… If only she knew what Blake was looking for. Maybe her favorite stories were the answer?

They almost all had an intense, yet broody, love interest who was tall, dark, and handsome. It was kind of a cliché, but still really popular. If that was what she liked, then there were a couple of problems. Ren was probably the closest the Ruby could think of. He didn't really fit the mold though. Yang and Weiss were closer than the rest of team JNPR, but they didn't match either. Unless...

After a moment of staring at Blake's clothes, and thinking about how none of the main characters were all that similar to each other, Ruby had another idea.

Maybe Blake wanted to be the mysterious stranger? She had the looks and the brooding down pat. That would make everything both easier and harder to figure out. On one hand, there were suddenly tons of options. On the other, that role relied on Blake actively going for someone and Ruby couldn't really see her doing that.

Ruby resisted the urge to groan. Relationships were so complicated. Why couldn't they be easy, like figuring out what materials worked well for a given weapon?

She also hadn't figured out an answer for her main question. Should she try to force the issue?

"His name was Adam." Blake said very softly as the pressure vanished.

Ruby nodded and stepped a bit closer. That also worked.

"He was passionate, skilled, driven, and fairly attractive. Basically, everything a girl could hope for. He took… took a group that I hung out with... and helped us do more than we'd ever done before. Under his leadership, we were more than just… activists who wanted to make the world safer." Blake was leaving something important off, but Ruby could always ask her when she was more comfortable and not in public.

"He said that he wanted justice and that he knew the way to get it. And for a long time, I believed him." Blake wrung her hands over and over. "I thought that I loved him. Why wouldn't I? It would be ridiculous to not considering who he was and how he'd saved my life... several times... But, I only loved the idea of him. The one that I'd built up in my head."

Ruby gulped and ran her thumb back and forth over her bag's handles. She'd read enough to guess where this was going.

"For a long time, that was enough. I was happy following the hero I thought he was. Eventually... It all came crashing down and I couldn't deny the truth anymore. Adam was passionate and driven, but he didn't want justice. He wanted vengeance. He wanted to use his skills to hurt people because he could. And he wanted me to help him do it…"

"Blake…" Ruby reached for her after a moment of hesitation. When she laid her hand on Blake's shoulder, she flinched, but didn't run away. "It's alright, you're not there anymore. You're with us now and we'd never ask you to do anything like that."

Blake kept her eyes on the ground.

"And if he ever comes back, we'll make sure to keep you safe." Ruby paused for a moment and considered what that could sound like, considering what Blake just told her. "Umm, assuming you want us to. I mean, if you really wanted to go we wouldn't force you to stay and-"

Blake wrapped her arms around Ruby. "Thank you."

Ruby squeezed her tightly and let go as soon as Blake pulled back. "That's what friends are for."

"Yeah..." Blake wiped the corners of her eyes. "Let's go look at those books."

Ruby giggled and pointed above them. "We've actually been right outside of the store for a little while."

Blake laughed and looked up. The laugh caught in her throat when she saw the Tukson's Book Trade sign. "I-I don't think this is a good idea."

"Why? The owner seems like a really good guy."

Blake cringed slightly.

"Wait, does he know Adam?"

Blake nodded.

"Oh, umm, well... That would be really awkward. We'll go somewhere else then! Somewhere else that isn't related to Dust or weapons. Which is a thing that I definitely know about! Umm… This way." Ruby turned around and started walking. Blake didn't follow her.

"Blake?" Ruby turned around to find Blake staring at another group of people. Four very fit Faunus were walking down the other side of the street. Each of them had a machete on their belts, though that wasn't what caught Ruby's eye first.

The guy in front's left arm was covered by a very intricate tattoo. The ink was a swirling red and black pattern, bounded by silver. It stretched all the way down to his fingers and gave the impression of claws. He pointed from one building to another while the others nodded along. Kind of a like a tour guide, a really gruff tour guide.

"Food." The first was a cafe which had several Faunus sitting outside of it.

"Clothes." The second was a tailor.

"Next week's spots: one, two, three." That sounded very ominous to Ruby, especially because none of the stores had any similarities.

"And last, but not least, weapons." He pointed to the bookstore and started turning towards them.

"That makes no se-"

Ruby was cut off by Blake grabbing her around the waist and dashing into the store. A bell rang as she was carried in. Blake left the door open.

"Be right there!" A deep voice call out from the back of the store.

"Blake, what wa-?"

"Ruby." Blake's voice had more of an edge than Ruby had ever heard before. "Don't ask any questions until we leave."

Blake stepped to the side of the door as she closed it, keeping out of sight of the Faunus group. She also flipped the 'Open' sign to 'Closed'. After a moment of looking around, she slid a switch down, making the windows dim until they were completely opaque.

Ruby reached for the small of her back, where Crescent Rose would normally have been.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade!" The owner, a tall cat Faunus, spun out of the back with a huge box.

"Home to every book under the- sun." His voice cracked like a teenage boy's. At the same time, he flinched and tightened his grip, punching holes in the bottom of the box with his claws.

"Tukson." Blake stalked forward, tapping the flat of her blade against her thigh.

Ruby did a double take to confirm that Blake had in fact drawn Gambol Shroud on an unarmed civilian.

"B-Belladonna." He moved to put the box down.

Blake switched to gun mode and leveled it at him. "Keep your hands above the counter."

He nodded and very carefully placed it down, then raised his hands up, palms facing them. Tukson glanced to Ruby a couple of times, his eyes screaming 'Help!'

Ruby gulped. Why was this happening? Was this what robbing someone felt like? It didn't feel right at all. They were supposed to protect people not terrify them!

She glanced at Blake. Her entire body was tense, but she kept her finger off of trigger. How bad was Adam if she was reacting like this? For that matter, what was she used to if she thought acting like this was okay? Sure they fought each other a lot at Beacon and being shot accidentally, or knocked through a wall, just sort of happened there, but they weren't at Beacon right now.

And... And Tukson probably didn't have his Aura unlocked so... That meant that Blake was actually threatening his life.

"Is anyone else here right now?" Blake continued towards him.

"No, no." He shook his head wildly. "I won't tell anyone you were here. I'm getting out too."

"You are?" A lot of the tension in Blake's voice vanished.

"Yes." He nodded very quickly.

Blake lowered the gun. Since she didn't react, Ruby assumed he was being honest.

He took a deep breath and leaned against the counter. "You, uhhh… You've still got it… Umm… There's some stuff you should know. Is she?"

He gestured in Ruby's direction. Blake shook her head. "No, she's not connected."

After a moment, he nodded to the door he'd just come out of. "We can talk in the back."

"Let's." Blake moved towards it and nodded. Only then did he move to open it.

Ruby pulsed her Semblance and stepped between them. "Blake! What is this? Why did you draw on him? What's going on?"

Blake flinched back and looked past Ruby's head. "Don't worry about it, Ruby. It won't concern you, I promise."

"I think it already concerns me. You're waving a weapon around and threatening someone like… like some sort of criminal! That's not what Huntresses do!"

Blake winced and turned away from her. "I promise, I'll answer your questions later. After I talk to Tukson."

Ruby grit her teeth and considered what to do. The pressure was there again. She could slam into it as hard as possible, but this seemed like the type of choice where even her best wouldn't be enough.

Instead of trying, she stepped out of the way.

"Thank you." Blake whispered as she passed.

They disappeared into the back of the store, closing the door behind them.

A few moments later, Ruby tip toed up to the edge of it and listened as hard as she could. Her instincts had be utterly and completely wrong. Whoever Adam was, he wasn't just a bad ex and Blake's 'group of activists' must have done something actually wrong with him. This was a secret that she needed to know.

And all of her experience with secrets this semester taught her that the later in 'I'll tell you later' meant never.

~~~​

Yang and Weiss left the store in the opposite direction as Ruby and Blake. Going that way wasn't the quickest route to their next stop, but it would get them out of earshot much sooner. As they walked, Yang rolled the handles of her bags between her fingers, squeezing them hard enough that she could feel the cloth tearing.

She took advantage of her height, and Weiss' injury, by making her stride a bit longer than normal. It made her just fast enough that it would be a hard for Weiss to keep pace while walking, but not quite fast enough for a speed walk or jog to not be awkward.

Was it petty? Yes. But, she had been enjoying herself while they got lost in shopping. When they were doing that, she could forget about everything that made her worry. She could tease her sister and had a shopping buddy in Weiss, who knew what she was talking about. It also let her try and figure out what had changed about Weiss over the course of the past week.

Weiss was not a threat before the investigation. And yet, when Yang took a look at her again, she was. Somehow she was much more dangerous while almost fatally injured than she was beforehand. It didn't make any sense.

That was part of why her headache was back. And she needed to figure out the best way to relieve it, before they met up with Ruby again. She couldn't actually be happy with her temples pounding or even pretend to be fine for Ruby's sake. A few days ago it wouldn't have been a problem, Blake's commands would have helped her stay in control even when she could barely think. But, they'd spent the past few days getting rid of all of them.

"Yang, slow down." Weiss' heels clicked out of pace as she almost skipped to keep up. "Why are you walking so fast?"

Yang glanced over her shoulder on the opposite side as Weiss. Ruby and Blake had just crossed the street. Yang sighed internally when they were no longer in sight.

"Are you listening to me? I can't keep up with you-" Weiss grabbed her jacket and pulled Yang to a stop.

"What the hell was that?" Yang knocked Weiss' hand away as she turned towards her.

"What do you mean?"

"You." She poked Weiss in the chest, a little harder than necessary. "Giving my little sister something completely inappropriate."

Weiss blinked at her once before responding. "It was a joke! I thought it would be amusing. Besides, you've been trying to get her into something like that all day."

"First off, no I haven't. I've been giving her things a little bit outside of her comfort zone. And secondly, it wasn't funny."

"You tried to get her to actually wear it and then laughed at her reaction."

"I did that so it would be less awkward for her."

"That made it much more awkward."

"No, it didn't! I made it safe!"

Weiss crossed her arms and glared at Yang.

"I'm her sister, the person who pushes her to do things she hasn't done before. It also means that I don't have any ulterior motives for suggesting it."

"What other motive do you think I had?"

"I don't know." Yang threw her arms into the air. "You're single-handedly the most manipulative person I've ever met. For all I know you want to turn her into some pet who will let you do whatever you want to her."

Weiss looked somewhere between disgusted and appalled.

Yang matched the glare and thought about how much fun fighting would be. Verbal sparring wasn't normally her idea of a good time, but it could work. Accusations and insults would fly like bullets. In the end, they could actually connect with each other.

Weiss grit her teeth, but there was a fire in her eyes that hadn't been there before. It was the same look she had when she and Blake debated something serious. "Do you really want to do this right now?"

Yang savagely grinned.

"I thought you were better than this." Weiss said, voice dripping with derision.

"What?" Yang was expecting something nasty, but that was not it.

"You sanctimoniously rant to me about what you think my intentions, regarding your sister, are and you haven't even called her by name. She's simply your sister. Something for you to decide what is and is not appropriate for."

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Yang growled through clenched teeth.

"Really? Because that's all I can hear. An older sibling who's so used to being in control that she can't accept that someone might know more about her sister's level of comfort than she does."

"That's…" Yang dug her nails into her palms. "That's not, you're-"

"There is one other potential option. However, jealousy is very unbecoming."

"I'm not jealous." Yang crossed her arms and glared.
Don't lie to yourself.
"Really?" Weiss covered her mouth with a hand and laughed. "What would your family think of you trying to scare anyone interested in Ruby away in a fit of jealousy?"

Yang blinked and saw her father-
The vision shattered as the blood pounded in her head. "I'm not jealous! I'm trying to protect my innocent, little sister from… from…"

"From what? What are you so worried about? Someone who's close to her hurting her?" Even though Weiss had stopped talking, Yang could clearly hear another question. 'Do you know how much you're hurting her?'
You wish you could be in her place.
"Shut. Up."

"Considering her choice of books, I'd say she's already more interested in the topic than you knew about. And need I remind you, your first reaction was about what motives I had." Weiss looked her dead in the eyes and shook her head. Another soundless question was asked. 'Why are you pushing her away like this?'

"I'm not… I don't"

"How many people have you taken out this week? Weren't they enough for you? Ruby's been working herself to the bone, trying to deny the truth." 'She's needed your support all week.' "Have you seen her at all? Do you have any idea how much it hurts for your family to abandon you-"

Yang's arm moved before she could think about it. She stepped forward and slammed her fist into Weiss' face. She forced her Aura into the blow, warping the air as her fist flew forward, and blasted Weiss into an alley. A dumpster rang like a bell as she crashed into it. Weiss slid to the ground, landing on shaky legs, and held a hand to her face.

Someone behind Yang gasped and stepped away. She spun around, one arm guarding her torso. A young man was staring at her and shaking. He stepped backwards, fell to the ground, then scrambled to his feet and ran away.

Weiss shook her head back and forth several times, then stood up. Her Aura took the entire blow, leaving her face and clothing unblemished. However, the ice cold facade was broken; Weiss' left hand hovered near her waist. She touched the pommel of her sword with her palm. Her fingers tensed around the handle.

"While I may have deserved that," Weiss muttered under her breath before shouting, "What are you th-"

Weiss's eyes widened for a fraction of a second as Yang stared into her soul again. Weiss was still a threat. Yang didn't know why or how, but she was. And if she wanted to go at it right now, Yang was happy to oblige.

After several moments of staring, Weiss moved her hand away from her sword.

Yang marched toward her, throwing the bags to the side as she entered the alley.

Weiss walked forward to meet her. As she closed, she adjusted her stride and stepped in to return the punch with as much force as she could.

The strike was fast, shockingly fast and precise for someone injured. Yang got caught in the cheek at the same time she touched Weiss' arm to block. But, for all that Weiss had speed, she had no real power.

Yang blocked Weiss' followup hard, spinning her to the side with the force, and grabbed the collar of her coat. She lifted the tiny girl until they were at eye level with each other. "Do NOT tell me I don't know what it feels like to be abandoned! You have no idea what Ruby or I have been through."

"And you think acting like this is going to help her?"

"Of course I don't! That's why she isn't here!" Yang let go of Weiss and punched the wall next to them. The bricks cracked, but stayed in place.

"Then why do it in the first place?"

"Because. I. Want. To." Yang leaned closer and closer with each word. "Because holding back in front of her is hard. Because something about how you've been talking gives me such a headache that it makes me want to tear my hair out!"

Weiss responded with a glare. Yang met it.

"What you just did before I hit you." Yang snapped her fingers. "That's what I was talking about. You distracted me with the jealousy comment and I just realized how easily you did it. You're not a good person Weiss."

"I'm better than someone who responds to being confused with their fists."

"I'm not a good either, never said I was. None of us are, except for Ruby. That's why I'm not going to let you, or anyone else, hurt her!"

"Yang, this is insane. I'm not going to hurt Ruby."

"Then what were you doing in the store?"

"I thought it would be funny."
You know what you want to do.
"Liar!"

"I thought that it would help her grow as a person."
Call upon the power and take it.
"Bull!"

"That's all I was thinking about!" Weiss grabbed Yang's hand and tried to pry her fingers open. 'Stop making a scene!'

Yang snarled and lifted Weiss off of her feet. Even though her struggling grew stronger, she was far too weak to save herself. Each buck and twist was countered by an iron grip, but that wouldn't be enough. Yang needed to do something else. Something that would make Weiss answer her questions honestly.

Weiss was too slippery for anything that Yang could come up with.

She stopped fighting the memories. Empress Tialeth was one of the most terrifying and persuasive people that Yang could think of.

She slammed the courtier into the wall, the knuckles of her gauntlet digging into his throat. The slight man kicked at her chest, to no avail. The ivory hair flowed as if it were constantly being swept by a gentle breeze and the mist that fell from his breath, even in the blistering heat, betrayed the boy's heritage now that they were revealed.

He had hidden his breeding well while he was infiltrating her court.


Yang slammed Weiss to the side and held her up against the wall. The girl tried to dig her nails into Yang's hands.

She drew the tip of her blade against the wall. It hissed and sparked as the Jade parted for the razor edge. She stopped just before it hit his side.

Yang reached up with her other hand and laid it on Weiss' side, right below her worst wound.

"Your manipulations have caused my people more pain than I could have ever imagined."

"I'm going to give you one, last chance to tell me what I want to know." Yang raised her head and tilted it to the side slightly. Her hair fell over her face, slightly obscuring eyes that she was sure were glowing red. After a moment she leaned back, looking down her nose to stare at Weiss.

"You will tell me why you have ensnared my children-

"Or I will personally eviscerate you." Yang released her grip and watched Weiss crumple to the ground.

She threw the boy to the ground and glared at him.

Weiss trembled and pushed herself back up to her feet. Yang's vision faded as she stumbled forward.

The tip of her sword sliced the boy's robes open. He gasped and grabbed hold of his midsection. The very end of her blade nicked him and had drawn a thin line of blood.

He broke, sputtering and babbling about justice. Answers that were as useful as they were true. Love and justice were free in her lands, so long as the one seeking them had the strength of character to bring matters forward.

She leaned closer and laid a hand on the side of his face.

"Now now," She said with a much softer tone, "You're young, not even fifty. You could have a grand life ahead of you."

He nodded, trembling as her fingers curled in his hair. She tightened them enough to make him wince.

"This scheme could not have been your idea. My question is very simple. Who is your master and why they would want my sons and daughters to turn against me? Which of my enemies do you serve?"

The boy clenched his eyes closed and shivered.

"I'd never-"

"What was that? Tell me who you serve." Her voice reverberated with Essence, empowering her command. His eyes went wide, pupils dilating as her words etched themselves into his consciousness. If he would not answer her willingly, then she would need to force him to.

The boy screamed and poured more Essence into his anima. A burst of razor sharp winds erupted from his body, scouring the stone around him. The winds were as dangerous to her as a gentle breeze.

"I will never help one of you." He shouted and forced the winds to grow stronger. They ripped and tore at his clothing and skin. With every passing moment more and more of his form was shredded and discorporated into raw Essence.

Tialeth swung her sword at the wall he had been on, slicing through the stone and into the room beyond. She glared at the space the boy once occupied. She had seen that trick once before. The boy was not only a skilled spy, he had also been a sorcerer. His spell denied them any ability to interrogate him further.

She would need to have all of her senior officials checked for any lingering magics that he might have used on them, starting with the sorcerers who would be checking themselves of course.

This was not what she needed in the week leading up to Calibration. The checks would not be finished by the time she had to leave for the great feast. Five days may not be a long time for her to be gone, but if someone in a pivotal role was overlooked, it could be disastrous...
 
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Book 1 Chapter 4.4
Miracles of Ancient Wonder

~

Chapter 4.4

~~~​

Weiss lifted herself over the edge of the dumpster with a groan. The day had begun well, but now it was officially trying her patience.

Apparently, 'Why are you freaking out?' also merited a punch to the face. Or perhaps the reason was her hidden 'Stop before you give yourself away!' Either way, it was a punch which shot her to the other end of the alley and into a completely different dumpster than the first one. Which, of course, was followed by the lid slamming down on her and Yang running out of the alley in a mad panic.

Whatever happened to Yang while Weiss had been held against the wall had completely changed Yang's speech patterns and body language. It was as if she were a completely different person. While Weiss had heard of a few Semblances which would cause such an effect, she was certain that Yang didn't have one.

If she somehow did, then it was a second Semblance; which would confirm that somehow three, if not four, Anathema had all been assigned to the same team at Beacon. Such a story would be a perfect farce if it weren't making her life so difficult!

Weiss took a deep breath. She needed to remain calm. All of that added up to a small problem that had the potential to become a much larger one, very quickly. But, the scenario was still manageable because that potential had not yet been met.

If there was anything to be thankful for, it was that Yang had waited for both Blake and Ruby to leave before acting in such a manner. Although, Blake's skills and weapon would have been very useful if Yang needed to be restrained.

Weiss refocused her mind on matters at hand as she neared the other end of the alley. A mixed crowd was already milling about and gawking.

She marched up to them with her blade drawn and pointed her off-hand at the nearest distinct group. "You there, where did the blond girl I was arguing with go?"

A Faunus man, bear by his ears, shouted. "You mean the psycho racist?"

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose. This was off to a truly wonderful start. "What did she do?"

"She knocked me down, called me a clumsy beast, and demanded that I bring her to 'the god of the city', whatever that is. " He gestured wildly, but not in a useful direction.

Weiss gave him a level stare and motioned for him to continue.

