Over the Cosmogonic Abyss (FNAF/RWBY)

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Henry Emily's trap fails. William Afton finds a way to escape yet again, this time to a new world, one where he plans to inflict more evil with the aid of its darkest forces.

But his first victim, Charlie Emily has followed him. And she has no intention of allowing him to prey on more innocents. But with the stakes so high, can she hold back the tide with her newfound friends? Or will she, and all Remnant, be overwhelmed?
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Prologue
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    • WindUpRobot

    WindUpRobot

    Souls. From the lowliest insect crawling on the grass to Man with its towering civilizations, all creatures great and small possess a soul. It is what makes us who we are, gives us an identity beyond our mortal shells and offers the promise of a new life when our time on this plane is over. In this world, the world of Remnant, Man has learnt to use their souls as both swords and shields against the unforgiving and unrelenting darkness of the Grimm.

    But our story does not begin in this world.

    It begins in another. In, of all places, a pizzeria. If all was good and just in the universe, this is also where our story should have ended, as a great festering wound would finally be cleansed in flame, and the evil of a Man who used his knowledge of souls to spread terror and misery unto the most innocent would finally be undone.

    But if there is one thing I have learned, it is that the universe is neither good nor just, as you shall soon see for yourself…
    "This ends. For all of us. End communication"
    The sharp, blaring note that followed her father's final words rang in Charlie's ears. Or rather, in Lefty's, since she had had no ears to truly call her own in almost half a century. The thud of metal on metal echoed through the vents as the flames licked her borrowed body, scorching through the black plastic shell of Lefty and exposing the slender frame of the Puppet. Though she had been shackled into Lefty (and she would have words with her father about that), the Puppet was her oldest prison, her true prison. But soon she would be free. They all would. She could hardly comprehend it, the very idea that her torment and her duty to those who suffered alongside her could end, now would end. She could rest, and let the fire free her soul…
    Her reverie was interrupted by raspy, cackling laughter. She knew exactly whose it was. How couldn't she, when it was the voice that haunted her as much she haunted this damn robot? The man she once called Uncle Billy, who joked and laughed with her and her father, who saw her alone and vulnerable, flashed her a bright smile, and slit her throat and left her to choke on her blood in the pouring rain. Who locked her in her cursed cell and threw away the key.

    William Afton

    She knew his voice. She always, always would. But why was he laughing now? Her father had said it himself. The darkest pit of Hell lay open, just for him. His years of cheating death, of escaping justice, were ending right here and right now.

    Unless… he'd found a way. To keep the devil waiting even longer.

    She didn't even want to acknowledge the possibility. The idea that when an end to all the pain and misery was finally in reach, he would slip away. All over again. Just like in Fazbear's Fright, when he somehow crawled his way out of the first fire she had tried to start. No. She would not allow that. She would not allow more innocent children to die at his hands, and wake up in a metal coffin with no lungs with which to scream. Never again.
    She slipped her Puppet body out of Lefty's burnt carcass, felt false sensation returning to familiar spindly limbs, and dragged herself slowly through the open vents. On her way, she passed the charred remains of Circus Baby, of Elizabeth. Her old playmate, with whom she shared her dolls, had tea parties and… tried to stop her from pulling the wings off flies. There was a reason why she was William's favorite child. Charlie reflected. I'd been too innocent to see it.
    There was no more time for old memories. She'd caught up to William, and could see him through the open vent to the next room, his rotted skeleton in full view as the fire had burnt away his old costume. As her soul started to slip free of its bindings, she noticed his too, was leaving this world. But, it was all wrong. She didn't know how she knew this, she could just see it. He was somehow fighting the pull down to his eternal punishment and giggling all the while. The torn and ragged shape of his soul turned to face her, having seen her own soul float through the vent.

    Come to watch your failure? He asked, his voice no less smug and menacing for being delivered from an incorporeal form. Did I not tell you? Tell Michael? I always come back! His laugh returned in full force as he started to slip free from the mortal world, his destination unknown but certainly not down where he belonged.
    She knew she only had a short window of time, she could feel the constraints of the physical world start to slip away as much for her as for William. Fortunately, that worked to her advantage, giving her enough time for one last goodbye. She had parted ways well enough with Michael during her, their last attempt at ridding the world of his father, and there was no need to retread that ground. No. It was time to say goodbye to her father.

    His soul hadn't traveled far from his corpse, almost certainly lingering for her benefit. With the boundaries of physics no longer much mattering to her, it was easy to travel to the scorched office room. Daddy, she began, the word sounding so painfully alien. She had not been a child for decades. I can't go with you. I'm sorry. He's going to escape again, and I, I can't let him. I'll never forgive myself, no matter what's waiting for me. Her father simply sighed, and she was overwhelmed by the swirling mixture of love and sorrow that radiated from his soul. I know, he simply replied. Wherever you go, when you follow him, remember that I love you, will always love you, and I am so very proud of you. Not for the first time, Charlie's anger at William swelled once more, for robbing her of the ability to cry, to truly show and share her emotions. I love you too, she replied. We'll see each other again. I promise. And with that, she left, not looking back for fear that she would change her mind. She steeled herself. I have to do this, she told herself, so that no one else ever has to.

    And with that, she launched herself into the sky and latched herself onto William's twisted soul as it departed the mortal plane, ignoring his threats and ravings, and followed him into the unknown.
    And that is where our story begins. With a fresh failure of cosmic justice, made all the more agonising by how close it came to success. But no matter how hard his victims fight, no matter the ingenuity of their traps, the same thing seems to happen over and over again.

    He will come back. He     always does.

    This time, however,

    I have a place for him.

    A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome to Over the Cosmogonic Abyss! This is my very first fanfic, the idea for which has been bouncing around in my head for a very long time, so if you have any questions or if something is unclear, feel free to ask!
     
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    • Chapter 1
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    • High above the mortal realm of Remnant, two brothers observed their creation.

    Their failed experiment had somehow persisted long after their departure, surprising both of them. But without divine guidance, without the sacred art of magic, it was stagnant. Simply persisting, with same small statelets clinging to their bastions of safety while Darkness' creations ravaged everywhere else.

    The Brothers' musings on their failed creation were interrupted when two souls came hurtling out of the astral plane. One was unnaturally twisted and gnarled, repulsive for even divine beings to observe. The other was battered and yet shined so brightly. Not small, not innocent, but enduring in the face of all odds.

    'Perhaps', they thought, 'This is what we have been waiting for. An end to the deadlock'. And so it was decided. Here and now, in this era, Remnant would either prove itself worthy of divine grace, or be cast down as an irredeemable failure.

    And so, they reached out…
    Sensation was slowly returning to Charlie. By the time they had really started to accelerate away from the mortal world, all her perception had been stripped away. Even William's colorful threats of torture and death had been drowned out by the overwhelming light that enveloped her. When hazy sight returned, she found herself in front of a great window, with a view of a great winding path lined with banners. But the view was not what caught her attention. It was her reflection in the glass.

    "I'm… human?" She whispered. With vocal chords. Breathed with real lungs. Not the phantom pains that tormented her during her time as the Puppet, but real, true sensation. She felt heady, the sensory overload making her feel faint. She took a deep breath, and concentrated on what she could see of herself. She looked much the same as she had in life. Long brown hair, round face, rosy cheeks and all.

    But… it wasn't quite right. First, she was dressed in a very familiar outfit. It was as if someone made the Puppet's body into a Halloween costume, a bizarre mockery of her former prison. And yet, despite the horrible memories, it felt right. Like it belonged there. Whether she liked it or not, Charlie realized, the Puppet was as much part of her as she had been part of it.

    And if her clothes didn't prove that, her eyes certainly did.

    They were a bright, viridian green that they had never been in life. Her eyes were brown. Like her mother's, her father would say. The only time she remembered green eyes was… was…

    When the Puppet searched for her, for her bracelet pinging uselessly in the back alley, and found her too late to SAVEHER…

    Charlie blinked, taken aback. She was no stranger to that memory, but she had never seen it through the Puppet's eyes. Clearly, whatever happened to her had merged the two together, her new body being the product of her short life and long unlife being married together in unholy union. "Who could have done this?" She whispered to herself, still unused to the sound of her own voice. "How can this be?"

    Her musing was interrupted by a short cough from behind her, and she almost jumped out of her newfound skin. When she turned, she saw a tall, thin man standing in the doorway of the room.

    "I apologize. I did not mean to startle you. I simply thought I could offer you some clarity", the man said, his voice kindly and soft. "And perhaps you could offer some to me. After all, it's not every day a little girl appears in my office in a blinding flash of… light". Charlie noted how his voice seemed to drag over the last word, but was more occupied by his previous comment. 'Little girl?' she thought, 'But I… my soul has…'. But a glance in the window confirmed it. She'd overlooked it before, too distracted by the sheer notion of having a body again, but it was definitely true. If she had to guess, she was eight. The same age she was when she had died. Been murdered. 'But why?' she thought. Another question added to the ever-growing pile.

    The man chuckled slightly and entered the room properly. His hair was grey, unnaturally so given his apparent age, and that and his clothes and demeanor seemed carefully crafted to create the appearance of a kindly mentor. "I understand you might be somewhat shy, so I'll start by introducing myself. My name is Professor Ozpin. I'm the Headmaster of Beacon Academy. The room you're currently in is my office".

    Charlie processed this information. She now had confirmation that this wasn't Earth, but where was it? How had she gotten here, of all places? She chose to respond in kind, in the hope that more answers would be forthcoming.

    "I'm… Charlotte. Charlotte Emily. But call me Charlie" she replied, her voice sounding high and girlish to her ears. Unsurprising, given her apparent age, but it would still take quite some getting used to.

    "It's nice to meet you, Miss Emily" Ozpin replied. "How about this? I will answer any questions you may have, and in return, you can answer mine. Is that agreeable to you?" He asked. Charlie simply nodded, and they began to talk…

    Ozpin leaned against his cane. Miss Emily's harrowing tale of her ordeal, her seemingly endless struggle against her murderer had struck a chord with him. How couldn't it? It was so painfully familiar, after all. The sensation of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the hopeless feeling of watching more innocents, more people who had full lives ahead of them, lose their lives and achieve nothing with their sacrifice. He understood those feelings far better than most.

    In return, he told her of Remnant, the four kingdoms, of the Grimm and the Huntsmen that fought against them. He even told her a little of his great adversary, the woman behind the enemies of humanity. Normally, he would not be quite so free with such information, but this was a special case. If the God of Light was responsible for bringing Miss Emily here… then his brother had almost certainly sent Afton to her. She had a right to know something of his foe, when she had told him so much of hers. Especially as they would almost certainly be aligned, a thought he most certainly did not relish.

    "Thank you, Miss Emily. I know that couldn't have been easy for you." he said. He could see tears welling in her eyes. A mixture of horrible memories combined with unfamiliarity with compassion. He had lived so long, in so many bodies, but scarcely imagine the horror of being trapped in a machine for a madman's sick pleasure. She deserved to feel safe, to feel protected after spending so long in torment.

    "There is one more thing I would like to do, if you trust me enough." He began. "Do you remember when I told you of Aura?" He asked, continuing after her watery nod. "I can unlock it for you. This world is a dangerous place. More dangerous, if our adversaries are allied. And I would certainly feel better if I knew you were protected". Charlie met his eyes, brown meeting glowing green. "Do it" she simply said. Ozpin nodded, and placed a hand on her chest, near one of the buttons on her chest. He almost reeled as he felt her soul. It was bruised, in a way he had never seen before, but so very bright. A true testament to her struggle. Shaking himself, he began the sacred mantra.

    "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee".

    He felt a familiar pulse, and watched as Charlie was enveloped in a green glow that matched her eyes. She had a large aura despite the condition of her soul, almost certainly what allowed her to survive her ordeal with her sanity intact. Charlie's eyes fluttered and she breathed. "Wow…" she whispered.

    Ozpin simply chuckled, pleased to see her feeling happier. "I'm glad you approve. Now, if you would like to accompany me, a nice meal awaits the both of us. It has been a long time since you've eaten, after all". Charlie laughed, still awed by the joyous feeling of her newly awakened soul. "As long as it isn't pizza" she giggled, and followed him out of his office.
     
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    • Chapter 2 (William Interlude 1)
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    • When William awoke, shaking off the shadows that wrapped around his soul, the first feeling he was aware of was blinding anger. How dare she? The brat had followed him! Ridden on the coattails of his glorious achievement! He had spent decades mastering the science of the soul, had defeated death, defeated the fires of Hell and he couldn't get rid of one damned girl! She was like a cockroach, William seethed, a miserable wretched little creature that he could not stamp out. Oh, but when he caught up to her he was really going to make her scream. She would beg for death by the time he –

    "Who are you? It has been quite some time since I have encountered a disembodied soul. Those magics have been long lost. You can't be one of Ozma's little soldiers, no. You are much too twisted for that. You are almost painful to look at. I'd be very surprised if you could even generate aura."

    The voice belonged to a woman, sitting on a warped throne beneath a dark red sky. It was calm, patient but beneath that lay a faint note of surprise. She was pale as death, with red eyes that glowed faintly in the darkness. Her face and arms were marred by thick purple veins, and she was wearing a long black robe that exuded both femininity and strength. She reminded William of his own wife. Or ex-wife, rather. She had had an alluring, ethereal beauty that he had tried and failed to fully capture when he created Ballora. Despite himself, he was intrigued, but there was one thing he had to make clear.

    Magics? He scoffed, the sneer in his voice coming through perfectly despite his lack of a mouth, What childish nonsense. My studies of the soul were rigorous and scientific. Only through endless experimentation was I able to achieve my mastery of its workings. I mastered death through my own will, not with pathetic shortcuts. He spat the last words. Ignorance was no excuse. He would not see his grand achievements devalued by some petty witch.

    The woman simply raised an eyebrow, unruffled. "It seems you do not fully understand where you are, or who I am. Allow me to enlighten you. I am Salem, Queen of the Grimm. And this is my domain. So I would advise you to watch your tone. The art of shredding souls may be lost to Man, but not to me". She hadn't raised her voice at all, but the command, the authority, the unmistakable power in her words was clear. He forced himself into calmness, setting the wretched girl to one side. There was an enticing opportunity here, and he could not risk his temper getting in the way.

    Forgive my disrespect, your majesty. He began. I am simply… irritated by an unforeseen complication. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is William Afton. I was a mechanical engineer, but late in my life I found my… true passions. Namely, the desecration of foolish innocence, and the mastery of the soul. It had been a while since he'd had to use his charm, and this was far different from goading brats into the back room. But if it worked… the rewards could potentially be immense. I wonder if you could perhaps further clarify where I am?

    Salem appeared visibly unmoved, but acquiesced. "Very well. This world is known as Remnant, named such after its gods neglected and abandoned it." Remnant… William chuckled. "Does the piteous state of this world amuse you, Mr. Afton?", Salem challenged, her words dripping with contempt. No, no your majesty. It is simply an amusing coincidence. William hurriedly backpedaled. You see, remnant was my name for my means of mastering the soul. A chemical formula that could bind souls to objects, force it to possess them and linger long after death. It allowed me to escape my demise and… extend my punishment of the unworthy.

    "How… interesting. You may potentially be of some use after all. You did mention a… complication when you introduced yourself. I could feel your rage as you mentioned it. The Grimm are drawn to it, you see. And as their Queen, I am aware of all of them".     Salem said, as she stood up from her throne. "I too have been dealing with a… persistent annoyance. Perhaps we can assist one another."

    This was exactly the result William had been hoping for. But first, it wouldn't hurt to clarify what exactly he would gain access to, the power that awaited him, whilst simultaneously indulging her passion as she had his. That does indeed sound beneficial, your majesty. He said, but if I may ask, what exactly are these 'Grimm' of which you speak? At this, Salem gave a small smile. It had been a long time since William had spoken to someone so likeminded. Henry may have been a bore and a perfect victim, but his enthusiasm for his work on the robots had at the very least made him an entertaining conversationalist. "How about I show you? A small taste of what may come your way, should you choose to accept my offer." She led him down a set of steps carved into the side of the mountain, and William floated down alongside her.
    Eventually, they arrived at a swirling pool of black ichor in the ground. "This is where the Grimm are made." Salem said, still calmly but with a hint of eagerness. "I design them myself, shape them into the monsters that so torment Man. Superficially, it is easy. You simply harness your hatred and anger, mould it into a shape and watch as it spawns from the pit. But such feelings are typically… raw. Volatile. It is difficult to shape them into the concrete form of a creature instead of simply a swirling, raging mass" The process reminded William much of designing the Funtime animatronics, specifically their more… non-traditional design features. Striking the right balance between the dream of the perfect killing machine and the constraints of practical reality had been difficult at first, but became much easier after extensive practice. They were his greatest works, in his view, and seeing what became of them in Henry's little trap had been simply fascinating. The reminiscence made William all the more eager to begin sculpting with this new medium. But what should his first work be?

    Ah, of course. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

    Do you mind if I try something? William asked. Salem nodded, and took a step back. William floated into the very center of the pool and dove in, beginning to draw the ichor around his soul. It was so very different to working with metal and wires, which were inert until brought to life with electricity and captured souls. It contained, was made from pure malice and hatred, and William relished in the feeling as he sculpted it into a new body for himself.

    When he stepped out of the pool again, it was in familiar leporine form. Tall ears. Large, shining purple eyes. A broad, lazy grin with just the right amount of killing intent in the smile. And the finishing touch, a bony armored facsimile of Spring Bonnie's jacket, emblazoned with purple stars. He turned to Salem, who seemed torn between confusion at his peculiar form and almost awed at the easy skill with which he manipulated the Grimm ichor.

    "I assure you, your majesty, it's still me," William chuckled, his voice even more dark and rasping than it had ever been either in life or unlife. "Forgive me for indulging in some… nostalgia". He turned back to face the pool and began once more drawing the tar-like substance into his hands.

    "Now, shall we begin?" he asked, and his cackles could be heard far into the dark plains of the Grimmlands.
     
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    • Chapter 3
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    • "And you've finished all of your homework?"

    "Yes, Miss Goodwitch" Charlie replied.

