Molten Fox

Chapters

The attack and Tears
Staubgrimm and Second Sun
I'm mistaken as a student... what?
I got challenged to a fight, that went well
A golden Rook and a Mimic
Frosty Fox
Not enough Lumber
Bullets, and Story time
Sleepover and the Beginning of the End
Fires of Beacon
Some self reflection and Ghosts...
A secret shared and a bigger family
The Return of an old friend
A new adventure awaits!
Forever Free Academy
Meeting the Princess and heroes... k
The Return of an old friend (Part two!)
Semblance and Magic are different, where's why.
Dinos are fun!... Maybe
A present, New Village, and Blue lady
The Truth behind the Ark (Kinda)
The showdown with Gas mask Mother
Coming home to... interesting events
The chill day... or something like that.
New clothes, some truth, and a pair comes together :3
Snow day, the flu, and free time
Lightening Ball and a new store
A rock and a hard place... that likes to punch us
The search starts, and the Half-Dovah
Feral to Mother... wow
Manticore fight
Return home again
A trip to the Gala will fun right... right?
Intermission between stuff
Don't forget Discord for the wedding... no wait don't
A Dark Discovery
The proposed and the bet
A fight, and a Wish later
Meeting the family, part 1
Exploring the camp and a large bad rock
The lost Overseer
Blowing off some steam and the Nameless
Return and more Tek armor
Rockwell Monster
Some time before home
Grimmdigo, King of Grimm
Gol Parker
Meeting Gol and the Birth
The Wedding
The Wedding Clash
Bonding time
Trip into town and the Ashen One
Tasks for Love and Bloodsucker
RB's True Family
Prologue
Don’t be so Grimm!... wait.
A Dance of Nightmares... not the creepy kind
So this is the reason it's called Scorched Earth
Meeting the family, part 2
First an Island, then the Desert, and Now a large Cavern

The attack and Tears

I hummed to myself as I tilled the soil with Tak at his family’s farm. I didn’t have anything else to do and was asking around to see if I could do anything before my aunt comes. Besides, this was a bit easier then what mother had me do just a bit.

We finished tilling the soil for the next planting of summer plants; I informed that it was the start of Summer by Zecora when I passed her. I wiped the sweat off of my forehead and looked at Tak, “So, what’s next?”

“Now… Now I start planting the seeds.” Tak answered slightly out of breath, understandable as he did most of the work before I arrived. He pointed towards a large sack of seeds.

“Alright then,” I said before the two of us headed over and picked the sack up. “Got to say, this is a nice settlement you got here; it’s so… peaceful.” Tak smiled at this before speaking.

“It’s thanks to our little community working together.” He said as we placed the sack down before he took a handful of them. “But there are… downsides for us.” He said, frowning as he stopped and knelt down with the handful of seeds before bringing to plant them.

“How so?” I asked, taking a handful and planting seeds in a different row. “Grimm troubles?”

“That’s one of them, yes but our problems mostly lie towards the group of pony supremacists,” Tak replied, speaking the last word as if it was the first time he had ever used the term. “Sometimes they would merely insult us, treat us as animals but there are times where things would get physical during our visits to the nearest town.” He said, stopping briefly before continuing to plant the seeds.

“That sounds awful!” I said with a shocked look before frowning. “And does anyone do anything to stop them?”

“Not really, most ponies would simply look the other way out of fear,” Tak said this with a casual tone, giving me the sense that this sort of thing has been going on for longer than I would’ve thought.

“That’s just… wrong!” I said, now angrily planting seeds into the dirt. “No being is allowed to be treated this way, not a Faunus, not pony, not… anyone!”

“As true as that may be, not all think this way,” Tak said, slowly but surely moving down the row of tilled dirt. “But on the bright side, this forest is considered the deadliest forest in the kingdom so the ponies wouldn’t dare venture in here and even if they do, a simple Grimm could take of them,” Tak said with a little smile.

I merely grumbled to myself as we continued on planting. When we finished with the planting of seeds we were tasked to take a shipment to the town as a trade for some tools. I’ve calmed down somewhat as we carried the cargo.

During our stroll through the forest, I had immediately noted the lack of any Grimm activity which I found quite odd. Another thing I thought was strange was Tak’s weapon; it looked to be made using a slightly curved but rusted blade and a peculiar looking wooden handle, both wrapped with some dirty cloth. Connecting the edge to the handle was some form of mechanism.

“That’s an… odd weapon.” I pointed out to Tak. His ears twitched at my words; I guess I might’ve spooked him.

“Wha? My weapon?” He asked, reaching for it on his back before gripping the handle. “Is something wrong with it?” He asked.

“No, it’s just… well, I have seen different types of weapons before, Moten Coil here,” I pat my weapon. “It’s just that I haven’t seen any weapon look like yours.”

“O-oh.” He muttered, letting go of the weapon and lowering his arm. “I made it myself using what little I had at the time, and yeah, it may look odd or even unappealing, but it’s my weapon, one that I wouldn’t dare to give away.” He said proudly. The way he told this brought a smile on my face.

“Yeah, I know that feeling… but onto the matters on hand, it’s quite.” I pointed out. “Too quiet.” He raised a brow at this but soon realized what I meant.

“Oh right, I forgot to tell you that whenever we do one of these trades, we would give one this talisman,” Tak said, stopping and showing the talisman in question around his neck. “The talisman repel the grimm for as long as it is intact.” I looked at this and nodded.

“Right… nice to know.” I said as we continue. The rest of the walk was thankfully uneventful, and once we exited through the treeline, the pony town was in sight. We walked into town as I saw some ponies, anthro ones, seemed to be friendly to wave at us. “At least this place is friendly.”

“Somewhat.” Muttered Tak under his breath. I raised an eyebrow at him as I noticed not only ponies around, but some Faunus as well. I smiled as Tak led me towards a stall on the side of the road we were on as I saw a female Faunus was standing. She had long blond hair with a brown Stetson on top of her head. The woman had a brown jacket on with blue jeans with rope on the side of her waist. The only thing I saw that she was a Faunus was a pair of wolf ears that stick out of her hat and wolf tail. She turned and smiled at us.

“Howdy there Tak, good to see ya!” she greeted him. Tak smiled at her greeting and bowed at her.

“Hello, Jacqueline.” Greeted Tak before straightening back up. Jacqueline smiled before looking over at me.

“Hey there, don’t believe ah ever seen ya before.” she offered me her hand to shake. “Jacqueline Smith.”

I smiled and took her hand, almost wincing at the grip of her, “Hi there… I’m Viri Mal Kun.”

“Well again, howdy. So moving on to the trading,” I watched at Tak and Jacqueline talk and traded the shipment for tools and what not as I watched the townsfolk go on with their business.

“This place looks lively,” I said out loud. I heard Jacqueline chuckle at this.

“Yeah, this place is sure something, more so now than before,” she said quietly. Tak nodded at her words. I smiled as the two talked.

“Alright, that should do it. See ya for the next shipment?” Jacqueline asked Tak. The latter nodded with a smile. With that said, Tak and I headed back towards where we came from with the new tools and stuff.

“She seems nice,” I commented.

“She’s one of the few I know here.” He said, still smiling from having had a conversation with a friend. I smiled, somewhat happy for him. “It’s hard for me to socialize, especially outside the village.” He said. I raised a brow at this before asking.

“How so?” I asked him. “You seemed friendly enough, and not all ponies are rude to Faunus’.”

“Yeah but…” Tak sighed, not knowing what to say but after a brief moment of silence, he continued. “I don’t know; maybe it’s because I’m just awkward at socializing. Having been look down at and even made fun of because of my condition throughout my childhood hadn’t given me any socializing skills.” He said, a slight frown forming as he did. I merely shook my head and patted his back.

“You have a few friends, like the Faunus woman we were talking to and you have me as a friend as well. If you keep on trying you’ll get better and better at it.” I said with confidence. This earned me a little smile from the teen. The rest of our trek to exit the town was spent in silence, but I did notice some unfriendly glances that a few ponies gave us. I frowned at them as we moved on. “Though some others think otherwise…” I muttered to myself.

Once out of town, it wasn’t until we were back in the forest. An odd sense of dread greeted upon entering the forest, something didn’t feel right. I felt my tail bush up a bit as I looked around us, seeing if there’s something around us before leaning closer to Tak.

“Hey, do you feel… off?” I asked him. Tak stopped and knelt down before placing his free hand onto the dirt. I heard him take a deep breath before silence, but as quickly as he did this, he gasped for air with a panicked look.

“Oh Gods.” He gasped, shakily standing back up and dropping the bag of tools he carried before grabbing his weapon. Without any warning he sprinted off towards the direction of his village, almost tripping as he did. Having no idea as to what had gotten into him, I followed him back. At the pace I was going, it was only seconds before I saw the village and its current state.

It was chaos, building was set ablaze, and a few bodies of both faunus and pony littered the floor. I could see the village faunus men fighting off what I assume were the invaders.

What was more shocking was that the invaders were ponies. As I looked around, I saw Zecora fighting off three of them at once. Seeing that she needed help I ran off towards her. As I got closer, I saw her knocking one of them out with a simple staff before spinning around in a circle, knocking the other two out. I blinked in amazement before going up to her.

“Zecora! What the hell is going on?!” I asked her loudly as an explosion went off near us from the left. Zecora spat out some blood before looking around.

“Invaders came out of the forest and attack without warning,” she explained, spinning her staff around. “Come young one; many lives were lost today and much more as we stand here.”

With that Zecora quickly headed off into the chaos. I looked around and saw no sign of Tak. Frowning I sent a prayer to Mother that he’ll be alright before following after the shaman.

As I followed her I loaded up some empty cartridges to Molten Coli and started to fill them with the flames from the buildings. As I did, I heard someone screaming overhead, and I saw a pony falling at me with an ax in hand. I blocked it and pushed the stallion down to the ground. I pointed my sword at him with a frown, “Alright, what the hell is going on?! Why are you attacking this village!?!”

“We’re ridding our kingdom of your filth!” He yelled back, a look of pure hate looking back at me. My frown deepened as I aimed my weapon at him.

“There are families here, children! You would go ahead and kill them as well!” I shouted, my weapon reacted to my building anger as the cartridge was giving off a white light.

“Your kind doesn’t belong here.” He said through gritted teeth. I felt my arm tremble a bit as my anger grew more and more. I could just kill him, right here and right now and move on to the next. And then the following…

I let out a breath as I lowered my weapon. I saw the stallion shift a bit as I dart forward and grabbed the stallion’s shirt and brought him close, “I could kill you, right here right now if I wanted to. I could simply leave you like a burning corpses that no one could identify. But I’m not.” With that I headed butting him, oddly knocking him out. I dropped him and continued on through the village.

~Ω~

Far off into the forest, up on a mountain looking down at the burning village Axycia was watching everything unfold. She shifted a bit as she held an communication orb in her hand that glowed a sky blue colour.

“She still has that temper sister, even with those lessons of yours.” the Dragoness said to the orb. “But she did good… if I was in her place I would’ve roasted the pony.”

“I have no doubt that you would have, sister.” Came her sister’s voice from the orb before a chuckle. Axycia frowned at this.

“Shut it you.” she said, earning a laugh from her sister. “Oh look, you can laugh. I thought you the stoic leader was all you can do… that and have worry moments.” Axycia said with a smirk.

“There are plenty of thing I am capable of.” Her sister’s voice once again rang through the orb. “Such as beating you in a sparring match without giving it my all.”

“... I’m going to ignore that…” the Dragoness said bitterly as she looked down when there was another building set on fire. “So after this I should bring Viri back?”

“Yes but only after the situation has died down, in the meantime keep an eye on her and her new friend.” Spoke her sister through the orb.

“Alright.” Axycia said as she turned her head back towards the village, watching the chaos run it course.

~Viri~

I was panting after all the fighting from the invaders. The fires has been put out and the bodies… I didn’t want to think about it. The sounds of shouting and crying filled my ears as I looked at Molten Coil. She still gave off some heat from using her so much in one day. I had knocked out a few of them that I faced, but some others… I didn’t want to think about it right now.

I slowly pushed my way up to go look for Tak, hoping that he’s alright. I made my way to his family’s farm to see if everyone there is alright. The farm was like much of the town, the buildings around were smoldering but somewhat still standing. I started to call out if anyone was still around.

“Over here!” Came an older man’s voice. I turned towards the voice and ran towards him.

“Are you alright?!” I called out as I ran over, almost tripping over some wood. I arrived to see a middle aged horse faunus sitting with his back to a tree with two daggers embedded on each shoulder. “Oh lords… That’s a no…” I went to him, trying to see if I could help him. “We gotta get you to someone who can heal you sir.”

“Take it easy there, girl. I don’t plan on dying yet.” He said, chuckling as he did but grunted as he attempted to move his arms. “But as you can see I am in quite the predicament.” He said. I frowned as I helped him as carefully as I could towards someone that could help.

“I just… don’t understand why…” I muttered to myself. “Why would they do this? The village did nothing wrong, and simply existing doesn’t really make it a reason.”

“Some ponies just like to take things further than anyone would like. Extremists you might call them, those who view the Pony race superior than us Faunus.” The man said. I grumbled a bit as I got him closer to where all of the injured are taken.

“Have you seen Tak anywhere?” I asked the man. “I haven’t seen him since we got back.” Hearing the name of his son, the man attempted to move his arms but failed.

“Gods, Tak. I-I haven’t seen him since you two left.” He said with worry. My stomach dropped a bit when he said that as I saw some villagers coming over towards us.

“I’ll go find him sir.” I told Tak’s father as I passed him off to get treated. I didn’t stay to hear what he said as I sprinted off to find Tak. I ran back to the farm and started there as I made my way around the village while calling out his name. “Tak! Tak were are you!!”

I soon came to a complete stop, seeing Tak lying against a tree. As I made my way towards him I noticed the bodies of dead stallions, each having the same large wound on their neck and once I made to Tak, I saw that his cleaver was still embedded into someone, this one being an armoured mare. I looked at Tak and saw that his head was limp while his eyes were wide open.

“Tak?” I said his name softly as I leaned down and shook his body. “Tak!?!” In doing this, my hands were violently pushed away from some unseen force as Tak’s body shone a bright yellow. His entire body was encompassed by the yellow energy before suddenly changing into a bright green color.

“Hmm… huh?” The energy that once surrounded Tak soon disappeared, leaving a fully conscious Tak behind. “What-” He stopped and winced, no doubt from a headache.

“Hey hey hey, easy there.” I said softly as I kneeled in front of him. “Everything is alright Tak.”

Slowly, I helped Tak up to a stand and helped him hobble towards where his dad was, “Hey, you remember what happened when we got separated?” He nodded and looked at the bodies but his gaze was soon set on the one with his weapon still embedded into it. I looked over to it as well. “Can you walk?” He nodded once again. With that let him stand on his own as I went to get to his weapon. Grimsley I pulled the cleaver out of the pony and carried it over to Tak. Sad to say I had to sorta drag it over. “Jeez, how can you carry this thing so easily!”

“It’s not something I can explain easily.” Tak said as I handed him the grip of his weapon for him to grab. I frowned at the ease he carried it as the two of us headed off.

“Hey… you okay?” I asked him. He released a shaky sigh as he shook his head.

“I just… I’m still trying to wrap my head around all this.” He said while gesturing the village. I frowned sadly as we made our way back to the others. As we got there Tak went off to find his father as I simply watched the villagers come together after this. As I watched this I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned to see my aunt standing behind me. She didn’t say anything as I looked back to the others.

“Why…” I asked her.

“That’s something that I can’t answer my dear.” she said before turning away. I heard the sound of the portal opening up near us. “Come on, your mother is waiting.”

I let out a sigh as I followed her back through the portal, the cold feeling of the portal was all I felt as we returned home.

I sat on a large rock overlooking a dense fog covering the meadow early in the morning. I couldn’t sleep after the events from Tak’s village a week ago… I think? Time acts odd here. I turned some bolts in a pistol gun I was working on for a time ever since I got back.

“Is something troubling you?” Asked the voice of my mother as she appeared, flying down towards me. “I’ve noticed a change of behaviour since you’ve arrived. Is there anything you wish to talk about?” She asked as she touched ground and folded her wings against her back. I looked over at her and shrugged.

“I… I don’t know mom…” I said as I went to screw in another bolt only for the tool I was using fell out of my hand into the grass. My hand was shaking as thought back. “... I don’t understand… all that hate…”

I felt myself get a bit more cold the more I thought about it. Sure I was trained to fight but… I never killed I mortal being before. Minus the Void creatures and other beasts my aunt summoned during training. I moved my other hand over to try and stop myself from shaking. Mother walked up and sat beside me, a sigh escaping her lips before gaze met mine as she grasped my hand within hers.

“Some beings are capable of immense hatred for another, such as the Ponies to Faunus.” She said with solemn tone. Sighing, she added. “While I would like nothing more than for myself or even my sister to put a stop to this sort of hatred, we can’t.”

I looked down at my hands as they were being held by my mom, “I… the attack on the village… I knocked some of them out but… others…” I couldn’t finish as I swallowed some saliva down my throat.

“I see…” She said, going into deep thought for a moment. Her silence brought me to an uneasy state. I shifted uncomfortably as I waited for her to speak again. “While I’m not happy to hear this, this does not mean I will treat you any differently.” She finally said.

I started to tremble a bit as I closed my eyes, holding back the tears, “I… I feel sick…” Hearing this, I felt my mother’s hands let go of mine before feeling her arms wrap around me in a comforting embrace.

“They left you no choice, it isn’t your fault and don’t blame yourself for something you left forced to do.” She whispered, tightening her hug as she did. I didn’t say anything as I cried into her embrace. I don’t remember how long we were like this but after a while I calmed down enough for her to pull away to wipe away what is left from crying.

“T-thanks… mom…” I stuttered. She nodded before standing up.

“Just remember, dear, that if something ever troubles you in the future, that you’ll speak with me.” She said, smiling lightly at me. I smiled back and nodded to her.

“Okay mom, I will.” I told her, earning her a smile on her face. With a nod she spread open her wings and took off, leaving me to think by myself. I sat on the rock and saw the fog slowly dispersing, letting me see the rolling green fields the laid before me. Memories of me as a kid running around playing in said fields brought a smile to my face as I looked down at the pistol I was working on. Frowning I went to pick it back up the tool I had and started to work on the object some more, moving things around.

After a few hours passed I finished what I was working on, turning the pistol to a clockwork bird that I read in my books. I turned one last bolt before the bird came to life in my hand, which is saying much as it was simply palm size with what I had with me. It hopped around in my hand before starting to clean itself, sounds of scraping and tapping came from it.

After a few minutes I let it hop onto my shoulder as I stood up, heading off to find Mother.

Staubgrimm and Second Sun

I let out a sigh as the clouds slowly past by overhead. It has been a few weeks since I returned and other than some small things I haven’t done anything. I saw some birds fly past like a cloud that looked like an acorn blocked out the sun. My book that I got for my birthday besides me closed, I was halfway through it before stopping to do some cloud watching. I closed my eyes with a smile at how peaceful it was right now as the sun peeked out behind the cloud.

Then it was covered up again. Frowning I opened my eyes to see that the sun was being blocked again. Only it wasn’t a cloud, it was the Oversized Dragon that lives in the valley. It stared down at me as I stared back.

“Uhhh, ahnok…” I said in the language that my Mother taught me when I was young. She taught me many languages during my youth and the one that I was speaking in was I believe dragons could understand.

Its response was a glare and a guttural growl, both of which were very unfriendly. It raised up a giant claw, ready to stomp me as if I were its prey but stopped midway as it quickly turned its gaze off towards the distance. Whatever it saw had caused the behemoth’s angered look shift into one of fear. Lowering its claw back down away from me, it lowered its head with what I could assume was a whine. Looking up into the distance, I wondered what caused the behemoth to act this way but was interrupted as a large hand appeared from the fog. The hand was almost as big as the behemoth itself. The hand resembled that of a Dovah, scaly and clawed but this seemed different. It laid onto the ground, waiting for me to step onto it and after a brief moment of thinking I did. The hand lifted up and pulled itself into the fog, causing me to get wet because of it. When I was pulled out of the fog, I winced from the sudden light before blinking rapidly to adjust. As soon as I regained sight, I was greeted by Mother… only she was a giant, bigger than the behemoth of a dragon.

“Uhh…” was all I could say as I was dumbfounded. Sure I saw her like this before, but every time I saw it, I would say… well… “Uhhh…”

“I’ve told to steer clear of the Non-Dovah.” She said, setting me down by a flowing river. The distant roaring of a waterfall echoing nearby. Looking back up, I noticed Mother was sitting.

“Well… I… uhh…” I shook my head a bit, clearing my head a bit. “I was simply cloud watching and the Oversized Non-Dovah came over me…” I shuttered a bit as I remembered the first time meet the Non-Dovah, gave the nine-year-old me nightmares for weeks. I saw her staring at me and I shrank a bit. “Sorry, mom…”

“Hmmm…” She hummed, acknowledging my apology but saying nothing. The sounds of the coursing river was all that was heard for a brief moment before she spoke. “Just please, be careful. I’d rather not think of losing you.” She spoke softly, hearing this had earned me the sense of guilt. Mother was always good at making me feel guilty.

I looked down and nodded, feeling like my words are stuck in my throat. Even as a kid, Mother had always made me feel guilty for the little things I’ve done.

“So what brings you into my sanctuary?” She asked, breaking the silence. I looked up at her when she said this.

“Huh? Oh, Uhhh…” I tried to come up with something to say. “Again I was cloud watching and… umm.” She looked down at me curiously. Within a blink of my eyes, she was no longer towering over me and looking back down, I saw that she had shrunk down to her usual height.

“I do hope nothing has been causing you any distress.” She said with worry as she walked up to me.

“No no! Nothing has been doing that, other than almost getting squashed by a giant foot.” I muttered the last part before giving my mother a smile. “Everything is great, nothing’s wrong, everything’s fine and… I’m rambling am I?”

“Yes, yes you are.” Was Mother’s answer. She crossed her arms and simply looked at me questiongly.

“Really, everything is fine,” I looked around at where we are before looking back. “Just, not really much to do around here or in the valley then running away from the dragon and not to get pranked by those kids.” I frowned at the memory at one of their ‘playful’ jokes they pulled on me. Took me almost a month to wash all the purple out of my hair.

“About the children, they won’t be causing you much trouble for quite some time as I’ve allowed them to return to their rightful parents for the month.” She said, somewhat saddened yet relieved at the same time. Mother soon sat down on a large that had only just appeared. “They remind me so much of you as a child.” She said as her eyes closed with a smile forming.

I smiled a little as I went over and sat down beside her, “I wasn’t much of a prankster though.” I pointed out to her. She chuckled, placing a hand atop my head.

“Yes but you were a very adventurous little one.” She said, petting my ears as she did. I couldn’t help but smile a bit, also become more relaxed at the petting.

“Yeah, can you blame me when I saw the Valley?” I asked. “It was a large place to go exploring!” This earned me another chuckle from mother.

“That it is.” She said, enjoying the moment while continuously petting my ears. The two of us sat there for some time enjoying the scenery and chatting about anything that pops into our heads. Before I realized it, hours have passed.

“Time sure does fly huh…” I said, imagering what it would like if time does fly.

“I could slow it down if you’d like.” Mother said jokingly.

“I thought the idea of controlling time upset you?” I asked her, remembering a conversation she had with her sibling about a god of time or something.

“No, the thought of someone else controlling time upsets me.” She said before sighing. She frowned a bit before saying. “That man has proven more the once he knows the responsibility.” She said, taking a deep breath and breathing out as a smile formed on her lips once more.

I smiled back at her before looking off in the distance, my mind starting to wander, “So… what now?”

When I said that I heard footsteps coming closer towards us. I turned and saw my Aunt there.

“There you are, wondering where you disappeared to.” she said with a smirk. She glanced over to her sister with the same smirk. “You and your way of simply disappearing.” Mother simply rolled her eyes before asking.

“Is there something you need?” She asked, removing her hand from the top of my head as she did.

“Well I came to talk to you about something, and since Viri is here she can listen in,” She started to walk closer us before making an image of the Ursa I fought before. “After looking through the report I’ve became more and more interested in these Dust infused Grimm, and after taking some time to look into it I’ve came across that there a sorta new breed of Grimm on that world.”

With a gesture of her hand the image changed a little, instead of a Ursa with different crystals sticking out of it it was a dark brown Ursa with rock like spikes sticking out of it. It was also bulkier and bigger than the other one, “I saw this one just a week ago and I saw it has abilities around controlling earth. Meaning that it must of eaten a large about of Dust that control the earth.”

“Sounds concerning.” Mother said, standing up and walking up to the image of the Dust infused Grimm.

“Concerning, yes. Interesting, most definitely.” My Aunt said with a grin. “And that’s not the only one, other versions of Grimm that are infused by Dust are wandering around in the world as we speak.”

“Wait, does that mean the Ursa I fought is one of these new Grimm?” I asked.

“Kinda, it had Dust inside of it but it was at the halfway mark of turning into these hybrids and took one may different types of Dust.” my aunt explained.

“Another dangerous breed of Grimm.” Mother said but frowned sadly at the image of the Grimm.

“Dangerous yes, but in a different case. Take a look of this.” Mother’s sister turned to the image and made a sweeping motion. The image changed to see a large Dust infused Nevermore. It had dark yellow markings and it’s mask had yellow sparks markings on it. It was in some sort of nest where there were…

“Eggs?” I said as I saw white and red eggs in said nest. “I thought Grimm couldn’t reproduce normally.”

“That’s true, normal Grimm can’t. But these Dust Grimm seemed to have changed in a cellular level and, as you can see here, are able to make more by normal means via what an animal would do. I tried to get close to the nest of one and… well.” She lift up her arm and I saw it was blackened from the wrist up. “I believe I would call these Nevermores ‘Thundermores’ as they seemed to have lightning powers.”

“Has this change affected them mentally?” Mother asked. This made her sister frown.

“That… I don’t know… oh! But they rarely bother anyone unless they are disturbed. Like you see here.” again she showed off her arm.

“Umm, what does that have to do with things?” I asked, not sure where she’s going with it.

“Viri, did you sleep through that lesson?” my aunt asked, making me blush. “Normal Grimm would go after any settlement and try to destroy it, as they only wish to destroy all of creations. These Dust Grimm on the other hand, pay no mind.”

I frowned at this, not sure on what she meant. I looked at my mom, “What does she mean?”

“These Dust Grimm act in a much different manner than a normal Grimm. The latter feed off hate, anger and relish in the destruction of their enemies but these do not.” Mother explained, stopping briefly to think on how to explain further before continuing. “These Dust Grimm, while territorial, seek their own lives in peace without the need for destruction or hatred.” She finished.

“And as a theory,” my aunt said, looking up at the Dust Grimm Nevermore. “The Dust they are infused with gave them a soul of sorts.” she then frowned as the image split apart into smaller ones, each showing Ponies, Faunus, even Grimm fighting the Dust verants. “For others they see them as normal Grimm and fight them, out of survival or out of sport.”

“That’s awful.” I said, seeing one image of some Ponies boasting about killing a Dust version of a Beowolf.

“Yes, out of every world I have ever known, this one’s version of Ponies are the most cruel on the low end.” my Aunt said, she turned back to the two of us. “The Faunus around fight off these creatures out of protection of their own, but with now riled up Grimm and the Ponies harassing them, your friend’s family and village won’t last much longer.”

