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Miracles of Ancient Wonder [RWBY/Exalted]

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This is what happens when deeply internalized prejudice and self-hatred meet the cold light of day

Near as I remember, Demonology is a fairly sizeable part of Exalted's magic system, at the very least its not immediately turboevil the way Yang thinks it is. So...yeah, Yang's arc of pushing through her instinctive revulsion and deeply ingrained self-hatred continues apace.
 
Artemis1992 said:
Well, worst case for Yang would propably be if the demons kneel before her (as they should before a Princess of the Green Sun), but I hope things will get better once she gets to know a few relativly harmless ones, like those healing bugs.
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IIRC the problem with the healing bugs is that they'd literally consume every bit of alcohol they can, die of alcohol poisoning, and then spawn new bugs from the remains which will go out and drink all the booze.
 
veekie said:
IIRC the problem with the healing bugs is that they'd literally consume every bit of alcohol they can, die of alcohol poisoning, and then spawn new bugs from the remains which will go out and drink all the booze.
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Well, that's a problem, but for Yang's mental state it's a far lesser problem then demons trying to corrupt people and steal souls.
Keeping the bug-population in check is comparativly easy, particularly with Ruby's help.
 
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Book 3 Chapter 2.2
  • Threadmarks
    • Miracles of Ancient Wonder Book Three: Creation

    ~

    Chapter 2.2

    ~~~​

    Four symbols appeared on the screen: Vale, Atlas, Vaccuo, and the Menagerie. Mistral had refused to participate and told them they were fools to consider it. This was, perhaps, very true. However, it would be even more foolish to ignore the meeting once one considered the implications buried in the message that had been sent.

    "Have you implemented the suggested protocol updates?" Bartholomew Oobleck tapped his foot rapidly as he re-read three different copies of the message.

    "Of course." Councilor Flann had the same copies in front of himself, but was more focused on the screens.

    "I find it more than a bit baffling that these are all so consistent." Despite the original having been translated into several different ancient languages, and then translated back, by different people(and an automated translation program), the most important facts about the message they had received were still crystal clear.

    "I feel like it's a very simple message." Flann shrugged. "Hard to misinterpret. The Four want us to send them more followers in exchange for a lie."

    There were many names for them floating around Vale at this point: the Heralds of Destruction, the Maidens of Calamity, and the Four. Privately, He and Peter had been privately calling them Beacon's Folly, but that name could never be allowed to get out, no matter how true it may be. The Anathema who had taken over the City of Aincrad were reaching out to those sworn to destroy them in hopes of saving "their people" from a new species of Grimm that had attacked them. They wished for the Kingdoms to send people to perform search and rescue, along with medical supplies. The very thought of it was already audacious. Willingly sending people to them?! Ridiculous.

    However, there was something that was enough of a concern that he has insisted on having this meeting occur and that the outlandish request may be worth the risk. A "new species of Grimm" and, in particular, one which was threatening enough that Beacon's Folly were not able to deal with themselves. That had very disturbing implications.

    "It's exactly the sort of lie that we need to be certain is a lie." The Councilor's blasé reaction to the thought of an unknown Grimm threat, especially when new species were still being discovered every year, matched the notes that Professor Ozpin had left regarding why the Kingdom's security needed to stay in the hands of the Hunter's Organization. The teacher in him fought against the notion that any could not be taught about such matters.

    "You think the chance they're being truthful is worth all of this trouble?"

    "Decontamination isn't that bad." He had a vigorous interrogation scheduled for his return to Beacon, in the likely event of some sort of mental contamination. Not that any of their staff could be said to be free of it considering how thoroughly Weiss Schnee had infiltrated them.

    Messages began appearing on the screens. Each had also gone through the same security protocol, with different translators, but the end results matched.

    Menagerie: Has everyone arrived?
    Vaccuo: We're here.
    Atlas: Present.

    "The representatives from Vale are present," Flann said into their mic.

    Vale: We're present.

    Succinct and providing every piece of information that someone on the other side may want to know: multiple people were present for Vale and that they were ready.

    Their response was distinct from Atlas, who must have sent only a single person to directly negotiate. Alternatively, perhaps Atlas had a mistranslation because they could not know how many layers were in place nor who had each. After everything had finished, a log of translations would be available to audit the conversation and attempt to ferret out any Anathema influence.

    "You've made yourself clear. Where does Beacon stand regarding all of this? Or, the Hunters of Vale? Are you actually going to send your men if their information is accurate?" Flann turned to him, mic on mute.

    Professor Ozpin had left a large number of instructions for what would occur in the event of his death. Thankfully, he also had a plan in case both he and Professor Goodwitch were killed at the same time.

    "As acting Headmaster of Beacon, and Chief Huntsman pro-temporum, the consensus is that we need to know more about the claimed new species of Grimm. There are disagreements among my colleagues about how much risk to accept, but not about the need to acquire it." He began, following up before Flann could speak again.

    "That's why you pushed so hard for the meeting." He gestured at the screen. "You aren't worried about them controlling us?"

