Rathma (RWBY/Diablo)

[ThatOnePsycho]

Well, time to finally give this fic it's own thread. It also (especially when chapter 4 is done) acts as a digital testament to how my writing has changed over the past six months.

---

Ruby looked around, confused.


Where was she? Her dad had sent her to take a nap, and now she was standing in a black void.


"Hello?"


Nothing.


Walking along, the four year old looked around, listening for anything.


Still nothing.


Ruby wasn't sure how long she was walking, but had started to get more than a little tired, and scared, before she came across something.


Or rather, something came across her.


The winged creature came from behind her, flew over her head, and landed in front of her. The little girl inclined her head, looking at the giant creature.


It was like someone had taken a connect the dots of a snake, and attached a pair of wings to it.


As Ruby stared into the closest ball of light, she saw flashes of images.


A boy and two girls, in the burning remains of a village.


A man, desperately trying to comfort a bawling blond baby, before a woman took her from him.


The same couple, the woman was in a hospital bed, gently holding a newborn. Silver eyes spread, staring sleepily.


"How did you get here, little nephalem?"


Ruby looked up, and the creature looked down.


"Hi?"


If snakes could smile, Ruby was sure it was.


"Hello. Now, how did you get here? I certainly didn't invite you."


"I- I dunno. Where is here?"


"This is my home, are you lost?"


"I think so," Ruby felt tears prickle the the corner of her eyes, "I wanna go home."


"I do not blame you. How old are you, little nephalem?"


"Five and eight months," Ruby smiled, puffing out her chest despite herself.


"A respectable age," the creature nodded seriously.


"Respectable? What's that mean?"


"It means that it should be taken seriously."


Ruby looked up at the creature, "are you making fun of me?"


It smiled, "A little bit, yes."


Ruby puffed out her cheeks, scowling, "Why?"


"Well," He, Ruby was sure he was a he, "you are not scared anymore, right?"


"...I still want to go home."


"I do not doubt it," he said, "I would gladly help you find your way, if I knew where you came from."


Ruby felt tears well up again, and desperately rubbed them. Yang would laugh at her if she found out Ruby had been crying.


"Do not worry, little nephalem. I might not know the way at the moment, but I am sure I can find it quickly. Would you like to talk while I do so? I have not spoken to anyone in a long time."


"Ok, Mr…?"


"Trag'Oul. Just Trag'Oul."


"Ok! What are you?"


"I am a dragon, little nephalem."


Ruby puffed out her cheeks again, "My name is Ruby!"


"I'm sorry, I didn't know that."


"It's ok! What do you do here?"


"I maintain the Balance, or try to at least."


"The Balance," Ruby cocked her head to the side, "like a tightrope?"


Ruby had watched someone walk on one at a circus a couple of months back for Yang's eighth birthday.


Trag'Oul released a deep rumbling sound, and Ruby was afraid she had made him angry, before realizing he was laughing.


"I have never heard of it described like that, but I suppose you could look at it that way. The Balance is between Chaos and Order, too much in one direction, and everything burns, too much in the other, and everything stagnates."


"Wuh?"


"It stops."


"Oh. Do you need help?"


Trag'Oul looked at her, "Why do you think that?"


"It sounds like a big job, and Dad always says I should help with big jobs."


Trag'Oul laughed again, "I think this is bigger than what they mean."


"Well, that just means you need more help!"


Trag'Oul stopped, thinking, "I suppose it would be nice to have some help," one of the balls of light descended, touching her chest, "I will meet you back here tomorrow?"


"Ok!"


----


Tai watched Ruby play with her friends at her birthday party. The newly six year old was running around, dodging Aileen's attempted to tag her.


Qrow walked out from the house, holding a parcel.


"What's that?"


"It just came, says it's for Ruby."


"From who?"


"It doesn't say. Should we let her open it now?"


Tai looked at it out of the corner of his eye. For all intents and purposes, it looked like a regular package, but he would admit it was strange that it didn't say where it came from.


"Sure. One present won't hurt anyone."


"Ruby, a package arrived for you!"


Ruby looked over, dancing away from Aileen on nimble feet. Tai couldn't help the proud smile that made his way onto her face. She was a natural.


Ruby made her way over to them, and Qrow crouched down, handing her the package.


Ruby carefully undid the twine holding it together, and the simple brown paper gave way.


Inside was a neatly folded pile of fabric, with an envelope sitting on top.


Tai gently took the envelope from her, opening it and reading the contents aloud for his family to hear.


"'Ruby,


These used to belong to two friends of mine, but they no longer need them. Since you were talking about how much you liked your mother's cloak, I thought you might like it.


I have something to deal with, so I won't be around for a bit. Keep up your training, Rathma.


Kalan.' Ruby what does- that's a knife!"


Indeed, the first item was a large cloak. Much too large, Tai noticed briefly, for a girl Ruby's age. The second was a long curved knife, chalk white.


Tai saw Ruby reach out to grab it, and moved to stop her, "Ruby, that isn't a toy-"


Tai stopped, staring as Ruby wrapped her hand around the dagger. While it was also too big for her, there was no denying that Ruby was holding it properly. Hand wrapped around the hilt tightly enough to have a firm grip on it, but not so tight as to be uncomfortable.


"Ruby, where did you learn to hold a knife like that?"


Ruby smiled, apparently unconcerned with the blade in her hand, "Kalan taught me!"


Tai frowned, looking at the note, "Who is Kalan?"


Already, Tai was forming plans to pay this 'Kalan' a visit with Qrow. Ruby was a little girl, she shouldn't know how to use knives!


"He's my teacher!"


"And what has he been teaching you?"


"To fight."


Tai shared a look with Qrow over Ruby's head.


"Why are you learning to fight?"


"I want to be a Huntress."


"That's a very dangerous job, you could be lots of other things."


Ruby face pulled into a expression all too serious for a girl her age, "I want to be a Huntress."


Tai stopped at the conviction in his daughter's voice. Even he hadn't been that sure about his chosen profession.


"And why is that?"


"I want to protect people, and maintain the Balance."


Tai shared another look with Qrow, "and what is the Balance?"


"'If chaos rules, worlds burn. If order rules, they stagnate. If either finds such a foothold that the other cannot right, Remnant will destroy itself,'" Ruby recited, like she had memorized it every day.


Tai curled a hand into a fist, hiding the sparks gathering. Oh, when he found this 'Kalan' guy…


"And what about the people who get hurt because of the it? There are bad people out there, Rosebud."


"'There is a difference between Chaos and Order, and Good and Evil. Good should always outway Evil, but never obliterate it completely, lest Good turn on itself.'"


"Ruby, I don't want you to meet with Kalan anymore."


"Why?"


"These aren't the type of things someone your age should be worrying about-"


"I asked him to let me help!"


"And he should have said no. Give me that knife."


Ruby backed up, holding the knife in both hands, wrapping the bundle of cloth around it, "No!"


Tai walked forward gently, stretching out his hand, "Ruby," he took a harder tone of voice, "Hand over the knife."


Ruby backed up more, eyes wide as she shook her head.


As Tai reached down to take the knife, Ruby made a sharp gesture with her hand.


Tai snapped his hand back to dodge the spikes of bone that rose around him, staring at Ruby through them.


What the- was this Ruby's Semblance? Had Kalan unlocked her Aura? What kind of Semblance caused bones to grow from the ground, and what did it say about his daughter?


Qrow reached down behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder, before something else happened.


The cloak in Ruby's hand lept from it, moving up her arm like a shadow, and wrapped around Qrow's throat like a noose.


It only took a second for Qrow to remove it, but in the moment he did, a whirlwind of bones batted Qrow's hand away, and she took off.


Ducking under Yang's grasp, Ruby ran towards the backwoods, and the cloak rapidly followed her.


"Ruby! Wait-"


Ruby disappeared suddenly, the treeline not even have covered her whole body when she ceased to be.


Tai stared for a second as the bones crumbled, before rushing to look for his younger daughter.


---


Ruby ran through the black void, hot tears running down her face. She was trying to put as much space, or what passed for it here, in between herself and her family.


"Kalan! Where are you!"


A strangled sob escaped Ruby lips, and she pulled the cloak tighter around herself. She tightened her grip on the bone knife, until her skin was the same shade as the catalyst.


Didn't her dad understand? She was learning to help people! Trag'Oul couldn't help, but she could for him!


Ruby sobbed again, pulling herself into a ball.


She couldn't go home, there was no way her dad would understand. She had seen the look in her dad's eyes when she had created the bone prison, he was afraid.


Trag'Oul had told her about the last time he had people to help him, how the Priests of Rathma had lived in underground cities away from people who didn't trust them.


"Kalan! Please, I need you!"


Ruby stared into the void, but the celestial body of Trag'Oul didn't appear.


Ruby broke down completely, sobbing into the black cloak. It wrapped around her like a hug, and Ruby felt like something was watching over her. Closing her eyes, she drifted off into an uneasy sleep.


---


Trag'Oul returned from the conclave, glad to finally be away from his brothers, but with more questions than answers.


It was agreed, there had never been a case of a mortal accidentally stumbling into a Guardian's realm, but somehow, Ruby had.


Trag'Oul took no pride in what he was doing, indoctrinating a young girl to uphold the Balance, but was equally aware he had no choice.


He couldn't directly manifest on Remnant anymore than he could do so on Sanctuary, lest he draw attention of the Burning Hells and High Heavens to the second nephalem filled world.


As he drifted through his home, he noticed two presences. Making his way over to them, the Guardian Dragon frowned.


Ruby was curled up in a bed of bones, her hair having grown out in the three months he was gone.


Standing over her was Linarian, his unnaturally perfect features watching Trag'Oul.


"Hello, old friend."


Trag'Oul drifted over to the ghost of his first student, looking down at the two of them.


"What are you doing here?"


"She called to me," Linarian gestured down to Ruby, "unintentionally, I suspect. She was scared, and had fled here. I see you gave her my cloak."


"Yes, I-"


"You don't need to justify yourself to me. It is the cloak of the Rathma, and she is now Rathma."


"When did she come here?"


"The day you left, she had a fight with her parents. She spoke of the Balance, and it scared them. They tried to take Mendeln's knife, so she resorted to necromancy and fled here."


"She has been here for three months? How has she survived?"


"I put her into suspended animation while the changes took place, there is nothing to eat, and I fear the worst if she went out into the world unready."


"Changes? What did you-"


Trag'Oul looked at Ruby's face, and could already make out the changes to its structure. Examining her soul, he found the shackles on it loosened. The bindings of the Worldstone slowly coming undone.


"Rathma, you did not-"


"I merely made sure the potential would manifest. Something happened while you were gone, old friend."


Turning his eye to Sanctuary, Trag'Oul watched as the moment replayed itself. One of the cult stood by as an angel shattered the Worldstone. The nephalem would return naturally.


"She is a little girl, she does not deserve the curse of a nephalem."


"No, she doesn't. But we both know that sacrifices need to be made to maintain the Balance. If the High Heavens or Burning Hells learn of this place, it will be thrown into the same turmoil as Sanctuary."


Trag'Oul didn't argue, couldn't argue. Hadn't he been doing the same? The only difference was that Linarian had taken it a step further.


"She won't have all the power at once, when she wakes after I leave, she will have little more than a human who slipped the binds."


"You are playing a dangerous game."


Linarian didn't refute the statement, merely smiling, "I am maintaining the Balance, being dead has shown me what must be done. Goodbye, old friend, it was good to see you again."


The son of Lilith and Inarius faded from existence, leaving Trag'Oul with a newly awakened nephalem tackling him, sobs resuming.


---


Nora watched the other girl pick up the loaf of bread, trying to keep the look of longing off her face.


The malnourished girl briefly thought about trying to steal it, but quickly decided it was a bad idea.


It wasn't because she was scared, nope, she wasn't scared of the girl with scary white skin and a knife and-


"Hey," Nora looked up, the girl was holding out the loaf of bread.


Nora stared at it, eyes wide in shock. Was she really-?


"Come on, you need this more than I do. Take it."


Nora stretched out her hands, shaking slightly as she took the loaf.


It was hard, and cold, but it was more food than she had had in a long time.


Nora felt a ragged gasp of air escape her throat, desperately tearing a chunk out of the loaf.


The other girl sat down back against the alley wall, but Nora ignored her as she ate.


"Hey, don't eat too much, you'll make yourself sick."


Long, spindly fingers took the loaf back, and Nora felt the sudden urge to bite them. She hadn't had anything in a long time.


"Come on, you can have some more later, but let that settle."


The girl extended her hand, holding it out to Nora.


The little girl couldn't stop the tears that welled up, taking the hand.


"I'm Ruby, what's your name?"


"Nora."


Nora followed Rathma through the streets of Kuroyuri, the other girl looking for something.

"Where are we going?"


"I'm trying to find a way home. I had an argument with my dad and ran away."


"Where does your father live?"


Nora froze, and saw Ruby grab her knife, hiding it under her too long cloak as she turned. The other hand pushed Nora behind her, and she felt something hard covering it.


Standing behind them was a man with grey and black hair, a boy Nora's age peered out from behind his leg.


"Sorry, what?"


"I asked where your father lived, you said you were trying to find a way home."


"Patch, near Signal Academy."


The older man raised an eyebrow, "That is a very long way for a little girl to get on your own. How did you get here?"


"I had help."


"And they can't help you get back?"


"Not at the moment, no."


"Well, it will certainly be very hard for you to get home, you're on a completely different continent. We can call your father from the CCT, though. Let him know you're safe."


"That… that would be nice."


"What about her?"


Nora shrank as the man turned his attention to her, crouching behind Rathma.


"She's with me."


"Alright," the man nodded, "I'm Li Ren, and this is Lie."


As Rathma let go of Nora's hand, and Nora saw white clumps fall at her feet.


"Thank you."


---


Tai read the letter again, it had been folded again and again.


Nothing. Him and Qrow had scoured every inch of Patch at least six times, and neither had found anything about a Kalan, nor was there any sign of Ruby.


Tai buried his face into his hands, groaning. He should have just let her keep the knife, then hidden it away when she went to sleep that night. Instead, Ruby was who knows where, probably with some strange cult.


Yang had been inconsolable for the first couple of months, heartbroken that her sister had disappeared like both her mothers had.


Tai's head snapped up as the long range terminal went off, something Tai had decided to splurge on after Qrow took more missions outside Vale. Walking over to it, Tai checked the ID. The call was coming from Mistral.


Hitting the button to take the call, Tai sat down. After a brief second, the screen flickered to show a middle aged man, his hair and goatee sprinkled with liberal amounts of grey.


"Hello?"


"Hello, are you Tai-Yang Xiao Long?"


"Yes? If you're selling something-"


"I found your daughter walking around our village, she wants to speak with you."


Tai stopped, mouth hanging open as the man stepped aside, letting Ruby sit down.


She was still wearing the clothing she had disappeared in, the hoodie was unzipped, shorts ragged, and the black cape she had gotten from 'Kalan' was around her, folded up and tucked into itself to keep her from tripping over it. The knife that had started this mess sat proudly at her waist.


"Ruby," Tai choked out, "Do you know how worried we've been?"


Her skin was ash white, but her eyes and hair were still the same.


"Dad," Ruby's wavered briefly, before hardening, "I won't stop learning from Kalan."


Tai covered his mouth to hide the sob. He was the adult here, if Ruby was going to behave so seriously, he also needed to.


"Alright, Rosebud, just- just come home, ok? We miss you. I'm going to call Qrow after this, he's in the area on a job, and will come pick you up. Ok?"


Ruby bit her lip, before nodding.


"Ok, can you let that man back on? I need to speak with him."


Ruby did so, and Tai leveled a glare at the dark haired man.


"I take it you're Kalan?"


The man shook his head, "I've never heard that name before, Mr. Xiao Long, and it isn't my place to pry. I'm Li Ren."


"Right, sorry. We've been trying to find her for months, and she just showed up with you."


"I understand completely, I have a son that's a couple years older than her, I don't know what I would do if he went missing. You said someone would come pick her up?"


"Yeah, my brother-in-law, he's in the area. Where are you?"


"Kuroyuri, it's a small village near the edge of Anima."


"He can get directions. Thank you for finding her, we've been worried sick."


"I should warn you," Li said, "don't be surprised if you get one more girl than you were expecting. There was another girl with her when I found her, she's been following Ruby around like a lost puppy. Wasn't happy when she had to wait outside the room for this call, so I wouldn't expect her to go without a fight."


"We can deal with that when we come to it, I need to call Qrow."


"Of course, should we expect him in a couple of days?"


"Yeah."


The call ended, and Tai hit the speed dial for Qrow.


"Tai, it's," Qrow looked over at his clock, and Tai saw him rubbing his eyes, "eleven at night here, couldn't this have waited until morning?"


"No. It's Ruby."


"Did something come up?" Qrow's voice was immediately alert.