This made me worry, I shot up to say something but stopped when my Aunt shot me a look, “I understand you want to go and help out but you’ll makes matters worse…” she then looked at her sister. “Yes I thought it through and everything. Don’t rub it in.”

I was sorta taken aback at this, with how serious this is I can’t believe my aunt would say something so… childish to her sister. Though this isn’t the first time I saw this happen.

“What do you suggest we do?” Mother asked, closing her eyes with small in thought.

“Some more study would be needed to understand them more, along with coming up with names since it would be a bit confusing with the normal Grimm names.” my aunt explained. I thought about it for a few moments after she said that.

“How about… Staubgrimm?” I asked them. My aunt thought about it before nodding.

“That would work.” she said simply. Mother smiled at me as she opened her eyes once more.

“So… what do we do now?” I asked my aunt.

“For me I’m going to look into the Staubgrimm some more, find out more about them, learn how they tick. You two… I don’t know, maybe another few lessons from your mother would be good.” she explained. I laughed nervously, being trained from Mother or her sister was always interesting. My aunt basically taught me how to fight along with Mother, though she seems to like to throw me into situations that involved me fighting my way out of. Mothers were more… I can’t pick the word for, hard but fair?

“I suppose that’s doable, I’ve been meaning to spar with my own daughter for quite some time.” Mother said still with her loving smile. The thought of sparring with her both excited me and terrified me.

I let out a nervous chuckle as my aunt nodded. “Yes well, Viri I hope you get some good training in.”

“Yeah… maybe I might be able to beat you in a spar.” I said cheekily.

“I doubt it,” she said without missing a beat. “Sure I can’t beat my own sibling in a fight, learn that the hard way, but that’s fine. Any way, I’m off!” with that my aunt turned into shadow and went into the ground, leaving me with my mother. I frowned at what she said before looking at Mother.

“She never beat you in a fight?” I asked her. With a chuckle she shook her head.

“Not once.” She said, walking off towards a set of large doors that had just appeared out of thin air. With a wave of her hand, the doors opened and revealed the sparring room. I followed her to the door as I thought about it some more.

“Is there anything she beat you in? It’s not like you beat her at everything.” I said to her, looking up at her.

“Sadly to say, my sister has yet to best me in anything.” She said in a saddened tone before shaking her head. “It’s one of the few reasons she… nevermind, let’s not dwell with the past.”

I frowned at that, deciding not to press my chances. The two of us walked into the sparing room, it was a large dome ceiling room that had stands where weapons should be on, but there isn’t. I did some stretches before glancing over to mother. “So, what’s today’s lesson going to be?” With a flash of light, she no longer were her long white dress, instead she now wore a full suit of black armor. Along with the change in attire, she now held a familiar greatsword over her shoulder. I’ve seen her use that blade once or twice as a kid but the memories are a bit hazy.

I shifted slightly as I pulled out Moltin Coil, extending her to her sword form. My sword hummed as I got ready for anything mother would do. I watched as Mother spun the heavy blade around in her hand before impaling the floor in front of her, causing the blade to emit a blue aura. With one hand behind her back, she made the come at me gesture with her other hand. I swallowed what was in my mouth before making my blade burst into flame. With that I dashed forward towards her and swinging my blade at her only for her to catch the blade between her fingers. Quickly grabbing the blade, mother soon tossed me aside and threw Molten Coil back at me.

“You can do better, sweetie!” She yelled encouragingly. I was still shocked at how easily she caught and threw me. I shook my head and stand back up, picking Molten Coil up as well. If close range doesn’t work…

I shook my weapon and heard it wrille as small embers began to fly out of it. Using my semblance I gain control of the embers and shot them forward. As they got close to Mother they expanded to fireball size and came right at her.

I watched as she simply bat them to the side as if they were flys, she raised an eyebrow at me as I grit my teeth and slashed at the air, sending waves of fire at her. Seeing this, Mother did nothing but stand there and watched as the flames grew closer. Just mere inches away from hitting her, Mother raised her hand and stopped the flames in its tracks before it turned from a fiery orange to a neon blue. She then fired it back at me at double the speed, barely giving me time to dodge.

I rolled out of the way, feeling the heat of the fire beside me. I switched my blade and pointed it at her, firing some shot at her as I tried to circle around towards her. The sound of each shot hitting her armor greeted my ears but when I looked to see if any damage was done, I saw not a even a single dent.

“If you’re trying to hold back, don’t bother.” She said, taking a hold of one of the many bullets that had dented themselves against her armor. “Give it your all.” As she said this, the sword embedded into the floor shone before she gripped the hilt and pulled it out. Her eyes as white as the endless void, she spoke. “Fraan faal Suleyk do faal Pah Monah!” She flicked her blade, causing it to extend and split with a chain connecting each part of the blade. Flicking the hilt resulted in a crack of her whip before she sent a flurry of swipes. I jumped back and dodged a few of the swipes as I hit a few of them away.

“Give it my all huh…” I took a deep breath as I felt the flame in Molten Coil. Soon the blade turned white as another attack came at me. Slash at it I was able to knock the whip away, feeling that I could have cut it in half as I charged at Mother. I felt the white hot flame burning from my weapon as I brought my weapon down on her. Once again, she caught the blade with her hand but unlike last time, the armor on her hand began to melt before it was nothing but molten metal. Mother smirked at this while I tried free Molten Coil from her grasp but to no avail. Mother then shoved the blade back, causing me to stumble backwards while Mother’s weapon retracted and reformed into the greatsword.

She swung her sword at me, slash after slash I was able to dodge luckily. Despite the heavy looking greatsword, Mother’s speed was greater. Without as much as a warning, the sword once again extended and split into a whip before Mother wrapped the bladed chains around me. Since this was a sparring match within the training room, it was unable to severely hurt me as Mother had made this room to reduce the damage one would receive by more than half. Nevertheless, it still hurt like hell. A point of her finger and I was sent flying towards the nearby wall, unwrapping myself from the whip as I did.

I slammed into the wall and felt the air being forced out of my lungs. I feel down to the ground and started to cough. Soon I stood up as and took my weapon with both hands. Breathing deep, as best as I could I pushed my power to the limit and then some as my blade turned to that of a flaming sword as bright as the sun. Lifting it over my head I brought it down with a yell, blasting everything that gets in its way. I felt myself lose consciences as I did this, feeling more drained then ever.

~Ω~

I soon opened my eyes to see the sky again. I blinked a few times before closing them again as the sun came out behind one of the clouds. I groaned again as my whole body felt sore.

“Ugh… why do I feel like I got hit by a truck… with rockets?” I groaned. A familiar chuckle greeted my ears.

“You’re feeling half the exhaustion you would’ve ended up with from depleting your aura like that.” Mother’s voice sounded close by. I opened my eyes and squinted, seeing her towering over me with a smile. “When I said to give it your all, I didn’t mean it literally.” She said, sitting on her knees beside me. I frowned at this.

“I… ugh.” I soon started to cough as if my lungs were on fire. Soon as I stopped I felt light headed. “What… happened?”

“You pushed yourself over the limit in an attempt to create a powerful enough blast that would’ve surely melted my armor and sword if it weren’t for one tiny mistake.” She said, her smile never faltering as she pointed up at the midday sky. I looked up, only to hiss at the light of the sun. “You missed.” She said simply.

“Uhh, okay? I missed, I don’t really get why you’re pointing up to the sky?” I said, putting my hand over my eyes. “Also, why is it so bright right now?”

Mother handed me a pair of dark sunglasses, I guess to help me see what she was pointing at. I put them on and I no longer needed to squint to see. Looking back up briefly, I noticed that floating next to the sun was another brighter, much smaller sun next to it. I blinked a few times at this, making sure I’m seeing this right.

“Mom… why is there two suns in the sky?” I asked her.

“I think there is room for more improvement but I suggest not doing that again unless it absolutely necessary.” She said, not really answering my question. I simply looked at her in confusion and she quickly noticed. “You created the second sun.”

“I… what!” I looked back up to the sky and back at her. “But how?! Sure I pushed myself a lot but I don’t have the power to make a sun!?!”

I soon started to cough again and fell back down to the ground. I looked back up to the sky at the now two suns, “How is it possible? How can I make a sun?” Mother simply smiled before answering.

“You’ve tapped into your full power, something I thought would require more training for you.” She answered, combing my hair with her fingers.

“My full power is making suns… great, now I can sell them off to worlds with no sun.” I said jokingly as I sat up again. This earned me a laugh from Mother. The two of us laughed as I looked up to the newly made sun. “So… what now?”

“Now you rest up, you’ve used up all of your aura and it’s going to take time to recover it.” She said, standing up and offering me a hand. “Let me help you to your room.” She said. I allowed her to help me up as the two of us headed off. I looked up at the two suns as we walked.

“Well… it also makes getting a tan easier.”

Author's Note

ahnok- Hello

So yeah, push Viri to the limit and then some and she can make suns, who knew?

Edit: Forgot to mention this but special thanks to one Uncle_Death for being... well, a co-writer.

I'm mistaken as a student... what?

I laid in the light of the two suns in my bikini, and some sunglasses, one of the plus sides of having two suns is that it’s easier to get a tan. The sound of the lake splashing up on on the shore was soothing to me as I laid there, letting my mind wander. The sound of the water nearby was a refreshing sound as I laid on the blanket. My book was again at my side closed if I ever wanted to start reading again but so far I just laid there. I sat up and stretched a bit, hearing some pops from my back.

“This is so~ good.” I said happily, loving the sunlight and warmth. Sure the night time was pretty and relaxing, but most nights were cold, and I wasn’t a real fan of the cold.

As I thought about it, I remembered my time as a child, alone in the snow. As I pulled my legs up, I thought on what that world was like? Sure I was only at the snowy town in the alleyways and streets and that was bad, really bad, but I never saw what the rest of it was like. I slightly curse my adventurous side on wanting to go back, I believe Mother would let me visit, but I always never asked. Was it fear of going that was stopping me?

My mind was soon drawn to the sound of wings flapping. Looking up I saw Mother descended onto the ground next to me, folding up her wings once she touched the ground.

“I see you’re enjoying the second sun.” She said with a chuckle, noting that I was trying to get a tan. I smiled at her.

“Well it’s nice, and hey I look good tanned.” I said looking at my arm, only seeing it was still white. I frowned at it, “Well, I think I do, even laying out here with one sun for a good long while, I still can’t seem to get one.”

It was true, for as long as I could remember I could never get a tan. I could sit under the sun, or two, butt naked and I would still be pale white. Was it due to my semblance that was causing it?

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again.” Mother said while waving her hand over the grass, causing it to sprout several long vines that formed a chair that Mother now sat on. “So had anything occurred today? Have you done any training?” She asked.

“Yes, I done some training!” I said happily. “Trying to see how far I could control my semblance, I was doing alright… until I burned a chair.”

With that I looked over to my side to see a half charcoal chair still smothering nearby after I threw it in the water and retrieved later. “I’m… getting better, I think?” Mother looked at the chair in concern but chuckled after a brief moment of silence.

“There is still room for improvement.” She said, leaning back onto her vine chair. Despite how it looks, Mother looked comfortable sitting on it.

“Still, that’s cool.” I said, nodding to the vine chair.

“You’ve seen me do this countless times before.” She said with a smile, a sunhat appearing atop her head.

“Again it’s still cool to me.” I told her with a smile. I laid back down in both suns rays. As we laid or sat there for a time my mind wandered back to my world that I was born in. I was old enough to go if I ask, what’s stopping me? I sighed and looked up to the two suns in the sky in deep thought. “Mom, if I asked if I wanted to visit the world I was born in, would you let me?”

“Well… it depends really.” She said, giving it some thought.

“Depends on what?” I asked, curious by what she meant. She looked at me with a raised brow before speaking.

“Do you want to go?” She asked, still smiling as she clasped her hands together. I stared at her for a few moments before looking off to think about it. Do I want to go?

After a minute of thinking I nodded, “I do.” With a chuckle, Mother stood up and the vines retracted back into the ground.

“Then I see no reason to deny you of your trip.” She said. I looked up at her as she smiled down at me. I gave her a half-hearted smile back as I continued to think about it. I shook my head a bit to clear my head.

“So when should I head out?” I asked her.

“Once you’ve packed then come see me at the Grand Hall.” She said, spreading open her wings before taking off into the skies with a single flap. I watched her fly off into the sky before she disappears in the wide expanse. I let out a sigh before standing up.

I rolled up my blanket and started to make my way to my room. A door appeared in front of me as I opened it, leading me down a long hall. As I walked, I saw two guys, probably more of those World Hoppers I seen as a child. I walked past then, seeing them follow me with their eyes. Ah, I’m still in my bikini.

“Take a picture; it’ll last longer,” I said back to them as I rounded the corner. I heard one made a loud coughing sound as I walked, making me chuckle. I made my way to my room to change and pack. It took me about half an hour, but I soon stepped out of my room with some gray pants, a camo tank top and a black long coat. I held my bag of clothes, books, and a toothbrush as I walked towards where Mother is at, the sound of my boots made as I walked down the hall was the only sound I heard.

“Have you packed everything?” Mother asked as I neared her.

“Clothes, books, toothbrush, underwear, the stone you gave me the first time I went to the first world I’ve been, which,” I pulled out a necklace with said stone in it. “Got this made by your sister, am I missing anything?” She looked at me with a dsmug look before revealing Molten Coil and my scroll. I open my mouth and then close it. “Well, this is the first time I saw you with a smug look on you.”

“And this is the first time you nearly forget your weapon.” She said, handing me Molten Coil and my scroll. I blushed in embarrassment as I took them, putting the scroll in my bag and Molten Coil in her straps.

“Sorry, mom… I’ll remember them next time.” I said softly. She smiled and patted my head lovingly before pulling me into a hug.

“Be safe out there.” She whispered. I smiled and nodded.

“I will.” I whispered back to her. “I’ll try to find you a trinket there as well if you want.” She chuckled as she pulled back, the gateway to my homeworld opening beside her. I looked at it for a moment before looking back. Giving her one last hug I walked through the portal, into my homeworld.

My vision was all blurry for a few moments before I could see again. When I could, I saw I was in an alleyway. I looked back just to see the gateway closing. Looking forward I walked towards the end of the alley and took a sharp intake of air. I saw people, Faunus, building, airships and a lot of other things. The sounds of people talking and yelling filled my ears as they twitched and turned towards different sounds. I couldn’t help but smile as I made my way through the streets. As I did this I pulled my scroll out and tapped at it, making sure that I had cash at the ready. When I saw I did I put it back in my bag and moved along.

I didn’t do much as I walked, just simply took everything in, the world I left when I was little, a world that I thought hated me for how I looked, for who I was, now I was simply enjoying being back here, and it wasn’t cold! That’s a plus. I wonder what I should do first? Should I grab something to eat, look around, talk to people, try out some games at arcades, go see- Oh a bookstore!

I skipped over to the bookstore that had a large green sign with gold lettering that says ‘Tukson’s Book Trade’ on the windows was the initials of it, saying it has both new and old books and it’s the home of every book under the sun. That made me tilt my head before walking into it. The room had floor to ceiling bookshelves to my left and right with smaller shelves in front of me. The whole place was filled with books from old to new. I was in heaven.

I saw a man standing behind the counter; he had black hair that seemed to come down to what I could guess is sideburns. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows.

“Welcome to Tukson’s Book Trade. Home to every book under the sun, how can I help you?” he asked me. I wanted to question the whole ‘every book under the sun’ thing, but I decided to ignore it.

“I’m just looking, thank you.” I told him.

“Ah well if you need anything just ask.” he said. I smiled as I went to look around. There were so many books, and even more in the back. I merely hummed to myself as I looked through the books until I came across one. It was fairly large book in old leather. I pulled it out and almost dropped it. Looking on the front was the title and an image of a sword with red wing like robe around it.

“The Crimson Huntress…” I muttered to myself. As I held it something told me in my head to take it. I carried it over to the counter and dropped it on it, along with a few others. “How long for these four?”

“Ah, well for them all that’s-” he stopped as he saw the large book, pushing the one book on top of it. “You’re getting this one?”

“Yeah, something wrong with it?” I asked. He simply shook his head.

“No no, it’s just that for as long as I remember I had this book in the store. Maybe since I opened.” he looked up to the ceiling for a moments. “I believe I got it from a trader some time before I opened, saying that he got it from another trader and so on and so forth. Ever since I never found someone to buy it.”

“Well… can I buy it?” I asked, hoping I could.

“Oh yes you can, let’s see here…” he tapped away on a funky cash register. “That’ll come to...ninety six Lien.”

I cringed at the amount as I reached into my bag. I pulled out a card for a hundred and gave it to him. He swiped it and pushed all the books into a large bag.

“Here you go, hope I’ll see you again soon.” he said. I smiled at him as I took the bag and walked out. I looked through the bag as I bumped into someone.

“Sorry!” I said. I looked up to see a woman with emerald hair, tan skin and red eyes and a man with gray hair and eyes.

“It’s not a problem.” the woman said. I gave them a smile and walked off. As I did I heard their footsteps walking away. One of them were heavy and a loud thud every step, prosthetic foot or leg? I pushed the thought to the back of my head as I put the three smaller ones into my bag as the big one I had no hope putting it in. I simply carried the book in my arms for sometime before I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around to see two men in outfits there, looking at me.

“Hi… can I help you?” I asked them.

“Do you know what day it is today?” he asked me. I blinked as he frowned at me.

“Uhhh, Tuesday?” I told him. He frown deepened as he looked at me.

“Yes, it’s also the start of the semester at Beacon.” he said.

“Oh, cool.”

“And you’re late for classes.” the second man said. I blinked at them, wait what?!

“Wait, hold on-” the men moved behind me and started to push me forward.

“Come on, if we hurry you’ll make it to you’re second class.” one of them said. I tried to tell them I’m not a student but they weren’t listening. I was soon led to an small airship and was transported to Beacon.

“But… I’m not a student…” I tried to tell them.

“Yeah, they all say that.” one of the men said. I frowned at them as the plane flew towards this Beacon. I looked out of the window and saw a large tower like building getting bigger as we got closer. Soon we landed and I was lead towards the tower. I would say something but I was too busy with taking in the area I was in. I was lead toward what look like changing rooms as one of the men handed me a bag.

“Here’s your uniform, put it on and we’ll lead you to your classroom.” the man said. I decided to go along with this since I didn’t believe I could convince them otherwise. I nodded as I went into a stall of the women’s changing room and looked at the uniform; it consists of a white shirt with a tan vest and dark brown jacket and a red plaid skirt. There was also a red ribbon which I guessed it’s was a tie or something. I decided to put it on as I didn’t want to make the man wait long. Oh yeah it’s just the one guy… what did he look like again? Oh wow I didn’t take note about that… damn.

As I put on the uniform, I notice one thing; it’s a bit small on me. “Umm hey, this is a bit small on me.”

“Sorry, it’s only one they had to spare.” I heard him say. I sighed as tied to look decent in it. So far I had to keep the jacket open and the shirt hugged by chest, which the vest didn’t really help relieve that. The skirt was alright, showed a bit too much leg for my liking. When I got everything on I stepped out to see the man, or was a female now. She had bright red hair with classes one over her purple eyes. She wore a red jacket and black pants as she looked at me. Why does she have pants!?!

“Umm, where’s the other guy?” I asked her.

“Had to do something, I’m leading ya to your class.” she told me. I nodded as the two of us walked down the hallway. I had to fidget with my outfit as we walked, blushing a bit as we walked. The woman looked over to me. “After classes we’ll get some measurements for ya.”

“Thanks.” I said. She smiled as we came up to a large door. She opened it and stepped in. I looked around to see it was a large room that was circler, students sat on long bench like seats that were facing towards, who I guessed, the teacher. At the moment everyone looked towards me, making me blush as I fidget with my outfit some more. The teacher looked at me in confusion before looking down at his desk, a frown forming as he looked back to me. I heard him silently cursing at something while I looked over to the students, seeing that there aren’t many students present. There were about twelve students, all in groups of four. One group that was near to the front had four girls, one was a young black haired girl with a red hooded cloak and silver eyes, another had white hair with icy blue eyes, the third was a blonde with lilac coloured eyes, and lastly was a raven haired girl with a black bow in her hair and golden coloured eyes.

The second group had a mixture of two girls and two boys. The boys were that of a blonde guy with blue eyes, and a black haired with a little pink stripe in it with purple coloured eyes. For the girls there was a red haired ponytailed girl with I think some sort of head piece in her hair with green eyes and a orange hair girl with blue eyes. She seemed to be waving at me to say hello.

For the last group was all boys, one guy had brown hair with blue eyes that was smirking at me, don’t like him already, with a guy with a lime green mohawk and blue eyes, a browned haired guy with his eyes closed, how can he see? And a gray haired guy with blue eyes. Team Blue eyes here?

I looked towards the teacher who was talking to the woman that took me here. I just caught some of what they were saying.

“... I don’t take late drop ins, you of all people should know this.” Said the Teacher with an angered tone.

“I know that, most of the staff here knows that. But if ya must know the other classrooms are already full, yours only has twelve students.” the woman said, crossing her arms. Hearing this, the Teacher groaned in defeat.

“Alright, fine. Now get out of my class.” He said to the woman, his anger somewhat diminished. The woman shook her head before looking at me.

“Don’t mind him, he’s a great teacher.” she said before leaving the room. I looked down at the classroom and carefully walked down to the front. The other tweleve stared at me as I did this which didn’t help me at all. I soon got down to the front row and sat down, seeing that I was the only one that sat in the front. I shook my head and look forward at the teacher who didn’t look happy.

“Now then…” He said, pulling up a silver flask and popping it open before taking a swig of whatever was inside. He then closed the flask and put it away before shaking his head while groaning. “To continue my earlier discussion, this semester I plan to take things a step up. No more classroom work, from now on class will be given in the training hall or out in the field.” He said, adjusting the collar of his dress shirt before leaning onto his desk while glaring at the entire class. “I’m through taking it easy and it’s about damn time you show what you’re really capable of.” He said in a low and ominous tone before straightening up and clearing his throat. “But that’s for tomorrow, for today however you’ll all be taking an revaluation exam and expect you all to ace it.” He said, gesturing towards a small pile of papers on his desk. There was some groaning from the other students but sooner than later they all went over and took an exam. I soon went over to get mine, I guessed. Again don’t know what got me to come here but better to go along with it. I walked over to the rest and took a exam and walked back to my seat. I saw the other students already working on the exam, some doing well while others have look like their getting nervous. I sat down in my seat and looked through the papers.

Luckily the questions that were on the exam are ones that both Mother and my aunt asked me while they taught and train me. I wrote down the answers for each question carefully. Penmanship is also a factor since it would be bad if the teacher couldn’t read then answers. When I was finished I saw that I was the fourth person to finish it. I stood up and walked over to the teacher to hand it in. It works like that right?

Walking back to my seat, I noticed the brown haired guy checking me out to which I glared at him in return. This only made him smirk, somehow thinking I was playing hard to get. Once I sat down and removed any thoughts of the weirdo, I looked towards the teacher as he graded the papers. He stopped for second after grading the third test, looking at me before looking back at what I could guess were my test papers. He curiously read all the answers and graded them but that didn’t stop me from wondering if I messed up. I believe I got them right, maybe he worded them in a way that I should’ve thought about it some more. I thought about it until the teacher got everyone’s attention.

“The majority of you have shown great improvement last semester but… it seems Team CRDL needs to improve just a tad bit more than the rest of you.” He said, glaring at the four guys. The brown haired guy paled at his words. “JNPR… Nora, you can’t just cripple all of your enemies. Where is the fun in that?” He asked. I didn’t know if he was serious or not but the orange haired girl responded by simply saying not with that attitude. “Then there’s Team RWBY… I get that you can’t remember the answers but you can’t just draw on the blanks, Ruby. Weiss scored a perfect, Yang copied Weiss so no go on your end blondy. Blake may have been the last to turn in her test, but at least she took the time to answer them all correctly, so huzza for that or whatever.” He said, pushing the graded papers aside but one. “But then there’s you…” He said, his gaze landing on me. I felt a shiver went up my spine and I shrank a bit. “I don’t recognize you nor your name, you don’t show up on any of the Academy’s files and yet here you are.” He said, picking up my test and walking up to me. I shifted a bit in my seat, not knowing where this is going. Stopping just in front of my desk, he soon placed my test paper down. I looked down at it, seeing a perfect score. “Everything here, taught during the last semester, answered correctly and not even a single grammatical error. Impressive.” He said, taking the test paper back and walking up to desk once again. I watched him walked off as I heard some mermering from around me. I drawn attention to myself, great~. I slumped down in my seat as the teacher talked to the other students. My ears flattened in hopes to block out the mermering. I let out a sigh as I looked forward, just to see a pair of silver eyes staring back at me.

“Wah!” I yelled, reeling back at the woman in front of me.

“Sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you.” the woman said. I took some breaths to calm down. What was this girls name again? Ruby? Wait wasn’t she a few rows away from me? How did she get down here so quickly?!

“Uhh, it’s fine… do you need something?” I asked.

“Yeah! How did you do on the exam?” she asked. I opened my mouth but was interrupted by someone calling for her. We both looked up to see the white haired girl looking at her angry. “Ah, tell me later okay?”

“Uhh o-” I turned and she was gone, a few rose petals floated down where she was. “-kay?”

I shook my head as the teacher was about to start talking again. I didn’t have any books or notebooks to write with so I pulled my scroll out to use that.

Oh my mother, that was a lot of typing. I flexed my fingers to get some feeling in them from all the notes I took down. It was all basic stuff but if I didn’t take notes mom would be mad at me. Luckily the bell went off and I had to move on to lunch. I put my head on the table and sighed, how did I get into this?

The other students left soon after the bell rung, leaving me to my thoughts. My stomach growled as well, I guess I can go get some food. I picked myself back up and pushed myself out of my seat.

“Before you even think of walking out through that door, let me just ask you one thing. Who are you, exactly?” The voice of the teacher brought my attention back to him. His question confused me a bit and he seemed to notice this. “I just finished looking through your history and found nothing, by all accounts you don’t even exist. So I ask again, who are you?” He asked.

“I’m Viri… Viri Mal Kun.” I told him. I saw him frown at this so I continued. “Look, you asked me who I was and I’m telling you that, I came to look around since I haven’t been here for a long time and wanted to see this place. I was maybe mistaken for a student and got dragged here. I tried to tell the two that brought me but they wouldn’t listen. I just gave up trying and rolled with this.” By the end of my explanation, he had already sat down and covered his face with his hands.

“Oum above have mercy on me…” He muttered under his breath before lowering his hands and looking at me. “Thank you for being honest, I’ll bring this up to the Headmaster as soon as I can. For now, go about your day.” He said in a professional tone.

“Yes sir.” I said with a smile as I turned to leave. As I got to the door I looked back at him with a smile before heading off.

Author's Note

Well, this is something. Yeah, this sorta came out of nowhere but I will tell you that this won’t replace what has already happened. In fact, if things go right it might help out what I have planned.

Big thanks to my Co-writer Uncle_Death with having Viri be born in his world. Things are going to get more fun

I got challenged to a fight, that went well

After getting lost about three times I asked someone for directions to the place I could get some food. It took me about twenty minutes before I found a secluded spot away from everyone and have food in the form of some fruit, a sandwich, and some juice. I looked around to make sure no one was around as I pulled out my scroll and started a video call with mom. After a minute and a few grapes eaten she picked up and I saw her and my aunt sitting at a table.