    "The Anathema have amply demonstrated that they can bypass all of our defenses as well as influence incredible numbers of people. They do this while not being physically present. While we are certain that there must be some limit to this influence, we do not yet know what it is," Bartholomew sighed. That had been the latest debate between him and Peter. "There is minimal risk regarding a meeting like this, especially with proper countermeasures in place, when compared to what they may have already done to us covertly."

    "Yes, well… You Hunters did bear the brunt of their attack even if everyone else paid for your treatment, but I doubt they could hurt the entire Kingdom like that." Flann grumbled under his breath before unmuting. "Are we all prepared then?"

    Atlas: Affirmative.
    Menagerie: We should be.
    Vaccuo: Yes.

    They waited for a moment as the operators confirmed what had been said. After almost a minute, a system notification of a new connection being approved appeared and another new message appeared.

    Aincrad: Thank you for agreeing to meet with us on such short notice. Is everyone present?

    The group responded yes.

    Aincrad: Who you expect to be speaking with is obvious. We have a message from someone else first.

    That was a bit longer than Bartholomew would have expected to see a message, but not something worth cutting communication for yet.

    Aincraid: Thank you for hearing us. I am Mayor Duncan of Aincrad and I know I am not the person you are concerned with or wish to hear from right now. Please though, think about the people who have always lived here, as your neighbors, instead of only the Anathema. There are many who miss their family in the kingdoms. They have not been able to speak for months. Without your aid today, they will surely die. Please, help your brothers and sisters.

    "They couldn't have picked a more obvious emotional plea." Flann scoffed. "That's the best these monsters can do?"

    "It is possible that they're 'making a mistake' early on so that we're more likely to underestimate them later." Bartholomew drummed his fingers against the table. The Councilor had missed another potential issue, but it may have been simple luck. "However, there are more obvious mistakes that can be made as well. What do we know of the former mayor? Could those be his actual thoughts on the matter?"

    "Why would they let a man like that speak here though? You have to be right, this is meant to throw us off." He paused when another message appeared.

    Menagerie: We're sorry that this happened.
    Atlas: Thank you for your thoughts. Can we get down to business?

    "You can always trust Atlas to coldly cut right to the point." Flann took a moment, before speaking to the mic. "While the plight of your people is heard, Vale concurs with Atlas."

    Vale: We recognize Aincraid's problem. Seconding Atlas.
    Vaccuo: We are divided on some things.
    Aincrad: Very well. We need a lot of supplies and manpower due to the disaster. We're two days into rescue efforts and need them as soon as possible.

    Bartholomew leaned over to the mic. "Could you clarify exactly what occurred that now requires this much aid? You asked for as many rescue teams as you have citizens. Nothing short of the city being destroyed should require so much manpower and from all reports, your city still stands."

    It took half a minute for his question to post.

    Vale: Why do you need this much help? The city still exists.

    Bartholomew sighed and spoke again before anyone could respond. "To clarify, a Grimm attack which harmed as many people as you claim would have destroyed the city as well, and we do not see this destruction."

    Vale: Clarification. The Grimm would have destroyed the city too. We do not see this destruction.
    Vaccuo: We second this concern.

    That would work.

    Aincrad: Our people were attacked by the new classification of Grimm we provided information about. It attacked the people directly, ignoring our defenses and infrastructure.

    The thought of a sort of Grimm which could pass through walls and buildings was more than a little disconcerting, but there was no actual proof.

    Vaccuo: So you have claimed.

    "Do you believe them?" Flann had muted again. "It sounds ridiculous.

    "I have doubts…" Fewer than he would have had three months ago. Professor Ozpin had kept a great deal of knowledge from all of them, with additional questions waiting in later passages. At the very least, they finally had an explanation for why a man as volatile as Qrow Branwen was trusted over the Professor's own hand picked staff, the men and women that he had entrusted the education of Vale's next generation of Hunters to, regarding what exactly was in the vaults. He had always known about most of them and had been a sworn protector of many such secrets for nearly twenty years.

    A third missive labeled "open only after you have spoken to Qrow regarding the contents of the first two letters or upon confirmation of his death" was awaiting him at the earliest possible moment. There was another one for the Headmasters of Haven, Shade, and Atlas Academies; along with the late Professor Goodwitch(already opened), Raven Branwen(who was currently at large and unlikely to be found), and a woman by the name of Ritika Misra who he'd never heard of before. Most disturbingly, there were missives that listed "The Girl in Red" and Weiss Schnee. He would assuredly not speak of what Professor Ozpin said here, but part of him desperately wanted to know exactly why those two were so important; Or, perhaps more importantly, why he expected his successor to speak to them.

    Aincrad: The representative from Atlas can confirm their existence.

    Bartholomew frowned. The identity of who each kingdom would be sending to this meeting was supposed to be hidden. However, there was a relatively short list for who could be present from each. Worse, this meant that Atlas was, once again, holding vital information from their supposed allies.

    Atlas: A specialist has reported seeing these Grimm. Confirmation is pending.

    "Atlas…" Flann sighed.