"I just got a call, she's in a village called Kuroyuri on Anima. Can you-"


Tai stopped as Qrow stood, grabbing his scythe and sheathing it, "I'm on it, I'll find directions, and get there as soon as possible."


Qrow hung up, and Tai was left staring at the screen.


A choked, giddy laugh rose from his chest. They had found Ruby. She would be home soon.


---


Ruby's chest burned as she ran around the corner, throwing up a wall of bones as she went.


Grimm, a big one. Too big, she couldn't just launch a set of fangs at it like she had done to the smaller ones on her way to Kuroyuri.


Ruby heard the giant horse smash its way through the wall, the bone barely slowing it down.


Throwing her hand behind her, Ruby summoned several skeletons to distract it, praying that they be more successful in stopping the charge.


They weren't.


The Grimm didn't stop, smashing through the skeletons in its attempts to reach her.


Ruby dove into an alley, throwing up another bone wall to hide herself.


That also didn't work.


A hand burst through the bone, slamming into Ruby's chest and sending her skidding back. The bones around Ruby's chest crumbled, the magic keeping them together fading. Ruby's back crashed against the wall, and she closed her eyes, reeling in pain.


Something metallic filled her mouth, and Ruby spat out the broken tooth.


Ruby felt her blood trickle down the the back of her head, everything spinning.


The Grimm leaned into the alley, stretching a hand out.


Ruby braced herself for the blow, reaching back and touching her bloodstained hair.


Something distracted the Grimm, and it turned away from her.


Reaching down, Ruby touched the blood coated hand to the ground and traced out a circle. Then a simple star in it.


The last of Ruby's skeletons was thrown into the alley, before crumbling to dust.


Slamming her hand into the symbol, and watched as it grew into a eight foot golem of blood and muscle.


The golem charged forward, distracting the Grimm as Ruby slunk away.


Ruby felt the bleeding staunch itself as the Golem traded some of the energy it was draining into her through the link. Looking around, Ruby found Lie and Nora hiding under a deck.


Sliding next to them, Ruby leaned down, "Are you two alright?"


"Father, and Mother, they… they…"


"They're in a better place," Ruby placed a hand on Lie's shoulder, certain that Trag'Oul would find the perfect role for Li and An in maintaining the Balance.


Ruby felt the golem be raised into the air.


"They're dead."


The Grimm tore it in two.


"It's ok. Death isn't the end."


"How do you know that? You're younger than me."


Ruby opened her mouth to rebut, but stopped.


Wait, if her golem was dead, where was the Grimm?


A hand lashed out, grabbing Ruby by the legs and dragging her along.


"Ruby!"


Ruby grew a spike of bone from her still covered left arm, digging it into the support beam and-


She cried out as her arm cracked, the bone armor disintegrating as her arm went limp.


Her face crashed into another of the support beams, before the other hand wrapped around her and hoisted her into the air.


Ruby looked through the trail of blood as the Grimm mouth opened in a screech.


The grip tightened, and Ruby felt several somethings crack.

Ruby closed her eyes, struggling to breath. What would happen when she died? How would she help maintain the Balance in the next world?


Ruby smiled through the pain as two men manifested before her. One was unnaturally perfect, like some deity had decided to sculpt his face beyond the limits of a human. The other was shorter, with beady black eyes and an off color right hand.


They put their hands on her arms, and pushed her back. And Ruby's vision was filled with silver light.


Ruby woke with a gasp, hacking up a glob of red mucus. A pair of hands held her down, and another gripped her right hand.


"Wuh?"


A familiar face appeared over her, worry clear.


"-You alright, Ruby?"


"Uncle Qrow," Ruby noticed her speech was garbled, "what are you doing here?"


"I was coming to pick you up, remember Pipsqueak?"


"'m not a pipsqueak."


"You haven't grown that much since I saw you. You gave me a heart attack there."


Ruby felt herself be picked up, before being placed on a bed.


"Where are we going?"


"First we're going to the hospital, that Grimm really did a number on you, then I'm taking you and your friends back to Patch, ok?"


Ruby tried to move her head to the side, only for another pair of hands to stop her.


"Ruby, can I call you Ruby?"


Ruby tried to nod, only for the hands to keep her head in place.


"Yes."


"Ruby, don't try to move, you have a lot of broken bones. Including several compound fractures, those are when-"


"The bone is stickin' out, I know. Where's the Grimm?"


"Dead. Your uncle killed it while it was focused on you."


"Nora and Lie?"


"We're right here," the hand holding Ruby's hand squeezed, "don't do something like that again, please," Nora's voice became muffled, "I don't want to lose either of you."


Ruby's eyelids grew heavy as the woman holding her head placed some sort of mask over it, and Ruby drifted off to sleep.

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

Ruby sat as Nora pushed her along, staring sullenly at the cast around her right leg.


A compound fracture in the leg, two in her rib cage, another four with simple fractures, another simple fracture on her skull, a broken collarbone, a dislocated left arm, and a broken nose.


Despite that, it was agreed that Ruby had been extremely lucky. If her skeleton hadn't survived, she would have died. If the Nuckelavee hadn't been distracted by the silver light that had appeared, she would have died. If Uncle Qrow had been half a minute late, or not come with a medical Bullhead sent to pick up someone in the next town over, she probably would have died. If he hadn't accidentally unlocked her Aura trying to heal her, she would probably be looking at two months in a wheelchair, instead of another two weeks, plus her broken nose was healed!


Ruby signed as Nora pushed her into the classroom, reaching out and squeezing the ginger haired girl's hand.


This was the longest time the three survivors of Kuroyuri were going to be apart since the attack.


Talk about adding to your first-day-a-new-school anxiety.


"Ruby, why are you giggling like that?"


Ruby shook her head, "I'll tell you after school," Ruby smiled up at the other girl, "Thanks for bringing me."


Nora smiled, squeezing Ruby's hand back, "It's fine. See you later?"


"Of course."


Nora stopped as she let go of Ruby's hand, before tapping her finger on Ruby's nose.


"Boop!"


Then she rushed out of the room, and Ruby was left alone with Ms. Greene.


The first grade teacher looked up from her book, smiling, "It's good to have you back, you gave everyone quite the scare."


Ruby looked away, out the window where she could see a thin layer of snow dusting Patch. Last time she had been home, it had been summer.


She still wasn't sure what had happened for the first three months, Trag'Oul had been evasive about what had happened and where he had been, the next three (It might have been longer, Time didn't work quite the same in Trag'Oul's home) were spent teaching her more of the Balance, and advancing her skill with blood and bone.


Which was good, because it saved her life.


Frowning, Ruby picked at the fraying edge of her skirt. Had he know? He had never had problems returning her to his home before then, though that had been the first time she physically traveled there.


Ruby was aware that Trag'Oul knew more than he let on, she had seen Kuroyuri during her first meeting with him, and still got impulses when she thought of the stars that made up the constellar dragon's body-


-A young man, smoke rising around him as he dropped his empty magazines, reloading. Raising his gun, he fired a single bullet, bone broke beneath the ballistic blast. Tendrils of light trailed from his back, magenta with black lining-


-like that, Ruby finished the thought dryly.


"Ruby?"


The brown haired girl's head snapped to her teacher.


"Are you alright? You seemed distracted."


Ruby shook her head, "I'm fine, I was just thinking about Kuroyuri."


Ms. Greene's eyes softened, "Of course. Ruby, I understand this must be very hard for you, but if you ever need to talk-"


"I'm fine."


"Ruby, you just went through an extremely traumatic experience, it's normal to be-"


"Ms. Greene," Ruby cut her off with a smile, "I'm fine."


"You could have died."


"We all die eventually," Ruby responded, "I'm not scared to do so."


"That isn't normal, Ruby. You're just a little girl."


"Then I don't want to be normal, I'm happy the way I am."


Ms.Greene opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, a blur rushed into the room, tackling Ruby into a hug and pushing her wheelchair back.


"Ruby!" Aileen's muffled voice came from Ruby's side, "Do you know how scared I was? Never do anything like that again!" Ruby's best friend continued to jabber on until Ruby stopped her with a groan.


"Leenie, 's nice to see you too, but, you're crushing my ribs."


The hazel eyed girl leapt back, releasing Ruby from her grip, "Sorry! What happened to you?"


Ms. Greene coughed into her hand, "Aileen, that isn't-"


"Got into a fight with a Grimm."


"What!? Really? Did you win?"


"No, I lost, that's why I'm stuck in a wheelchair, silly. I made some new friends, I'll introduce you after school, K?"


Aileen shrank into herself, "Ok?"


"Aileen," Ms. Greene cut in, "could you take a seat? it's time for class after all."


---


Tai growled, smashing the sledgehammer into the bone knife. Nothing. He had been at this since he came home from bringing the kids to school and had literally nothing to show for it. The knife wasn't even chipped.


Ruby had nearly died, Qrow said that she had barely been moving when they got there.


Thud.


He had nearly lost his daughter. His daughter had almost died because of this stupid knife.


Thud.


He had already lost Summer, he had already lost Raven, he couldn't lose either of his baby girls.


Thud.


And Ruby still wasn't shaken! She still wanted to learn from Kalan, and still wanted to be a Huntress.


Thud.


She wouldn't even tell them where she met with him so Qrow and him could at least meet the guy. Or even how she was meeting him, seeing as she was confined to the house.


Thud.


It couldn't have been Li Ren, otherwise Ruby wouldn't talk about meeting him. Even with her strange outlook on death.


THUD!


She was a little girl! She should be worrying about playing with her friends. Not running away from Grimm!


THUD!


The only good part of this was being there to take in the other two kids.


THUD!


Tai had lost his parents in a Grimm attack, because of course he fuckin' did, an early sign of how the world would go on to screw with him for the subsequent thirty years.


THUD!


It was hard, everyone seemed to constantly pity you. Even if you didn't want their damn pity. Even if taking in the kids put a strain on their money, he was fine with doing that. Giving them something resembling a normal life, was worth that.


THUD-CRACK!


Tai glared at the broken handle of the hammer. He had driven it into the ground so hard it had cratered the ground and broke the hammer.


But not the damn knife. It was still looking brand new.


Picking it up, Tai shoved it into its sheath, and walked back towards the house.


Storing it in the sewn pocket of Ruby's cloak, lest she go looking for it, Tai walked into the living room.


Qrow was sitting there, staring at one of the skeletons Ruby had used to deal with her current disabled state.


Admittedly, they did take some of the difficulty out of life.


This one was cleaning the house. The vacuum cleaner was running, blocking out whatever Qrow was trying to watch.


"Tai! Sit down, man, I need to talk to you," Qrow yelled over the machine, before the skeleton walked out of the room.


"What's up?"


Qrow's face pulled into a sharp frown, "Ruby."


"What about her? We still can't find Kalan, and she still isn't talking."


"It's not that," Qrow leaned his elbows on his knees, resting his head on his hands, "When she gets better, I want to start training her."


"Qrow, I don't want her-"


"I know, Tai, but there's nothing either of us can do to stop her. She's made her choice, and I don't think there's anything we can do to change that."


"We can keep her from this, she isn't even six, man. She shouldn't be dealing with this shit!"


"I know, trust me, but if she's going to insist to do stuff like this, I want to make sure she doesn't die. Whatever those are," Qrow jerked his head at one of the skeletons, "they aren't her Semblance. I woke up her Aura saving her."


Tai stopped, mouth opening mutely for a few seconds, "She hadn't had her Aura unlocked?"


"No, so whatever Kalan has been teaching her wouldn't involve using it. I don't want that to get her killed later on."


"What would you teach her?"


"Just basic stuff, how to defend herself, different Grimm types, using her Aura. Things that will keep her from dying."


"That's- I'm fine with that."


"Good. I was going to do it either way."


"You're an ass."


Qrow laughed, gesturing to one of the skeletons, who poured him a drink.


"You know, I could get used to these things."


"I think Ruby already has, I saw her teaching one to bake cookies."


"Yang too, she had one clean the dishes when it was her turn."


Tai laughed, "looks like the conspiracy theorists were wrong, we'll be replaced with skeletons instead of robots if other people learn how to do this."


The two men leaned back chuckling, watching the wall mounted Scroll as the macabre servants walked around them.


----


Nora looked at the girl practically curled up behind Ruby's chair.


"Uh?"


"What?"


"Who's that?"


"What?" Ruby turned in her chair, "Oh, for Dust sake, Lennie, it isn't that bad- RIBS!"


"They did tell you to keep from doing stuff like that," Lie responded lightly to Ruby's cry of pain, but helped her sit up nonetheless.


"I don't want to sit around for a couple of weeks, it's borrring," Ruby dragged out the R, lolling her head to the side.


Lie adjusted her head, "Don't do that, you're just going to extend how long you're stuck in there."


Nora watched the two of them as Lie gently fussed over Ruby.


"Ruby? Lie?"


The two of them turned, and Nora tapped them both on the nose.


"Boop."


Nora watched them both blink in confusion.


"Uh, why do you keep doing that? Does it mean something?"


Thank you for finding me, for saving me at Kuroyuri, for being nice to me, for taking us home with you. I'm sorry you both got hurt there.


"It's- It's something my parents used to do to me."


"Oh," Ruby chirped, kicking her feet, "That's cool! Lennie? Have you calmed down yet?"


"Yeah," the girl's shaky voice answered, "I'm good, come on, let's find our parents."


"You sure? You haven't really met Nora and Lie yet!"


"Call me Ren."


"Huh?"


"I want you to call me Ren."


Ruby shrugged, smiling, "Ok, Ren! Lennie? Are you-"


"I want to go home. I'm not feeling well," Lennie's voice came out clipped.


Ruby's smile faltered briefly, "Ok. Come on guys, let's go find dad."


Nora took over pushing Ruby's chair, looking around the school yard for Taiyang's truck.


"Why is everyone looking at us?" Li- Ren asked, looking around. When Nora checked, she saw he was right.


"Patch is pretty small, you know? Most people at least know each other in passing, so when new people show up, people notice."


"Especially when someone shows up in a wheelchair," Lennie mumbled, shrinking in on herself again, "You running into a Grimm is going to circle faster than a Nevermore."


"So? If they want to know they can ask me about it, I don't care."


"How do you keep saying that? You nearly died Ruby. We watched them cart you to the emergency room."


"Ren. I'm not scared of dying. People can think that is strange, but it's true. So long as I die for something I believe in, I'm happy."


"And you would have died for something you believe in at Kuroyuri?"


"Well," Ruby's eyes seemed to burrow into Ren's skull, "Uncle Qrow was right there, so at least you two would have gotten out of there safely. That is good enough for me."


"Don't."


"Huh?"


"Don't die like that, Ruby. I don't want to lose you."


Nora had seen what had happened to Ruby. She had stopped moving in the Grimm's hand, sagged down limp with blood pouring from her mouth. Dead.


Then she wasn't.


Ruby's eyes had started to glow, and silver lights in the shape of bone wings had burst through the Grimm's hands, burning them to ash and distracting it for Qrow.


Then she had collapsed, chest moving again, wings gone.


"Nora, Lie, Aileen, Ruby! Over here!"


Taiyang was waving at them, a brown haired woman sitting next to him on the truck bed and Yang playing with some cube, leaning against the wheel.


Faster than Nora had comprehend, the woman and Aileen left, they were bundled into the back of the truck, with Ruby's wheelchair in the bed, and heading to the house.


Their house.


Nora looked down, before grabbing Ruby's free hand.


----


Yang watched Ruby talk to Nora, animatedly moving her freshly released limbs.


"Ruby? Can I talk to you? Alone?"


"Huh? Yeah, sure, what's up Yang?"


Yang gently guided her sister to her room, shutting and locking the door.


"What's up-"


"Why did you run away?" It had taken weeks for Yang to work up the courage to ask this and she hated how broken her voice sounded at the moment. She was supposed to be the big sister.


"What do you mean?"


"You were missing for six months. I thought I had lost you, like mom," which mom went unsaid.


"Which-?"


"It doesn't matter. Why'd you run away?"


Sometimes, things happened that made you rethink your priorities. Like worrying about your little sister running off.


"I was scared."


"Then why didn't you come home?"


"I needed to train more."


"You scared me!"


"I needed to learn how to defend people."


"What about me?"


Ruby looked confused, "What about you? I needed to learn."


"You abandoned me," Yang hissed out, fists clenching. Did Ruby really not-?


"I came back."


"You left."


"Dad wanted me to stop training, I wasn't going to."


"You left me."


"Was I supposed to take you with me?"


"You were supposed to stay!"


"Why?"


"Because you're my little sister! You're not supposed to be running off without me and getting hurt."


"You haven't told me what I was supposed to do, if I stayed Dad would have made me stop training."


"Then you should have stopped training."


"I won't."


"Why!?"


"Because it's who I am, and I'm happy that way. I am Ruby Rose, and I am Rathma, and I refuse to give up either of those."


"Stop talking like that!"


"Like what?"


"Using all these big words! You're my little sister, you shouldn't be talking like a grown up!"


"Kalan taught me to speak well, it's part of who I am now, Yang."