"I told her I didn't know what she was talking about. Then she called me worthless and jumped up there." He pointed to a tall apartment building across the street. "Never even offered to help me up, stupid-"

"Thank you." Weiss cut the man's insult off with a wave of her hand. If Yang has jumped all the way to the top of the building, then she had already escalated to an enormous problem. Most elite Hunters wouldn't be able to do that in a single bound! She could only hope that no one present knew that. "Don't worry, I'll handle it from here."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" A man standing next to the Faunus asked. "I mean, she already hit you twice and-"

"Neither of those seriously affected me and I was responsible for provoking her."

"That's not a very healthy way to look at a relationship." He hesitated, unable to meet Weiss' eyes. "Look, I've been there before, you're not responsible for anything she does and shouldn't chase after her. Especially since she seems… umm… angry and delusional?"

"We're not involved." Weiss said plainly as she pushed past him. "She's a friend and a teammate who has had a very difficult week. I need to make sure she doesn't do something even more idiotic."

Weiss conjured a glyph that would bring her over the crowd and another in front of her mouth as she stepped onto it. She forced her Aura into her words, ensuring that she spoke loudly enough for all of them to hear her. The sound of her voice bounced off of the walls in the exact manner for it to carry to them, then dissipate before it went too far. "Citizens of Vale, don't worry. I have this under control. Please go about your business in peace."

She pointed Myrtenaster towards the building and channeled Air Dust into the glyph. A moment later, she fired herself up. While she could have done it in one burst, she conjured a second glyph to boost herself for appearance's sake.

As she flew, she heard one shocked statement from the crowd, "Holy shit, was she a Schnee?"

Weiss flipped over the railing and landed several steps behind Yang with a wince, her movement had pulled against her belly the wrong way. Weiss kept her sword in her hand while she watched her teammate. Everything about the way she was standing was wrong. It was nothing like the girl that Weiss knew.

Yang stared out at the city with the appearance of someone inspecting their lands. It was the assuredness and confidence that Weiss had only seen in senior members of the SDC who were looking over their departments. Her hair whipped in the wind enough to obscure her expression, but she had squeezed dents into the wooden railings.

She turned to the side and took Weiss' measure with eyes far older than any the heiress had seen before. If her body language was off-putting, Yang's gaze was even worse. That expression belonged on someone whose hair had turned white from age, not a teenage girl.

As she turned, Yang shifted her weight slightly so that her stance was in line with Weiss'. She glanced at Myrtenaster at the same time, then spoke just loudly enough to be heard over the wind. "Do you intend to use that?"

"It is my hope that I will not have to." Weiss was fairly certain that she would not be able to beat Yang if she was at her best, but if she needed to, she would try.

"Admirable." Yang smiled at her. "Especially for one so young."

"You're very kind." Weiss sheathed her sword and curtsied. Considering Yang's current bearing, Weiss would be embarrassed by displaying anything less than proper politeness. "You are, much calmer than you had been a short while ago."

"Calm is not the word that I would use. When I saw the streets and the sky, I realized what must have happened to me. Though, my current form should have made that obvious. What has happened to the land and its people is still a mystery." She shook her head.

"What do you mean?"

"The stars are all wrong and the moon has been fractured. A miasma falls over the city and strangles its citizens."

Weiss glanced to the sky, it was at a half-shatter tonight. That answer still had not helped her understand exactly what was wrong. She bowed her head before speaking. "I have a number of questions, if you will allow me to ask them."

Yang inclined her head slightly and smiled.

Weiss met her gaze. "Who are you?" She wove her real question into the words now that her Aura had recovered enough to be safe. 'You are obviously not Yang Xiao Long.'

"I am not and I am most likely a memory not yet cleansed from my Exaltation." Yang's smiled faded. "This is neither my body nor my soul. I can remember fragments of my own life, along with many people whom I have never met, such as yourself. These coincide with events that should be impossible if the land were properly governed."

Weiss nodded. Some form of possession made the most sense so far. "Your name?"

"Tialeth, Grand Champion of the Shining Colosseum of the Dawn's Light." She said with an air of importance that would put the relatives that Weiss preferred to not speak with to shame.

"I have not heard of you before."

"I suspected as much." She grimaced. "If revolting cities such as this are commonplace, then all that I had known must be lost."

"The city may not be the Northern Heights, but I would hardly call it revolting."

"You can look upon such a state and not feel disgusted? Are you so used to the grim that it has become natural to you?" Tialeth squeezed the railing hard enough for the wood to crack. "The people mill about without direction, humans and altered mortals alike. They wallow in filth and don't even bother to clean themselves before walking the streets. Streets which seem to have been built in a haphazard manner which all but ensures improper geomancy."

While Weiss couldn't disagree with her assessment of the common citizen's bathing habits, it seemed a bit hyperbolic. Yes, this part of the city has a distinctive smell which the air near Beacon lacked, but that was true of every city and most towns.

"The gods in charge should be torn from their offices and thrown into the streets for allowing this city to decay to such a state." She flicked slivers of wood from between her fingers. "But, given the reactions of the populous, I would not be surprised if their offices have been vacant for decades. None of those who I spoke to knew the name of either the god of the city or the Solar in charge of the land. To be so ignorant is a disgrace on them as well as their ruler for permitting it. I would not be surprised if they, or even you yourself, have a soul as blighted as this girl's." She spread her arms as she spoke, as if daring Weiss to defy her.

Weiss could barely resist nodding along, even though very few of the statements had any bearing on reality. Tialeth was constantly referring to concepts that Weiss doubted she had the proper context to understand. At least, she'd never heard of gods working in something as mundane as an office, outside of fiction. The very notion sounded ridiculous. Then again, everything Tialeth said seemed to make sense, even the portion about her and Yang's souls. In fact, it made too much sense for the words used.

After glancing at the door leading up to the roof, and confirming that it was closed, Weiss whispered, "Are you using your Aura to enhance your speech?"

"My what?"

"Your Aura, the light of your soul."

"You mean my Essence?"

Weiss frowned. "I suspect that this is a conversation which will repeat itself many times, but most likely, yes."

"Of course I am, despite how distasteful this Essence is."

"Please stop, before you begin glowing." Weiss lowered her head slightly.

"Why? Are you afraid of your clothing being bleached?"

"No." Weiss shook her head and cringed. "If you display your icon or start glowing, then Yang will be killed."

"Who would dare?" The air rippled around her as she spoke. She clenched her hands and the tips of her hair ignited.

"Everyone. Literally, everyone else in the world. Please stop whatever you're doing, right now, so that I can explain."

Tialeth leaned against the railing and met Weiss' eyes. The flames had not died down.

"Those who have such powers are known as Anathema. They are hunted down and killed to protect the world from their power." Weiss laced her statement with her Aura. 'We cannot fight against that many people.'

"You ask me to disarm myself while you still wield your own knives."

Weiss leaned forward more, almost bowing her head, and clenched her teeth. She needed to tread carefully. "I apologize. I thought that it would be the best way to explain very sensitive information. Information that I do not want to have overheard."

"A pity. You are far more cowardly than I had thought." She laid a hand on Weiss' cheek and lifted her chin until their eyes met. "You are Chosen, one of the Exalted. Mortals should be serving and worshiping you. Even one as young as yourself should be leading thousands of mortals to enact her wishes upon the world."

Weiss almost bit her tongue, thoughts like those were why the Anathema were hunted. It was why she had been so careful with her manipulations of the SDC. Suddenly appearing in a leadership position was the second most frequent method by which the Anathema were found.

"Why have you not simply taken over the organization that would kill you?"

"That would take time and I cannot fight the thousands of people that would inevitably notice."

"Your forebearers did. They felled armies of demons by the millions, when they wrested control of Creation from its creators."

"What?"

"Do you know nothing of history? Has that much knowledge truly been lost?"

"You fought million-man armies by yourself?"

"I did not. I took my Second Breath long after the war had been won. But the warriors of my time were known to fight tens of thousands of the Fair Folk at a time. Typically for sport or recreation." She said offhandedly, as if she were describing a casual board game.

While Weiss did not know what these Fair Folk were, but if they were even as skilled as regular people, the point still stood. If this woman was correct, then the depths of power which the Anathema could draw upon were deeper than anyone realized. If they could fight so many foes at once, they might be able to push the Grimm back. It was an incredible, yet terrifying, notion.

Of course, that all assumed that Tialeth was correct, also neither delusional nor prone to exaggeration.

"I-" Even so, Weiss was at a loss for words. "I believe that there are many things that we should discuss, indoors, where no one can overhear."

"Do you have any fine baths?"

"I'm sure that I can arrange something."

"Excellent, we can talk while attempting to cleanse all this filth." She gestured at her body and ficked her fingers as if they were wet.

Weiss let out the breath she'd been holding.

"Then we can do something about all of this." Tialeth tossed her hair over her shoulder. "It's far too long."

Weiss squeezed her eyes shut. This was going to be a long, long evening.

~~~​

All Ruby could make out was the sound of Blake and Tukson walking. They must have been going really far into the back of the shop, probably to stop her from listening in.

"What is all of this?" Blake asked right before something metallic was dropped on a table.

"Weapons. Too many weapons." Tukson sounded completely defeated.

That also confirmed that the Faunus outside were actually talking about weapons when they pointed to his shop. Though, Ruby had no idea why they'd be so secretive about them. Weapons were easy to buy, assuming you were going to be a Hunter or border guard... Or even just someone who went outside of the city a lot.

Fighting off weak Grimm didn't take much more than a high-caliber rifle or a good spear for most people. Assuming they had their Aura unlocked.

"What could they possibly need all these for? "

"I don't know. Some human dropped them off yesterday and told me there'd be more on the way."

"Human?"

"Yep, human. I don't know what Taurus is thinking anymore."

"He would never work with humans." The way Blake said 'humans' made goosebumps run down Ruby's spine. "He'd rather die than accept their help."

"Uhh…"

"Sorry, sorry." Something clattered to the ground. "I've been so careful with how I speak, making sure that I never say something like that, and I-."

"It's fine. Happens to all of us. Just, uhh, that was a little close to how he would say that."

They stayed silent for almost a minute while Ruby thought about what she'd heard so far. All the while, she could make out sounds of boxes being opened and closed.

None of this made sense. At least, it didn't considering all of the things that Ruby knew about Blake. That meant that some of her thoughts about Blake were wrong and she had a good idea about which ones.

She'd never heard Blake speak like that, not even in her worst arguments with Weiss. Which made sense, since she made the words sound really insulting. She never used 'humans' in her arguments or even in regular conversation. It was either 'the Faunus', when they were relevant, or 'people'. The closest she got was 'humanity' and that one was pretty harshly said too.

Blake was always on the side that favored the Faunus, up to and including defending the White Fang whenever Weiss went off on them. Now that Ruby thought about it, that would be a really strange thing for a human to do. But, she could understand any Faunus defending people who were trying to defend them, even if they disagreed with the methods used. Just that didn't explain Tukson hiding lots of weapons weapons though.

"So." Tukson said softly. "Despite... that... you're here with a human, now?"

"Yes."

"How'd that happen?"

"You're getting out right? You'll never talk to any of them again?"

"I should have condo in north Vacuo by the end of the year. New name, new papers, the works. If I never see a mask again, I could die a happy man."

Blake paused for a moment, probably doing her lie detector thing. "I'm at Beacon now. She's my team leader."

"That's… different… congratulations."

Ruby ran one thumb over the other as she waited for one of them to say anything. It wasn't like she thought she was a bad leader. But, she hadn't really gotten through to Blake before their talk on the way here.

"It's different, very different. And it's nice... mostly."

"You deserved better than Taurus. Always have."

"That's… He wanted to help..."

"You shouldn't try to defend him. He's a maniac who needs to be stopped." Tukson slammed something on a table. "He crossed the point where he's doing more harm than good a long time ago."

"That's not… We weren't..." Blake punched something wooden. "Why don't you stop him then? He might not listen, but the others would."

"He'd kill me."

"He wouldn't!"

"It's gotten worse since you left. He's been angrier, snapping at the slightest provocation. People could walk away before, now… Now, they purge 'traitors'."

"No… That's not… Adam isn't…"

Ruby clenched her hands together and checked the front door as they went silent again. A very short blond girl opened the front door and peeked in. Ruby could just barely see her eyes in the darkness, the same light green as her parasol.

Actually no, it wasn't just a parasol. There was an extra groove on the body, maybe a parasol-small sword?

The girl snapped to get Ruby's attention. She pointed at the closed sign, then to Ruby, and raised an eyebrow. Ruby shrugged in response and mouthed, 'I don't know.'

The girl scowled and tapped on the cuff of her fancy coat. In the same motion, she rolled her head toward the door that Ruby was standing next to.

Ruby shrugged and held up five fingers. Then thought about how long it had been so far. Maybe it would take more than five minutes for Tukson and Blake to come back. After a moment, she closed them, opened all ten, and shrugged again.

The girl rolled her eyes and waved to Ruby as she closed the door.

"Well that was weird." Ruby whispered to herself. Hopefully Tukson didn't just lose a customer.

The sound of a crate being torn open snapped her attention back to the other room.

"Is that all Dust?" Blake said with a gasp. "What are they doing?"

"I don't know what it's going to be used for, but there's enough to blast their way into any safe they wanted to."

"Where?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Tukson sighed. "Do you think there's any chance that this team of yours would be able to stop him?"

"I couldn't ask them to do that. It's too dangerous."

Ruby frowned. She just said that she would help Blake if Adam came back when he was less bad. Weiss and Yang would too, she was sure of it. Actually, if her guess was right, Weiss would be more than happy to.

"You're a Huntresses. At Beacon! He's just one man."

"I could barely keep up with Adam when I left. I'd only trust one of them to have my back against him."

"The one outside right now?"

In the moment between Tukson's question and Blake's answer, Ruby lifted herself up on her toes and held her breath.

"No, her sister."

Ruby dropped her heels to the floor. What did Yang have that she didn't? She was a good fighter too!

"She seemed like she could handle herself. Looks kind of familiar too."

"That's not what I'm most worried about. She's been on a crusade about not keeping secrets for weeks."

Ruby dug her nails into her palms.

"You think she'd say too much?"

"I think she'd accidentally say it after getting into a shouting match with my other-"

"I can hear you back there and I'm plenty good at keeping secrets, thank you very much!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs. Then gasped and covered her mouth. There was probably a better way to tell Blake that.

For one long moment she waited. Then one of them ran for the door.

Ruby stepped to the side just before Blake slammed it open. Her teammate glanced back and forth twice, not noticing Ruby on the first pass. When their eyes met, Ruby waved.

"You could hear us?" Blake's eyes were incredibly wide.

"Yeah, almost the entire time." Ruby rubbed the side of her neck and looked away from Blake. "I'm also, like ninety percent sure what group Adam leads now."

Blake glanced back into the room, then stepped away from the door. "Ruby, I wouldn't have been able to hear that from where you're standing."

"What're you-" Ruby stepped towards her. "Oh."

Tukson was really far away, all the way at the back of a room filled with boxes. He was eyeing her, his hand very close to one of the Atlas military's standard issue rifles. That was a much better weapon than she'd been expecting.

Blake nudged her further in and closed the door. Tukson barely blinked as they approached.

"Hi." Ruby smiled and waved. He didn't return it.

"Are you sure she's human?" He turned to Blake.

"I was." Blake crossed her arms and shook her head. "Now I'm wondering if she has bat somewhere in her ancestry."

"Nope." Ruby giggled slightly. "I mean, my uncle can turn into a crow, but I don't think I have any Faunus blood… Umm, no offense."


Blake raised an eyebrow. "Why would that be offensive?"

"I don't know, but… I just thought that it might sounds like I was saying that would be bad, which I obviously don't think, but..." Ruby looked from Blake to Tukson and back to Blake.

"So, good at keeping secrets?" Blake crossed her arms and gave Ruby a look.

"I won't tell anyone!"

Blake didn't flinch, because Ruby was telling the truth, but she still narrowed her eyes. "How can I trust that?"

"I haven't told Yang about-" Ruby closed her mouth so fast her teeth clicked. She pointed at Blake and squinted. "Good try."

Blake rolled her eyes. "This isn't anything like hiding your reading habits from your sister."

"That's not what I was talking about."

"Then what is it?"

"I'm not just going to tell you!"

"Ruby…" Blake sighed. "Give me something. I don't need to know details, but something that's as important to you as this is to me."

Ruby closed her eyes and thought about it. She kinda of knew something really important about Blake now. There were also some things she'd been keeping secret because she'd been asked to, not because they were especially dangerous. And she'd only been asked to keep them from Yang, her dad, and her Uncle Qrow.

"Okay." She nodded. "But you can't tell Yang any of this."

"That's fine."

"Not one word." Ruby looked at Tukson.

"I have no idea who you or Yang are." He said just before covering his ears.

Ruby took a deep breath. "What's Yang told you about our family?"

"Not much."

"Well, we're not actually sisters." Ruby said slowly. "We're half-sisters."

Blake raised an eyebrow.

"Yang's mother, kind of ran away without telling anyone why. And then our dad married my mom, who was our actual real mom growing up. Yang was really broken up when she found out what her mother did."

Blake nodded.

"So you see…" Ruby tapped her fingertips together. "When she found out that our moms were different, Yang got really obsessed about finding hers for a long time. She never managed to do it and then… This summer… I kinda ran into her mother."

Blake stared at her for several seconds before gesturing to continue.

"Nope, that's it." Ruby shook her head and waved her hands. No way was she telling Blake how that happened or what they talked about, because it would open up so many other questions. "You have no idea how angry Yang would be if she found out I didn't tell her about that."

"That works, I suppose" Blake groaned and turned away. Tukson waited a moment, then uncovered his ears.

"So... About the Beowolf in the corner…" Ruby lifted her hands up and tapped her fingers together again. She opened her mouth, closed it again, hissed slightly, and finally whispered, "You know… the White Fang?"

Blake and Tukson both nodded.

"Okay so I was right. You both were-" Ruby looked over to Tukson. "-or are, members and are also Faunus."

They both nodded again, more slowly this time.

"Okay, whew." Ruby wiped her forehead. "I was really worried that I was making all sorts of bad assumptions."

"You don't have a problem with that?" Blake asked slowly. "They were… incredibly violent."

"You're no longer with them, right?"

"I'm not."

"And you left because you didn't like how they were hurting people?"

"That's right."

"Have you hurt anyone since then?"

"No."

"Have you destroyed something for them?"

"Of course not."

"Then..." Ruby paused. It was bad that Blake had done that before, but she was trying to do good things and help people now. The more she thought about it, the more she knew that Blake wasn't bad. "Then I'm fine. It's your past and you feel bad about it so… yeah."

"Ruby, I- I helped kill people! " Blake threw her arms into the air. "How can you be okay with that?"

"Blake, as Huntresses, we're going to have to kill people." Ruby dropped her head and stared at the ground. "My mom did, my dad did, my Uncle Qrow still does. We're here to protect the world from monsters and… And some people are monsters."

"Ruby… That's…" Blake sank down, shoulders and knees sagging.

Ruby tried to hold her voice steady. "They're the people who destroy and kill for no reason. They spread panic, that draws the Grimm, and make everything around themselves worse. I'd try to capture them and convince them to change, but… You can't just hold someone in prison forever."

Ruby paused for a moment. When Blake didn't respond, she continued.

"If you keep people locked up like that, they'll draw the Grimm too. Also, a Semblance might let them get out or they could be impossible to contain for other reasons… Like with the Anathema." Ruby sighed and shook her head. "From everything you've said, Adam might be one of these monsters."

Blake winced and clenched her fists.

Ruby shied away from her slightly. "It sounded like he'd fight to the very end and take out as many people as he could along the way, whether they were innocent or not. That's not okay, not for anyone."

When the potential implications of that hit her, Ruby quickly added, "The human stealing all of the Dust in Vale is too. He's breaking all sorts of things and making it really dangerous. Though I'm not sure if he's killed anyone yet... What was his name again?"

"Roman Torchwick." Tukson answered as he backed up.

"Right, him." Ruby tried to meet Blake's eyes, but she looked away. "I wish it was different, that we could change everyone's mind and just have them become good, but…"

"But the world doesn't work that way." Tukson finished her sentence.

"Yeah."

They stood in silence for a while. Ruby clasped her hands in front of herself and watched Blake. Her entire body was tense, muscles fighting against each other. It seemed like she was caught between running or attacking.

"Ruby," Blake said slowly, "How do you know which people are monsters?"

"What?"

"You said that some people are monsters and need to be killed. How do you know who they are?"

Ruby blinked a couple of times. "Well… they're people who hurt other people-"

"Weiss hurt team CRDL, a lot. She physically attacked them and turned them into some of the most reviled people at Beacon. Does that make her a monster?"

"No! She was trying to help Velvet and stop them from hurting other people!"

"How about earlier then, when we came in? You got mad at me for drawing my weapon."

"That's because Tukson isn't a monster and he doesn't even have his Aura unlocked! Shooting him would kill him!" Ruby pointed at him, as if her hand was a gun.

Tukson ducked out of the way of her finger. "Actually, I do. It's just not very strong."

"Uhh…" Ruby looked at him for a moment before turning back to Blake. "Well, I didn't know that. So, I was worried."

Blake still hadn't looked at her eyes. "What about all of the humans who attack the Faunus for no good reason? Are they monsters who should be killed? If the Faunus strike first because they know the humans will hurt them, should they be killed as well?"

"Maybe? Some of them, probably? I don't-"

"Adam thinks that all humans are guilty of hurting us, so it's just to do whatever we want to them."

"No, you don't hurt anyone more than you need to. If it has to happen, if they have to die, then you do it as quickly and as painlessly as possible."

"That only makes you look better and feel better. It doesn't change the end result. People are still dead." Blake squeezed her eyes closed. "What rules do you go by to figure that out?"

"I… well... my parents knew and they listened to the older hunters… So our professors, but…" Ruby rubbed her forehead. "But they also do the investigations so we can't really…"

"Ruby." Blake's voice quivered. She stepped up and grabbed Ruby's arms. Their eyes met, Blake's were watery. "How do you know if you're doing the right thing or when someone crosses the line?"

Ruby blinked as she thought about it. These questions weren't just directed at her.

"I don't know."
 
Book 1 Chapter 4.5
Miracles of Ancient Wonder

~

Chapter 4.5

~~~​

Darkness. Darkness and falling.