    "Very well. You may observe the initiation and greet the incoming students. But don't disrupt the tests later on." Goodwitch said simply. Charlie thanked her, stood up and ambled out of the classroom into the corridor. It had been about a month since she'd arrived in Remnant, and had more or less settled into a comfortable routine. Not long after she arrived, Ozpin had pulled strings to have records created for her. As far as most knew, Charlie Emily was an orphan from a destroyed frontier town outside Vale, who'd been taken in by Glynda Goodwitch after she found her on a mission, and as such lived on premises at Beacon Academy. The story had been carefully crafted to be as vague as possible while not being overly suspicious, and most of Charlie's time had been spent in a crash course on Remnant's history and culture to make her cover as watertight as possible.

    It was… nice, something that was deeply unfamiliar to Charlie after nearly half a century spent as a ghost in a machine. Sure, it was mundane and somewhat boring at times, but after what she'd been through it was exceptionally pleasant. While Charlie was much, much older than her body appeared, that time had mostly been spent in stagnant agony and as such, it was nice to feel human. To be taken care of. She'd missed it. Miss Goodwitch herself was part of that. While outwardly stern and humorless, she was really kind and patient, at least to her. Charlie's own mother had died giving birth to her, and her father had drowned his grief in machines, so it was perhaps unsurprising that Goodwitch's role as her adoptive parent was slowly becoming more than just a legal fiction to Charlie.

    As she wandered, she quickly tapped into her connection to Ozpin. He was still working on the finishing touches to his speech for the initiation ceremony, so she decided to leave him to it. Of all the changes to her life, the discovery of her Semblance a few weeks after Ozpin unlocked her Aura was by far the greatest. If she touched someone, she could form a bond with them that allowed her to find where they were and, if she really concentrated, see through their eyes. She'd been told that her eye color changed whenever she used it, with each color corresponding to a different person. It didn't take a genius to figure out that her power came from whatever was left of the Puppet after her soul had been cut free of it by the fire, but she certainly wasn't complaining. It would be useful for the trials ahead, even if her physical age prevented her from being trained for combat as a Huntsman.

    Ozpin had certainly agreed. Not long after her discovery, he'd drawn up some instructions for her for "when the time was right", whatever that meant. And there was also that time just a couple of weeks ago…
    "But… there are some people here who would like to meet you." Miss Goodwitch had said. That was their cue. Charlie trailed after Ozpin into the small interrogation room. She went and stood on the opposite side to Goodwitch, and waited.

    "Ruby Rose…" Ozpin said, leaning into the somewhat discomforted young girl at the other side of the table, "You… have silver eyes". What followed was a brief and slightly awkward conversation as Ruby nattered on enthusiastically in response to Ozpin's delicately probing questions.

    Eventually, Ozpin asked "Do you know who we are?"

    "You're Professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster at Beacon. But… I don't know who she is…" Ruby replied, indicating Charlie

    "Ah, my apologies" Ozpin began "This is Charlie Emily. She is Professor Goodwitch's ward. She originally came to check on her mother, but I thought you might be less intimidated with a friendlier face in the room" Ozpin ignored the glare Glynda shot him at that last remark, and Charlie stepped forward.

    "It's nice to meet you, Ruby!" Charlie said, making her voice as bubbly and girly as possible, and held out her hand. Ruby quickly shook off her initial shyness and shook enthusiastically

    "It's nice to meet you too! I love your eyes! They're so cool!" Ruby babbled excitedly, clearly eager at the prospect of making a new friend. Charlie simply smiled as she felt the familiar jolt of her semblance forming a bond. She'd test it once Ruby was out of the room, to make sure. Ozpin had stressed the importance of this meeting to her many a time before it happened.

    They made a little more small talk, after which Ozpin made Ruby the offer to join Beacon to which she enthusiastically agreed, exactly as planned. When Ruby departed, eager to share the good news with her family, Charlie quickly tapped the connection. Immediately, she saw Ruby running through the street and babbling to herself, and gave Ozpin a thumbs up.

    "Well done, Charlie. You've made a new friend, and I have a new student". He chuckled slightly. "Today has been a good day for us both". Before he could turn to leave, Charlie quickly asked "Professor? What's important about silver eyes? Is that why you had me do this?"

    "You'll find out in due time" Ozpin simply replied, again ignoring a withering glare from Goodwitch. "All that matters for now is that I simply wish for you to help keep an honest soul safe from harm"
    Charlie shook herself out of the memory as she arrived near the ballroom. She knew that Ozpin kept secrets. Indeed, she was privy to one of them, the existence of the adversary that stood behind the Grimm, with whom William was almost certainly in concert. It still rankled her slightly that she didn't appear to have his full trust. It wasn't like she would ever switch sides! Miss Goodwitch had told her that Ozpin had good reasons for keeping his secrets, but Charlie could tell from her exasperated tone that she didn't quite believe that herself.

    Her musings were interrupted by a familiar voice. "Charlie! Charlie! Over here! Yang, come and meet Charlie!" She quickly engaged her semblance, her eyes flashing ruby red as she did, and located Ruby Rose at the other end of the hall waving madly with both arms. As she hurried over, she was almost tackled in a hug.

    "See Yang? I told you I already had a friend! Look!" Charlie was spun round to face the titular Yang, who was a head taller than Ruby and thus nearly twice Charlie's height, forcing her to look up. "And here I thought my sis was in early! Look at you! Aren't you just adorable?" Yang cooed. Charlie pouted at the babying, one of many downsides of being physically eight years old, which unfortunately made the problem worse. Luckily, Ruby intervened. "Yaaaang! Stop embarrassing my friend! You can't tell me to make friends and then scare them away!" She turned to Charlie. "Sorry about that! This is my big sister, Yang Xiao Long! She's not always like this, I promise!"

    "It's okay. It's nice to meet you. I'm Professor Goodwitch's daughter. I'll answer any questions you have about Beacon!" Charlie said, eager to redirect the conversation. "Inside information, huh? You shoulda told me you made these connections, Rubes!" Yang laughed while she rubbed her sister's hair. "Okay, I'll bite. Any hints about initiation?" she asked. Charlie sighed. "Sorry, I can't say anything about that. I'll wish you luck though!" Truthfully, she would have liked to give Ruby something, but then Ruby would tell Yang and Yang looked as though she'd tell everyone, and Miss Goodwitch would have a conniption if she found out it was Charlie's fault.

    "Bah. Little teacher's pet. Oh well, we're gonna knock em dead anyway, right sis?" Yang said, grinning. "Yeah…!" replied Ruby, sounding slightly less confident. Before Charlie could reply, the announcement came for the start of the written exam. "Urghh, good to get the boring part done first at least. See you later, Charlie! Nice meetin' you! Come on Rubes!" Yang bade Charlie farewell as she and her sister headed off for their tests. As they, Charlie smiled and steeled herself, promising that no matter what, William Afton was coming nowhere near her newfound friends.

    Later on, when preparations were finished for the practical portion of the initiation, Charlie joined Ozpin and Miss Goodwitch on the cliff above the Emerald Forest. She distinctly remembered being slightly concerned when the launchers were first installed, but Ozpin simply told her that anyone who couldn't land safely didn't belong in Beacon anyway. He was joking, she thought. She certainly hoped so…

    After Ozpin made the perilous dangers of the forest extremely clear, and proceeded to fling the poor students into it, she followed him and Miss Goodwitch up to the tower, from which the test would be monitored. "Now", Ozpin said to her with a slight smile "We shall see what our prospective students make of themselves…"
    "Wait! Where are you going?!" Ruby hurried through the forest after Weiss, who was her partner! Why was she running away? "We're supposed to be teammates..."

    Weiss continued to determinedly push through the thick forest, ignoring Ruby's protests, when she was briefly distracted by a rustling from the canopy above. Before either of the two could blink, a black shape descended from the treetops, and conked Weiss square on the head.

    "Ow! What w-" Weiss was interrupted when the black shape unfurled, exposing purple eyes, pounced and began attempting to violently maul her face. "Mmmmmm! Ge-off" she shouted, voice muffled by the strange Grimm as she started flailing with Myrtenaster. "Don't worry Weiss! I'll save you!" Ruby shouted, leaping into action as one swipe of Crescent Rose skewered the Grimm, where it dissolved, impaled on the tip.

    Weiss took a couple of seconds to catch her breath and then turned on her heel to face Ruby, exposing shallow cuts on her face where the Grimm had broken her aura. "You dolt!" she yelled, angrily but also slightly shaken "You almost sliced off my face!" "Well, sorry for saving you from the weird purple Grimm thing!" Ruby yelled in reply, Weiss having managed to snap near infinite patience, and they dissolved into bickering once more.
    "Helloooooooo? Is anyone out there? Helloooo?" Yang paused in her lone wandering through the underbrush. She'd been walking for what felt like hours now. Weren't there, like, 100 students in this stupid forest? How had she found literally no one?

    "Yang?"

    She stopped. She knew that voice. "Ruby, is that you?"

    "Yang? Yang, help!"

    Oh no. Oh gods. Her little sister was in trouble. Screw a partner, she had to find Ruby and fast. "Where are you? I'm coming!" She called out

    "Over here Yang! It hurts! Help me!"

    It was even worse than she thought! She started running full tilt through the forest, not hearing the rustling in the branches. "I'm coming sis, just hold on!" She raced towards the direction she thought, she hoped Ruby was. 'I can't let her get hurt again! I can't!' Yang was in a full panic, memories of bringing Ruby to find her mother flickering through her mind.

    "Yang?"

    Yang stopped. The voice was coming from… overhead? Did she land badly? "Ruby?" Yang shouted, hoping for confirmation.

    "Yang. Yang. Yang! YANG! YANG!"

    Yang just barely had time to protect her face with her gauntlets when two purple-eyed, vulture-like Grimm descended from the nearby tree. Their talons clawed at her skin, chipping at her aura and their beaks attempted to break through to her face. 'Son-of-a… They tricked me! They used her voice! How did they… How DARE they!' She had never been so enraged so quickly. Her eyes flared a brilliant red, and she channeled all of her strength into pulverizing the Grimm in her face. "DIE!" She screamed as she blasted them, and most of the tree into ashes. She paused a little, catching her breath, when suddenly...

    " YANG! YANG! YANG! YANG! YANG! YANG!"

    More vulture Grimm things arrived, swarming around her, all of them calling with a twisted mockery of her sister's voice. "What! You all want some, too?!" she yelled before diving into them with a roar. Most managed to dodge in time, but a few were disintegrated instantly by Ember Celica. She picked herself up from her lunge, ready to whale on them all, when she heard shots ring out from behind her. Two of the Grimm died instantly, while the rest converged on the shooter.

    However, as they dived, a quick swipe of her backsword sliced off their heads, leaving only one survivor with a clipped wing. It raised its head, and called "My darling…" in a male voice before her savior beheaded it with extreme prejudice.

    Yang turned to her. It was the book girl, Blake. The one she'd first met on the path to Beacon. "You have… any idea… what the hell those were?" she asked, panting.

    "No idea." Blake replied, mostly calm yet obviously discomfited. Yang just nodded. Guess they were partners now. Hell of a way to meet. But there was one more thing she had to make clear…

    "I could've taken them".
    In the control room in Beacon Tower, the whole room was in shock. Even Ozpin, normally unflappable, looked notably alarmed at the scenes they'd seen unfold on the monitors. Everywhere, students were attacked by new, purple Grimm, all of them ambush predators. Some were seriously injured, but they had no idea how to recover them without endangering more lives. "This is… him". Charlie said, once she'd recovered her voice. "They're his". Ozpin just nodded, and twiddled his glasses nervously. "We knew that he would be with her, but I never imagined… she'd grant him such power. To create Grimm" Ozpin whispered, only just able to contain his horror. This was unprecedented in the worst way possible. Never had Salem granted a peon such power, power enough to make him an equal…

    "Ozpin! Ozpin! Look!" His catastrophizing was interrupted by Glynda, her normally severe expression replaced by one of dawning horror as she pointed at the monitors in the room. Which, one by one, began to wink out, replaced by static. This was a disaster and it had to be contained now. "Glynda! Reboot the camera system! Charlie! I need you to monitor the test!" Both nodded, Glynda hurrying out of the room and Charlie's eyes immediately flickered red.

    "Brothers forbid, if something worse arrives… we might not be able to stop it…"
    "Think this is it?" Jaune asked as he and Pyrrha arrived at the cave mouth. "It may very well be, so we should investigate" she replied, and she followed him into the cave. Jaune perked up significantly at that. He'd been feeling pretty useless after Pyrrha had pulled him out of the tree he landed in. Since then, she'd practically been babysitting him, even unlocking his Aura instead of dropping like a stone when she discovered how useless he was. Jaune was grateful to her, and it was nice to repay that, if only a little.

    Unfortunately however, their investigation had turned up nothing. Just some old paintings on the walls. "I'm not sure this is it", Pyrrha began. Jaune sighed. "Pyrrha, I made the torch. Could you at least humor me for, like, five more feet?" He really didn't want to come out empty-handed. This was literally all he'd contributed! But, of course, because the world hated him, he tripped and lost the torch.

    As he sighed and turned around, Pyrrha grabbed his arm. "Wait", she said. "Do you see that?" Jaune followed her gaze to see two glowing orange beads of light in the distance. "That's the relic!" Jaune exclaimed. He was right all along! He wasn't just dead weight! They'd be the first to arrive and…

    Wait.

    "Hey, Pyrrha? Do you hear something like… music?"
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 4
  • Threadmarks
    • "Ruby! I told you this was a terrible idea!" Weiss screamed, as yet another camouflaged, purple lizard Grimm slashed at her ankle only to be bisected by Myrtenaster. Her partner's brilliant plan had been to head for the clearing in the hopes of escaping the purple Grimm hiding in the treetops, because 'there was no way they could hide in the grass, don't be silly Weiss!'. She groaned at the memory of Ruby's insufferably high voice. Only, it turned out they could. And not only that, but all the regular Grimm were here, because of course they were. On top of the purple lizards, drop bears and mimic vultures, they'd had to cleave their way through Beowolves, Beringels and Weiss would swear she heard the screech of a Nevermore. She swore to the Brothers, if she was still alive by the end of this, she was going to throttle that dolt –

    "Arghh! Get off! Get off!"

    Weiss paused. The past hour had made her exceptionally wary of any voices she heard in the forest, as they had already had an encounter with the mimics when they lured her with Winter's voice. Not that she would ever say so out loud, but Weiss had to begrudgingly admit that she'd be a lot worse for wear without Ruby and her speed.

    "Someone help! Mrgghh!"

    Wait, she knew that voice! It was the idiot! The one who attempted to make a pass at her, as though she were some common hussy. There was no way the mimics would use his voice to bait her, as she had absolutely no intention of -

    "Weiss! We've gotta help him! Come on!" Of course. Her partner and her big, bleeding heart. "Fine" Weiss sighed. "But we are not staying long. I can see the temple in the distance, and the sooner we leave, the better." She jogged after Ruby, who was using her Semblance to dash to the scene with no consideration of whether she could keep pace, as she'd been doing almost the entire time, when they found Jaune against a tree being savaged by a… thing?

    She wasn't sure what it was. It looked almost like a teddy bear, with brown fur and a little top hat. Well, if teddy bears were given a full set of razor-sharp teeth. Additionally, parts of the fur on its chest and arms looked to be torn away, exposing… metal? Any further investigation was disrupted when Ruby hurriedly swiped her scythe at it. Somehow, it managed to dodge the blow. It turned, staring at the both of them with beady, white eyes. Weiss drew Myrtenaster into a blocking stance, fully ready for it to pounce, before it turned and ran, skittering into the forest.

    Ruby had now knelt down to tend to the idiot, who surprisingly appeared unharmed, although he appeared almost deathly pale and bug-eyed. 'He must have an… above-average amount of aura' Weiss thought, reluctant to even think anything remotely positive about the blonde fool. She begrudgingly helped Ruby pull him by his arms, but amazingly he appeared to be too thoroughly rattled to comment that his 'snow angel' had helped him. Small mercy for a very bad day, Weiss mused.

    "Oh gods, oh gods, Pyrrha. The thing, the robot… Oh, brothers…" He was shivering, appearing almost completely detached from the reality around him. "What in the world are you babbling about?" Weiss asked testily, her limited compassion for the idiot having already been exhausted. But before he could reply, two other girls emerged at a run from the opposite end of the clearing.

    "RUBY!" The blonde one screamed, and practically dived on her partner to wrap her into a tight hug. "You're okay. You're okay. Thank gods…". The other girl, presumably her partner, stood off to the side, looking somewhat uncomfortable with the intimacy of the scene. Oh, she knew who they were. The blonde was her partner's sister, while the other one was the girl who'd besmirched the good name of the Schnee Dust Company. Brilliant. What excellent company she'd found herself in.

    "Yeah, I'm fine… I guess you met the purple bird things too, huh?" Ruby said, voice muffled. Yang simply drew her tighter and began stroking her hair. Weiss felt a brief pang of envy at the sisterly bond, but shook it off. Now wasn't the time. After reintroductions were made, they all decided to head straight for the temple, with Ruby taking responsibility for the near-catatonic idiot. When they arrived, spotting the golden relics on their pedestals, they found they'd been beaten to the punch.

    "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!". Weiss hadn't thought a voice could possibly be more grating than Ruby's, but today just seemed to be full of firsts. It belonged to a ginger-haired girl with an enormous pink hammer, prancing around with a golden rook piece in her hands while her partner, a dark-haired boy, watched with thinly concealed exasperation. "Nora!" he shouted, and the girl immediately ceased dancing. "Coming, Ren!" she replied, as she skipped to stand at his side. Well, that at least saved Weiss from asking for names.

    Just then, a low, loud roar echoed around the forest, and a rustling could be heard in trees. One by one, the assembled students drew their weapons and closed ranks, ready and waiting for an attack, only to see… Pyrrha? She was running as fast as she could, weapons drawn and as soon as she arrived she tackled the idiot into a hug. "Jaune!" she yelled. "Thank the gods you're alright! I thought…". It was then Weiss realized that Pyrrha looked almost as pale as her partner. This was the Invincible Girl! And she was… running away? What exactly had they found?

    Thud. Thud. Thud. Heavy footsteps could be heard, coming from where Pyrrha had emerged. Exactly as she, heard them, Weiss felt her stomach drop. Goosebumps began to rise across her arms and legs. She could feel her knees shaking. She caught Ruby's eyes, and saw her looking much the same as Jaune and Pyrrha, bug-eyed and fearful. Everyone seemed to be… terrified. She didn't know why she was so scared. All she knew was the bone-deep certainty that something was coming, and it was to be feared.