“Hi mom, hi auntie!” I greeted. Mother smiled at me while my aunt gave me an odd look.

“Viri, why are you wearing a schools uniform?” she asked me. I shifted a bit at her question.

“Umm, I kinda got mistaken for a student of Beacon Academy and dragged me here.” I told her. She stared at me before started to laugh. I went red at her laughing. “I-It’s not funny!”

“Oh my dear, it’s really is!” she said as she laughed, so much so that she fell down from her seat. I groaned at this and looked at mom.

“So yeah, during the first hour I’ve been here I been mistaken for a student and now I’m in school… I think?” I said in a way that I was questioning myself. Mother chuckled at my words.

“It’s a combat school for Huntsmen in training and judging by your uniform, you’ve gotten yourself into the prestigious halls of Beacon Academy, one of Remnants top combat schools.” Mother informed me, her smile never faltering.

“Top combat school huh…” I said, taking a sip from my juice. I shook my head and continued. “Anyway, I don’t know what I supposed to do right now. One of the teachers asked me who I was and said that there’s no record of me anywhere in their database. It’s like I just appeared and walked right in.”

“Didn’t you do just that?” my aunt said, getting up from the floor from her laughing fit. “And as for what you should do, I say you should stick around.”

Both me and Mother looked at her, I blinked a few times at her, “Umm, what?”

“Look, as my sister said Beacon Academy is one of the top combat schools in that world, and we may have trained you since you were little there’s no reason for you to keep learning, heck from a different person will make a difference.” she then looked at mother. “But that’s just my thought, what’s yours?”

“Sparring against other Huntsmen and Huntresses, hasn’t this been some sort of dream of yours?” Mother asked me. I thought about it for a few moments at what she said.

“Well… sure we spar for training but it’s always with you or auntie. I guessed training with others would be nice… wait are you saying I can stick around for a time here?” I asked mother.

“I don’t see why not, I can even enroll you if you so wished.” She said, snapping her fingers and showing me some enrollment papers before they disappeared.

“Wow…” I said before an idea came to mind. “I could help the village with training to become huntsman or huntress!” This made them both blink at me.

“You mean that small village you went to the first time you went off world?” my aunt asked me.

“Yeah, Tak said he wanted to become a huntsman but can’t due to some… racial issues.” I told her. I remembered the talk I had with Tak and I wanted to help in some way. Maybe this was it? “What do you think mom?” Mother hummed in thought, leaving me to hope that she’d help.

“Perhaps…” She said, still giving it some thought. She closed her eyes for a moment in deep thought but opened them soon after. “If I were to help him, I would need his consent.” Was her final answer.

I gave it some thought as well, if I wanted to help then I had to convince the whole village that it was a good idea.

“Maybe during a weekend I can go and ask him and Zecora about building a Huntsman school there…” I said out loud. Mother nodded, knowing she could help with the construction. “But there’s one thing that worries me; there’s nothing on me here. Again one of the teachers tried to look me up and found nothing.”

“They’ve attempted to search for a Viri Mal Kun, no one with such name was ever born into that world.” Mother said in an informative tone before adding. “Mal Kun was the name I gave you once you joined our little family.” She said. That made me smile a bit.

“Yeah… I guess I should go talk to the headmaster then about all this?” I asked.

“That’s your decision, not ours.” Mother replied with yet another smile. I smiled back at her as I thought about it.

“Better do that then having it as a problem later.” I said.

“Well that’s a good plan, also if you’re doing this then you missions will happen during your free time.” my aunt informed me. I nodded at her as I finished my meal.

“Well I better be off, thank you mom.” I told her with a smile. Mom nodded before her side of the call shut off, leaving me with Aunty.

“Remember to study and do good in school!” was all she said before she too cut out. I giggled as I stood up and headed towards the school. Along the way, I noticed that something going on in the mess hall, kinda looks like a food fight was going on.

“Good thing I eat outside.” I muttered to myself as I continue on. Though I stopped in my tracks once I noticed the teacher from before sitting in the middle of all the chaos. He ate his lunch nonchalantly while various food flew above him. I stared at him before slowly continuing on as if nothing has happened. After talking to some people I soon found myself in the elevator up to the headmaster's office. I looked up at it and wondered if I have to ride the elevator to see him?

“Excuse me?” a voice asked from behind me. I spun around to see a woman there. She had short blonde hair which was braided on the one side. She wore glasses over her green eyes, a white dress shirt, and a black dress/skirt and a black and purple cloak. She adjusted her glasses as she stared at me. “Can I help you with something?”

“I uh, umm well…” I stammered a bit as I fidget a bit. She raised an eyebrow at me.

“You know your outfit is a little small on you…” she gave me a once-over. “What’s your name miss?”

“Uhh, Viri Mal Kun.” I told her. She pulled out a fancy scroll and tapped at it a few times. She soon frowned at it.

“There’s no record of you in our database-”

“Yes yes, I know that. I was talked about it with a teacher.” I told her. She frowned at me a bit more as her scroll started to beep.

“One moment.” she tapped at it. She read the message silently, glancing at me every few seconds before sighing loudly and putting away her scroll. “The Headmaster will see you now.” She said, gesturing towards the elevator. I then stepped into the elevator before yelping in surprise as the doors closed quickly and the elevator began to quickly ascend.

As quickly as it began, it stopped and with that, the doors opened. I was a bit shaken up from the sudden stop but I was able to see the lavish looking office that awaited out of the elevator. A single grey-haired man, probably in his thirties, sat behind a large desk. He looked busy, searching something through a large scroll tablet as if it were a computer. He reached over to a steaming cup of coffee and took a sip of it. His gaze soon landed on me and silence settled between us as he simply took another sip.

“I-” He raised his hand before I could say anything. The elevator doors closed behind me and began to move down, having been called to a floor below. He lowered his mug and gestured towards one of the two seats in front of his desk. I walked over and sat down in one of the two seats. He looked back at the screen displayed in front of him, tapping here and there before the elevator doors opened behind me. I looked back and saw the same teacher from before.

“I see you’ve gotten my message.” Spoke the Headmaster as he looked towards the teacher. The latter rolled his eyes as he walked over to us. “Now onto the matter at hand.” He said as his gaze landed on me. “You’re quite the odd, Miss Mal Kun.” He said. I shifted in my seat as he looked at me.

“I’ve been told that before.” I told him. The teacher looked at me before the Headmaster.

“Like I said in my text, I’ve looked her up, searched for her personal history but nothing. Nothing’s there.” He said before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a neatly folded piece of paper before unfolding it and placing it on the desk, revealing it to be my test paper. “Yet she aced the revaluation test.” He added before sitting down on the chair next to me. The Headmaster saw this and looked down onto the answered test, humming to himself as he did.

“Interesting…” He muttered just above a whisper before placing the paper back down. “As for the whole no history ordeal, I don’t see much of a problem.” He said, pushing his seat out as he stood up. “I’m sorry to say, Mister Parker, but if she isn’t truly a student as you say she is, then her background isn’t of my concern. I can arrange a Bullhead to take you back to Vale by the end of the day.” He said, gaining a sigh from Parker.

“Sorry for giving you two a hard time…” I said softly. “But if there’s any chance I would like to attend school here.” Hearing this intrigued the Headmaster. Parker simply looked at me oddly before waiting for an answer from the Headmaster.

“If you wish to attend, you’ll need to enroll for the start of the next semester.” He answered. My shoulders sagged and my ears laid flat, hearing that I had to wait for so long. “But seeing how you’ve managed to perfect a test of one of my top professors, I can make an exception but you will still need to attend an initiation and if you succeed, you’ll be accepted into Beacon Academy without delay but if you fail, there’s always next semester.” He said, picking up his mug and taking yet another sip from it.

“Okay,” I said feeling more better after that. “Uhh, what’s this initiation? Another test or…”

“You’ll be sent into the Emerald Forest in search of some ruins which holds a few relics. Your task is to retrieve one relic, no more, no less.” The Headmaster answered in an informative tone, gaining a silent groan from Parker. “Parker will be in charge of monitoring your progress and will step in if a situation is dire. Your performance will be broadcasted all over Beacon, so be aware of that.” Parker snickered a bit at this.

“He’s been sued once over the fact that he once forgot to announce the whole broadcasting performance.” Parker said with a smirk. The Headmaster groaned at the memory.

“The whole thing sounds like it came from a book.” I said out loud. The two of them stared at me and I blushed. “Sorry, talking out loud again.”

“Anyway, if you’d like you can take your initiation tomorrow morning.” The Headmaster said, to which I nodded almost eagerly. “As for where you’ll stay, I’ll need some time before I can make a decision so I’ll notify you once I have. Scroll please.” He said, raising his empty hand. I took my scroll out and gave it to him and once I did, he gave it a look. Once he was done looking, he opened it and typed a few things faster than I could keep up with before receiving a short jingle. “There, you are now connected to CCT, have access to the Academy’s digital library and connected to the Academy’s wifi.” He said, handing me my scroll.

“Huh, thanks… hey, I got a few questions I like to ask.” I said to the two of them.

“Ask away.” Said the Headmaster while the other shrugged as he leaned back onto his seat.

“For this initiation, am I doing this by myself or will there be others?” I asked my first questions.

“Like he said, usually you’d wait until the beginning of next semester and participate along with others in the initiation. You’re an exception so you’ll have to do it solo.” This time it was the Teacher that spoke.

“Okay, my next question is for you,” I said to Parker. “Why in class everyone in groups of four?”

“At the end of the initiation, Ozpin holds a sort of a ceremony where he announces the passing students and form them into groups of four while making one of them the team leader.” Parker answered without delay. I nodded and fidget a bit.

“Adding onto that, am I going to be placed into a team or am I simply going solo.” I asked the headmaster.

“Depends on how well you handle yourself during your initiation.” The Headmaster answered, sitting back down with his mug in hand.

“That’s… right okay…” I fidget a bit in my seat. “Last question, can I get some bigger clothes? These one feel like they’ll rip at any moment.” I blushed at the thought about that. Parker heard this and shook his head, somewhat angry at whomever gave me this uniform.

“I might be able to help with that.” Parker said, getting up from his seat. “Is that all?” He asked. I nodded, not really thinking of anything else to ask.

“I don’t have any more questions unless you two have them.” I said to them. None of them said anything.

“Alright, follow me and I can get you a different size uniform.” Parker said, walking over to the elevator doors. I stood up and looked over at the headmaster.

“Thank you for your time sir.” I said with a small bow. The Headmaster nodded with a smile as the doors opened, revealing the blonde woman from before. She frowned at the sight of Parker but said nothing as she walked out and passed us. As the two of us got into the elevator and the door closed I spoke. “You and the blonde woman don’t like each other?”

“She thinks I’m a bad example to the students.” Parker said, pressing a button. After he did this, I felt the elevator go down. “I don’t necessarily disagree with her.” He said.

“Well, I can’t really put my two cents in since I only know you for a day.” I said with a shrug. “I’ll keep you informed later down the line.” This earned me a laugh from him. We rode the elevator down countless floors before suddenly coming to a stop. The doors opened to reveal a busy hallway.

“Come on, we’re close.” Parker said, taking the lead. I close followed behind, not wanting to lose sight of him. Luckily our destination wasn’t far and we stopped in front of a… dorm room? This made me tilt my head.

“Uhhh, this is a dorm room.” I said as I looked at him. “What gives?” He sighed before speaking.

“Give me one second.” He said, opening the door and walking inside leaving the door slightly ajar. I waited by the door for a minute or two before he finally walked out with a different size uniform. It looked my size. “I… your size is about the same as one of my former teammates.” He said somewhat saddened by something.

“Thanks.” I said as I took the uniform. “But that didn’t answer why we’re in front of a dorm room unless this is a storage room or something.” He frowned at this.

“This is the dorm room for Team INDG, I live here.” He said, shutting the door behind him. I blinked at this.

“Oh… damn it.” I cursed for thinking that’s it’s a storage room.

“Anyway, if you want you can change in there.” He offered, once again opening the door. I nodded as I stepped into the room and closed the door.

“Thanks for helping me Mr. Parker.” I said as I started to take the smaller outfit off.

“Indigo, my name’s Indigo or Indi for short.” He said, introducing himself before adding. “I never liked being called Mister, makes me sound old.” He said. I giggled at this as I folded the smaller outfit and went to the other one.

“What’s the name of your old teammate that I have the same size of?” I asked before stopping. I peeked around so Indi only saw my head. “Unless that’s something I shouldn’t ask, then I stop talking.”

“Her name was Dew but we mostly called her Dewm.” Indigo said, chuckling to himself. “It was a fitting nickname for her and a reminder to never piss her off.”

I giggled and smiled at him before pulling back into the room. I wondered what happened to Dew but I decided against it as I slipped into the clothes. I let out a sigh as I wore clothes that fit me. I picked the smaller ones up and walked out to where Indi is standing.

“Thank you for this Indi, this feels much better.” I said with a smile. He smiled a bit and nodded.

“No problem.” He said, finally locking his door. “You know, I look forward to seeing your performance tomorrow. It’s how I decide who joins my class.” He said. I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well, I hope I can impress you and the headmaster.” I told him with a smile. “So… what now?”

“That’s your choice.” He said before walking off, hands in his pocket as he did. Seeing that I had time on my hands I turned and started to wander the halls, figure out where everything is. On the walk, I sent a message on what’s going to happen with tomorrow to Mother. I was humming to myself as I walked down the halls as I thought back to the class with Indi. Team RWBY I believe is interesting from seeing Ruby for a small amount of time and wondered on the rest of them are like. Team JNPR I hadn’t seen much other than the orange haired girl seems to like violence. And Team CRDL… ugh, I don’t want to know. The brown haired guy is just… no.

I continue on down the halls humming to myself as I went around the few corners, making a mental map of everywhere I’m going. As I was walking around I started to hear voices and as I turned the corner I saw the whole group of team RWBY. At the same time, Ruby saw me and smiled.

“Hey!” she greeted as she waved at me. I smiled and went over to the group.

“So you’re the new girl that came into class.” the blonde girl asked. I believe her name was Yang.

“Yup, that’s me.” I told them with a shrug. “Brought a lot of hell with me doing that.”

“What do you mean?” the white hair girl, Weiss, asked.

“Oh you know, getting dragged here by people thinking I was a student trying to skip class.” I told her.

“What!” Weiss yelled before looking upset. “This is outrageous, doesn’t the staff know who’s a student or not?!”

“Well if I don’t pass the initiation tomorrow then I won’t be.” I told them. The black-haired one, I believe her name was Blake or something, tilted her head at this.

“Professor Ozpin is having another initiation?” she asked.

“No, I’m going to do the initiation by myself and if I pass I’ll be a student, if not I’ll try again next year.” I told her. “For as to why, I guess I’m special.”

“I say, I heard you passed the test perfectly even though you weren’t here last semester.” Yang said before crossing her arms. “Can’t believe Professor Indi found out I was copying.”

“Because you’ve copied it from my test Yang!” Weiss proclaimed. “If you just studied then you would’ve done just find.”

“Have you seen his tests? There hard and tricky.” Yang replied. I watched the two go back and forth as Ruby looked at me.

“So, how did you pass the test?” she asked me. I blinked at her.

“Uhh, well I was homeschooled by my mother and aunt and the questions were the same ones.” I told them.

“Homeschooled?” Blake asked, looking at me with interest and I could have sworn her bow twitched a bit. “You were homeschooled and you passed Indi’s test with a perfect score. That’s impressive.”

“My mother was very strict when it came to training and studying.” I told her as some memories came back from those times. I shook my head and smiled. “Came in handy I guessed.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Blake said. I looked around at the hallway before looking back at the four.

“So, what’re you four doing?” I asked them.

“We have a bit of time before the final class of the day so we’re just hanging out before we have to go.” Yang said, finishing up her argument with Weiss.

“Ah well…” I then realized something that I forgot, something that I should’ve realized beforehand. “Say, if for some reason one comes and changes into a school’s outfit and has both her or his bag and weapon taken from you, where would you-” I stopped when I heard some footsteps. I turned and saw the blonde woman from before walking over with… a riding crop in her hand, why? She also had my bag and Molten Coil, I see it floating beside her.

“Miss Mal Kun, I believe these belong to you.” She said, handing them to me.

“Oh, uh, thanks miss…” I didn’t get her name.

“Glinda Goodwitch.” Blake whispered. I tilted my head at this, ears twitching. That’s an odd name.

“Right, thanks.” I said, taking the two. She seemed surprised as I held Molten Coil.

“Interesting…” she then looked at the others. “Team RWBY, I suggest you hurry on to your next class.”

The four of them looked at each other before started to run off down the hallway.

“Oh!” Ruby said, turning around. “What’s your name!?”

“Viri!” I yelled back. Ruby smiled and waved as she chased after her team.

“Hey! No running in the halls!” Glinda yelled at them, moving in the same direction. I chuckled as I put Molten on my lower back and bag as well. I wonder where I’m going to sleep tonight? I went off to explore as I looked back at Molten Coil.

“I hope you didn’t hurt anyone.” I whispered as I continue on my way. Maybe I should ask Indi about where I’m going to sleep tonight?

I soon came to the library which made me happy to see. I went in and found a seat where I pulled out the book I got earlier today and put it down in front of me. I pulled my scroll out to check to see if I got any message from Mother.

Once the screen booted up, I was happy to see a reply from mother. Tapping on her icon, the message displayed itself in full before Mother’s voice could be heard.

“You’ve certainly had an eventful first day and it seems you’ll have another tomorrow as well with your big initiation. I look forward in seeing your performance tomorrow.” Said the recorded voice of Mother, the screen of my scroll displaying the words in the text. I chuckled nervously at the last part, feeling that she was watching me right now without me knowing. It’s both heartwarming and nerve-wracking. I sighed as I put in some wireless earphones into my ears and turned on some music as I started to read The Crimson Huntress.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see Indigo sitting down onto one of the tables with an open book in hand and a few others already on the table itself. He took one glance into the open book and frowned before closing it and opening another one. I raised an eyebrow at him before looking back to my book. It was about a female huntress going around fighting off monsters and sometimes getting into trouble. It was a bit odd with how it’s written since it was like this was a journal instead of a story. Still I enjoyed it, even when she does mess up she seemed to always have something on the bright side to look forward to.

Like finding a nest of monsters that are trying to kill her, she noted on the bright side she found the nest. I read a bit more until I noticed someone across from me. I looked up to see the brown hair guy from Indi’s class. He smiled at me and started to speak. I wanted to turn my music up but I believe he would be still standing there. I turned it off and pulled out a headphone.

“What was that?” I asked, a little annoyed.

“I said hi there, haven’t seen you around before.” he said as he sat across from me.

“I’m new.” I said bluntly, hoping he gets an idea to go away. Sadly he didn’t.

“Well it’s nice to meet you, new girl, what’s your name?” he asked. I frowned at him as I looked up at him.

“Viri, can you go?” I asked. This made him laugh.

“Why would I just leave you sitting all by yourself?” he leaned forward and smiled. “I’m just here to give you company. For today and on.”

Oh lord, is he flirting with me? Ew, ew ew ew ew ew. I close the book and stood up. “I’m going now.”

“Hey now.” he said, grabbing my arm. I turned and was about to break his arm but didn’t, didn’t want to get kicked out before getting in. “I think you’re missing the big picture here, I’m a good looking guy and you’re missing out on a good opportunity here.”

“And I believe you’re misreading the mood here, back off and leave me alone.” I said, breaking his grip and pushing him back. He frowned at me and looked like he was going to do something. I moved a few steps back but he straightens up.

“Alright Faunus,” Oh lord not this again. “I tried to be nice but since that’s not working let’s try a different way; A challenge, I win you become my girlfriend, you win then I’ll leave you be, deal?”

I tilted my head, really he thinks he can just beat me and I’m his? This guy is dumber than he looks. “You know I can just say no right?”

“And I’ll make your time hard.” he said threateningly. I gritted my teeth at him, this is annoying.

“Fine, if beating you will make you bugger off then I’ll take this challenge.” I said. It’s just a fight between me and this guy, how hard can it be?

“Good, meet me in the training hall in ten minutes.” he said before leaving me. I shook my head at this.

“Just a fight between me and him, nothing to hard to deal with.” I muttered to myself as I looked down. “Better get changed, don’t want to mess this uniform…”

“You’ll also need someone to supervise the match.” Came Indigo’s voice. Looking towards him, I saw him holding up the pile of books from before. “That and you’ll need someone to keep Cardin in check. The guy likes to play to dirty.” He said, placing the books down on another table. I frowned at this.

“Are you busy in ten minutes?” I asked Indigo. He shrugged, looking down at the books before shaking his head. “Alright then, I need to change to something that I don’t mind getting dirty.”

With that, I went off to find a bathroom. If this Cardin is going to try something I better be ready… now, where’s a bathroom?

I stood in place in a training hall that Cardin said to come. I changed into my gray camo pants and camo tank top. I did some stretching as I waited. I saw Indigo there in the benches as he was supervising the duel, and I saw some others there. I saw team RWBY and JNRP there with Ruby cheering me on. I smiled as I saw Cardin came out.

“There you are, ready to get your ass handed to you?” I called out as I hopped in place. He simply chuckled.

“Yeah, but it’s you that going to lose.” with that I saw the rest of his team was there, weapons at the ready. I frowned at this as I looked at all of them.

“Hey! This is a one on one fight, you’re cheating!” I yelled at him.

“Oh? Did I say it’s was a one on one? Listen Faunus girl I said I challenged you, I didn’t say it’s a one on one fight. You just accepted it without me explaining it in full.” He explained with a smug look.

I cursed at this, he wasn’t wrong at this. I just wanted him to beat it. I sighed and pulled Molten Coil out and got her ready, “Well, guess I’ll have to beat you all then.” This caused them to laugh as they got ready to fight.

“Don’t even think about it.” Said Indigo, catching everyone’s attention. He had taken his jacket off before speaking. “The match cannot proceed without both sides having equally matched fighters. Mal Kun, sorry to say but you aren’t qualified to fight them all at once.” He said, tossing his jacket to the side with a frown. He put both hands on his hips and that was when I noticed the two metallic tonfas hooked onto his belt along with the same silver flask. I frowned and looked at Cardin.

“You little, you knew this was going to happen!” I yelled, feeling angry to charge at him. He just simply smiled smugly at me.

“Not really, but looks like you lose by disqualification. That means I win.” he said simply. Hearing this, Indigo could help but chuckle as he walked into the arena. I looked at him in confusion.

“Now what makes you say that, Mister Winchester?” He said, still chuckling as he crossed his arms. “If you don’t recall, when an opponent is not qualified to fight multiple opponents at once, the instructor or supervisor chooses who may fight alongside the unqualified student.” He said before quickly grasping his tonfas and unhooking them, twirling them expertly within his hands. He looked at me with a smirk. My eyes widen and smirked back.

“Wait, hold on that’s not fair!” Cardin said, looking at Indigo.

“Like fighting four on one is fair?” I replied as Indigo stood beside me. “I know this is dumb but, why are you doing this?” He shrugged.

“I’ve been meaning to teach him and his pals a lesson in a way I know they’ll understand.” He said, looking at Cardin as he looked more nervous by the second. “I’ll take his groupies, you’ll be okay against him.” He said knowingly. I smirk at him.

“Cakewalk.” I said. With that being said I looked at the four other as Molten Coil hummed in excitement. “Let’s go Molten.”

With that, I heard Indigo say go and I charged at Cardin, he panicked and brought his mace up to block my hit. It sent him sliding back as I moved forward. I heard the other three moving towards me but the sound of shots going off meaning that Indigo was handling them. I moved and saw Cardin was getting up from my attack.

“Well look at that, just me and you aren’t that lovely.” I said as I held my weapon in my hands as she hummed. “Ready for a beatdown?” Cardin growled at me.

“Shut up you damn Faunus!” he yelled, getting some muttering from the onlookers. “I’m going to make your life miserable you damn animal!” I frowned as I got angry at him until I thought of something that Mother did to me.

“First off, that was really really rude, and second I decided to do something that was taught to me by my mentor.” I got into a battle stance and motion for him to come at me. “Come come, bring it birdy.”

This made him angry as he charged at me. I waited until the last moment before sidestepping out of the way and taking a few pot shots at him. I heard my hits bang across his armor and made note of that. His attack also made a large hole in the ground.

“From looks on you right now you can take a few hits and your strength is great, meaning you’re built like a tank. But-” I saw him try and hit me but I kept sidestepping him and dodging him. “You’re slow and predictable.”

“Shut up!” he roared and brought up his mace to slammed down on me. I rolled out of the way as a shockwave of destruction went out.

“You also can’t keep your anger in check.” I said as I moved against him. I weaved around his attacks, taking more and more pot shots at him with each swing. One of them I saw his fist coming at my face. I bat it away with my hand and saw I left an opening for a kick from him. But he simply tried to hit me with his weapon. I jumped back and frowned. “You see, I left an opening right there for a kick but you went for a weapon attack.”

“Shut up shut up shut up!” he roared and pointed his weapon at me. “You damn animals think your so better than us, you and that damn White Fang and go to hell!” I tilted my head in confusion, White Fang?

I was brought back to reality when he kicked my side and knocked me to the ground. I shook my head and pushed myself up just to feel him kick me again and again.

“Filthy animals need to know their place!” he yelled with each kick. My area blocked his hits but he was using all of his strength with each hit. Soon I thought that this was enough as I caught his foot with my hand and pushed him away, making him stumble.

“I’m sick of all this hate…” I said as I felt Moten started to heat up. “This racism and yelling, I want to get along with everyone but people like you make it so hard.” My weapon started to hum as heat started to come off it. “I’m done with this fight, you’re done after this.”

“Oh please, you hit me a few times and didn’t dent my aura.” he said with smugness in his voice. I looked up at him and let out a deep breath.

“Because I was holding back.” I said as I took Molten in both hands. ‘Hope you can see this Mom.’

Flames burst out of my weapon as I brought it up. Cardin sneered as he charged at me. The flames moved down to my arms as he got close. He brought his mace up with an upward strike. I reached out and caught his weapon. His eye widens as the flames formed gauntlets of fire around my hands and arms.

“H-How…” he said before I smirked.

“Lot’s of training.” I said as I pushed him away. I moved in close as punched him. It seemed I went a bit too far as I sent him into the wall, making a Cardin shaped imprint in said wall. I blinked and looked at the gauntlets. “Note to self; work on easing back the power.”

With that said I moved towards Cardin and pointed my blade at him. He looked up at me with anger and fear.

“What… are you?” he asked me. I simply smiled at him.

“I’m Viri Mal Kun, nice to meet you,” I moved a little closer to him. “And I won.”

With that, I heard cheering from everyone around me. I looked and saw that Indigo was standing there with his arms crossed as the other three were on the ground beaten. How I did not know. I looked back at Cardin and offer him a hand up. He simply snarled at me.

“Come on, show some sportsmanship.” I said to him. He simply slapped my hand away and stood up, shakenly.

“Don’t talk to me like that you filthy animal or else-” he stopped as I point Molten at him.

“Or what, you hurt me?” I asked before stepping away. “Don’t dig a bigger grave that you can’t climb out of.” he simply stared at me with anger as I walked over to Indigo as he stared at me. “Did I go too far?” He shook his head before looking at CRDL as they tried to walk towards one of the many exits.