She was weightless, in a lightless void of heat and fog, endlessly falling as pictures and sounds flashed by.

The moon appeared, high in the sky and whole. It spun, shattering into pieces that broke into more pieces and then turned to slivers of white light.

"Could you explain what do you mean by 'call a demon'?" A voice, cold and reserved.

"You are a sorceress, are you not?" The words came from her own voice, but wrong. "Summon a demon of knowledge, it would surely know far more of what has occurred than I."

"Why would I want to summon demons?" The first voice paused. "How could I do such a thing?"

"I do not know. Such tasks were assigned to sorcerers in my service, I never learned the art myself."

They were drowned out as slivers rained down upon her. The burning bodies and sharp points pierced into her skin. Her muscles ignited, smoldering with the fragments. But it was a slow burn, the type of burn that left her a bowl of human jelly, ready to be poured away.

"What do you mean you do not offer such service?" Her own voice cried out again, haughty and entitled.

The cold voice groaned as a piercing howl sounded.

The red eyes of a Beowolf bored into her soul. The monster's mask appeared from the fog. It bared its teeth.

Her skin burned. Her lungs did too. She tried to gasp, but her mouth could not open.

"What happened?"

"This girl's body does not respond to breathing via Essence. This will be much more disappointing than I thought."

The beast laughed at her as she flailed. She reached for it, grasping against its steely fur.

Her fingers bled as it pushed her away. Bright red streamed from her hands as she fell, deeper and deeper under.

The light dimmed, the Beowolf laughed. It's deep voice growing higher and higher. The blood twisted and turned. It formed into a dress and a sword.

The monster's face shifted, becoming more human. Blood red eyes and feathered hair stared down at her.

Mother! She tried to call, but the blood rushed into her lungs. She reached up, spreading her fingers wide. The crimson eyes blinked, turning away.

The face faded into the darkness, scattering as a flurry of petals swarmed her. They danced with the giggles of a young girl. Round and round they twirled, pressing into her as if they were a thousand fingers.

They soothed the burning, rubbing it away with countless tiny strokes and caresses. They moved around her, each of the small touches adding to something more. They flowed up and down, still missing some places, but this time pressing very tightly around her chest. They tightened and tightened, and then-

Yang opened her eyes and threw herself forward with a shout. Her chest heaved as she panted in the darkness, heart pounding hard enough that she could feel it in her throat.

Sweat soaked her skin and made the sheets so sticky that she needed to get them off. Yang threw an arm forward, but they were so tangled around her that the silk tumbled down to her waist. She glanced back and forth, but remained blind. To her left, she could hear a shower running, and to the right the sounds of distant cars.

She held her hands ready and waited. The darkness slowly receded as she got used to it. The soft light coming from below the curtains and the door frame let her made some sort of sense of the room. A hotel room, a very fancy hotel room which was full of big pieces of furniture.

Yang leaned onto a throne of pillows, her arms and back sinking deeply into the softness that molded itself to her form. It felt, less bad. Much less bad than she was worried about.

She rolled her neck back and forth, her muscles moved smoothly. Her body felt so nice, even though the pounding right behind her eyes was just as strong as it had been before.

But what had happened? She'd been in the alley, about to hit Weiss again, and now she was here, wherever here was. How had she gotten here? What were those voices she dreamed about?

For that matter, how had she gotten knocked out in the first place? Did Weiss do it? Was that why she was a threat? Did she have some sort of attack that could bypass Yang's Aura?

A shiver ran down her spine. That was a terrifying thought.

Yang reached to her side for her scroll. She only found the waistband of her underwear. Her fingers trailed up until they hit her bra. Goosebumps ran down her neck and she hissed her next breath through her teeth.

She focused her Aura into her hair and glanced around as the glow lit up the room. In one corner, her weapons gleaned alongside her scroll. Her jacket and skirt were there as well. It was all lying out in the open. This might not be as bad as it could have been, but someone had a lot of explaining to do.

The shower stopped. Yang ran her tongue over her lips very slowly.

The bathroom door opened slowly, sending a blinding ray of light into the room. Weiss stepped out of it in a big, fluffy robe with her hair wrapped in towels. She glanced at Yang with an utterly alien look. It was practically demure! "Is there a reason why you haven't dressed?"

"I don't know. You tell me." Yang threw the sheets off the bed and jumped to her feet. She flared her Semblance to warm up.

"Yang?" Weiss' tone shifted as she turned the lights on.

"Who else would I be?" Yang crossed her arms and glared at Weiss.

Weiss's cheeks grew bright red. She turned away and pointed at a pile in the corner. "Please, put something on."

Yang kept the glare for a couple of seconds. If it made Weiss more uncomfortable than Yang felt, then good.

Weiss glanced at her once, then twice, then met her glare. "This is ridiculous."

"What happened? How did you knock me out and why did you take my clothes off?"

Weiss stomped over to a chair, pulled a robe off of it, and threw it at Yang. It flew open and landed on her head.

After a moment of standing still, Weiss shouted. "Just put the robe on!"

Yang pulled it off of her face and slid her arms in. "Weiss. I just woke up, without any clothes, in the middle of some random room. What the hell happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" Weiss pulled her robe tighter and sat in one of the arm chairs, slowly sinking into it.

"Punching you in the face."

"The first time or the second?"

"I hit you twice?" Yang gaped at her.

"Do you recall coming into the alley?"

"Yeah. I held you against the wall and yelled a lot."

"And after that?"

"Nothing."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Nothing, nothing at all?"

"Okay, not really nothing. I had a really weird dream."

Weiss maintained her expression and gestured to one of the other chairs. It was overstuffed and wide, with cushions that seemed like they would be so nice.

After a moment of considering it, Yang plopped into the chair. "The dream… It started with the moon exploding, then being pierced by the shards, something about demons, then hands almost everywhere. And I was really annoyed about that only being almost, for some reason."

"That would likely be the masseuse."

"We went to a massage place?"

"Yes."

"And the drowning?"

"The bath."

"How?"

"A foolish experiment."

Yang growled. "Are you going to actually explain any of this?"

"After I know what you can recall."

She clenched her fists. She could hit Weiss again, punch that calculating, heartless look right off of her face.
Make her answer.
But, that wouldn't get Yang anywhere. Weiss had her over a barrel. "Fine. How about the next sets of hands?"

"Second masseuse."

"Even on my chest? They went really hard."

"No, that was probably the bra fitting."

"Why?"

"Because I needed some excuse to keep Ruby and Blake from coming back when we missed dinner. Also, for some reason a full corset was tried."

"You joking. You have to be messing with me."

Weiss gave her a perfectly level look.

"There's no way that I would forget that much..." Yang walked over to her scroll and checked the time. It had been hours. "What happened?"

Weiss looked past her, then met Yang's eyes. "Yang. Does the name Tialeth mean anything to you?"

Yang's blood ran cold. "What- what're you talking about?"

"Tialeth, of the Solar Exalted."

"How do you know that name?"

"Because I spent the past three hours making sure that she didn't accidentally reveal your secret."

"What?!" Yang shouted. "How?"

"I don't know. She thought that it was the result of some lazy gods not cleaning her Exaltation properly or the blight upon your soul. Then again, she also believed that Vale was sick and disgusting."

"Uhhh..."

"That is the proper name for the cause of someone being Anathema."

"I know what that word means! I just-" Yang glanced to the pile of clothes with Ember Celila on top. "Why do you sound so okay with this?"

Weiss groaned. "Seriously? If I wanted to do something to you, I could've done it while you were unconscious."

"But I'm-"

"Anathema. One of the ultimate enemies of mankind. A vile demon possessing the body of a young girl. A pox caused by our abuses of the land. An irredeemable monster who has sold their soul to the Grimm. An ancient Grimm in human form. A creature who has stolen the power of the Sun or the Moon. " Weiss held up a finger with each statement. "Am I missing anything?"

"A blasphemer who sacrifices people to demons in exchange for fell powers. A witch whose presence can drive a person mad. The child of someone who screwed a Grimm..." Yang continued the list of the Anathema legends from Port's class.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "That's beside the point."

"It's entirely the point. Some of them are obviously ridiculous, but… But…" Yang squeezed her eyes shut. "Why didn't you kill me?"

"Why would I?"

Yang blinked a couple of times. She opened her mouth, but couldn't figure out what to say.

"What have you done that would make me want to kill you?"

"I'm Anathema. Isn't that enough?"

"No, I don't think so." Weiss crossed her arms.

"What? You… But, I'm-"

Weiss shook her head. "How would you describe Tialeth's memories?"

"Horrible. She was a monster who did everything she could to increase her own power. She all but enslaved people, made them fight to the death, and forced them to obey her orders. No matter what."

"Yang, do you want to know what I saw when I spoke to her?"

Yang hesitantly nodded.

"I saw someone who was more moral and ethical than my father would have been in her place."

"What do you mean?"

"The Schnee Dust Company could be said to do many of the things that you just described. They keep the miners on almost subsistence wages; carefully calculate the safety procedures so that maximum profit is extracted, even considering worker replacement or PR issues as variables; and if he were able to control people's minds, I'm sure all of this would get worse."

"Didn't you argue directly against that with Blake?"

"Yes, but that doesn't make it a bad argument."

"It makes it a lie!"

"Not this again." Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just because I don't believe something, doesn't make it a invalid argument. The points that it made still stand. I would trust any of the members of team RWBY, and also the memory of the ancient Empress in your head, with the powers of the Anathema before I would trust my own father. Or many other members of my family for that matter."

"But the Anathema are evil! I'm evil." Yang thumped her fist to her chest. "Just by existing, I'm putting everyone at risk."

"And yet, you're still here."

Yang clenched her teeth.

"Haven't you had these abilities for what, a few months now?" Weiss asked, continuing without giving Yang a chance to respond, "What have you done with them that's so evil?"

"Nothing."

"Exactly. Despite all of the temptations you've suffered, you haven't done anything wrong."

"I've barely managed to control myself."

"Oh?"

"I always know, in the back of my mind, just how much I would do if I slipped even a little bit."

"What do you want to do then? "

"What?"

"Yang, you can't maintain this. You hit me, twice, and came closer to revealing yourself than I ever would have thought possible outside of a formal investigation. If Tialeth didn't take your body over, I'm not sure you would have stopped."

"That's not…" Yang clenched her fist so hard it hurt.

"Responses like that are what I'm talking about. You want to attack me again, fine, I've done more than enough to antagonize you." Weiss leaned back. "What I want to know is why? What do you want to do so badly that you put this much effort into fighting it?"

"Fine." Yang slammed her hand into the armrest. "You want it, here it is. I want to tear open the gates of heaven, punch every god I can find in the most sensitive bits they have, then put someone else in charge. Probably Ruby if I had any say in the matter, but even if it had to be me, there's no way I can make a worse mess."

"That's oddly specific, rather unexpected, and also not terribly practical to begin working towards."

"It's a long term plan." Yang snapped. "Right now it's more like, smash the system and break whoever's in charge… Including Ruby whenever she tries to make me tell her things that I can't or won't explain."

"But, you don't want to do that…"

"Of course I don't! Ruby's my sister and the entire world depends on Hunters. But, I've got this little voice in the back of my head constantly poking and pestering me to take the first step, like an evil conscience." She growled and clenched her fists. "Take control, use your power, do whatever you want to do. Grab her neck and force her to-"

"Do they actually work in offices?" Weiss asked very quickly.

Yang paused and stared at Weiss. What was she talking about? Where would office come into- The smell of smoke made her glance back. The chair had been scorched, probably by her hair.

"The gods you're talking about. Do they actually work in offices in some sort of heavenly bureaucracy?"

Yang nodded. Weiss completely broke her train of thought, but that was probably a good thing considering where it was going. "Yes? I don't try to think about the memories, but she's seen the gods' city and the buildings."

"I had assumed that was an embellishment of some sort." Weiss squeezed her lips together for a moment. "Moving on, this desire of yours is obviously causing you a large amount of stress and does not seem like it can practically be worked on. What else do you want to do that you haven't been acting on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Something, anything that you want to do which would make controlling yourself easier for you? A de-stressor that you haven't had the chance to partake in because it would be wrong to do so."

"Nothing good."

"We've already established that you're a terrible, man-eating demon who will destroy the world if let off her leash. What do you have to lose by telling me exactly what your evil conscience wants?"

Yang leaned forward and clasped her hands. There were some things that she could do which she was pretty sure would help. The only question was how to explain them without seeming completely insane.

"Well…" She started slowly. "The first thing that comes to mind is telling off all of the professors. Let them know just what I think about them and tell them where to shove their stupid assignments."

"Assignments? You're annoyed about having to do homework." Weiss drew the word out, squinting at her.

"Yeah, like all of those dumb essays that Oobleck gives us. They take hours to write and I'd rather be doing almost anything else."

"That may be possible to do, provided you aren't too rude."

"Nope, being rude is the point. They need to hurt and try to fight back."

Weiss gave her a withering glare. "We can cross that one off of the list then. Antagonizing the professors would be a terrible idea."

"Yep."

"Anything else?"

Yang licked her lips. Getting really drunk then going on a rampage through downtown Vale would feel really good. Fighting without any care about who she hurt or what damage she inflicted, really cutting loose and unleashing her full strength. "I could beat someone bad within an inch of their life, burn them a little, and then leave them alone to suffer in their miserable failure."

"I think that one's obviously out."

"Duh."

"Is there anything that isn't both stupid and evil?"

"Well, there is one thing… It wouldn't be as easy though."

"Go on."

"Someone I can compete with, really seriously."

"You have plenty of competition at Beacon."

"No, I don't. I goof off in fights because it's the only way to keep them interesting. People also love it. And because of that, I could be with anyone I wanted to... With a few exceptions. Each of whom is the only type of person who feels right for this."

Weiss gave her a look of disbelief.

"I need someone I can go all out against and they can take it. That leaves Blake, Pyrrha, a few of the professors, and now you." Yang checked again. Weiss was still a threat. "I don't know what you did, but you're suddenly much more dangerous than you were a week ago."

"How can you tell that?"

Yang shrugged. "I just can. I look at you and get a sense of it."

"The memories you have suit you." Weiss shook her head. "Tialeth was only slightly more helpful than you when explaining how she learned or accomplished anything with her abilities."

"Sorry?"

Weiss sighed. "Regardless, you want a rival, someone you can fight against."

"No, more than that. A true enemy, and maybe a best friend too. We'd have the type of battles that bands would sing about or that you hear about on the news. Constantly fighting and trying to beat the other to whatever the big prize is."

"A serious and powerful rival."

Yang growled and shook her head. This was so simple. Why didn't Weiss get it? "It's about constantly working to draw the other person in, no matter the field or what has to be done. Ruining their plans and taking what you want from them in the process."

She cleared her throat, then said in a deeper, announcer voice, "'Trio rampages through downtown Vale, embroiled in a masterful three-way debate, after the duos' date was interrupted by a romantic challenger. Eyewitnesses report an arousal of their faculties and an expansion of their minds.' Or 'spurned lover kidnaps her rival's sister and ties her to the top of the CCT demanding just one more night.'"

Another withering look hit Yang.

"I know what I said."

"You couldn't sate yourself through normal debate or intellectual competition? You really need to be so cartoonishly jealous?"

"Normal and intellectual aren't really my, or the voices', idea of fun. There's not... strong enough. I doesn't give me the fight feelings, the right burning desire." Yang slammed her fists together. "So that leaves competing with someone in an incredibly over the top manner as the best option because the other thoughts surrounding it all involve doing things to people that are really bad."

"It's certainly the least bad one that you've mentioned so far. Did you have to describe it like that though?"

"You're the one who asked."

"Fair enough. Are there any others."

"Yes, but they all involve seriously hurting or killing someone."

Weiss took a deep breath. "Very well. We have our answer then."

Yang glanced back and forth once. "You can't be serious."

"I said what I said."

"You'd actually do something like that? Go after someone I'm also interested in?"

"I'm working off of the assumption that you are both correct about what would help and being honest. I had already been thinking about what I wanted and who might be interesting." Weiss smirked.

"Why would you spend so much time thinking about it instead of just going for it?"

"There are important considerations to make before acting."

"Like what?"

"Whether or not they would be receptive. If it would cause too much stress on other parties."

"Why does what other people think matter?"

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Ruby."

Yang bit her lip. The thought of Weiss, tricky and manipulative Weiss, doing anything with her little sister made her blood boil. "That's a good point."

"You don't need anything else to worry about. At the rate you're going, you'll expose yourself within the month if we can't find a solution."

"I'm not that bad."

"You are, in fact, that bad. If anyone else had been with you tonight, I'm fairly certain you would be running for your life."

"Blake would've been fine."

"Blake practically wears her feelings on her sleeve and she would not have reacted well to some of the topics that were brought up."

"And you did?"

"I'm better at hiding my reactions and know how to interact with such people. I don't think any of you would have been able to play at being less experienced and deferential high-nobility."

"You're right, you are better at hiding that." Yang closed her eyes briefly and and tapped her fingers. "What do you get out of this?"

Weiss didn't respond.

"Why do you want to help me so badly? I'd get caught if you left me alone. Trying to help me paints a huge target on you."

"Because I care." Weiss sat up and leaned forward. "I care about you. I care about Blake. I care about Ruby. I care about how you being revealed would affect everyone else connected to you. And thanks to tonight, I care about all of the possibilities that the future may hold."

"The future?"

"Think about where you are now, how many people you can effortlessly defeat. Where could you be in a year or even ten?" Weiss eyes held a spark of danger that Yang had never seen in her before. "If Tialeth's information is right, and we can keep you and Blake from being found out, then we might be able to do what no one else has ever thought possible."

"Weiss…"

"We may be able to beat the Grimm." The a glimmer of madness danced in Weiss' eyes as a vicious grin spread on her face.

Yang nodded. "That's… that's crazy."

"Is it? Many Anathema report thinking that they'll be able to do it. Everyone discounts these thoughts for obvious reasons."

Yang gulped.

"What if they can remember what you can and know how far they can grow? What if they were right?"

If they were right, then they could never be stopped once they won.

"That's why we need to make sure that you and Blake don't have any other problems."

"What about you?"

"Me?"

"Don't you have to worry about being found out yourself? Or are you not also Anathema?"

"Yang." Weiss' voice was sickeningly sweet. "Doesn't anticipation make the prize that much more enticing? What sort of devious rival would I be if I just told you my plans and how I could accomplish them?"