"Then how are you my little sister? You ran away, you don't care about me-"


"I care about you-"


"You keep using big words and talking about this Balance, and all these things Kalan taught you, and you're not acting like my little sister anymore."


"People change, Yang."


"Well, I don't want you too!"


"It's happened."


Yang tackled Ruby with a shriek, pulling at her sister's hair.


"Stop saying things like that!"


"Ow! Yang, stop! That hurts!"


"Stop being so stupid then, dummy! I don't want to lose you too!"


"Ok! Ok! Fine, I won't run away again! Just stop it!"


Yang let go of Ruby's hair, pulling her into a hug.


"Don't scare me like that ever again, sis."


"I'll do my best."


"No. You won't."


"I can't promise anything better than my best-"


"You. Won't."


----


"Alright, pipsqueak, let's see that armor you can make."


Qrow watched Ruby fidget, pulling at the end of her skirt.


"What?"


"My bone armor is kind of… spikey. I don't want to ruin my clothes."


"Come on, kid," Qrow rolled his eyes, "It isn't that bad. Your mom fought in a skirt."


Ruby's eyes lit up, a smile tugging at her lips, "Ok!"


Mentioning Summer was always a good way to excite Ruby.


Ruby made a gesture, raising her hand from hip to neck level.


White gauntlets formed first, with spikes coming off the elbow, and then came the greaves, similarly spiked. Ruby's shirt bulged slightly, like something had appeared beneath it, before spikes burst from the sleeves. Similarly, her skirt was impaled on spikes of bone.


…


"..Is there any way not to include the spikes?"


Ruby shook her head, "I don't know of one, best I can do is make them grow on the skirt."


"Why didn't you do that?"


"...'s hard."


"Yeah, we're going to have to buy you pants for training. At least until you get better at it."


Ruby glared forlornly at the torn remains of her skirt, "I liked this one."


"I'll buy you a new one," Qrow responded quickly, "now, how about your head?"


"What about it?"


"Aren't you going to cover it?"


"I dunno?"


Qrow sighed, "Kalan didn't teach you how to do that?"


"I'm gonna armor the hood when I get better."

"But you don't know anything right now."


"No?"


Qrow rubbed his eyes in irritation "He didn't teach you to do that?"


"No."


"Right, get your weapon ready."


"K!"


Ruby held out left hand, and a series of dust collected in her hand, forming bones that snapped into a scythe, before drawing the knife in her right hand.


"Ruby. What is that?"


"A scythe?"


"Why'd you make a scythe, pip?"


"Well, you use a scythe, and the Priests traditionally use scythes and knives."


And there was the confirmation it was a cult.


"What's the Priests like?" Qrow asked, fishing for answers, anything that would let him track down Kalan.


"Dunno."


"What do you mean? Haven't you met them?"


"They're not here," Ruby shook her head, "it's just me and Kalan."


"Then where are they?"


"I dunno. Kalan just says they're not here."


"Do you think they got wiped out?"


"I don't think so, Kalan would have said if they were."


Qrow narrowed his eyes, "Is priests short for something?"


"The Priests of Rathma."


"Don't you use the title Rathma?"


"It means Student, they're named after Kalan's first student."


"Does Kalan mean something?" They were definitely looking for someone older then, if they had already had a student who had an organization named after them.


"Teacher."


Qrow paused, "So, it's not his name?"


That would explain why they hadn't found the bastard.


"No."


"Then what's his name?"


"Trag'Oul."


Well, it certainly wouldn't be hard to find someone with that name.


"I'm not teaching you to use a scythe, especially not that one."


"Why?"


"Because you're too small to use a scythe, and if you end up using one later, it's going to be made out of metal, not bone."


"There's nothing wrong with-"


Qrow moved forward and used to practice knife he had to severe the scythe in three along the points where the bones connected.


Like everything else Ruby made, it crumbled to dust, disappearing as quickly as it came.


"-bone. Wuh?"


"You're not using a bone scythe. Now, come at me, I want to get an idea of what you know about knife fighting."

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

"I want you to help me train."


Tai looked away from the window, out which he could see Qrow showing Ruby pictures of different types of Grimm, circling the different weak spots. Ruby was paying close attention, nodding and mouthing along.


"Sorry, what?"


"I want you to help me train. Ruby said you had trained in hand-to-hand combat," Ren said, looking up a him, "Father was teaching me to before," Ren stopped, "before. I want to continue."


"Why?"


"I want to be a Huntsman."


Of course he did.


"Why?" Tai asked, searching Ren's face.


What had happened to the innocence of youth?


"I want to make sure nobody has to go through what I did," Ren said, his magenta eyes hardening slightly, "and besides, they," he gestured out the window, where Nora had joined Ruby, her wooden hammer clenched in hand, "are going to become Huntresses. I don't want to sit around, worrying something happened to one of them."


Tai wanted to refute that, but knew it was true. Ruby had all but made up her mind, and Nora would follow her to the ends of the earth.


And so, it seemed, would Ren.


"You know, Ruby's not going to be in the same class as you two, she's a couple of years younger than you."


"Then we'll wait for her," Ren said softly, but without room for argument, "We're a team. We got out of Kuroyuri together, we'll learn together, too."


"Ok," Tai said, "Follow me."


Tai guided Ren out into the yard, where and the lesson stopped.


"What's up, Tai?"


"I want to get a feel for what Ren knows, I thought we could have him and Ruby spar."


Qrow nodded, "Good idea, what about it, pipsqueak, up for it?"


Ruby stood up, dusting off the pants she hat taken to wearing during training at Qrow's insistence.


"I'm not a pipsqueak!" Ruby insisted, but drew her knife anyways.


Qrow and Tai went to the patio to give them space, bringing Nora with them.


"Just start whenever you two are ready!"


It took about twenty seconds for one of them to make the first move.


Ren swept his foot at Ruby's leg, but Ruby just jumped over it.


Ruby flipped the knife into a hammer grip, swinging at Ren's side. He caught the arm, and twisted it away, before letting go.


"What are they doing?" Tai asked under his breath as the slow dance happened before him.


"They're holding back," Qrow's eyes followed the fight, where Ruby had just made a punch at Ren's side. The Mistralan boy caught it, throwing her arm wide, but not capitalizing on her being off balance, "they're scared to hurt each other."


"We can't really get a good read on them if they don't pick up the pace."


Qrow nodded, before calling for them to do so.


Ruby and Ren stopped, sharing a look. After a second, they nodded.


Ren drove a foot at Ruby's knee and she danced back from it.


Ruby swung an arm, and dust collected into a set of wicked fangs that launched at Ren.


Ren batted two aside, before spinning around the other two. Coming around, he attempted to drive a knife hand into Ruby's chest through the ribbed armor.


Ruby swung her elbow down, knocking it away, before hitting him with the base of the knife.


Nora gasped, watching the fight intently, like she didn't know who to cheer for.


Ren staggered back, looking a bit dazed, before ducking under Ruby's swing.


"Well," Qrow muttered, "You have to give the asshole credit, at least he taught her to fight."


Tai nodded, "Yeah. I wish we could find him. What kind of name is Kalan, anyway?"


"A title. She told me when we started the lesson, it means 'Teacher.'"


That explained a lot.


"Did she say anything else?"


"It's definitely a Cult. 'The Priests of Rathma'. She says it means 'Student'."


"Did she say his name?"


"Trag'Oul."


"What kind of name is that?"


"I don't know, man. I think he might be old, Ruby said the 'Rathma' part came from his last student."


Ruby launched another set of teeth at Ren, who dodged them just as easily as before, diving at Ruby.


That's when everything went wrong.


Nora suddenly cried out in pain, falling to the side, and Ren tripped halfway there, crashing into Ruby, who had suddenly dropped her knife and covered her eyes, sending them both sprawling onto the ground. Silvery wings appeared behind Ruby for a second, obliterating the ground where they touched.


Then all three stopped moving, unconscious.


---


"Adam," Blake hissed, ears standing on end as she peered out the alley with her best friend, "come on, this is a terrible idea. Let's just go home."


"Why, you scared?" Adam took his eyes off the ship in the harbor, looking back at her, a taunting grin on his face.


"N- no!" Blake was lucky it was dark out, otherwise she was sure Adam would be able to see her blush, "It- It's just… w- we could get into a lot of trouble with Mom and Dad if we get caught!"


Of course she was scared, they were sneaking onto a ship in the middle of the night. Only someone completely fearless, or completely stupid, wouldn't be. Blake wasn't sure which Adam was.


"Well," Adam said, bracing himself for a run, "then we better not get caught!"


Adam rushed across the street of Menagerie, sending a bird flying into the air, croaking loudly, before jumping feet first into the water.


Blake flinched at the noise, before rushing after him and diving in.


Blake broke the surface easily, silently sliding beneath the water and swimming to the side of the ship.


Blake always liked swimming.


Adam grabbed onto the ladder, climbing up, and Blake followed behind him.


Ooohh. This was such a bad idea…


Blake looked around the ship, clutching at her handkerchief. Even if Adam was right, what was this supposed to prove? They couldn't reveal it without admitting they snuck onto the ship.


Adam pushed open the door, slipping beneath the deck of the ship.


Blake looked back at Menagerie, severely tempted to jump ship and go home. It was late, and they could end up in a lot of trouble if they got caught.


"Blake," Adam hissed, "Come on!"


Blake reluctantly followed Adam down the stairs.


It took them a few minutes to find the main cargo hold, and Blake rubbed her arms.


What had one of her books described it as? Someone walking over her grave?


They shouldn't be here. Something bad was going to happen…


Adam pushed several crates, before giving a triumphant yelp, pulling out the container filled with a faintly glowing yellow material.


"I told you! I knew they were lying about not having any more Dust! Come on, we need to show this to your Da-"


Blake tensed as she heard something, her ears twitching in the direction of the footfall, before she tackled Adam behind the crates.


"Wha-!?"


"Shhh."


The door on the other end of the room cracked open, and two men walked in.


"-Don't hear anything!"


"Still, better to check. I don't trust those Faunus, and I don't want to be the one explainin' to the Captain why we lost some of the Dust."


Blake could feel Adam's eyes burrowing into her head. Ok, so he might have been right but-


"What's that?"


Blake's eyes rolled to the glowing container of Dust, still clutched in Adam's fist.


Oh no.


The flashlight lit the two of them up, and they shared a look, yellow eyes locking onto burgundy, before they sprang up, running as fast as they could back the way they came.


They were halfway up the stairs when the first pang hit.


White spots flashed across Blake's vision as the burning hit. Had she been shot? What? What was going on?


The next pang, worse than before, caused Blake to trip slightly, but she caught herself and kept running eyes locked onto where Adam was holding the door open.


The third came when they were halfway across the deck, and Blake couldn't keep herself standing.


She crashed down, rolling onto her back and looking at the moon. Something small was crossing it.


"Blake! Get up!"


Before she could do so, the guard grabbed her by the arms, yanking her into the air.


"You dirty little-!"


Blake yelped as he smashed her into the wall.


Blake looked over to where Adam was standing at the edge, looking between her and the Dust.


"Help," she croaked out, the pressure on her arms growing worse.


"That isn't yours! Do you know what we do to thiefs?"


Thieves, Blake's mind couldn't help but snidely correct him.


Adam looked between them again, before mouthing an apology and jumping off the edge.


Blake felt one of the hands leave her arm, leaving her dangling by one arm. Blake flinched as the knife pressed against her ear, cutting into it slightly.


"Hey!" The other guard said, "What are you doing!?"


"She's a thief!"


"She's a kid! You aren't going to seriously going to-"


"She's a Faunus! Besides, taking these off I'm doing her a favor!"


Blake started to shake slightly, the eight year old trying to keep from crying. Looking back at Menagerie, she saw the bird from earlier sitting on the edge of the ship.


It was black, little more than an outline against the lights of Menagerie. What she wouldn't give to be a bird right now, to just be able to fly away from this…


The bird turned its head.


"You don't know what's going on with that kid, she might have gotten roped into this! Even if she isn't, this isn't what we're supposed to do!"


"I don't really ca-"


The bird exploded off the edge of the ship, flying right into the face of the man holding Blake with another loud croak.


He dropped Blake, swinging at it wildly with his knife.


"My eyes! You-"


Blake didn't wait to hear the end of the sentence, diving off the edge of the ship.


Blake crawled out of the water, staggering through the streets of Menagerie as another pang tore through her.


Just before she passed out, she saw her parents running towards her, a cowed looking Adam behind them.


And the black bird sitting a roof, watching her, something wet and red covering its claws.


What she wouldn't give to be a bi-


---


"Very good, Miss Schnee, that's enough for today."


"No!" Winter gasped, clutching the training saber, "Again!"


"Miss Schnee-"


Winter lunged forward, grunting as her trainer calmly smacked her across the arm.


"Miss Schnee!"


Winter continued her assault, trying to shake off the feeling of mounting dread that had followed her all day.


Something big was going to happen today, something life changing. She could feel it.


Her fencing trainer swung again, and Winter caught it with her main gauche.


Slow. Weak.


Winter flicked her arm, throwing the arm back as she stepped forward.


Her saber came forward, catching her trainer in the neck. Padded leather absorbed the blow.


He looked down, before launching into a flurry of blows.


Slow. Why was he so SLOW?


Winter deflected each move with ease, then launched her own storm of strikes.


Her trainer, the best money could buy, was barely able to keep up.


He hadn't been so slow yesterday!


"Stop. Holding. Back!"


He dropped the weapon, drawing his sword from his hip.


"Miss Schnee, I don't want to hurt you, but-"


"Shut up!" Winter snarled, swinging her sword.


Fire was burning in her veins, starting in her fingers and slowly making its way to her heart.


Even with his preferred weapon in hand, the fencing master was woefully slow.


Winter swung, catching him in the arm. She swung again, hitting his chest.


As Winter stepped forward, she saw steel gather in his eyes as he curled in on himself. What was he going to-?


He unleashed himself like a spring, the blade lashing out with such speed that all she could see was a glimmer of light.


So he had been holding back!


Something about that infuriated Winter even further. The burning grew worse, making its way to the center of her chest.


Winter moved to block his blows, only for a trigger on the hilt of the blade to click, and her sword to explode.


While most of the fragments were absorbed by Winter's dueling leather, one tore across her cheek. Blood trickled down from it.


Dust.


"Miss Schnee!"


Winter threw the dagger in her left hand, he dodged it easily, but it achieved her goal.


Winter dove forward, hand wrapping around the discarded training saber, and coming up in a giant swing.


Something blue sparked at the edge when the swords made contact.


The instructor's eyes went wide as he was bodily thrown across the room.


The burning grew worse.


He scrambled to his feet, pulling the trigger as the sword sang through empty air.


Winter saw the thin line of red Dust, and stepped aside, letting it explode harmlessly against the wall.


Winter took one step forward. Then another. Then ano-


The burning finally reached her heart and it increased a hundredfold. The training saber fell from nerveless fingers, her hands rising to grip her chest.


"Miss Schnee?"


It pulsed again, and Winter flinched, falling back.


"Miss Schnee!"


He ran over to her side, she gasped desperately trying to gulp down air.


He fumbled to take off the fencing gear, checking her heartbeat. He muttered something that would have gotten him fired if Jacques was around.


He flicked open his scroll, hitting a number on it.


What-?


"I need an ambulance… The Schnee Manor…"


Winter drifted off at that point.


---


"Aurora!" Jaune called, peering through the woods near his house and clutching the wooden sword tight, "It's getting dark, we need to go home!"


His sister didn't answer.


Great.


Jaune walked into the woods, trying to suppress the shiver of worry that ran up his spine.


That had happened a lot today, like something bad had happened.


He had asked Aurora if she felt it, and she had just given him a weird look.


The rest of his sisters were on a trip to Vale with his mom, leaving his dad and them alone for the week. They would be joining the rest of the Arc family in a couple of days for the festival next week. It would be the first time Jaune had gone to a big city.


He was fine with being here for now, both him and Aurora weren't particularly into… whatever it was girls did when boys (and a ten year old) weren't around. He thought… Maybe… Ok, so that's what Orlena had said.


The eight year old Arc gripped his sword tighter, until it was groaning in protest.


"Aurora! Come on, Dad's gonna be angry at us if we don't get home soon!"


Jaune rubbed at his eyes, trying to get rid of the headache forming there.


Oh… They were in so much trouble…


"Aurora! We need to go-"


"BOO!"


Aurora swung down in front of him, hanging from the tree by her legs. Her toy axe was clenched in her hands, stopping just an inch before Jaune's nose.


Jaune didn't drop his sword. He didn't fall backwards onto his butt. He didn't scream in fear.


Instead, he put his sword down hard, decided to sit down hard, and made a laugh so loud it sounded like a scream. Yep! That was his story and he was sticking to it.


Aurora laughed, falling from the tree and landing on her feet.


"Scared, Jaune-y?"


"No!" Jaune scrambled to his feet, ignoring how the headache seemed to get worse, and grabbing his sword.