“Detention, the lot of you.” He said, stopping them in their tracks. Cardin was flabbergasted at this and was about to ask why but Indigo simply raised his hand. “Betting on a match that you’ve clearly attempted to rig in your favor will result in punishment.” He said before looking at me with a smirk and nodding. Cardin, not wanting to get into any more trouble, accepted the punishment without question and began to slowly limp his way towards the direction of Indigo’s classroom. I looked over at him and was about to ask him something but then everything started to get… fuzzy. I felt tired as I started to sway a bit. Guess that attack took a lot out of me.

“Are you alright?” Indigo asked. I looked up at him and opened my mouth before stumbling down to my knees.

“Just… tired…” I said between pants. Indigo walked up and helped me up, keeping an arm wrapped around his shoulder to keep me up. “Thanks.” He then helped me towards a bench. He then carefully sat me down, unwrapping my arm from his shoulder as he did.

“Seems you’ve used a little too much energy.” Indigo said with a chuckle. I chuckled as well.

“Something… new I came up with.” I said before sighing. “Just… going to take a nap for a little…” I soon passed out there, too tired to think anymore.

Author's Note

Yeah, I don’t like Cardin, he’s meant to be just a simple a classic stereotype of the "school bully". After reading him up it seems he’s also racist to Faunus. Sure I may have crank that up a wee bit much in the fight but in my defense when someone gets’ angry they act very differently.

Also, I want to let you all know that Viri will be going back to the land of Ponies and Faunus soon, this is sorta an arc that came out of left field and I’m enjoying.

A golden Rook and a Mimic

I stood by the cliffside over the Emerald forest. Looking down I saw the forest floor for about forty to fifty feet until it disappeared into the trees.

“That’s… a long way down.” I said, taking a few steps back. Professor Ozpin stood beside me with warm cup of coffee in his hand, beside him was the blonde woman, Glynda Goodwitch. I looked at the two of them. “So… just go out there and find this artifact and get back. That’s it?” Ozpin nodded. I looked back at the forest and back at him. “That’s… not really that hard if you think about it.”

“It may sound simple but it can prove to be difficult.” He said as of matter of factly. I slowly nodded at him.

“Okay, anything else I should need to know before it starts?” I asked. Ozpin hummed in thought before snapping his fingers, suddenly remembering.

“Parker will be awaiting your arrival on ruins, he will guide you back to Beacon from within the forest.” He said before glancing at Glynda then back at me. “I will be seeing soon.” As soon as he said that, I was sent flying off the cliff without much as simple warning.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” I screamed as I soon came screaming towards the trees. TUCK AND ROLL!

The Good news, I was okay. The bad news, I went through a number of trees and branches and rolled across some mud puddles. I blinked a few times as I looked up at the sky.

“Some warning would have been nice!” I yelled. Seeing no one was going to answer me I grumbled as I got up to check myself. “Hands, arms, legs are fine. Head is also fine.” I pulled my tail around and saw that there was a number of twigs, leaves, and mud in it. This upsets me greatly at the idea that I have to clean my tail later. With a sad sigh I began to look around at my surroundings. “Now, if I was a set of ruins in the forest, where would I be?”

I looked around before looking back from where I came from. I wished I took in the land better, but in my defence I was screaming as I was flung into the air. I also have a feeling my aunt is laughing at me. I sighed and started to head in a random direction. I believe there were tall trees that I could climb up to take a lay of the land.

I wandered around the forest for about a few minutes until I heard a twig get stepped on. I froze as I looked in the direction of where it was coming from. I then did the most bravest thing I could think of, it was so brave that they will write stories about it: I jumped into a bush.

I peeked out of the bush to see what’s made that sound. I saw a group of Beowolves stalking around in a pack. They sniffed the ground and growled before moving on past me while I was in the bush.

“So that what Ozpin meant by difficult.” I whispered to myself. “Grimm must be living in these woods, making the challenged more difficult to do. Guessing this challenged tests on one's ability to find the object, fighting skill and survival.”

I then heard the sound of growling from behind me. I turned to see a Beowolf right there growling. I stared at it and smiled at it.

“Nice doggy.” I said before it roared and came up to slash at me. I jumped out of the way and got some distance from it. I watched it lumber out of the bush I was in and growled at me. At the same time I saw the others came back. I grumbled at how careless I was at the time as pulled Molten Coil out. “Right, let's deal with them quickly girl.”

Molten hummed at this as the chamber spun as flames came out. I smiled at this as I got ready. “I like that plan.”

The Beowolves roared at me, maybe out of being impatient or whatever but they came at me. I ducked under one of them and slashed at it. I only got its arm but I saw a flame came off it. I looked to another and spun my body so I could use the momentum to hit it’s leg with some force. I got a hit in as I knocked it to the ground, another flame started to burn on it as I moved on to the last three. Two of them came at me at both sides while the third tried to pounce at me. I twisted myself around to cleave the three at once, I nailed them all but as a payoff I got swiped at on my back. I bit back the pain as I rolled out of the way. I looked up to see all of them were around each other, getting ready to attack me again. I saw flames on them, one on each one which made me smirk as I pointed my blade at them. The chamber spun as small flames started to burst out of it.

“Detonate.” I said as the chamber came to abrupt stop. As that happened the flames on the Grimm flared up and ignited, making small explosions on them and taking chunks out of them. I watched as they burned up into ashes as I put Moten away, wincing at the pain.

“I hope this test doesn’t involve the less number of hits I take is better, if so I’m starting off bad.” I muttered as I made my way into the forest. “And I got to get my outfit repaired… man.”

As I made my way through the forest I was positive that I will find these ruins. It be a piece of cake!

Many hours later

“Where… are… these… ruins!” I yelled as I was in the middle of nowhere. I fought a number of Grimm, making the state of my outfit torn and I had a number of cuts and bruises all over. It didn’t really matter as I was really really annoyed. Back home I could go in the woods and know my way around, though I grew up in those woods so that helped. I went up many trees but so far I only saw trees, trees, and more trees. I groaned as I tried to think of a map of where I was. As I did this I heard another growl from my right. I turned and saw an Ursa there growling at me. Just seeing one made me mad. “I’ve been in the woods for I don’t how long and do you know what?” as I finished the Grimm charged at me. I pulled my weapon out and slashed at it’s legs, making it flip forward as I spinned around. “YOU’RE NOT HELPING!!” With that I hit the Ursa so hard that it went flying into a group of trees. I panted a bit out of annoyance as I pointed Motin Coil in it’s direction. “Goodbye asshat, hope you have a nice fa- huh?”

I looked through the smashed up trees and saw that there was, in fact, a group of ruins there. I blinked a few times and thought up that mental map. My eye twitched a bit at what I thought of; “I WAS GOING IN CIRCLES THIS WHOLE TIME!!”

I grumbled as I moved towards the ruins in front of me. I saw the Ursa was gone, ash floated up into the air as I started to look through the ruins. It was a round shrin like construct with a numbers of pedestals in circular pattern. A few rocks laid about as I got closer to it and looked at the pedestals. Leaning behind one of the pedestals was a napping Indigo. My eye twitched a bit as I made my way over to the napping teacher and stood over him, giving him a slight nudge to wake him up.

“Oi, nappy. Wake up.” I said to him. He groaned, swatting my hand away as he opened his eyes.

“Finally finished sightseeing?” He asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah… almost saw the inside of a snake grim. It was lovely.” I said in a sarcastic tone. Looking at the pedestal that he was sleeping beside of was… a chess piece? I looked at it and saw it was a golden coloured rook. Looking at it I picked it up and showed it to Indigo. “Is this what I was trying to get?” He shrugged, not wanting to give verbal answer. Looking around I didn’t see any other items on any pedestal and saw that there was only rocks around. Just to be sure I went around to see if there was anything else in there’s ruins. I found nothing before walking over and sitting down in front of Indigo. “Well I got the thing, I was told you’ll be leading me back or is that a lie and I have to find my way back on my own?” He pushed himself off the wall and stretched his arms, gaining a few audible pops.

“Come on, Ozpin will be waiting for you.” He said, walking passed me and taking the lead. I nodded and followed him through the woods. As we walked a thought came to mind.

“Say, does everyone gets launched from the cliffside like that or is that just me?” I asked Indigo. He chuckled a bit at my question.

“That's how everyone starts their initiation, by improvising a landing strategy.” He said as we passed by a few downed trees. “Everyone's landings are always unique in their own way.” He added with a shrug.

“Right…” I sighed to myself as my landing was bad. We continued on until we came to a clearing. I saw the cliffside where I was launched from… wait I was about a few hours walk from here then why did it took… ugh, the idea of the thought was giving me an headache. As we walked I thought back to the fight with Cardin and his lackeys. Something didn’t really click with how everything went.

“Hey, back with that fight with Cardin, how did you take all three of them down so easily?” I asked him. He glanced back at me with a raised brow.

“What's got you so curious?” He asked back. I looked at him and fluttered my eyes.

“I’m a curious girl, is that so wrong?” I asked sweetly. He laughed at this but quickly composed himself afterwards. “So?”

“CRDL lacked coordination. They preferred going all at once instead of devising any form of plan.” Indi said while he unhooked his flash from his belt. “Each movement of theirs were sluggish whether it was attacking or simply dodging. They've left themselves exposed for attacks more times than I could count.” He said, popping the lid of the flask open and taking a few gulps of whatever was inside before groaning. He soon lowered and closed his flask before hooking it back up to his belt. “CRDL has potential, I know they do but Cardin attitude and behaviour are holding them back from improving.” He said just before a growl was heard coming from within the trees. Soon enough the source revealed itself to be a small Beowolf. It looked at me and growled. Indigo whistled, deafening me for a bit. “Oni be nice.” Indi said.. I saw the ears go up and the small Beowolf seemed to calm down and sit down on its hind quarters. Wait…

“That Grimm… listened to you..” I said slowly. The Beowolf looked at and tilted its head before pawing at its head, scratching it before lowering the paw back down and looking at me. It then looked at Indi and barked happily before running at him at breakneck speed before stopping just in front of him, panting excitedly. I simply stared at the Beowolf as Indi petted its head. Was it really a Grimm, or a Staubgrimm? I pushed the thought back as I looked at Indigo. “You have a Beowolf as a pet.”

“Onyx isn't a pet, he's my companion.” Indigo said with a bit of an angered tone. I put my hands up in surrender.

“Sorry, didn't mean to be rude.” I said, my ears flattened on top of my head. He straightened up with a sigh.

“Sorry, I just don't like people thinking of him like some animal on a leash.” He said, shaking his head a bit. “Come on, we're almost there.” He soon said. We resumed the walk in silence with me still wondering how that Beowolf acts that way. The more I thought about it the more a certain question keeps popping up.

“Hey, is Oni… different from other Grimm? Other than being friendly.” I asked Indi. Oni looked up and gave a confused whine. Indigo was quick to act and scratched behind his ears.

“Well for one, he has a semblance of his own.” Indigo answered with a smirk. I raised my eyebrows at this.

“Really, a semblance of his own…” I soon looked forward and thought about it. “Maybe I should ask auntie if she seen something like that…” I muttered to myself. The rest of the trek back was spent in silence but I occasionally got to pet Oni. This made me smile as, I think, he seems to enjoy it.

Before long we ended back up the cliff with Ozpin still waiting though lacking the cup of coffee he held when I was sent flying off the cliff. Glynda was nowhere to be found, she must've been busy with something. As I got up there I showed him the chess piece.

“Here it is, a golden rook.” I said as I looked at the chess piece, it was as big as my hand. “This must be a pretty big chess set.”

I handed the relic over to Ozpin. He took it in his hand looked at it before pulling out his scroll and typing something into it. He then chucked the golden rook towards Indigo. The latter caught it and put it in his pocket, leaving me confused.

“Welcome to Beacon, Miss Mal kun.” Ozpin said, handing me list of classes I'm supposed to take. I smiled at this.

“Thank you, sir.” I said happily. I looked back at Indigo with a smile.

“And despite your… complicated sense of direction, you're qualified to attend my class.” Indigo said with a chuckle once he mentioned my sense of direction. Oni barked defensively and this made Indigo roll his eyes. “It's optional, so you don't really need to attend it.” He said. I put on a forced smile as looked at Indigo.

“Thanks for the info.” I said. I looked back at Ozpin. “So, are we going to head back now?” He gestured towards the academy before walking towards it with Indigo and Oni following behind. I looked at them and quickly followed them back, now a full student of Beacon.

“I should’ve gave you more lessons on survival training.” my aunt said through my scroll. I was in the library in a secure section to call both her and mom. I rubbed the back of my head and laughed nervously.

“What can I say, everything in that forest looked the same and there was Grimm.” I told her. I watched her shake her head and sighed.

“Still, if it wasn’t for that Ursa coming out you’ve be walking in circles for hours.” she said. I pouted at her and looked at mother as she listened in.

“Mom, your sister being mean to me.” I said to her. Auntie rolled her eyes at this and looked away. Mother couldn't help but laugh at this. I frowned at this. “Why are you laughing?”

“It's nothing, dear.” She answered with her usual smile. I frowned even more at this before my aunt spoke.

“Other than your… need of training of direction I will say congrats for passing and getting into Beacon.” she said with a smile. I couldn’t help but smile back at her.

“Thanks.” I said to her.

“I cannot express how proud I am. Entering Beacon is no easy feat.” Mother said, happy to hear of my acceptance into Beacon Academy. I blushed at this but smiled happily at her.

“Yeah that’s great, but don’t think things will get easier,” my aunt said with a smirk. “Now that you’re in, be sure that getting training from us will get harder.” Mother nodded in agreement to Aunty’s words.

I laughed nervously again. “That’s nice to hear… I think?”

“We only want you to become stronger to overcome any obstacles you may encounter throughout your travels.” Mother said, adding to Aunty’s reason. I smiled at her.

“I can get behind that.” I said to them. “Well both Professor Ozpin and Indigo said I have until after lunch of free time to do
whatever.”

“Have anything in mind you wish to do?” Mother asked curiously. I thought about it and nothing really came in mind.

“Not really… Oh! How's the research on the StaubGrimm?” I asked.

“Well, so far all I could tell from my time is what we already know; their Grimm with souls and powers base on dust.” My aunt informed me. “Don't know if my sister has anything new to add but that's it.”

“What about them having semblances?” I asked before telling them about Oni from before. Mother heard this and was immediately intrigued, hearing of a Grimm with a semblance is unusual.

“Perhaps I may go and meet this Oni myself.” Mother suggested, a brow raised while she awaited an answer. I shrugged at her.

“Don't know how that'll go but it be something.” I said. My aunt raised an eyebrow at me but didn’t say anything about it.

“I’ll keep this info in mind, for now just keep up with your school work when you get it.” she said with a smirk.

“I will.” I answered her. She smiled before saying that she has something to do. She didn’t say what but I was sure I heard some cawing in the background. With that I was left with Mother.

“Remember if you ever need me, I won't be far.” She said, gesturing towards the gem before she left. I smiled at the screen before stretching. I pushed myself up to go look for my classrooms. As I was leaving I saw the other three of Cardin’s group. They saw me and started to make their way towards me.

“Oh look, your boss is too much of a wuss to come at me himself?” I said to them. They all looked at each other before the guy with blueish gray hair spoke.

“Err well in truth we came to say sorry.” he said. I blinked at them as the mohawk guy spoke up.

“Yeah, we all didn’t want to gang up on ya in the duel but… we can’t really say no to Cardin.” he explained.

“Why not?” I asked. They all looked away awkwardly.

“It’s… kinda hard to say no to a guy with a giant mace.” the brown hair guy said.

“Besides, we’re all a team, even though we don’t-”

“Work like one?” I said, interrupting the blueish gray hair how. He seemed to jump at this almost I surprised me. “Why not go talked to one of the teachers or Professor Ozpin about this?”

“Well, me and Dove grew up with him and was part of his group before coming here and Sky…” the other two looked that the blueish haired one. “Why did you stick around?”

“I saw Dove first, I was his partner!” he proclaimed. I looked at the three of them as they started to bicker.

“Right, so why not talk about it, talk to Cardin about not being his body shields.” I told them, Dove winced at the word ‘body shields’.

“We would… but it’s hard to get something through to him.” Sky said.

“Anyway, we came to say sorry and… watch your back. Cardin holds a mean grudge.” the mohawk guy said. I nodded as I watched them go, they weren’t all that back, just a bad leader. I shook my head and headed off to my class that I’m going to take after lunch. It seems that my next teacher is Dr. Oobleck. I wonder what I’m going to get with him?

Later

I walked out of that class more confused than ever. Dr. Oobleck, a young male with messy green hair and looked like he slept in his clothes and classes, talks way to fast. And move so fast too! He talks a mile a minute and always drinking coffee. I don’t know if he’s always hyper or it’s the coffee he drinks. I know that taking history notes from him is going to be hard.

I sighed as I looked at my final class of the day. I saw that it was with Indigo and it starts in a few minutes. I made my way to one of the training halls and saw team RWBY there. Ruby saw me and smiled and zoomed her way to me. I don’t know who’s faster, Ruby or the green haired coffee drinker.

“Hey! You’re here, that means you passed!” she said excitedly. I grinned at her.

“Yup, I’m now one of Beacons students. And hey! I have clothes that fit!”

“I say, from the looks of it you were about to rip something.” Yang teased before Blake hit her shoulder softly.

“Don’t tease.” she said simply. Ruby simply smiled happily.

“Yay a new friend is a student!” she proclaimed.

“Who says I was a friend?” I asked. Ruby’s face fell at that.

“We’re not?” she asked me.

“Well I didn’t say I wasn’t so-” I was them hugged by her. I simply laughed at this.

“Hey, sorry to jump topics here but I have a question about your semblance; what is it?” Weiss asked.

“Fire and heat manipulation.” I answered as I got Ruby to let go. “It goes well with Molten well.”

“Oh oh! Can I see your weapon?” Ruby asked. I looked at her and saw stars in her eyes.

“Uhh, I don’t have her right now, sorry.” I told her.

“Awww.” Ruby pouted. I simply patted her head.

“I’ll show you later, but for now here’s a cookie.” I said, pulling one that I had left from lunch. Ruby seemed to instantly perk up and started to eat the cookie… well devour was more of a good way to put it. The rest of them seem to think this is normal as I stared. She looked at me cutely and blinked. “What?”

“Ah, uh nothing.” I said quickly. From down the hall, I could see Indigo looking down at his scroll as he walked, though whatever he saw on his scroll had caused him to frown as he walked closer and closer. “He doesn’t look happy.”

“Yeah, what’s biting him today?” Weiss asked.

“Maybe Oni?” Yang said. The rest of us looked at her and frowned. “What? I’m just saying.”

“I don’t think Oni would ever bite him.” Blake said, looking over at Indigo. I watched him get closer at us until he was about a few feet away.

“Hey, you okay?” I asked him. He stopped and looked at me a bit in surprise before quickly composing himself.

“Sorry, must've not seen where I was going.” He said, putting away his scroll before I had any chance to read what it had displayed. Though I did catch a glimpse of an image depicting a crazed looking man with numerous carving and tattoos that littered his face. Instead of a maniacal grin, he bore no expression. I didn’t say anything as looked up at him.

“Be careful about that, it’s bad not knowing where you’re going.” I told him. He nodded at me and glanced at Blake, flashing her a brief smile as he did before walking off, not seeing that Blake had returned the smile.

“I wonder what’s all that about?” Ruby asked. I simply shrugged.

“Don’t know, maybe nothing important.” I said. The others looked at each other before seeing Indigo going into the training hall. “Come on, let’s see what he has in store for us.” Walking over to the training hall, we were all greeted with numerous training equipment scattered around the spacious room with the center being clear of anything. I saw Ruby and her team, along with the others that showed up, head off to the changing rooms. I followed to get changed as well. When that was done, we all came back out only to find two Indigos in the heat of battle. No one knew what was going on and as this happened but once one of the Indigos was sent up into the air by the other’s uppercut, Ruby cheered somewhat grasping the situation.

The downed Indigo groaned before jumping back onto his feet and delivering a well-timed sucker punch. He then delivered another and another and another, cornering the other Indigo. He looked just about ready to fall while the other Indigo smirked, clearly knowing he had the upper hand but before he could deliver the final blow, the cornered Indigo caught the incoming fist before twisting it, earning an audible snap and a pained yell. The latter tried again with his other fist only to receive the same result. He glared at the Indigo that broke both his hands before attempting a headbutt but alas that was stopped by the other having grabbed either side of his head. The formerly cornered Indigo stared directly at his broken copycat before twisting his head, a crack was heard as a result. He scoffed, letting the body fall onto the floor.

I stared at the body on the ground and felt my stomach turn a little. I covered my mouth a bit and started to take deep breath. I felt a hand on my arm which made me jump.

“Hey, you okay?” Ruby asked me. I took some breaths and slowly nodded.

“Just… personal.” I told her. The body of the dead Indigo soon faded and was replaced by an odd looking robot. The robot soon got back up before standing at the center of what I assumed was the fighting ring.

“Mirror matches. Best way to improve in my opinion is to kick your own ass in a good ol’ fashioned one on one with yourself.” Indigo said, panting a little as he did. He moved his arm in front of the weird robot, only for it to do the same. “This is a mimic bot, state of the art Atlas Tech. It's able to withstand any blow, no matter how fatal.” He explained. I stared at the bot, I should still be somewhat off-put by what I saw but…

“How does it work?” I asked, feeling a little giddy at the robot.

“It’s so cool~!” Ruby said, more giddy then I. Truth be told we were both giddy. I heard someone say something on the lines of ‘there’s two of them now’. I don’t really get what they meant by that, or is it about the mimic bot?

“You'll each be going against the mimic in turns. Your first match will allow it scan your fighting patterns and eventually, use it against you.” Indigo said before picking up a small bucket labeled The Bucket of Truth. He shook it a bit before walking up to us. “Reach into the bucket and pick out a piece of paper, each one contains a number and the highest goes first.” He said as he Team JNPR were the first to pick out a number from the bucket. Indigo then moved onto RWBY and allowed them to pick their numbers out before finally stopping in front of me. I reached in and pulled a number of my own and looked at it, seeing the number ten written on it.

“Six!” Yelled the ginger, haired girl. Beside her was the boy with raven black hair with single pink stripe held out his before saying.

“Three.” He announced, chuckling at the ginger’s antics. The Blonde boy next to him revealed a nine, looking worried that he might go first. The tall redhead simply revealed hers to be a two.

“Ruby number one!” Ruby exclaimed in the third person with a large smile. I chuckled at this before hearing Yang’s four. Weiss revealed hers to be an eight and finally Blake’s five. Neat, I get to go first. I looked up at Indi as he looked at me.

“Ten.” I called out. He nodded before I handed him a scrap of paper, to which he put back into the bucket. He the stepped aside and gestured for me to walk towards the fighting area. I walked over into the ring and stood in front of the mimic bot, hand on my weapon. The robot turned its faceless gaze towards me.

“Combatants ready!” Indigo yelled. I watched as the mimic bot quickly reacted by copying my stance, its hand hovering over a nonexistent weapon. “Fight!” Indigo yelled after what seemed like an eternity. I pulled Molten Coil out, holding it in both hands in front of me, wanting to see what the bot does. The Bot did the same but held nothing and simply waited. I moved Molten Coil to the side to see the bot follow me.

“First round is just for a scan huh… well let's see if it can keep up.” I muttered as I sprinted towards it. As I got close I slashed upwards to see if it will block or not. The bot sprinter as well and swung upwards but what surprised was the sudden clang one hears when two swords collide. I opened my eyes and was shocked to see an exact copy of Molten Coil. “Ohh you’re cool.”

With a smile I started to attack it. Over and over I hit it and it blocked my attacks. Sure it was blocking my attacks, but it feels more one-sided. With each strike, I delivered it had managed to block every single one. After a few more hits I put some more force into the last one to push it back.

With it now stumbling back I let out some flames and shot a firebolt towards it, thinking it will do one of three things; copy me, try to slash at it, or dodge it. To my surprise, it batted the flames away from itself before launching the very same bolt of fire back at me. I dodged it by ducking as I kept my eyes on the bot. I shot two more bolts before running at it again. It did the same before breaking into a full sprint towards me. We both swung our Molten Coils and clashed with one another as our fire bolts collided with one another, covering the area in smoke as I attempted to push the bot back to gain the upper hand but knowing it was getting me nowhere, I jumped away from the bot and I could only assume it did the same. I waited for the smoke to clear out and as it did, it revealed a shocking sight. Waiting at the other end was an exact carbon copy of myself and it looked so real. I stared at… myself for a good minute.

“Huh, I really look like that…” I looked up and brushed some hair out of the way, seeing it do the same. “I need a haircut.” With that being said I got back into a fighting stance, now fighting… myself. I charged forward at me and swung at… me. This is getting confusing. She dodged before batting me to the side with her own Molten Coil. She gave me no time recover as she swung downwards, sending a wave of fire my way. I rolled out of the way and stopped up to my knees, panting a bit. “So… you done scanning me?”

As I asked this I overheard the others talking. “Indigo, how does the bot work?” Ruby asked him as I battered a flame bolt out of the way and fired at the bot/me.

“The mimic bot has two stages; one is the analyzed mode, and the second is the attack mode. There pretty straightforward, the first one watches the opponent until it gets a baseline on the combat style of the opponent, then it runs that baseline a bunch of times through a short times span and able to figure out what it can do. Then when the Mimic bot is finish it takes on the form of the opponent and uses that data to, in short, beat the crap out of the opponent.” Indigo explained to her as I was batten around and was now panting.

I cursed myself as the mirror me stared at me, it will predict my attacks before I could land a hit. I wiped away some sweat as I tried to figure out a way to beat it.

“You can do it!” I heard Ruby cheer for me. I looked over and stared at her in a ‘are you kidding me?’ look as she continue to cheer. I let out a sigh, a happy go lucky girl cheering me on, how nice. She also pretty quick as well, maybe I should ask her about it. Quick, hmmm.

I pushed myself up to my feet with a grin, “Alright, you know how to beat me as is, time to change it up.” With that said Molten Coil hummed as the form became less bulky and more slender as I turned it around so I could hold it behind me. I crouched down low and looked at the mirror image, tilting its head at me. Soon the humming stops and the sound of a small jet flame was coming off the chamber. “Now, hope you can keep up!”

With a pull, the flame went off in a small explosion and I charged at the bot. It had time to block it but was pushed back a bit. I didn’t give an inch as I continued, slashing at it without rest. Some of my hit went through though, tearing into her until I jumped back a few feet. Another few trigger pulls and the flame burned brightly until I bolted forward. I slashed into her and the flames burst out of Molten Coil. The mimic bot was sent flying away and hitting the ground, not moving. I panted a bit before putting my hands up.

“Victory!” I yelled before falling down. “I can’t feel my legs!”

Team RWBY and JNPR came over and helped me up and carried me over to the benches. I saw the bot turned back to normal and walked back to the ring, waiting for the next one. I looked up at Indi and gave him a thumbs up.

“Did I do good?” I asked him. He chuckled at this and nodded.

“Yeah, you did good.” He said, still chuckling before looking at Jaune, seeing him holding out a scrap of paper with the number nine. “Alright Jaune, you're up.” He said. We all turned to look at Jaune, the blonde with the second highest number. He let out a nervous laugh before sighing in defeat.

After some time pass and Ruby finishing up, we were all done with Indi’s class. Some of them were groaning while others are better off, Noah more so as she wants to go again. Yang rolled her arms a bit as she groans.