    "Agreed."

    Another message appeared.

    Aincrad: You can also look into Glynda Goodwitch's experiments in demon summoning for more proof. The strange behavior she found was caused by these Grimm.

    "What?" Flann slammed a hand onto the table. "You knew about these already too?!"

    "No, I do not. After the reveal of Weiss Schnee as Anathema, all records that she had been involved with were sealed in case there was a hidden message that could influence those who read them." Technically, Bartholomew could open them with his current authority. Professor Ozpin had already read all of these reports in addition to having extensive meetings with Miss Schnee and the sorcery experiments in particular were sealed under his order and, despite the oversight with Miss Schnee, the man was due enough respect that they had kept to standard protocols thus far.

    Flann grumbled under his breath and went for the mic again. "Then you have been aware of these Grimm for… months?"

    Aincrad: A lot longer than that. This is Ruby. I discovered them when I was at Beacon, though we did not know what they did until I helped Professor Goodwitch.

    Before anyone could respond, another message appeared.

    Atlas: Vale's known for that long?

    "We knew of a strange effect, not what they claim." Bartholomew spoke into the mic. "Professor Goodwitch spoke about her intention regarding her experiments and dismay at their failure. That this oddity is caused by an unknown Grimm would fill the default hypothesis that for any activity which could enable humanity's flourishing we would also find a Grimm which can directly interfere with it."

    Vale: We knew of something happening. Their explanation fits what we know about Grimm.

    That was… technically correct. The leaders of each Kingdom would need their own meeting without this security to resolve it.

    Atlas: And you kept this from us?

    Flann grumbled under his breath, "As if Atlas can complain about anything."

    Bartholomew took a moment to think. There was a lot of information that Professor Ozpin did not want getting out to not only the public, but also the leaders of the Kingdoms for their own protection. Especially anything which may have caused a panic due to the number of potential unknowns surrounding it.

    Menagerie: I cannot believe Atlas or Vale would ever deny others information.
    Vaccuo: Why are you listening to them? The Anathema have no proof. A single Specialist can confirm it? Did this Specialist interact with them? Then we cannot believe their words too.
    Aincrad: We can send pictures of these new Grimm. If any Kingdom wishes to send an observer, we can also force them to appear.
    Vaccuo: How could we trust you monsters to not influence anyone sent?

    "There are known methods of testing for new influence, especially when we know exactly who and when would be going into such a risk." Bartholomew spoke into the mic. "This does not mean that Vale is committed to such an act, but there are ways to mitigate the risk."

    Vale: There are methods of detecting influence. We could plan around this. Vale has not made a decision.

    "You would risk your students?" Flann muted the mic again.

    "Saving people from the Grimm and their aftereffects is what Hunters are trained for. However, I would not send them into such danger without good reason." Bartholomew took a moment to consider. "I do not believe that we have been given a reason good enough to accept such a risk considering we seem to be able to receive this information from Atlas as well."

    "Assuming Atlas ever releases it."

    "I do not believe they would be able to keep it to themselves at this point."

    Aincrad: We can also promise that only those who wish to observe the Grimm will need to interact with any member of team RWBY.

    That was a problem. Bartholomew took a moment to consider how that statement got through. It was possible that they were utilizing text itself instead of speaking into a mic. There was no reason why the team name would have been translated like that otherwise.

    Vaccuo: Repeat. Anathema, demon who attacked us, how can we trust you?

    Flann chuckled. "Let's see how they-"

    Aincrad: You cannot.

    "What?"

    Aincrad: Do not interrupt.

    Bartholomew froze mid strike. He had almost been able to extend Antiquity's Roast and shatter the monitor, but he was too slow. He counted the ever increasing beats of his own heart. When the next message appeared, it took every ounce of self control to keep his mouth shut.

    Aincrad: Please forgive me for this, but I thought that this would be the most direct method of getting my point across. There is nothing that we can say or offer which would grant you the ability to easily trust us or assuage your fears of what we could do. You have our word about our intentions and desires; that will have to suffice. Furthermore, gracious representatives from Vaccuo, I do not believe that you understand who we are or what the current balance of power is in the same way that the representatives from Atlas and Vale do.

    Goosebumps ran up the back of Bartholomew's neck. He strained to look behind him. No other security force was coming in. No, no, leaving would not help anyone right now. The monster was on the other side of his screen.

    Flann's chair clattered to the ground as he fell. He gaped at the screen, sputtering nonsense. Frankly, Bartholomew could not blame him.

    Aincrad: You all have known that we can influence people without being present ever since Ruby left Beacon. Did you believe that was all that we were capable of? That we would not be growing? Isn't this the reason why you hunted us down, attempted to assassinate us several times, and finally laid siege in hopes of starving us to death?

    It had been a few years since he'd weathered the effects of a Trickster, but none had been like this. If Bartholomew were to draw on every ounce of strength and focus he possessed, it was likely that he could still leave before he saw anything else. Stopping it though...