"You were!" Aurora didn't bother to hide the glee in her voice.


"Was not!"


"Was too!"


"Was not!"


"Was not!"


"Was too!"


"Ha! I knew it!"


"I wasn't!" Jaune whined.


Both stopped as the growl came from the side.


The Grimm that pushed through the woods was like a big bear.


"Jaune-"


It looked between the two of them, and Jaune felt his heart hammer in his chest, the feeling of dread, and headache, mounting.


Then a calm overtook him.


"Jaune-"


Jaune pushed Aurora behind him, reaching down to grab the biggest stick he could.


"Jau-"


"When I say 'now', go get Dad."


"J-"


"NOW!" Jaune threw the stick, small branch, really, at the Grimm, before grabbing Aurora's axe and tearing off into the woods with the bear on his trail.


"JAUNE!"


Jaune didn't turn around, focusing in front of him.


When Jaune reached the clearing, he span, grabbing the wooden sword by the 'blade' and throwing it straight into the Grimm's eye like a spear before diving out of the way and letting it smash into the tree line.


He didn't think about how he had managed to throw it hard enough to cause the children's toy to break through the bone plating around the eye, or how he managed to account for the speed of the Grimm, or how he had performed a perfect roll. Instead, he came up, wrapping his hands around the axe handle and prepared.


It wasn't dead. He could tell.


Sure enough, the Grimm threw the tree off of him, his broken sword still lodged in its eye, and charged at him.


Jaune did what came naturally. He charged to meet it.


Unfortunately for the blond haired boy, when a quarter ton bear meets a eighty pound boy, the boy tends to lose.


It was like striking a brick wall, and Jaune was suddenly on the ground, trying to fend off the teeth at his throat.


Jaune grabbed the axe, forcing the wood between the jaws of the Grimm and tearing out the sword.


The Grimm pulled back, roaring and letting the axe fall.


Great. Now he had a broken sword.


The Grimm charged again, but couldn't seem to focus on him.


While it was distracted getting the new tree off it, Jaune rushed over and grabbed the axe.


As the beast finally rose, Jaune felt a red haze settle over him.


The Grimm snarled.


He snarled right back.


"Jaune!"


Jaune's eyes rolled to the left, where his father had run into the clearing. In his hand was the sword that sat over their fireplace, the shield that went with it was on his arm.


Smaller than he would have liked but otherwise Perfect.


Jaune tore across the space, grabbing the sword and charging to meet the Grimm.


This time, the boy won.


Jaune rammed the blade into chest so hard to poked through the back, before ramming the axe into its open mouth.


This time, it didn't last.


He didn't need it to.


Jaune cleaved off the Grimms arms in the time it took for it to break the axe, before stabbing it repeatedly.


Finally, the Grimm, and the haze, disappeared.


Then the headache came back.


"Jaune?"


He looked up at his dad, then he fell backwards, eyes rolling into the back of his head and sword falling from limp fingers.


---


Ruby looked around in confusion, Mendeln's dagger still gripped to swing.


Huh.


This was weird.


This wasn't where Trag'Oul lived.


…


So where was it?


Ruby tightened her grip on the Nephalem bone, eyes moving around as she called for the bones to gather into armor.


Better safe than sorry.


Nothing.


Ruby blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. Then she tried again.


Still nothing.


That wasn't possible. Almost everywhere had something die there at some point.


Ruby jumped as a hand pulled her cloak over her head, spinning around and trying to form a set of Den'Trag.


When no teeth showed up, Ruby could feel the sweat run down her face.


Oh yeah… No bones. Right.


Wait, why hadn't her cloak reacted?


Ruby pulled the hood back, staring at the man sitting on a bench of bone across from her.


Oh, come on! That just wasn't fair!


The man's face was a bit too long, and several shades too pale, similar to Ruby's own skin tone.


The skin tone of a Necromancer.


Black beady eyes stared back at her, and he was gesturing with his right hand. It was an unhealthy pallor, like it was dead, stitching held it to his arm.


"A seat, Rathma?"


Ruby had realized her jaw had dropped at some point, and she moved her mouth, trying to find words.


"You're… You're Mendeln!"


The Master Necromancer smiled. It was a drawn thing.


"I am."


Ruby didn't notice Mendeln flinch as she squealed, rushing to sit next to him.


No wonder she hadn't been able to grab the bones! She, she was just a student! He was the founder of the Priests of Rathma, Trag'Oul's second apprentice and Linarian's only one! She would be lucky to be half the Necromancer he was, was lucky to just be able to talk to him!


But… how? He had died centuries ago.


As if he had read her mind, Mendeln spoke, "Death isn't-"


"-the end," Ruby finished for him, the embarrassed blush throwing a shock of red across her cheeks.


That was the first thing a Necromancer learned! Stupid. Stupidstupidstupid.


"Why, why are you here? Sir. Kalan. Sir," Oh, how did she address him? She didn't want to insult him by accident!


"Just Mendeln," He answered the unspoken question, "It isn't right for one apprentice to speak to another so formally."


"I'm not. I'm just," Ruby ducked her head, pulling the hood of the Cloak of Rathma over her head and poking her fingers together, "I'm just a student. You were a legend. Are a legend."


"And I started out as a farmer who got dragged along on a quest to save the world by my brother. Everyone starts somewhere."


"I, I've never heard of your brother. Sorry, Sir."


"Mendeln," he repeated in the same tone Trag'Oul would use when he was teaching her something important, "I didn't think you would. But know this, Uldyssian was to us what Linarian was to the original Nephalem. I take it Trag'Oul has taught you about them?"


"They're the ancestors of humans, born from the forbidden union of Angels and Demons. As such, they are immune to Fate."


"Indeed you are. What else?"


"They died out after the Worldstone was tampered with, causing all children born after to be weaker and die natural dea-" Ruby stopped as what Mendeln said finally caught up to her, "Uh, Mendeln, sir. You said 'you'."


"I did."


"But that can't be right."


"Why can't it?"


"Because I'm not a Nephalem."


"Aren't you?"


"No?"


"Why not?"


"Because I'm not? My parents were human."


"It doesn't work like that. All humans are are Nephalem whose powers were sealed."


"But, the Worldstone-"


"Shattered while you were in Trag'Oul's home. The Nephalem are coming back. You are one, as are your two friends. I would not be surprised if your sister awoke eventually, and your father and uncle. Like tends to attract like, and being near three powerful Nephalem is almost assured to end in them awakening."


"But, I'm just a normal girl."


"You are training in the art of death magics with a Guardian dragon made out of stars, you left 'normal' behind at a tavern a while back, wondering what just stomped on its head."


Ruby laughed slightly.


"Then… what do I do?"


"Whatever you want. There is literally nothing in existence that can make you do anything."


"I just want to help maintain the Balance."


"Then you will help maintain the Balance," Mendeln said.


"It can't be that easy."


"It won't," he assured her, "without the Worldstone, Angels and Demons will be able to invade. They don't know where Remnant is, but when they do, you will have to be ready. Gather a team, learn to work with them."


"How?"


"I told you, didn't I? Like attracts Like. They will come to you. And," Mendeln held out a carved bone on a string, "If you ever need advice don't hesitate to ask."


Ruby took it, opening her mouth, "Thank you-"


"Don't," Mendeln raised a hand, "You're about to be thrown into hell because of this, it's the least I could do. Good luck."


Then Ruby was opening her eyes, and there was a weight on her chest.


"What?" Ren's voice came from on top of her, "Dust, Ruby, I'm sorry!"


He sprang off her, allowing Ruby to sit up and look around. Nora was rubbing her head, having also just sat up, and her Uncle and Dad looked on in worry.


---


Blake woke to the sound of her dad yelling.


"-You thinking! Do you know how much trouble you're in?"


"I found this Dust! They were holding out on us-"


"That doesn't matter! We were already having trouble convincing them to sell us what they did, now they'll be less likely to sell to us!"


"But we can prove-"


"Not without admitting you and Blake snuck onto the ship and stole it! You both could get in a lot of trouble for this, Adam. Just, Just go to your room."


Blake heard the sound of heavy footsteps, before her dad sighed, walking into the room.


"How is she?"


Kali spoke from somewhere to her right, "She'll be fine, the bleeding stopped, but there will probably be scarring."


Ghira walked over, lowering his voice.


"Hey there, Kitten. We'll have to talk about this when you're feeling better, but rest up for now."


Blake blinked, she wasn't over there.


Wait.


Blake blinked again.


Why weren't her eyes being covered? She could feel her eyelids closing. Blake closed her eyes.


She could still see.


Looking down, Blake tried to frown down at the black plumage on her chest.


What the what?


Blake walked over to where her parents were, looking down at the couch.


Or rather, who was lying on the couch, head rested in Kali's lap.


When Blake wasn't freaking out, she would notice how strange it was to look down at her own body, one ear wrapped in gauze, one of her mother's foul smelling poultice leaking through slightly.


Instead, Blake unleashed a series of worried croaks, beating her new wings as the rushed over to the mirror.


Yep. She was a bird.


Blake heard her father stand up, an annoyed sigh coming from his lips.


"Alright, shoo," Blake felt her father's hands, good for helping her with large books or tucking her in at night, wrap around her roughly.


Then she was lying on the couch, her head in her mother's lap. Yes, the poultice did smell terrible, and yes it was keeping her from moving her ear.


Her father let out a very cat like hiss, and Blake heard the bird she had been fly across the room to land on the bookshelf she had started on.


"It bit me! The damn thing bit me!"


"Don't suck on it dear, that isn't healthy. Come here, I'll bandage it up."


Blake heard her dad do so, and opened her eyes and sitting up.


Her father immediately pounced on her, pulling her into a giant bear hug which her mother joined in on.


"Mom? Dad?"


While it wasn't like there was a shortage of hugs in her family, neither of her parents had hugged her like this in a long time.


"Do you know how worried we were when Adam came home without you?" Ghira mumbled into hair, pressing a kiss at her hairline.


"I, we, we just wanted to help."


"But that doesn't mean you should put yourselves in danger. We knew there was Dust on that ship. They were never going to sell it to us. Breaking in to prove it will just make it so they won't come back to sell us what they were willing to sell."


"We made a mistake, didn't we?"


"Everyone makes mistake, Kitten. It's part of growing up. We'll have to work out a new deal with the SDC after this though."


"But what about keeping the power on Menagerie running?"


"Luckily, we know where Jacques Schnee is going to be in a couple of days. We can meet him there, if we make sure people see us making the deal, we can make sure they don't go back on it later. We'll need to pack, we'll go as a family."


"Even Adam?"


Ghira chuckled, it was choked, and Blake realized her father was crying.


"How long were you awake for, Kitten? Yes, even Adam."


Another croak.


Six eyes looked to where the raven was sitting, looking down at them.


Then it flew down, landing on Blake's shoulder and rubbing against her head.


"You want to come too?"


Yet another croak. Blake could tell it was an affirmative.


"Why?"


A series of croaks, many more than needed for the simple message he (and Blake knew it was a he) was trying to get across.


He was her partner, and he was going to protect her. Even if that meant he would have to claw out every set of eyes that so much as looked at her funny.


Blake smiled at him, "Thanks."


He rubbed his head against hers again. Blake leaned into it.


"Looks like you made yourself a friend," Blake's mom said.


"Where did that bird come from, anyway? It was watching over you when we found you, and followed us in."


"He helped me, he, uh, he clawed out the eyes of the man who caught me."


A long awkward pause stretched out after that.


"Ok," Ghira coughed, clearly uncomfortable about being in the same room as the bird that had proved himself willing to maim to protect Blake, "do, uh, do you have a name for your friend?"


Blake thought about it. Before the name came to her like a whisper.


Blake shared a look with him, and he nodded, like he knew what she would say.


"Lugh. His name is Lugh."


Then she looked at her dad.


"Dad, you're still bleeding!"


"It isn't that ba- that's a lot of blood!"


Blake tried to hide her giggles as her dad danced in place and her mom rushed to make another poultice. Lugh made several croaks that made it clear to Blake he found her father's plight uproariously funny.


---


"Are you sure you're alright? Maybe you should stay home, I can stay with you."


"I'm fine, Klein," Winter sighed as her family boarded the airship.


The butler had been fussing over her since her (thankfully) brief trip to the hospital.


They had run every test possible on her, but they came back saying she was perfectly healthy.


One test, the one on her Aura, had come back different from the last time she had it done, but only that her Aura was unnaturally strong for her age. Nothing that accounted for the (so far) one off heart murmur that had sent her there in the first place.


She couldn't help but notice that none of her family except Weiss had come to visit while she was stuck there overnight.


Her father hadn't even seemed to acknowledged that she had been in the hospital. And Whitley had only done so for one comment.


She missed Grandad, he would have dropped everything to visit with a ridiculous amount of balloons and toys to try to cheer her up. When he had died, it felt like the heart of the family died too. She didn't like being at home anymore.


That was part of the reason she refused to stay behind. She had a t-shirt and shorts hidden under all the dresses in her luggage, the festival would be the perfect time to slip away and be anyone else but Winter Schnee.


The minimum age to join the Atlasian military was seventeen. Then she could cut ties from her family (except Weiss) and be free from this.


The other reason was because she could tell that she needed to be there. She didn't know why, but something was calling her.


She meant that literally, by the way. She could literally hear something calling to her from whatever direction Vale was at any particular moment.


She hadn't told anyone, didn't want anyone thinking she was crazy, but was determined to get to the bottom of it. From what she could tell, there were two different whispers. One was completely incomprehensible and seemed to be made up of four voices at once. She could pick up fragments of the other.


-alem -alem. Fin- Ra-.


It was annoying.


"If you're sure," Klein finally relented, taking her bags and carrying them onto the ship. Winter watched her father talk with General Ironwood, then turned to follow Klein to her room.


Once she was there, she quickly changed, turned off the lights, then flopped down onto her bed and pulled the covers up.


She tried to ignore how quiet it was, the ship's engine hardly making a sound as it lifted off to bring the Schnee family to Vale.


After checking to make sure the door was locked and that Weiss or Klein weren't going to burst into the room, she raised her hand.


Steadying her breathing, Winter focused.


If she had to explain it (which she had no intention to do for a long time) it was like a raging sea, resting right in the center of her chest.


Right where the pain had come from.


She forced the sea out of her chest and to the tips of her fingers.


It started with a spark, then another, then finally a low whine filled the air as Winter watched electricity leapt from finger to finger and formed great arcs.


Despite this, Winter was unsatisfied.


She should be able to do more than this, she could tell.


Winter tried pushing more of the energy through her fingers. The electrical currents got larger, but didn't change like she wanted.


Winter sighed, letting her hand drop.


She should be able to do more than this, she knew it in her bones.


As her eyes drifted shut, exhaustion taking her, she resolved to figure it out when she reached Vale.


---


Jaune walked through the festival grounds, his new foam sword and axe in hand. He was following his gut, trying to find what was setting him off.


He tightened his grip, letting the hard plastic of the handles calm him.


That, at least, felt comfortable. Natural, even. Like he was born to hold weapons in his hand.


Which is good, because nothing else had felt natural since his fight with the Grimm.


His entire body ached, and the blinding headaches would occasionally flare out of nowhere. He had also been having strange dreams, of a brilliant sword and axe. He knew exactly what he would need to create them, but there would be something missing. He had spent hours last night drawing them to perfect detail. The pictures were in his pocket.


He was so busy picturing the weapons, he missed the girl across from him, who he promptly crashed into. Her chin crashed into his skull, and she fell to the ground, while Jaune blinked, slightly dazed.


Ow.


"Watch where you're going," she hissed from the ground, rubbing her chin. Jaune focused on her, the headache receding completely for the first time.


She had long white hair and blue eyes, which were currently doing their best to burrow into Jaune's skull. She was wearing a pair of cream shorts and a t-shirt with three howling Grimm on it.


Jaune reached down, helping her stand. It was easy, she was light. Everything felt light since his fight.


"Sorry? I was thinking about something."


She hummed, a deep noise, before holding out an arm, "I might forgive you, if you'd be willing to show me around."


"Uhhhh… Ok?"


Jaune moved the foam sword to his other hand, and took her arm, walking along the festival.


"My name is Jaune, what's yours?"


She stopped humming, and it was becoming more clear that it was a song, "Winter," then she resumed humming.


They stopped to watch the fire eater. The man reached down, grabbed some fire Dust, and placed it into his mouth.


Leaning back, he breathed in through his nose, before spitting a ball of fire out of his mouth.


Jaune watched, impressed.


Winter scoffed, breaking from her humming, "He's just using his Aura."


"Aura?"


"You… don't know what Aura is?"


"No?"


"Aura is the power stored within all of us," Winter lectured, sounding like she was regurgitating a lesson, "it allows us to fight level with Grimm."


"Oh. Ok."


What did it mean that he had been able to beat a Grimm without knowing what Aura was?


"How do you know this?"


"I want to be a Huntress, or join the Atlesian Military."