“Man I never thought I would have a hard time fighting myself,” she said, which everyone agreed with. “But hey, at least I had a ‘yangtastic’ time!”

Everyone groans even more at that. I simply facepalmed. Indigo chuckled at our annoyance, having already cringed at the buxom blond’s pun. He patted Jaune’s back while the latter groaned with his face buried in his hands.

“Even the mimic bot impersonating me is better than me.” He whined a bit. Indigo shook his head and looked at the Jaune sized dent in the wall.

“You just need to improve your fighting style.” Indigo said in a comforting manner, my guess it was out of pity. The redhead girl went over to comfort him as Ruby stumbled over.

“Too… tired...ugh.” she said before flopping forward.

“You and everyone else.” I told her.

“Didn't you go first? How are you still sore?” Weiss asked me. I looked over at her with a look.

“It been close to two hours, not enough for the soreness to leave.” I told her. Weiss frowned at me and was going to say something but Indigo got everyone's attention.

“Alright everyone, class dismissed. I'll see you all tomorrow.” Indigo said, having just hooked his tonfas onto his belt. Everyone soon started to head out of the training room, groaning a bit. I moved my legs a bit to see if I could walk before standing up.

“See ya Indigo.” I said to him. He nodded, pulling out his scroll once before typing in some numbers. Before the doors fully closed, I caught a glimpse of the same image from before, of the heavily scarred and tattooed man.

“Listen, we need to talk.” Was all I could hear before the doors closed. Frowning I started to walk back to my dorm room. As I say dorm room I mean an apartment room that the academy owns that I use. I got this room after being told that I wouldn’t be apart of any team since I got in so late. I didn’t mind it as after a few minutes of walking I finally got there. I opened the door and turned on the light. Putting down my scroll and Molten Coil I went in the bathroom to start a much needed bath with bubbles.

Author's Note

For those who asked if Viri would be coming back to Beacon and I been very cryptic about it, here’s your answer: she has to come back or she’ll be written up as a dropout xD

Frosty Fox

I’m sitting at my desk in my pajamas as I did my homework from Professor Port class. Even though most of his lessons are stories of him being a Huntsman. I tired to stay awake in his class but the way he talks…

I sighed as I flipped the page to write the rest of it as my scroll started to buzz. Looking at it, I quickly turned it on and saw that it was Father. I looked at it questioningly, having grown used to Mother always calling me. Shaking my head from these thoughts, I quickly answered the call before being greeted by father in his faunus form, one I rarely ever get to see. In this form, his body looks similar to that of a young adult with two pairs of horns. The smaller pair of horns were slightly obscured by his golden blonde hair while his larger, more jagged horns were displayed proudly.

“Have I caught you in a bad time?” He asked noticing the homework I was currently working on. I looked at it and then at the small pile I already finished.

“Not really.” I said with a shrug. I pulled up the page I'm working on. “Finishing up some homework.”

“How has Beacon academy been treating you?” He asked, a smile forming as he spoke.

“It has been good! Classes are going great… other than on that slowly putting me to sleep, never knew a teacher could have a talent on putting people to sleep.” I said looking at my page. “Made some new friends and over all everything has been great… well, other than this Cardin guy but he's just some bully that I beat in a duel that he was trying to cheat in. My teacher indigo helped me with beating him so it wasn't that hard.” Father raised a brow at the mention of a bully. I simply shrugged. “He hasn't bothered me as of yet but I'm keeping an eye out. So how have you been?”

“I'm happy to let you know that the children are back safe and sound, they've just finished telling me about their time with their families.” He said, chuckling a bit as he did. I smiled at this.

“It's nice that there back and happy.” I told him. Sure those kids pull pranks on me all the time but hearing them happy and everything fills me with joy.

“Anyway, I've called to notify you that my sister has another task for you if you wish to accept.” Father said in an informative tone. My eyebrows raised at this.

“Oh? I haven't gone on a task for some time, any idea what it's about?” I asked. Father shrugged, something he rarely ever does, before answering.

“I'm not sure, she simply wanted me to inform you that she has a task for you.” He answered. I blinked at this as this is one of a few times that my Father doesn't know something.

“Okay, when will she come to tell me this or will I get ported over?” I asked him. He stopped to think this over but luckily it wasn't a long wait.

“She didn't say but do expect her to show herself at any moment.” He said before looking off at something off the screen. “I'm afraid I have to go, the children are desperately asking me to come with them into the valley.” He said. I laughed at this.

“Alright, I'll see you when I see you.” I said with a smile. With one last smile from him the connection was cut and I was left alone. I simply shrugged as I continue working on my homework. After finishing up it and read more of the Crimson Huntress I heard a knock on the door. Looking over I walked over and opened the door. Standing there is a man that looks ancient. His pale wrinkle skin seemed to look that of cracked earth, his hair was a stark white colour with wisps of gray. His eyes one the other hand are a vibrant blue that seemed to pierce into me, as if their piercing into my soul.

“Umm, can I help you?” I asked him.

“Madam Viri, your aunt has come to collect you from school,” he said in a low old voice. “She is waiting outside.”

I blinked at him, he didn't seem to be lying. If he was then I couldn't tell. “Umm, okay… I need to change into some clothes.”

“I'll wait out here for you to finish.” he informed me. I nodded as I slowly closed the door. Blinking right before I head another knock. I reopened it and there was the man again, which is wearing a butler's outfit. He was also holding a brown paper package. “I forgot to give this too you, they are from your aunt.”

“Thanks…” I said as I took the package. I realised the door and started to open the package and saw it was a new outfit. Seeing this I started to put it on.

When I finished I looked at myself in a full-length mirror to see the outfit; it was a dark red shirt and corset that covered my top as some black shorts and a red… frilly half red skirt covered the left side some black leg stockings covered my legs while a pair of fingerless black gloves were on my hands. A few belts with two small bags and canisters for Molten Coil. A golden chain that attached to the corset went up and was also connected to a shoulder pad that looked that of a steampunk skull. An orange pendant that held my hair in a ponytail was on along with a pair of goggles. After checking myself out I went to pick up my Scroll and Molten Coil and then opened the door.

“You ready?” the butler man asked me. I nodded and the two of us headed off. As we walked I saw students watching me go with confused and odd looks. I stayed quite as I followed.

“What about my classes?” I asked him.

“Your aunt will explain when you see her.” he replied. I frowned as we continue after some time walking we came out outside and I saw a very fancy flying transport ship that looked like a Bullhead. It was a shiny black colour with a sleeker look to it. The man walked over and opened the door to me to let me in. I slowly climbed in and sat down on some dark red velvet seats. As the door closed I saw across from me was my aunt, she was wearing a gothic dress that was red and black in colour. Some lace patterns went down her dress as the backside was a solid piece where the front turned more see-thru, making it look like she was wearing an odd short skirt. She had a wine glass of wine in her hand and some red tinted glasses that covered her eyes. She smiled at me and took a sip.

“So, what do you think?” she asked me.

“It's nice… I think?” I said. She chuckled as the ship rumbled a bit as it took off. “Are you using magic to do all this? You made me look like a nobles kid.”

“Oh but you are my dear.” My aunt said. “You see after downtime of self-reflecting after I did… Something, I came here a long, long time ago. In short, our little family is one of the few high up families in Remnant.”

“Okay… what kind of business?” I asked her. My aunt removed her glasses and smiled.

“Why Dust of course,” she rests her chin in her hand as she stares. “The Mal Kun name is known to be one of largest Dust companies, along with some research and development on the side of both Dust and Grimm. The other Dust company that rivals it is the Schnee company.” she explained. I blinked at this, feeling that I know that name before… Schnee, Schnee… oh shit.

“You know I'm friends with Weiss Schnee right.” I told her.

“Oh, well I just have her killed then.” she said simply. My eyes widen as she started to laugh. “I'm kidding, I'm kidding.”

“Right… doesn't mothe- no wait different form, father knows about this?” I asked. My aunt looked away and thought about it. She frowned and made some odd faces.

“I think so? Maybe I told him in passing or not. I don't know but that's not important.” she said with a smile before tilting her head. “Maybe I should expand to that world with your friend Tak is in, start small but grow over time.”

“Are you really planning this right now?” I asked him.

“Yes I am, I am the CEO of the place.” my aunt says. She leans over and pushes a button on the wall. “Havoc, mind making a note for later to pull out a few of the old expansion plans so I look over them?”

“Of course Miss.” the voice of the man through the intercom. I shook my head as I looked at my aunt.

“So… you’ve planning on telling me what this task you have in mind?” I asked her. She blinks at me.

“Huh? Oh! Right sorry, I got caught up with planning,” she chuckles to herself before composing herself. “Now, you know that the Staubgrimm are roaming around in that world correct?” I nodded. “Well, during my research of them I learned more of them and during one instance I found a group of those… pony huntsman,” she scrunch up her nose in disgust before continuing. “Went and killed two such Staubgrimm and took the young one with them.”

“They… took the baby? Why?” I asked, my ears flattening.

“Research maybe, but I don’t trust them to do such a thing. I prefer to do that from afar but… I don’t know, these Ponies think their better than other races because their Princess is a “God”.” she said while doing quotation when saying the last word and rolling her eyes.

“But why? I thought they were good?” I said to her sadly.

“Their like humans my dear, some are good, some are bad. That’s how it goes sadly.” my aunt said before shifting a bit. “Now your task is as follows; find a way to break in to the place that’s holding this Staubgrimm and break it out.”

“Okay… and when I do, what do I do next?” I asked. She looked at me before looking at a small box that appeared out of nowhere, she turned to it and opened it. She reached inside and pulled out a ring of dark metal with a dark red gem in it which she turned back to me and hand it over.

“This is kinda like that gem you have around your neck only in ring form,” my aunt started to explain. “It will send a signal out that will transport you anyway where you in a instant, leaving a shadow of you instead. Once you have the Staubgrimm, use it and get transported to me.”

“Okay…” I looked down at the ring before looking back up. “What if I lose it?”

“Oh don’t worry, it will reappear on your finger if you do. It’ll take like, two-three minutes to reappear.” she said with a shrug. I nodded at her before putting the ring on my… well ring finger.

“Alright… so where are you dropping me off?” I asked her.

“Just outside your friends village, around the time their having a village meeting.” she said as she pulls out a pocket watch and opened it. “Which we should be getting two any minute now.”

I nodded before looking down, remembering Tak’s dream of becoming a Huntsman. I looked up at my aunt, “Hey… is there a way to, have someone go to Beacon from this world?”

My aunt looks at me before her face softens, “My dear, I know what you’re thinking but that’s not something I can do, your friend has a family here and a lot of work he has on his plate. I can’t simply allow him to hop one world to another.”

“You let me do it why not Tak?” I asked her, frowning.

“Because you’re different.” my aunt said loudly. I jumped a bit at her tone as she looked upset. Her face has soften a bit after a moment of silence. “You can do that because you’ve sorta been trained for that, he hasn’t. I’m sorry Viri but I can’t send someone to another world without the right requirements.”

I looked down at the floor sadly, I wanted to help my friend but… I sighed in defeat.

“I can’t send him to the school, but sending the school to him that’s different.” my aunt added. I looked up at her confused. “You had… what, two months of school time there? That’s quite a bit of knowledge and notes on being a Huntsman/Huntress. Plus you could get your hands on some books that teaches that.”

“You… you’re tell me to build a school for them? But a Faunus trying to be a Huntsman is close to impossible.” I told her. She tilts her head at me.

“They can’t be Huntsman due to a rule? Is that what’s stopping them?” she asks. I was about to say something but the aircraft we’re in shutters a bit making me reach out for the walls. “Ah, we’re here.”

With that said the door opened up to a forest that I remembered. I slowly got off the Bullhead and turned back to my aunt. She gave me a wave and smile, “Ta ta.” she said before the door closes and it flew off. I watched it go before looking around and saw the village close by, maybe a five minute walk. Shrugging I started to walk towards the village. When I do I saw that the buildings were all repaired and somewhat brand new. This made me smile as I saw a few Faunus villagers walking about. I also saw that some of them looked like guards, I guess after the attack when I was here they bumped up the security a bit or something. As I was walking I bumped into someone.

“Ah, sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was-” I stopped when I saw who it was. A big smile appeared on my face. “Tak!” I yelled as I gave him a big hug. He let out a squeak in surprise before struggling.

“W-what's going on!?” He asked with a bit of a panicked tone. Hearing this I put him down and backed away.

“Sorry sorry, got too excited there,” I said slowly. “It been a while, Tak.” I could feel his invisible gaze landing on me before tilted his head curiously. I notices that he wore the same attire from the time we met, only that this time his abdomen was wrapped in some bandages.

“V-Viri?” He guessed in surprise. I laughed nervously.

“Yeah… I’ve been gone for a while haven’t I?” I asked him, remembering that it been a few months I went to Beacon.

“Y-yeah, you sort of just vanished after… you know.” He said, refusing to mention the horrid event. My ears flatten at that before shifting on the balls of my feet.

“Sorry about that, I would’ve stayed but… somethings came up.” I told him. I looked at him and at the bandages. “What happened to you?” He placed a hand over his bandaged abdomen.

“We-we've heard about the Ponies taking a-a young Dust Grimm and some of us, well, tried to free the p-poor thing.” He said, stuttering a few times. I frowned at this, the village was trying to save- wait.

“You and some others tried to save the young Grimm!?” I asked him, earning a surprised look from him. “Where did they take it?”

“T-They've set up camp not too far from here, they're expecting a chariot to take the Dust Grimm with them.” He said, taken back from my earlier outburst. He shook his head, regaining his composure. “It's heavily guarded and-and after our failure, they've mostly likely doubled their guard.” He said, raising his voice before wincing. I frowned at this and looked off into the Everfree.

“Which way is this camp?” I asked him.

“Southwest, nearing the border between the forest and swamp.” Tak answered with a bit of confusion before suddenly asking. “You're not thinking of going there alone, it's suicidal.” He said. I looked over at him and smiled at him.

“Yeah I am. Don’t worry, I’ve been through worse.” I said. He looked like he wanted to say something, most likely to discourage me but decided against it and sighed. I simply grin at him before running off towards the southwest.

I made my way through the woods towards the camp in question with a frown on my face.

“I’m not telling Indigo about this, he’ll hang this over my head forever.” I mumble to myself on the fact that I gotten lost a few times. I continue on until I saw something ahead. I slowed down and crouch down to stay hidden. I chuckled to myself on the few classes Indigo taught how to be sneaky. I got closer and saw the camp in question, I hid in some bushes as I took a look around at the camp and took note of all the guards. It was true that it’s heavily guarded, about three in a group as they patrol around. I tilt my head when I saw a few of them wore metal armor, they’re Huntsman right? Why are they wearing metal armor?

I shook my head as I looked into the camp itself. There was four tents where two of them were much larger. The one farther away was more, I don’t know the word fancier then the others. I’m guessing it was more of the head captains tent. The others I don’t know about, maybe sleeping tents?

As I was looking at around I started to hear some animal screams, my eyes widen as they sound that of a young animal. I wanted to charge in and beat them all to a pulp but I shook my head and took some breaths. I looked at the groups patrolling around until I saw an opening to run over to the second tent and ducked into the tent. When I got in I looked around and saw that it was filled with cages. This made my stomach fall as the idea that the Ponies are doing this. I pushed those thoughts back as I made my way forward.

“Phss!” I heard something behind me that made me jump. I turned back to see another Faunus in one of the cages, he had short red hair and tanned skin and some places where red scales are. He sorta looks like he’s part lizard. He wore brown long coat and some loose pants and shirt “Who are you?”

“I should ask you the same thing.” I told the man in the cage. “Also what are you doing here?”

“Well I’m not here to party if that’s what you’re asking.” he said with a frown.

“Calm yourself Flae,” another voice said. I turned to see another Faunus there, this one is female with dark blue hair and pale skin. She had what look like fins on her arms and wore what looks like old samurai clothing of some kind, I think. It was odd that she wore an open skirt with loose pants under it with some wraps over her chest. She seemed to be drinking some tea of some kind. As I looked at her and the other guy I saw they’re other Faunus are in cages. This made me sad to see this.

“Why… why are the Ponies doing this?” I asked myself.

“Not all.” a low voice said. I turned to see a giant Faunus sitting in. He was a massive man with horns on top of his head over his brown hair. He had a number of scars on his arms and face. He stared at me in a calm tone as he continue. “There’s a group of Ponies that think they're better than others, others… they are scared of Faunus. The Princess spent many months trying to bring peace to everyone but this group been putting a stop to that.”

I took a minute to think about it before looking back at them. “Why are you all here?”

“The others, I think are going to be sold off as slaves to a different land, me and the other two,” the finned Faunus looked at the giant of a man and Flae. “Were stronger than they thought.”

“I see…” I said as I looked at her and the giant man. “Who are you two?”

“Rom.” the giant man answered.

“Xan.” The woman answered. I looked at the three of them for a moment.

“I’m Viri.” I turned back to the flap of the tent and looked out. “I need to get to that head tent.”

“What, in there?” Flae said with a frown and a snort. “Good luck, the head Pony is in there doing… something with that odd Grimm in there. The screams of it filled the area around us for days as he just…” he didn’t finished. I felt angry at this as I was about to storm out.

“It’s suicide girl.” Rom said with a frown. “Going out there by yourself will get you killed.”

“I have to do something, I just can’t…” I didn’t finish as I shook my head.

“Viri, think about it,” Xan started to say. “Going out there by yourself is suicide.”

I didn’t get what she was saying until something clicked. “Oh.” The two nodded and looked over to Flae as he looked at the two of them and groaned.

“I don’t like fighting, but if it gets me out of here.” he said with a grumble. I smiled as a plan formed.

3rd person

Three guards walked towards the large tent with the Faunus that are being held, chuckling to themselves at what their about to do. One of them reached toward the flap right before a large hand grabbed him and picked him up. Rom walked out with a frowned as he held the guard in his hand and stood over eight feet tall. He grunted as he used the guard to smack the other two away.

“You do have a way of talking to people don’t you.” Flae said he stepped out to look around. He took a deep breath of air as he did. “Ahhh, what lovely air, very nice and forestry.”

“Keep to the plan Flae.” Xan said as she walked out. Soon all the Faunus came out with broken poles that were part of their cages. Xan turned to the two small tents as the Ponies that saw this and started to get ready to fight. “We need to buy Viri time to get to head tent and get our weapons.”

“Yeah yeah, so shall we-” before Flae could finish there was a loud yell and the Ponies charged at them. The other Faunus charged after them as well which made Flae sigh. “Or go charging in, that works.”

With the battle going on Viri sneaked out of the tent and headed around to the head tent. She ducked under some magic and arrows that were flying around as she saw Rom was simply battering the Ponies away with his hands and arms. She saw him turn and raised his arms up and slammed them onto the ground, sending out a wave of earth towards the group. She saw the other two that went into the other tent come out with weapons; Flae had a pair of gauntlets on his arms that he used to fire fireballs and lightning, complaining that he’s using up his Dust as Xan had a dark blue katana that seemed cut through anything. Viri saw these there can came to a conclusion as Xan slashed her sword and sent a water wave that tore into a group of Ponies; the are like Huntsman.

She smiled a little as she made her way to the head tent and went inside to where she saw a male stallion trying to quickly pack everything up that’s there. Viri turned and saw a small cage with a small white body in it. She grit her teeth and turned to the Stallion which he turned around to see her. He was a Unicorn and had a large scar over his left eye as she growled.

“This is what I get for keeping you animals alive.” he said as he pulled out a rod that turned into a large mace, kinda like Cardins. Viri frowned at this as she pulled Molten Coil out and held her.

“You and your group make me sick, capturing Faunus and selling them off as slaves!”

“So what! Faunus are nothing more then monsters, like the Grimm!” he started to shake in anger as he hit the small cage. The creature yelped at this as the cage when behind the desk. “Your race… you tainted the Royal blood!”

Viri blinked at this in confusion before putting her weapon up to block his attack. Our weapons clash as he continue to insult her and the Faunus. Her eye twitched as she just simply had enough and ignited Molten Coil and slashed his mace in two. His eyes widen as she pointed her blade at him. I took a deep breath and sighed.

“You’re not even worth it.” Viri said as she thrust Coil at him and shot the Stallion off into the forest, making a large hole in the tent. She shook her head and started to hear some cheering happening outside. She wondered how long was this battle lasted as she pulled her scroll out. After seeing it was about an hour and a half of fighting she put it away and went over to see the small creature. Sure enough there was a small baby Staubgrimm in the small cage. It looked like a small fox with white fur with an off white armor like plates that had glowing blue veins coming off it. The Mask it wore was the same way and shaped like a fox head but what made Viri sad is the look of fear it was giving her. She kneeled down and moved slowly towards it.

“Easy there little one, I’m not going to hurt you.” she said as she went to open the cage. As she did she started to reach in to pull the fox out, this only made it yelp and shot a small frost at Viri, making her jump a bit. She slowed her breathing and tried something, she let her semblance heat up her hands as she moved closer. The Staubgrimm fox saw this and slowly moved closer to sniff her hands. “See, I’m not a bad guy.”

Viri slowly pulled the fox out and let it sit in front of her and the two stared at each other for a bit. The Staubgrimm was still scared of everything as Viri got down low to it. It yelped at this and shot more fire at her face. She winced at the pain but didn’t back away as she reached over to it, letting the Staubgrimm see her hands as she picked it up. At first it squirm bit, whimpering a little before it quite down as Viri started to heat up. Viri smiled as she walked out of the tent. She saw that the others drove the Ponies off and the Faunus were cheering. The other three that Viri talked to said that the Ponies left their supplied here so there were all too happy on taking it all.

“The only issue is that we all have nowhere to go.” Flae said with a frown after taking a look at the Staubgrimm for a few moments. This made Viri raise an eyebrow as a idea came to mind.

“Actually, I know of a place.”

Viri, a few hours later.

It took some time and with help of Xan we all made it back to the Village that I first came from. I rode in one of the two carts that were left in the camp as I held the Staubgrimm in my arms. It fell asleep as we left which made me smile as we all traveled to the village. Soon enough we came to the village and I saw all the Faunus that lived there were surprised at the large group that came out of the forest.

When we stopped I went off to find Tak again to see how he’s doing. I found him sitting down with his back to the tree with a frown on his face. I walked up to him and stood in front of him.

“Hey, I’m back.” I said to him. He faced me, his frown changing to that of a surprised look. “And alive just in case you’re wondering.”

“W-what? How?” He asked with yet another stutter. I simply smiled at him.

“I’m just that amazing.” I said with a chuckle. I spent the next hour telling him what has happen at the camp as I scratched behind the ear of the Staubgrimm that slept in my lap.

“I could've prevented this…” Tak whispered, burying his face within his hands before saying. “If I wasn't so slow, I could've prevented their deaths. But I didn't.” He said just above a whisper. I reached over and patted his back.

“Hey, don’t get bent about this. You all went off to do the right thing and things didn’t go so well.” I said before thinking about it and my ears flattened a bit. “Okay, I suck at these cheering up talks.” as I said that I heard some sounds from the Staubgrimm. I looked down and saw it has woken up and starting a Tak, curling up and whimpering at the sight of him. I saw Tak’s ears twitch a bit meaning he heard the young one.

“Hmm?” Tak hummed questiongly, moving a hand towards the young Staubgrimm slowly. The latter did nothing, interested in what Tak might do but at the same time, it was afraid. As Tak’s hand got closer the Staubgrimm batted his hand away and growled a little, shaking in its ball.

“Hey now that’s rude.” I said as I petted it. It seems to calm down and leaned into my hand as I turned to Tak. “Sorry, this one isn’t that trusting of others since the captain I shot tortured it for who knows how long.” Tak’s ears flattened against his head, a look of guilt forming on his face. “It’s not your fault, in fact this is a bit better than when I met it… it kinda blew frost at me.” He looked like he wanted to say something but kept silent, planting the back his head against the tree. I tilted my head a bit until I started to hear someone coming. I turned to see one of the villagers coming towards us.

“Um, Zecora asked everyone to come for another town meeting.” the villager said. Tak nodded absentmindedly. I watched the villager went off as I stood up and helped Tak up. Both of us headed off to the place where the meeting was being held. It was a large open place with Zecora standing in front with Flae, Rom, and Xan up there as well.

“I thank you all for coming to the second meeting, I know you all have work to be doing but this is important,” she looked over at everyone before continuing. “As we all were led to believe that the Pony race had it out for us Faunus for as long as we can remember. But as of today we were wrong, it seems there a large group that put that idea in our heads, one that seemed to stop their own ruler from bringing peace to both races.”

This led to some mumbling from the crowd as Zecora continue, “Today with the help of one being that is going to be left unnamed unless she wishes to join me up here has struck a blow to this group and saved a large number of Faunus.”

I turned to see those Faunus smiling and gave a small cheer. Zecora smiled at this until someone walked forward.

“That’s all good and all, but that’s just one blow. If they know about this then they’ll come back and with greater numbers!” a villager said, this caused more mumbling from the crowd. “They have magic, weapons, Huntsman! We have nothing to defend ourselves with other then sticks and tools.”

I frowned at this before I remember something. I turned to Tak and hand him the Staubgrimm, “Hold Frosty here.” he gave me a odd look that was off center as I moved forward. “Then why not learn to become Huntsman?!” I yelled out. I earn the attention of everyone.

“Are you mad?!” someone yelled out. I frowned in that direction.

“Maybe, but I think we could do it. I don’t see what’s stopping you all.” I moved up to where Zecora and the other three are at and turned. “I’ve see Faunus do things that are amazing, I heard things as well. I was told a group of you went off to save a small Grimm, something that was told to be evil but did it anyway. You all have what it takes to become great Huntsman and Huntress!”

I looked around as I saw a lot of nevose looks on the crowd. I took a breath and started to push how far I can keep this secret, “If anyone remembers I came her a few months ago and saw the attack then disappeared. The reason is that I went to a Huntsman school far away and learned to be one. I have the knowledge that I will happily give you so you can all be Huntsman and Huntress.” I yelled out.

“That’s nice and all but you forgot the Ponies won’t allow us to be Huntsman.” Someone said. I rolled my eyes at this.

“You all live in the Everfree, those rules don’t apply here!” I yelled out. Some of them blinked at this as if they didn’t think of that.

“But there’s no teachers, and I don’t believe you will stay and teach us.” someone else yelled. I bit my lip at that for being right.

“She doesn’t have to be the one teaching you all,” Xan said, standing up. “I am Xan, I came far from the East where anyone could learn how to hunt. I spent much of my youth learning such ways and I can teach anyone if they’ll have me.”

“As for I.” Rom said standing up. “I came from near Griffionstone so I know a thing or two.” The three of us turned to Flae and stared at him as he was put on the spot.

“Um, I’m no fighter, just a scholar so…” he said before I spoke.

“We need someone with a large knowledge on Grimm, Dust, and the new Dust Grimm.” I told him. He tilt his head at this, intrigued.

“Well I do have a good library on such things and I was thinking on diving in to these Dust Grimm…” he looked at everyone and threw up his hands. “Alright fine, I’m in.”

With the three of them up I looked out to everyone that was staring at me, “So, who wants to become a Huntsman?”

No one seemed to move, they all looked at one another in nervose or fear. I slowly started to frown as this wasn’t going to work.

“I will.” a female voice yelled out as she stepped forward. With that more and more started to speak up and step forward. I smiled as I looked to Zecora.