    The thudding footsteps came closer and closer, the pit in Weiss' stomach getting proportionally deeper until finally, it emerged.

    It looked vaguely like a humanoid bear. Like a mascot from a cartoon or a sporting team. It wore a top hat and a black bow tie, creating a strange dissonance with its full mouth of razor teeth and gigantic metal claws. Three of the small bear things, like the one that attacked Jaune, protruded from its torso, cackling and gibbering. The tears in the larger creature's body were much more pronounced, exposing coiled wires and a metal frame that dripped black ichor onto the grass. It almost hurt to look at, the precise details of its appearance being warped by Weiss' overwhelming fear.

    It watched them briefly, shining orange eyes meeting each of theirs, before it took a stance, metal grinding as it did…

    And pounced.

    Weiss had just enough presence of mind to dive out of the way as the robot bear launched itself at the center of the group, screaming as it did. It managed to catch Blake and Nora, knocking them to the ground before savaging them with its claws. Yang recovered enough from her dive to launch a punch at its back, but two of the smaller bears detached themselves from it and dived for her, clamping their jaws onto her hands. Yang screamed as their teeth dug into her wrists, cleaving straight through her aura and drawing blood, as she desperately bashed them against the tree in a bid to detach them.

    "Yang!" Ruby cried, her worry for her sister temporarily overriding her fear, and she launched a spinning, Semblance-boosted attack on the bear-like machine. But it had already stood up, leaving the two girls it mauled wounded on the ground, and simply batted Ruby out of the air with a ripped paw as if she were a baseball. She crashed into one of the temple pillars head first, immediately out cold. 'Dear gods…' Weiss thought, consumed by panic and fleeing blindly into the temple, desperate to find somewhere to hide. 'I'm going to die here, We're all going to die here! Oh brothers someone, help, please! I don't want to die! I don't –'

    Suddenly, she was overcome by a wave of soothing calm. She saw that all color had drained from her body and clothes, and turned to see Ren, with his face contorted in deep concentration, and Pyrrha looking the same. "My semblance masks negative emotions," Ren explained, his voice now the epitome of collected apathy. "It seems it can counter the fear generated from this… machine monster. Now that we aren't compromised, we need to come up with a plan. Quickly". Weiss knew he was right. It was only a matter of time before the robot found them. "I have an idea" began Pyrrha. "Ren will need to stay behind cover, we can't risk losing our calm. We'll have to do this together" she continued to Weiss. Weiss nodded in agreement. "What do you propose?" she asked, a plan rapidly came together.

    When the duo emerged, the terrible machine immediately zeroed in on them, preparing for another pounce. Weiss immediately launched a glyph to pin it in place, while Pyrrha turned to a still struggling Yang and used her Semblance, the secret Semblance of the Invincible Girl, to wrench the two small bears off her hands. Loud, mechanical screeching echoed through the clearing as Pyrrha calmly crushed the metal skeletons of the small bears until they were eventually rendered inert, black, tar-like liquid oozing from their orifices as it slowly dissolved. While this was happening, Weiss fired off a series of glyphs to quickly move the unconscious Ruby, the wounded Nora and Blake as well as the dazed and bleeding Yang out of harm's way. But the larger bear monster was straining against her hold.

    "I can't hold it much longer!" Weiss screamed, her voice buckling with the strain. She could almost feel the anger of the larger robot, plastic orange eyes somehow dripping with wild malice. But before Pyrrha could deal the finishing blow, she felt overwhelming fear flood back into her mind. Ren's control of his Semblance had snapped, and to her horror she realized her's had as well, and the monstrous machine was freed...

    It stood, watched, almost glared at them, before slowly turning and retreating, leaving the mangled remains of two of its minions behind as the remaining one gibbered and raved from its position on the machine's upper torso. Weiss felt her knees give way from underneath her, and she collapsed onto the ground. 'We're alive… but at what cost?' she thought to herself, as she watched Ren and Pyrrha check on the wounded while Yang frantically fretted over her sister, ignoring her own wounds.

    'Is this what awaits us?' she wondered as the sound of a Bullhead drew near.
    Ozpin held his head in his hands. They'd managed to get most of the cameras back online, but only in time to witness the tail end of the fight with the Nightmare. An unholy union of Grimm and machine, designed in a twisted parody of a child's icon and unleashed upon his students by Afton, no doubt as a show of force. Even Charlie couldn't keep track of the fight once Ruby was knocked unconscious, her panicked, frantic narration giving way to floods of tears. Glynda had taken her out of the room to try and calm her down, and had already arranged for the students to be picked up in Bullheads as fast as possible. So far, it seemed that no one had died, thank the Brothers, and the students had acquitted themselves well against the new horrors in the forest. He, Glynda and Peter would perform a sweep after the ceremony, to make sure that the murderous robot wasn't still lurking near his school.

    He sighed. All he could do now is prepare his students as best as he could, and hope they were ready for the tide of darkness that was to follow in William Afton's wake.
    The mood of the team formation ceremony was bleak. Ozpin had praised them for their fortitude and valor in the face of the new Grimm, but it did little to improve the mood of the assembled students, many of whom were injured to varying degrees. Ruby herself had been lucky to make the ceremony, with her Aura having taken most of the blow and thankfully avoiding a concussion. Yang had been attached to her ever since, and was even now grasping her hand tightly despite the injuries she'd sustained to her arms. Ruby was frankly amazed she was pronounced as the leader of the newly formed team RWBY. Wasn't Weiss the one who helped save all their lives from the murder robot? She noticed Jaune looking similarly stunned after he was made leader of his own team.

    She also caught sight of Charlie looking her way, a mixture of fear and sadness in her eyes. Ruby's heart went out to her. It couldn't have been easy for a girl that young to watch, she thought as the audience clapped. She'd check on her as soon as she could. Right now though, she had a responsibility to the team. Her team. She may not have expected the position, but if that was what was waiting out there for them, she couldn't possibly risk letting them down.
    "There is no room for argument, Roman. The current amount is not sufficient. I trust you understand the… consequences of failure."

    Roman Torchwick slammed down his Scroll with an agitated sigh. He didn't know what the hell was up Cinder's ass, but it seemed like he was the designated outlet for it. He twiddled with his cigar. Brothers, the rate at which he was going through them now. If Cinder or her boss didn't kill him, the cancer sure as hell would. 'Would probably be a quicker death…' Roman mused grimly. The Twisted Hare hadn't been in Vale long, a few weeks at most, but he'd already gained a reputation for… toying with those who earned his ire.

    At that moment, a henchman arrived to interrupt his dark brooding, suitcase in hand. Almost certainly the haul from the hit on the fancy Dust shop on the square. "Open it." He said, simply. He didn't want to drag this out and risk the poor fucker somehow displeasing Roman's… bodyguards. He snorted internally as he counted the crystals. 'Jailors' was probably a more accurate term, sent courtesy of the Twisted Hare with no room for argument. Thank gods it was just two of them tonight, the fox and the rabbit. They all scared the shit out of Roman, and he wasn't afraid to admit it (to himself, anyway). Even with their crazy terror field turned down, their massive claws and soulless eyes were reason enough for the permanent pit in his stomach. Besides, he'd seen what they did to people unlucky enough to get in their way. Or rather, what little was left of 'em. It was amazing how much of a man they could rip away and have him still be able to scream…

    He cut off this line of thought before he threw up. Couldn't risk looking weak. The damn rabbit punished weakness as harshly as failure, and Cinder wouldn't be too pleased either if she heard about it. Roman didn't think the bastard really cared, the sick motherfucker just got off on torture and took any excuse he could get. As if sensing his displeasure at its creator, the fox-shaped death-bot gave a low, warning growl, accompanied by a vague wave of its hook hand. Roman got the message, loud and clear, and returned all of his attention to the counting. It was a good haul, one that Roman would have celebrated in the days before his… enforced employment, but it was barely a fraction of the amount Cinder demanded.

    He sighed and stubbed the cigar on the table. Didn't want to risk blowing smoke at the murder machines, lest they ripped his heart out and ate it. Or worse, somehow. The fuckers were creative. He turned to face them. "Alright. Next target's a warehouse on Sixth by the docks. Supplies most of the commercial district. Medium security." He pointed at a spot on the map on his desk, containing his shivers as they leaned over him. "You got that?" he asked. The rabbit one (Benny? Bonnie? They all had stupid names) gave a curt nod, and stomped its way out of the office. Roman waited for the fox to follow it before collapsing into the nearby chair, reaching into the desk drawer for a bottle of the strong stuff to try and block out the thought of all the poor fuckers he'd just sentenced to gory deaths.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 5
  • Threadmarks
    • "A series of Dust robberies around the city of Vale over the past days have threatened to cast a shadow over preparations for the upcoming Vytal Festival. Police believe the crimes to be connected to a recent string of violent murders, and the Vale Council has raised the possibility of a curfew from-"

    Ozpin flicked off the holographic screen, and Charlie watched him pace pensively around the room. The sheer speed with which William, or the Twisted Hare as he was now going by, had made his presence known had shocked even him. From what little he'd told her of Salem, Charlie guessed that he was more used to a subtle conflict, battles fought sub rosa while wider Remnant lumbered on unaware. But William had thrown all of that out of the window, not so much throwing down the gauntlet as reaching out and strangling people with it. Already, lessons at Beacon had stepped up to match the danger. Afton's new Grimm were categorized and analyzed, live spars were far more regular in the curriculum and within the faculty, what little footage was taken of RWBY and JNPR's battle with Nightmare Freddy had been poured over in a bid to find a reliable weakness for the murder machines, because he'd definitely made more than one. She'd swear by it. One for each member of the Fazbear gang, at minimum.

    The biggest problem was the fear field they radiated. No one had been able to work out exactly how it was generated, whether by the machine or the Grimm within. William had already demonstrated he could create Grimm with incredible, unprecedented abilities, and Charlie knew full well he was an exceptional engineer. And although it had been demonstrated that it could be countered by the right Semblance, a universal method for blocking it out still lay out of reach. Ozpin had already reached out to Atlas, hoping that their pool of researchers might help divine a solution, but who knew how long that would take…

    "There is a… small positive to the current situation." Miss Goodwitch began. Ozpin raised a brow, but motioned for her to continue. "Afton's brutality has provided us with a decisive link between the Dust robberies and Salem. We know that whatever her plan entails, it requires a huge amount of Dust, and we now know for certain she has made contacts with the criminal underworld of Vale. If we look in the right places, we could probably identify them. That's more than we had to go on before." she surmised. "Queen has pawns" Ozpin murmured, just loud enough for Charlie to hear, "and now we may be able to find them." He finished, louder. "Very well. I shall reach out to my best agent and see what he can find for us." For some reason, Miss Goodwitch sneered a little when Ozpin mentioned the 'best agent', but nodded and headed for the elevator. Charlie turned to follow but was stopped short.

    "Miss Emily, could you remain briefly? This won't take much of your time." Ozpin said. Charlie was slightly confused but turned back to face him all the same. "Thank you. I'd just like to ask you to meet me back in my office after the students go to sleep. There's a… conundrum that I believe you can help me resolve." Charlie, who was by now well used to Ozpin's cryptic vagaries, didn't bother asking questions. "Okay. I will do." She said. Ozpin thanked her, and Charlie made for the elevator.

    'What could this be about?' she wondered as the elevator took her back down to the main level. She supposed she'd find out soon enough.
    Jaune twirled his fork around idly as his eyes roamed the dining hall. The general mood around the school had mostly recovered from the initiation disaster, now that most students had recovered from their injuries. They'd all collectively thrown themselves into their lessons, determined never to be caught unprepared again. Which, great for them. Not so great for Jaune, who kept getting his ass kicked hard every time he stepped onto the sparring stage. He still had no idea how he'd made team leader. Sure, he'd come up with a couple of decent plans, helped Pyrrha kill a few of the bigger Grimm, but he'd spent most of the fight with the monster robot, the Nightmare Ozpin had called it, in a daze. He was more or less dead weight throughout the whole damn thing,. He'd been lucky it hadn't just skewered him and left him for dead on the grass.

    He realized Pyrrha had squeezed his hand, and he met her eyes. She'd clearly picked up on his misery, her eyes radiating fond concern. She'd been like this ever since initiation, and Jaune was at war with himself on how to feel about it. On the one hand, he hated being pitied. His whole family had pitied him. "Jaune and his crazy dreams of being a huntsman" they'd said. "Oh, but he's not cut out for it, the poor thing. He'll never make it." He'd ran away, ran to Beacon to escape it, to prove that he had what it took, and the last thing he wanted was the pity to follow him here. But on the other… the solidarity felt nice. He'd never doubted for a second that Pyrrha was 100% in his corner. Hell, she'd even risked her life for him, baiting the Nightmare into following her so he could slip away. Jaune had never had anyone like that in his life before and… it felt good.

    The idle chatter around the shared RWBY and JNPR table was interrupted by the approach of a small girl with a weird, stripy limbed costume. It was Charlie, Professor Goodwitch's daughter. Jaune had seen her a few times helping out around her mother's class, but had never really talked to her. As soon as Ruby saw her, her face broke into a beaming grin. "Hi, Charlie! I haven't talked to you in ages!" she squealed. "Come and meet my team! Oh, oh, and meet my friends on Jaune's team! Say hi everyone!" Jaune joined the chorus of greetings, and Charlie gave them all a slight smile. "It's nice to meet everyone properly!" she said, and took a seat next to Jaune. As she did so, their hands brushed, and Jaune felt a short jolt through his body. Probably just static.

    "Hey, I just wanna make sure… are you doing okay?" Ruby asked, reaching over to take her young friend's hand, empathy evident in her wide, silver eyes. Charlie smiled at her. "It's alright. You don't need to worry about me. I wasn't even in danger like you all were. I'm so glad you're all okay" she said in reply. "Hey, don't worry about us. We're all just doing what Huntsmen do" began Yang, "We take the fight to the Grimm, no matter how big and mean they are." She received a few nods from around the table. Yang had bounced back remarkably well, Jaune mused. She'd initially been pretty broken up about the injuries on her arms and her sister getting hurt, but eventually that gave way to a burning desire for revenge, and she was back to her old self again. He just wished that didn't involve calling him 'Vomit Boy'…

    "Hey, Charlie?" Nora asked, voice muffled by a mouthful of pancakes, causing Ren to groan. "You wanna be a Huntsman when you grow up?" Before she could respond, Weiss interjected "Of course she does. I imagine she wishes to follow in her mother's example." Blake mumbled something about Weiss following in her father's example, and Weiss shot her a withering glare. Jaune sighed a little. Weiss was so pretty when she got all haughty…

    "Maybe. But not just because of Miss Goodwitch." Charlie began. "The way I see it, there are lots of people all over the world, people who just want to live their lives. Innocent people. And they need protecting." Charlie's smile turned sad. "No one was there to help when I was m… when my village was destroyed. I don't want anyone else to have to go through that." The rest of the table gave sympathetic smiles and heartfelt commiserations, especially Ruby and Yang, who had lost their mother when they were young.

    Later on, Jaune reflected on Charlie's words. A Huntsman had a responsibility, to protect the innocent. And not just them, but also their teammates and their friends. He sighed. If only he wasn't such a massive screw-up. He'd let his team down even before it was formed. He was still letting them down now. If he could just train harder, will himself into being better…

    No. Screw that. He'd nearly died, that day in the forest. Jaune remembered with a shiver. Pyrrha and Nora had nearly died too, and he hadn't been able to do anything. How could he possibly risk that happening again, risk the possibility of his teammate being struck down and knowing only that he was too useless to help. He needed to improve by any means necessary, his pride be damned. When Pyrrha returned to the dorm after her training session, he took her aside.

    "Hey Pyrrha…?" he began, "do you mind if I join you next time? For a spar or something?" To his surprise and considerable relief, Pyrrha's lips twisted into a radiant smile.

    "I'm so glad you asked" she replied, and Jaune's smile matched hers.
    As per Ozpin's request, Charlie began making her way to his office when the end of the day arrived. As she did so, she tapped into her new connection to Jaune, catching a glimpse of golden yellow in her eyes from her reflection in the glass as she did. She gave a small smile as she found him training with Pyrrha up on the roof. She had to admit, she hadn't thought all that much of him when Ozpin named him the leader of his team, but his earnest desire to improve warmed her up to him considerably. Now, she could keep an eye on him, and all of JNPR by extension now that he was becoming the leader he was meant to be. She could only have so many bonds at a time, so it was good to see that she'd chosen well.

    As she emerged from the elevator into the office, she saw Ozpin talking with a thin, scruffy-looking man she didn't recognize, who turned to her as she entered. "This the girl?" he said, his voice rough and slightly slurred. "It is indeed." Ozpin replied, "Miss Emily, may I introduce Qrow Branwen, a trusted colleague of mine." "Hi! It's nice to meet you!" Charlie said brightly, but Qrow just gave a dry chuckle. "You're not fooling me, 'kid'." He said "I don't need Oz to tell me you're older than you look. Can see it in your eyes." He leaned into her face, and she flinched a little at the smell of alcohol of his breath, before he whistled lowly. "You've seen some shit, haven't you?" he continued, and she heard Ozpin sigh.

    "I'd thank you not to swear in front of a young girl, Mr. Branwen. I'm sure Professor Goodwitch would be… displeased if she were to hear of the impression you are currently making on her charge." Ozpin said, cheerfully but with an obvious warning note. Qrow scoffed a little but nonetheless lapsed into sullen silence. "Now, if you would both like to follow me, I will explain on the way." He continued, as he led them… back into the elevator? Before Charlie could comment, Ozpin flipped open a panel to reveal a keypad, and after a quick sequence was entered, the elevator began its descent. "Now, Miss Emily. Do you by any chance recall The Story of the Seasons?". She thought for a moment. "Yeah, it's a fairy-tale. It was part of my studies with Miss Goodwitch. The four women with the magic season powers."

    Ozpin chuckled. "A somewhat perfunctory summary, but yes. Now, what if I were to tell you that it was true? Or more accurately, based in truth?" Charlie just shrugged. She'd spent forty-eight years possessing a robot puppet before being catapulted to an entirely different world along with her murderer. There was precious little that could really surprise her at this point. Qrow barked out a laugh at her reaction, while Ozpin, amusingly, looked somewhat put out. "But… why are you telling me this? Why now?" She asked. Ozpin's expression became more pensive. "I had not planned on doing so now, not until you were more acclimated to this world, but the recent escalation has forced my hand" he replied, and at that moment, the elevator came to a stop.