Suddenly, Jaune's sense screamed at him, and Winter's humming abruptly stopped.


"L-L- Loud," she stuttered, "Why is it so loud?"


She started to hum again. It was different from before, a low, slow noise.


Jaune whipped around, eyes scanning for the source of his distress.


He hadn't needed to.


Standing directly behind them was a tall, pale man. He had black hair, and was wearing equally black robes. He was too beautiful, like something hadn't gotten the memo that the human face was supposed to be flawed. He looked down at them, and Jaune got the feeling that he hadn't held any actual interest in the fire breather.


That he had been watching them.


Jaune tightened his grip in the weapons, trying to calm himself. It wasn't working. Every instinct, every iota of his being was screaming at him to run, that this man, this monster pretending to be human could kill them both in a single move.


"Hello," he smiled with too perfect teeth. It wasn't a comforting thing, only highlighting that he wasn't natural, wasn't human, "How are you?"


"Good," Jaune said warily, trying to push Winter behind him. She didn't budge, reaching over and grabbing his sword, "What do you want?"


"I can't enjoy the festival?" he joked.


Jaune's lips rolled back into a snarl, and he could feel the haze just below the surface, ready to be tapped into at a moment's notice.


Then the man waved a hand, and it was gone. Jaune noticed Winter staring at her hand in confusion.


"You remind me of some people I knew," the man said, "I couldn't help but overhear your discussion. I would suggest against joining the military, it won't end well."


"How do you know?" Winter demanded.


"I'm very good at predicting these things," the man said, "There are better things you two could be doing with your time. Mastering your unique skills, for example."


Winter looked taken aback, "How do you-?"


"A wizard has to keep his secrets," the man said, "there will be some people coming soon, they're like you. They don't know me, or at least, one of them knows of me. Oh, here," the man handed Jaune his drawings, how had he-? "now, I should get going. Good luck."


The man span on the spot, walking away. A group of people walked between them, and suddenly he was gone. Jaune's senses finally stopped screaming at him. Then they returned as a prickling as a trio around Jaune's age walked over. One, the ginger haired girl, was sniffing the air.


Were these the people he had been talking about?


The girl wearing a black skirt and red hoodie, with a too large black cloak, was looking at them. With her pale skin, it looked like she could be the man's daughter, though she, Jaune noticed as a comforting thought, certainly did have flaws.


"Uh… Hi?"


She looked over at them, confused, and Jaune realized she actually had been watching the show continuing on behind her.


"Hi?"


Well, he was too far gone now, might as well continue on.


"I'm Jaune, and this is Winter. Want to hang out?"


The other two seemed to look to her, she smiled, a much more human gesture than the one the man had.


"Sure! I'm Ruby, and this is Ren and Nora!"


Ok then.


Suddenly, a black bird landed between them, croaking loudly.


"What the-?"


"Lugh!" A black haired girl pushed her way through the crowd, "Lugh, don't run off like tha-" She stopped suddenly, eyes unfocused.


Ruby frowned, walking over and shaking the girl's shoulder. Well, she certainly shared the man's lack of respect for the personal space of people she had just met.


"Hey, are you alright?"


The girl snapped out of it, the bird landing on her shoulder.


"I'm, I'm fine," she said, "I was just looking around, when Lugh flew off. I should go."


"Are you sure? We're looking around ourselves."


"I'm su-" Lugh croaked, cutting her off, "are you sure?" another croak, "ok? I guess we are? I'm Blake, and this is Lugh."


---


Nora sat on the bench, hand clenching and unclenching. Each time she did, a glowing light appeared as she remembered what she had seen with perfect detail.


Hooded men and women clashed with beasts that made the Grimm look tame, glowing blades blocked wicked talons. From their back flowed tendrils of light, and when one of the monsters touched the tendrils, the offending body part ceased to exist.


Just like the fate the Nuckelavee's hands had suffered at Ruby's bone wings. No fire, ash, they were just gone.


As she walked through the battle, nobody seemed to pay attention to her. It was taking place at the foot of a mountain, the top of which disappeared into the clouds.


Suddenly, a great light shone from one end of the battlefield, and Nora turned.


Four figures, three men and one woman, stepped forward.


One of them, clad in heavy armor, launched across the battlefield, spear clutched in one mail-clad hand. The man wearing golden armor called, reaching for his fellow.


"Imperius!"


One of the creatures came to meet him, flames leaping from his jaws.


From the other end of the field a similar cry rose.


"Diablo!"


The man who had called for Imperius started to rise, his blue tendrils spreading like wings, only for the cord in the woman's hands to spring to life, wrapping around his leg.


"Tyrael, go to the Worldstone! We'll stop Imperius!"


Tyrael hovered, looking to the last member of the group. The black clad man inclined his head, allowing Nora to see what was under it. Even now, it confused her.


Nothing. The hood hovered over a void where his head should have been.


"Go," the final man said with an echoing voice, deeper than even Tyrael's.


Then he rocketed away, flying to meet Imperius and Diablo, a pair of sickles appearing in his hands as he went.


Tyrael hesitated for a second longer, before exploding into a cascading mass of light, talking Nora with him.


They landed at the foot of a cave near the top of the mountain, and Nora followed Tyrael, who held his sword aloft, lighting the way.


A song carried through the cave, growing louder the further they traveled. Finally, they stepped into the heart of the mountain, where the song was loudest.


The monsters and whatever Tyrael was lay on the ground, dead.


The source of the dead was clear, for they were standing in Tyrael and Nora's way.


The two that had immediately drawn Nora's attention were the giant of a man holding a heavy sword in one hand with ease, and the man wearing a familiar black cloak.


Ruby had said her cloak had belonged to someone else before her, and Nora had known, even before his name was said, that this impossibly beautiful man was Linarian. That he was Rathma.


The next to catch her attention was the man holding Ruby's knife.


"Step aside, Nephalem," Tyrael ordered, pointing his sword at Rathma, "or I will kill you."


The giant laughed, a noise so deep it temporarily drowned out the music of the mountain.


"My father spoke of you, Tyrael. Long have I wanted to test my blade against El'druin," his eyes were locked upon Tyrael's blade, "He said that it could cut through anything."


"It can, Nephalem," El'druin started to glow, another song coming from the blade, "Do not force me to prove it."


The giant brought his other hand to grab a second blade, a bloodthirsty grin spreading across his face.


"I am Bul-Kathos, son of Raquel. I swore on my honor and the blood of my people to guard the Worldstone. I will not let you pass."


Bul-Kathos tore across the space, blades clashing with El'druin.


Nora mentally fast forwarded through the fight. Tyrael amused Bul-Kathos for about five minutes, before unleashing the true strength of El'druin, shattering both the blades and impaling the giant in one move.


Tyrael flew passed the rest, who rushed to stabilize their fallen comrade, and Nora followed him.


They walked up the staircase, leading to the top of the mountain. There, another one of Tyrael's people was fighting a bald man.


The bald man was on the defensive, pressed against the giant eye shaped stone. Suddenly, something happened, and the situation reversed.


The winged man's weapons shattered in a second, and the bald man threw out his hand, a golden ball slamming into the other, and unfolded into glowing chains.


The bald man stepped forward, golden tendrils appearing behind him. Reaching down, he grabbed the chained man's wings, and pulled. After a second, in which Tyrael took a step back, raising a hand like he was trying to block the scene in front of them, the wings fell. The tendrils raised up, batting away the hood and caressing the space where his head should be. Where his head was appearing.


Then the bald man launched himself into an air. Throwing out his arms more light lashed out, forcing Tyrael to his knees.


A look of horror came across the bald man's face, and he lowered himself to the ground. He walked towards the Worldstone, planting his hands on it.


Tyrael took a step forward, raising a hand to stop him, before arcs of light flying through the air, striking the bald man.


The man gritted his teeth, sliding to his knees, opening his mouth to scream as golden light shone out of it.


Then he was gone. No clothing, no body, the only sign he had ever been there was the chains still binding the formerly winged man.


"Nora!"


Nora snapped back to reality, where Ruby was holding out an ice cream cone.


"I didn't know what type of ice cream you liked, so I got another of my favorite."


"Thanks," Nora said, taking the ice cream, standing up to join the rest of the large group.


As they did, Nora took another sniff.


Ever since they blacked out, Ruby and Ren had smelled different.


Not bad, just different. They smelled nice, actually.


Ruby smelled like roses, while Ren had smelled like lilacs. Nora had asked Ruby about it, only to get a strange look.


The fact that nobody else smelled like it, and the fact that it never went away, no matter how many times they had gotten ready for bed (which was always prefaced with a shower), had led Nora to writing it off as her imagination.


Until today.


Jaune, Blake and Winter all carried their own distinct scents. Jaune smelt like smoke, Blake like the sea, and Winter like the air after a thunderstorm.


They were nice, if a bit weird. Winter was constantly humming, jumping between five songs seemingly at random, and Blake kept arguing with Lugh. That had spiraled into an argument with Jaune, where he had kept insisting that people couldn't talk to birds, and Blake kept insisting that she could understand Lugh perfectly. It had ended with Winter explaining Semblance to him.


Ruby had just smiled and laughed. Nora guessed that compared to controlling bones and causing curses, talking to an animal wasn't that weird.


She could imagine staying friends with them.


Nora brought the ice cream up, licking it.


Strawberry. Of course. Ruby loved strawberries, even more than she did cookies.


As they arrived, Winter pulled a Scroll out of one of her pockets. She had her own Scroll?


"Hello? I'm walking around the fair. Yes. Yes. Fine. I'll see you there, Klein," Winter sighed, putting the Scroll away, "I have to go. Can- can I give you my number?" Winter sounded hopefully.


Ruby smiled, "Of course!"


Winter pulled out a pen, writing her number down along with her name on three pieces of paper. Then she rushed off, looking disappointed.


"I hope we get to meet her again," Ruby said, putting the scrap of paper in her pocket, "she looks lonely-"


She stopped as Blake suddenly spat out mouthful of the soft drink she had been drinking, staring at the piece of paper.


"That was-? We were-? She was-?" in between each question, Lugh croaked, apparently answering the questions.


"What?" Ruby pulled out her piece of paper, "Winter Schnee?" Ruby's voice squeaked at the end, "we were hanging out with Winter Schnee?"


"She didn't say anything about me being a Faunus," Blake muttered.


"Uhhh, whose Winter Schnee?"


Everyone looked at Jaune.


"What? I don't know!"

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

*Stares at bristled wall of guns* Uh... Hi? Listen, I have a really-

Ok, that's a barefaced lie. Only reason this took so long to get out is I was going full super ADHD (and started a sordid love affair with FFXIV, up to and including a new fic, One Fleeting Moment (Shameless Self Promotion, ho!))... so, uh... here this is.

Sorry again...

---

Jaune breathed in, pulling back the bow string. He ignored Orlena, who was trying to give him advice he didn't need.

He understood what the man at the festival eight months ago had meant when he had talked about unique abilities.

Jaune let the arrow fly, watching as it struck true. Then he reached back, grabbing the next arrow and nocking it. As he drew the bowstring back, Orlena said something.

"So, how's your girlfriend?"

Jaune went bug eyed, and the bowstring slipped from his grasp, the arrow impacting the tree the target was on, "W-what!?"

"That white haired girl you talk to on the CCT every couple of weeks."

"Winter isn't- she's not my girlfriend!" Jaune babbled, "I talk to other people on the CCT!"

'Really helping your case,' the part of Jaune that remained rational snarked.

"But you talk to her more often."

"That doesn't mean she's my girlfriend!"

Orlena laughed, ruffling his hair, "I'm just teasing you, little bro. You're too young to have a girlfriend."

Jaune fired another arrow, grumbling under his breath about stupid older sisters doing stupid older sister things all the while.

"Ok, serious talk, who is she?"

"Mhm?" Jaune shot another arrow.

"I mean, you're always really excited to talk with her, and every time you do, you come home and want to practice with a new weapon type."

"Is there something wrong with that?"

The only problem Jaune had with it was that while he quickly mastered the basics of each weapon, none of them felt right.

He knew exactly what weapons would feel natural, but he wasn't allowed near a forge to make them. Winter had hopefully dealt with that.

"Not really, just wondering why."

"I want to be a Huntsman."

Jaune jumped as a crash came from behind him. Turning, and lowering the bow, he looked at his eldest sister in confusion.

Jennifer Arc had gone bug-eyed, dropped the plate in her hands. Her hand gravitated downward, touching the metal brace around her leg. Jaune didn't know why she used it, she didn't need it.

"Jenny?" Oriana had turned, cocking her head to the side, "what's wrong?"

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Huh?"

"Why would you want to be a Huntsman?" Jenny asked again, focusing on Jaune, "That's a very dangerous job."

No duh. It was a job that involved fighting dangerous monsters for little personal glory and rewards.

He wasn't sure why the glory part was important, but he knew it was.

"I know. I still want to do it."

Jennifer's mouth tightened, "No. You don't. You've never even seen a Grimm-"

"I killed one."

"I'm not talking about one of your games. You're my little brother and I'm telling you, you don't want to-"

Jaune turned, firing another arrow and ignoring her.

As a hand landed on his shoulder, Jaune span, feeling the blood rage claw at his mind.

Pushing it down, Jaune batted away Jennifer's hand.

"Jaune-"

Jaune glowered at her, and both Jennifer and Oriana stopped.

Putting down the bow, Jaune shrugged off the empty quiver and walked inside.

---

Blake was swimming through the sea around Menagerie. The salt water slipped across her leathery skin.

Suddenly, a set of jagged teeth bit into her. Blake opened her mouth to scream, and water poured into her mouth. She wouldn't have time to drown. She wouldn't have-

"Blake!"

Blake snapped her eyes open, pushing herself up and gasping for air.

Ruby was looking into her room, Ren and Nora behind her. Lugh was planted on the coffee table next to her, croaking up a storm.

What? What were they doing-?

Oh, right, she was staying at their house while her mom and dad were at a rally in Vale.

"What?" Blake croaked out, throat sore.

"You were screaming."

She had?

Ruby turned, swiping a hand up. Some sort dust rushed from down the hall, and a small pouch on Ruby's waist, before forming into a skeleton. The bone creation turned, walking down the hall and towards the kitchen.

Ruby looked back over, "What?"

Blake closed her jaw, which had fallen open at some point during the display, "Is that your Semblance?"

A person's Semblance was supposed to be a reflection of them, but for the life of her, Blake couldn't imagine how cheerful Ruby Rose could have such a morbid Semblance.

"No," Ruby shook her head as the skeleton shambled past her and handed Blake a glass of water. Once she took it, the skeleton collapsed back into dust, some of it returning to Ruby's pouch, and the rest dispersing, "anyone can learn to do it."

Why would anyone want to?

"What are you all doing up?"

"We're going on a walk. Want to come?"

"Sure," Blake said, perhaps a bit too fast. Anything to get away from her dreams.

"We'll let you get changed. Come on, Ren."

"Wait, why me-"

Ruby and Nora grabbed Ren by his arms, frog marching the boy out of the house.

Blake quickly changed out of her pajamas, before going to meet her friends. She stopped at the door, watching the sight before her.

Ruby was rolling on the ground, one hand on her inner thigh and tears in her eyes. Nora was trying to stop her as Ren sighed.

"Uhh…?"

Ren glanced over, before reaching down and kneading the spot Ruby was clutching.

"She tried to copy my stretches. It didn't end well."

"I'm flexible," Ruby protested, "Kalan's teaching me!"

"When did he start that?"

"Last week," Ruby said proudly.

"It's going to take longer than that, I've been doing this for a year."

"Oh," Ruby deflated as Ren helped her up and handed her a backpack.

Blake followed slightly behind the trio, trusting them to guide her down the road and into Patch proper.

"Why were you stretching?"

"Huh? Oh, we normally train with Uncle Qrow on Saturdays. It's a good idea to stretch before spending hours exercising."

"Training?"

"We're learning to fight. We're gonna be Hunters!"

Blake looked around as they entered the town of Patch proper. The town seemed to just be waking up, signs flipping from open to closed, and birds chirping. It was idyllic.

"Where are we going?"

"To the library, we have books to give back."

The town was tiny, and appeared to be mostly made up of shops with apartments above them.

"Why's it so small?"

"Most of this is for Signal," Ruby pointed at pair of spires in the distance, "A lot of the students stay there during the school year."

"Ah."

They entered the center of town and quickly climbed the stairs into the small library. Lugh took off from Blake's shoulder, landing on the roof.

Pressed against one wall was a set of old CCT terminals and a staircase sat against the other.

Seated at the desk was a short middle-aged man tapping away at his scroll. Looking up, a grin spread across his face.

"Little Ruby Rose, come to bring back those books?"

"Yep!" Ruby chirped, shrugging off her backpack and taking out a book on anatomy.

"It wasn't too much for you?"

"I know about skeletons. I just wanted to know more about the rest of the body."