“Mind becoming the Headmaster of the new school?” I asked her. She turned and smiled at me.

“I will be honored.” She said. With that I moved down to the crowd as the ones that stepped up went to talk to the four. I went over to Tak as he was turning his head around as he held the Staubgrimm.

“Aren’t you going to go as well? Isn’t this your dream?” I asked him. He looked conflicted, as if something in his mind was filled with doubts. I tilted my head a bit. “Something wrong?” He looked down at the Staubgrimm in his hands.

“I… I can't.” He whispered sadly, shaking his head as he did. “I failed to safe the Dust Grimm, I failed to protect the young one…” He said, placing the little Staubgrimm down. The latter looked up at him in confusion. “I'm just not cut out for this.” He said, turning to walk away. I frowned at this as I reached out to him to stop him.

“Hey hold on, don't be down on yourself.” I said to him. “I never asked why you wanted to be a Huntsman in the first place, what was it?”

“People look down at me because I'm blind. That because of my blindness, they think I'm weak.” He said, still looking down at the ground. He closed his teary eyes and sighed. “I thought that by becoming a Huntsmen, I could prove them wrong and to show that I am strong.” He said.

“Tak, I think you proven yourself to be a great Huntsman already,” I told him. “For the amount of time I've known you you went off to protect the village and to protect Frosty here, a Grimm like creature without a second thought. I believe you'll become a fantastic Huntsman and you already proven you're strong.” He faced me, surprised to hear my words. His cheeks taking a rosy tint.

“I-I…” He took a deep breath before sighing loudly. “T-Thank you.” He said. I smiled as I put a hand on his shoulder.

“No problem, I’m not forcing you to become a Huntsman and you can do whatever, but I believe you will become a great one.” I told him. He thought on this for a bit, silence settled between us. After a minute or two of silence, he finally nodded.

“I'll do it.” He said, a little smile forming. Tears streaming down his cheeks before being wiped away. I smiled at him before I felt someone tap on my shoulder. I turned and saw Zecora there.

“Sorry to interrupt but do you have a good idea on where this school is going to be placed?” she asked. I blinked at her and realised that I didn’t have a place. She chuckled at me, “I figured as much, don’t worry I have a place in mind.”

I stood alongside Zecora and Tak as I held the Dust Grimm in my arms as we looked out at some castle ruins. “This was once said to be the Castle of Two Sisters, a place where both princesses lived thousands of years ago, it’s now all abandon and the Everfree has already taken it as its own.” Zecora explained.

“That sounds… lovely.” I said as I took a good look around from where I’m standing. It was a pretty big place and, since it’s abandoned, no one would mind if it gets turned into a Huntsman school. “It's gonna take a lot of work just to fix it up.”

“Yes it would, that’s why I've sent out messages to the other villages for support on repairing the castle.” Zecora said as she looked over at Tak. “I guess I’ll see you there Tak, helping with the repairing.” He answered with a nod. She smiled and looked over at me. “I want to thank you Viri, you were a big help with everything here.”

“Oh I uh, didn’t really do much, really.” I said with a blush. Zecora simply rolled her eyes before walking off towards the village. I was then left with Tak now as I sighed. “So, this is going to be interesting huh?”

“Yeah, no kidding.” He said in agreement. I started to laugh as the two of us headed back to the village.

Author's Note

Faunus Huntsman school coming soon, they just need to fix up the place a bit and get some spiders out of the closets.

Not enough Lumber

It been a few weeks since I first came back to the village and started the idea of the Faunus Huntsman school. I was happy that things were coming together as most of the village went off to the old castle to clear it out before the rebuilding phase starts. For me I just been doing some catch up work.

It seems that my aunt forgot to mention is that when I’m out of class all my work is sent to my scroll. I’ve also got a message from Indigo that if I miss even one assignment from any class he’ll put me through hell of combat trials. I wanted to think those were jokes but when it came from Indi…

I sighed as I was working on the last few assignments. I had as the little Fox Grimm laid on top of my head sleeping. She has been with me for the whole time I was here, and oddly she love sleeping on top of my head between my ears. I think it’s adorable as I scratched her head a bit and she made a pleasure noise that she like it. This made me smile as I continued working on my assignments. When I finished up the last little bit of work I had I leaned back, without disturbing the Fox Grimm on my head.

Hearing the sound footsteps, I looked up in time to see Tak walking by. He dragged behind him a cart full of tools and materials, having gotten them from the nearby town no doubt from his friends that live within it. I was going to wave at him but remembered he’s blind so I didn’t do that thankfully. I watched him dragged the cart behind him while he was still sore with his wound.

“He’s blind, wounded, and maybe a lot of other things and yet he’s doing that. If that’s not dedication I don’t know what is.” I said to myself. His ears twitched and he stopped, turning to face toward my direction in confusion.

“Viri?” He guessed.

“Hey Tak,” I greeted him with a chuckle. “How are you?” He faced the cart he dragged before facing me once again.

“Busy. Tired.” He said before taking a hold of the cart again. “You know, the usual.” He said with a chuckle.

“Dude, even since the building of the school started you were the first one in line to help. I question how you can keep going after so long of working.” I said to him, putting my chin into my hand. He shrugged, not knowing how what to say. “Well I’m not here to stop you from what you’re doing, just wanted to say hi and stuff.” He nodded, smiling as he did before continuing to drag the cart behind him to the village. I watched him go in silence before I felt the Fox Grimm stir a bit. She raised her head and let out a big yawn before looking at something.

“What’s up?” I asked her as I turned my head, making the Fox look at the tree as I saw my mother leaning against the tree “Oh, that’s what.”

“That was the boy, Tak?” She asked, looking towards the distant Bat faunus. I nodded without a word before she closed her eyes and hummed. “Such a young boy, yet pushing himself to the the limit and over. Determination or willpower, perhaps even both.” Mother said.

“Whatever it is all I know is that he could get run over by a non-dova and still keep going.” I said to her. As I said that the Fox Grimm shifted around on my head to look at mother. Mother raised a hand and waved at it, smiling at it as she did. The fox looked at her hand before jumping off from the top of my head and grabbing a hold of Mother’s hand before climbing up and resting on her shoulder with an audible purr.

I don’t know if it was because it was Mother or after some time helping her being okay around others. Before long the Fox Grimm climbed down and nestled on my head again, don’t know why maybe it’s comfy? “So, what brings you here Mom?”

“Can't a mother visit their daughter?” She asked with a chuckle. I blushed at this.

“Right… sorry for assuming.” I told her. She chuckled once again before sitting beside me, obviously not caring that her white dress would dirty from doing so.

“I wanted to stop by to see how you are doing.” She said before facing the fox Grimm and giving it a good scratching behind the ears.

“I’ve been doing good, sorta been the talk of the village about what happened a few weeks ago when I got Frosty here.” I reached up and petted the Fox Grimm on my head. “It’s nice an all but I prefer not have everyone talk about me every two minutes.”

“With what you've said in your last message, I wouldn't be surprised if they threw a parade just for you.” Mother said jokingly. I chuckled a bit at that.

“That would be neat but I prefer the idea of them not throwing me a parade thank you,” I said simply. “So how have you been for the past few weeks?”

“The children have reaccustomed to the palace and I have noted that their a little more mature than when you last saw them. I've even witnessed one clean their own room properly without brushing the junk under their bed or a rug.” She said, finally lowering her hand from the Fox Grimm much to the latter’s disappointment.

“Wow~.” was all I said to her about that. We laughed for a bit before I spoke again. “What about Auntie? What’s she been up to?”

“She's been keeping to herself, as usual, I've suggested we create another world but I have yet to receive an answer.” She answered, her smile faltering a bit.

“I have also sent a few messages to her and still haven't gotten a reply from her. Think something's wrong?” I asked mother. Mother stayed silent, not knowing the answer. As the silence between us settled in, I grew nervous that I may have upset her. I began to feel the Fox Grimm paw the top of my head as if she also figured I may have upset her. “Sorry…ow!”

I winced a bit as the Fox Grimm bit my ear. I pulled her down and looked at her sternly, “Don’t bite my ears, you wouldn’t like it if I do it to you.” This caused her ears to flatten on top of her head. Mother stood up and dusted herself off, leaving her dress as clean as her ever.

“I should get going, no doubt the young ones are looking for me.” She said, looking down at me with a little smile before saying. “Have fun, dear.” She said before disappearing with a flash of light. I blinked a few times since I was staring at her and was momentarily blinded.

After that I stood up and headed back to the village to find Zecora to see how's everything is going. As I walked back I waved at the other Faunus as they passed, they waved back and smiled before continuing on their way.

I continue walking until I found her talking to some of the builders until she saw me coming. I smiled at her as the two builders walked off when they were finished talking.

“Hey Zecora, how's it going?” I asked her.

“Fine now, in fact, I was about to send someone to find you along with Tak.” she told me.

“Oh what's that?” I asked her. She didn't say anything at first other then ask someone nearby to go find Tak. When that was taken care of she turned to me.

“We've been getting everything from other villages to build this school but we're short on wood. I believe one of Taks friends in Ponyville can help. I'll go into more detail once Tak comes to the main hall.” she explained. I nodded and followed her to said main hall, which is just a bigger building like town hall. We waited until Tak came. “Good you're here Tak, I believe you have a friend in Ponyville correct? One that works on a family apple farm?” Tak took a second before nodding.

“You mean Jacqueline?” I asked. Zecora nodded a bit.

“Yes, I believe that’s her name. I also heard that her family also runs a lumber shop as well. Tak, can you and Viri go ask her for some lumber, we’re a tad short for the building.” Zecora asked. Tak once again nodded before saying.

“Yes, ma'am.” Tak said with a small bow before turning to leave. I followed him out and walked out of the village with him.

“So, how are you feeling?” I asked him, nudging the Fox Grimm a bit so she could still ride on my head. Tak placed a hand over his bandaged stomach and answered.

“I'm getting better, still a little sore though.” He answered with a little smile. I looked at him and shake my head.

“You get battered around and yet you still work. What drives you?” I asked him. He shrugged, mostly likely having heard the same question before. I rolled my eyes as we continued on until we came up to the borders of the Everfree. We stepped out and headed towards Ponyville. As we walked through the streets I couldn’t help but glance around at everyone around me, feeling like somepony was going to jump out and attack us. I also heard the Fox Grimm whimper a bit. I reached up to give her some pets to calm her down. “It’ll be okay.”

“Are you alright?” I heard Tak ask, bringing me out my thoughts. “You sound tensed.” He said.

“Well… I had two bad run-ins would Ponies and… well, I’m nervous.” I told him. Tak nodded in acknowledgment before saying.

“I understand your uneasiness.” He said just above whisper. I smiled a bit as we walked out of the town and headed to the farm. The familiar apple trees and dirt path under me distracted me from what’s in front of me as I bump into a wall.

“Ah! Sorry I wasn’t- oh Mother.” I said as I looked up at a man standing in front of me. He turned and I saw a tanned skinned man with green eyes, blonde hair and some wolf ears. He wore a red flannel shirt and blue jeans. He stared down at me as I stared up. How big is he?!?

“Hello, James.” Tak greeted with a small bow. The man named James nodded.

“Tak.” he greeted. He looked down to me and stared. “Who are you?”

“Uhhh, Viri?” I said as I looked up at him. His brow furrowed until he looked Tak.

“Ya need somthin’?” he asked him. Tak nodded before saying.

“Yes, we're here to make a large order of wood.” Tak said. James raised an eyebrow.

“How much?” he asked. Tak didn’t say anything but handed him a note that I didn’t see him write before and James looked at it. His brow raised a little higher before. “This… is a lot wood. What ya trying to build?” Tak opened his mouth but stopped when James spoke. “On second thought, never mind. Ah need to go talk to my family about this, give me a moment.”

With that he walked off towards an old barn. I stood out with Tak as we waited for him.

“Question, how much wood are we looking at?” I asked Tak. He simply showed me the paper and my jaw dropped. “That’s… a lot of wood. Enough to build a small house twice over.”

“Or to build a school for Huntsmen to be.” He said, replying to my comment. I nodded slowly as James came back with Jacqueline along with him.

“Hey Tak, am ah hearing this right that ya need a lot of wood?” she asked him. She looked over at me and nodded at me before looking at Tak.

“Yes, we're making an addition to the village.” Tak said, answering her question. She stared at him for a full minute before nodding.

“Alright… ah’ll get behind that.” she said. “Give us an hour to set up a wagon.”

With that we waited for an hour until they came back with a wagon with… a robot horse?

“Just bring back the wagon and Jack here.” Jacqueline said to Tak. I didn't really hear what they were saying as I was staring at a robot horse! Tak nodded before facing the robotic equine. He snapped his fingers and let out a whistle, earning a robotic neigh from the robotic equine. The latter shook its head and looked Tak as he pointed towards the direction of the village. The robot horse neigh again and headed that direction. I followed the cart a little too giddy that was needed, making the Fox Grimm paw at my head to probably slow down a bit. I did as Tak walked over and climbed up onto the cart.

“I didn't know there were robots here!” I said happily. Tak shrugged a bit at this before saying.

“They're around, though most of them are used for transporting heavy cargo.” Tak said with a bit of an informative tone. I simply smiled we ride all the way back to the village. After some time, less than the walk over there, we arrived at the village and found Zecora waiting for us.

“Ah, you gotten the lumber without troubles?” she asked Tak.

“No trouble whatsoever, ma'am.” Tak answered with yet another bow. Zecora smiled at this and called two others to come and take the cart.

“I thank you both of you for this, now we have everything we can now start build. It will take some time but I gotten word that the other villages are sending others to help with it. So for now we’re all just starting the process. For you two on the other hand, I believe you both can take some time off, a few days of relaxation.” she told us but I had a feeling it was mostly to Tak than me. Tak looked as if he didn't know how to respond and simply nodded to Zecora’s suggestion. Zecora smiled at this before speaking. “I know you’re not used to this Tak but, and this may not sound professional of me saying, but I’m slightly tired of getting a message from your friend about you going around working is such a state you’re in.”

With that she turned and walked away from us. I turned to Tak and raised an eyebrow, “I’m going to ask this now, what drives you? Like really, you gotten hurt a few weeks ago and yet you’re pulling triple duty around the village. I’m just asking is this just your Willpower or determination… or both?”

“I just like to be helpful.” He said with his cheeks taking a slight rose tint. I nodded before I realized something that Zecora said.

“Hey! You gotten another friend! Good for you.” I said happily. He chuckled nervously. I got a feeling that this was something he didn’t want to talk about so I dropped it for now. “So… going to rest up or something?” He thought about it for quite a while and once he finally decided on something, we were already sitting by the same tree I sat by before. He looked surprised, having been in deep thought but shrugged nonetheless before leaning back onto the tree and closing his eyes with a sigh.

After a while of this I felt my scroll buzz as I got a message. I pulled it out and saw it was from my aunt, saying that she’ll be coming by to pick me up to send me back to Beacon. I soon put my scroll away and told Tak that after tonight I’ll be off to do my own thing for a while again.

“And maybe by the time I’m back the school be finished and classes will start… maybe.” I said with a smile. He faced me with a blank look before blinking a few times.

“Wow, um… okay then.” He said with a surprised tone. He rubbed the back of his head before saying. “I wish you luck then on your journey, Viri.” He said. I smiled at him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back. Just don’t work yourself into the ground… and more so.” I told him. He chuckled at this.

“I'll try.” He said jokingly. For the next while we simply hanged out until the sun was going down and some fireflies were coming out. Tak returned to the village to head to bed. I waved out of habit as I stayed there to watched the bugs until after an hour I heard a soft hum from a few few away. I turned and saw the same Bullhead ship I came in when I got here. I looked around and stood to walk over to the ship. The door opened as I got close and climbed in to see my Aunt there, wearing the same dress as before alongside Mother.

“Ahh, Viri how have you been?” my aunt asked with a smile.

“Um, good. You haven’t returned my messages.” I said bluntly.

“I was busy.” she informed me as she frowned. “Also I’ve been good, thanks for asking and hey! My sister did know about my business so I did tell her!”

I simply rolled my eyes as I smiled at Mother.

“Are you ready to continue your studies at Beacon?” Mother asked with a patient smile. I nodded at her.

“Good, now then.” my aunt pushed a button on the intercom to say that we’re ready to head off. As the ship got off the ground the Fox Grimm on top of my head woke up and looked around to see where she is.

“Everythings is fine, just in a flying spaceship.” I told her. She made a small sound before seemingly bury herself into my hair a bit more.

“Oh fun, you found yourself a pet.” Auntie said with a chuckle. I blinked at her.

“I don’t think she’s a pet, mostly since she never left my side, or head, ever since I rescued her.” I told my aunt. Mother smiled at this.

“She seems to have grown quite fond of you.” Mother said while I took a seat. Mother sat next to me soon after. “She sees you as her guardian.” She added which was followed by an audible purr from the Grimm. I smiled at this.

“I always had a name floating around in my head for her but didn’t really call her by it but, what do you think of the name Sylph?” I asked them. My aunt simply shrugged as she sip some of her wine.

“Why not ask her yourself?” Mother asked before looking at the Fox grimm. The latter raising her head to meet Mother’s gaze. “Do you like that name, little one?” She asked her. The Fox grimm tilted her head a bit before looking down at me at me and making a happy yelp. I giggled at this.

“I think that’s a yes.” I said as Sylph hopped down to my lap and curled up into a ball. Mother smiled at this as I simply petted Sylph as we all headed towards Beacon.

3rd person, Outside Beacon Academy.

Ruby and Weiss watched both Winter, Weiss’ older sister, and Qrow, Ruby’s and Yang’s uncle, walked off after having a battle against one another. The two stood next to each other as Qrow followed the group ahead of him.

“And suddenly your recklessness makes sense.” Weiss said as she crossed her arms next to Ruby. Ruby simply smirked at her.

“You’re just mad cause he whooped butt.” she said, nudging Weiss, who frowned even more.

“That was a draw at best.” she proclaimed. Ruby rolled her eyes and was about to say something until the sound of a low hum of a black Bullhead ship flew over them. They watched it slowed down to land. On the sides were a symbol of two dragons, one white and one black, interweaving with each other with a gear behind them.

“Whoa… who owns that ship?” Ruby asked.

“Mal Kun.” Weiss said with some venom in her tone. Ruby looked at her oddly so Weiss continue. “The Schnee company is one of largest Dust companies in all of Remnant-”

“Yeah, you kinda told me this before.” Ruby pointed out. Weiss paused for a moment before speaking again.

“Yes… what I didn’t tell you is that… my family’s company has many rivals that my father deemed them not a bother, but Mal Kun is one that is. The two companies have been at war with each longer than I am, maybe even Winter. It’s also a name we shouldn’t say around him since-”

“Isn’t Viri’s last name Mal Kun?” Ruby asked, cutting Weiss off. Weiss stared at her for a few moments until both their attention were drawn to the ship opening up and Viri walked out of it alongside with two other woman.

“Thanks for giving me a spare uniform Auntie.” Viri said as she smoothed her clothes a bit.

“Any time my dear, I have a few of them made for you so if you ever lose one just send me a message.” Viri’s aunt said with a smile. Viri’s mother walked over and smiled at her daughter.

“Be safe, dear.” Her mother said, giving the young Mal Kun a hug. Viri hugged her back and as the two seperate the three heard the sound of footsteps coming their way. They looked and saw both Weiss and Ruby coming right up to them.

“Hi Viri!” Ruby greeted. Viri smiled at her.

“Hey Ruby, how are you?”

“Good.” Ruby said happily. Weiss frowned at her captains friendliness.

“Yeah that’s all great and all, but Viri, when were you going to say you were part of the Mal Kuns?” Weiss asked her. Viri blinked at her.

“Uhh, I did. A few months ago in fact.” she told her.

“No! I mean yes you did, but I mean the Mal Kuns.” she said.

“Uhh…” Viri said until her Mother walked up between the two, giving the young Schnee a curious look.

“Is there a problem, child?” Mavisath askel
The Schnee looked up at her for a moment before the other woman spoke.

“Oh there's isn’t a problem, just this one is part of a family that runs the rival company to ours.” Axycia explained in a simple tone. Weiss was slightly taken about at how calm she’s acting in front of her.

“You make it sound like this is nothing.” Weiss pointed out. Slowly Axycia looked over to her that sent a shiver up her spine.

“If you think about it, it is. Your father is a bit of a hot headed man that doesn’t like when something isn’t going his way.” Axycia glanced over to her sister for a moment before looking back. “But this doesn’t concern you.”

“Of course it is,” the young Schnee crossed her arms at her. “I’m Weiss Schnee, the Heiress to the Schnee company. If anything that deals with the company it’s my concern.”

“Umm, Weiss.” Ruby said with her own concern. Viri looked at her aunt and her friend before her aunt spoke.

“If it does, why aren’t you back at home learning to become the heiress instead of being here to be a huntress?” Axycia asked her. Mavisath looked to her sister and saw a look that Axycia was trying to get into the young Schnee’s head with some word play. But also saw her shake her head a bit. “But this doesn’t really concern you Miss. Schnee, and as I told my niece that she won’t be the heiress to the Mal Kun company.”

“She’s… not?” Weiss asked, a little surprised.

“Of course not, I’m still have a lot of my life to get through and if someone going to take over then it’ll be-” she stopped what she was saying and closed her mouth. Viri looked over at her and saw a hint of sadness in her features before she gather herself. “I… I have some business to get to. Sister I’ll wait for you in the ship…”

With that Axycia turned and walked towards the ship, a bit at a brisk pace then normal. Viri frowned at this and looked at her mother for anything. Mavisath was curious as to why her sister had stopped in the middle of her sentence. Glancing back to her daughter, she gave her smile before walking into the ship with a few questions in mind, questions that she will most certainly look into.

With that, the three of them watched the ship flew off and slowly disappeared into the sky.

“So… that happened.” Viri said. She looked at the other two before speaking. “Are we cool?”

“With me, yeah.” Ruby said with a smile. The two of them looked at Weiss as she looked back.

“What?” she asked. She didn’t get an answer from them before realizing what’s going on and sighing. “Fine, we’re cool, I guess.”

Both Ruby and Viri smiled as the three of them headed back to the school.

“So… who’s hungry?”

Author's Note

So... this was a thing.

Bullets, and Story time

“Hey, what’s that white patch of fur on top of your head? Is it a hat?” Ruby asked me as both her and Weiss and I walked off to find the other two.

“No, it’s not a hat. It’s Sylph.” I told her.

“Sylph?” Weiss asked as she gave me an odd look. I chuckled as I reached up and scratched the top of Sylph’s head, making her look up out of her nap.

“A white Grimm!” Ruby said loudly, enough to draw the attention of both Yang and Blake as they rounded a corner.

“What about a white Grimm?” Yang asked. Ruby pointed at Sylph on top of my head as she waved.

“And it’s not attacking anyone, I guess it’s the same as Oni.” Blake pointed out. I blinked at her for a moment.

“You’re taking this a bit easy.” I said.

“When you spent a year in Indigo’s class, you get used to seeing friendly Grimm around. Mostly since there’s about a point two percent of them.” Blake explained.

“What’s the point two?” I asked.

“The Grimm on you’re head and Oni.” Yang answered. I chuckled as Sylph simply curled up on my head and the five of us headed off to explore. Ruby said that they were going to show me around since I only knew the school grounds but that’s about it other than that small section of the city I’ve been in. We continued on for some time talking to each other about anything. It seems that there’s this tournament going on that has students from three other schools participating in. I guessed that I couldn’t go in since I must’ve missed the entry of it or I’m not in a team. I didn’t really mind it though since I prefer not having a large number of people stare at me. It’s kinda creepy.

We've walked for quite a while, Ruby giving somewhat of an improv tour. Blake was kind of to fill on the informative holes that Ruby leaves within her wake. I chuckled at this as we walked along. I asked some questions to Ruby that I believe she could answer but most of them Blake had to fill in to help.

We walked by an apartment complex with a few nice looking cars parked out front. There must've been some sort of party, judging by the loud music and the number of cars parked. Sylph raised her head up at the building, flattening her ears as she did. I chuckled at this but soon noticed that the music had stopped. I could see that the others noticed as well but before any of us could mention it, the silence was shattered by the sound of gunfire. I looked up, not knowing what was going. The people in the area fled in panic, including those previously inside the building. The music soon returned to drown out the gunfire and once it kicked off, the sound of a window shattering was heard from above us before something landing atop one of the many parked cars.

Looking around I took Sylph off my head and ran over to a nearby wall alongside the others. I peeked around as the music and gunfire were still going off as I looked over to the smashed up cars.

“Hold on to Frosty!” I yelled, pushing Sylph into Ruby’s arms and ran over to one of the non-smashed cars and crouched down to keep low as I moved closer to the smashed car. As I got closer I saw there was someone there on top of the car and as I got close I peeked over to see who it was. I was shocked and horrified to see that it was Indigo, badly bleeding and shot. He groaned and weakly shook his head.

“P-Psy.” He managed to say before falling into unconsciousness. The fight above had ceased with an unknown victor. Glancing up I reached over and carefully pulled Indigo off of the car and onto my back.

“Oof, you’re heavy…” I said as I sniffed him. “And smell.” With that, I half walked and half crawled back to the others. I glanced back to see if anyone has seen us but with Indigo being a bit bigger than me it was hard.

When I got back to the group I saw them looked at me and Indigo horrified. I grunted as I shifted him on top of me.

“Yeah no, don’t bother calling help. I’m fine~.” I said with enough sarcasm that even Tak could see. Blake and Yang helped getting Indigo off of me, allowing me to catch my breath.

“What happened!?” Ruby asked with panic in her voice. Blake and Yang had gently sat Indigo down against the wall. I noticed Blake’s panicked expression was more severe than the others.

“I know as much as you do,” I said as I looked back at the direction where the whole scene happen. “Right now we need to get Indigo to a hospital or to the school.” Weiss nodded, taking her scroll as she did before quickly calling someone.

“P-psy… where…” Indigo muttered, his words barely coherent.

“Easy there,” I said to him. “You got pretty banged up.” He opened his eyes, hissing at the light of the day. He looked down at himself disappointingly, seeing the still bleeding wounds. Blake placed a hand on one of his wounds to hold back the blood.

I saw her concern look for him and raised an eyebrow at them. I then looked over to Weiss to see if there's anything.

“There’ll be a group coming in a few minutes.” she informed. The sirens of the local police echoed from a distance and before we knew it, they had already set up a crime scene. We were brought into questioning but we didn't know who was responsible for the ruckus. Indigo was being treated on sight, deeming it too dangerous to move him in his current condition. Though as I watched the medic tend to Indigo, I wondered why his aura hadn't healed him yet.

When they were finished with him and looked like an annoyed mummy I walked over to him with Sylph on my head again.

“Hey, you okay?” I asked him. He frowned as he looked down at himself.

“They took my flask.” He grumbled in annoyance. It was true, they took it deeming it a lethal substance and evidence despite his countless protests. I rolled my eyes as Sylph hopped down to sniff Indigos hand. Seeing this he tried to shoo her away but to no avail. “They said that the material of the bullet that hit me was able to negate my aura. Which exactly what we needed.” Indigo said in sarcastic anger. Sylph’s ears flatten on her head as I picked her up.

“Why would anyone need aura negating ammo?” I asked him. His head leaned against the wall behind.