    Aincrad: Did you really think that it was this sort of threat that would convince us to remove the curses placed upon Vale and Mistral? That we were afraid of you surrounding us after how many months of fighting? Perhaps you thought that we were moments away from finally being beaten, that this meeting was a plea for mercy and a ploy so that we could recover. If you did, I'm afraid that you're gravely mistaken. The reason why we're here right now is to ask for aid, Kingdom to Kingdom, because our citizens need it.

    After a moment, their next message appeared.

    Aincrad: If we really wanted to, we could have broken through your security and forced many people's hands. It isn't difficult to do so. However, we held off for the same reason that we removed the curses. There is no question of whether or not we can do something to you. It's a question of do we want to? None of us wanted to force you to stop fighting us like this. We wanted to help fight against everyone's True Enemy. Ruby, by herself, could have brought down any Kingdom if she wanted to, but she didn't. That she held back is not an act of manipulation or deceit; it's a statement of intent. It is not fair or just that the four of us have this capability. It is, however, a fact of the world and we will not make any progress by dancing around it or pretending that it is not true.

    Bartholomew agreed again, there would be no denying that capability after this.

    Aincrad: There is so much more that we can do as allies than as enemies playing at silly wargames where the victor has already been determined. How many people have died because the Atlas military has had to encircle a peaceful city that would not have acted as an enemy to any Kingdom if you had not declared us your foe? We've noticed the spies you sent, they're painfully obvious, and we even fed them information about our discoveries and defenses because we wanted this information to get to you. Not to hide messages in it in order to radicalize your own citizens, but because we believe that it would help everyone defend themselves better.

    Flann looked at him, entire body trembling. There was nothing that could be said.

    Aincrad: We will disconnect for ten minutes so that you can discuss your plans without any 'interference' and will ask to rejoin after that period. We have an offer of assistance to each of you as well. Again, this is not a payment or a threat. This is aid against all of our enemies that only we can provide, much as the main aid we are asking is help rescuing injured people that is best done by having hundreds at work. It will be offered to all kingdoms, even Mistral, regardless of your decision. Though, if our efforts have to be focused entirely on saving our own people from the effects of the Grimm, it will take longer to prepare the gifts.

    After a moment, another message appeared.

    Aincrad: Sorry about Weiss. I really didn't want this. But, the gift she talked about is five suits of my newly designed armor and the schematics to build more of it. It can be run with really weak Auras. It'll bring normal people up to about the level of Signal graduates.

    As soon as the message 'Aincrad has disconnected' appeared, Bartholomew could move again.

    "What was that? You said we would be safe! What demonic-" Flann ranted into the air.

    "Councilor, please, we do not have much time to discuss and that was, as Miss Schnee so effectively put, proving a point regarding the current balance of power and how we can no longer contain them unless they choose to be contained." Bartholomew collapsed his weapon and sat down.

    "That… That's… How did it do that? I thought you had this under control!"

    "While this is not written down anywhere, one confirmed Anathema is enough of a threat that any other work must be dropped in order to fight them. Two is a scenario where every Senior Hunter in a kingdom must come together to deal with them before they connect. We are currently dealing with not only Four Anathema who have united as a team, but also received Hunter training and have been active for longer than almost any others in history. The last time one managed something like this, he almost brought down a Kingdom."

    "T-The Arginte Scenario."

    "The very same."

    "There's nothing you can do to stop them?"

    "The time for resolving this threat was almost a year ago. For much of that year, we either did not have a confirmed Anathema or a curse prevented us from acting against them. Our actions for the past month have been nothing less than praying for a miracle."

    A ping made him look back up. That had all been over an open mic and was faithfully sent word for word.

    Atlas: While normally a temporary beach of security does not mean we should suspend proper protocols, it does seem ridiculous to continue in the current circumstance.
    Vaccuo: Both of you are giving up then? Delivering the world to the Anathema?
    Menagerie: I don't think they want the world. I think they simply want a place to call home. A place where they won't be hunted.

    That was unsurprising from the Menagerie for a variety of reasons.

    Vaccuo: You're going to treat them like a proper Kingdom.
    Atlas: They've claimed a ten kilometer territory that they can keep free of the Grimm. They are a Kingdom, in effect if not in name.

    "This is another piece of information that would have been important for us to know before this discussion. How did they accomplish this?" Bartholomew was thankful that his tone would not be translated.

    Atlas: We do not know for certain, but suspect that one subspecies of these new Grimm have enabled them to control all Grimm in this radius. Testing is continuing.

    "Are you kidding! You left this out too?" Flann screamed in the mic. "How dare you?!"

    Vaccuo: This is ridiculous!
    Atlas: We discovered this potential two days ago. Information regarding what occurred during the last battle is still being reviewed by High Command.

    "Do you believe that, if we used all available resources of all people of Remnant, would be able to eliminate any of them?" Bartholomew asked the question he had been dreading an answer to.

    It took Atlas a long time to respond.