    They stepped out into a vast chamber, dimly lit by a series of wall-mounted torches. As the group approached the other end, Charlie saw a sprawling network of machines and monitors, connected to a tube that contained… a woman. "This is Amber. The current Fall Maiden. Despite how she may look, she is still alive, but… barely." Ozpin began, his face twisted into an expression of bitter regret. "Ordinarily, when a Maiden dies, her power passes to another, based on-" "A series of stupid and convoluted rules" Qrow interjected wearily, "just skip to the important part, Oz". Ozpin nodded. "Recently, the Fall Maiden was ambushed, and somehow lost part of her power to her attacker" he said. Charlie looked at the woman in the tube, looked through her as she had done many a time as the Puppet. Her jaw dropped open. "Her soul… it's… torn" she breathed.

    Ozpin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "As I had feared." He said. "If she dies, the rest of her power will go to her attacker, who is almost certainly in league with our adversaries. Our only other option was to use experimental technology to transfer the remains of her soul to a new host, which, as you well know from your experiences with Elizabeth, could result in the host being overwritten entirely… at least, until you arrived." He turned to face her. "When you told me your story, you mentioned that you had… adjusted the souls of your fellow victims within the animatronics." Charlie nodded. "Yeah, William hadn't invented the remnant formula yet. He just hid the bodies in the robots, and their souls lingered there. They had no control over them, they just got dragged around as the robots moved." She explained. "I don't know how I did it, I just… moved them around a bit. Let them at least have control of the bodies they were stuck in, like I had."

    Ozpin just nodded, while Qrow looked slightly queasy at the blasé discussion of multiple child murders and the resulting torment of their souls. "The ability to manipulate souls as you have is unheard of here. If anyone can help Amber, I believe you can." Charlie took a deep breath. Yes, she had been able to adjust the souls, but… she wasn't sure what she could do about a torn soul. And even if she could somehow repair the damage, would they even be the same afterward? She sighed. She had to try, if only to avoid the alternative… She shuddered at the memory of Circus Baby, who assimilated what little of Elizabeth she found interesting and destroyed the rest. Two souls could not coexist in one body, ever. Not even the pseudo-soul of an artificial intelligence. She turned to Ozpin. "I'll do what I can. I promise."

    Ozpin gave a small, tight smile, his first since they entered the chamber. "That's all I can ask." He replied.
     
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    • Chapter 6 (William Interlude 2)
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    • William smiled to himself as he adjusted Nightmare Chica's optics. It had been so very long since he'd been able to truly cut loose, to make a name for himself. And, oh, he had! Word around the dark underbelly of the city had spread quickly of the Twisted Hare and his creations, of exactly what they inflicted on those foolish enough to oppose them, and William relished in the visible fear displayed by even the most hardened of Vale's gangsters. 'That was how it should be…' he thought to himself, 'it is exactly the respect I deserve'. Though he would never regret his rebirth as Springtrap, his glorious rise from the ashes of death as a brilliant phoenix while his pathetic victims could only observe with impotent rage, but he hadn't been able to enjoy the satisfaction of a kill ever since, not until he had arrived here. And what a glorious feeling it was! It hadn't even taken long to really get back in stride, to remember all his little tricks for dragging out their pathetic mewling just a little longer…

    He finished his tinkering with Nightmare Chica, hopefully fixing whatever was causing her left eye to keep winking out, and took a step back to observe her. His Nightmares truly were works of art, each and every one of them. They were everything William had dreamed of when creating the Funtimes, the perfect killing machines. Not only were their claws and teeth capable of cutting straight through bone, in addition to their gnarled fur concealing thick armour plating, but any enemy would simply be too petrified to fight back thanks to the frequency emitter he'd implemented. William had played around with the basic concept all the way back in the days of Fredbear's Family Diner, manipulating human perception using an inaudible frequency that lightly interfered with normal brain function, although not quite for the same purpose as what he was using it for now. He rasped out a chuckle, remembering a meeting with investors for Circus Baby's Pizza World. There was no one who would dare object to 'certain design choices' now…

    Well, admittedly, there were still some naysayers he had to deal with, particularly that arrogant hack Watts, who had tried to claim his designs were 'impossible'. William sneered. As if that fool had even the remotest conception of what was possible! He had defeated death! Defeated divine judgement! All Watts had done was throw a tantrum when the Atlesians had rejected his paltry offerings in favour of a superior design, and as such William gave his idiotic mouth-breathing all the consideration it deserved, none. Thankfully, Salem hadn't cared for Watts' slander either. She'd been impressed already by the skill with which William had learnt to shape the Grimm ichor to his purposes in such a short time. It was a truly fascinating medium, William mused. Unlike metal, it had an intelligence of its own, although it was extremely primitive and completely consumed by a raw killing urge. Grimm typically became more intelligent as they aged, but at the moment of spawning they possessed only the animalistic desire to charge and hunt. It had taken a great deal of wrangling for William not just to grant his creations their impressive abilities but also to teach them how to use them effectively. Fortunately, William had dealt with his own bloodlust enough to manage that of the Grimm. He'd learnt to temper it, to impart knowledge of exactly how best to kill. Who better to teach them? He had decades of experience, after all.

    The blinking of a nearby holographic monitor disrupted his reminiscence. Chica's cupcake was returning from a deployment to case security at another Dust warehouse. He'd designed it with exactly this purpose in mind, making it capable of autonomous movement and equipping it with a built-in recording device that beamed a live feed straight back to both Nightmare Chica herself and any displays William wished to use. It could even provide a second pair of eyes in combat, allowing its partner to set up ambushes long in advance of a target's arrival… William gave himself a small smile. He really outdid himself, sometimes. It appeared that on its way back, it had spotted a familiar group approaching the safehouse where William was based. It was Cinder Fall and her little lackies, doubtless come to report on their discussions with the White Fang.

    Cinder was a curious one, William mused. Salem had told him a little of she came to be in her service. She was pathetically ambitious, craving whatever scraps of power she could grasp to fill the void of worthlessness created by her abusive childhood. If it had been William who found her, he almost certainly would have just gutted her, made her scream and bleed while he revelled in her powerlessness, but apparently, Salem saw something worthwhile in her. When she and her companions entered the room, she took a step forward, leaving them to stand on either side of the door. "I presume you know why we're here, and I will skip the pleasantries. The White Fang are for the most part receptive to our offer, but some of their number have expressed… reservations. Particularly concerning some of the rumours they've heard of your, shall we say, violent approach." She began, her tone, demeanour and clothing all creating the well-practised façade of a femme fatale. "I doubt our mistress would be pleased if you were to be responsible for the derailment of her plan…"

    Well, if that was the game the whelp wanted to play, William would indulge her. For now. "I doubt the White Fang will truly object to violence against humans, not for very long anyway. Particularly when we show them what exactly we can offer them, in exchange for their assistance. Taurus in particular should be very receptive." He rasped. "And Salem has so far been pleased with the results of my methods. Tell me, has she expressed a similar sentiment to you recently, Half-Maiden?" Cinder just barely contained a growl, her carefully constructed mask of calm briefly falling away before quickly snapping back into place. Her little green-haired friend looked like she was about to jump to Cinder's defence, but the legless silver-haired one gripped her wrist and gave her a stern look. Smart boy.

    "You're right that Taurus approves of you, but he only has so much influence over the rank and file." Cinder continued, now unable to keep the irritation out of her voice. "And their concern appears to be less about what you will do to their enemies and more what you may do to them, should you feel slighted." William snorted. So that was her argument? The quibbling fears of some animal thugs? She was going to have to do better than that. "I see no reason to adjust my methods, not with the level of success my Nightmares and I have achieved in securing Dust and destabilising the city, and I believe our mistress would agree with me. So I must ask, what exactly do you plan on doing about these… objections?" He replied, the challenge in his voice clear. Cinder, to her credit, appeared unruffled.

    "We've arranged for Roman Torchwick to speak at a rally being held at the docks, to take place in the next few days. We'll be able to make our case to the ranks, and in the event of infiltration, all anyone will believe is the White Fang is aligning itself with Vale's criminal element." Cinder explained, her tone business-like. William drummed his long fingers on the worktop. Torchwick was a competent thief and possessed a fair degree of natural charisma, but he was ill-suited to this task. The White Fang would never accept taking orders from a human, especially one with a habit of treating the Faunus with condescending mockery. He was useful, and it would be such a waste if William had to kill him for his failure. No, this required a personal touch. He trained his purple eyes on Cinder. "Very well. But I will speak at the rally in Torchwick's place. He will still accompany us, so his organisation can assist with the transportation of the stolen Knights." William said, and at this, Cinder's expression crept into a smug smile. "You would countermand an order from Salem herself? It was she who requested that Torchwick be the one to speak at the rally. I wonder if she may have reasons to question your loyalty?" she said, her haughty demeanour returning in full force.

    William refused to suffer this insolence any longer. Before Cinder could blink, he wrapped a hand around her throat and slammed her body back against the wall. Her little minions, briefly startled, began to move to her before being stopped dead in their tracks by his Nightmare. As he squeezed her neck tighter, tongues of flame sparked from her hands, burning pieces of his chest away as her hands scrabble for purchase. But as fast it dissolved, the Grimm tar that formed his body oozed back into place, patching the holes. "It seems you have forgotten your place, so allow me to remind you." William hissed, his grip tightening as Cinder struggled and sputtered for breath. "As I have proven my competence, Salem allows me to act as I see fit, confident I will serve her interests. You, on the other hand, are a dog on a leash. And as such, you will do as you are told. And if you disobey me, or if you fail as you failed to seize the Maiden's power, I will have you put down. Slowly. Is that clear?" Cinder gave a small nod, struggling to move her head. William relaxed his grip slightly to allow her to speak "Say it." He hissed. "Y-ess!" Cinder coughed out, and William released her, causing her to drop like a stone onto the floor.

    He waved a hand, and Nightmare Chica stood aside to allow Cinder's lackeys to help her up. As they all made to leave, she fixed him with a stare of pure hatred. William just laughed, long and loud, which seemed to spur them to exit the building as fast as they could. He smiled to himself as he watched the green one fuss over Cinder through the cupcake's camera feed. Oh yes, it felt good to be back in the saddle.
     
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    • Chapter 7
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    • Blaaaaaaaake! Where aaaare yoooouuuu!?" Charlie heard Ruby shout from the other end of the street. As soon as Ruby told her that Blake had ran away, she'd immediately volunteered to join the search effort, along with Yang and a completely unrepentant Weiss, who was apparently responsible for driving her off in the first place. "Excuse me." She asked a passer-by, "but have you seen this Faunus? We're really worried about her." She tried to hold up the picture on her scroll, but the person she was attempting to show it to just brushed her off and kept walking. Charlie sighed and twiddled her fingers nervously. She'd assured Ruby that her teammate was probably fine and she just needed to cool off, but privately she had her own worries. Namely, that Blake might possibly be alone with nowhere to stay in a city where William Afton was regularly on the prowl. And it wasn't like he wouldn't know her. She'd been present during the fight with Nightmare Freddy, and it had definitely reported back to its master by now. Charlie shuddered at the thought of what William would do if he got his hands on her. 'It's been two days since she left… no one's seen her since…' she thought to herself, more than slightly panicked. Her only consolation was that Blake almost certainly wouldn't be dead in any scenario. But if William had found her, she might wish she was…

    "Any luck?" Yang asked as the group met up again. They'd all split up in the hopes of covering the most ground possible, a decision Charlie was in two minds about. On the one hand, it would certainly help locate her faster, but on the other hand… being alone put them all at high risk of being picked up by whatever now lurked in Vale's alleys. She shook her head at Yang, who sighed. "We're getting nowhere with this… We might need to bring in more help." "I know who might be able to help!" Weiss interjected imperiously, "The police!" Ruby and Yang groaned. "It was just an idea!" she defended. "Yeah, a bad one." Ruby replied. "I think we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions." Yang proposed reasonably. "What do you think, Charlie?" "I agree," Charlie began "but in order to do that, we need to find her. We can't waste time bickering." She really hoped that her nervousness wasn't apparent in her voice. She didn't want her friends to start panicking as well, but they really needed to stop wasting precious time. Unfortunately, the bickering continued, until the sudden arrival of a young girl who looked to be around Charlie's physical age.

    "Aaaah! Penny! Where did you come from!?" Ruby exclaimed. The question seemed to sail straight over the titular Penny's head, for she simply asked "Hey guys! What are you up to? Oooh, I haven't seen you before!", indicating Charlie "This is Charlie, Penny." Ruby explained. "She's the daughter of one of our teachers.". "We're looking for our friend Blake." Yang added." "Ooooh, you mean the Faunus girl!" Penny exclaimed cheerfully, taking Ruby and Yang aback. As they discussed how exactly Penny knew that, as well as about Blake in general, Charlie took the opportunity to take a closer look at the new arrival. Something had been bothering her about Penny. Ruby had told her about their first meeting, but all she said was that she was eager to make friends and seemed somewhat confused by social norms. To Charlie though, Penny looked weird, and to find out why, she looked through her and found…

    Metal. Wires. And a piece of a soul. Charlie struggled to contain her horror. That Penny was a robot was shocking enough, but discovering she had a chunk of someone else's soul implanted within her was what truly disturbed Charlie. It seemed like something William would create, a machine that passed as human, given just enough stolen soul to look the part for anyone who could see such things, before turning on those who trusted it as soon as the switch was flipped. A small part of her felt guilty about her distrust for what seemed to be an innocent girl, regardless of what she was made from, but the rest of her, the parts that remembered she used to call William Afton 'Uncle Billy', that remembered the price she'd paid for her blind trust, was immediately set on edge. When Penny volunteered to join the search party, Charlie took action. "Why don't Penny and I check the south side, and you three can check the north. That way we can get to know each other!" She said, with affected cheerfulness. Ruby agreed happily, obviously pleased at the prospect of her friends getting along. But as soon as they went their separate ways, Charlie tugged at Penny's false soul, restricting the use of any Aura she may have had, and dragged her by the arm into an alley.

    "I know what you are." She hissed in Penny's ear, causing her eyes to widen dramatically. "Tell me who made you, and who exactly that soul piece belongs to, and I might consider not tearing it out of you.". This was the first time Charlie had completely dropped the little girl act, and while she didn't relish the circumstances, it was nice to be able to act slightly more maturely. "I'm sorry, Charlotte Emily. I should've anticipated this." Penny said mournfully. Charlie was surprised. It sounded like Penny knew more about her than most, which narrowed down the list of possible creators. Unfortunately for her, the list still included William, so she refused to let up. Sensing that Charlie wouldn't budge until she had answers, Penny continued "I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura. My father donated a piece of his soul to me, that's where it comes from. His name is Pietro Polendina, and he works for Mr. Ironwood in Atlas." "You're surprisingly… forthcoming about this." Charlie said, still reeling slightly at the very idea of giving up part of one's soul to create new life. "I'm not allowed to tell people my secret, but there's nothing that stops me doing so if I want to." Penny replied, and Charlie released her grip, now satisfied. But there was one more thing… "How do you know my full name?" she asked. "Mr. Ironwood is a good friend of Mr. Ozpin. Mr. Ironwood told me about you, that you might be afraid of me because of what the Twisted Hare did to you. I'm sorry for scaring you…" Penny said sorrowfully.

    Charlie, now feeling rather wretched about the way she'd treated the robot girl, pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have threatened you like that. I was worried for my friends…" she said. Truthfully, she still was. Even though Penny hadn't been made by William, the possibility that she could be subverted by him still existed. That was no reason to treat her badly though "It's okay!" Penny said, abruptly perking up. "Now we can be friends!" Charlie chuckled as they walked out of the alley. "I think I'd like that." She replied, and laughed at Penny's excited babbling as they left to rejoin their friends.

    "Did I miss anything?" Sun asked, as he dropped down next to Blake on the rooftop overlooking Vale's dockyards. "Not really." Blake replied. "They've offloaded the crates from the boat. Now they're just sitting there." Truthfully, she'd expected a lot more activity. Sun had overheard some chatter about a rally being held as a Dust shipment came in from Atlas. It was the perfect opportunity to ascertain what exactly the White Fang's involvement in the recent robberies was. No matter what that haughty Schnee bitch thought, there was no way they were behind it all. Blake had seen some of the images of the aftermath of the robberies, the gruesome remains of the warehouses' security, Dust shop owners and even unfortunate witnesses. She knew that the White Fang were violent, it was the whole reason why she'd left them, but she couldn't believe they were capable of that level of vicious sadism. But apparently, since her teammate seemed to believe that all the Faunus were mindless animals, Blake would have to prove it on her own. Well, more or less.

    "I stole you some food!" Sun said, handing one of the green apples he'd taken. Blake sighed. She knew that Sun wasn't taking this seriously at all, but what could she expect from a guy she'd basically just met? At the very least, she had some backup if things went south. Ideally anyway, assuming he didn't run off in the same way he ditched his teammates back in Vacuo. She pinched her nose. 'Maybe I didn't think this through as much as I should have…' she thought to herself as Sun fiddled with the binoculars they'd brought. Just then, the wind whipped around them as a light breaking through the clouds alerted them to the arrival of a Bullhead. When it landed, a ramp extended, allowing its passengers to exit. She heard Sun inhale sharply. "See the guy in the front on the ramp, the weird rabbity one?" He said, passing her the binoculars so she could see. "That's the Twisted Hare. I haven't been here long, but neither's he, and word's spread fast. No one knows who or what he is, 'cept that he's bad news." Blake watched as the strange creature and his retinue, among whom appeared to be Roman Torchwick, were greeted by a familiar figure in a full white mask, with a chainsaw mounted on his back.

    "You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?" Sun said pityingly, as they watched more White Fang grunts come out of the woodwork to help unload the containers. "No." Blake began. "I think deep down I knew. I just didn't want to be right." Her despair was interrupted by Torchwick's voice. "What's the holdup!?" he yelled. "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, and there's supposed to be a rally after this is done, so why don't you animals - ". Blake watched Torchwick flinch and fall silent as the Twisted Hare laid a hand on his shoulder. "Control yourself, Roman. We wouldn't want to offend our new business partners, now would we?" The thing's voice made Blake's skin crawl. It was dark and rasping, with malice not so much implied as shouted from the rooftops. Was this really who the White Fang were working with? It was strange enough that they seemed to be working with a human, but this… horrible creature? Really? Something was definitely up.