“Easy…” He said, pushing himself off the wall and causing something to slip out from his only vest pocket. It was a bullet, no doubt from the same material used against him. “To kill a Huntsman.” He said.

“That's not good.” I said as my ears flatten on top of my head. Indigo picked up the small bullet.

“These things have been around for years but not many know how to obtain them, a few select people do.” He said, handing me the bullet before adding. “Me included.” He said rather ominously. I raised an eyebrow at this.

“Right…” I then glanced off to the others and saw Blake looking over to where we were worried. “Someone is really worried about you.” He followed my gaze before sighing.

“It's not something I can say out in public.” He said with a sigh before looking for to the medics that were walking towards us with a gurney. “They'll be taking me to the Vale hospital to remove the bullets from my body. Don't think you'll be getting off without assignments.” He said jokingly as he stood up with pained grunt. The medics rushed over, telling him that he shouldn't move as they helped him onto the gurney. “Inform Ozpin that I won't be back for a bit.” He said as he was carried into the ambulance.

I gave him a nod as the others came over and we all watched the ambulance drove off with Indigo.

“Will… will he be alright?” Ruby asked. I gave her a small nod.

“Yeah, kinda ticked that they took his flask but he’ll be fine.” I looked over at the others before I continued. “I’m guessing this tour is over then.”

The others didn’t say anything as we made our way back to the school, well almost everyone. Blake seemed to disappear without anyone noticing but I didn’t question it.

When we got back I broke away from the others and headed towards Professor Ozpin office to inform him what’s going on. I soon made my way to the elevator and made my way up to Professor Ozpin’s office and as the door opened I saw that he had some people there along with Miss. Glinda Goodwitch.

One of them was a man with short black hair with some gray coming out from the sides that had been cut to a military haircut. He was a tall man wearing a white suit and one white glove over his right hand. Beside him was a woman that looked like Weiss but older and more… imposing. She wore a white uniform with a rapier at her side.

The last man looked like the opposite from the first man, wearing a gray shirt and black pants with a tattered cloak on his back. He had black hair and some hair coming out of his chin and red eyes. They all stared at me as I came in.

“What is the meaning of this? Ozpin, who is this?” Asked the man with short black hair. I frowned at him as the woman looked at me oddly, as if she has seen me before.

“General Ironwood, this is one of the students of Beacon, be it she came in a little late, Viri Mal Kun.” The Professor Ozpin introduced me. The woman eyes widen as he said my name, oh boy that’s not good.

“Uh, hi. Sorry to barge in but this is important.” I said as I walked into the room. Ozpin raised a questioning brow. I began to tell him what has happened some time ago with Indigo and the attack. I pulled the bullet out of my pocket and showed it to him. And I was glad that I did, it was starting to give me bad thoughts. “This thing is one of a few that stopped Professor Indigo’s aura from protecting him. I’ve seen some weird stuff but this just feels… wrong.”

“I've never heard of such thing, aura debation. Troubling indeed.” He said, giving the bullet a look. He then handed the bullet to Ironwood. The latter looked at it, questioning its existence. “But why would anyone need such a thing?” Ozpin questioned.

“I don’t know, maybe people that don’t like Huntsman?” I said with a shrug. “I don’t know anyone else that can shield themselves or heal themselves with aura then Huntsman.”

“Hmm.” Professor Ozpin hummed with his eyes closed before sighing. “I'll be sure to have his medical bill paid in full.” Ozpin said before looking at Ironwood.

“I'll have this analyzed, see if we can trace back to its manufacturer.” He said, pocketing the bullet and turning to the white haired woman. “Let's go, Winter.” He said to her before heading towards the elevator with Winter following behind.

“I'll work on getting his flask back.” Said the other raven haired man. Ozpin looked at him unamused. “It's obvious the guy needs it.” Was his excuse before walking to the elevator as well. This left me, Ozpin and Glinda. I shifted a bit before speaking.

“Well… if you don’t need me, I’ll just go.” I said as I started to make my way out.

“Wait.” Professor Ozpin said. I stopped and looked back at him. “As you know I look into the background of every staff member and student that comes into this academy. There are some that are… questionable, yours is most interesting Ms. Mal Kun.”

“Okay?” I said as I watch him get handed a folder from the blonde woman. He opened it and started to read.

“It says here you are the daughter of one Mavisath Mal Kun, the sister to Axycia Mal Kun, is this correct?” he asked me.

“Yeah… what’s this about?” I asked him.

“Oh nothing much,” he puts the folder down and gave me an even look. “I’ll be straight with you, this material seems to block out aura is most troubling, with that said I want to send a message to both heads of the SDC and MKC for an exception to see if they have come across this material before and are using it. More so your family’s since they also dive into research and development.”

He stands up and walks around his desk to stand in front of me. “I’m not pointing fingers at your family’s company, I just want to make sure there’s no shady business going on. I’ll will talk to Ms. Schnee about this as well, I just hope you both and corporate in this endeavor.”

I nodded at him, “Alright, I’ll send a message to my aunt about this.” He smiled at me and nodded for me to leave. I walked into the elevator and the last thing I saw was Ozpin sipping his coffee.

“A material that blocks out ones aura… why does that sound familiar?” My aunt said as I had both her and Mother on the line in my room. I told them everything that happened and Professor Ozpin’s message to auntie Axycia.

“Yeah, it put Professor Indigo in the hospital for some time because of it.” I told them. Mother had closed her eyes in deep thought.

“Were you able to speak with Indigo?” Mother asked.

“Just for a bit before he was taken away to the hospital, told me to give the bullet to Ozpin. Me and Blake are going to go over there later to see how he’s doing.” I told her. Mother nodded at this.

“Do be careful and do not let your guard down, whoever his attackers were can still be out there.” Mother said with a bit of a worried tone. I nodded at her with a reassuring smile.

“I will be, remember you both trained me and aunty had me fight against those tall thin Void beasts,” I turned to her with less of a smile. “They were a pain.”

“Ahhh the elite Shadow walkers, good times.” she said happily. “But do be careful.”

“I will.” I told them both.

“Good, for now I must get ready for this meeting that just came up…” she frowned before turning her head. “I swear I heard of something like this before… oh well maybe it’s something that I forgot. Anyway, toodles!” with that her side of the screen turned dark, leaving me with Mother.

“I'm truly sorry to hear about your professor.” Mother said sympathetically. She chuckled just after saying this. With a knowing look, she gazed at me. “But I know that man well enough to know that he'll get back, it wouldn't be the first time nor the last.” She said.

“That sounds ominous…” I said to her. “Anyway, is there anything else or should I end the call?” Mother shook her head before waving goodbye. Soon afterwards her image faded, ending the conference call.

I leaned back and let out a long sigh as I saw Sylph was playing with a small ball that I got for her. She bounced around it and naw on it when she got it. I laughed at the sight of this and went over to play with her.

A few hours later I left my dorm room without Sylph, she was passed out when I left, and found Blake some time later. The two of us headed out towards the hospital where Indigo is at. Most of the walk was in silence as I glanced over to Blake, seeing her looking forward and moving at a brisk pace.

“You okay there Blake?” I asked her after moving out of the way of some people coming our way. Blake avoided eye contact before shakingly sighing.

“I'm just… I'm just worried.” She answered. I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah, you're really worried.” I said. She didn't say anything to that so I decided to be blunt. “Do you like Indigo?” She didn't answer but her fair colored cheeks took a noticeable rosy tint.

“Hey, I'm trustworthy.” I said as I remember back to when I was talking to Indi. “And Who knows, maybe he likes you back.” Blake frowned and looked at me.

“It's not that simple.” She said with a bit of sadness in her tone. Blake stopped and crossed her arms. I stopped looked at her.

“Something up?” I asked her. She took a deep breath before shaking her head and resuming her walk.

I tilted my head in confusion before I followed her towards the hospital. Once we got there we had a nurse lead us to his room. As we walked in I saw Indigo in bed still looking like a mummy only with cords coming out of him.

“You look like hell.” I said out loud. He groaned and leaned back onto his pillow.

“Words cannot describe the immense pain that I'm currently suffering.” He said with a calm tone despite his current condition. “Supposedly the morphine is supposed to help.” He said, gesturing at the bag filled with liquid in question. I looked back at him and saw him shaking his head before saying. “It doesn't.”

“I'm glad you're alright.” Blake said, relieved to see that Indigo had been properly cared for. Indigo chuckled at this. “I was… I was worried.” She admitted, earning a small smile from the bedridden Indigo.

“Well I'm sorry for you making you worry.” He said, reaching out for a bottle of water beside his bed. The shadow of the bottle shifted and raised itself from the flat surface before pushing the bottle into his grasp. “They said that my aura will recover within a few hours, then I'm free to leave.” He said with an informative tone as he opened the bottle of water and drank from it. Blake walked over to the chair beside his bed and sat down, making it obvious that chooses to stay and wait through his recovery. Indigo looked at her questioningly. “Unexpected but certainly not unwelcomed.” He said, smiling at bit .

“Well I'm also happy you're getting better. The school doesn't feel the same without ya.” I told him. He chuckled at this in response. I moved a bit closer and leaned against a wall as I continued. “So I did what you said and told Ozpin and he said he’s going to pay you medical and look into this. He also told me to send word to my aunt to come see him.”

“Did he say anything else?” Indigo asked with a questioning look.

“Not really, other than the one guy with a white uniform will go and analyse the bullet with some woman named Winter. Oh! And one other guy is going to get your flask.” I told him.. He let out a sigh of relief, hearing that he would get his flask returned to him soon.

“Wait… Winter? She's in Vale?” Indigo asked with a bit of panic.

“Uhh, I think so… Also I don't think she likes me.” I said.

“Maybe… Winter is part of the Schnee family.” Blake informed me.

“Oh now that's just rude.” I said, crossing my arms.

“Anyway, you didn't tell where I was, right?” Indigo asked. I answered with a shake of my head. “Good, that's a relief.” He said.

“Why does this Winter person hate you Indigo? I get why for Viri but…” Blake trailed off a bit. Indigo chuckled nervously.

“About that… back when I was a fourth year at Beacon, the Vytal Festival was being held in Atlas… which is where I met Winter.” He said before shifting in his bed. “My team decided to set us up on a Blind Date with one another, I've still yet haven't figured out how they convinced her.” He added. I blinked at him.

“You went on a blind date? You?” I said, not really used to seeing Indigo dating. Sure he's young and stuff but still.

“Yeah.” Indigo simply said with a chuckle. “You sound surprised.” He said jokingly. I didn’t know what to say so Blake continued.

“Okay, so you’re team set up a blind date…” she paused for a moment after saying that. “What happened next?”

“After the date, we hit it off somehow. We dated for the next few months up until the Vytal Tournament or more specifically the match between my team and hers.” He said, smiling a bit before saying. “Turns out she agreed to go out with me only to find out our weaknesses and learn our every move to use against us during the match. Yeah I was furious but I wasn't afraid to admit it, she was smart but she didn't really count the one thing that made my team the best of the best in Beacon. Our unpredictability.” He said.

“Wow… that’s… huh.” I said. I wanted to say say that was a jerk move on Winter but I didn’t say it. Blake didn’t seem to show any emotion from this as she listen. “I guessed she broke up with you after the fight?”

“It was more the other way around. I broke up with her as soon as I finished mopping the floor with her entire team.” He answered with a smirk before adding. “We haven't talked since the break up but every now and again I'd receive an apology letter written by her. She did text me a day later but I had to block her, mostly because she was flooding my scroll with messages.” He added.

“So you’re worried that if she finds out where you are she’ll be coming to find you?” I asked. He nodded before saying.

“That and be awkward.” He admitted with a chuckle. I couldn’t help but smile at that. I pushed myself off the wall and stretched a bit.

“Well I don’t know about you but I believe that I should be going.” I looked over at Blake. “I’ll see you when I see you?”

She gave me an odd look but nodded as I looked over at Indi.

“I'll see you in a bit.” He said, smiling a bit. With a wave I turned and headed out of the room and out of the hospital. I made my way around the city until I bump into someone.

“Oh hell, sorry about… that.” I squeak at the end as I realized I bumped into the person I was talking to Indigo about… along with two robotic guards.

“It’s… fine,” Winter said as she brushed the front of her as as looked towards me. “You’re that Mal Kun girl that came in Ozpin’s office.”

“Uhhh, yeah…” I said as Winter slowly leaned into me.

“Do you know who I am?” she asked me.

“Um… kinda? Your name is Winter and you’re a Schnee…” I answered.

“Yes, but I’m also part of Atlesian Military from Atlas and… are you alright?” she asked me in a drone tone. I realized that I was shaking a bit.

“Sorry, just something about me that’s… odd.” I told her. She gave me an odd look before continuing to talk.

“Well, just to quickly get this over with, you don’t have to deal with me have issues of you being a Mal Kun.” she informed. I tilted my head and decided to not press it as she got more closer. “But if you ever do something that puts my sister in harm's way, I swear that I’ll hunt you down and make your life a living hell.”

“Right got it, crystal clear!” I said quickly. She pulled away as I was now sweating like mad.

“One more thing, do you… know where one of your teachers would be? Professor Indigo to be in-”

“Nope!” I shouted, catching her surprised. She opened her mouth before I continue. “Look I have to go, I have to feed my… dog! Yes, dog. My nice friendly dog and… bye!”

With that I bolted away from her as fast as I can. After a good ten minutes I got to my dorm room and closed my door. I took a deep breath as I slid down to the floor tired. I looked into my room and say Sylph sitting on the floor looking at me, wagging her tail. I smiled as I got up and, well, did what I told Winter; feed Sylph.

After doing that I found out that she likes eating leftover pizza. Who knew!

Author's Note

I kinda wished Winter got a little more screen time in the show, I have high hopes to see her next Vol~

Sleepover and the Beginning of the End

It been a few weeks since the incident with Indigo and the shooting. Luckily and from what Indi said he has gotten better and was in tip-top shape. Winter left only a few days later, leaving Weiss in a short period of thinking.

That is what I think she was doing but I didn’t really know since Indigo had me going through some hardcore training after being away for a few weeks vacation from school. Until I was finished everyday I went to bed so sore that my legs felt like pudding.

I groaned as I made my way to Indigos classroom. Most classes were put on hold during the tournament so students and teachers could watch, giving Indigo loads of time to drill me into the ground with his training. I sighed as I got to the door and opened it to let myself in.

“I’m here to turn my limbs into gel and stuff.” I said out pound before I looked around. I saw both Indigo and Yang there as Yang looked visibly upset. They looked up at me as I tried to read the mood, which wasn’t good. “Uh, what’s going on?”

“Bullshit, that’s what’s going on.” Indigo said, clearly angered at something. I blinked a few times as I looked at the two of them.

“Umm, clarification please?” I said. Yang turned away, not wanting to say anything. Indigo took a deep breath, calming himself a bit as he did before saying.

“It’s best if you just see for yourself.” He said, placing his scroll on his desk. He waved for me to come over. I walked over and looked at his scroll. It was playing the match that Yang was in. The person who she was fighting recognised as the man when I first came to Vale. The match went on as normal and Yang won… and then she shot the guys leg.

“Uhhh, that’s a little… excessive.” I said as I push the scroll away just as Yang hit the desk.

“That’s not what happen! He was coming at me with a kick and I defended myself!” Yang yelled as her eyes went red. She took some angry breaths before calming down. “They say it’s battle stress hallucinations but…”

“Yang that’s enough.” Indigo said, stopping Yang from finishing her sentence. Yang looked down at her desk with sad look. Indigo sighed before sitting down on his chair. “Whatever you saw didn’t happen.” He said

I frowned at him as I looked down at the scroll. “Doesn’t his footsteps sound a little...heavy?” this caused Yang to look up at me.

“What do you mean heavy?” Yang asked me. I rubbed the back of my head at this.

“Well, before I got dragged to Beacon I ran into this guy and his friend. As they walked away I noticed his steps sounded heavier than normal. It could mean he either has heavy boots or prosthetic legs or feet.” I explained. Indigo hummed, looking at the replaying video.

“The bastard has prosthetic legs, armored ones at that.” Indigo said with a deep frown.

“Wait… you mean he faked it?” Yang asked as she looked at the scroll.

“I think this raises more questions, like why did he fake it and didn’t anyone know he has prosthetic legs?” I asked Indigo while he unhooked his flask from his belt.

“Something’s not right.” He muttered, taking a swig of his drink. He narrowed his eyes at his scroll before pausing it. “Hmm.” He hummed, zooming into the video to the crowd and enhancing the video quality. Zooming into the stands again, the blurred figure of Emerald Sustrai became visible. Enhancing the video one last time, it allowed us to see her concentrating. “I might need to have a chat with Miss Sustrai later.” Indigo said.

“Unless you can stop a ship from flying away you can’t. They sent that team away due to this ‘injury’.” Yang informed him. I tuned the two of them out as I looked at the scroll a little longer.

“Why did they do this? It doesn’t make sense.” I said to myself. I looked back up to Indigo. “And doesn’t Beacon have a record of every student in the tournament? Shouldn’t the staff know about the prosthetics and whatever Emerald can do?”

“Their Bio is fake, we’ve recently been hacked and from that incident, I noted a few new entries for the tournament.” He answered, standing up from his seat. “I was busy looking at the other entries when it happened.”

I frowned at this as I looked at the still image of Emerald. “I think this group is going to pull something big. Really big.” Indigo nodded in agreement before looking at Yang and saying.

“You can leave now, Yang. Detention is over.” He said to her. She didn’t say anything as she got up and walked out of the room. I looked over at Indigo as we were alone.

“So… now what?” I asked. Indigo looked back down at his scroll before letting out a sigh.

“I don’t know but for now I have to make sure no one gives Yang a hard time.” He said, grabbing his scroll and putting it away in his pocket. I gave him a somber nod at his reply.

“Right… I guess I should go then.” I said. He didn’t say anything as I made my way to the door. I stopped at the door and looked back at him. “If you need anything, give me a call.” This earned me a chuckle from Indigo as I opened the door before walking out.

I flipped a page of my book as I laid in bed with Sylph curled up next to me. At times I reached down and scratched behind her ears, earning a small happy purr from her. I continued reading the Crimson Huntress and got more interested in the character and story. The Huntress Sara was strong, funny, and at times a little bit of a smartass. I couldn’t help but laugh at her and get really interested when there was a fight scene since her weapon of choice is, oddly, a pair of axes that doesn’t turn into a weapon but it’s still useful.

As I read I was pulled out of the book by some knocking. Frowning since I didn’t expect anyone to come by I put my book down and went to the door. As I opened the door I saw Ruby was there.

“Hey Ruby, what’s up?” I asked her.

“Oh nothing, say are you busy right now tonight?” she asked me. I gave her an odd look as I smiled.

“Not really, why do you have plans?” I asked.

“Oh well I do, and it’s-” With that, the rest of Team RWBY appeared right behind her with bags, games, movies, sleeping bags, and food. “Sleepover!” they all said happily, even Weiss did.

“...what.” was all I said as they all walked into my room. I looked at all of them as they started to put their stuff down. “What?!”

“What what? We’re having a sleepover.” Yang said happily somber.

“Yeah, besides we never really spent time with you so this was a good way to do that.” Weiss added as she moves her stuff around.

“It was also Ruby’s idea.” Blake added as well which made Ruby smile brightly.

“I’m not going to be able to get you all out of my place am I?” I asked them. They all answered with a big ‘Nope!’ I sighed and smiled. “Alright, I guess we’ll have a sleepover.”

Ruby cheered as the rest of them smiled. The five of us spent the next few hours playing the games they brought, one was a card game that Ruby, Yang, and Weiss somewhat got really into. At the end it left Ruby and Weiss crying dramatically.

“This game really does play with one’s emotions!” Weiss cried out, leaving me wondering what’s up with the game. At one point Yang and Blake went out to get some drinks as I called for some pizza. Sylph on the other hand laid on a pillow as she watches us and got to eat some pizza when it came.

Right now we were sitting down on the floor listing to Ruby tell a scary story. It… really wasn’t scary since she was making it funny.

“Sis give it a break. We’re laughing more being scared.” Yang pointed out. Ruby slump down a bit as she was sitting. I smiled as I tossed her a cookie.

“For the effort.” I told her. She cheered as she eats the cooking in one go. I rolled my eyes as I took a bit out of my pizza as I looked over at Yang.“So… how are you, Yang?”

“Huh? Oh uh, I’m… alright.” Yang said. I saw her glance over to Blake for a moment then back at me. “Just… I’m alright.”

My ears twitched a bit before looking away from her. Ruby looked at the two of us as Weiss took a sip of her drink.

“You know, we don’t really know you.” Weiss said to me. The rest of us looked at her.

“Weiss that’s rude to say that!” Ruby said with a frown.

“Well, it’s true. Other than what we do know, which isn’t a lot, we don’t know Viri.” she explained.

“I agree,” Blake added before looking at me. “We’re all friends but we don’t even know your past Viri.”

I raised an eyebrow and gave her a look, “Oh really, well I don’t know anything about the four of you and-”

“Step sisters with one’s mother not around and the other’s haven’t seen, rich parents and pampered lifestyle and an ex-White Fang member.” Yang said bluntly as the other three turned to her.

“Why do you have to say that so bluntly?” Blake asked with an upset look.

“And I wasn’t pampered when I was young!” Weiss retorted. “... Well, not a lot of it.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to come off rude but it was a simple way to explain things.” Yang said with a sorry expression. I stared at the four of them for a good few minutes before sighing.

“Well… my life wasn’t really all that great when I was really young,” I started to say. “From what I can tell from some history classes I was born up in Solitas, or Atlas or whatever they call it.”

“Oh, never took you as of someone who lives up there.” Weiss said as she listened to me.

“Yeah…” I soon frowned. “I didn’t like it there, it was always cold and I lived out in the streets. And before you ask no I don’t know who my parents are and the woman that you met Weiss isn’t related to me by blood.”

The four of them didn’t say anything as I continued, “I lived in a town that wasn’t the most friendly to Faunus, even more so to Fox Faunus,” my ears twitched at the mention of Fox which made Sylph look up at me. “For the most part I spent it going from alleyway to alleyway taking what I can find and trying to pickpocket anyone that wasn’t looking. The nights were cold as I didn’t have anything to keep me warm.”

“Then… how did your foster parents find you?” Ruby asked. I paused for a moment as I tired to think of the words so I don’t tip them off that Mother and Aunty were gods.

“Well… one day as I was trying to keep warm and stay out of everyone’s sight I heard two people talking nearby. I went over and saw the two of them and the woman that would be my mother had this amazing looking knife. I knew if I took it and sold it to anyone I would get something out of it. So I tired to swipe it and well, she knew I was there and grabbed my arm.” I pulled my legs up and hugged them close to me.

“What happened next?” Ruby asked me. A small smile grew on my face.

“Well, she acted like she was someone worried about my well being so she took me to a local cafe and fed me some food. I simply enjoyed the warmth and food but was scared of going back into the cold alone again but… she offered her home to me and I took it.” I told them. “My life changed that day as she and her sister, who’s the aunt by the way, took me away from Solitas and off someplace far far away. There I lived with them and, when I got older, they taught me and trained me in fighting. I think it was my aunts idea that I know how to fight and the two of them trained me.”

“Wow, that’s amazing.” Weiss said in surprise. I made a sarcastic laugh.

“Yeah but what I didn’t know is how brutal my aunts training is…” I wince at the memory of her training camp when I was twelve. I shook my head as I continued. “And… that’s it. A bit of a story book backstory but… that’s my past.” At this point I was tackled by Ruby, who was sniffling a bit.

“That’s so sad!” she cried as she hugged me. I blinked a few times before patting the crying Ruby.

“You… never met your parents? Your real ones I mean.” Weiss asked.

“No… I don’t even know if they’re alive. I wouldn’t say I don’t want to meet them, I really do but… I don’t know where to start looking.” I told them. “But as my aunt says, ‘Sometimes fate likes to be a little funny.’”

“I… don’t get it.” Yang said. I laughed as I looked at her.

“I don’t know either.”

After the sleepover, and a few days later Team RWBY went off to go see the next fight with two of their friends. I would’ve gone with them but I got a message from Indigo to go meet up with him in the classroom. It also said that I had to come alone.

Confused by this I told them that something came up and I had to check on something.

“Okay, we’ll save you a seat if you get back!” Ruby called out. I smiled as I turned to head towards the classroom. Sylph rode on top of my head as she pawed my hair a bit as I soon got to the door and opened it. Sure enough I saw Indigo there with his scroll out and doing something on it. I also saw Oni sitting nearby watching him until he looked over at me.

“Hey, you called me?” I asked him. Looking up from his scroll, Indigo noticed me before looking back down at his scroll as he placed atop his desk. I noticed that his attire was completely different than his usual choice of clothing.

“Yeah I did. I’ve found the people that shot me, it turns out they were some White Fang grunts looking to start some trouble.” He said, opening a drawer in his desk and pulling out a small cartridge before unhooking one of his tonfas. He then changed the tonfa into its secondary form, a compact submachine gun. He removed the magazine cartridge from the gun before inserting the other cartridge. “That’s not all though, I know who they are and where they are. They’ve been hiding out in one of the old Schnee dust company warehouses on the outskirts of Vale.” He said. I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Okay… and why are you telling me this. Why not tell Professor Ozpin?” I asked Indigo. Indigo frowned as he crossed his arms.

“It’s personal.” He answered.

“It still doesn’t answer why you’re telling me.” I said as I crossed my arms. He shrugged before saying.

“I’m not going to lie, I’m slightly drunk.” He admitted before unhooking his flask and chugging down its contents. “I’m known to not think before doing under the influence of alcohol.” He added, his tone sounding more sophisticated than before. I stared at him for a long minute before I gave him a deadpan look.

“I’m going with you.” I said simply. He frowned as I continued. “You’re drunk, this is something personal to you and, you’re drunk. You need someone there you tell you to ease up.” He took a deep breath before exhaling loudly.

“Alright, fine. You can come with, just don’t tell Blake.” He said before looking at Oni. The latter looked up at his partner, ready to go along for the ride.

“My lips are sealed.” I said with a gesture of zipping my lips. Sylph sat on top of my head as she watched all this before Indigo walked over. She then buried her head in my hair to, I guess, stop smelling the alcohol. I heard some sounds coming from her as she did this.

Indigo looked down at his scroll before picking it up. He stared blankly at his screen before closing his eyes with a frown before suddenly crushing his scroll within his hand. He opened his eyes and saw the damage but said nothing before walking towards the door. I looked at him before looking at Oni.

“I have a feeling that he does that a lot.” I said to him as I headed towards him. “Hey, what was that about?” He sighed sadly before saying.

“It’s complicated.” He said, opening the door and exiting the classroom with me in tow.

“Right…” was all I said as I followed him. After having gone through multiple flights of stairs, we finally made it out of the building and into the courtyard. It was empty, me and Indigo were the only ones walking through the main gates. Just outside was a small parked Bullhead but no pilot in sight.

“Get in.” Indigo said, opening the side door before entering. As I got in, Indigo sat on the pilot’s seat before pushing a few buttons and flipping a couple of switches, causing the engines activation. The Bullhead soon started to rise as me, Oni and Sylph watched as we were lifted up to the sky. Before we knew it, we were off. I never knew Indigo could pilot a bullhead, much less in his current condition. I held on to anything as we flew in the air, I saw the stadium where the tournament is being held and I had to admit it looked cool. We soon flew away from the place and out of the city. I turned to Indigo and saw he was wearing some headphones. I looked around and saw some more and put them on and pulled the mic forward.