Lightning ran down Yang's spine. This could be very fun.

~~~​

One informative conversation, awkward dinner, half-formed idea for how to save people, and book later; they finally made it to the White Panther. Ruby didn't know what she was really expecting a club Yang thought she would enjoy to be like, but this wasn't it.

The actual place was a subdued building with solid white walls and no windows. The only entrance was a stairwell down with a beefy guy leaning on the railing. He nodded to Yang and Weiss immediately. Considering they went with tank top and mini-skirt or tight dress and jacket combos respectively, they probably fit in perfectly. Blake's half unbuttoned shirt and leather pants also got a pass.

But, he was looking at Ruby, she'd gone with the rose dress, very suspiciously. Thankfully, she could feel the pressure build and only needed to lightly tap on it for the world to move.

He shrugged and let her past immediately afterward.

"Whew, I was a worried for a moment." Yang gave her a thumbs up and led the way in.

The inside was very different from the exterior. The club had a central dance floor with two tiers of floors above it. All of the couches and chairs were black leather or dark wood. The music was pretty good too. It had a nice bass beat that she could feel in the floor. Maybe it was a place she'd enjoy after all.

"We're pretty early so getting a table should be a piece of-"

"If it isn't the burning bimbo." A snooty girl in a very nice white dress, with bladed heels on her boots, interrupted them.

Yang clenched her fists and stepped towards her.

The girl, who had way too much makeup on for Ruby's tastes, sneered at them. "Are you here to destroy another bar?"

"Don't give her the satisfaction." Weiss whispered as she looped her arm into Yang's. She tried to walk away, but Yang refused to move.

"What do you want?" Yang asked through clenched teeth.

"You gone." The girl stood up and stepped towards them. "I like the White Panther and you're a danger to everyone around you."

Ruby pulsed her Semblance and dashed between them. "Stop being mean."

"Who are you?" The girl stepped to the side, but Ruby met her movement. "Get lost. This is between me and her."

"Ruby, stay out of this." Yang tried to push past her.

Weiss pulled Blake in as well, but even both combined were only able to stop Yang's advance, not pull her away.

"Yang, she isn't worth it. Ahh!" Blake shouted as Yang shook her off.

The girl and Yang were so close, glaring at each other over Ruby's shoulder. She could feel how hot both of their breaths were.

"What're you going to do?" The girl dragged her heel across the tiles.

"I'm going to get us a table." Yang stepped back and tossed Weiss off as well. She spun on one heel want walked away.

"What are you, scared?" The girl shouted and tried to push past Ruby again. "We're not done here!"

"Yes, we are." Yang glanced over her shoulder. "You, your sister, and Junior couldn't beat me three on one. How could you possibly stop me now?"

The girl grit her teeth loudly enough that Ruby could hear it. She stomped on the ground, crossed her arms, and stalked back to the bar. "Hmph, fine. Be that way."

A moment later, Ruby was right next to her sister. "Who was that?"

"Someone I fought because her boss was a jerk." Yang stomped up the stairs.

"Yang…"

"I'm fine, Ruby. She's just… Very annoying and really wanted me to hit her."

Ruby sighed. If Yang had fought that girl before, then she probably had a decent Aura. But why she'd want to get hit was a mystery. "If you say so."

They took over a small table in the corner of the top floor. It was mostly empty, with a couple of other groups who stayed far away from each other as well. Blake and Yang put their backs to the wall, with Ruby sitting opposite Yang.

"I assume that each of you has a number of questions about how the investigation are run." Weiss said just loud enough for each of them to hear.

All three nodded.

"Bear in mind that any of the information which I reveal about the procedures will make them that much harder on you in the future." Weiss paused, looking at each of them in turn. "Do you still wish to proceed?"

Another series of nods.

"Very well." She leaned back and look at Ruby.

"First question." Ruby held up a finger. "Why are you ok with what happened to you? It was terrible and isn't something any Hunter should ever do."

"Because it was within the scope of a stage two investigation." Weiss held up a hand when Ruby opened her mouth. "It calls for putting the target in what they believe to be a life or death scenario. This is normally done by having a Hunter, that they don't know, pose as a criminal attacking the target, but only inflicting superficial injury."

Ruby felt her heart rate rise with every word Weiss said. "Then why didn't they do that?"

"Because of what I know." Weiss lowered her eyes. "I knew that it called for a fake scenario and they knew that I knew. As such, I was placed a real crisis where my survival was in question."

"That's horrible." Ruby barely resisted shouting.

"It's one of the only ways to be sure." Weiss looked back up, meeting Ruby's eyes with ice. "If you were Anathema, do you think you'd be able to take an injury like that? Even knowing not only that it could kill you, but also that calling on whatever powers you possessed would save your life?"

"I…" Ruby cut herself off with a gulp. Yang and Blake were both staring at the table. "I don't know."

"Exactly, most people would instinctively react and try to save themselves. That's why the investigation works."

"That… That still shouldn't... There has to be a better way than torturing innocent people!"

"If you loosen the severity then Anathema can slip through."

"That…" Ruby wasn't sure what to say there. The Anathema were dangerous and needed to be stopped, but torturing or killing innocent people just because they were suspected was so wrong she could barely imagine that anyone would be willing to let it happen. "I can't accept that. There has to be a better way."

"It was more compassionate, and failure prone, in the past. But everything got tightened up after it failed completely."

"What happened?"

"Johnathan Argint, the name given to the most successful Anathema since the end of the Grey Period."

"Argint… I've heard that name before." Ruby whispered. "That was going to be another question I had actually."

"Where did you hear it?"

"I listened in on Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck talking. They said that they thought you could be… Whatever Argint Scenario meant."

"The Argint Scenario occurred shortly after the founding of Atlas, when the kingdom was still in flux. One of the silver Anathema passed all three investigation stages by using his powers to shapeshift himself and his servants into people who could sign off on his trials. After he passed, he pushed to make the investigations safer and less likely to harm someone."

"I had no idea they could do that, change other people as well as themselves." Blake said softly.

"Neither did anyone else, until it happened."

"How did he get caught?" Yang asked.

"One of his conspirators accidentally revealed information that the form they were wearing had no reason to know. He was investigated and cracked, telling all of his Master's secrets that he was aware of."

"That's why they're this bad?" Ruby squeezed her hands together.

"No, they were worse in the past. What do you think the Colorless Empire did to catch Anathema?"

The thought of that made Ruby shudder.

"That event is why they added more chaos to the investigations and started using the Grimm again. It's the only way to be sure." Weiss left a question unspoken. Another question that Ruby didn't have an answer for.

Which are worse: the Anathema or the Grimm?

They sat in silence, listening to the thumping of the music. Ruby turned the question around in her mind, again and again. Some theories said that the Anathema were Grimm. If that was the case, then they're both equally bad. But, what if one of the others was true? What if there were demons that wanted to destroy the world behind the Anathema? Or if they were people who were so bad that they'd have been monsters without their powers?

If they were, would leaving them to the Grimm not be bad? It could never be good, that much she was sure of. But it wasn't bad to let monsters hurt other monsters like that, was it?

The more she thought about it, the more firm her 'no' was. Even terrible, horrible people shouldn't be tortured. If the Grimm could feel pain, then they should be killed as quickly as possible as well. Though, that was something she didn't need to worry too much about. The Grimm continued to move and fight even if they had limbs cut off.

Yang slid her chair back. "I need a drink. Any of you want anything?"

Ruby shook her head.

"Water," Weiss said.

"Blake?" Yang prodded her partner.

"Something sweet."

"I've only got two hands, come help me." Yang pulled Blake to her feet before she could respond. Ruby caught her eyes and Yang dragged her away.

Ruby glanced over at Weiss and held the thumbs up under the table. Then she changed it to a thumbs down. Blake held her lips together tightly, then nodded.

As soon as they were gone, Ruby turned to Weiss.

"So, what would you say if I told you that Blake and I stumbled on something that we might be able to help a lot of people by stopping, but was really dangerous."

Weiss raised an eyebrow.

"You see, there's something about the guy who's been stealing all of the Dust in Vale and where we think he might be getting his..." Ruby paused, trying to find the right word to use. "Goons from…"
 
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Book 1 Chapter 4.6
Miracles of Ancient Wonder

~

Chapter 4.6

~~~​

Blake let Yang drag her all the way to the next landing down in the stairway before pulling her arm free. It was completely enclosed, a place where anyone inside would hear anything they said and anyone outside would get nothing. As soon as she pulled away, Yang stopped moving.

For moment they waited, listening for anyone one else present to make some sounds over the beat of the music. Blake watched Yang the entire time as well. Her partner was fidgeting more than normal, tapping one foot randomly while clenching and unclenching her hands.

"No one else can hear us." Blake couldn't hear anyone else present: no breaths, no heartbeats, and no soft static of microphones. "Why did you actually miss dinner?"

Yang took a breath, then looked right at Blake. "Weiss knows about me."

"I know that much."

"What? How?"

"She heavily implied it while she was answering Ruby's questions." Blake left off that Weiss had also asked for help changing Yang's opinion about the Anathema,. Ruby's as well. That wasn't something that she was sure she could help with, but she needed to try.

"Really? I thought that she was warning me and giving me advice for the next week."

"That's odd." Blake thought about exactly what Weiss had said again. She didn't think that there was that much more hidden in her words, but what if there had been.

"Those are sort of similar, but not really the same. If she can talk like that and get different points across… " Yang's eyes went wide. "She'll be able to beat me so easily."

Blake raised an eyebrow. There was something else to that statement which might matter. She focused her Aura and the whispers between Yang's words revealed themselves. 'Weiss could flirt with anyone, right in front of me, and I wouldn't be able to tell.'

Heat rushed to Blake's cheeks. She was going to leave that one untouched. "Does that mean that Weiss is also like us?"

"I don't know. Probably?" Yang shrugged. "She refused to tell me anything, but I can't think of anything else that could explain it."

"How could this happen?"

"You've got me. I was surprised that there was someone else like me. Two others… That's nuts."

Blake was pretty sure it was three, but she didn't want to start that argument up again. Though, that did bring up something else important. "Did you tell her about Ruby?"

"What about Ruby?"

"That she can hear Aura."

"Oh crap!" Yang moved for the stairs.

Blake caught her arm. "We can't exactly tell her right now."

"Argh, you're right." Yang slammed the bottom of her hand into the wall. "She can tell us whatever she wants, but we can't warn her that Ruby might be listening in."

"Is it really that much of a problem?"

"If she keeps doing whatever she's doing and Ruby figures it out… Maybe."

"Just maybe?"

"She didn't know what it meant the first time and hasn't called us on it yet, so… If we can figure out a good enough explanation, something that makes sense…" Yang ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it past her ear. "Maybe using our Auras to change our voices?"

Blake stared at her. "Do you really think that would work?'

"I don't know. I'm bad at this."

"This would be much easier with Weiss' help." Blake sighed, her main method of lying was to simply not say anything incriminating in the first place. She also knew next to nothing about what exactly she was supposed to be hiding. "Or, if you can find out more about what exactly Ruby can hear."

"That's…" She looked away.

"We need to know what to expect. What we can't do while she's around, and you're the only one she's told this to." Blake had been careful to not draw on any of her power while Ruby was nearby. It made everything so much harder to work on.

"Yeah… But... What happened with you and Ruby anyway?"

Blake took a breath as tempting as it might be, pushing Yang was a bad idea. Also, this was as good of a time as any to explain what she and Ruby had talked about over dinner. "Ruby knows about me and the White Fang…"

"How?"

"The owner of the bookstore she brought me to was a member and he recognized me."

"You said was." Yang pointed at her.

"He's still helping them, but wants to get out."

"Okay, makes sense… How did Ruby find out?"

"We went to the back room to talk and she listened in."

Yang hissed and flinched back. "Oof, that must not have been a fun talk."

"She was… surprisingly okay with everything." Blake shook her head. "And we figured something out in the process."

"Oh?"

"We think that Roman Torchwick-"

Yang tensed slightly.

"-and the White Fang are working together."

"Why? How?"

"The Fang have a lot of high quality Dust that they got from... humans." Blake tried to make sure she wasn't saying the word with any bad inflection. When Yang didn't react poorly, she continued. "He's been on a Dust stealing spree for weeks and could very easily have been the source."

"What're we going to do about it?" Yang punched her palm. It was a relief, but getting her on board was the easy part.

"I want find out the truth. If they're working with a person like him now, and stealing that much Dust, then they have to be planning something big."

"What do you think they're trying to do?"

"I don't know, but-" Blake cut herself off as the door one floor beneath them opened. Almost immediately after, someone got slammed into a wall and the sounds of aggressive kissing echoed up the stairwell with very deep moans. After several seconds of waiting, there were no signs of the couple stopping.

A zipper was unzipped. Blake angled her head towards the door, Yang nodded. They slipped out, leaving the boys alone.

"Drinks?" Yang pointed at the small bar in the corner.

Blake nodded, following behind. As they moved, she noticed that Yang was putting far too much hip into her stride.

Yang sauntered up to the bar and waited for the bartender to turn to her. He was young, sort of scruffy, and had a pistol on his lower back. With a nod and a smile, he said, "Ladies, what can I get you?"

"Strawberry sunrise, no ice. And…" Yang looked at Blake while the bartender started pulling bottles out.

Blake shrugged. "Something sweet-ish still."

"Black Panther Special for her and then… Virgin hot chocolate and a glass of water."

"You want to start a tab?" He'd started pouring the water first.

"Nah." Yang placed her card on the edge. "We'll just take these."

Blake watched him pour everything, keeping a close eye of his hands. He was careful, with just a little bit of flare, spinning a bottle in one hand as he put it away.

When he finished hers, he took a long look at her weapon. "You want this kicked?"

"Kicked?"

"We're good, thanks." Yang cut in with a wave of her hand.

"Suit yourself." He took her card to a machine on the side.

"Kicked?" Blame nudged Yang.

"Yeah, it's one of their club specials: dark rum, almond liqueur, coffee, cinnamon whiskey, and a touch of cream. If you get it kicked, they sprinkle a little Fire Dust on the top. Just enough to give it some zing as it goes down."

"That's… dangerous." Blake thought back to how much pain eating or injecting Dust caused some of the more reckless members of the White Fang. They thought it was the quickest way to make their Aura stronger or gain some new power. Technically they were right, but no one knew the techniques to really make use of it.

"Eh, not really." Yang shrugged. "They only offer it to people who probably have their Aura unlocked and there's barely any Dust. I probably inhale more during most fights."

Blake sighed and shook her head. There was enough danger in life already. Why add Dust poisoning to the mix?

She watch the dance floor while Yang waited. There were a few Faunus out there, more than she would've expected from a human nightclub. None of them had White Fang tattoos, but two still had the right edge to their movements. They danced further away from everyone else, keeping close to one of the exits. Of course, she couldn't get a good look at their arms or backs either. That could be a problem when she was leaving.

"Here you go." Yang passed her two glasses and headed for a different set of stairs than the one they came from.

Again Blake listened carefully. After confirming they were safe, she nodded.

"Ruby wants to do this too?"

"She thought it would be something good, which we could do, that the professors weren't helping with."

"Do you really think we need everyone for it?"

Blake raised an eyebrow.

"I think just the two of us could do it. You know, as partners." Yang grinned.

Blake blinked at her once. That statement didn't need any Aura use to find the not very hidden meaning.

"Come on it'll be fun." Yang smiled brightly. The air in the stairwell seemed to heat up. Blake's heart started pumping faster as the vision of them fighting back to back-

Blake forced the thoughts down, just like she had to during the investigation. Yang's enthusiasm was infectious enough that she was tempted, even though she knew it was a bad idea right now. "I appreciate the interest, but Ruby's telling Weiss right now. Do you think she'd be okay with us doing something this important without her?"

"We could just call it a-"

"Yang." Blake cut her off. "Can we please focus on the important problem facing Vale that we can help with?"

"I am focusing on it." Yang's smile broke.

Blake sighed and shook her head.

Yang sulked slightly. "Okay yeah. Fighting bad guys is good too… But… How're we going to do that when-"

~~~​

"-you're missing your weapon and I'm still injured." Weiss gestured between Ruby and herself.

"I know that, but we don't have to actually go and fight him tonight. We can wait for Crescent Rose to be fixed and for you to finish healing."

"And everyone to mentally recover from what just happened to us?"

"I'm fine. Blake's fine. Yang's… she's better… I also think going out and doing something real would help her." Ruby had caught Yang with a pained look on her face a couple of times this week when she didn't know that Ruby was looking. "Also, it doesn't seem like it really affected you at all."

"I knew exactly what I was getting into."

"You almost got eaten by Grimm!"

"And that was within the bounds of what I expected. I would have been disappointed in Beacon as an institution if they hadn't done something like that."

"It isn't what we, as Hunters, should ever do."

"Sometimes, there are only bad options and you need to find the least bad one."

"That was so far from least bad that I don't even know how to explain it."

Weiss took a deep breath. "Which are worse, the Anathema or the Grimm?"

"Both." Ruby answered immediately.

"Both isn't a valid answer!"

"Yes it is!"

Weiss gestured for her to continue.

"What options are worse changes depending on everything else. If the Anathema really do create or control the Grimm, then they're obviously worse. If they're people who made pacts with demons or the Grimm or something then… They're equal I guess? But that still doesn't mean that letting the Grimm eat people who might be Anathema is ok."

"What's so wrong with using one threat to fight another?"

Ruby slammed a hand on the table. "If you become a monster to kill a different monster, then you haven't solved anything. There's still a monster running around, only now other people think that it's ok to do whatever you did which will just make them worse."

Weiss looked at her for a few moments before responding. "The Grimm are the monsters in such a scenario, not the people using them."

"Using the Grimm to hurt people, on purpose, is one of the worst things someone can do." Ruby clenched her hand as the pressure build around them. How did Weiss not get this? She mentally repeated herself and tried to shove the world to one side, but it just sort of wiggled around her and all of her energy dissipated into the air.

She exhaled sharply. That happened around Weiss more than anyone else. It was like she tried to push in a direction that didn't really exist and got knocked off balance because of it.

"Ruby." Something flickered across Weiss' face, but Ruby couldn't figure out what it was. "I can't agree with that. There are far worse actions which someone could take than allowing the Grimm to torture someone."

"Like what?"

"Letting thousands of people die instead of admitting you were wrong."

"That's… not fair." Ruby stood up and glared at her.

"Life isn't fair."

"That's not what I meant! I-" Ruby forced her mouth closed. Weiss' argument wasn't a fair comparison at all. But, if she got madder, then Weiss would walk all over her, just like last time. It was a fight, a verbal fight, and she needed to think about it like that. How could she do this?

'How can I make this work? How can we come to an understanding?' She whispered to the strings of the world. They sang a song back to her, a vision of the ripples that she could cause: she could continue arguing, get angry, call the others in, back away, punch Weiss, and so many other options. What did she want, how could she get it?

She made her choice.

"I'm done." Ruby took a deep breath and sat back down.

"Done?"

"We're not going to agree on this, so I'm not going to keep fighting about it." She needed to find a better argument to get to Weiss. Blake seemed like she got it, sort of. Even if she didn't, she'd be able to figure out what to say.

"Very well." Weiss leaned back. "I still don't think that we should do anything that risky until we're prepared for it."

"All we need to do is look around town. We don't need to fight anyone or do something dangerous."

Weiss gave her a skeptical look.

"Okay, so we don't need to but… We're all really good Huntresses already."

"We're still students."

"We're…" Ruby caught Yang and Blake coming back with the corner of her eye. She waved. "Yang! Tell Weiss that we can handle fighting Roman Torchwick's goons."

"Huh? Of course we can." She set a mug of hot chocolate in front of Ruby and plopped into her own seat.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "We're still students. He's beaten many different adult Hunters by himself."

"That's not really a high bar. We could probably take most of the seniors and they're… well, most of them are better than a lot of actual Hunters. Like the guys who guard camps from Beowolves and Ursa."

"Thank you for ruining my plan to keep us safe, Yang." Weiss sipped her water with a look of indignation on her face.

"That's what I'm here for." Yang gave Weiss a thumbs up and sipped her orange-red drink... that smelled suspiciously like rum. Blake's glass did too.

"I thought you weren't going to drink!" Ruby yelled, pointing at the glass.

Yang shrugged. That argument never worked on anyone else in their family either.

Ruby groaned and looked at Blake, who at least had the decency to look embarrassed. "Blake, can you back me up too?"

Blake looked from Weiss, to Yang, then back to Ruby. "I'd like to at least look into this tonight."

"Fine, I'm outvoted." Weiss crossed her arms and sipped her water. Then she licked her lips and smiled very slightly. "What took you two so long?"

Blake started coughing mid sip. She slammed her glass on the table, almost spilling it while she she took quick breaths. "We didn't-" She took a quick breath. "We didn't take a long time."

Yang squinted at Weiss, who smirked back at her. Blake blushed more and held her eyes closed.

There was something else going on that Ruby had missed. She sipped her cocoa and watched them carefully. Yang had done… something.

"Yang." Ruby drew out her sister's name. Once she had Yang's attention, she eyed her, watching her face very carefully. "What exactly did you and Weiss do while we were at dinner?"

"Uh… I." Yang's pupils dilated and she froze on a worried half smile for a fraction of a second.

"I have pictures if you really want to see." Weiss waved her scroll in Ruby's direction. The smirk was still there and Ruby could practically hear the taunting follow up. "Do you really want to see your nearly naked sister posing?"

Ruby gulped and shook her head quickly. "Nope, nope. I'm good. I- uhh..."

"Are you sure?" Weiss hovered her finger over a button. "They do look very nice."

"Weiss." Yang raised her voice slightly.

"Or should I ask about what you and Blake were up to in the remaining hours?"

"We read books!"

"What kind of books? Were they the-"

Ruby waved her hands wildly. "No! I'm sorry. I don't care what you and my sister did or didn't do. I won't pry, just put your scroll down and… and… Torchwick!"

"Yes, him." Blake nodded quickly.

"We need to… Uhhh… figure out where he is and then catch him." Ruby resisted the urge to flinch under Weiss' glare. "Catch him at some other point, that is… like... tomorrow?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "How about, when Crescent Rose is fixed?"

"So, two days from now?"

"You can't fix that much damage by then"

"If I go all night, and get lucky with my first cuts, then she should be good by that afternoon."

"You'd also be too tired to fight. I'd rather find a temporary weapon and stop his next crime." Blake said, her drink half finished. Her cheeks were still bright red.

"Girls, we'll be fine. We can handle it, even if it's the three of us-" Yang nodded towards Weiss and Blake. "-plus half-asleep Ruby with a rifle."

"I can make a good enough scythe in a couple of hours." Ruby said under her breath. She'd broken a good number of scythes when she first started training with Uncle Qrow, so she had that down pat.

"That doesn't change the fact that we have no idea where he is or how to find him. For all we know, he could be here right now." Weiss gestured towards the back of the club.

"Don't worry about that. I've got this." Yang finished her drink with a grin.

"What are you going to do?" Weiss said deadpan.

"Figure out who might know him and then talk to them."

"Yang." Ruby sighed. "Are you going to burn down another bar?"

"Hey, I've only lit two buildings on fire and neither burned down!"

"Two?" Blake and Weiss asked simultaneously.

"One of them was an accident." Yang turned away from them. "I'd just graduated from Signal and Uncle Qrow wanted me to lite some shots on fire to celebrate. I got them… along with the bottle of whiskey... and a few others too. Which blew up... and got the tablecloth and the curtains."

"I can see where this is going." Blake shook her head.

"It wasn't too bad." Yang laughed. "We helped evacuate the room, then dad blasted it with Air Dust until the fire went out."

"I was washing ashes out of my cape for weeks." Ruby shuddered.

Weiss groaned. "What was the other one?"

"Oh, that was Melanie's boss's club." Yang paused for a moment. All three of them were staring at her. "Melanie… The girl in white who wanted to pick a fight with me."

They nodded slowly.

"Anyway, I wanted to get some information from him, but he was kind of a jerk so I wound up fighting him instead. Well, first his guys, then Melanie and her sister, then him. Everything was going great until he yanked my hair."

Ruby winced. That would do it. If he seriously damaged Yang's hair, then it was a surprise that his bar was still standing.

"How do you know that won't happen here?" Weiss pointed at Yang. "Your hair is a rather impressive target."

"Simple. I've been watching the crowd and I'm pretty sure Melanie's the best fighter here besides us."

"How would you be able to find someone who knows Torchwick?" Blake asked, glancing from Yang to Ruby.

"I've got a feeling about it."

Blake rolled her eyes. "You just want an excuse to show off for us, don't you?"

Yang laughed and grinned at her.

Ruby groaned. Mission accomplished, sort of. What was the worst that could happen?

Actually… She took a moment and thought about what could go wrong. The nagging feeling in the back of her head that danger was lurking around the corner was missing, so there wasn't anything really risky that would happen to Yang. Yang also liked the idea and neither Weiss nor Blake was complaining about letting her work her magic nearly as much as Ruby would've expected them to.

Ruby placed her empty mug on the table. "Let's do it."
 
Book 1 Chapter 4.7
Miracles of Ancient Wonder

~

Chapter 4.7