    "Hey." Sun gave her a quick tap on the shoulder, dragging her out of her thoughts. "Why don't we check out that rally, huh? There's two goons having a smoke in the alley by this building. We knock 'em out, take their masks and we sneak in. Easy peasy, right?" Sun's laid-back demeanor didn't exactly fill Blake full of confidence, but it was the best plan they had. She needed to get inside that rally. She nodded to him, and together they leaped down from the rooftop and delivered quick, clean blows to the backs of the goons' heads before they could so much as blink. She reached down to grab a mask off one of them, her boot crushing the fallen cigarette as she did so. It wasn't a great fit, but it'd be enough to slip into the crowd. Sun gave her a thumbs-up as he put on his own mask, and together they silently entered the warehouse with the throng of White Fang.

    Inside, they saw a makeshift stage made from wood and shipping crates. A ragged cloth covered a roughly person-sized object on the left of the stage while a large red curtain concealed the backstage area. Not long after she and Sun took their places in the crowd, the assembled members were hushed into silence by Adam's lieutenant, who she'd seen earlier greeting the arrival part. "Brothers and sisters of the White Fang!" he began, "The cause of Faunus liberation has fallen on hard times. All over Remnant, our people find themselves at the mercy of cruel human overlords, such as the Schnees, who send us to die mining the fuel powering the system that oppresses us! Or their Atlesian lackeys, who line their pockets with bribes to turn a blind eye to our suffering! Is it any wonder then, brothers and sisters, that we have been forced to fight? To take what is owed to us?" "NO!" the crowd yelled in reply, their rage stoked into a fever pitch. So far, this was all fairly typical of what the White Fang had become, Blake thought bitterly as she watched the lieutenant hush the crowd once more.

    "We live in dark times, my brothers and sisters. So it is fortunate that we have found a new ally for our cause! I know you may have your doubts, but once you have seen what he can offer us, I have no doubt you will be convinced of his commitment to our liberation. So, without further ado, I leave you in the company of our newest comrade in the cause, as he presents the boon he has offered us!" A smattering of applause followed as the lieutenant left and the rabbit creature took his place. His unnatural grin grew impossibly wider and his purple eyes twinkled as he opened his arms and began to speak. "Thank you very much. Hello, dear assembled ranks of the White Fang. I am known as the Twisted Hare. You may have heard of me." He finished the sentence with a dark chuckle as terrified whispers from those who had heard of him found their way into the ears of those who hadn't. "Now, I must first express how moved I am by the plight of your people. How is it just that strong, determined warriors such as yourselves are forced under the boot of the weak and sniveling cowards that run the kingdoms of this world? How dare they call you violent and primitive for fighting their oppression whilst they massacre your people by the hundreds in their mines?". Blake watched in horror as the Twisted Hare whipped the crowd into a raging frenzy. 'He's so obviously lying! Why are you listening to him!' she wanted to scream. Sun grabbed her wrist, his warning look evident even behind his mask, management to drag her back to earth.

    "No, my dear friends. You have been denied what you are rightfully owed. And if there is one lesson I have learned, it is when the world denies you what is yours by right of strength, the only solution is to take it by force! Do you not agree, my friends?" The crowd cheered and yelled in approval at the creature's poisonous words, consumed by righteous anger. "I'm so glad we agree with one another!" he laughed. Blake felt queasy, a mixture of sorrow and burning rage coiling in her stomach. "To that end, I am here to present you with an offering." He walked over to the covered object and yanked the cloth away with a single tug. "This is an Atlesian Knight AK-200 model. It is but one of many currently within this very warehouse. The Atlesian military is in the process of replacing their older model Knights with these updated versions, improving the efficiency with which they keep the Faunus beneath their jackboot. What better way to fight your oppressors but to seize their tools and turn them against them?" The crowd roared in approval, with screams of "Death to Atlas! Death to the oppressors!" echoing around the room. Blake caught Sun's head darting this way and that in the corner of her eye, obviously searching for an exit.

    "Ah, but you see, my friends… What if I told you there was a better way? The Twisted Hare continued. "A machine far superior to any Atlesian tool? One that has already struck terror into the hearts of the city of Vale and the students of Beacon Academy?" The assembled ranks began murmuring excitedly while Blake's stomach dropped. She knew what was coming, but her body refused to obey her mind's fervent desire to leave. "Members of the White Fang… allow me to present my finest creations! My Nightmares!" The Twisted Hare began cackling madly as two robots, an orange fox and a blue rabbit, emerged from the curtain. The wooden planks of the stage buckled under their weight as they moved to stand at the sides of their creator. "These are the weapons I used to terrorize this pathetic human city! Their teeth and claws have been stained by the blood of all who dared stand in their way! And now, my friends, they shall be your weapons! They shall be the last things all your oppressors see as we cast them down and tear them limb from limb!" The crowd began screaming, almost frothing at the mouths in excitement. Blake couldn't stand it anymore. She wouldn't. All of this was wrong! She needed to stop it, and stop it now!

    She wrenched her wrist free of Sun's grip, drew Gambol Shroud and dived at the stage, straight at the Twisted Hare, the crowd in front frozen in confusion. But before she could land a hit, she felt a slimy hand on her back, and her Aura instantly broke. Blake screamed in pain, her vision whiting out. When she eventually came to, she noticed that her limbs had been bound, and that Sun had been dragged up alongside her. "It seems we have some uninvited guests today! And traitors to boot!" The Twisted Hare laughed, leering at her before turning to the crowd and continuing, "for what is any Faunus who would dare attack an ally of the White Fang but a traitor to their race?" Blake could only watch in horror as the crowd of Faunus, some of whom she recognized, knew personally, roared in approval.

    "It seems this is your lucky day, my friends!" The Twisted Hare cackled. "For today, you get to witness a live demonstration of the power of my Nightmares! Be warned, we may be for a while…" As the machines advanced on the prone bodies of her and Sun, Blake could only pray that someone, anyone, could find them before they suffered a gruesome fate as her old comrades watched and jeered.

    A/N: If you want an idea of William's appearance, picture Glitchtrap from the VR game but made of Grimm sludge. Grimmtrap, if you will.
     
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    • Chapter 8
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    • Ruby paced listlessly around the deserted street. They'd been searching for hours now, and they hadn't found a trace of Blake. Weiss had more or less written her off, declaring that she'd probably slipped away into a hideout somewhere ("And good riddance", Ruby remembered her muttering). She only stayed after Ruby had pleaded with her. Even Penny, normally a beacon of relentless, somewhat overwhelming cheer, had been utterly despondent when she declared that she'd had to return home to keep her father from worrying. At least she had been getting on well with Charlie…. Ruby sighed. Even that wasn't much of a silver lining. As much as she hated the idea, it was looking increasingly like they were gonna have to try again tomorrow. The sun had set an hour ago, and the news was saying that it wasn't safe to be in Vale after dark anymore, thanks to that crazy Twisted Hare guy she'd heard rumors about. As if Ruby didn't have enough reasons to worry about her missing teammate. As she paced, she saw Yang, Charlie and Penny in front of an electronics shop on the corner of the crossroad, eyes glued to a TV set in the window. As she hurried over to join them, the words of a newscast being played reached her ears.

    "We have confirmed reports of a disturbance in a warehouse on the west side of the dockyards. Witnesses report spotting large numbers of armed Faunus wearing White Fang paraphernalia converging on the building. All citizens in the area are advised to shelter in their homes, and residents are once again reminded that a citywide curfew is in effect from 9 p.m. until 9 a.m. by order of the Vale Council. This is Lisa Lavender, reporting."

    Charlie turned to face Ruby, fear written all over her face. "What if Blake's there?" she whispered. "Ruby, go and grab the Ice Queen." Yang ordered, "Whatever else Blake is, she's still our teammate and that means we're coming to get her." She turned to Charlie. "You gonna be alright getting back to Beacon on your own? Your mom's probably worried sick." "I'm coming with you," Charlie replied, her tone surprisingly firm. Ruby, who was about to leave, stopped dead and spun round to face her young friend "Are you crazy?" she shrieked. "The place is full of White Fang, with guns! You could get hurt!" Yang said, echoing the sentiment. Charlie's mouth closed into a firm line, and Ruby watched as Charlie's eyes glowed brilliantly in the darkness while she felt a pulse deep in her chest, in her very soul. "I'm more than capable of handling myself," Charlie stated decisively, and Ruby was certain she wasn't imagining how much older she sounded. "Now come on, we're wasting time" she finished before darting off in the direction of the warehouse. "Charlie, no! Wait!" Ruby screamed as she darted after her friend, Yang briefly branching off to grab a protesting Weiss before following closely behind.


    A brisk run later, the group arrived at the warehouse, the noise of raucous cheering reaching their ears as they did so. Ruby watched in shock as Charlie plowed straight into a group of White Fang, sending them tumbling down to the concrete. A few fired shorts at her, only for them to... bounce off? Ruby's bemusement intensified as she jumped into the fray, Crescent Rose spinning rapidly around practiced hands. It was deeply unusual for a child as young as Charlie to have an unlocked Aura. Most people had theirs unlocked at age twelve, when they first entered combat school. But that was the least of Ruby's many questions as she watched her friend pull at invisible strings, watching as the nearby grunts dropped to the ground as if winded. 'What is she doing?' Ruby wondered as she absently dispatched a collection of grunts with Yang's assistance, 'and how?'

    She, Charlie, Weiss and Yang fought their way inside the building, where they saw a familiar figure bound and prone on a stage. "BLAKE!" Ruby yelled, overjoyed to see her teammate in spite of the less-than-ideal circumstances. But her excitement was soon dashed as the fourth figure on the stage turned to face the group. "You." Charlie hissed, as the strange, leporine creature approached them, the hordes of White Fang surrounding them parting to let him through. "What?" it said, its voice as ugly and warped as the creature itself, "no love for your dear Uncle Billy? It's been far too long, little Charlie!" It laughed madly, "I've been very busy in your absence. Have you perhaps heard talk of the 'Twisted Hare'? Ah, that was some of my finest work!". Ruby had never seen anything like the thing in front of her. He looked like a creature of Grimm, one of the new purple ones, but while those were built like animal predators, all muscle and bone, this 'Twisted Hare' looked almost like a costume, an animal mascot like the one Ruby had had for her seventh birthday party. But there was something inherently malicious about the creature's form, like he was aware of the dissonance between innocence and evil and was reveling in it.

    "You know, I was very annoyed when I realized you had followed me to this world." He began, leering into Charlie's face as she quivered with rage. "But then, I realized this was a wonderful opportunity! When I killed you, I was rather disappointed. It was a kill born of naked opportunity, too simple. Too quick. But now you're here, at my mercy! This time, I'll be sure to make you scream. You were too busy gargling on your own blood last time. It was no fun at all…" It sounded genuinely put out, and Ruby was torn between reeling from its strange revelations and feeling sick as it described its twisted proclivities. "But first, I'll deal with your little Faunus friends", he continued, indicating Blake and the monkey Faunus, Sun, they'd met a while ago, the murderous Nightmares looming over them. "And then, I'll gut all of these little girls you've so kindly brought to me. And make you watch. Doesn't that sound fun?" The Twisted Hare shot out an arm and gripped a handful of Ruby's hair. She winced fearfully as he forced her to meet his purple eyes, his wiry whiskers brushing against her cheek. "I think I'll start with you… gouge out your pretty silver eyes…"

    "Get the HELL away from my SISTER!" Yang's flaming fist connected at full force into the middle vile rabbit's head, and he roared in pain as he released his grip on Ruby. As the fight with the White Fang began in earnest, Ruby caught sight of the Twisted Hare dashing for the stage, clutching at his eye as ashes poured from the gaping socket. Through the gaping hole, she could just about make out something mangled and horrible, almost painful to look at, before the spiderweb cracks around the wound began to close. "Bonnie! Foxy! Kill them all!" the Twisted Hare screamed at its creations as it made to retreat. The Nightmares began to close in on the group, forgetting about Blake and Sun as Weiss hurriedly untied them. The rabbit one, presumably 'Bonnie', looked similar to the bear Nightmare they'd faced In the forest, except with long, ripped ears and torn blue fur. Foxy, on the other hand, was different. It appeared to be much more severely damaged, both its legs being left exposed as well as the metal framing on its snout. Its right hand had also been replaced with a metal hook, though given its size sickle was perhaps a better term. As the familiar pit in Ruby's stomach opened up once more, they roared and pounced.

    The sound of Weiss' rapier clashing against Foxy's hook as she protected Charlie echoed in her ears. Yang threw a punch at Bonnie, but it was telegraphed, compromised by the terror field the murderous machines projected, and the rabbit robot sidestepped it. A swipe of Crescent Rose came just in time to stop Bonnie's jaws from clamping down on her sister's outstretched hand. Shots rang out as Blake and Sun mopped up the last of the White Fang goons, the few that hadn't already been knocked out or fled along with the Twisted Hare. Initially, it seemed to Ruby like they had the upper hand. The fear that the robots projected hadn't taken them by surprise this time, and although it caused a few missteps with their footwork, and caused many swings and shots to be made more out of panic than tactical reasoning, it hadn't completely crippled their ability to fight back like last time. It also helped Beacon had been drilling them all relentlessly since initiation, and her team fought with more synergy than ever. 'We can do this!' Ruby thought as she battled Nightmare Bonnie with her sister.

    Unfortunately, it was with a loud crack that everything started to go wrong. Nightmare Foxy had disarmed Weiss with a well-placed swing of his hook, before snapping Myrtenaster in two with his jaws. This was quickly followed by a lightning slash to Weiss's face before she and Charlie were brutally kicked into the opposite wall, with only a quick glyph saving them from messy death. Blake and Sun rushed to help, but the murderous machine simply stamped hard on the latter's tail, causing him to scream as it dueled with the former. Things weren't going well on Ruby's front either. Yang's rapid punches had made a sizable dent in Bonnie's chest, but she was starting to tire while it appeared to be otherwise no worse for wear. It had almost wrenched Crescent Rose out of Ruby's grip twice now, with only her speed Semblance saving her from losing her beloved weapon. She attempted to switch places with Yang to allow her to recover, but the monstrous robot anticipated her plan, stopping her in her tracks with a swipe of its claws before batting Yang away when her back was turned. Ruby tried to pick herself up frantically, ignoring the wounds on her chest where the beast had caught her, as it lumbered over to finish the job. Yang was still conscious, but wasn't getting up any time soon, and with the others either injured themselves or tied up fighting the other Nightmare, Ruby began to fear that this would be her end…

    "Get up Ruby! Come on! Get up, PLEASE!" Was that… Charlie's voice? In her head? She craned her head to see her friend in an almost trance-like state, her eyes blazing red. "You can do this! You're not dying here, not because of him! I won't let that happen!". Ruby was struck by a second wind returning to her, her cuts healing as her aura returned in full force. She grabbed her scythe and swung as hard as she could at the advancing robot. A mechanical roar filled her ears as she took off the entirety of it's left arm below the shoulder. Foxy turned and began to sprint for her, preparing for a lunge, only to trip and fall as it was caught in the back by Gambol Shroud. The cacophony of mechanical screeching echoed around the room as the reunited team RWBY picked themselves up, grabbed the injured Sun and delirious Charlie, and fled before the Nightmares could recover.


    The Twisted Hare's terrible machines were long gone by the time the police arrived at the warehouse. An officer had lectured them all not long after arriving, they were all extremely lucky not to have been arrested for 'curfew violations' and 'disturbing the peace'. Charlie let out a rueful chuckle. Personally, she thought they were all lucky not to have brutally and slowly died, but the police apparently hadn't seen things her way. She sighed, hugging the trauma blanket tighter around her small body. She'd hoped that her friends would never have to go near William, that they could never be able to risk being casualties in her war against his evil. There was no chance of that now. He knew their faces. Worse still, they'd injured him and damaged his precious robots, and William Afton was never more dangerous than when someone had injured his pride.

    Charlie looked over at team RWBY, chatting amongst themselves. She'd been distant from them ever since the end of the battle. They were still reeling from the hints William had given about their shared past, as well as use of her ability to manipulate souls and her Semblance, especially the new aspect of it she'd discovered in the heat of the battle, to communicate with those she'd formed a bond with and boost their Auras with her own. She'd never wanted this to happen, but now that it had, now that'd they'd seen her enemy first hand and witnessed what he was capable of, they were owed answers, them and JNPR both.

    She could only hope they'd continue to stand by her as the night over Vale grew ever darker.


    A/N: Jesus, this chapter was a doozy and a half. Can you tell I struggle with fight scenes? No, I'm sure it's not blindingly obvious. Anyway, if you have any questions or something isn't clear, do feel free to let me know!
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 9
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    • "So, to summarise:" Weiss began, her haughty tone still grating in Blake's ears despite the progress they'd made warming up to one another, "you are not from this world. You were murdered at the age of eight by a man you saw as an uncle, after which you spent nearly fifty years possessing an animatronic puppet and had to watch this vile man murder more children, before being catapulted to Remnant along with him and somehow being given a new body. Is that about right?" "Um… yeah. That's about the long and the short of it." Charlie replied, surprisingly sheepishly. "Well, I feel I have no choice but to do this." Weiss declared, before standing up from the table, walking over to Charlie and wrapping her into a fierce hug. Blake smiled as she and the rest of teams RWBY and JNPR joined in, watching as Charlie cried happy tears into their arms. She'd been through so much, Blake marveled to herself. The recent revelations, about Charlie's abilities and origins, had sent them all reeling, but they were all united in admiration of how strong Charlie was, to keep on fighting despite the odds.

    "Not like you… coward…" A familiar, insidious voice whispered at the back of Blake's mind, and she shuddered. She'd never forget what happened at the White Fang rally, the way the Twisted Hare's, William Afton's honeyed words whipped her old comrades into a frenzy of murderous bloodlust. She'd been caught in it too, remembering the boiling anger at the back of her mind that grew and grew until eventually, she snapped, lunging at the stage to silence the vile creature who was poisoning her comrades, her friends! Pyrrha, seeing her expression of contorted rage, gave her a curious look, and Blake collected herself. No wonder that White Fang had devolved into such savagery, into banditry and violent murder, if that was what Afton was capable of, the mere memories enough to bring back the red mist. He'd obviously managed to brainwash them, enslaving them as his tools for his own vile purposes.