    Atlas: We believe that it is possible to eliminate Weiss Schnee if an elite Specialist squad was capable of isolating her from the other three. We do not believe that achieving such isolation is possible at this time and that a direct battle with any of the others will be a loss due to their ease of escaping from a confrontation, even if they were not in control of so many Grimm.
    Vaccuo: What happened?
    Atlas: Yang Xiaolong survived a three minute barrage of our most advanced missiles. Ruby Rose defeated a battalion by herself, then slew a Behemoth Beowolf immediately afterward. Blake Belladonna has bypassed our perimeter without being caught countless times and, if prior reports remain true, the first two consider her the most dangerous of the four in battle.
    Menagerie: You attacked them again and lost.We're lucky they're even talking to us.
    Atlas: In at least the case of Xiaolong, we attacked in an ideal scenario and it did nothing.

    "Then you've doomed us all through your own incompetence and arrogance." Flann spat back in the mic. "We trusted you with our defenses in a moment of need because you were certain that victory was in reach and now you say that not only have you failed, but victory is impossible? Was it impossible back then and you simply lied to us? Maybe Mistral was right."

    Vaccuo: Well said. No, it wasn't. They need to- Did you hear what Atlas said! We'll discuss this later.

    "It is not only Atlas who has made a mistake." Bartholomew sighed. If Atlas was being truthful, and he had no reason to doubt that they were considering how much admitting to this would cost them, then some of the ancient legends that he had doubted the veracity of must also be true. He could not imagine how many would die in order to kill someone capable of such feats even if they could all be on the same battlefield. At the very least, it made his path forward simple in concept. He cleared his throat as he moved to the mic.

    "With this new information, I believe that what must be done is now clear. If the facts on the ground are that the Anathema of Aincrad are untouchable, then the world around us has shifted and we need to prepare for this new reality. Regardless of what the Kingdom of Vale does, Beacon will be sending a team to aid in saving those lives at risk and verify the truth of the new Grimm. We were the first line of defense who failed. It is our responsibility to take the first risk in resolving what comes next."

    ~~~​

    A/N: In good news, I have a new job and a lot more energy for projects because of it. I wound up having to split this one in two because of how much there wound up being.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • A sensible message actually. "In a way you can trust us, because we don't need your trust to do whatever we want to you. So if you don't trust us personally, you can at least trust that we don't want to control the world, because we would already be well on our way to doing so if that's what we wanted."

    Four anathema who've all been around for at least a year, have professional training, and work together well. If you view anathema as a threat to the world, they are probably the world's biggest threat save maybe Salem.
     
    The part with the "security/translation" protocol was very nicely done.
    It shows quite well how much of a pain such security would be to implement, how limiting it would be - and how scary it would if it failed.

    At a guess, it involves Old Realm (or an equivalent "first language of the gods" language) somewhere in the translation loop, and thus Ruby and the others could just understand it perfectly from the beginning due to being native speakers.
     
    I would assume Weiss used some Hacking skill to do the impossible things here.

    She has shown some weird and somewhat abstract abilities in that area before.
     
    &era System said:
    The part with the "security/translation" protocol was very nicely done.
    It shows quite well how much of a pain such security would be to implement, how limiting it would be - and how scary it would if it failed.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Thank you! It took me a while to figure out what they would try to do considering active memetic communication hazards. Then also how bad it would be to actually utilize.

    It actually reminded me of a conversation I had with someone in finance about how much effort it would take to actually secure computer systems and how no VP would ever go for it because of how much of a hassle it would be.

    Artemis1992 said:
    I would assume Weiss used some Hacking skill to do the impossible things here.

    She has shown some weird and somewhat abstract abilities in that area before.
    Click to expand...
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    Behold, the truth about how hacking works. And yes, she pulled off some supernatural BS.

     
    Oh yeah time to open the eyes of everybody!

    And good luck whit your new job! I hope it will continue to be good to you Graveless
     
    Book 3 Chapter 2.3
  • Threadmarks
    • Miracles of Ancient Wonder Book Three: Creation

    ~

    Chapter 2.3

    ~~~​


    Silver and green pulsed.

    A Schnee glyph had been rotating on the floor for several hours while the green line coming out of it grew taller and taller. It was the exact same sort of green as Yang's fire, which made sense considering some of that was used to feed the spell.

    Nora glanced at the time on her scroll, then went back to watching the spell. Weiss fed even more Au- Essence into it as she chanted under her breath. Nora could barely make out what was said, maybe two out of every three words and- The green light pushed again after the phase concluded. It wouldn't be long now.

    A wave of black and purple entered her peripheral vision, then vanished as soon as it had appeared. Blake appeared in the corner for a moment. Weiss, Ren, and Yang all failed to react to her appearance.

    Nora looked into her eyes and slowly exhaled. "Hi. Blake."

    Blake's eyes went wide, blinking. "You can see… Wait, oops."

    "What?" Ren asked from Nora's left. "Nora?"

    "Sorry, I forgot I had-" Blake shrugged off a spiritual cloak.

    "Holy shit!" Yang spun around hand raised. "Blake? Don't just do that!"

    "Sorry, forgot to stop shadow walking," She yawned and waved a hand. A box labeled 'dust munitions' appeared at her feet. "Just got back and-" another yawn. "Thought I'd drop this off in case you need it."