The librarian hummed, putting the book on a rack next to him, "Have you thought about reading up on Faunus biology? They can deviate heavily depending on the animal trait."

Normally, Blake would argue against anything that splits human and Faunus, but he was right. Any Faunus that had eyes, ears, or appendages that weren't on humans did have a different biology by necessity. Blake had six extra bones from her ears and Adam had two for his horns.

"Sure!"

The Librarian grabbed a book from the shelf behind him, stamped the due date on the card, and waved them off.

Everything went fine until they got back to Ruby's house. Walking in, she immediately noticed the almost heavy atmosphere. Qrow was seated at the table, a square bottle before him.

"Uncle Qrow, we're supposed to be training today!"

"I… uh…" Qrow's eyes flickered to the bottle, then Blake, "I don't think that's going to happening today, Pip."

"Huh?"

Blake heard the news playing in the living room, ears flicking to that direction.

"-doctors have confirmed that Chieftain Belladonna is likely to survive the attempt on his life."

Blake walked in, looking over to where Tai's eyes were glued to the Scroll. The bear of a man looked over, before whipping around, grabbing the remote and hitting the off button.

He wasn't quick enough.

Blake had time to watch as a man jumped onto the stage where her father was giving a speech, she had time to watch as the security grabbed him by the arms and led off stage, and she definitely had time to watch another woman jump on stage and pull a hunting pistol on her father. The last thing she saw before the screen flickered away was her father's blue coat start to stain red.

Blake was aware of Lugh launching into another flurry of croaks, and Blake took what she considered the best route to take in this position. Aware of her body dropping behind her as her conscience fled it, Blake took to the sky, screaming.

---

Winter sighed in relief when the call went through; Ren's face was taking up half of the screen, and Jaune's the other.

"Where's Ruby?"

Ren looked to the side, before moving the camera in the same direction. Ruby sat with her head bowed, her fingers were running along a carved bone on a string.

"And Nora?"

"With Blake."

If it was possible to share a look through a screen, Winter and Jaune had certainly pulled it off.

"How is she?"

"Not well," Ren shook his head, "She passed out when we heard the news and hasn't woken up since."

It had only been an hour after the first reports had come in, and Winter didn't blame Blake. An awkward silence fell over the three. What did you say when you're friend's parent just survived an attempt on their life?

"It's my birthday soon," Winter offered weakly, "Father said I could fly you all over?"

She hadn't meant for it to be a question, but somehow it came out as such.

"When?" Ren asked, looking relieved for the change of subject.

"In a month from now. We can train together then, Jaune."

"Sounds good," he said, "have you looked into-?"

"I have, they should arrive in a week."

"Thanks."

Everyone grew quiet again.

"Your father can't do anything, Winter?"

"He could," Winter responded grimly, "but he won't."

Ghira had been a thorn in the side of Winter's father for years, so it hadn't surprised her that he had given a slight smile at the news.

Jaune sighed, rubbing his forehead, "They said he'll be fine, right? Maybe we're just overreacting?"

"But this is sure to rile up the more extreme elements of the White Fang."

The sound of something striking glass came from the speakers, and Ren looked to the side.

"Give me a second," Ren stood up, walking away from terminal.

Winter heard the noise of something being moved, followed by Ren climbing on something and the window being opened. Ren returned to the chair, Lugh perched on his arm. If the sharp talons wrapped around his forearm was making him uncomfortable, he certainly wasn't showing it.

"I should probably bring Lugh to Blake soon," he said, running his other hand down Lugh's feathers, "it might help her if he's nearby, even if she isn't awake. I heard that worked sometimes."

Lugh crocked.

What to talk about? Something banal, to take away the tension rapidly building up. She was the oldest, she should be the one keeping them busy.

Finally, Winter started to sing a quiet song, trying to calm everything.

She knew it would be in vain in the long run, but it helped for now.

---

Ruby looked along the black void, feeling her feet impact on ground that didn't exist.

"Mendeln?"

After a brief moment, the master necromancer faded into existence, his weathered face instantly becoming drawn.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his voice not changing for its calm tone, "has something happened?"

"I," Ruby realized that her voice was choked, "one of my friends, Blake, her parents are important to the faunus rights movement-"

"Faunus?" Mendeln's voice took a curious lit, "what's a faunus?"

Ruby paused, Mendeln didn't know what a faunus was? "They're people on Remnant, they have animal traits. Like cat ears, or scales."

"Truly?" Mendeln asked, and Ruby nodded, "fascinating. Anyways, please continue."

"So, they're important to that, and there was a big rally today. During it, Blake's dad got shot. And now I'm super conflicted, because I know that I'm supposed to be impar- impar-"

"Impartial," Mendeln supplied.

"Yeah. But my friend is hurt, and I don't know what to do."

"We are supposed to be impartial, Ruby. But we're supposed to be impartial on a greater level than what you're asking about. We aren't to take sides between the Burning Hells and High Heavens, but I don't expect you to be impartial about something like this. Nobody should expect you to do such. A leader being assassinated could lead to an imbalance, allowing our enemies in. A leader who survives doesn't do that."

"Then what do I do? I don't- I don't have anything to fix this."

"You could."

"What do you mean?"

"I've seen that you advance in leaps and bounds with bone, but you haven't done much with flesh."

"So?"

"We can manipulate flesh, Ruby. Most of our kind use it to create golems, as you have but it can be used for so much more. We can heal, if the need arises."

"But I don't know how to do that."

"I can teach you. It will be painful, you will hate it, but you can learn it quickly."

"How?"

"Hand me your dagger," Ruby did so, "watch carefully."

Mendeln slammed the dagger into his good arm, yanking the blade up until it hit the elbow, and removed it. Lifting his arm, he tugged at the flap of skin, "watch carefully. Watch the mana."

Before Ruby's eyes, the flesh healed, first in sinewy, mana filled tendrils that bridged the gap, slowly pulling the two sides together. Then the muscle sealed itself shut, followed by the skin. All that remained was a thin pink line.

"Did you get that?"

"I… I kinda did. But what if I get it wrong? I've seen how a blood golem can be messed up."

"That's where things get harder," Mendeln said, "it takes a while to learn this, but we can do it."

"How?"

"This place," Mendeln gestured with the knife, "is on the brink between life and death. Your body is in in a trance at the moment. We can stretch that moment out… but it will come at a cost. The soul isn't supposed to be here for long. You'll learn, but you'll leave this place weaker, and you won't be able return for at least a few weeks."

"But I'll be able to heal."

"You will. Which brings us the second part. The easiest way to learn is for you to perform it upon yourself… which means you'll need to be hurt."

Ruby looked at the blood stained knife, "...do it."

"Are you su-"

"Do it."

"Nobody will hold it against you," Mendeln said, "Nobody will ever know."

"Do it."

"If you need me to stop, I wi-"

"Do it."

Ruby didn't have time to blink, to react, as the knife danced in Mendeln's hand, tearing into the skin of her cheek.

---

Tai waited at the terminal, sighing tiredly as he waited for the call to go through. He had delayed this call as long as he felt comfortable, given the circumstances.

"Vale General Hospital, how can I help?"

"Can you put Kali Belladonna on the call?" Tai saw Lugh's head snap in his direction, "Tell her it's Taiyang Xiao Long."

"One moment," the receptionist put him on hold.

Tai drummed his hands on the side of the terminal, still trying to figure out how he was supposed to-

Lugh took off from his place on the counter, landing next to him on the chair. His head tilting to the side as Kali appeared on the screen. Her hair was frazzled, and the clothing she had been wearing on the news had been changed.

"Hello, Tai," she sounded exhausted, "do you need something?"

"I wanted to make sure Ghira was alright."

"He's fine," Kali said, glaring at something to the side, "it's keeping him in bed long enough for the wound to start healing that's going to be the problem. He's already split the stitching twice."

"It hasn't even been a day yet," Tai said, aware that Lugh had taken off again, flying towards the guest bedroom.

"I know!" Kali said, "I'm worried I'm going to get back, and he'll have split them again. Can I talk to Blake?"

"Er…" Crap, "About tha-"

"Mom?"

Tai's head snapped to the side so fast, he heard his neck crack. Blake was standing in the doorway, rubbing her eyes as Lugh's legs latched onto her shoulder.

"Blake!" Tai jumped up, "your mom was just asking to see you."

Holy crap, that had been a bullet dodged… ok, he definitely could have phrased that better.

Blake came over, sitting down, "how's dad?"

"Good… Well, as good as he can be, given the circumstances. You and your friends can come see him soon, if you want."

"Yeah," Blake said, "yeah..."

"Tai? Are you still there?"

"Yeah," Tai leaned down, "do you want me to bring her down?"

"When you get a chance."

"The next ferry leaves…" Tai looked at the clock, "at four. We have a little over an hour to get there."

"Ok. Blake, do you mind going and getting ready? I still need to talk about something with Taiyang… Qrow too, if he's there."

"I'll message him," Tai pulled out his scroll and sending a message off, "Blake, can you go tell the rest to get ready?"

"Yeah," Blake walked away, and Qrow walked in.

"What's wrong?"

Kali looked around, "Qrow, you're friends with Ozpin, right?"

"Kinda, why?"

"I…" Kali nibbled her lip, looking around like she expected someone to appear suddenly, "I need you to tell him to come here. Him and Ghira used to be friends, but Ghira didn't feel he was doing enough to support Vale's faunus, and now…"

"You're hoping that they'll make up?"

"Yes… and no," Kali looked around, "that round, it was a driller."

"Shit," Qrow breathed, "seriously?"

Aura piercing rounds had been invented during the Great War, and 'drillers', so named due to their resemblance to a drill bit, had remained a popular choice among Huntsmen who primarily went against bandit tribes. They were, however, illegal to carry in Vale, with a mandatory minimum sentence of six years if you were found with one.

Tai saw Qrow rub his right wrist, right where he had taken one back during his time with the bandits. The radial fracture hadn't healed correctly, and Qrow often complained about it in winter.

"Yes," Kali said, "They asked us if we wanted it removed, after he's had time to heal, of course. I'd like to ask Ozpin before-"

She was cut off as a crash came from the living room, alongside a yelp of pain and several yells of worry.

"What's wrong?"

"Ruby fell!"

"I'll go look," Tai pushed himself out of the chair, letting Qrow take his place, and went to the living room.

"Everything-" Tai watched Ruby let go of Ren and Nora's hands, only for her legs to immediately crumple, causing Blake to catch her from behind, "what's wrong?"

"Can't feel my legs," Ruby said, eyes unfocused, "should only be temporary."

"That's," Tai frowned, "I don't want to risk that, kiddo. I'll grab your wheelchair, we're going to the hospital anyways."

---

Yang sat in the chair, tapping her hands on either side of the base as she waited for the doctors to come back and tell them what was wrong with Ruby.

They had divided into two groups after reaching the hospital. The Xiao-Longs, Ren and Nora had started to push Ruby towards the emergency room, for lack of a better place, while Qrow brought Blake to her family.

That had been an hour ago. And they were still-

"Excuse me," a nurse walked towards them, her hair pulled back into a ponytail and wearing blue scrubs, "are you the," she checked the scroll nestled in her arm, "Xiao-Long family?"

"Yes," Tai said, "Is Ruby-?"

"She's fine," the nurse said, "From what we can tell, this is something Aura based. Her notes says it's normally quite powerful, is that correct?"

"Yes," Tai nodded, "Why, is it not now?"

"It's," the nurse sighed, "It's something better for the doctor to explain. Can you come with me?"

Yang stood with her father, only for the nurse to raise a hand, "This is something for your dad. Yo-"

"I'm coming," Yang said, setting her jaw in place.

It didn't take long to reach the room. Ruby was, once again, glaring at her feat. Seated in a rolling chair next to a counter with a sink was the doctor, a woman with her blond hair pulled into a ponytail who looked up from the scroll hovering in front of her as the nurse knocked on the door and called, "Doctor Ziegler? I have Ms. Rose's father."

"Thank you, Aqua," she said, "and this is…?"

"Yang," the girl supplied.

"A pleasure," she said, "but shouldn't you be waiting outside?"

"It's fine," Tai said, before turning to Ruby, "How are you, Rosebud?"

"Fine," Ruby said, poking her legs repeatedly, "still can't feel my legs."

She was way, way too calm about that.

"I don't think that counts as fine, Rosebud," Tai responded, turning towards the the doctors, "What's going on?"

"Well," she said, "You're lucky I was on call. Physically, there's nothing wrong with Ms. Rose. Aurally, however, well, I've never seen anything like it, not like this."

"Like what?"

"Like," Zeigler's frown became tighter, "It's similar to what we see in Huntsmen approaching the end of their life."

"What!?" Yang looked to Ruby, who looked like she wasn't remotely worried that she was… what? Dying?"

"There's no need to worry," she said, "as I said, she's fine physically. Minus, of course, her legs. Her Aura should make a recovery on its own, and well, she wasn't wrong when she insisted quite vehemently that her paralysis should be temporary. Give it a couple of days, bring her back if she hasn't recovered by then, but I don't think you should worry."

"And her aura?" Tai asked.

"I'll give you my card," she said, "Make an appointment for a month from now, I'll check her over then."

---

Blake followed Qrow through the hospital, eyes downcast. Her mind was a whirlwind, desperately trying to find something to cling to.

Flock of birds, squirrels... That was about it.

Blake gave a slight whimper, reaching up to rub her red eyes. Someone had tried to kill her dad.

Why? They just wanted to be free to do the same things as all the humans. How was that so bad that her dad deserved t-

"Hey," Blake blinked through unshed tears at Qrow, who had turned and kneeled (was that a word?) down in front of her. He ran a hand through his hair, looking slightly uncomfortable, "Listen, Kid. Don't worry about your dad, okay? He's fine, the docs say he should be up within a week and healthy in a bit over a month, okay?"

"But what if someone tries to hurt him again?" Blake asked, "Dad's got tons of rallies to go to, he could get attacked at any of them!"

"We're gonna make sure that doesn't happen," Qrow said, "Oz has plenty of people he can grab to guard your dad who don't have any problems with guys and girls like you."

Faunus.

"I don't get it," Blake said, eyes flickering up to meet Qrow's, "Why do people not like us?"

"People are scared of things they don't understand," Qrow said, "It's just the way the world is."

"But we're not any different from them."

"I know," Qrow said, "and so do the others but there are a lot of di- idiots out there who don't want to look past a few differences."

"Then why does Dad-?"

"Because your dad refuses to just lie down and accept the world for what it it," Qrow said, reaching up and wiping the tears that had begun rolling down Blake's face, "That's just not the type of guy he is. That's why the idiots who thought shooting your dad would stop him are gonna be in for a rough surprise. He's too stubborn to let something as small as a bullet keep him down. Wanna see?"

Blake nodded, taking Qrow's offered hand and following him the rest of the way to her dad's room.

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Psycho R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

---

Ruby sat in the wheelchair, pouting, "Dad~!"

"No," Tai sighed.

"But… but…!"

"I said you could go," Tai said, "but you're staying in the wheelchair until you get back."

"But Doctor Z said it was fine!"

"She also said there was no harm in you staying in the wheelchair for a few more days," Ren said quietly from behind her.

Traitor! Traitor!

"Ren, I'm trusting you to keep Ruby in it, when I'm not around, ok?"

"Of course," Ren nodded.

"Good," Tai said, cracking a smile, "C'mon, let's get on this cruise."

Ruby's eyes trailed to the giant airship in 'dock', awe stretching again. It was bigger than most ships, had to be, to accommodate both the passengers and the guns to ward off Grimm attacks. The owners didn't know it, but those were probably… less important than they normally were.

They were playing host to a Nephalem birthday party. They could beat any Grimm that came their way! Ruby'd just create bone spikes to stab 'em, and Nora would blast them with light and Ren would, like, punch them so hard they exploded, Winter would fry them with electricity while Blake summoned a pack of crows to rip them apart while Jaune beat at Grimm with another Grimm or something cool like that!

...A group of crows was called a pack, right? Or maybe a flock?

"Hi," Ruby tried to spin around so she could face the back of the wheelchair, only for Tai to keep her firmly in the seat, instead wheeling the chair around (heh) so she could see Blake.

"What's with the bow?" Ruby asked, before looking around, "and where's Lugh?"

"Ruby!" Tai said before smiling at Blake, "That's a very nice bow."

"I don't think Mr. Schnee realized I was a Faunus," Blake said, "I asked Winter if it was a good idea to hide it. She said he wasn't gonna be here, but her tattletale brother was, and it probably wouldn't hurt to be safe than sorry. And Lugh's… around…"

"Around where?" Ruby asked, scanning the airdock. She didn't see the black bird anywhere.

"Around," Blake said, refusing to elab….. elab… explain further.

"Hey!" Tai didn't even give Ruby a chance to try moving, just wheeling her around so she could look at Jaune. He stopped, frowning, "Is something wrong with Ruby?"

"No!" Ruby said, hopping out of the chair and sliding past Tai's arm, "See?"