    As the conversation turned away from the heavy topic of Charlie's past to the lighter note of the differences between their worlds, Blake made herself a promise, etching it deep into her heart. She would not stop until the White Fang had been pried free from the clutches of the Twisted Hare. She owed it to them, to the organization she'd been born into and then forced to flee. 'We saved so many back then,' Blake thought to herself, remembering joyous moments when emaciated Faunus were finally pulled out of the depths of the SDC mines, 'so let me save you now…'

    Charlie smiled happily to herself as her hands tugged and weaved at invisible threads as worked on repairing the Fall Maiden's damaged soul. The unconditional acceptance of her friends was a huge relief, so much so that it took her aback. She'd spent half a century on her own, the ghostly wailing of her fellow victims usually her only company. Yes, she'd talked to them, asked them about their hobbies and their lives and their old friends, but only to keep them sane, to stop them from degenerating into mindless, vengeful phantoms. She'd had… mixed success on that front, she sighed, the memories of a series of unfortunate night guards walking unknowingly to their deaths puncturing her good mood. She shook herself out of those thoughts and back into the present. It had been such a long time since she'd had friends, and the ones she'd made here were of the truest kind. Charlie knew with utter certainty that they'd be with her until the bitter end, and the thought warmed her heart.

    But as the hours passed by, and Amber continued to show no signs of improvement regardless of what she tried, Charlie began to lose heart. She'd never attempted anything like this before, and still wasn't wholly confident it could be done. And even if it could, how certain could she be that the Amber that came out of the tube in the basement would be the same as the one that went in? No matter what way you sliced it, what tricks she tried, a part of her soul would always be missing, no doubt already burned away. Ozpin had told her a little of the origins of the Maidens, and how their power worked. A full soul could handle that level of magic, but half? Even less? It risked being consumed. Charlie resisted the urge to kick the life support machine, such was her anger. Even if she miraculously fixed Amber, brought her back whole, she might even be killed immediately by her own damn power! She stepped away, unwilling to risk hurting Amber in her rage. She stalked over to the basement's elevator and jabbed hard at the button. She needed to tell Ozpin that it wasn't possible, that Amber was just too far gone. It wasn't what she wanted, far from it, but she just couldn't see any viable way forward. She had a quick peek through his eyes to locate him, only to find him in one of the training rooms with Miss Goodwitch and…. Pyrrha?

    Apparently, from what she could hear from them, they were there to give Pyrrha some extra training. But that made no sense to Charlie. Pyrrha was known far and wide throughout Remnant as one of its premier fighters, as the Invincible Girl no less. What in the world could she possibly require extra… training… for…? The answer hit her like a bolt from the blue, and she almost stumbled in the lift as the realization hit her.

    She's gonna be the host. For Amber's soul. If I can't fix her… they'll put her soul in Pyrrha. They won't have a choice.

    'No, no, no. Not her. Not Pyrrha, she didn't deserve that!' Charlie thought, panicking as she began to feel queasy, hurriedly stopping the elevator's ascent. Pyrrha was one of the kindest, sweetest, most wonderful people she knew. And she so was selfless! Too selfless, Charlie realized. If Ozpin told her the fate of the world rested on her taking another piece of soul into her body, even knowing it risked completely destroying her identity, she'd still never refuse! Charlie steeled herself. No, she would not to allow that to happen. Pyrrha Nikos would not share the fate of Elizabeth Afton. She hit the button on the elevator to return the basement.

    Charlie no longer cared what it took. She would revive Amber. The alternative was simply too much for her to bear.

    Roman winced as the crashing in the next room grew louder and louder. Whoo boy, was the Twisted Hare pissed. Yeah, he'd managed to bring the animals into line, but Little Red and her buddies hadn't just wounded him, they'd damaged one of his precious murder-bots. Roman hadn't been quite sure why that was worthy of such a massive tantrum, besides the rabbit bastard having an ego the size of the pile of stolen Dust they'd stashed away, but from what little he'd been able to parse from the Hare's deranged ranting, it seemed that the Nightmares couldn't just be fixed when bits dropped off. Something about the way they were made partially from Grimm or some shit. Roman wasn't even gonna pretend to understand what went through that crazy fuck's head.

    He took a long drag from his cigar and looked across at Neo, who was twiddling nervously with her parasol. Why in the world she hadn't ditched his sorry ass and ran for the hills, he'd no idea. Sure, he'd been the one to help her dig them out of the shit her asshole dad put them in, showing her the ropes of the criminal world in the process and helping her control her powerful semblance. And yeah, maybe there was a little something more to their partnership too. But this job was the definition of toxic. Roman was in too deep, he knew that well enough, but Neo could get out of dodge easily with her illusions. He walked up to her, kneeling down to cup her face. "Look," he began "between Cinder and the rabbit, I don't much fancy our chances. Whaddya say about getting the hell out of here, out of Vale? We can head back to Mistral, be just like the old days. Or Vacuo, start over somewhere new. World is our oyster, you get me?" Call him soft, but he hated lying to her, especially when he had to look into those eyes of hers, but there was no way she'd agree to leave town if he wasn't coming too.

    But before Neo could sign a reply, the door burst open to reveal the snarling visage of the Twisted Hare, his face and body covered in blood from taking out his frustrations on some poor White Fang goons. "You." He snarled, stepping right into Roman's face, backing him against the wall, "you wretched, snivelling little coward. While you were hiding on the Bullhead, the silver-eyed brat, the one you failed to kill, wounded me! Almost destroyed one of my greatest works! And you did nothing!" At the last word, the Hare plucked the cigar from Roman's mouth and forced it, foot first, into Roman's eye. Roman screamed as his vision blurred. He could just about make out Neo rushing to help, before the Twisted Hare wrenched Blush out of her hands and backhanded her against the wall. He picked Roman up by the scruff of his coat, drawing the blade from the parasol-shaped weapon. "Your failure has cost me dearly." He hissed, "and that cannot. Go. Unpunished!" Each word was accompanied by him driving Blush straight into Roman's torso. He felt his mouth fill with blood as the Twisted Hare kept stabbing and stabbing, his face contorting into one of gleeful, satiated malice. The pain from each individual wound began blending together, before numbing as Roman felt consciousness begin to fade away. He dropped to the ground when the Hare released him, weakly clutching at his chest.

    Apparently satisfied, the Twisted Hare tossed Blush at Neo's feet, as she sat frozen in horror and terror. "Let this be a lesson to you, Trivia." The rabbit began "No matter who you are, if you fail me, you will not be spared. And you will not be saved. See that you take it to heart." The Twisted Hare left the room with those parting words, and the last thing Roman saw before the light faded from his remaining eye was Neo sobbing, desperately attempting to keep the wounds closed, and a bird flying away from its perch on the window.

    Ozpin sighed deeply, taking a long sip of strong coffee as he read Qrow's latest message. After the incident at the warehouse with Team RWBY, Qrow had seen Afton viciously attack Roman Torchwick in a fit of rage. A few hours later, his body turned up face down in the docks, his left eye badly mangled and over twenty stab wounds dotted across his chest. His criminal empire had rapidly disintegrated, but was no less dangerous, with carefully planned and executed heists turning into improvised, bloody smash and grab raids. Ozpin frowned pensively. Afton's erratic brutality bemused him. It wasn't that he was unfamiliar with the evil that lurked in the hearts of men. He'd seen and fought plenty of truly vile people in his long centuries of immortality, but it was so unlike a pawn of Salem. Usually, she looked for agents, people who could act discreetly in the shadows and serve her interests while never leaving a trace tying back to her. But William Afton, for all his obvious genius, was a brute. From what Charlie had told Ozpin, he was capable of subtlety when necessary. How else could he cruelly murder upwards of ten children and never be arrested once? But he'd shown no desire to use that skill, instead choosing to carve a bloody path through Vale with the aid of his creations. But why would Salem tolerate that?

    Unless… she didn't have a choice.

    The thought was alien to Ozpin. Salem was one of the most powerful people in the world. She had agents across the four Kingdoms, knew magics that had been long, long lost to the world of Man, some that even he had forgotten. The idea that she couldn't control a minion was laughable, surely? But William had displayed similar power. He'd created his own Grimm, found a way to create an entirely new monster from darkness and metal and, if Team RWBY's reports from the White Fang meeting were at all accurate, had access to the magic required to dominate weaker minds, to bend them to his will. Ozpin shuddered. The only thing worse than Afton being at the beck and call of his great adversary was the idea that he was running wild through Remnant. For if that was the case, what stopped him from mowing down every innocent in his path? Salem never cared much for collateral damage, but even at her very worst, she had never gone out of her way to deliberately kill civilians. As much as Ozpin didn't want it to be true, it was looking increasingly likely that Afton wasn't as subordinate to Salem as he originally thought…

    His musings were interrupted by an alert flashing on his Scroll. Another message from Qrow? That was unusual. They never liked to risk having too much communication over the CCT, given the possibility of interception. Whatever Qrow had found, it was undoubtedly of the utmost importance that Ozpin needed to hear it immediately. And as Ozpin opened the message, he was proven right.

    QUEEN HAS PAWN: CINDER FALL


    A/N: And that's a wrap on RWBY Volume 1! And with our first major character death! (RIP Torchwick, we hardly knew ye). As always, any questions, feel free to ask
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 10
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    • General James Ironwood, Commander in Chief of the Atlesian Army, watched from Ozpin's side through the office window as his kingdom's Bullheads sored over Vale, with Knights and Paladins on the ground being prepared for their parade through the city. It was a blunt, blatant show of force, even by Atlesian standards, but an unfortunately necessary one. The Vale Council had practically begged them for help as the White Fang and the criminal underground tore the city apart, doubtlessly spurred on by William Afton, the Twisted Hare. Ironwood's scowl deepened at the thought of the vile creature. He'd seen Afton's twisted depravity first hand, having found the mangled, dismembered corpse of a local Dust store proprietor in an alleyway as he was arriving for a showcase of Atlas' newest robotic defenders, with terrified witnesses reporting having seen a 'pirate fox' leaving the scene. He knew full well that grudges were a dangerous thing to have in his position, but he still itched to take the fight right to the bastard and the 'Nightmares' he created.

    Ozpin sighed next to him. "I can tell what you're thinking, James, and I'd advise against it." He began. "As much as I too would love to end this situation once and for all, we must remember that William is operating more or less unchecked. If we strike too soon and fail, we risk provoking a revenge attack, the worst case being that he leads his Nightmares in a frontal assault on Beacon." Ironwood scoffed. "That's the worst case? That he loses his temper again and launches a suicide attack on our most fortified position? If that happens, we'll defeat him easily!" "Maybe so," Ozpin replied, "but how many people, young Huntsman and Huntresses, will die as a result of his rampage? You know full well that Afton revels in the murder of innocents, especially children. A victory that comes at the cost of hundreds butchered is no victory at all."

    Ironwood growled, just barely resisting the urge to slam his fist on the desk. "Do you think I don't know that? The depths that creature will sink to? Of course I do! I know what's at stake here, Oz, but it seems like you don't." He brought his Scroll out of his pocket and sent a series of files to the holoprojector on the desk. "Yesterday, sixteen people died when the White Fang detonated a car bomb outside an apartment complex. Two days before, the assistant head of the organizing committee for the Vytal Festival had his head torn off in broad daylight by Afton's chicken robot as he walked to work. And there've been no Dust shipments to the city for nearly a month because the criminals here keep stealing it! The SDC can't afford to risk it! How long do I need to go on for, Ozpin? We are running out of time! If Afton manages to bring an entire kingdom down around him, can you imagine the fear that'll create? We'll be swamped in refugees and Grimm!" He paused, activating Mettle to regain composure. "If we're not going to strike now, then we need to do it soon. Atlas can help maintain law and order in Vale, but we can't restore it if, Brothers forbid, the kingdom collapses." Ironwood sighed, fiddling with his cybernetic hand. "We'll be massively overextended. And then Atlas will be next to fall."

    Ozpin leaned heavily on his cane, and for a moment Ironwood saw the weight of the world weighing on his shoulders. "To tell you the truth, I've considered hunting him down personally, more than once. And with every new atrocity, it gets harder and harder to resist that impulse." He turned to look Ironwood straight in the eye. "But this goes beyond William Afton. We still don't know anything about Cinder Fall and what she has planned. And if there is a wider plan at play, we can't be sure if William is even following it. Put simply, we need more information." Ozpin's gaze returned to the window as the parade began. "I can only hope we find some before it's too late."

    "This is the place?" Charlie asked as she followed Blake through the doors of Tukson's Book Trade, "it looks abandoned…" Blake frowned. Charlie was right. There were books strewn haphazardly all over the floor. One of the shelves had been knocked over, and the door behind the counter to the back room lay open, as did the fire exit. She was immediately set on edge. Tukson was one of the few White Fang contacts she'd maintained after deserting the organisation. Technically, he too was a deserter, objecting not to the organisation's violence but to the targeting of innocent humans, but he'd been in Sienna Khan's inner circle before his departure and the White Fang had agreed to leave him alone in exchange for his silence regarding what he knew of their activities. He'd kept his finger on the pulse of the Vale cell though, which was enormously helpful to Blake when she'd needed to hide herself from Adam. She'd here today to probe him for information on the White Fang's current objectives, for anything that could help her drag them out of the Twisted Hare's clutches. But it was looking increasingly likely someone had gotten there first…

    "Look over here." Charlie said from behind the counter. "There's a loose floorboard back here, but nothing underneath it. Maybe he took what he could and ran?" That made sense. Blake knew Tukson kept an emergency stash of Lien and false documents in case he ever need to skip town. Hell, he'd been the one to advise Blake to do the same, just in case. Vale was getting more and more dangerous by the day. On top of the terror attacks, murders and robberies, protests about the imposition of Dust rationing were starting to become increasingly violent riots. As disappointing as it would be, Blake wouldn't be surprised if Tukson had opted to leave while he still could. But at the same time… "If he ran away, why does the shop look ransacked?" Blake wondered, "He was really passionate about books, so he wouldn't have done it himself, not even to cover his tracks." "Looters, maybe?" Charlie said, but her face gave away the fact she merely wanted that to be true rather than actually believing it, and that she'd actually come to the same conclusion Blake had.

    Yes, Tukson had definitely ran. But someone was looking for him. But why? He may have left the White Fang, but Tukson would never have sold any of them out, not for love nor Lien. 'Maybe the authorities picked him up?' Blake thought, then scoffed, dismissing that idea as soon as she'd come up with it. Vale's police force had basically disintegrated, and though the Atlesians were here to pick up the slack, they'd only arrived a few hours ago, and Blake had last spoken to Tukson yesterday morning to get the latest Ninjas of Love book (not that she would ever mention that to Charlie). No, something had clearly happened last night, enough to spook him into leaving, and presumably whoever was responsible for that had also turned the place upside down looking for him.

    Her conclusion reached, Blake turned to Charlie. "There's a dead drop point in the park down the street. If he managed to leave, he'll almost certainly have arranged for a note or something to be left for me there. I remember agreeing that with him when I first arrived." "And if nothing's there?" Charlie asked. Blake grimaced. "If that's the case, we'll have to assume he got grabbed before he could leave" she replied. And later, when she reached into the hollow of the tree in the park's southwest corner and turned up empty-handed, her worst fears were more or less confirmed. "Are you sure you don't want the rest of your team with you on this?" Charlie asked afterward as they headed back to Beacon to plan, "I don't know why he'd do it, but it's not impossible that William's involved. As much as I wish otherwise, I don't think we can take on him or the Nightmares on our own." Blake shook her head. "The last time I dragged them into this, I almost got us all tortured to death. The only reason I'm even involving you is because you threatened to snitch to Ozpin if I didn't." Charlie gave her a brief, too-innocent smile, and Blake sighed. This was her responsibility, and she refused to get her team, her friends, killed over it. If Tukson had been kidnapped, Blake would find him. Alone.

    Cinder ground her teeth together as she listened to Emerald and Mercury bicker. Up to now, everything had been going rather well for her. William Afton's ascendancy in the eyes of their mistress had been abruptly cut short when he'd thoughtlessly murdered Roman Torchwick in a temper tantrum, and he'd been all but banished to Mountain Glenn to head up the operation on that end. Better still, she'd managed to intercept Roman's little girlfriend, whom William had killed him in front of with her weapon, no less, before she left Vale. All she'd had to do was promise vengeance and Cinder had a powerful ally on her side. Neopolitan not only had an extremely strong illusion Semblance but had also begun to piece together the ruins of Roman's crime empire. All Cinder needed was the rest of the Fall Maiden's power, and not even William and all his little toys could stand in her way. Perhaps Salem would grant her Vale, a kingdom of her very own, as a reward for her loyal service… Cinder relished the idea of being a ruler, of being on top of the world, where no one like Afton or Rhodes or the Madame could ever make her feel powerless again…

    But that was the future. Right now, she had two unruly subjects to deal with, preferably before the fourth component of their operation arrived. "Enough." She said, her tone of firm command silencing Emerald and Mercury. "You will explain what happened, one at a time. I will decide who is at fault. Emerald, you first." The story that unfolded apparently went thus: Emerald and Mercury had arrived on the street where the bookshop was located in the late hours of yesterday. Cinder had ordered them to take Tukson in for interrogation, or to kill him if that proved impossible, after they'd intercepted CCT messages from him to Sienna Khan informing her of the actions of the Vale Cell. They'd expected to take him entirely by surprise, but unfortunately, he'd been up late that night for whatever reason. If the story ended there, Cinder might have considered the mistake forgivable. Unfortunately, it did not, as Tukson had apparently overheard Emerald and Mercury's idiotic bantering, wherein they explicitly mentioned what they had planned for him, as they came down the street, and thus had just enough time to slip away before they arrived.

    They both blamed each other, of course. Cinder's anger briefly gave way to amusement as they both groveled for her favor. "I hold you both equally responsible for this failure." she said firmly. Her judgment firmly proclaimed, she was about to move on to sentencing when… "Hey, that's not fair? It was Mercury who started it! I told him to shut up, but he didn't!" Emerald yelled petulantly, which started the argument all over again. Cinder just sighed. Much as William's vices disgusted her, the murder of these particular children was looking increasingly appealing. She attempted to silence them both, which only succeeded in turning the two-way argument into a three-way one until…

    "Silence."