    "Weren't you supposed to stop stealing?" Ren frowned at it.

    "They left these out in the open for us to pick up and I can carry as much as a Bulkhead, so it was faster for me to grab them." Blake summoned a piece of paper from the shadows and passed it to him. It looked like some sort of formal military document.

    "I still can't believe they agreed to any of this."

    "Ruby and Weiss were confident for a reason?" Blake shrugged. "Anyway, I'm gonna go get some sleep."

    Nora nodded and then moved her focus back to Weiss. Several moments after Blake left, she realized that she should've asked what the shadow cloak actually was and why her own spell let her see through it. Nora sighed and waved away Ren's concerned look. This spell, her spell, always made her a little loopy, kind of like coming down from coffee without the being so tired she passed out.

    Another flare of silver light started stretching the green line. It twisted from side to side, like a lightning bolt, as it expanded.

    "Is that the end?" Ren tapped her on the shoulder.

    Nora stared at the light for a moment, then checked Weis' notes about the spell. "We're getting pretty close. I mean, I'm not really sure what this means-" Nora pointed to a paragraph of math full of symbols she didn't know -"but, she just finished the previous part and there's only one page left, so I think we're probably getting close?"

    "Something weird is happening," Yang said, scratching the side of her neck, "It feels like something is-"

    <"Come!"> Weiss shouted.

    A blinding light flashed as the spell completed. A flash of lightning as the tear opened to an endless sea of silver sand that vanished as soon as Nora noticed it. "Wha?"

    Only the silver glyphs remained, forming a cage of letters and light. This was it, some sort of diabolical creature was here and, if Weiss was right, Ruby's order should keep it from dissolving. So, what would it be like? Would it be a fiery green Grimm, a Beowulf who's spikes were that sickening glow Yang had? No, Weiss wanted a healer… The Grimm didn't have healers.

    "Did it work?" Ren asked as Nora tried to rub the after image of the spell out of her eyes. Nothing had appeared, did Weiss mess up?

    Something clicked a couple of times in a way that sounded like a word. <"Greetings!">

    There was nothing that could have said it and- Ren tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to the ground. A bug was sitting in the middle of Weiss' summoning circle. Some sort of giant beetle-spider that had way too many legs. Well, giant for a beetle, it was around the size of a fist. Three of its legs waved at her, even though its many eyes were focused on Weiss.

    Weiss was saying something complicated in sorcery speak that Nora was only able to catch bits and pieces of it. Some sort of a formal greeting... Introductions… Something about Plant Dust…

    "What's it saying?" Yang snapped from the side of the room. Flames flickered around her hair as it flashed.

    The beetle-thing lowered its front legs and chirped something else Nora didn't know the words of. Wait a minute… was that the bug bowing? Could bugs bow?

    "You would be very annoyed by the title it gave you, but it means to be respectful," Weiss said to Yang. "This is Periwinkle Diver of Mash and Brine. Yes, that is his name and his shell looks olive to me as well."

    Nora closed her mouth and nodded. That was one of the first things she was going to ask about besides the questions they were supposed to be asking.

    "Can it heal people?" Ren was on the balls of his feet with his hands on his weapons.

    Weiss turned to the beetle, no wait Periwinkle, and continued talking. After a short back and forth, she looked at Ren. "He calls himself a garbage collector, but claims that he can easily manipulate flesh to heal it."

    "Do you trust it?" Yang sounded like she was barely able to stop herself from smashing, but hadn't gotten ready to fight, like Ren. On the other hand, she could also blow up the room by tapping her heel so… Maybe she didn't need to.

    "I trust that he thinks that he can." Weiss took a moment to chant again. Two more glyphs appeared, before they all vanished "I've bound him to myself with the spell and now we'll test his capabilities. If that doesn't work, you can do the honors."

    "Test? How?"

    Weiss picked a knife off of the table of sorcery tools and tossed it to Yang. "Slice my arm open. If he can't fix the wound, Ruby will."

    Yang held her eyes closed and took a deep breath. "It's so fucked up that you're right about that."

    Nora and Ren both nodded.

    "Well.. here goes." Yang took the knife and cut a gash across Weiss' arm.

    "Ahh, "Weiss took a look at it, "Yang… You need to go deeper. I could heal this myself."

    "I-" Yang hissed through her teeth and cut once more. Deep enough that Weiss' fingers went slack.

    Weiss shouted, then held her arm out to the demon. <"Show me.">

    The demon jumped at her hand and… dove into it. A large lump moved up Weiss's arm to where the cut was with small insect arms occasionally poking out through her skin.

    "Ehhh," Nora shuddered and looked away, then back. She was supposed to watch this carefully. "Does that hurt?"

    "It is-" Weiss flinched. "It's very odd, but it doesn't hurt more than anything else li- owww -like this would."

    As the bump moved up her arm, the arms started twitching and moving through her skin. Inch by inch the open cut was closing. Nora's left eye twitched as its legs popped free, leaving a ripple, then started massaging the skin back together. Well, massage? No… Stitch? Also no… Zipper? Oh, yeah it was like it turned her skin into a zipper.