"She messed up her legs a few weeks back," Ren said with a sigh, shaking his head, "Tai's just worried her legs are gonna give out during the trip."

"They won't," Ruby insisted, crossing her arms and huffing.

"We'll take it with us," Tai said, folding the wheelchair up, "I wish you'd stop giving me grey hairs."

"I've got more than you do!" Ruby said.

"You're seven Ruby," Tai deadpanned, "You're not going grey."

"Seven year old necromancers do!" Ruby said, before huffing and glaring at her hair. Mendeln was grey haired, so were the Priests, from what she heard. How did her dad know she wasn't gonna go grey?

"Yeah, well," Tai said, "We'll deal with that if it happens. C'mon, let's get on before they take off."

---

Blake dropped her bag onto the bed, locking the door behind her and pulled off her shirt. The large black 'tattoo' on her back flexed, peeling off and warping before Lugh silently flew to the Scroll stand. He looked at Blake and gave a baleful croak, really?

"I told you you were probably better off staying with Mom," Blake said, "You're gonna have to stay like that a lot for the next couple of we-"

"Blake?" Blake jumped slightly at the knocking on her door, whipping around, "We're goin' to the buffet! Want to come?"

"Sure," Blake said, glancing at Lugh. If ravens were capable of rolling their eyes, he sure did, before diving back into her back. Blake pulled on her shirt, swinging open the door to smile at the group of seven, "Hi, Winter."

The older girl cracked a smile, "Hello, Blake. These are my siblings, Whitley and Weiss."

"Hi," Blake said to the two, stepping out with the group, "So how have you been?"

"Good," Winter said, "my fencing practice has been going well. As is my… my Semblance."

Blake's eyes trailed down, watching a mote of fire burn around her fingers. Looking up, Blake grinned at Winter, "Good to hear."

"Woah," Jaune said, stopping to look out the windows. Below them, the city of Vale stretched, nestled into a bay.

"It's not that impressive," Whitley scoffed.

"Says you," Blake said. Flying over new locations with Lugh never got old. It was so awesome.

"So," Ruby said, grinning, "What are we gonna do today?"

"Scare people with skeletons?" Blake joked.

"I don't have enough bone dust on me," Ruby said, "just enough for a dog or a spike."

"I've never heard of 'bone' Dust before," Weiss said.

"Don't worry about it," Winter said, before focusing on the rest, "We could go swimming, or watch a movie-"

"That sounds good!" Ruby chirped.

"It's Winter's birthday," Blake pointed out.

"Not for another week," Winter said in return, "We can do whatever the group wants to do."

"Movies?" Ruby said hopefully.

"Aye!" Several voices said, sticking up their hands, including Winter and, if she was honest with herself, Blake.

Movies it was.

---

"What'd ya mean, there's no movies right now?" Ruby asked, tilting her head as they stood in front of the movie theater on the airship.

"There's the finale of a big tournament going on in Vacuo," the man behind the counter explained, "and we're streaming that right now. There'll be movies later in the da-"

"Tournaments are cool!' Ruby chirped, turning to the rest, "Right?"

"Yes," Winter said, smiling in excitement, "I'd forgotten the Vytal Festival Tournament was happening! Pay attention, Jaune, you might pick up a few things!"

"Sounds good," Jaune said, an easy smile on his face, while Blake just chuffed a laugh.

"You do realize how patronizing that sounds, right?" the black haired girl drawled.

Patronizing? Wasn't having a patron a good thing? Like, Linarian was the patron of the Priests of Rathma, so why did Blake say it like it was a bad thing?

Weird.

"Still," Winter said as they walked into the theater with popcorn, "It's goo-"

Whatever she said after that was cut off by the roar of a tide of sand. On the screen, an auburn haired teen was smirking, the sand in front of her flying forward and about to smack into a lanky boy. Black energy formed into an angle in front of him, splitting the sand and letting it spray across the ground. When the girl finally stopped, he charged forward, the energy forming into a set of claws along his hands. The girl smirked, and flicked her hand up. The sand exploded up, covering the boy.

Then he exploded from the sand, teeth gritted as his black Aura flickered around the grains still on his body. He landed with a heavy thud, slashing for the girl with his claws while she dodged backwards, spinning a double ended trident to deflect blows when needed.

Ruby watched with wide eyes as the sand wrapped around the girl, whipping into the boy and ripping away the Aura around his arm. The girl split her trident, throwing one end at her opponent. He deflected it, continuing to charge at her.

The smirk on her face became wider, a nasty grin as the deflected weapon suddenly reversed itself, smashing into the back of his head and staggering him. The sand under his feet exploded upward again, sending him crashing into the ground as a loud buzzer echoed across the theater. Ruby caught Blake's wince, offering her her hand.

"And Carmine Esclados is the winner of our first match!" A voice said, cutting to the inside of a commentor's stand, where two men and a woman were seated around the table, "What did you two thin-?"

"He should have known better," Ruby said without hesitation, "She was controllin' all that sand, why wouldn't she be able to control the knife?"

"Maybe he thought her Semblance was just sand control?" Ren offered.

"Maybe," Ruby said, chewing her lip, "but that's a lot to put on one thing, isn't it?"

"Some people get tunnel vision, when that much money is on the line," Winter said with a shrug.

"How much?" Jaune asked, sipping from his drink, only to choke at Winter's response.

"Forty thousand Lien," Winter said.

"Forty thousand? That's more than dad makes in a year!" Jaune said.

"Like I said, tunnel vision," Winter said, "everyone wants that money, or fame."

---

Weiss watched Winter interact with the other kids, reaching up to rub her arms. She didn't get this, they seemed so… so happy. Laughing and talking as they ignored the commenters to give their own analysis. Finally, the pretty blond haired girl nodded at her, "Hey."

"Hello?"

"It's weird, ain't it?" She drawled.

"What?" Weiss asked.

"Them," the girl jerked towards her thumb towards the debating group, "it's a weird group, isn't it?"

Weiss's eyes trailed to the group, eyes scanning them. A girl in a cloak beyond pitch black, a boy in a green shirt, a girl hovering in the row above them, head poking between the seats so she could talk, a blond boy way too tall for his age, a black haired girl wearing a bow, and Winter.

Yes, they were weird. Weiss couldn't understand why her sister would associate with this group, especially enough to invite them to her birthday.

"Yes," Weiss finally said, "They are."

"Yeah," the girl said, cracking a grin and holding out a hand, "I'm Yang, by the way."

"Weiss Schnee," Weiss said, taking the hand, "I-"

"Next match is starting!" The youngest girl whooped, and suddenly the conversation on the last match stopped, everyone focusing on the theater screen. Into the arena, where sand had been replaced with ice, stepped a hulking teen holding an axe and an equally tall girl wearing a pair of knuckle dusters with Dust embedded in them. A three flashed across the screen, then two, one.

Tanner Colby VS Gretchen Reinhart, begin.

---

Jaune watched the pair of fighters walk around each other, trying to keep their footing on the frozen ground. Finally, the teen rushed forward, swinging his axe up in an attempt to hit the girl. Immediately, before the result even happened, Jaune knew he had made a mistake.

It happened in his head before it happened on the screen, Gretchen weaved out of the way, the axe blow going wide and overextending the boy. A vicious haymaker smashed the boy into the ground. It was followed by an equally brutal kick that sent him skidding across the ice and into one of the boulders of ice (that was a thing, right?) around the area. The bar at the bottom of the screen dropped by a quarter, while shards of ice and dust blocking the boy from sight.

For all of a second.

The axe head came sweeping out of the dust on a long chain, nearly taking Gretchen's head off as she ducked. A humming came from the dust as Tanner charged forward, axehead slamming back into place as he smashed the axeblade into Grechen's chest. Her outfit, nor the flesh underneath it, didn't so much as tear while the bar on the bottom slowly decreased.

"Hey, Win?" Jaune said, "What're those bars at the bottom?"

"It's their Aura," Winter explained, "For safety reasons, the battle ends if it goes down to twenty five percent-"

"-or if they get ringed out," Ren said, eyes glued to the screen.

"Yes," Winter said, "It-"

Before she could finish, Gretchen punted the other boy away, before her grip on the knuckle dusters grew tighter. A loud click echoed across the theater before the crystals lining the edge of the weapons exploded in a flash of crackling yellow electricity, lightning licking her fists but didn't seem affected by it. Tanner grinned, hitting a button on his axe that ignited the blade's edge with fire.

Winter tisked, eyes narrowing, "That's very dangerous of her."

"Why?" Jaune asked

"Dust is still volatile in crystal form, and activated, it is especially so. One wrong move could send both of those weapons exploding."

Then she was going to have to be careful to not, Jaune observed as Gretchen took off at an explosion of speed, appearing in front of Tanner and hit him full in the chest faster than he could respond and sending him flying. Then she was behind him, the feed visually distorting as it tried to keep up with her, and drove her fists into his back with a loud crack. Another distortion rippled across the screen as she appeared in front of him again, repeatedly driving her fists into the boy's chest while his Aura dropped like a rock. Finally, the buzzer went off, and Gretchen lowered her hands, smiling broadly.

"Gretchen Reinhart wins!" The commentators called, while several of the adults in the theater groaned, passing lien between them and friends.

"Ruby?" Nora suddenly asked, and everyone looked over to the pale girl, who had a strange look on her face, "are you alright?"

"Yeah," Ruby said immediately, eyes snapping towards them, "I'm fine. What'dya think Grechen's Semblance is?"

"Higher speed, I'd assume," Winter said, "you saw how fast she moved."

---

"So," Winter said, diverting her attention from the screen and towards Blake, "How is your father?"

"Oh," Blake said, blinking at the sudden question, "He's doing alright. They're keepin' him in the hospital til he's better, though, so he had to cancel his tour. He keeps breaking the stitches."

"Well," Winter sighed, running a hand through her hair, "That's good to hear, at least. Not that he's splitting his stitches, but that he's recovering."

"I could heal it," Ruby said, crossing her arms and puffing out her cheeks, "but they won't let me!"

"She's been complaining about it all month," Ren said.

"He wouldn't have to cancel anything!" Ruby huffed, "and he'd be better! I put a lot of work into learning how to do it!"

"I'm sure they have their reasons," Winter said, appeasing the younger girl.

"Well, those reasons are dumb," Ruby said, "I could-"

"This is your captain speaking," a voice said from the loudspeaker, "We're having a… situation on Deck B. Please remain off of it. If you are on Deck B, please make your way off it in a calm and orderly fash-"

"We're in?" a voice suddenly cut him off, a low, guttural one that sent Winter's neck standing on edge, "Good. Listen up, this is a hostage situation. We want Winter Schnee here in ten minutes, or things will get ugly. Your people started this last month.

The silence that feel across the theater was deafening. The group stared at each other in confusion and horror, before Winter pushed herself up. She didn't get a step before both Jaune and Blake grabbed her arms, stopping her, "Let go."

"You can't actually be thinking about this," Blake said, "They'll-"

"I know," Winter said, cutting her off. They'd gone too far, there was little chance of getting off this ship, so they didn't plan to ransom her, "but if there are other people there… I can't let them die for me."

"What do we do?" Jaune asked.

"Split into two teams," Ruby said, voice not shaken, "half of us go for the kidnappers, the other half head for the top."

"Why-?" Blake started, only for an unnaturally harsh growl to come from Ren, just one word, said with a hatred Winter had never heard before.

"Grimm."

"Everyone on here's scared because of that," Ruby said, nodding, "The Grimm are gonna come."

"Who goes where?" Jaune asked, eyes sharp.

"Hey," Yang said, "We shouldn't-"

"Me, Ren and Nora will get the Grimm," Ruby said, "Blake, and Jaune will go with you Winter."

"You guys-"

"Sounds good," Blake said, nodded to them.

"You don't need to do this!" Yang blurted out, "There are Huntsmen on here, they can deal with-"

"And there's also six Nephalem on it," Ruby said, "We can deal with it!"

Nephalem. She had never heard the word before, didn't know what it meant, Ruby could have made it up for all she knew, but it immediately settled in her heart, like the missing piece of a puzzle. Nephalem.

And judging by the looks on everyone else's faces, they felt it too.

"Dad's gonna kill me," Yang said, before standing, "I'm coming too."

"Bu-"

"No buts," Yang said, "you're my little sister, and I'm coming with you."

"Fine," Ruby said, before looking to Winter, "and try to avoid killing them if you can. It'll just make the cycle worse."

---

Jaune peered around the corner eyes trained on the group of eight Faunus marching around the hall in a standoff with several Huntsmen. Curling his legs below him, Jaune launched forward, rushing past the Huntsmen before they could respond and clearing the makeshift barricade in front of them. Energy pumped through his body as the guns of the Faunus whirled on him in slow motion. Most of them hesitated, but one, a golden haired man with slitted eyes, fired his revolver at Jaune anyways. The shot glanced his arm, blood flicking off it as his heartbeat roared in his ears.

The man didn't get a second shot, despite his best attempt. Jaune wrapped his hand around the revolver barrel, ignoring the burning pain and bent it up as he tackled the man into a wall and whipped around, throwing the gun into another man's head as the one behind him slumped against the wall, unconscious. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a third point their gun at him, only for Lugh to sweep forward, grabbing the gun from his hand and flying back to Blake who caught the gun and carefully handed it to one of the Huntsmen. Before anyone could do anything, ice crashed into another Faunus, forming into shackles on the wall. Winter stepped forward, energy wrapping around her, her hair practically rising on it's own, "You were looking for me?"

The remaining four Faunus raised their weapons, firing at Winter. Before the nearest one had time to think about how bad an idea it was, Jaune was on top of them, smashing them into the ground and wrapping his hands around their throat. A hand landed on his shoulder, and he whipped around snarling and punching.

Tai-Yang deflected the strike without flinching, eyes soft as the other Faunus lay collapsed, welts like someone had burned them on the back of their neck. The Huntsmen rushed over the barcade, grabbing the Faunus, binding their hands behind them as they did so, "It's over, Jaune."

"Winter?" Jaune asked, looking around for her, only to see her standing to the side unharmed, "But-?"

"My Aura," Winter said, "I'm fine, Jaune."

"Oh," Jaune said, blinking, "Oh…"

"You got nicked," Tai said, "Let's get you to the medical ro- where are the others?"

Jaune locked up, sharing a look with Blake and Winter. Tai's face got tight and he repeated, "Where are the others?"

"They're fighting the Grimm-" Jaune didn't get to finish the statement before Tai threw him into one of the Huntsmen.

"Get him to the medical room," Tai snapped, rushing away.

---

Ren stepped onto the top of the ship, wind pushing his hair aside as he tracked the Grimm closing in. Slowly, his fists clenched shut, and against any conscious effort, magenta energy began to waft off his shoulders in tendrils of light. He closed his eyes, breathing in the weak air through his nose. Snapping open his eyes, Ren took a step to the side, letting the griffon crash into the steel of the roof. The tendrils lashed out, wrapping around the Grimm and searing flesh from bone before Ren took a step forward, impaling the beast through the throat with his father's knife, watching it stop moving. Seconds later, a second descended, trying to hit him before a glowing hammer smashed into the skull, sending it off-course as Ren wasted no time lashing out with the tendrils, running them through.

"Ruby!" Yang suddenly cried, "What the heck sre you doing!?"

Ren turned in time to watch Ruby finish bloodletting, pushing Yang's hand away as blood rolled down the spear in her hand, forming into lines of symbols running down the barbed bone.

Seconds later, Ren realized he was wrong, Ruby hadn't finished bloodletting yet. She just hadn't needed more for the spear. Ruby…

No, Rathma, raised her left hand, the blood sticking unnaturally to the tips of her fingers. Silver eyes staring towards the next approaching griffon and flickered her arm down, blood streaming from the tips and cleaving through the Griffon like it was solid blades. The next two Grimm followed suit, and before Rathma could swing it again, Yang caught her arm.

Rathma just stared at her, lowering her hand.

"You shouldn't do that!" Yang said.

"Why?" Rathma said, uncaring, "blood magic is part of necromanc-"

"You're cutting your own wrists!" Yang snapped, "that isn't righ-"

"Not now, Yang," Ren growled, tendrils grabbing another Griffon and incinerating it.

"Now is a fine time for me to be yelling at our sister about-"

"She's not my sister," Ren shot back, "and no, it really isn't! We've got Grimm-"

The words died as the spear Rathma had been holding launched forward, ripping straight through a Griffon and continuing into the distance, impaling another Griffon before lodging in a Manticore and stopping dead as the Grimm crashed into the deck of the ship. The spear quaked, before ripping out of the Grimm and returning to Rathma, who caught it. The injury on her arm had sealed shut, dried blood the only hint it had been there as she walked forward, the spear shifting and warping into a scythe that she hooked around the Grimm's neck, decapitating it with a quick pull and-

"Look out!" Nora said, shoving Ruby out of the way and catching the second Manticore's charge. Slowly, she was pushed back before-

BOOM!