    The room fell still as all eyes turned to face the new arrival, gears grinding as its huge, lumbering body squeezed through the doorway. It fixed a red-eyed glare on all of them, disdain evident, making Cinder quietly seethe at the impertinence. "You are all fortunate that this setback has not been more costly." Its voice, or rather voices, as it sounded like a chorus spoke in unison from one mouth, echoed around the room. "The shopkeeper is unable to leave Vale at present. Travel out of the city has been restricted by the Atlesian forces. He will have been forced to find a safehouse in which to hide until he can find an alternative, underground means of escape. I have already located this safehouse. You will accompany me there, and I will secure him with your assistance."

    "Now just hold on a moment!" Mercury interrupted. "Last I checked, you are not our boss. You're just in charge of interrogation. Why the hell should we listen to you?" Cinder watched as their visitor marched towards him, each step controlled and careful despite its size. "Because if you do not," it began, "we will find out how many times I can put you back together, and take you apart all over again. Your father took your legs and your childhood, Mercury Black. I assure you, I can take so much more." With Mercury sufficiently cowed, its focus returned to the group in general.

    "Now listen carefully. I will not repeat myself…"


    A/N: And here begins Volume 2! Who's Cinder and co's new 'friend'? It's not that much of a mystery, I've been pretty blatant with the hints, but I've been waiting for the right time to bring him into the story for a while. If you've anything to say, please leave a comment! I like reading them, and it makes me feel less like I'm screaming into the void lmao.
     
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    • Chapter 11 (William Interlude 3)
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    • William scowled, delivering a sharp kick to a loose rock and watched it tumble down the sheer outcrop, landing by the train tracks as the White Fang grunts toiled busily. He'd killed one person. Whose death was entirely deserved as a result of their cowardly incompetence. Whose death also made absolutely no difference in the grand scheme of their plan. Yes, Vale's criminals had certainly benefited from Roman's organizational talents, but they'd manage to weaken the city to the point where anyone could waltz into a shop, take what they wished, and leave, with even the Atlesians unable to stop them. William's mood brightened somewhat, for it had been deeply amusing to watch the worthless tin soldiers of the most powerful military in Remnant fall to his superior machines. He was finding himself having to clean metal shrapnel and Dust residue out of his Nightmares far more often than blood nowadays. Not that he cleaned the blood often anyway. He'd found it supplemented the aura of terror his creations radiated.

    And yet, in spite of Roman having been demonstrably unnecessary to her goals, Salem had still seen fit to have him languish here. 'Mountain Glenn,' William sneered internally 'what a pathetic monument to human failure'. Technically speaking, he was simply overseeing operations here in this dammed, dead city. As if there was anything to oversee. All that was currently happening was the excavation of the disused train tunnel that once lead to the city, using the stolen Dust as both fuel and blasting powder, depending on the type. Even the brainless, witless animals he'd enthralled couldn't screw that up, and William had made absolutely sure, through a few demonstrations, that they knew the price of failure. They hadn't died, because apparently, that was objectionable now. They'd just… wished they could…

    He sill remembered Cinder's insufferably smug face as she informed him of his 'pending reassignment' to 'better align with the goals of our great mistress'. Oh if he saw that wretched little whelp again, William was going to strangle her to death with her own intestines, 'great mistress' be damned. Fortunately, he at least had Nightmare Fredbear keeping an eye on her and her little coterie, making sure they didn't get any bright ideas. He gave himself a smile. If the Nightmares were his great works, then Fredbear was his magnum opus. Unlike the others, he was almost entirely mechanical. But there was no Grimm component. No, William had found the Grimm ichor excellent for creating violent, primitive killing machines, but it was entirely unsuited for a hunter, a tracker. Instead, he had gifted his creation with a small reserve of magical power. Not for it to use freely, but instead as a kind of power source for Fredbear's more… esoteric design features. And the results had been truly marvelous to observe. William grinned to himself, sending some nearby White Fang grunts fleeing. If Cinder wished to challenge him, then she had better have prepared herself for a fight.

    His gleeful musings on how exactly Fredbear would pull Cinder apart were interrupted by the arrival of the Vale Cell's lieutenant, the one with the chainsaw. William didn't know his name and certainly didn't care enough to learn it. "My lord" he began. Oh, it still gave William such a rush when he heard those words from the voices of his inferiors. Despite himself, he was enormously grateful to Salem for introducing him to the wondrous magic of domination. "Out with it." William said curtly. His mood had improved somewhat, but not enough to be willing to endure meaningless conversation with one of the animals. "Adam Taurus has arrived in Mountain Glenn. He wishes to meet with you regarding our alliance. He says he has… concerns" The lieutenant continued. Well, that was interesting. William had heard a little of Taurus from the passing whispers of the rank and file. He'd made a name for himself for the brutality with which he treated any human who dared get in his way. William grinned, and the lieutenant visibly flinched. Perhaps a conversation with a like-minded individual would be just what he needed. "Send him to the station house." He said firmly. "I will meet him there." The lieutenant scurried away, and William made his way to the office he'd set up in the station house.

    A few minutes later, he arrived to find his guest waiting for him. Adam Taurus was tall and lean, with the physique of a trained warrior. His Grim mask concealed his eyes (or eye, if the story William had heard was true) but William could feel his long stare all the same. "Ah, Mr. Taurus! How lovely it is to meet you at last!" William began cheerfully. "Why don't you take a seat?" he continued, offering a chair. "I'll stand." Adam replied curtly, and William frowned but pressed on. "Very well," he said, "now what seems to be the matter? I was told you wished to discuss our alliance. I had thought we'd been getting along rather smoothly." The bull Faunus just scoffed. "Spare me your pretty words, Twisted Hare. Your lies may have ensnared my brothers and sisters, but they will not fool me." William scowled deeply as Adam continued. "It isn't enough that you make a mockery of all Faunus with your chosen visage and the designs of your soulless machines. Word has reached me that you have slain, mutilated and tortured countless numbers of my brothers and sisters, for nothing more than the satiation of your sadistic bloodlust!" Adam slammed his fist on the desk. "If you care so little for the lives of Faunus-kind, why on Remnant should I even consider maintaining our alliance?!" He asked, words dripping with righteous anger.

    William gave a long, high laugh, and saw Adam's hand reflexively twitch for the hilt of his sword in response. "Is that really what you're so upset about?" He asked, "or are you simply displeased that I nearly killed your little lost pet? If you wanted her back so badly, you should have had her microchipped." William giggled at his own joke as Adam seethed with rage. "Blake Belladonna did not just betray the cause, she betrayed me." The Faunus growled. "I feel nothing for her but a desire to bring her to justice. But that justice shall be dealt by my hand, not yours. And if you stand in my way, I will not hesitate to cut you down." At those last words, Adam drew Wilt from its scabbard, pointing it at William's face. William growled darkly, and called upon two of his thralls to burst into the room, weapons drawn. "I would advise thinking very, very carefully about what you do next. If you want to behave like an animal, I am more than happy to gut you like one." Before Adam could reply, either with his words or, more likely, with his weapons, William shook as he felt a pulse through his Grimm body. It seemed his mistress had a message for him. "This is not over." He snarled as he walked into the next room, to find the Seer Grimm already waiting for him.

    "Greetings, your majesty." William began, shaking off his anger like a cloak. "However can I serve you?" Salem's face appeared in the bulb of the Seer. "William. You can start by not destroying our alliance with the White Fang with your petty posturing." Salem's expression was impassive, but the annoyance in her voice came through clearly. "I have given you a great deal of freedom to act as you see fit. However, that freedom came with the expectation that you would act in a manner beneficial to our goals. From what I have heard so far, it seems my faith in you may have been… misplaced." William just barely bit back a snarl of irritation. "Forgive me, your majesty. I assure you, everything I have done, I did exclusively for your benefit. Torchwick's death was…" Before William could finish, the Queen of the Grimm interrupted, "… foolish, short-sighted and costly. You are becoming a liability, William. It does not matter what role Roman played in our operation. If you continue witlessly slaughtering our allies, we will find it difficult to acquire more. And the blame will be laid squarely at your feet."

    William ground his teeth. "I am deeply sorry, your majesty," he lied. "I will endeavor to treat those who serve us more… mercifully." His tongue almost tripped over the last word, stumbling over how alien it sounded emerging from his mouth. "Whether or not you are contrite, which you quite clearly aren't, is irrelevant." Salem snapped. "You will go back and you will acquiesce to whatever demands Taurus makes of you. The White Fang are presently too valuable to alienate. And William… remember that just because I have allowed you to move a few pieces, that does not make you a player. I do hope you will take that to heart." And with that, the Seer departed, narrowly avoiding William's attempt to grab it in order to take out his frustration. How dare she force him to humiliate himself, to grovel in front of that raging, mindless animal! She would pay for this, mark his words! He would… he would…

    Bide his time. For now. William clenched his fists, swallowing his anger. He would endure this indignity, and any others that arose. Presently, the benefits of obedience to Salem, the power and authority she had granted him, far outweighed the costs. Eventually, his rightful ascendancy would come. He'd learned patience through waiting for so many decades in that sealed-off room of the pizzeria, waiting to be unleashed once more. Here and now, he could wait for just a little bit longer…


    A/N: It's funny, I actually find these a lot easier to write than the other POVs. I'm worried what it says about me that I'm more easily able to get into the head of a psychotic, egotistical, serial child-murderer than that of a set of teenagers. Anyway, as always, please leave a comment if you've anything to say! The only thing I love more than writing this is talking about it!
     
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    • Chapter 12
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    • "You get anything?" Ruby asked. "Nope. Doesn't know anything. He left late last night. Didn't come home. Doesn't know where he could be. She didn't even know he was ever in the Fang." Blake sighed despondently after another fruitless conversation with a worried spouse. She hadn't pictured her efforts to rescue her wayward former comrades as going quite like this. Sure, she knew it wasn't going to be glamorous, she hadn't drowned herself in her books that much, but she hadn't thought it would involve dragging Ruby and Weiss from door to door around Vale, looking for any leads, any at all, about the twenty-odd Faunus who had gone missing over the last fortnight. Blake certainly hadn't pictured involving her team at all. It was like she'd said to Charlie, last time she dragged them into her mess, they all nearly became the playthings of William Afton. If she was going to save the White Fang from him, it would be on her own, on her own terms.

    That changed, however, when Tukson turned up dead in an alleyway with obvious signs of brutal torture all over his corpse. And in the days that followed, more Faunus started disappearing, some of them also turning up dead and horribly mutilated. Even if the Atlesians gave a shit about Faunus lives, which Blake had plenty of reasons to severely doubt, there was no way they'd lift a finger to find anything. They were so overextended in desperately trying to contain the chaos in Vale that they'd had to essentially abandon about a quarter of the city to anarchy until reinforcements arrived. They literally didn't have the manpower to "play detective for some Faunus roadkill", as one of the sergeants had so charmingly told Weiss when she had come up with the brilliant idea of enlisting their aid. As soon as the news broke about Tukson, Charlie had begged off helping Blake search to work on a "special project". Which had apparently involved telling Blake's team that she was going to 'get herself messily killed' unless they stepped in, Charlie's words exactly. In hindsight, Blake probably should've guessed Charlie would do something like that. Since coming clean about her past, she'd been a lot more assertive, especially about keeping her friends safe. Blake had moved past her annoyance over it and was simply thankful for any help she could get.

    "We have, at least, identified a common thread with all of the disappearances," Weiss said. "They all appear to have been part of the White Fang's inner command structure prior to their departure from the organization." And that was the main thing that concerned Blake. That suggested that the White Fang was involved in the disappearances, for one reason or another. The brutality they'd been showing towards humans was shocking enough, but against fellow Faunus? A year ago it would have been improbable, even if Adam had taken over. Just another sign of how deep the Twisted Hare's influence ran. Blake sighed. She hoped Yang was having more luck. She'd gone with Sun and Neptune, one of his teammates from Vacuo who was at Beacon as part of the upcoming Vytal Festival, to some club or other that she was familiar with that apparently had connections with the seedier elements of the city. Although 'familiar with' was a strange way for Yang to describe somewhere she'd nearly been arrested at after thoroughly trashing the place. Ruby had filled Blake in on the story not long after they'd left to talk to the families of the missing Faunus. She sighed, covering her face with her hands. Given that she'd turned up basically nothing, literally anything Yang found would be a gods-send…


    "Hurry, close the door - she's coming!" The shout rang out loudly as Yang, Neptune and Sun pulled up outside the club. "Gee, some 'friend' you've got. Sounds like you get along famously." Sun snarked. Yang ignored him. Sure, if she was telling the truth, Junior was a lot more likely to tell her to get fucked than to be of any help, but she could always threaten a… repeat performance of her last visit. She knew him well enough to know that he'd fold like wet tissue as soon as she put the screws to him. "Guess who's back!" she shouted as she punched open the doors with a brief burst of her semblance, sending Junior's henchman and the improvised barricade they'd constructed flying in all directions. Melanie and Militia, along with some goons Junior apparently kept in reserve, arrived quickly to surround them. "Yeah, so could you define 'friend' for me? I'm not too sure you know what it means." Neptune said as they squared up with the gangsters, and Sun nodded in support. Honestly, Yang thought, there was no pleasing some people!

    "Stop, stop! Nobody shoot!" cried Junior as he cut his way through the crowd, lighting a cigarette as he did so. He looked like shit, if Yang was being blunt. His eyes had dark bags under them, there were a few fresh scars dotting his face and his normally immaculate suit was creased and tattered in some places. "Blondie. You're here. Again. Why?" He said, his tone blunt and almost completely deadpan. That was… unusual. Neptune interjected before Yang could reply. "Look, we don't want any trouble." He began, "we just want to know if you know anything about the missing Faunus". "Yeah, I know some stuff about that. But I'm not telling you jack shit" Junior replied. "Who even are you people, anyway?" He continued, indicating Neptune and Sun. Yang stepped right into his face. "Don't worry about them, worry about me" she growled. "If I don't find out what I want…" Junior cut her off. "Blondie, there's nothing you can do to me to make me say a godsdamned word. Do you know what would happen to me if I squealed stuff the Twisted Hare wants kept hush-hush? Neither do I, but I sure as shit don't want to find out. So go ahead, beat me the fuck up or whatever you're gonna do. You're a peach compared to that crazy fucking psychopath." He finished by blowing smoke straight into Yang's face, further enraging her. "If that's all you wanted, I'll kindly ask you all to get lost." Junior said, turning to leave.

    "Wait!" Neptune cried. Junior sighed, and turned wordlessly to face him. "Isn't there anything we can do? We can help fix the place, or, or, some other favor?" Sun looked somewhat leery at the idea of owing a mob boss a favor, and Yang agreed. But they did really need that info… "You want what I know so bad? Fork over Ⱡ50k Lien so I can get the hell outta this godsforsaken city before the Twisted Hare and his death squad of murder-bots arrive to rearrange my organs."

    "Done." Neptune replied before Yang or Sun could respond, and they gaped. Even Junior looked slightly taken aback. "What the hell? How are we supposed to get that kind of money!? You don't even need that much to skip town!" Yang shouted angrily. Junior just gave a short, humorless laugh. "I do if I wanna make sure no one runs and tells the damn rabbit where I'll be headed. It's not like I care about living in the lap of luxury. I just want my head to stay attached to my shoulders." He said simply. Neptune nodded. "That's fine. I get it." He turned to Yang and Sun, who were still confused and angry, "Look, we don't need to save up or steal or anything. My family is… pretty independently wealthy. Very, actually." Sun looked extremely confused. "Then why the hell are you going to Shade, man? If you can throw around that amount of Lien, why in the world are you at the shittest academy in the shittest kingdom?" Neptune looked slightly bashful. "It was the only place that wouldn't make me use my Semblance…" He muttered. Yang was still confused, but Sun obviously understood, his expression becoming sympathetic. "That's fair, man. That's fair. Alright, problem solved."

    With arrangements made for a cash dropoff to be made later in the night (i.e. as fast as conceivably possible), Junior gathered them all into a private room. "Alright. Listen carefully. I'm not gonna repeat myself. There's a warehouse in the abandoned quarter, was abandoned long before everything in Vale went to hell. It's being watched though, so if you wanna get there without being seen, you'll have to…"


    After they all met back up in Vale's central square, Ruby was enormously relieved to discover that Yang had managed to uncover basically everything they'd needed to know. Her feet had been starting to hurt, walking from apartment to apartment with Blake and Weiss. And it was good they'd be able to save all those poor Faunus, obviously. Apparently, there was a specific route they had to take in order to make sure they weren't spotted by the surveillance system. They'd also be down a fighter, since Neptune had to do… something? Yang had been really vague about that, she'd eventually just told Ruby not to worry about it. But it didn't matter! She had her team! And Sun too! They'd faced down the Twisted Hare himself together! They were more than a match for whatever a stupid warehouse could throw at them! Brimming with confidence, Ruby took the lead, leading the group from blind spot to blind spot until they were close enough to the building to start hearing… voices?

    "I don't know! I swear I don't know! Please! PLEASE!" The first voice was high, and sounded terrified and desperate. They continued begging and babbling until she heard a loud snap, followed by a shrill scream. "I do not believe you." The second voice was… weird. It sounded like a whole group of people speaking in one go. Blake's ears twitched at the sound, and the group winced as a second loud snap was heard. "Your name was mentioned in her correspondence with the bookshop owner. You will tell me where she is. Only then will you be granted the release of death." Ruby could take no more of this. She couldn't just stand there and allow this… sick torture to happen! It would've been a betrayal of everything it meant to be a Huntress! She rushed over to the door, dodging Yang's attempt to pull her back, and kicked open the door. She drew Crescent Rose, ready to strike, but stopped dead, taken aback, as the rest of the group followed her. The inside looked like… a slaughterhouse. There was blood everywhere, all over the walls and the floor. A few corpses lay in a pile in the far left corner, many of them with limbs missing. And in the center, there stood a gigantic yellow bear, looming over the crying, broken form of a Faunus. "This… this can't be…" Ruby could barely get the words out.

    "I assure you, Ruby Rose, this is all very real." Said the giant bear, a Nightmare, Ruby now realized. Except it was more than a Nightmare, in every dimension. Larger, taller, with longer and sharper teeth. It even had teeth in its torso. "The Faunus who were taken, as I am sure you have discovered, all had connections to the central leadership of the White Fang." The bear robot said. "As the Vale Cell is now rogue, details of their actions can not be allowed to filter back to Menagerie. It is my task to… interrogate those brought to me, to find those who still hide in the shadows." "Why are you just… telling us this?" asked Weiss, who seemed to be so in shock she simply hadn't processed the state of the room. "Who have I told, but the corpses of little girls too foolish to turn away from the darkness before it consumes them?" The bear replied, and as it spoke, Ruby began to feel a sort of… lethargy sink deep into her bones. She shook it off and launched a swipe of her weapon at the machine. "I don't care why you're doing this!" she hissed as it calmly batted her away. "We're going to stop you! For good!"