    Ren was making a face like the last time Nora was in charge of cooking and mixed up salt and sugar. Hmm, normally Nora probably would've done the same, but nothing felt like all that much when she was like this.

    After not even a minute, the bug popped back out. <"Complete.">

    Weiss pinched her skin and flexed her fingers. She rotated her wrist back and forth. "It feels completely healed."

    She grabbed her sword and went through a few practice motions. They were as smooth as always. With a glance at Ren, she asked, "Satisfied?"

    Ren scowled at the bug, "What payment does it want for this?"

    After another flurry of negotiations, Weiss said, "Technically, nothing. He's bound to my will for a year and a day. However, he would like to eat our 'bone beer mash' if it's available because he does need sustenance, but would accept normal beer or whiskey if it's available."

    Yang held in a laugh, badly pretending to cough. "Bone beer?"

    "Beer made from the bones of demons," Weiss said flatly, "I informed him that we have the remnants of regular beer if he wants that and we have no other use for it. Along with the 'snacks' that you keep around."

    Yang pursed her lips into a frown and popped a bright red berry into her mouth.

    "Anyway. How often can he heal?" Ren gestured at Weiss' arm.

    "It doesn't cost him anything. He can continue until he needs to sleep."

    Yang whistles softly. Ren looked right into Nora's eyes.

    She nodded. "Everything she's said is true to her understanding."

    ~~~

    The Bulkhead shifted as it landed. One breath in, one breath out.

    "Alright guys, you know why we're here. They have a plan to get people out and only the Headmaster is going to see them." Jaune addressed not only his team, but the others who assembled. "My old team told me that none of you should be at risk and Doctor Oobleck's already been exposed so we're handling this without him."

    "As if we can trust traito-" Topaz whispered before Skye and Dove elbowed her.

    "We wouldn't be here if he didn't think it was safe. Besides, we've all seen Anathema already, we know what it feels like, right?" Jaune looked right at Topaz, flinching slightly. The Anathema in Beacon had already taken so many lives with her escape attempts. Everyone had been hurt, but they were still here. "If they do anything to any of us, we'll know and we can tell everyone that they can't be trusted."

    She nodded and looked away.

    Jaune grabbed Skye's hand and gave it a little squeeze. Why was he the one in charge of this ship? It should've been her, but she was… It was his old team. If anything was off, he'd be able to tell best? Right?

    Not that he managed to notice all of the oddities before or anything.

    No, no. None of that today. There were going to be so many people in need of help. In need of someone from outside caring about them even a little bit. He had to be strong for them.

    The descent was smooth. Soon enough, the back ramp opened into... a perfectly normal city? Jaune stepped out first and looked around, besides the damaged buildings it looked actually really ni- he spotted the black metal trees with lightning jumping between the branches. They covered a lot of the city and… He wasn't sure if that looked cool or creepy. Probably both.

    The other Bulkheads finished landing when he caught sight of his old team.

    Pyrrha looked the same as always, but there was just something… more. An energy that he couldn't quite see, but whenever he blinked, he could feel the pulse of something around her. She was pointing off to the side and Ren followed the direction with a frown. Someone enormous with black win- Yang, that was Yang.

    Green fire, harsher than staring into the sun.

    Tears of oil streaming down her cheeks.

    Yang's face melting.

    The demon revealed its stony skin, blood eyes, and hair so black it looked flat.

    The slaughter of-

    "Jaune!" Ren shouted and shook him. When did Ren get there?

    "Ren! Right, right…" Jaune started looking back in that direction and stopped himself.

    "Are you alright?" Nora and Pyrrha were right behind him. The circles under their eyes were so dark he could've mistaken them for shiners.

    "I will be. It's just… bad memories." Did that count as influencing them? He glanced back, no one else had reacted. Just him then… that was fine. Ren and Nora had been dealing with this for a month now and Pyrrha's always been the strongest person he knew. He'd be able to deal with it for a couple of days, from a distance. Smiling back at them, he said, "It's been a bit. How're you guys-"

    Skye called her own team to order. There'd be time to catch up later, right now they were needed.

    "Dove, Russel, Shelly: over here." Jaune called. They fell in behind him. Nora went over to Skye while Pyrrha went to Coco. Various people who he didn't recognize were waiting for the other teams from Beacon.

    "We've tried to make this as quick as possible." Ren held up his scroll and turned it to them. "After you connect to the local tower, you'll be prompted to download a map of the city with different zones drawn on it. You'll be sent to them by the ground team. The ground team's frequency is…"

    Jaune glanced skyward as the download ran. Doctor Oobleck's transport slowed down. That must be where the hospital was… where he'd be meeting with her. The Girl in Red… No, Ruby.. Her name was Ruby. That much he remembered.

    He knew from a note saved in his scroll that she had been there the whole time. That she wanted to help. But putting a face to the person was hard, even after he reviewed it. Blake wrote it. Blake, who he only had good memories of.