~~~​

Yang swaggered onto the dance floor, matching each step to the pounding of the bass. As she hit the edge of the crowd, she moved in, bumping and grinding against whoever was nearby as she made her way through the shallow sea of bodies. The floor wasn't pressed shoulder to shoulder quite yet. Slide in, shimmy near whoever was surrounding her, then side to the next group.

The heat of bare skin pressed against her own, the feeling of their breath on her neck, and the way she shifted their hips with her hands. Some people just had no rhythm, but as long as they let her lead, that wasn't a problem. It was what she really needed. There was no web of lies, no need to worry about what Weiss was planning, and no way that what she was doing was bad. It would be so easy to just get lost in the dance. To let let her joy radiate out until the entire crowd joined in, then it would get harder and faster, knees and elbows would start flying to the beat of the music and-

Yang pushed the thought down. She could do it, she knew she could, but there were too many people without Aura here. It would be a blast for her, and for some of them too, but it would be a little obvious and very dangerous. Also, she had a job to do: pick a fight with the older girl who knew where Roman Torchwick was. Her gut told her that the solution to their problems rested in that girl. Just like how it told her that the best way to find Blake right before the investigation was a drinking contest with two upperclassmen. She might not have been able to trust her instincts about many things, but this was one of them.

Her eyes were drawn to her target from across the room, a bear Faunus who spent most of her time hiding in the corner with a boy who seemed just as prickly. He was also a Faunus, the curly horns gave it away, but Yang wasn't sure what type. Sheep maybe?

At the normal party, she would've tried to drag them out into the fun. Both kept glancing at the crowd with an intense, longing look. They had the eyes of people who wanted to join in, but were too proud to do it. It was kind of like Weiss in some ways, definitely not the shyness that Blake or her sister radiated.

As she approached, Yang gave them a quick once over. They both definitely had their Auras unlocked, but they were very weak. It was better than nothing. The girl also kept glancing at the guy, in very particular locations. Meanwhile, he was looking everywhere else, especially towards the other girls dancing nearby. Yang took a deep breath, getting her annoyed should be easy, all she needed to do was press the right buttons.

"Hey there." She stepped behind the boy and slapped him on the ass. Yang let her hand linger.

"Whoa… Can I help you?" He straightened up and glanced over his shoulder, shying away from the contact after a moment. His eyes flickered from Yang to the other girl.

"I'm pretty sure you can." Yang stepped up and pressed into him again, leaning her chin on his shoulder.

"He's not interested." The girl snapped, her ears flattening as she yanked at his sleeve.

"Come on," Yang whispered in his ear, completely ignoring the girl, her voice low and sultry, "You know what they say about boys with big horns."

"I-uhh…" The boy stammered, his cheeks growing redder as Yang shifted her body up a little. He met the motion, leaning in.

"Ferrer," The girl growled. He straightened up.

"Oh. Sorry, didn't see you there." Yang looked at the girl, then waved her hand to the side. She was only a couple of inches shorter than the boy, so there was no chance of someone missing her when they were this close. "Do you mind giving us some space?"

"Hey, look I- Ahh." Ferrer started talking, but Yang made him yelp with a pinch to the butt.

"I said he's not interested."

"He seems pretty okay with this to me."

"I'm good Cyan. You don't need to-" He chuckled nervously and held his arms up.

"You're not supposed to be doing anything with the-" She cut herself off and clenched her fists so hard her knuckles went white.

"With what?" Yang squinted at her.

"With you." Cyan got up on her toes to meet Yang's eyes.

"I don't think so. I'm pretty great, but I'm not a 'the'. What did you mean by that?"

She growled again.

"If you don't have a good reason, why're you mad? He's a big boy." Yang shifted to the side and slid her arm around his waist. "He can do what he wants."

"Look, Cyan, I-" He whimpered.

"Shut up, Ferrer."

"Or what?" Yang leaned closer to her. "What's her problem? She's not your girlfriend is she?"

"No, we're just a friends." He leaned into Yang, then turned to Cyan. "You've been acting like this all night. What's wrong?"

"You wouldn't understand." She crossed her arms.

"What? That you're jealous?" Yang shook her head, expecting a punch that never came. Which was a little strange because she'd have hit someone doing what she'd done by now. Maybe she'd been wrong about why Cyan was reacting that way.

"Or is it." Yang dropped down to barely more than a whisper. "Because I'm human."

Cyan flinched. Still no actual attack.

Yang felt the excitement bubbling up again. She could just let it go, force the fight here and now. Again, she pushed the urge back down. It wasn't necessary and these two were normal people, not Huntresses or Anathema. Just sucker punching Cyan didn't feel right either, she needed to push more. "What are you? A member of the White Fang?"

"Woah." Ferrer pushed Yang off of him. "What the hell? We're not with them. We hate those psychos too."

He glared at Yang, pausing for a moment. "Right, Cyan?"

Ferrer turned and caught her face caught between anger and terror.

"Cyan… You- You're not... " Ferrer shuddered, voice almost cracking. "Please, tell me you didn't."

"They were the only ones who tried to help us." She said so softly that Yang could barely hear her.

"They broke Blaise's leg when he told them they had to pay him."

"They're fighting to save all of us!"

"They're… They don't… I can't…" With every word he said, she shuddered. "Is that where you learned how to…" He stared at his hands. The light glow of a very weak Aura pulsed around them, then he clenched them tightly. "I… I'm out. I can't deal with this right now." He pushed past Yang.

She didn't dodge the punch. Cyan caught her on the cheekbone, but her Aura took the entire blow.

"You… you." Cyan continued throwing punches that Yang didn't dodge. They were lighter than the first. She shouted between each hit, voice growing more hoarse by the second. "Why?"

Maybe forcing the fight would've been a better idea after all. It would've saved both of them the pain of a stranger revealing it.

She let the hits keep coming for a little while, then grabbed Cyan's wrist. "That's enough."

"You ruined everything." She pulled her other arm back.

"No, I didn't." Yang spun Cyan around mid swing, making her hit air. "You did."

Yang stepped in, flipping the girl over her leg. "I just made him know about it."

With a quick lift of her knee, Yang flung the girl up. A follow up elbow shot her over the crowd, with an extra wave of force from Yang's Aura. A scroll fell freely from her pockets. Yang snatched it as it tumbled through the air. The scroll was what she was looking for; she could feel it in her soul.

"You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" Melanie yelled so she could be heard over the fading music.

Yang had launched Cyan towards the other girl. While she had dodged the flying Faunus, the men with her hadn't. They looked familiar, probably more of Junior's men that needed a new job while his club was being fixed.

"Guess not." Yang tucked Cyan's scroll into her bra, on the opposite side as her own, silently cursing her lack of pockets.

She raised her fists in a ready stance as she sunk into her knees, but didn't deploy Ember Celica. Even without her weapon, it would probably be too easy. Though, the guys bowled over by Cyan gave her an idea.

How many of them could she knockout by hitting their teammates into them?

~~~​

"Somehow, I'm not surprised." Weiss sighed. The dance floor had become a brawling pit thanks to Yang's influence. Bodies flew left and right, colliding with each other more often than not, while the blond slide past any attack that came her way and moved right into another powerful hit.

It had started 'innocently' enough. While none of the dancing could truly have been called innocent, it was interesting enough to watch. If only her other teammates were down there as well. And that the fighting had not begun. And that this was a proper ballroom. Actually, there were a large number of changes which could be made to make current events suit Weiss' taste far better.

"Woo, go Yang!" Ruby cheered, leaning so far over the edge of the railing that a single push would send her tumbling down.

"I'm still not clear on what this accomplishes besides mass-property damage." Weiss shook her head as the girl in white was sent flying through another groups, bowling over two men and ending sprawled on a third. As the enemy with seemingly the most Aura, she had been Yang's primary projectile. The fact that she charged head first into another attack immediately after standing up didn't help matters.

"It seems like she's having fun." Blake shrugged and joined Ruby's leaning, though she kept herself within the railing. "And there isn't that much that's been destroyed."

The crash of a shattered mirror drew their eyes to the side of the room, where normal people were cheering from behind overturned tables. Thankfully, the owner had enough foresight to buy shatter resistant ones that didn't result in large shards of glass raining down on unprotected bodies.

Blake winced as the man fell onto a couch. He didn't get up. "Well, there hadn't been. Did the club expect that this-" She waved at the crowd. "-would happen?"

"Lots of places where a bunch of Hunters go do that." Ruby pointed at the lighting rig above the stage. "The beams and joints over there are reinforced. Even if they had twice as many lights up, it'd probably be able to hold three or four people without any problems."

Weiss gave her a look of exasperation. Ruby wasn't giggling and that sounded too ridiculous to be a joke. Though, if she ran with the assumption that Yang knew this club had those protections in place, then coming here and starting a fight was suddenly much less reckless.

"Do fights like these really happen that often?" Blake asked the question that Weiss refused to.

"I mean. Our Uncle Qrow either got into a fight, or had a story about one, at pretty much every bar he took us to. A big crowd always showed up to watch because him and my dad were really well known for having good ones."

"That's so different it's hard to comprehend." Weiss shook her head. "A Specialist who did something like that would be in an incredible amount of trouble. They serve the people. Damaging someone's property is as close to the opposite as you can get."

"Why didn't you go to school in Atlas then?"

"I have no intention of serving anyone and the military academy requires a minimum six years after graduation. Elite Specialists are expected to continue long past that."

"Mom and Uncle Qrow sort of felt that way too. They pushed any paperwork onto dad whenever it came up, but mom still- Oh!" Ruby snapped her head back down and jumped up on the railing.

A gunshot sounded at the same time that Ruby vanished into a cloud of rose petals. She wasn't quick enough to stop the first shot, but that didn't matter. Yang casually backhanded the Fire Dust pellets into the floor. It seemed almost accidental, she didn't even bother looking at them.

Ruby, on the other hand, had tackled the man with the shotgun and was trying to wrestle it out of his hands.

"They're more similar than I would have ever expected." Weiss said as she pushed her Aura into her words. 'Ruby has to be Anathema as well.'

Blake perked up and looked at Weiss for a moment. She tensed her mouth before saying, "Yes."

Weiss nodded her head towards Ruby. Their leader, having failed to get the gun out of her opponent's hands, had jumped behind the bar and grabbed a deck broom. Her flourish almost perfectly matched the rhythm of the music.

"It was difficult for me to realize because Ruby seems much more perceptive than her sister. However, they are distressingly similar in temperament as well." Weiss hoped that Blake would be able to pick up on what she really meant. Keeping track of all of the fighting, along with the crowds' reactions and plotting her next movements at Beacon, was very taxing on her Aura and put her uncomfortably close to her limit.

Blake nodded very slowly. "I'm not sure I would consider that a bad thing. They both have a very strong sense of right and wrong. I'm sure they'd be… safe and responsible. Though it does… uhhh… make them hard to talk to about certain things."

"Life isn't black and white, no matter what they might think. Even tools which may seem despicable have their uses." Weiss kept a close eye on Ruby as she disarmed the man with an impeccably placed strike to his hands. She followed up by sweeping his knees out from under him. "Thoughts of justice can easily turn to a zealotry that damages not only the person, but also those around them."

Yang shifted tactics as her foes dwindled. She let them surround her and started slapping her enemies' attacks out of the way. In the same motion, she danced between them and turned them towards each other. Most of them had the self-control to not hit their own teammate, but it only took one overly aggressive person to become a problem. And a problem he was.

Blake took enough time to think that two men had been knocked down by friendly fire before she responded. "Complacency and amorality can cause just as much damage by ignoring or denying problems. Just because we aren't dealing entirely with black and white doesn't mean there aren't actions which are so dark or light they may as well be."

"Not all problems can be resolved quickly. A complex solution requires a great deal of consideration and incremental change."

"Sometimes, you can't afford to wait. There are people who are both impatient and hurt by the status quo." She nodded at their teammates. "Someone else will take matters into their own hands if the steps are too small."

"That doesn't make them correct. Haphazard overreactions will just create more issues in the void remaining, assuming they succeed in the first place." Weiss sighed. Of course Blake would bring the White Fang up as well.

"If someone's pain can't be… soothed, then they'll do anything that has a chance of helping." Blake's hands shook as she held the railing. "Even if it hurts everyone else in the process."

"It's human nature." Weiss glanced knowingly at Blake. "Something that more people should fight to control."

Blake frowned and started to open her mouth.

"Has Yang told you how I found out about her proclivities?" Weiss pivoted the topic away from the argument that never ended before Blake could continue it. Considering Ruby's very transparent lie about them overhearing White Fang members talking about working with Torchwick, Weiss had to assume that bringing them up more directly to Blake would not end well at the moment.

Blake raised an eyebrow, the faintest blush hitting her cheeks. Weiss smiled softly

Weiss leaned over, letting her hair dangle on Blake's shoulder. "Her friend, Tialeth, took revealing them into her own hands."

"Who?"

"The girl from far away." Weiss had recovered enough to push another hidden statement. 'The Anathema from her dreams who she sees the life of.'

Blake's eyes went wide. "Oh… Her."

"I met up with her while Yang was resting."

"That… I didn't know that was possible."

Weiss quickly winced while Blake was looking at her. It wasn't likely that anyone was listening to them, but it was still a worry.

Blake lowered her head slightly and flashed an apologetic smile. "Did she tell you anything else?"

"I wouldn't quite describe the conversation as illuminating, but it was close."

Blake winced and glanced at Yang. Most of her enemies had either fallen unconscious or were pretending to. Ruby jumped down to join her sister, the shotgun in hand.

Blake licked her lips. "How did Yang react when you told her about it?"

"Worse than I'd ever expected." Weiss had just enough to push another explanation in. 'She was shocked that I hadn't killed her and ranting about how inherently evil she was.'

"Oh…"

"And I have to imagine that Ruby would react the same way if she knew what we'd been up to."

Blake nodded again.

"We need to convince them there isn't anything wrong with it."

"I'm still not convinced they're incorrect."

Weiss tried to meet Blake's eyes, but she looked away. "Why?"

"The world is full of lies, running away, and potential targets. There are so many people who have already fallen through the cracks and come back worse. How can we be sure that our justice won't be... corrupted as well?"

"Society can be strengthened, the cracks can be mended, and we have an advantage that others did not. We have each other." Weiss laid a hand on Blake's arm and lightly squeezed.

Blake gave her a suspicious glance her, but didn't pull away.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "I didn't just mean it only that way and you know that."

Blake shook her head and smiled, then gestured to the dance floor again. The tiles had been cracked, along with countless mirrors. "What if all we can do is destroy? Tear down what exists without putting anything good in its place."

Weiss pointed at the happy crowd gathering around Yang. The fight had been very impressive and it seemed that Ruby's thoughts on destructive fights were accurate. "I don't think that's the case, but if it is, then we find the right targets and let the chips fall where they may."

"I don't think we'll agree on what those targets are."

"Why not? It's possible for a system and those who want to end it to both deserve destruction." Weiss looked over their teammates again. 'This is something we need to do together, in agreement, with Ruby and Yang's reactions signalling when we're wrong.'

Blake held her gaze, then slightly nodded.

~~~​

"That was amazing!" Ruby cheered as the burly bouncer escorted them out. "I had no idea you'd gotten that much more control over your Semblance."

"Heh, yeah." Yang ran her fingers through her hair and turned away.

"While it was impressive, was there any purpose to it beyond your own enjoyment?" Weiss was waiting for them at the entrance with her arms crossed.

"Yep." Yang pulled a scroll out of her shirt and held it out to Weiss.

"Urgh." Weiss recoiled. "It's covered in sweat."

"Why do you have a second scroll?" Blake asked.

Yang leaned in close and whispered, "The first girl I fought was a member of the White Fang. If they're really dealing with Torchwick, then we should be able to find that in her scroll."

"How exactly would that help?" Ruby picked the scroll up and slide it open. A password screen greeted her. "Even if she is a member, and we manage to figure out her password, why would she have saved anything like that? Wouldn't it have been better to follow her back to her base?"