    The bear just regarded her, barely moving as its red eyes met her silver ones. "How eager you are to follow in your mother's footsteps, Ruby Rose. Even down to her pointless death." Ruby flinched hard, the seemingly innocuous words somehow puncturing something in her core. "Don't you DARE talk about our mother like that!" Yang yelled, charging her semblance for a strike. The machine just turned to her. "I did not mention your mother, Yang Xiao-Long. Your mother abandoned you after a single look." It was words, just words, but Ruby watched as Yang seemed to deflate, the rage in her eyes dimming. The entire team seemed to share morose expressions, their weapons hanging limply by their sides instead of aloft. The bear gave a brief, ethereal chuckle. "Do you see now? Do you see why you were doomed as soon as you entered this place?" it said, "I am not like my brethren. I do not rely on a tool as paltry as fear. I am Nightmare Fredbear, the greatest and most terrible of the Nightmares. Look upon me, little Huntresses, and DESPAIR"

    At that last word, a powerful wave of something seemed to hit Team RWBY and Sun. Ruby felt tears well in her eyes. What was the point? She thought. All the Faunus here were dead or dying anyway. She was too late. What kind of Huntress was ever too late to save people? She should've known she wasn't ready. Mom would never have been too late… So deep was Ruby's morose that she failed to notice Nightmare Fredbear advancing upon her. Before he could strike her, however, he was blocked by Blake, who had dived in front of her. "We're not afraid of you!" Blake hissed. Fredbear swung a massive hand at her, only to hit the stone copy that took her place. "Your semblance betrays you, Blake Belladonna. Your cowardice is written into your very soul." Blake stumbled, and Fredbear's second strike connected, sending her tumbling into the wall. Ruby should've known. It was hopeless. Why had Blake gotten herself hurt to save her? She wasn't worth it. She'd never been worth anything. As Fredbear advanced on the rest of the group, most of whom were stuck in frozen misery, a glyph appeared under his feet, causing ice to creep up its legs. Weiss gasped, strain evident on her face. "I… can't hold… long. He's… too… strong!" she gasped, knees buckling. Fredbear's steps were slowed, but not stopped. The rest of the group had regained enough presence of mind to back away for all the good it would do them, all except for Sun, whom Fredbear was approaching. "Are you really surprised, Weiss Schnee? I thought you'd be accustomed to falling short of expectations by now." Ruby saw Weiss start to cry, but her hopeless resistance of the inevitable continued all the same. Fredbear chuckled again. "You are extremely stubborn. It is, in some ways, admirable. You'd even defy your father, to help the Faunus in his mines. But how can you hope to save all of them… when you can't even save one?" In one swift move, Fredbear broke through Weiss' glyph, grasped Sun's right arm, his claws piercing flesh, and tore it straight out of its socket.

    The sight of bone and blood and the piercing, horrifying scream broke Fredbear's hold over Ruby. She launched herself at Fredbear, her slashes doing little damage but serving at least to keep him fixed on her and away from her friends. As she desperately attacked, she had an idea. 'Charlie, I don't know if you can hear this, but we need help. Come quick, please!' She tried to think the words as loudly as she possibly could. Yang had managed to recover, and joined her in desperately holding off Fredbear whilst Weiss and Blake tended to Sun. "You are stronger than most, to fight off my hold. But none who face me survive." Fredbear said, before picking up Yang by her hair and tossing her away. Ruby had tired herself out, and eventually, Fredbear reclaimed the upper hand, knocking Crescent Rose out of her hands and backing her against a wall. "Be proud, Ruby Rose." He said. "You will die just as your mother did: Slowly, in great pain, struggling uselessly against a darkness she could never hope to defeat."

    But before Fredbear could finish her off, a monochrome blur crashed into him, sending him tumbling across the room. It was… Nora's hammer? That meant Team JNPR was here and… Charlie heard her! "Get him out of here! Quick!" Ruby heard her voice, shouting, directing the group surrounding Sun. Ren was in the middle, using his semblance to block Nightmare Fredbear out. The rest of team RWBY had recovered from their stupor and were hurrying for the exit, but as they left, they heard Fredbear's voice behind them. "Your semblance could not save your parents from the Nuckelavee, Lie Ren. It will not save you from me. We will meet again, and when that happens, you will be reunited in death. And all of you will join them." And despite their lucky escape, the words repeated over and over in Ruby's mind as they flew away in the Bullhead.


    When Sun came to, he felt… pretty good actually. Maybe it was the satisfaction of knowing he'd stood by someone, come what may. Or maybe it was the morphine. One of the two. Probably the latter, if he was honest. He was also missing an arm, but he wasn't too concerned about that. That was definitely the morphine. He also saw Blake, gripping his remaining hand tightly. "You're awake! Thank the Brothers! It was so close! Oh gods, you'd lost so much blood. If we hadn't gotten you here in time…" her voice devolved into sobbing. It was weird, Sun thought, seeing Blake cry. He'd had this image of her in his head, a stone-cold badass warrior princess taking on the organization she'd left behind. He knew it wasn't an accurate image, but it felt weird to see it so blatantly contradicted. And she was crying over him! A nobody loser from the literal ass end of Remnant! He reached out with his right arm, realized it wasn't there anymore (damn, phantom limb already?), and then squeezed Blake's hand tighter.

    "Don't cry. Please stop. You're kinda ruining my happy morphine haze." He hadn't quite meant to put it like that, but Blake gave a watery chuckle all the same. He'd take that as a win. "No one else got hurt, right?" He asked. "I broke a few ribs when it hit me… Yang's still a little dizzy, other than that… we're all fine." Blake replied. "Sun… I'm so sorry for dragging you into this. This is all my fault. You shouldn't have been there… It's my fault you were there…" "Hey, stop," Sun said. "That's it talking. We beat it, we got away. Don't let it control you." He looked into Blake's eyes. "I don't regret it. If I had to do it again, I would. Yeah, it sucks that I'm down a limb, but if I had to choose between that and running away, stowing away somewhere else, I'd choose to stay." Blake smiled, and Sun smiled too. He was probably gonna feel a whole lot worse about all this when the drugs wore off, but that was all the more reason to enjoy the warmth while it lasted.


    A/N: Apparently Neptune is canonically terrified of water, and hates his hydrokinetic semblance. I didn't expect to add depth to the author insert character that was more or less a black hole where screen time went to die, but it just sort of happened. Also, Nightmare Fredbear! I would've had him bite (of 83) someone, but I like Sun too much to kill him just yet. So he just gets gruesomely maimed instead. Anyway, usual drill. Any questions, feel free to ask!
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 13
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    • "So, what are you guys here for?" Jaune asked Ruby as their teams waited by the cliffside docks for their transportation. It had been a few weeks, nearly a month, but Team RWBY had finally recovered physically from their encounter with Nightmare Fredbear. Emotionally, they were still struggling somewhat, the golden bear's poisonous words still lingered in their ears, and memories of the carnage it had wrought on both them and the captured Faunus still haunted Ruby's sleep, but Beacon had greatly expanded its mental health support system following initiation, and they had eventually been tentatively cleared for a trial mission.

    "Oh, we're shadowing a Huntsman on a search and destroy mission. Apparently, there's a load of Grimm swirling around an old ruin in the southeast. Should be awesome!" Ruby replied. What she didn't say was that she and her team were looking forward to getting back to the more familiar territory of the Grimm after several harrowing encounters with Afton and his terrible machines. It sounded like the perfect way to blow off steam, remind themselves what they were here for. She suspected Jaune understood. She knew Charlie did. Ruby hadn't seen her young/old friend in a while, as she apparently elbow deep into a 'special research project'. It was certainly understandable that she'd need to take her mind off things, considering what William had been inflicting on Vale lately. Ruby really hoped she was okay…

    "Wait, what?" Jaune said, his face suddenly confused, "In the southeast? Definitely? I swear that's what     we picked…" Pyrrha, who had been listening in, nodded in agreement. That was strange. The possibility of a mix-up technically existed, but it was extremely unlikely. Ruby distinctly remembered that the mission they'd selected had been completely unavailable for first-year students until Ozpin had changed it seemingly on a whim after hearing their disappointment. There was no way JNPR could have picked it before they did…

    "Ah, is this everyone? Jolly good! Who's ready to fight for their lives?" Ruby's expression morphed almost instantly from confusion to shock as she realized who was speaking.     This was their escort, the professional Huntsman they were shadowing? "Professor Oobleck…?" Weiss asked tentatively.

    "It's     Doctor Oobleck, thank you kindly. I didn't earn that PhD for fun, you know. Anyway, I'm assuming you're all somewhat confused. Allow me to enlighten you. Yes, you have both been assigned to the same mission. Given the large number of Grimm involved, Professor Ozpin figured there would be safety in numbers, as it were. And yes, I am indeed the experienced Huntsman you will be shadowing. Obviously, you'll all be expected to follow all of my directions for your own safety and…" Ruby was somewhat dazed by the sheer speed at which Oobleck was talking, and noticed her teammates and JNPR looked similar. She would've thought they'd be used to this after nearly a year of classes with him…

    "Now, as regards parameters, there's no need to take anything with you beyond your standard weaponry and allocated Dust ration. The danger involved requires that we are constantly mobile, so I've taken the liberty of packing supplies for multiple campsites in defensible locations, as well as plotting our course and readying the airship. It will be on standby in case we need to urgently evacuate. Now!" Oobleck punctuated the final word with a sharp clap of his hands, starling the zoned-out teenagers. "Are we all ready then? The airship will be leaving in… right now. So come along!"

    "I guess I just… never saw you as much of a fighter," Yang said. They were about three-quarters of the way into their flight. Ruby and her team were chatting with Oobleck, mostly to distract themselves from the noise of Jaune's airsickness. "I admit I fancy myself more of an intellectual, but I can assure you, as a Huntsman, I've had my fair share of tussles," Oobleck replied. "Besides, this particular mission also appeals to my scholarly side. Not only will we be exploring a ruin of great historical interest, but this will be a perfect opportunity for examining the behavior patterns of the new Grimm!"

    "Wait, you mean the purple ones? From initiation?" Weiss asked, looking slightly queasy at the thought. "Indeed!" Oobleck replied excitedly, mistaking Weiss' dread for interest. "They've been spotted in extremely large numbers around this area, which is especially strange given they've been purposely designed as ambush predators. We expected them to disperse themselves around civilian areas to pick off isolated targets, but they've instead gathered in a large clump around the Mountain Glenn site! It is most unexpected!" He rubbed his hands together. "You must forgive my excitement, girls. To have the opportunity to study entirely new Grimm species is very rare indeed!"

    '    Designed?' Ruby thought. While she'd tuned out most of Oobleck's babbling up to now, that word had stuck out like a sore thumb. The Grimm were universally regarded as a natural phenomenon, if an extremely poorly understood one. To hear her teacher, one of the experts in the field, casually reference the idea that a subtype had been deliberately made rather than simply appearing was… unsettling. But before she could comment, Blake spoke up. "Sorry, Mountain Glenn? You're talking about it as if you're all familiar, but I haven't heard of it."

    "Ah, do forgive me, Miss Belladonna. I forget that not all of our students are Valean and thus may be unfamiliar with this kingdom's history. Can one of you retrieve Team JNPR? I suspect they will wish to hear this as well." When a pale, dizzy-looking Jaune arrived, his teammates in tow, Oobleck began. "Mountain Glenn was probably the most ambitious expansion attempt in Vale's history. The idea was to take advantage of the underground caverns in the area to provide a natural defense against the Grimm, should the worst occur. And this worked for a time. Even after the surface city was overrun, the underground section held out for     years against a relentless assault, supplied by the subway system. Unfortunately, an explosion opened up a cavern filled to the brim with Grimm, and Vale was forced to seal the caverns to keep them from overrunning the city proper."

    "There's all kinds of theories and stuff about that explosion." Yang continued. "The official story is that it was an industrial accident, but some people say it was sabotage." Blake looked somewhat pensive. "You don't think this place could be used as a hideout, do you? It's completely isolated, save for a train connection to Vale. And no one would go near it given all the Grimm milling around on the surface." Ruby could understand Blake's worry. Sun's gory amputation at the claws of Nightmare Fredbear had rattled her, but only reinforced her desire to find and stop the White Fang. "All the subway tunnels leading to the city were collapsed after the underground area fell." Oobleck said. "You'd not only need industrial mining equipment to open one up, but also the means to… fuel… it…" It seemed realization had hit him at the same time as it had Blake, who had gone white. Ruby gulped. It seemed their mission had gotten     a lot more complicated…

    Surprisingly, they hadn't immediately turned the airship around, which Ruby was quietly grateful for. However, Oobleck had decided that their 'search and destroy' mission had now been changed to a simple surveying and observation of the activity of the purple Grimm, and thus they'd only be in the area for a day and a bit as opposed to the initial plan of a prolonged camp. "We will, of course, arrange for the possibility of a criminal hideout in the area to be followed up on. By professional Huntsmen." Oobleck said as they landed, combining the last part with a pointed look at team RWBY as a whole, and Blake in particular. "I think we've had quite enough encounters with criminals for a good while. We're quite happy to leave this to the professionals." Weiss said primly, but Yang and Blake looked less sure. Ruby kind of agreed. While the idea of potentially running into one of the Nightmares again filled her with dread, she wasn't exactly pleased by the idea of turning a blind eye.

    "Good to hear. Now, we shall all set up camp in that building over yonder." Oobleck pointed to one of many identical-looking concrete wrecks, before wandering off. As Ruby, her team and JNPR pitched tents and set up a small campfire, enough to dimly illuminate the surroundings, Oobleck reemerged. "This building should be defensible in case of attack. I've already taken to liberty of checking for purple Grimm hiding for surprise attacks, and it looks to be clear. Now, I am going to make some preliminary investigations while you all rest for tomorrow. I'll leave you all with a question that I'd like you to discuss amongst yourselves: Why     exactly do you wish to become Huntsmen and Huntresses? Farewell!"

    After Oobleck dashed off into the darkness, an awkward silence descended upon the group. "I guess I'll go first, get the ball rolling," Yang said. "If you'd asked me before initiation, I'd have said stuff about fighting monsters, saving people, all that good stuff. But that's not honest. That's just what people wanna hear, what I wanted to tell myself. Truthfully? I guess I'm a thrill-seeker. I want to travel around the world and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as I can. And if I help people along the way, then that's even better. I didn't expect to almost die on the first day, but before the Nightmare? Fighting those purple Grimm? I felt     alive. I guess I feel that given the risks we're taking, it's important to know why we do what we do."

    Ruby saw Jaune nod emphatically. "I was in a similar boat to you." He began. "Not with the thrill-seeker stuff, but that I would've said stuff about saving people and fighting Grimm. Being honest, I didn't really know what being a Hunstman     meant until initiation, not really. It was just something my grandfather did, and his father before him. The idea of continuing that legacy just sounded cool. Initiation woke me up, hard, to the reality of it, you know? That we're putting our lives on the line. Honestly, I gotta thank Pyrrha for everything. I felt so... lost and useless after initiation, and she pretty much put me back together, helped me become better than I knew I could be." Even in the dim light, Ruby could see that Pyrrha had turned about as red as her hair, and heard Blake groan slightly when Jaune flashed her an oblivious smile. She had to admit, it was kinda painfully obvious at this point.

    Ruby saw Ren and Nora glance between each other, and wordlessly come to some kind of decision. Ren spoke "Do you recall what the Nightmare said to me as we escaped from it? About the… Nuckelavee?" There was an uncharacteristic flash of pained anger at that last word in Ren's calm monotone, and Nora squeezed his hand. He continued "The Nuckelavee was an extremely old and powerful Grimm that attacked and destroyed the village where Nora and I grew up. My father was a hunter, and died during the initial wave. He unlocked my aura before he departed to fight, and I unlocked my semblance soon after. I tried to use it to help some of the villagers escape, my mother among them, but we were caught. Nora and I… were the only survivors." It was clear there were more details, but Ren's normally ironclad composure was in danger of completely breaking down. "So that's why we became Huntsmen. So no one had to go through what we did." Nora finished, her own voice wobbling.

    '    I guess it's like what Charlie said' Ruby thought to herself. 'She had no one when she was… murdered. And she didn't want anyone else to have no one. So she stepped up.' It had been hard for her to wrap her head around. Not just the idea that a dead girl was now walking, talking and breathing, but her ability to set aside her own suffering on behalf of those who suffered alongside her. For almost fifty years. Fighting what seemed to be a hopeless battle against a monster that always returned, and never gave up.

    She thought more about what her friends had said, lying awake while they slept in their tents. Ruby had always seen herself following in her mom's footsteps, and her death had only served to reinforce that. The way Ruby saw it, her mom had died keeping people safe, and if she hadn't gone out day after day ready to make that sacrifice, many more people could have lost their mothers or fathers, or other family members. Some would call that view almost punishingly utilitarian, but Ruby didn't see it that way. If she was in a position where she could protect those who couldn't protect themselves, she would be selfish not to, even at the cost of her own life. She hadn't shared her views with the group, knowing full well Yang would go ballistic with worry, but kept them close to her heart. '    We do what we must, because we're the only ones who can' she thought, neatly summarizing her views, and was about to settle down when she heard the echoes of a howl in the distance.

    Instantly, she was on full alert and grabbed Crescent Rose as she slipped out of the tent. She didn't want to disturb everyone in the event of a false alarm. As she went further from the camp, the echoing howls were joined by growling and chirping, suggesting a large concentration of Grimm nearby. She was about to turn back when she Oobleck shout "Miss Rose! Miss Rose! You must come quickly!" Ruby sprinted in the direction of her teacher's voice but tripped on a loose rock. As she fell, she felt the ground shake beneath her, cracks emerging on the surface, before collapsing entirely. The last she heard as she fell was the cackling of the Mockingbirds swooping overhead as she tumbled into the darkness.


    A/N: I'm experimenting with a slightly different paragraphing style in this chapter based on what I've seen in other fics. Let me know if you approve, and I'll go back and edit all the previous chapters to match. As always, feel absolutely free to comment if you've any questions!
     
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