Ren blinked as the Grimm exploded, turning towards Tai holding a rocket launcher with a burning glower on his face, "Inside."

"But-!" Ruby started.

"DON'T!" Tai roared, before breathing in, visibly calming himself, "I don't want to hear any buts. You're kids, you shouldn't be attacking terrorists, or fighting Grimm. Go inside, Jaune's getting patched up, then, I don't know, go watch a movie or go swimming or something normal kids do. We'll talk about this," Tai gestured to the scythe and bloodstained hand, "and we will be talking about it, Ruby, later."

---X AN X---

I think the hardest part of writing Rathma is always that I worry Tai comes off as too harsh, when, well, I'll say it again, at no point has Tai been wrong in his assessment of a situation, he's just often not had the full breadth of it. On that note, I've started a new story or two (yes, again. Is it any wonder I joke my Beta thinks I'm a lovecraftian entity that exists only to add to their workload far faster than they can check it out (as an aside, this entire chapter took about half a week to write. Most of it happened today). One Kingdom Hearts related (Fears and Lies Melt Away) and one Age of Sigmar related (Sacred Worlds (shock, horror! The guy who linked to a Blind Guardian song named one of his stories after another one))

Now if you'll excuse me, Imma go black out for however long it takes for my visual hallucinations to stop.

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

A new chapter? Without a disgusting amount of time between updates? This must be a sign of the apocalypse! Or, you know, an unfortunately necessary (in-universe) info dump. That's an option too. I at least tried to make it interesting, though the scene where they realized their parallels to the original Nephalem has been delayed.

---

Blake watched Ruby walk into the room, walking over to Jaune and unwrapping the bandage around his arm. Energy slid out of her fingers, digging into his arm and causing tendrils of flesh to slide from the edges of the wound, healing it with nothing but a light scar to show for it.

Oh… so she would have been able to heal Dad's wound. Dang.

"Ruby," Winter said, "what's a Nephalem? You called us that…"

Ruby worried her lip, before going over to the Scroll and flicking it on. The projector sprang up as she grabbed the stylus, "The Nephalem are… they're… we're what humans, and Faunus I guess, were supposed to be. A long, long time ago."

"What?" Blake asked, staring at Ruby. What was that supposed to mean?

"At the start," Ruby said, tapping the color wheel that appeared above the stylus and picking an almost fluorescent white, she began to sketch a man. Broad chested, with muscles heavily defined. Ruby was putting her interest in biology to good work, "There was One. Anu. And he was everythin'. Light and Dark, Happy and Sad, Angry and Scared, Magic and Flesh, Order and Chaos. But he didn't want to be that, so he ripped all the bad parts out and threw them away. But he didn't get it. I guess even someone that big and powerful can miss it."

Blake shared a look with Jaune and Winter, before opening her mouth to ask Ruby what she was talking about, Yang suddenly said something, "This is about what Kalan taught you, isn't it?"

"The Balance, the Great Cycle of Being," Ruby said, switching the stylus to a black color and beginning a new sketch, "You can't have Light without Dark. You can't have Order without Chaos… and you can't have Good without Evil. And so, the Balance forced itself back to fix what he had broke."

The beast she drew has seven heads, each different from each other, leading to the same lizard-like body, with great wings stretching to surround Anu.

"What's that?" Jaune asked, teeth almost bared.

"Tama- Tarth- Tathamet," Ruby stumbled, over the name, "if the new Anu was Light, Order and Good, then the Dragon was Darkness, Chaos and Evil. They fought, the tilting of the Balance going on for an infinity that wasn't."

"So finite," Blake said, dryly.

"Might as well of been infinite," Ruby said with a shrug, before wiping away her mural and starting a new one. One that sent Blake's stomach rolling.

In hindsight, it probably wasn't surprising that the girl who used skeletons as manservants and didn't flinch from fighting Grimm knew how to draw surprisingly realistic gore.

A spear of silver pierced Tathamet's chest, a mortal wound. But Anu hadn't dealt it without loss. One of the dragon's claws were wrapped around Anu's head, blood exploding from it as the other wrapped around the body. Anu's spine dangled in the air, completely separate from his body, "and then the fight ended."

"Still don't know what this has to do with Nepha-whatever," Jaune said.

"It wasn't over," Nora said, suddenly, "It was just the beginning."

"Yeah," Ruby said, "How'd you know-?"

"I saw something last year," Nora said, "and it was… it was weird. What happened next?"

"Next," Ruby said, wiping away her pictures again and pacing, "Next… the Balance continued. Anu's spine became the Crystal Arch, and the High Heavens came from that. And with it came the Angels, fragments of Anu. The strongest were-"

"Tyreal, Imperius," Nora said, "and three others?"

"Malthael, Itherael and Auriel," Ruby said, "Justice, Valor, Wisdom, Fate and Hope. And a host for each, but Balance must be maintained…"

"Something came from Tathamet?" Winter said, eyes sharp.

"Yeah. One for each head, for each evil," Ruby intoned, eyes staring up at the ceiling, "Diablo, Baal, Mephisto, Andariel, Duriel, Belial and Azmodan. Terror, Destruction, Hatred, Anguish, Pain, Lies and Sin. And a Legion for each. So began the Eternal Conflict, which continues to this day. And like all things in this reality, it waxes and wanes. The Demons have attacked the Diamond Gates of the High Heavens five times, and Imperius and Tyreal have both led the charge into the Burning Hells. And we, we are a mistake in their eyes."

"Nephalem?"

"And humans," Ruby said, breaking from the trance she seemed to be in, "There's someone who can explain this part better than me. Kalan?"

As if it were a magical word, shadows began to billow out of Ruby's cloak and swallowed them. Before anyone could say anything, motes of light appeared, forming a giant constellation above them, around them. It held a base similarity to the monster Ruby had drawn. A dragon, but…

"Hello," Blake locked up as it suddenly spoke, Lugh appearing on her shoulder, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, little Nephalem. I am Trag'Oul, and yes, it is easier for me to explain this."

---

Yang Xiao Long was proud of her name, which meant something to the effect of 'Sunny Little Dragon' in old Mistralan. Who wouldn't be proud of a name like that? Dragons were cool, they were huge, and they were scary.

Yeah, two of those things fit Trag'Oul so much. He was big, and he was scary. And as Yang stared up at the dragon with wide eyes, she was left with as many questions as answers.

The questions. What was this thing? How did Ruby meet it? Where were they? If this was Ruby's beloved Kalan, why was he teaching her?

Answers… ok, maybe there weren't quite as many answers, but it did answer why Dad and Uncle Qrow had never found him, or why he never introduced himself. And, probably, why he knew weird stuff to teach Ruby.

It was that, that gave Yang the sinking realization that the story Ruby had just been telling wasn't some random myth. That it probably really happened.

"There's no need to fear me," Trag'Oul said, his voice unnaturally soft and kind for a creature that was so big Yang couldn't find where he ended, one eye locked on to her, before he spoke, "And it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Yang."

Yang met the star that made up his eye, a brief flash of a beautiful blond woman clashing with a scorpion Faunus, grabbing him by the tail and spinning him above her head.

"Hi?" Yang squeaked, staring up at the dragon.

"Hello," Trag'Oul said, before his eye raked across the gathered group, "To all of you. It's amazing to put faces to names."

Everyone was in tense silence, staring at the dragon. Well, everyone except Ruby, who was grinning up at Trag'Oul without a care in the world, "I need you to help explainin' the Nephalem to them, Kalan."

"I see," Trag'Oul said, "What have you explained so far?"

"The Eternal Conflict," Ruby said.

"I see," Trag'Oul said, a clawed hand moving forward. None of the heat that should have been from a ball of fire so close to them so close radiated. Instead, Yang felt something deep in her rumble, followed by a falling feeling as she stared into the flames, "Then I will enlighten you on how the Nephalem came to be. It began millennia into the Eternal Conflict, with the angel Inarius, child of Justice, who despised the war that had consumed every waking moment of his existence"

In Yang's mind, the image of an angel appeared, clutching two swords while golden wings hovered trailed behind him. Then from the shadows, a strange woman stepped out, wrapping her arms around him and rested her horned head on his shoulder.

"And then he met Lilith, daughter of Hatred, Queen of Succubi who appeared to hold the same feelings as him," Trag'oul continued, "together, they gathered like-minded Demons and Angels and stole the Worldstone, the eye of Anu and used it to create twin worlds, Sanctuary and Remnant."

"What…?" Winter breathed, mouth falling open.

"And Inarius and Lilith lay together, spawning the first Nephalem, Linarian," the man who appeared then left Yang staring. He was too perfect, far too perfect. Like some unseen hands had molded his face like clay, with hair as black as pitch and a familiar cloak wrapped around his body, "or as you would better know him, Yang, Rathma. My first student, the first Necromancer."

"I know him," Winter said quietly, before meeting Jaune's eyes, "We know him."

"Yeah," Jaune nodded.

"What!?" Ruby twirled, "How!?"

"He was there the day at the fair," Jaune said, "The day we met…"

"Rathma was that close, and I missed him?" Ruby whined in despair, head falling forward. One of Trag'Oul's hands (paws?) reached out, patting her on the head.

"He took care of you, when I was out. Put you in a coma to conserve your strength."

"That's not how coma's w-" whatever Blake had been saying was cut off by Ruby's wail.

"I missed him twice!?" Ruby said.

"It's alright," Trag'Oul said, "I'm certain you'll meet him eventually. Now, let me get back to my story, Rathma."

Ruby nodded, leaning against the dragon's body and pulling her cloak tight while still looking depressed.

---

Tai sat down at the terminal with a sigh, rubbing his eyes before typing in the number of his home. After a minute, Kali picked up, "Hello?"

"Hi," Tai said.

"Is something wrong?" Kali asked.

"Yeah," Tai said. There was little point in beating around the bush, "I wanted to tell you, before the news reported it or something."

"Reported what?" Kali asked.

"Things… got rough, an hour ago," Tai said, "there was a brief hostage situation on the cruise."

"What?" Kali blinked, "a hostage situation?"

"Yeah," Tai said, rubbing his arm, "It was… it was about Ghira. I think. They were demanding Winter come out, and said that 'their people started it.'"

"I… I see…" Kali said, "how many-?"

"None," Tai said, shaking his head, "They were… they weren't trained at all, and didn't have their Aura unlocked. I took down three of them in less than ten seconds. We're going to make a brief stop at an outpost to drop them off so they'll be sent to Vale."

"That's a relief," Kali said, "So why are you call-?"

"Because by the time I got there, Jaune, Winter and Blake were attacking them."

Kali was silent for a long moment, staring at him. Finally, she spoke in an almost hissing voice, "I'm sorry?"

"Yeah," Tai said, voice dark, "I know it's very little, but Blake did the least. She just had Lugh grab a gun."

"Why were they fighting?" Kali snarled, "What were they thinking!?"

"I don't know," Tai said, "but that's not where it ends."

"What?" Kali snapped, "how did it-?"

"Ruby, Ren, Yang and Nora were fighting Grimm," Tai said simply. Kali's eyes softened immediately, scanning Tai's face.

"They're alright?" Kali asked,"You're alright?"

"I'm fine," Tai said, "and they're not hurt, luckily. But I'm thinking about getting off when we land. I'm not exactly in the mood for a cruise when they just did something that dangerous. It's part of the reason I called, do you want me to bring Blake?"

"I think that's a bit drastic," Kali said, "They're kids, Tai. What they did was dangerous, but they're probably not ever going to have a chance to be on a cruise like this again."

"I just…" Tai lowered his head, "I don't want them to do something like that again."

"Then make that clear," Kali said, "but don't deprive them of being able to enjoy this."

"Ok," Tai said, eyes lowered, "thanks for the advice, Kali."

"Any time," she smiled, "now, I should probably head out, visiting hours at the hospital end soon and I need to drop some stuff off for Ghira."

Tai hung up with a sigh, before pulling up a second number. Now to tell Jaune's parents…

---

"Alright," Jaune said from where he was standing behind Winter, uncrossing her arms and running his hand through his hair with a sigh, "So, even if we believe all this, you said this Inarius guy made it so there were no more Nephalem. What are we then?"

"Nephalem," Trag'Oul said, simply. Before Jaune could give a confused sigh and continue the motion harder, the dragon continued, "The Worldstone was… shattered last year, and with it, the enchantments binding humanity, and that includes Faunus, Blake, have died. In every man, woman and child lay the inherent potential, because when you follow the bloodlines far enough back, you would still find the Angels and Demons."

"Then why just us?" Winter asked.

"I don't recall ever saying it was just you," Trag'Oul said. From atop his back, something that confused the ever living crud outta Jaune since he shouldn't have had a back like that, Ruby called out.

"I think that Gretchen girl was one!" Ruby said, arms held out to balance herself as she walked along Trag'Oul's spine with a stuck out tongue. Dried blood covered her left arm in trails, and Jaune almost opened his mouth to ask about them only to be cut off.

"You were brought together," Trag'Oul said, "not by Fate, for such a thing doesn't hold dominion to those like you, but neither will I say it was by chance. You are not the only Nephalem on Remnant, nor are there none on Sanctuary. Without seeing her, I can't say if Ruby is right about this Gretchen, but I won't say she is wrong either. Whatever the future holds, it will be a trial. The High Heavens and the Burning Hells never discovered Remnant, but both sides will have their goals if they discover it. The Hells will seek to exploit you, as they do all things, while the Heavens will seek to destroy you, seeing you as Demonspawn."

"So they're just as bad as some humans," Blake said.

"And some Faunus," Ruby said, continuing her path along Trag'Oul's back.

"THEY-!" Blake started, before sagging and nodding, "Yeah… yeah… I guess so."

"You are the spawn of Angels and Demons," Trag'Oul said, "You, Nephalem and Humanity alike, have within you the ability to perform great good and great evil. Auriel, Tyrael and Itherael saw past the inherit 'taint', as Imperious would call it-"

"Does it bug anyone else that he's the only one who doesn't end in 'El'?" Nora suddenly asked.

"Kinda," Blake said.

"As I was saying," Trag'Oul continued with a rumbling laugh, "I think that while Auriel hoped that your kind would be for the best, as she so often does, and Tyrael saw it in Uldyssian's sacrifice, Itherael realized that as you were a spawn of angel and demon and realized that you, and you alone, would choose what to do with your powers. He did something no other angel did that day, something that should have gone against everything in the mind of he who reads the Scrolls of Fate… he chose to trust that you would naturally be inclined towards good."

"That's nice," Blake said, "at least somebody thinks we can."

"You should go," Trag'Oul said, "Tai's coming."

The dragon vanished suddenly, leaving the shadows to fold inwards into Ruby's cloak as the door to the door swung open to show Tai.

"We're going to have a long conversation about what happened earlier," Tai said, sitting down and meeting their eyes.

---

Ren calmly met Tai's eyes, breaking the silence before anyone else had time to speak, "I'm not apologizing."

Tai's jaw fell open, before he sighed, "Why?"

"Because if a Grimm's dead, I'm happy," Ren said, not flinching, "if I killed it, I'm happier."

"You could have died!" Tai snapped, before taking a calming breath, "I can't lose you. It's… I've lost a lot, and if any of you died… I don't know what I'd do."

"But-" Ruby started, only for Tai to cut her off.

"I know you're not… you're not normal, but you're still kids. You can still die. Nora could have been thrown off the ship if I hadn't got there when I did. Jaune doesn't have his Aura unlocked. It's… it's not safe."

Ren didn't say anything, couldn't find anything to say. Tai looked haunted, eyes dull before he raked his eyes across them before landing on Ruby, "You cut yourself."

Ruby glanced down at her arm, before looking up at her father and shrugging, "I was using blood magic. The Frailty and Leech curses were stronger that way."

"That isn't-!" Tai started with a growl before sighing, "That still isn't something you should do."

"Why?' Ruby asked, "It's stronger that way."

"But it isn't safe," Tai said, "you could kill yourself."

"I know my limits," Ruby said, "and the leech curse was healing me. I'm fine."

"It's not-" Tai growled, before sighing, "it's… hurting yourself like that normally means something is wrong, little rose."

"But nothing's wrong," Ruby said, holding up her wrist to show nothing but a pale mark, not even enough to be called a scar, "see?"

"It's… it's not like that, Ruby," Tai said, "just… promise me you won't do it unless you need to. It's not normal, at all."

"But I've got an idea for a ritual," Ruby whined, giving Tai a puppy dog's eyes, "can I at least do that?"

"We'll see," Tai said, voice tight.

"Good!" Ruby said, "I'm gonna need chalk, animal blood, bone dust and graveyard dirt!"

…

"What the hell are you gonna do?" Yang asked the question Ren was sure everyone was thinking.

"Summoning a stronger skeleton to act as a bodyguard!" Ruby said, "that way I don't need to do stuff like that as often!"

"O…k," Tai said, "I can get you the chalk when we land, but…"

"I'll get the rest," Ruby said, "Easy-peasy!"

---

Thoughts, questions, opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?