"The White Fang operates in cells to stop people from tracking them like that and you need to be back at Beacon tomorrow." Weiss looked over Ruby's shoulder. "Even assuming we follow her unnoticed, it could be weeks before she goes to another meeting."

Ruby giggled slightly and held the scroll out for Weiss, but she didn't take it. Instead she pointed at a drop of sweat about to fall from the edge. Ruby awkwardly giggled as Blake took the scroll and wiped it off on her shirt. She tried a few passwords, none worked.

Blake sighed. "Most people don't cover their tracks well. If she hasn't deleted her recent location searches, then we have some very easy places to look for. If we're lucky, we could find him tomorrow."

"That makes sense… Hmm..." Ruby nodded and watched Blake carefully. She had a meeting tomorrow, but none of the rest of her team did. They could go out there and find him now, then he'd be stopped that much sooner and no one else would be hurt. But, waiting would let her get Crescent Rose fixed and make sure Weiss was all better, so they'd be sure to get him. Assuming they could find the information.

If they waited, they could also get more help. Team JNRP would probably be able to help track him down and box in anyone trying to get away. For that matter, if they didn't catch him themselves, she could tell the Professors about where he was. They couldn't ignore an opportunity to do good like that… But if they did….

'How should we catch him?' Ruby plucked the strings and visions exploded around her. There were so many different ways they could move, but one thing stuck out to her. Anything less than all of them would have problems.

"I have a plan." Ruby stopped and gestured for everyone to move in. "Our best chance of making sure we get him is with as many fighters as we can find a week or so from today."

Weiss nodded, but Blake and Yang both made confused faces.

"He's escaped from lots of Hunters already and we'll be going after one of his bases. He'll have getaways covered." Ruby gestured slowly as she spoke. "We can beat most of them in a fight, but we can't be everywhere at once. If we have team JNPR with us, then they can help corral him."

"That would be very dangerous for them." Weiss glanced at Yang. "And Jaune would actively be a hindrance no matter what we do."

"We're Huntresses, or we're going to be soon enough, danger's in the job description." Ruby shook her head, then paused to think. Weiss did have a point about Jaune. "And Jaune can handle communications or be a spotter. Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren would join us on the assault, each coming from a different side of wherever we find him. Between all of us, there's no way he'd escape."

"I don't know." Blake said slowly. "I doubt they'd go along with this unless we tell them more."

"Weiss?" Ruby looked to her partner with her eyes wide. "You're best at arguing those things."

"If we telling more people, then we should simply tell the Professors about his location and leave it to them. They're the professionals." Weiss shook her head.

"They've been ignoring him this entire time. If we, a brand new team, got this far in a few hours, how have they not caught him yet?" Ruby almost shouted, but barely managed to keep herself under control. Yang flinched back. Blake did too, but not as much.

"Sis, if that's true…" Yang hesitated by biting her lip. "Then we should just do it ourselves. We don't need to bring other people into it."

"We need other people and we're not that much better than they are." Ruby didn't add that the world told her they'd have a much better chance of succeeding with help because that would just sound crazy.

"We're rea-" Yang cut herself off by slamming her mouth shut. The pressure built.

'We need help.' Ruby pushed against the world and it moved. She needed someone on her side if they were going to do this. Also, she could explain her real reason to Yang when they got back to Beacon. And then… maybe tell Blake and Weiss. She'd get Yang's thoughts on that first though.

Yang squinted her eyes, as if she was in pain, but nodded. Blake glanced from her, to Ruby, and tensed up slightly.

"If we're going to do this we need to hit him as hard as we can, when he isn't expecting it, and have people further out to catch him when he runs. There are probably some other things which can work too, but I think this is our best options."

"Yeah." Yang said without much enthusiasm.

"Let's sleep on it. We can't do anything until after returning to Beacon." Weiss stepped back and waited for the others to as well.

Ruby met Blake and Yang's eyes in turn, then nodded. "Okay, so… where are we going? The last shuttle was a while ago."

Weiss sighed. "My family has an apartment we can use."

"Why didn't we go there to talk in the first place?"

"Because I'd hoped to not have to worry about the tabloids finding me taking three people to a private apartment and Yang's idea sounded interesting."

"And you're okay with us going now?" Blake raised an eyebrow.

"I already brought Yang there, bringing her back with you two won't be that much worse."

"What did you do?" Blake asked as she looked between them.

Weiss pulled her scroll out. "I still have pictures if you really want to know."

Blake blushed and shook her head.

"You'd better send me copies." Yang muttered under her breath.

"I don't want to know anymore." Ruby groaned. She was very tempted to call Weiss' bluff; however, the danger of it not being a lie was too real. Some day she would, but today was not that day.
 
Book 1 Chapter 4.i
Miracles of Ancient Wonder

~

Chapter 4.i

~~~​

Question 3: Which of the following is a weak point on a standard Beowolf?

She rolled her eyes and tapped the 'All of the above' option on her scroll: eyes, mouth, and… elbow. Elbow sounded good enough. It wasn't like she needed to actually do well on the assignment, just good enough to not get kicked out before the Vytal Festival. Though that was still months away. Months of boring, tedious, and pointless assignments between bursts of joy as the students of Haven fell beneath her heel.

It was the little things that kept her going and taking those brats down a peg was one of the best she could remember. They thought they were going to be so special just because they knew some ancient martial arts style that had been passed down for generations. Maybe if they'd learn how to fight real people, instead of Grimm or tournament fights, those skills would have been worth something.

Question 4: What is the proper name for this species of advanced Grimm?

She shook her head at the image of a big four-legged beast. It wasn't something they ever saw in Vale, so this question would require actually reading up on things. She rolled her head back and forth while moving the scrollbar up and down. It wouldn't be hard to find the information, but that would be so boring.

A crash sounded from the room next door, followed by several more crashes as things tumbled down. And then the shouting started.

The night might be fun after all.

Neopolitan, Neo to exactly one person, swung her legs off of the bed and stepped over to the door, careful to make as little noise as possible. She cracked it just far enough open to peek through.

"-worthless animals!" Roman shouted, brandishing his cane in the general direction of the White Fang members milling around the warehouse floor. A couple of them flinched away as the end pointed at them. They were either the smart ones or the few who'd seen him fight. She couldn't remember the last time his bright white coat had a speck of dirt on it.

"Do you have any idea what would have happened if that-" He pointed to a bright red container, "-had gone off?"

A couple of them looked around and shrugged.

"The red containers hold the high quality, very volatile Dust. You're all lucky that butter fingers the baboon over here is so short, otherwise you'd all be dead."

The monkey Faunus that he pointed to, she could tell because of his tail, waved his fist at Roman. The idiot.

"I dropped it because you yelled at me!" he shouted. Several of the other Faunus drew in next to him, nodding their heads. The smarter ones made themselves scarce.

"That wasn't yelling," Roman said softly before suddenly raising his voice. "This is yelling! Before you bungled your simple job up so badly, you were about to load one of the red cases onto the green pile."

The Faunus glanced from the case, to the pile, and back. "They look the same to me."

"And you're supposed to have better eyes than I do." Roman shook his head and turned away. "Go sweep the floor and stay away from any Dust. The rest of you get back to work."

He stalked back to the side of the room with his giant map, where two more White Fang members were waiting for him. The pair had their leader tattoos exposed.

"Now that the little problem has been resolved, let's continue. We've gone through almost all of the easy targets, which leaves us with the hard and profitable, the remote and worthless, and the utterly insane." He pointed to a section of the upper-class district and then the agricultural district and ended on the rail depot that brought Dust in from the mines. Ever since the White Fang robbed one of the transport trains, the SDC had doubled their security forces. "The stuffed shirts have a lot of Dust and all of it's high quality. But, they also hire Hunters as guards. This means that I'm going to have to babysit every operation. So, we have to make each job count."

Roman paced over to a second map, which was zoomed in on the second richest shopping district. "We're going past the bottom of the barrel. They know the rest of the city's hurting for Dust and will be expecting us to hit them. The first thing that you two are going to do is-"

The squeak of an eraser rubbing across paper made Roman go silent as he turned around to face them. The two Faunus were writing his plan down dutifully, one on a scroll and the other in a notebook. It took a few seconds of silence before either looked up. Both took a half step back when they saw his scowl.

"What are you doing?" He walked in front of the girl with the notebook.

"Writing down your instructions," she said between clenched teeth.

"Where's your scroll? We gave you a good one for a reason."

"I lost it."

"You lost it." Roman said deadpan. "How?"

"Some Huntress knocked me across the White Panther. I couldn't find it afterwards."

"And why were you fighting a Huntress?"

"Hey, she picked a fight with me!"

"I thought you were one of the less stupid ones," Roman groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. He continued the same way a teacher would talk to a child, a dumb child. "Where do you think your scroll might have gone? Did it grow a pair of legs and start dancing a jig? Did it get picked up by some pretty monkey-boy with amazing abs? Or could it be that this mystery Huntress was tracking down beasts like you and now she's probably bearing down on us as we speak?"

Neo smiled at the pun, though the bear girl didn't seem to get it. Or maybe she was too scared to laugh, that worked too.

"This isn't a circus, there's no tamer to keep you freaks safe when you screw up."

The girl flinched back. "She- she was a dumb party girl. There's no way she could do that."

"Was she really that dumb or did she just want you to think that? There are plenty of Huntresses who are good actors or have allies smarter than they are." He dropped his voice down lower. "Now what did she look like?"

The girl gulped. "Tall, blonde, and young. She wore club clothes, but had golden bracelets on her arms. They looked too heavy to not be weapons of some sort. Though she didn't need them to kick half of the club's collective asses."

"Young, blonde, fights with her hands. Any idea about her Semblance?"

"She sent me flying way further than I should've been and did that to everyone else too. Also some sort of crazy reflexes. I don't think anyone touched her, even when she was surrounded and being shot at."

"Probably a Beacon brat then." Roman paced in front of her. "If she was skilled enough to take on the Panther's security unarmed, she'll be a junior or senior looking for something 'good' to do over winter break. One of their top of her class students who'll become a real pain in a couple of years. Did she have anyone else with her?"

"There was one other girl. She..." The girl clenched her hand tight. "She was…"

"Well? Out with it." Roman twirled the end of his cane in a circle.

"I think she was… Uhh… She had black hair and…"

"Are you serious? You can't even remember what she looked like? She's a Huntress. She should have something distinctive: her weapon, her clothing, anything."

"She was also young, younger I think, with flowers on her dress… Umm, lilies?"

Neo pursed her lips behind the door. A Huntress should have been more memorable than that, which meant that something interesting was going on. Did this girl have a Semblance that disguised her or was she just that boring?

She conjured an image of her Haven disguise. Long hair, frilly top, and miniskirt: all in black. Her phantom curtseyed with a vicious smirk and twirled her parasol.

Maybe this mystery girl had a Semblance like her own and was using it to disguise herself? That could be very interesting. Black-Neo ran her finger along her throat and lulled her head to the side, eyes closed and tongue hanging out.

Silently laughing, she shattered the illusion with a snap and turned her attention back to Roman. He'd finished his angry rant, which left the Faunus girl shivering, and had turned back to the map.

"This changes things. One of you will have to scout out our new targets." Roman rubbed his chin and looked at the pair in front of him. He pointed at the girl again. "What's your jacket size?"

"What?" She raised her voice a hair.

"You kind of look like someone who could shop this district. We just need to dress you up a bit: stick you in a silk suit, darken your complexion a little, and you'll fit right in."

She blanched. "You think any of those humans would let a Faunus into a store?"

"Not all humans hate you animals and most of the ones who do won't say anything in public. If you show up looking like you have money, they'll barely bat an eye." He paused for a moment. "Just keep your mouth shut as much as possible; you sound like you grew up on the docks."

"Why can't you do it?"

"Because, I need to keep watch over the warehouse in case your mystery Huntress shows up. With the cripple missing, someone who can fight needs to be on hand."

"She'd destroy you."

"Really? Well then." Roman looked to the door and met Neo's eye. He drew out his pause with a smirk. "If you're that scared of the big, bad blonde, I have some good news."

Neo conjured an illusion of the door and stepped out of the real one, picking her parasol up midstride. She sauntered into the room, unseen to all. As she moved, she drew her needle.

"We have some assistance on that front for the next few days." He gestured wildly with his cane and smiled at the door.

Neo stuck her blade between the girl's thighs and drew it along her femoral artery in a smooth motion. It didn't have a cutting edge, but her Aura should have been strong enough to hold even if it did.

"Ahh!" she shouted and swung her arm around, shattering the illusion.

But, Neo had already started moving. She slipped under the girl's arm, then tapped her on the back with the point of needle, right above her kidney. She yelped again and jumped away. Neo gave her a deep bow with a smirk.

The Faunus held her lips closed so tightly they turned white.

Roman applauded. "And that is why we have nothing to worry about. Between the two of us, a no-name Huntress won't stand a chance. "

Neo rose and met his eyes. She spread her fingers, mimicking Cinder's fire hand pose to remind him of the added danger lurking in the warehouse. A grimace flashed over Roman's face. Their boss was still in her secret room, doing who knew what with the best Dust they had, and gave very specific instructions about not being disturbed for any reason.

While Neo'd been watching her for the entire semester, she still had no idea what Cinder was or how she did everything she did. She hadn't even figured out what the beautiful language that Cinder sometimes spoke in was, when she thought no one was listening in. Though the woman managed to make it sound as diabolical as it was heavenly.

It was possible that she was an Anathema. Considering how easily she'd beaten both of them, that option was fairly high on Neo's list. If she was… Neo shivered at the thought. She and Roman had never dealt directly with one of them before. Maybe she'd be able to find the secret of that power too and take it for herself.

She could see it now, Roman and Neo, rulers of the underworld and the overworld. Well, actually no. Ruling meant responsibility. Roman could have that. He'd handle all of the planning and paperwork while she... executed.

"Tomorrow morning, you two are going for a fitting." Roman held a hand out while Neo bowed again.

She left an illusion behind, still bent over, and stepped behind the Faunus girl again.

"This is ridiculous. There's no wa- Eep." The girl yelped again when the point of Neo's needle ran down her spine.

"Ah ah ah ah. No complaining." Roman wagged a finger at her. "You brought this on yourself."

Neo departed with a skip in her step. She needed to keep this one around, it would be a shame if someone so amusing went and died on her.

The illusion stepped right in front of the girl, smirked, and then shattered into her face. This time she didn't shout. Neo sighed, but didn't turn back. She still had homework to do… eventually.

She slipped back into the room and immediately noticed two things. The first was that her scroll had moved. The second was that the most terrifying person she had ever met was holding it.

Cinder Fall was sitting on the edge of Neo's bed in the outfit that she had been wearing when they first fought. A red dress with Fire Dust and Orichalcum thread sewn into the fabric. She hadn't worn it for months.

"Neopolitan," Cinder said with the smug smirk she always had, "We will be returning to Haven later than anticipated. Prepare yourself for a trip to the mountains South of Vale. We will leave when Emerald arrives. Mercury and Professor Eurwen will complete our team's 'away mission' by themselves."

Neo raised an eyebrow. That was unusually straightforward. No obscure metaphors, no veiled hints about what she might do to them if they failed, just a simple order. She met Cinder's eyes with a squint. Something else was going on.

Cinder narrowed her eyes and ran a finger along the edge of the sheets. The obsidian coating her nail split the threads so silently that Neo could barely hear them tearing. She pushed the temptation to match Cinder's burning glare down and lowered her head. It made Neo's blood boil, but there was nothing else that could be done, not when she was in one of these moods.

Cinder could, and would, kill both of them if they failed her. She'd more than proved how easy it would be when she 'recruited' them to her cause and purged dissenters from the White Fang.

Neo left her head bowed until long after the tearing had stopped. When she glanced up, the flames smoldering in Cinder's eyes had died down, but they weren't gone.

"You will serve as bait to draw the Red Queen out," Cinder continued, while Neo took a quick breath. She was going to go up against the second most powerful fighter she'd ever met. "Do whatever you want to her men and women. Once she has been lured from her camp, we will strike with our most potent warriors. She shall perish just before she is able to discover the fate of her counterpart."

Neo glanced at the door to Roman and gulped.

"He is not needed for this. All he has to do is find a doctor who meets my specifications and continue depriving Vale of Dust." Cinder tapped on Neo's scroll and narrowed her eyes again. "We will remove one of the pieces from the board before she can discover the truth behind her opposite's fate. Then, when the Prodigal Son acts, he will be too exhausted to move against us. The stars have told of his fall and it shall begin here."

She turned the image of a beautiful valley toward Neo. The cliffs fell in a perfectly symmetrical manner as they spiraled into the shore of a lake. At the center of the lake was an island with several White Fang tents encircling an enormous tree. Or was it a grove of trees interweaving?

It was as if seven tree trunks grew in a perfect circle and split as they rose. Where they met, they reconnected, only to re-split soon. Again and again they weaved in and out as they climbed to a tremendous height, easily taller than many of the buildings in the city.

Neo paused, then raised an eyebrow again. She had never seen anything like that before.

"Don't question. Obey." Cinder changed the image to one of Neo and Roman when they were first starting out.

They were a pair of street rats with no sense of class or style. Roman had just bought his first suit, it fit him terribly, and had used so much product that his hair looked like an orange helmet. Neo had a terrible part, pinks strands of hair mixing with brown ones in a combination that would make her nauseated to be seen with now, and she'd used her Semblance to make most of her clothing. At the time, she'd actually been wearing a shirt too small to fully button and pants which needed four rolls to not drag on the ground.

Cinder ran her thumb over the surface of the scroll, nail biting into the glass as it passed over Roman's neck.

"Play your part and you will be rewarded. Fail and-" She pushed her thumb into the scroll, shattering it with a loud pop. "I will find other pieces."

An illusion covered up Neo's heavy breathing and clenched teeth. Her phantom nodded slowly while she dropped her hand to her needle. She gripped the handle so hard that normal wood would have exploded.

Cinder smirked and strutted to the door. "Be prepared to leave at a moment's notice."

The illusionary Neo nodded.
 
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Book 1 Chapter 5.1
Miracles of Ancient Wonder

~

Chapter 5.1

~~~​

Blake stood at the edge of the cliff with Weiss and Yang flanking her. It was one of the safer ways to get into the Emerald Forest and away from anyone who might overhear them. A camera had been placed near the best one after Yang blew up the tree.

"This is where you've been going at night?" Weiss leaned over the edge, then stepped back. "It doesn't seem very private."

Blake rolled her eyes. "We need to go down to the forest, away from the cameras. Come on."

"Wait." Weiss grabbed her sleeve as she was just about to jump off. "I'm still injured. Carry me down?"

Blake stared at her, blinking a couple of times. Was she serious? Weiss should be able to handle a fall like that without any problem.

"What? That's not fair." Yang yelled and grabbed the other sleeve. "If you're going to carry her down, then I get to carry you."

Blake's cat ears strained against her bow as they flattened. "Of course that's what this is about. You two are ridiculous."

"Come on Blake." Yang pulled Blake's arm against her chest. "We're just trying to-"

Blake focused her Aura into her muscles, then pulled herself free. She moved with as quickly as she could, grabbing both of them by the collars of their uniform jackets. As soon as she had a good grip, she leapt off of the cliff with all of her might.

Weiss gasped and Yang cheered while they were in free fall, trees flying by underneath them. Blake did her best to ignore them and focused on the ground. As it approached, she moved her arms just enough that her teammates would swing forward as she landed. Just before the moment of impact she twisted her aura beneath her and killed all of the speed of the fall, landing lightly with her knees barely bending.

She tossed Weiss and Yang in the same motion, the pair impacting in the air and tumbling to the ground. However, they managed to twist into less of a mess than Blake had hoped. Yang wound up almost catching Weiss, but it was good enough. "Can we please talk about something serious? We don't have that many chances to be direct."

"This is serious." Yang pushed herself up and rested her chin on Weiss' head. The smaller girl immediately sat up very straight, but didn't fight her way out. "I couldn't be anywhere near this forward if I was worried about freaking Ruby out."

Blake was certain that it wouldn't actually affect Ruby that much, unlike everything else that she wanted to talk about. But, she held her tongue. Instead, Blake offered Weiss a hand up, which she took with very little delay. Of course, she also waited to let go until long after she regained her balance.

"I partially agree." Weiss offered a hand to Yang as Blake sighed. "There are many topics that we need to discuss without Ruby present and this is one that's very important."

Blake could clearly make out her additional words. 'Yang denying herself is only going to make the stress worse.'