    Airships bearing the flag of the Menagerie arrived. What did they think of her? A Faunus who was openly Anathema. Even if she wasn't one of the terrifying ones, that still had to sting. They were here though.

    "If you need anything large destroyed to get to someone, relay that to dissipated and vacate the area. Yang will be inbound as soon as she has time and you're clear." Ren snapped his scroll closed. "Any questions?"

    Jaune shook his head; they had work to do.

    ~~~

    Lightning danced in the sky as green street lamps lit up all at once. The sun was setting and while none of her people would have any issues, the humans certainly would. Though, something about the way the shadows danced made her second guess what they were seeing. The shadows from the lightning and the moon were slightly different than those of the flames.

    "It's eerie."

    "What do you mean?" Their 'guide', a woman who openly wore a talisman of green flames that formed a heart, asked.

    "Your entire city. In the wake of such a disaster, I would expect there to be so much gunfire it would drown out everything else." That was truly the strangest part of the city. The complete lack of Grimm. Everyone in the Menagerie slept with the comfort of echoing shots as a lullaby. No sounds of battle meant that the Grimm had broken through and would soon be upon you. "Also, you have no one to man a power plant, yet the lights are still on."

    "One more miracle of Lady Yang." Carmen toughed the talisman and dropped her head briefly. "She and her sister have done the impossible to channel her own power through the entire city. Her warmth not only lights the way, but also defends us."

    "That sounds… too good to be true."

    "Trust me, Ambassador, I would not be as devoted as I am if I didn't see the truth with my own eyes."

    Somehow, Kali doubted that. She'd seen just how quickly desperate people could fall into following, let alone worshiping, anyone who promised something 'better'. "Something like that always has a pri- Oh, wait."

    She'd spotted a trail slightly darker than the rest of the ground leading to a dumpster. Kali stepped close and opened it up. Bile rose in her throat at the sight. That would take a miracle alright. Those Grimm which could attack through walls ignored the 'shelter' that whoever it was attempted to take. One hand in front of the person's mouth confirmed that they were still alive. "Brann, Jasmine: we'll need to be careful with this one."

    Between the four of them, the person was gently picked up and strapped to a stretcher.

    "Carmen to dispatch. We have a critical pickup at East Forge and Chartreuse." Carmen called it in while Kali made sure they were properly secured. There wasn't anything more she could do; it would take a miracle.

    "They can really fix this?" She stared at the ground.

    "Lady Ruby made someone who was bisected by the Grimm whole again." Carmen didn't waver in her statement at all.

    Kali shivered. She'd always doubted the stories that so many Hunters told about the Anathema. They were simply too fanciful and ridiculous to be believed. The 'Silver Ancestors' that many of the more extreme Fang members worshiped were not capable of anything like -green light flickered as lightning crackled- that. And even the stories of what they would slay paled in comparison to what was claimed. She looked at the house again, it was new and… impossible. It was as if the structure was carved out of a single block of smooth stone.

    "Lady Yang grew every house on this street when they needed to re-route it." Carmen answered the unasked question. "We renamed the streets that she'd done so after various shades of green."

    "This city is eerie; everything about it is impossible." Kali looked at her hands, covered in dirt and blood from all of the work. Then back to the wall.

    "Thank you for helping us, Ambassador."

    She shrugged. "We all have to get our hands dirty when a crisis arrives."

    "That's not what I meant."

    "We know what it's like to be demonized by everyone else and just want a home of your own," Kali said. So much running, so much fighting. "Besides, my daughter's here."

    "Oh…" Carmen pursed her lips, tightening up. "I'm sorry."

    "Don't be, she's a strong girl. I know she'll be fine."

    Kali looked back at the house. Blake had always been a strong girl, but… who was she now? What had she done with power like that?

    ~~~​

    A/N: It's been a year. I wanted to get this finished a lot earlier, but it sat in a mostly done state that was rough to think about.

    I'm not super satisfied with some parts still, but got it ready before the year ticks over and I doubt it's going to get easier for some time. Luckily, I'll be able to focus on other scenes instead because a lot of my inspiration and ability to spew words onto a page has finally returned.

    Happy new year all!
     
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    • It's back.

    I like the switch from the normalised perspectives of Nora and the foursome to some people seeing it all with fresh eyes, and finding it quite creepy. And cool. Oh, this is cool.
     
    Sesseljae are always adorable, so I'm always happy to see one summoned. I'm also looking forward to Kali meeting Blake. This is the first time we'll see the reaction of a family member who didn't already have extremely strong, well-defined feelings on the subject of anathema -- Tai thought exalts were demons, and Qrow and Winter knew they weren't but still came with the expectation that they would need to be put down at some point. Kali, it seems, has a tentative sympathy for anyone who's an outcast and an awareness that she doesn't have a lot of actual, concrete, trustworthy information, so we'll get to see her making up her mind in real time.

    I'm also hoping for hugs. Canon Blake already needed hugs badly enough before you add in the whole "turning into an undead Abyssal threat to all Creation" thing.
     
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