"It's not that I don't appreciate it, but…" Blake felt her cheeks heat up. "Why me? Why now?"

"Well." Yang drew the word out. "There's barely anyone else who feels right for something serious and those who do are either too old, too straight, or too suspicious of us."

Weiss nodded then turned to Blake. "You're also one of the only people I can have a decent conversation with and there are other aspects tying us all together which would be difficult, at best, to explain."

"Ha, so you admit it!" Yang pointed at Weiss.

"I've admitted to nothing." Weiss crossed her arms. "We've all been through a harrowing experience together which we should not explain the details about to others. It's natural that people would grow closer after such a thing."

"Come on, no one can overhear us." Yang dropped her voice to barely a whisper. "Are you, or are you not, also Anathema?"

Weiss looked Blake in the eyes. "I'm not going to answer that question."

It wasn't a lie.

"What about last night? What did you and Tialeth really do?"

"I'm also not going to answer that question." Weiss rolled her eyes. Blake searched the echos between her words. 'It would be too embarrassing to say.'

"I think I should know about what happened to my own body."

"You would have been fine with everything that happened," Weiss said without a hint of a lie in her tone.

Blake nodded to Yang.

"Yeah, well I-" Yang froze when Weiss touched her neck . Weiss moved her hand down slowly, shifting it back and forth as her fingers trailed down her back. Yang shivered as she continued. "Y-you were the second masseuse. How are you this good?"

"Your reactions tell me all I need to know about where to touch and you're tough enough that I can use my full strength without worry about hurting you." Weiss grinned and met Blake's eyes again. Her gaze pierced through her in a way that Blake hadn't seen since her first kiss with Adam.

"So, Blake-" Weiss continued.

"Torchwick, Anathema, The Grimm! Anything else please." Blake cut Weiss off as she forced some of the scenes from the book she'd read yesterday from her mind.

Weiss slowly pulled away from Yang. The fire in her eyes vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. "Blake, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"That isn't how someone who's fine acts." Yang stepped forward and held a hand out.

Blake sighed and crossed her arms. "It… it's just…"

She looked away from both without answering. Ruby figured out who Adam was incredibly quickly. All of the puzzle pieces were in the open, but the two bridges between them hadn't been revealed to Weiss yet. While her hatred of the Anathema was a lie, she truly despised the White Fang.

"I'd really rather not talk about it, but…" Blake looked at Yang. "Could you please be a little less… in my face about all of this?"

"But I-"Yang reached for Blake then stopped herself and clenched her eyes. She made a fist and squeezed hard enough that her arm shook. "Okay, I can do that."

The fire had died down in her eyes too.

"Thanks." Blake let out the breath she'd been holding. "Are you doing alright?"

"I'm not doing worse."

"I suppose that's all we can hope for."

"No," Weiss said sharply. "We can and will figure out something. Why hasn't this been helping?"

"I don't know." Yang shrugged. "Maybe it hasn't been big enough?"

"So do something larger." Weiss met Yang's eyes. "There's so much that you can do that I refuse to believe there is no solution which will solve it all."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"Do either of you know how long the average Anathema remains active?"

"A couple of months?" Yang said slowly.

"Right." Weiss nodded. "When they're found, they're killed very, very quickly. They cannot be left alone once confirmed because of how easily they acquire power and out do everyone else."

Blake and Yang both nodded.

"Both of you are already past that point and I assume have started moving beyond what normal, adult Huntresses are capable of," Weiss continued. "We don't know where the peak of the power of an Anathema is, but we do have a source of information about it. The memories from a previous life that Yang can access."

"I'm not going to-"

Weiss cut her off with a wave of her hand. "I wasn't going to ask you to risk that again. However, what is the most potent thing that you personally can remember about them?"

Yang pursed her lips while she thought. "I think it would be… Yeah, it's definitely cutting a mountain in half."

Blake stared at her blankly. "What?"

"Yeah, like, this guy who she really admired took his Grand Daiklave, her word for a really big sword, in both hands like this." Yang raised her arms over her head. "And swung down. As he did a huge… no an enormous… no. It was a really, stupidly big blast of golden energy that I don't know the word to describe the size of. But anyway, he shot this at the mountain and destroyed it in one hit. The mountain was supposed to be some sort of monster that moved in and was disrupting trade or something like that and it refused to negotiate."

Blake's jaw dropped. Yang was being completely truthful. "That's ridiculous."

"It is," Weiss said softly. "But, the Anathema aren't only skilled at fighting. What could you do with an equally impressive political treatise? It would change or destroy any culture you wanted it to."

Blake could feel her heart pounding in her neck. She'd beaten Yang's issues and Ruby's Semblance without exerting that much effort. The skills, the method of warping her Aura into her words, had simply come to her as she continued to read more and more.

"If those are the heights which we know to be possible, then there must be a solution to our current problems within our grasp. And potentially even those of the entire world." Weiss looked into the forest. "However, something does worry me. There were two topics that Tialeth returned to over and over. The blight within Yang's soul and how the world was dirty, broken."

"It doesn't feel dirty or broken to me." Blake nudged the ground with her heel. "It's normal."

"What if there's something that we can't see because we've never experienced anything else?" Weiss grabbed a leaf and rolled it between her fingers. "This is the only world we know and there's so much that's unknown within it. For instance, the issue with astrology that Ruby and Pyrrha have mentioned at lunch. Tialeth spoke of the stars and predicting the future as if it were something that could casually be done and the results could be assumed to be accurate. If she's correct, then there may be even more unknown unknowns that're waiting to blindside us."

Yang chuckled awkwardly. "Umm, about unknowns and Ruby…"

Weiss frowned at her.

"So, we didn't get a chance to tell you this before, but there's something you should know." Yang grimaced. "She can kinda, sorta, hear Aura use."

"What?" Weiss' voice was frigid.

"Like, not just Aura, but also anything else I did."

"Do you have any idea how important that information is?"

"It didn't seem that important."

Weiss rubbed her temples. "That may be the single most important piece of information missing from my model of her actions. It also opens up a host of other dangers."

"What do you mean?

"If she can her Aura, what else can she hear? Can she identify the aspect of someone's Aura? What about the ambient levels which we currently need to use very sophisticated equipment to measure?" Weiss slipped another, unstated, question in. 'What is her current depth regarding her Anathema powers?'

"I-I don't know."

"Yang." Blake gulped. She could see the continuation of Weiss' chain of logic. Ruby was an incredibly dangerous unknown. Especially because she had that same potential the rest of them did. "I think we need to know this."

"I…" Yang turned away. "I'm not going to spy on Ruby."

"We're not asking you to spy on her, just…" Blake looked to Weiss.

"You can talk to her, take an interest in what's she's doing, like a good sister would."

"It still feels dirty."

"You're the bad girl here," Weiss said offhandedly. If it wasn't for the 'It's a step back from her being an evil demon.' that she could read between Weiss' words, Blake would've hit her. But, she could tell it was part of how Weiss wanted to help, in her own way.

"Yeah, yeah I am." Yang nodded slowly. "And, if I'm the bad girl, then I should get something out of it too."

She grinned at Weiss. "So, what'll it be?"

"I supposed I could give you another massage." Weiss matched the grin

"Two messages." Yang paused and licked her lips. "And the first date with Blake."

Blake gave her a look.

"One and a half massages and no promises about dates."

"How do you do half a massage?"

"Top or bottom?" Weiss raised an eyebrow and gestured towards Yang's chest, then her hips.

Blake turned away and shook her head. Though, a part of her, that she was trying very hard to ignore, wondered what that would feel like.

~~~​

Ruby pored over the books surrounding her, glancing from 'Applications of Aura Conductive Materials' to 'Principles of Folding-Weapon Design: Advanced Edition rev. 3' to the book that was becoming more her own than Pyrrha's thanks to all of the annotations she'd been making. The first one had been an accident that happened thanks to a surge of inspiration. And once she'd started there didn't seem to be too much harm in continuing since the damage had been done. The trip to Weiss' materials store had given her inspiration, and a huge amount of time to work with it.

Normally, Ruby would have spent days working all of the Dust-Steel that she needed to use by hand. Each gear and spring needed to be re-made to incredibly tight tolerances to make Crescent Rose work properly. If she got them wrong, they'd grind against each other and cost her precious bits of Aura protecting them every time her weapons changed forms. To prevent that, she'd have needed to re-forge most of the components at least once because to a flaw in the metal's Dust mixture or crystal alignment. Instead, she spent an hour sifting through several bins of pre-made gears and had saved herself several days of work.

For a while, she didn't believe that the store could make any money. Then she saw the number of zeroes on the price tag. At that much of a mark up over the price of raw materials, anything was possible. Well, assuming you had enough money.

Ruby doubted she'd ever see that much money herself, but Weiss hadn't balked at any of what she wanted. Even the most expensive by gram item in the store, outdoing even the Orichalcum filigree, a small spool that looked like heavy-duty steel wire. It was also the center of her current question.

Ruby ran her finger along the loop she'd made and shivered as she infused the metal with her Aura. It was so simple and easy and right. Her Aura poured into it like it was a part of her own body. Even pure Dust, which was the next best thing, didn't respond like it did.

She turned a small section of the wire around a Earth-Dust infused rod that she borrowed from Professor Ozpin's lab and pulsed her Aura into it. It sang to the strings of the world, playing a note that perfectly harmonized with her Aura. She thought of the sounds from one of the Constellations, and pushed again. The tone was sharp and it failed to reverberate properly.

Ruby jotted the result down and looked at the next configuration she needed to try. With each step, she got closer and closer to the right numbers that she would need for her final design for Crescent Rose. She didn't know what would happen if she used the wrong configuration for the new wonder-metal that gave her tingles whenever she touched it, but it felt like a really bad thing.

For now though, she needed a break and a perfect distraction just walked into the library.

"Pyrrha, Ren, over here!" Ruby shouted, drawing a dirty look from the librarian.

"Hello!" Pyrrha waved and walked over immediately.

Ren nodded and finished picking a book off of the shelf.

"You look like you're-" Pyrrha paused when she looked over the table full of tools and books. "Is that my book?"

Ruby blushed and looked away. "It might be..."

Pyrrha leaned over and looked at the current page, which was focused on the equations representing the Ascending Lightning Bolt as manipulated by the phases of the moon. The margins were covered in black and red ink.

She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it without responding.

"I was working on using the equations to try and make more predictions, but there are all sorts of factors that just didn't appear right and figuring out what they are matters a lot since I'm trying to work this really cool steel called Starmetal into the new version of Crescent Rose." Ruby babbled while Pyrrha watched her with a slight smile. "You see, no one's really figured out what exactly it's supposed to be good at, besides looking really pretty with the right faces cut, but I had an idea."

"The religious associations for Orichalcum and Moonsilver are very strong, so much so that they're considered divine metals by a large number of people. This-" She held the spool out to Pyrrha. "-conducts Aura just as well as them and is even harder to come by, but doesn't have a particular association beyond generic good luck or fortune. The Maidens… umm, the Maidens of Fate that is, have that theme in some of the books I found. So, it seemed like something that could be a missing connection. It would also explain why there are no other strong themes for Starmetal. Because, if it was associated with all of them, the aspects which would be relevant to weaponsmithing would be as diverse as all of nature."

She pointed to the small stack she'd taken from the theology section to confirm the associations. The corners of Pyrrha's smile twitched slightly. "I see."

"Anyway," Ruby continued as Ren joined them. "Once I got that in mind, I started experimenting with matching the harmonics of the coil to that of the constellations. It would need a pure tone, exactly matching that aspect of Fate to draw out the metal's full potency."

Pyrrha gulped while Ruby took a breath.

"Once I have the basic forms down, I can replace the channels within Crescent Rose's barrel with the right tone for the Lightning Bolt, the body with the Banner, and the blade with the Spear. It would be a very different from the powerhouse design that called for Orichalcum, but I feel like she'd be much more effective once I figure out how to manipulate my Aura correctly."

Ren looked from Ruby to Pyrrha. "What're you talking about?"

"The fusion of astrology and weapons design." Ruby paused for a moment, watching Pyrrha's eyes carefully. "You get what I meant, right?"

Pyrrha gulped and the pressure built. It wasn't a very strong one, and Ruby couldn't feel any danger. She also didn't know what Pyrrha was thinking, but she'd known a lot before. Ruby gave it a little nudge. Tell me what you think.

"Truthfully," Pyrrha said softly. She looked right over Ruby's shoulder and gripped her hands tightly. "You lost me about half way through your explanation."

"Oh…" Ruby sank into her chair and sighed. It was just like being back at Signal again. She was even two years behind now and even with that handicap, nobody could keep up with her.

"Your theory is very interesting, but I… I don't know enough to really say anything about it." Pyrrha blushed and turned away. "How long have you spent working on it?"

"About four hours."

"What?" Ren almost dropped his book.

"I… four hours…" Pyrrha blinked at her several times, then pointed at the book. "You did all that in four hours?"

"No, no, no." Ruby shook her head fast enough her bangs smacked her in the face. "That was the past week. I figured out everything with the Starmetal since I got back to Beacon. I uhh… wanted a distraction while I wait for my debriefing with Professor Goodwitch."

"Oh." Pyrrha paused and looked at Ren. Ruby could feel the pressure build and this time it felt like there was a bit of danger in the future. Were they going to not help with the fight against Roman now? Also, why there danger now and not before?

With a twirl of her Starmetal wire she strummed the strings of Fate. The possibilities exploded and almost immediately collapsed. She knew what she needed to do to bring everyone together.

Ruby took a deep breath and met Ren's eyes. "I was hoping to see both of you today for a different reason as well. We found a way to do some real good for the kingdom."

He gave her a hesitant nod.

"We found something while we were in Vale. Something dangerous and important." Ruby paused and looked at Pyrrha. She was breathing very shallowly, but her eyes were hard. "If everything goes according to plan, we'll know where the Dust thieves are and where they've been getting enough manpower to steal everything."

Weiss hadn't finished hacking into the scroll yet, but Ruby was sure that they'd find what they were looking for in it.

"Roman Torchwick, Vale's most wanted. He's beaten a number of small teams, but they were normal Hunters. Between the eight of us, I think that we have enough to take him down once and for all."

"Why wouldn't you tell the professors? This should be their responsibility." Pyrrha crossed her arms. "We're just students."

Ruby bit her lip. They weren't just students. They were so much better, but how could she… The idea came to her in a flash. She could be honest, but not quite tell the whole story.

"I saw it in the stars."

Pyrrha's mouth fell open and her eyes went wide. "What?"

"They said that our best chance would be going alone."

"There's no way… That must've taken so much time…" Pyrrha mumbled and the pressure built again.

Believe me! Ruby shoved as hard as she could, but that may have been a little too hard. She'd pushed over the line where she might start glowing, but wasn't quite at her forehead symbol yet.

"Okay." Pyrrha held her eyes closed and folded her hands in front of her. "It's almost unbelievable-"

"It is unbelievable." Ren cut her off.

"What'd you mean?" Ruby pushed the quiver in her voice down.

"Breakthroughs like that take weeks or months of research, not hours."

Ruby giggled nervously. It had seemed really obvious to her, but she could hear the reactions immediately. "Well, it just sort of came to me. Don't lots of new ideas happen like that? Nothing and then… Poof! Suddenly you have inspiration."

"Not really, especially for complex Aura manipulation." He shook his head and forced the Aura around his palm to become visible. The magenta light was unsteady, erratic and the sound was, if anything, worse. It almost hurt to hear it to this closely. "I've spent the past week working on an advanced technique that I haven't managed to form properly."

"Oh…" Now that she thought about it, Ruby had been figuring out new tricks with her Aura pretty close to every week. "Umm…"

"I may have an idea about what could be the cause," Pyrrha said to the ground. "Do you remember back during our initiation, the symbol that appeared on your forehead?"

Both of them nodded.

"Well, you didn't know what it was then, but now you know of it as the symbol of Mars. I recognized it immediately, but hadn't made any sort of connection." She shifted from one foot to the other. "Last week, I did a reading on you and found something… strange."

"That I was born under all of Mars' Constellations?"

"Yes."

"I don't know actually what that means."

"Neither do I, but between that, the sign, and how easily things related to her seem to come to you. Perhaps she's given you her blessing?"

Ren turned to her and raised an eyebrow.

"There are legends of gods bestowing aspects of their power upon mortals." Pyrrha picked up one of the books and flipped through it. "'And so the great lord of the sea did rise from the depths upon a throne of froth. With a grand gesture, the waves rose up and engulfed the girl standing before him. The touch of the sea blessed Mira and she conjured a throne of her own…'"

"That sounds like a Semblance to me. No need to bring gods into it." Ruby shrugged.

"Most scholars would agree with you. But, what if the stories were accurate?" Pyrrha wistfully sighed. "It would provide an explanation for the origin of Aura, along with your own abilities. If a regular god could grant control over the ocean, what would the blessing of one of the highest goddesses provide?"

"You're sure?" Ren watched her very carefully.

"As sure as I can be. There aren't…" Pyrrha cut herself off and shook her head. "I'm willing to believe that this could be true until proven otherwise."

Ren closed his eyes and tapped his fingers on his thighs for nearly a minute. More of the pressure built again, the pulse of danger still ringing in the back of Ruby's mind. She hadn't done enough to dissipate it.

Trust us. Again she pushed with as much force as she could. The world moved, but Ren didn't. Ruby watched his face with her breath held as the danger slowly vanished.

"I'll talk to Nora." He broke into a soft smile when it finally disappeared.

"Whew, thanks." Ruby let the breath out as a sigh. Jaune and Nora would be easy to convince. Now they just needed Weiss to find the location.
 
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Book 1 Chapter 5.2
Miracles of Ancient Wonder

~

Chapter 5.2

~~~​

Once again, Ruby found herself leaning against the wall outside of a Professor's office. She was also tapping a beat this time, but unlike a week ago, it mattered. The beat of the Gauntlet pounded in her ears while she went over the arguments Blake helped her with and how to best use them. The energy and anticipation burned inside of her, desperate to be released.

She went to her personal session ten minutes early so she could get started as soon as possible. The only problem was that Professor Goodwitch wasn't in her office when Ruby got there. So, she was left waiting in the hallway, half listening to the mutters from other doors. But, no one was talking about anything interesting. It was mostly questions about homework or arguing about grades.

The best conversations came from students and professors who were just walking by, completely ignoring her. It was a little annoying, but it did make listening in easy and gave her something else to look into while she was waiting in the lab. A new Aura-conductive materials science paper from an Atlas lab, the search for a girl who supposedly froze the bay in one of Mistral's coastal cities, and a potential Anathema sighting in uptown Vale: that should get her through most of the work she needed to do tonight. Though, the hallway was deserted so she needed something else to keep her focus up.

Ruby glanced back and forth, making sure that the hall was actually empty. Professor Goodwitch had left her door open, so she couldn't be too far away. Also, there were probably comfy chairs in it and maybe something more interesting to look at than the wall or her scroll. After a moment's consideration, Ruby stepped inside.

The office was almost the opposite of Doctor Ooblecks'. All of her papers were stacked on her desk, instead of strewn everywhere, and every book had a home in a bookcase, rather than being stacked on the chairs. It was all neat and tidy, kind of like the difference between Weiss' part of the room and the rest of the team's. Though, there were two pieces out of place.

A pair of very old books had been left open on one of the side tables. They were obviously written in different languages, but seemed like they were describing the same thing. At least, the big image in the center was the same. Both pages depicted a complicated array and a formula with the same number of characters, even if most of the characters were different.

The images in the margins were a different story. One book had very detailed castle-like pictures. The other had a dog Faunus playing a horn with his butt. Ruby giggled and turned the page of the second book. The next one was a giant cat holding a smaller cat like a gun and aiming at a giant dog. Every other page held something equally silly.

While she was no closer to figuring out what these books were for, she definitely preferred the second. Whoever wrote it looked like they were having fun. Also, it was just like her own notebooks, filled with doodles and random notes that probably only made sense to the owner. She paused on a page with an image that looked like a bunch of doors lined up.

There was something that looked familiar about one of the equations in the margins. She pulled out her scroll and flipped through the long list of notes from that morning. The formula in the book, which thankfully mostly used numbers, was off in the same way that her astrology notes were. She made a tiny scribble next to it, noting the extra constant she'd discovered. It might not be important, but it also might be.

"You're early." Professor Goodwitch stepped into the office and made Ruby jump.

"Ahh!" Ruby spun around, eyes wide.

"What were you doing?"

"Nothing! I was just…" Ruby wracked her brain for something that made sense. It took her a couple of moments, just long enough to notice that Professor Goodwitch had brought a plate of cookies, a cup of tea, and a mug of hot chocolate with her. "I was trying to figure out what the things in your books were."

Professor Goodwitch raised an eyebrow and frowned, glancing down at the page. Ruby held her face as still as she could make it. After a short staring contested, Professor Goodwitch blinked and walked to her desk.

"I've been researching a number of ancient spells and attempting to recreate them. Both books refer to the same spell and have almost identical instructions for how to cast it. The mystery comes from how it was developed and utilized because it was created before the kingdoms could reliably communicate." She placed the plate down on Ruby's side and took a seat. "In one version it's known as 'The Calling of Hell-Beasts' and in the other 'An Overly Complicated Way to Make a Great Mess and/or Kill Yourself'."

"Uhh..."

"It's a clever, if morbid, pun in old Vacuan. But, the joke doesn't translate well." She laughed slightly. "The scholar responsible for that particular book had a rather... unique... sense of humor."

Ruby giggled nervously. "Yeah... butt trumpets."

"Quite." She took a sip of the tea. "I have a feeling that your sister would enjoy his work,. That is, if she proves to be capable of learning both sorcery and a dead language."

Ruby thought about it for a moment, then nodded. Yang would love a book of spells with punny names and silly pictures. The way it was described seemed a little worrying though. "Does it work? The spell, I mean."

"From all accounts that I've found, not in any useful manner. If anything appeared, it would scream at the sorcerer, occasionally attack them, and then decompose into bits of its body as if it were a dead Grimm. However, many of the creatures were flesh and blood, so their deaths were much more gruesome."

Ruby shuddered. "Why would you want to do something like that?"

"These creatures had to come from somewhere. If we can fix the problem with the spell, we may be able to call in a small army to face the Grimm or open a passage to whatever location they call home. Either could be an incredible resource."

"However." She closed the door with a wave of her hand. "That's enough about my research. We're here to talk about you and how you feel after the investigation."

Professor Goodwitch folded her hands on her desk and waited. She kept her face completely neutral, looked Ruby in the eyes and continued to wait.

Goosebumps ran up Ruby's neck. Was this a trap? It felt like a trap. The type of thing where she would say something only to get part of it thrown back into her face and all of that other talking meant that she needed to re-remember the arguments.

"Well… I- Ummm," Ruby said slowly, breaking the silence. She hadn't expected to be the one who had to start it. "I think that everything that happened was wrong, should never have happened, and never should happen again. It goes against what we're supposed to be doing and everything I've been taught about how a real Huntress behaves."

Professor Goodwitch nodded.

After another moment of silence, Ruby took a long breath. "My mom, my dad, and my Uncle Qrow, they'd never do anything like that."

She nodded again, though there was a slight hesitation this time.

"They always fought against things that were bad and weren't afraid to call people out when they did something wrong. They were heroes." Ruby clenched her fists. "They put themselves at risk every day because it was the right thing to do. And they would never have stood for someone being left for the Grimm. Not on purpose."

"Your parents were heroes." Professor Goodwitch adjusted her glasses. "They were beloved by those who knew them and served as a source of inspiration for more Hunters than I can name. They each passed a formal investigation as well. Your mother and your uncle were both investigated twice."

"Just like Weiss."

"Not exactly. You uncle wasn't injured as a part of his and your mother's wounds were far less severe. Hers were confined to one arm and she recovered from them within a week's time."

"It still shouldn't have to happen. No one should be hurt like that."

"No, they shouldn't."

"It goes against everything the we're supposed to stand for!"

"That it does."

"It's-" Ruby tripped over her own words. She had counters for every argument they could think of prepared, but not what was actually happening. "It's just bad. So bad that it stains the souls of everyone involved, from top to bottom!"

Professor Goodwitch nodded, her expression remaining blank.

Ruby stared at her. She tried to speak, but no words came out.

"Is there a problem?" Professor Goodwitch asked.

"Why are you agreeing with me?!" She stood up and shouted. "You're in charge of doing this! Why would you do something that you think is bad?"

Professor Goodwitch adjusted her glasses and met Ruby's eyes. She looked so much older than she ever did in class. "Because it needs to be done."

"I can't believe that! There has to be something else you could do instead."

"I could leave the investigations to others, wipe my hands of all responsibility. However, if I did so, then I would not be able to have an effect on what occurs during them."

"Then you're guilty of torturing people!"

"Yes. I am." She took another sip of her tea. "As are all of the other professors who review cases at Beacon and the joint-kingdom standards committee."

"And you're okay with this?"

"Not in the slightest, but participating, having some method of controlling the outcome, is better than the alternative." Professor Goodwitch stood up and walked over to a bookshelf. "Ruby, how do you think these investigations were performed in the past?"

"Considering what Doctor Oobleck's said, more direct torture."

"That's correct: witch hunts, torture, and political purges. Before we had a system, it fell to individual Hunters, many of whom had not been trained to perform these tasks, to determine the guilt of the person in question. Before that, they were inquisitors who often knew nothing of the accused and had a large incentive to seem effective, even if they had not found one for years. It became a political tactic to accuse someone in hopes of them being removed." She pulled a book titled 'Anathema Myths and Ancient Interrogations' from the shelf. "Sixty years ago, there would have been a decent chance that your sister would have been killed the day she displayed her Semblance. In the decade leading up to the Great War, this would have been almost a certainty."

"Why?"

"Because of where you grew up. The island of Patch was very remote at that time. It lacked the infrastructure and resources of mainland Vale and, as a result, could not perform in-depth investigations under controlled conditions. Cases were decided entirely by local magistrates and they needed to take drastic measures to ensure that an Anathema was dealt with before it could become a problem. Especially considering the political turmoil at the time." She flipped to the middle of the book. "At the end of the Colorless Period, the Empire was in dire straits. Rebellions were becoming more and more frequent while the Empress bled her coffers dry trying to keep control of the inner provinces. She left the outer ones, including Patch, to fend for themselves."

"That doesn't make what's happening now right."

"No, but the current state of affairs are better than they could have been."

"Weiss almost died."

"Which is a better result than her actually dying."

"She should never have been put in that situation."

"I agree."

"Then why did you approve it?"

"Because there are times when there are no good choices and you need to take the least bad option."

"What do you mean?" Ruby felt pressure building. She smashed it as hard as she could. Tell me why you did it!

"Miss Schnee is in a very unique situation where we needed to put her under more scrutiny than any other candidate that has passed through Beacon since I became a professor." She shook her head slightly. "To answer the question of why, I have a question for you. Where could an Anathema do the most damage? What position in society?"

"Head of a combat school," Ruby answered immediately. "They can control the instruction of new Hunters and mess with their heads until they think the Anathema are good."

"In both Vale and Vacuo, you would be entirely correct. The heads of the respective academies wield incredible influence over the affairs of their kingdom's Hunters and this is why we look into Hunter candidates more heavily than any other. But, there are other major players in Atlas and Mistral which would be more tempting targets. Primarily because the academy leaders are under so much scrutiny." Professor Goodwitch held open a list of suggested methods of gathering confessions. Ruby flinched away after the second one. "In Atlas, the other seats of power are within the military and the corporations that supply the military. One of the largest of which, Miss Schnee is going to inherit."

Ruby gulped. She didn't know enough about Atlas to confirm or deny anything. And there that thought was again.

"As both head of the SDC and a trained Huntress, she would be placed in a position of almost unprecedented power and influence. It would be as if Professor Ozpin were both the headmaster of Beacon and a member of Vale's council."

"That's why you did it?"

"Yes, we had to be as sure as possible in the face of such a potential threat. Her potential influence, when combined with her knowledge of the system, meant that the most severe options were allowed."

"That's-" Ruby was cut off by her scroll buzzing. It vibrated loudly against her jacket buttons. She laughed awkwardly and waited for it to stop. The pause gave her time to think, to plan.

Professor Port had been really broken up over what happened. Professor Goodwitch seemed to hate it too. Professor Ozpin avoided the topic whenever she tried to bring it up, though she had no clue why. There was no danger whenever she tried to talk to him. He also didn't seem like a bad guy, so… So she was sort of stuck.

The paths before her exploded into a rainbow of different colors. There were so many options, so many different things that she could do. But, she looked at the one which got her to her answer in a way that would leave her, and her team, the best off.

"Sorry about that." Ruby took a deep breath. "I came here with a plan to try and convince you that everything that happened was terribly wrong and needed to get changed… But..."

Ruby waited for Professor Goodwitch to respond. After a few seconds it became obvious that she wasn't going to.

"But, it seems like you agree with me, for the most part." Ruby paused again, glancing at the book of techniques. "So, if you also think it's bad… Why haven't you made it better?"

"I can't."

"Then get Professor Ozpin to do it! He trusts you, doesn't he? You should be able to stop this."

"He can't either." She adjusted her glasses. "No individual is granted that much control over the standards and processes. All updates and modifications must pass through a large committee which is built from various members of each kingdom that are forbidden from directly communicating with each other. They must send messages through other people, who don't know the identities of other links in the chain who are too far removed from themselves."

"What?"

Professor Goodwitch levitated a piece of chalk over to a small chalkboard. She drew several large circles, then other smaller ones. Lines were drawn from large to medium, medium to small, and small to small; but not large to large or medium to medium. Each of the large circles had multiple links to the other large ones that passed through different mediums and smalls. "Each committee member sends encrypted messages through intermediaries who must re-transcribe the message and continue passing it along the chain. When a proposal is made, it must pass through all of the members before it can be voted on and requires a super-majority to enact."

"That sounds really slow and complicated."

"It isn't meant to act quickly. The system was designed to defend against Anathema infiltration or interference. If any individual node on the chart fails, then there are a large number of connections which can notice the failure and implement containment procedures. If a message gets intercepted and changed, then this will be detected when the originals are received at the end point."

"Why are you telling me this? Isn't any information about how the investigations work dangerous for me?"

"You already know most of the facts that would result in an increased risk to yourself and the current members are a matter of public record. Their visitors are screened thoroughly and knowledge of how the system operates can be found in many textbooks." She levitated the book back to the shelf.

"More people are going to find out. I could tell the entire school and post everything I know online. They wouldn't stand for something like that."

"So long as they believe that they or their loved ones would never be investigated, there is an enormous amount that most people will tolerate." Professor Goodwitch shook her head and sighed. "And if you were to spread that information, you would harm countless innocents who did not know enough to look away."

Ruby punched the desk and held her eyes closed. Her entire body shook while she held herself back. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair.

"However, there is another way you can help."

Ruby blinked the water from her eyes and looked up.

"After you graduate, become involved. Serve in the review board that determines what is permitted for a given investigation. We need more Huntresses with a strong sense of justice. You could do so much more by acting as a voice of restraint and compassion."

"No," Ruby said as firmly as she could. "I'll never serve a… a…"

She searched her mind for the right words. The phrases that Weiss and Blake used in their really nasty arguments. There were so many that one had to be useful.

Ruby's tension fell away when she realized the right one. "I would never work for a soulless bureaucracy that just thinks about people in terms of how much danger they could be."

Professor Goodwitch's eyes briefly grew wide in response to the almost direct quote from Yang's mother. She returned to her normal, slightly stern look. "I understand."

Ruby's scroll buzzed again. She ignored it and kept her eyes locked on the professor's. Why did she keep agreeing? She should be fighting! But… If Weiss, Pyrrha, and even her parents defended this monstrosity when it hurt them, what would people who never experienced it say? She'd need to convince so many people that it was wrong. Or… maybe not. Visitors were screened, but if no one could remember her, maybe she could do something.

""You don't have to make a decision now. But, I do hope that you keep other ways you can help in mind for the future." Professor Goodwitch waited for a moment. "Do you have anything else that you want to discuss?"

"Not really." Ruby pulled her scroll out. Weiss was the caller. "Umm…"

"Do you understand more about what happened and why it did?"

"Yeah… I get it now. It's wrong, but it's not anyone's fault. And at the same time, it's everyone's fault." Ruby glared at her scroll when another idea struck her. "There isn't any other way? Something that doesn't involve hurting people?"

"The Anathema need to be pressed to reveal themselves. Some form of pain, whether physical or mental, is necessary."

"What about just reading their Aura signatures for Anathema signs or colors?" The buzzing stopped.

Professor Goodwitch hesitated for a moment. "We don't have the technology to do something like that."

"It would require those incredibly rare individuals whose Semblances allow them to sense Aura directly. Unfortunately, each of them has reported perceiving Aura in a different manner, so they wouldn't be able to share results easily, if at all." She shook her head. "Having one person present for every investigation, just in case they manage to figure out what signs to look for, would be impractical logistically and would paint an enormous target on that person's head. And when they die, we would have to go back to square one."

Ruby groaned as Weiss started calling again. "Umm, can I take this?"

"Yes, you're free to go." With a wave of her hand, the door opened. "But, please bear what you say to others in mind. And, if you have any other ideas, I would be happy to hear them."

"Thanks." Ruby stepped outside and answered her scroll. "Hey Weiss, what's-"

"Yang and Blake went back to Vale."

"Uhh…"

"With their combat clothing and weapons," Weiss practically growled. "They're approaching the address I found in the girl's scroll as we speak."

"I'll be right there." Ruby narrowly avoided Professor Ozpin as she hung up and started running. "Oops, sorry."

"There's no problem, just be more careful in the future." He smiled softly. "Are you feeling better?"

Ruby thought about it for a moment. She spent a lot of time preparing for an argument that didn't actually happen. Her real enemy was a cloud of connections that she knew nothing about and couldn't really affect. But now she had a target, a real target, and knew at least one person who might be able to tell her where to go next… If she could only find her again.

That was not going to be a fun conversation to have with Yang.

"Ruby?" Professor Ozpin asked.

"Sorry, thinking… Umm…" Ruby took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, I'm feeling better."

"That's good."

"Thanks… I've gotta get going." She waved as she ran back towards her dorm room.

Professor Ozpin didn't move until Ruby was almost out of sight. He smiled lightly before turning into Professor Goodwitch's office.


~~~​


Ruby dashed back to the room as quickly as her Semblance allowed her to, taking corners by running on the wall rather than slowing down. Stopping by the workshop to pick up a sword had eaten up enough time already. It wasn't a very good sword, but it was close enough in size to the one her Uncle Qrow used that it shouldn't be too unfamiliar. Though the extra bulk hanging off of her back did wind up almost knocking someone down during her mad dash.

"Weiss!" Ruby shouted as her partner came into view. She was all decked out with Dust and had Ruby's travel bag held out for her. Ruby slipped her arm through the straps as she stopped. "Where are they?"

"Near the northern docks." Weiss showed Ruby a map of Vale on her scroll. A yellow and black dot hovered near the river.

"Whoa, how'd you get it to do that?" Ruby didn't have a good team location map on her scroll and she was the team leader.

"I hacked their scrolls and installed a tracking program."

"You what?" Ruby shouted. "How? Why?"

"I did it weeks ago, when I was trying to determine where they were going at night. Why do you think I reminded all of you about security when we went to the city?" Weiss said flatly and started to walk away.

"I- You can't just do that!" Ruby pulled her scroll out and started looking through the apps, keeping her eyes out for anything out of place. "Did you do it to mine too?"

"Yes."

Ruby felt her cheeks grow hot. What else had Weiss seen? "So then you know…"

"It only transmits your location. I don't care about what you browse in your spare time."

"Whew." Ruby wiped imaginary sweat from her forehead. Her secret 'team leader only' notes were safe... Safeish. They weren't bad per se, but they were really blunt about everything that the others were doing wrong or could do better. The most recent one, written right before the investigation, was about how Weiss was falling behind the rest of team RWBY in sparring class. "Um, I mean, I have nothing to hide."

Weiss shook her head and continued walking.

"Hey, wait!" Ruby pulsed her Semblance to catch up. "We still need to grab team JNPR."

"Are you sure?" Weiss raised an eyebrow. "It would take a lot of time."

"Hmm." Ruby considered it. The fight would also be very dangerous for them. Jaune was still really bad at fighting and they wouldn't have enough time to prepare. Though the solution was easy enough to find.

The various options expanded in front of her. There weren't that many to look through. "No, our best chance is still bringing them along."

"How are you so sure of that?" Weiss stopped and caught Ruby's eyes.

"Well," Ruby drew the word out while she searched for a good excuse. Though maybe the truth wouldn't be bad. There was no danger when she thought about. "Would you believe that the stars told me?"

"Is that what you and Pyrrha have been doing?"

"Sort of…"

"Then yes, I would believe you if-"

"Really!"

"Don't interrupt." Weiss flicked Ruby's forehead. "I would believe you if you actually had the time to perform the hour long rituals that Pyrrha spoke about."

"Umm…" Ruby gulped. Weiss was giving her the 'I'm about to start an argument' look. "What if I told you that I might have been blessed by one of the big, important goddesses in Mistral?"

Weiss crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Umm, you see. Me and Pyrrha think that-"

"Pyrrha and I"

"Right, Pyrrha and I were talking about how the sign on my head is the same as the sign associated with Mars and the color of my Aura is also the same." Ruby left off the constellations all having the same colors as well part because it was too hard to explain. "And we found out that there are old legends of weaker gods blessing people with things that they can do. All of the Maidens have things like seeing the future in their themes and Mars also has all sorts of fighting related ones. So, I can…sorta just figure all of that out faster because it involves fighting?"

Ruby was painfully aware of the sweat running down the back of her neck while Weiss continued to watch her very carefully. She focused slightly and could hear her partner's Aura singing with power.

"That is a very interesting theory. It would also be nigh impossible to test. However," Weiss said slowly. Her Aura pulsed again as she continued, "what would you do if you met someone else like that?"

The words lingered on her ears for much longer than they normally would. Ruby turned the question over and over. There were so many other questions that it led to. Would she even be able to remember them? What themes would they take? She knew what the other Maidens would sound like, but hadn't put any thought into what the blessings would actually do. Let alone what other gods might grant people.

"I'm not sure." Ruby looked at Weiss again. Was she hinting at what it sounded like she was? "But, are you…"

Ruby let the question fall away while Weiss started walking. Every one of her movements was practically screaming 'not now'. When Ruby paid a little more attention, she could also hear the pulsing of Jaune's Aura coming towards them. It was quieter, but he still hadn't gotten it under control.

"There they are." Ruby dashed past Weiss and turned the corner to find Jaune and Ren staring out of the window.

"Jaune I-" Ruby ended her dash next to him, but cut herself off when she saw what was happening. If she didn't know any better, it looked like Cardin Winchester was standing between a pair of upperclassmen and a boy with tusks. "What's going on?"

"I don't know." Jaune shook his head.

Ruby focused on the arguing group, picking up what they were saying from their lips. He actually was defending the Faunus.

"Haven't you heard, they're off limits now. So get lost." Cardin loomed over them and cracked his knuckles.

"What are you looking at?" Weiss caught up and peered over Ruby's shoulder. "Oh, him."

The four of them watched as the argument finished with the other students backing off.

"What just happened?" Ruby continued to stare at the courtyard.

"He's trying to salvage the remaining scraps of his reputation." Weiss rolled her eyes. "Of course, it would be more effective if he actually cared about the Faunus students. But instead-"

Weiss gestured to Cardin walking away. He slapped one of their classmate's books out of her hands as he went back inside. He also didn't help the Faunus boy up.

"He's just picking on what are now acceptable targets." Weiss stepped back.

"Is that better?" Jaune turned to her.

"Technically yes."

"Ahh, okay…" Jaune slid a little closer to them. "So what're you doing tonight?"

"Ruby." Weiss cut him off. "Please explain."

"We need your sword. Right now." Ruby pointed at Jaune's belt.

"I-Uhhh… Ababab…" Jaune's cheeks grew bright red while he babbled. Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose.

"We need to get to Vale a.s.a.p. and catch up to Yang and Blake." Ruby looked to the side at Ren. "Did you tell him about our mission yet?"

"I was about to, but..." Ren gestured at the window.

"Gotcha. We can talk while we grab the others." Ruby grabbed Jaune's arm and started walking.

"I-but… You're really cute and all, but I really don't… Umm, know you…. So that's..." He stammered while Weiss laughed into her hand.

Ruby groaned, pulled his scroll from his pocket, unlocked it with a single swipe thanks to there being no password, and navigated to the 'I forgot about Ruby again' note. Then she handed it to him. "Read this while we find Pyrrha and Nora. I'll explain everyone's role once we're in the air."
 
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