“How long till we get there?” I asked into the mic.

“In a minute, minute and a half at best.” He said before I felt the bullhead speed up drastically. I held on to the seat as I felt Sylph hold on to my head for dear life. The same goes for Oni as I saw his claws digging into the floor.

“Do you know how to land?” I asked worriedly as we were speeding up. Before he answered, we slowed down and I looked to see that we were near the edge of Vale, the warehouse, while obscured by tress, was just a short walk away. We then slowly and gently touched ground. A few button presses and a couple of switch flippings, the Bullhead’s engine deactivated. I let out a breath that I was holding as Indigo got out of the Bullhead. I opened the door and stepped out with Oni as I saw Indigo walk around. “That… was the most scariest thing I have ever been through.” Indigo once again took a swig from his flask. I frowned as I felt Sylph shake on top of my head. I pulled her down and frowned sadly at her. “Sorry Frosty, didn’t mean to scare you.”

She made a sound before I put her down on the ground.

“We’ve only have a short window of opportunity here.” Indigo said with a serious tone. He looked at Oni before saying. “Watch over the Bullhead while we’re gone, I’ll whistle if I need your help.” Oni nodded in acknowledgment before jumping on top of the bullhead and sitting down. I put Sylph on the floor of the Bullhead and told her to take a nap. Her acknowledgment is to curl up into a ball and put her tail over her head. I smiled and turned to Indigo.

“After you.” I said to him.

“Gladly.” He said, taking the lead and walking ahead. I followed him and stayed silent for the time walking. I looked around at the place until I saw the warehouse up ahead.

“So… you said this is personal to you but does the White Fang have something against you when they shot you or you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time?” I asked him.

“A little bit of both. The White Fang has caused me a lot of pain, might as well make them feel it.” He answered as we stopped at the sight of an armed White Fang grunt, a deer faunus male judging by the antlers. Another one was inside the guard post used, probably to monitor the cameras. With a frown, Indigo let out a grunt just before the shadows of both White Fang members rose up from the ground. The armed soldier was choked slammed onto the pavement while the guard inside was smashed into the monitors, with the deed done both shadows sunk back into their ground. I blinked at that before nodding.

“Right, Shadowmancy, neat.” I said. Indigo walked ahead, passing the unconscious guard on the floor. He was literally walking through the front door but before I could question him, a group of four guards had walked into view and spotted Indigo. Seeing this, Indigo grabbed his submachine gun before changing it back into its tonfa form while he unhooked the other. With blinding speed he ran up to them and knee kicked the larger faunus of the group, a bear faunus. The latter’s breath left upon impact before falling onto the floor with a quiet groan. He then batted the second nearest one of the group, a female tiger faunus armed with a red sword. Quickly he then struck the knee of the third guard, causing him to kneel down before being batted away by Indigo. Finally, the last remaining guard stood shocked at what just happened. Indigo walked up to him, grabbed his gun before headbutting him, hard.

I walked over to him and looked at the four groaning or knocked out guards then looked at him and gave him a quiet golf clap. Indigo glanced back at before throwing one of his tonfas at my directions, I flinched out of reflex only to hear it collide with something behind me. I looked back to see that it was another large faunus, this one being a large male lion faunus. He fell over with Indigo’s tonfa nearby. I blinked at this and hang my head a bit at what all this implies. Indigo walked by and stood above the groaning lion faunus before picking up his tonfa.

“Let’s go.” He said, looking towards the large warehouse just a short walk away. Everything bore the Schnee dust company logo, from the equipment to the actual building.

“I know my family is the rival to the Schnee dust company, but why does this White Fang target them so much?” I asked quietly.

“Your family’s company is well known for handling those that would tarnish their name or attempt to frame them.” Indigo answered, walking by a large container. A guard came into view, having been around the corner of the container but was quickly dispatched by Indigo. “I’ve worked a few odd jobs for them a long time ago.” He added, taking the gun of the downed White Fang guard. It was a simple pump action shotgun. He pumped the gun, causing the loaded shell to pop out. He did this a few more times before no other shell came out. He then picked up a shell and put it in his pocket.

“I’m guessing the Schnee’s aren’t or something?” I asked, making a note to ask Weiss about this later.

“The company has gone into some shady business, everyone knows this. Jacques has the habit of forgetting to pay and even, in some occasions, lacking the funds to pay for a job well done.” He said angrily before stopping in front of the large doors of the warehouse. “The man owes me up to a million lien, guy refuses to pay, I refuse to work.” He said, looking at the lock mechanism keeping the door shut. With a questioning hum, he took out the shotgun shell from his pocket and grabbing one of his tonfas. Holding the shell as it were a nail, he hammered it with enough force for the shell to release its buckshot rounds. It penetrated the lock and caused the doors to open. “Either I hit too hard or these locks are shit.” He muttered to himself.

“If the locks are shit then maybe a paper clip would’ve opened it,” I stopped to think about it. “Is that an insult to the locks or the Schnee company for getting the locks?”

Indigo let out a chuckle as we walked through the door. We climbed up some stairs until we were walking on some scaffolding. I looked down and saw a number of different Faunus wearing masks and are armed with guns and weapons. Indigo and I kept low to sneak by, I looked down and saw some others in lab coats in a small area with a few armed guards stationed.

“Are those… hostages?” I asked Indigo as I looked down and saw some boxes with the symbol of my aunt's company nearby.

“By the looks of it, I should be expecting a job offer from your aunt soon.” He said with a quiet chuckle. I turned to him and frowned at him but didn’t say anything. “In all seriousness though, we need to get them out of here before I blow this place sky high.” He said.

“That sounds like a good idea.” I said. The two of us headed off into the warehouse. Indi soon stopped around a corner to peek around the side.

“Hey.” a voice said behind us. The both of us turned to see a guard standing there with a gun in his hands. He pointed it at us before speaking. “Who are you?”

“Uh, cleaning crew?” I answered. The Faunus tilted his head before his hand went towards a walkie-talkie before a loud ‘Thunk!’ was heard and he stiffens. He soon fell over and there was a man, human, there with a two by four. He looked at us for a moment before looking down.

“You have no idea how long I wanted to do that.” he said as he looked at us. “But really, who are you two?”

“I’m Indigo Parker, this is Viri Mal Kun.” Indigo quickly replied while searching the pockets of the unconscious guard. He finally pulled out an odd looking key before pocketing it. The man looked at me with wide eyes.

“A Mal Kun? Here? Ha!” he started to laugh a bit. “This is a day, getting dragged back here only to have one of the bosses family to come here, I must have made someone happy.”

“What? Wait back here, what are you talking about?” I asked him. The man looked off and frowned at the building itself.

“I used to work for the Schnee company as one of the head workers for them but was treated badly. I couldn’t stand Jacques ideas and he made my life a living hell. It wasn’t as bad as the Faunus that also worked there but still.” the man shook his head a bit. “This is why I quit that company and started to work for the Mal Kuns, it was the same type work but it was a bit better than what I had. It also has a better dental plan.”

“Alright, why did the White Fang kidnapped you?” Indigo asked, standing up after having pocketed the key. The man frowned at this before shrugging.

“Don’t know for sure, all I do know that something is going to go down and it’s going to be big.” he said as he crossed his arms. “The White Fang got us working on replicating some sort of bullet or weapon that breaks auras,” his nose scrunched up a bit. “This Adam guy really wants us to make them faster but-” he stopped when he looked at Indigo.

“Of fucking course.” Indigo said in anger. He closed his eyes and exhaled loudly, holding back his anger. Both me and the man took a step back from him.

“Right… guessing you two have history.” the man said. “To keep this short, he wants us to find a way to make them faster but there isn’t a faster way.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, keeping an eye out for any other guards. The man shook his head.

“It just… it just can’t be done. One is you have to find people that understand what the fuck they are working with, which almost breaks every scientific law I know, and two is to find tools that can work with it, which makes either the Schnee or Mal Kun company the only ones that can come close, and finally having the time. One bullet takes about a month and a half to make!” the man shook his head. “To make it go faster is just not possible.”

“Won’t matter after I’m through here.” Indigo said, walking ahead without concern for himself getting caught.

“That’s not the worst of it…” the man said.

“What do you mean?” I asked him. He turned to me with a sad expression.

“These bullets won’t be the big thing, something else will happen, something that involves the Tournament that’s going on.” he answered. My eyes went wide as I started to run after Indigo.

“Indigo!” I yelled as I got closer. “Something is going to happen at the stadium! We have to get everyone out of here and get back!”

“You work on getting the people out, I’ll work on torching this place.” He said, holding his flask as he did. He opened the cap and I was about to yell at him for drinking at a time like this but to my surprise, he just poured whatever was left on a munitions crate. I frowned at him and looked around at the crates and got a idea.

“No, you work on getting the people out, I’m better at torching,” I explained to him. He looked at me and opened his mouth as I pulled Molten Coil out and raised an eyebrow. “My whole theme is base on fire and torching everything, I’m better at it.” He raised a brow before looking back down at the crate, following his gaze I noticed much to my horror that the top had dissolved, making me question what Indigo drinks.

“Whatever floats your boat but I’m taking this.” He said, reaching into the crate and pulling out a single bullet, similar to the one that shot him. With that, he left without another word with the other man in tow.

“It’s personal…” I muttered as I turned and ran down the halls. As I ran I heard the alarm went off and I heard the sound of footsteps running down that hall. I stopped and saw a group of guards ran past me, probably going after Indigo and the man. It didn’t matter to me as I ran to the middle of the warehouse and had my weapon at the ready. The room I was in was filled with metal crates with the Schnee symbol on it. I took Molten in both hands and concentrated on it. The sound of whirring as it started to build up heat and fire. The room started to smolder as whatever that isn’t metal burst into flames, the crate on the other hand stayed in one piece. Grunting I pushed further as the flames turned white hot and the room was the center of my inferno.

“Come on… come on…” I panted as I pushed myself close to the point where I could make another small sun like last time. I held off of that as I saw the crates were just starting to melt. “What… are these things… made of?”

I squeezed my eyes shut as I pushed myself further until I was screaming as I almost dropped my sword. It went through the grounds as something in me… clicked.

‘The Flames of Creation… this is the path you take…’

A few hours later

I open my eyes and groan as I felt a wave of soreness went over me. I push myself up and saw that I was in the Bullhead that I came with and Indigo was sitting beside me. I blinked a few times and saw my clothes were worse for wear, they were smothering a bit as most of it was burned off.

“Next time, flame resistant clothes.” I muttered.

“And a new scroll.” Indigo said, bringing my attention to the smoldering remains that were indeed my scroll. My eyes widen at this.

“My aunt… is going to kill me.” I said as I laid back down. “What happen?”

“Oh nothing much, stopped the White Fang, destroy the warehouse, and made a volcano in its place.” Indigo explained. I bolt straight up at the last part.

“I did a what now?!” I said as I turned to see, in place of the warehouse, is a volcano that had lava pouring out of it. Oddly it only went so far before stopping. I covered my face with my hands and groaned. “I have no idea what’s going on with me…”

“Is there something I should be concerned with?” Indigo asked. I looked up at him questioningly before he added. “As a professor, I have to worry if one of my students have something troubling them.” He said.

“I… I don’t know…” I said as I looked at him. “Here’s a question, have you met a student, or anyone in that matter, that can do that!” I yelled as I pointed at the volcano. As I looked I also saw what I could guess is a large wolf made out of fire walking around the volcano. “Oh come on! Where did that come from!?!”

“I… kinda wanted to know that as well, I was about to get gun down when… that came and tore into them.” Indigo added. I put my head into my hands and groaned, this was too much in a short amount of time. I felt a hand on my shoulder, bringing my attention back up to Indigo. “I’m not sure what you’re going through but that semblance of yours, that’s something special. Never seen anything like it but you need to not let it control you and you certainly shouldn’t control it. You got to find a middle ground in between the two, similar to what I did with mine.” As he said this, the shadow he casted over the ground nodded in agreement.

I looked at Indigo and his shadow before sighing, “Maybe, where’s Molten Coil?” I asked. Indigo didn’t say anything as he leaned out of the side. I looked over to see my weapon logged into the side of the Bullhead. “Oh… there she is.”

Looking at her I reached my hand out, just for it to come out of the side and into my hand. I felt a warm hum from it as I sighed and sat back down. I felt a nudge on my leg and I saw Sylph there looking up at me.

“You have some pet.” a voice said. I looked up to see the man from before flying the Bullhead. “We came out and saw one of the White Fang in a solid block of ice.”

I looked down at Sylph and picked her up. “Awww, you turned him into a White Fangsical.”

“Don’t start.” Indigo said, unamused with my joke. I rolled my eyes at him as I put Sylph down and pet her. As we flew over the forest and away from the newly made volcano the scientist spoke up.

“Uhh, you two better take a look of this.” he said. Me and Indigo looked at each other before looking through the front. My eyes widen at what I saw.

Smoke rising up from the streets and Nevermores flying over the sky. Explosions going off on the ground as one of the flying battleships was shooting the others.

“This is what the White Fang was talking about, this is the big thing that was going to happen.” the scientist said. Oni whined as he laid down while Indigo leaned back into his seat with a shocked look. The moment of silence lasted for a brief second or two before Indigo stood up, a look of anger on his face. Oni saw this and got up before looking at the side door. Without as much as a single word, Indigo opened the side door while Oni stood beside him.

“They’ve got a lot of nerve to do something like this.” Indigo said just as an Atlesian aircraft flew by, shaking the Bullhead a bit. “Adam’s a dead man.” He growled before falling forward with Oni in tow. I watched all this as the Bullhead started to turn away from the city.

“What are you doing?!” I yelled at him.

“What do you think?! That place is a war zone and I’m not going to put my life on the line for that!” he yelled back as he turned. “I’m a scientist, not a soldier or Huntsman!”

I looked over at him before at Sylph. I kneeled down and place the gem on her head. “I’ll be back soon, don’t worry.” I said as she soon disappeared. I turned to the open door and walked over to it. I saw I was in view of Beacon that was on fire.

“You’re insane.” I head the man said. I simply shrug as I took a few steps back.

“Not really, my entire trial is something like this.” I said right before I ran forward and jumped out.

Author's Note

Next Chapter is the last of the Beacon Academy arc also it seems there’s more to Viri’s Semblance that even she knows.

[Edit] Oh my lord it was hard to post this when Fim is acting wonky

Fires of Beacon

Falling down from the sky was oddly familiar to me as the ground was fast approaching. With Molten Coil in hand, I pulled the trigger a few times to fire myself forward. This both slowed me down a bit and propel me forward. As I got closer to the ground I fired forwards as my feet hit the ground. I rolled forward and came to a stand.

“Safe!” I said with a smile. I take a look around and my smile dropped as I saw all the destruction that’s going on. “Okay, not safe.”

I bolted down the street as I heard the sound of gunfire and yells from around me. As I ran I saw a few Beowolves coming out of an alleyway. Not wanting to stop I ignited Molten and slash forward, cutting the Beowolves heads off.

“Coming through!” I yelled. I kept going down the street as more and more Grimm appeared. As I tore through them as I did trying to make my way forward. As much as I tried they’re just too many and I was now surrounded by Grimm. I bit my lip as I tried to look for a way out. “I really got myself into this one huh.”

The Grimm around me growled at me as I held Molten Coil in my hands. I looked at her and at the ground. “Maybe a bit of a fiery explosion will help.”

With that in mind, I plunged Molten into the ground in hopes to let out a fiery explosion to either take out the Grimm or knock them back so I could run. The results were… interesting.

Instead of a flaming explosion of fire and brimstone Molten went a little deeper into the ground and in front of me, the ground seemed to come a bit as the cracks started to glow… then an arm came out, then another. Soon floating in front of me is a being of fire with two curved swords in its hands, claws, things. It wore molten rock like armor from the chest up while the bottom half is just fire. It looked around and saw the Grimm who I guessed was puzzled as I was.

With a single swipe of its sword, it sent a burning wave that, literally, buried everything to ash. My jaw dropped as the creature looked at me and waited for something.

“You’re new!” I yelled in shocked. It just stared at me as a million questions went through my head. “No! No, not now, I’ll ask them later. For now, I should find Indigo or someone that’s not trying to kill me.”

I walked forward for a bit and heard the Fire Elemental following me. “No! No stop following me!” It just stared at me. “I mean it! You’re just… some… fiery elemental!” And it continued to stare at me. It made some sort of noise but I didn’t understand it. “What… look you can’t come with me since everyone would freak out at the sight of you!”

It looked at me before looking off to the side and turned to fire, err just the fire part, not the fire with armor. It moved over to a wall and went into something that looks like a robot. Soon the body stood up and some flames were coming out of its armor. I simply stared at it and groaned.

“You’re not going to stay away, are you?” I asked it. For once it simply answered by shaking its head. I sighed and pulled Molten out of the ground. “Fine… let just go…”

With that, I started running off with the fire robot behind me. Funny enough the loud stomping of the robot behind didn’t attract anyone to us. We kept going until I started to hear gunshots. I slowed down and peer around the corner to see five more robots shooting at someone. My question was answered as Indi came up and shoot one of them before ducking back down. I pulled back and bit my thumb.

“What to do, what to do?” I asked myself as I looked over to the firebot. “Do you have any ideas?”

With that, I watched as it walked away from me and started to jog over to the other robots. It punches into one of the bots bodies and used it as a shield as the other three turned to shoot at it. Taking one of the guns it started to shoot molten shots at them before they were turned into scrap. I blinked at what just happen and walked out.

“Okay… that was awesome.” I said as I saw Indigo peek out. I waved at him and walked over towards him. “You okay?” He looked at the robot before looking at me.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Indigo said with a frown. He opened his mouth, about to speak but a multiple howls had caused him to stop and quickly turn to face the source, seeing a pack of beowolves charging towards us. Indigo took a fighting stance, clearly not wanting to simply move out of the way but before any of those beowolves could even get close, another howl was heard before the sudden appearance of a bigger beowolf. Even on all fours the beast was taller than the beowolves but with a growl, the larger beowolf stood on two legs, dwarfing the incoming pack. The larger beast glance back at Indigo, as it was waiting for something. With a smirk, Indigo said. “Sick ‘em.” With those simple words the large beowolf charge at the pack with blinding speed before grabbing the nearest one by its neck and piercing its chest with its long and sharp claws. The beast then tossed the bleeding body of the beowolf onto another before pouncing and stabbing another. One of the pack members pounced in an attempted to have the upper hand but the beast caught the smaller beowolf within its jaws before biting down, killing the beowolf as a result. The beast turned to face the remaining beowolves, growling as it did but was satisfied at the sight of them fleeing. With them now gone, the beast turned to face us before walking up to us but I noticed as it grew closer, it got smaller. It kept shrinking in size before finally stopping next to Indigo, I was shocked to see that it was Oni all this time. With a smile Indigo gave a few scratched behind his ears. “Good boy.” He said.

“That’s… new.” I said as Oni looked at me. “Could he always do that?” With a nod, Indigo answered.

“I’ve told you, he has his own semblance.” Indigo said, straightening up before grabbing his tonfas again. “He’s able to take the form of what he was meant to be if I never found him. He’s a Primal Beowolf.” Indigo said.

“Oh…” Was all I could say until the flaming robot started to shoot something. I turned to yell at it as a Nevermore flew over our heads and crashed away from us. The bot turned and little bursts of flames came out of its body. I stared at him and turned to Indigo as he stared at me. “Don’t ask, even I don’t know anymore. Wait, why were the Atlas bots firing at you?”

“They’ve been hacked. All of them, how is beyond me.” Indigo said, angered at this. “I’ve tried contacting the others, still no luck. I was about to head to the stadium before I was rushed by the Atlas bots.” He said.

“Have you tried Ruby and her friends?” I asked, looking around us. He shook his head, pulling out a scroll larger than the own he had crushed. “This piece of shit is a basic personal scroll, calling on this is absolute hell.” He said, quickly typing into the digital screen. “I found it on the ground mildly intact, someone must’ve dropped during the initial panic.” He said before finally being greeted with four images, each of them being of the separate members of RWBY. “Please work.” Indigo muttered.

Seeing this I looked down at the robots that Flame bot shot and got an idea. I kneeled down and started to open one of them up. “Busted, busted, junk, junk, here we go…” I pulled some wires out before heading over and started to drag the others to one spot. After five minutes of pulling them apart and Indigo still waiting I pulled a wire up to him. “Plug this into the scroll.” He nodded and plugged the wire into the scroll. The four bots jerked a bit and a light came on. As this happens the voices of Team RWBY were heard. Indigo raised an eyebrow at me as I smiled. “I was a bit of a tech bug when I was younger.”

“Hello!?! Professor Indigo!? You there?!” Ruby yelled through the scroll.

“Ruby stop yelling!”Weiss yelled back.

“Please, two yelling Ruby’s is a bit much.” Blake said. For a moment I was confused at what she meant but it became clear when I heard Blakes voice through Weiss’ image as they are right next to each other.

“Is Viri there with you?!”Ruby continued, I be it a little less loud.

“Yeah, she’s with me. Listen, I’m on my way to the stadium.” Indigo started just as another Atlesian bot and quickly fired at Indigo, only for him to spin his tonfa and deflect the incoming hellfire. Unfortunately for the bot, the very same bullets pierced its armor badly and fell having been defeated.

“We’re not at the stadium Indi, we left after…”Ruby stopped for a moment, I could almost hear her let out a sob before she continues. “The team that left, their back and I ran into Mercury before everything went crazy.”

“Yeah, the Grimm showed up and so did the White Fang. And to top it off the Atlesian bots are fighting against us as well!”Weiss added as we.

“Indigo, what’s going on?” Blake asked as I saw more Bots coming. The Flame bot walked over towards them and started shooting at them, giving us some cover.

“I don’t know.” Indigo answered simply. A frown forming as he did. As I looked over I heard a sound from the scroll that indicated it was from Ruby.

“Have to go, getting a call from Jaune.” Ruby said before her image goes dark.

“I’m going to go find Yang, I believe she’s around the dorms.” Blake said.

“I’m going to go find Ruby, Oum knows she needs some help.”Weiss said before her image went dark and the sound of running was heard from Blakes image. As soon as the call ended, the scroll emitted a few buzzes before the screen shattered, the scroll having had enough of the robo booster I build, also the four robots were also smoking a bit.

“Geez they don’t make robots like they used to anymore…” I said dryly.

“I prefer no robots.” Indigo said before looking down at Oni, who sat patiently. “Come on, we shouldn’t stand around here anymore.” As he said this, a few Nevermores flew above us.

“Yeah.” I said as Flame bot came back, now missing an arm which was replaced with an on fire one. “That’s looks… freaky.” It looked at me before looking down at the four smoking ones, ripped one of their arms off and reattached it to itself. I simply started at it for a moment before looking at Indigo. “Where to?”

“We’ll split up, find any civilians and get them to a safe location. I think I’ve heard that Atlas has set some evacuation zones around Vale, just look for the Bullhead, you can’t miss em.” He said before running into a random direction with Oni in tow.

I only nodded and looked to Flame Bot. “Let’s go.” with that I ran off in the other direction with the bot following behind.

A few hours later as I found one of the evacuation zones and got some civilians to safety I saw it was getting dark but the school area was still on fire. I ran around the dorms to see if I can find anymore.

“This place looks clear.” I said as the flame bot came up. I saw it was getting more and more damage as the hours pass. “Come on, we’ll do one more pass and-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!!”

As I yelled that a large, Grimm like dragon flew over us and went towards the Tower of the school. I stood there staring towards it and looked at the bot. “THERE’S DRAGON GRIMM!?!”

My shock was interrupted when I saw Yang running across the lawn. She was quite away from me and she seemed determined about something. I looked to the Flame bot and ordered it to go see if he can find anyone else to save. With that I ran after Yang.

As I got closer I heard an explosion, a scream, then another that sounded like Blake, “YANG!” was all I heard as I got around to where everything is and saw something that made my blood go cold. Both Yang and Blake were on the ground as Blake was holding her side as blood was bleeding through, and Yang was clutching her arm… or lack thereof. Walking towards them was a man in a black jacket with a red design on his left shoulder. With outfit was that of black and red colours as his hair is short and red with two horns coming out of it. He wears a white Grimm mask that most White Fang goons I seen wear as well. He holds a red katana in his hand as he brought it around to strike Yang.

“NO!” I yelled as I ran forwards and blocked it with Molten Coil.

“Ugh, one after the other.” he grows as I pushed him away and held my weapon with both hands.

“Blake, are you okay?” I asked her.

“I… ugh, don’t worry about me. Yang is…” she trailed off as Yang clutches her cut off arm.

“My arm… Ahh!!” she cries. I grip the handle as I grit my teeth.

“You hurt my friends, you’re going to pay.” I growled at him.

“You all are getting on my nerves, where is Indigo.” he ordered. I scoff at him.

“Here’s my answer.” I said as I shot a molten bolt at him. He simply slashed at it, cutting it in half an missing him.

“Fine, your next.” he said before dashing forward. I brought my weapon up and blocked his strike and pushed him to the side. Both our weapons clashed as I tired to push him away. I slashed at him, sending flames at him but it seemed he could cut through that as well.

“Why are you doing this!” I yelled at him.

“Hm, looks like Blake there haven’t really talked about me have she.” the man said as he dashed forward and clashed with me. He looked over and spoke to Blake. “Blake, I’m giving you a chance to return to the White Fang! Don’t be stupid and help me bring justice to the Faunus!”

“Your justice… is twisted and wrong Adam!” Blake yelled, trying to pull Yang away.

“Uh, hey I’m still right here!” I yelled as I push Adam away and pushed forward. He blocks my attacks and jumps back as I raised Molten Coil up until I heard a shot went off. A spike of pain went off as I looked down and saw blood coming out of my clothes. I dropped Molten Coil and fell backwards, clutching my stomach. “B-but…”

“How did a bullet get pass your aura?” Adam said as he walks over to me with his sword at my throat. “Now, tell me where’s Indigo, Now!”

I panted a bit as I looked at him. I raised a hand up and flipped him the bird. “...Fuck… off… you Edgelord…” he snorted at this.

“Pity, you could of had a quick death.” he said as he puts his boot on my wound. I screamed as he digged into it and the pain skyrocketed.

“Hey, dickweed!” Adam’s attention turned to the one who insulted him, I couldn’t help but chuckle at this. I looked to the owner of the voice, seeing Indigo with both his tonfas ready for battle. Adam, seeing Indigo, moved his boot away from my wound.

“You’ve finally decided to show your face.” Adam sneered, redying his sword as he spoke. “Once I’m done I’m with you, I’ll show Blake your nothing but broken excuse of a man.” He said. With a chuckle, Indigo replied.

“I’d like to see you try.” Indigo said just before Adam charged at him with incredible speed before depriving what would’ve been a powerful strike if it weren’t blocked by Indigo’s tonfas with loud clang. Indigo managed to deliver a headbutt that had left Adam disoriented before being shoved away. “Come on, is that all you’ve got?” Indigo asked, gaining a gowl from Adam before he charged once again, delivering a flurry of swiped and strikes that Indigo had dodged, blocked or ducked under each one.

As he was distracted I looked over and pulled myself towards the others, wincing every time I twisted the wrong way. I pulled Molten Coil along luckily until I had my back laying on some fallen debris. I looked at the other two and saw Blake trying to help Yang out. Pulling Molten closer I saw a piece of wood nearby. Regretting what I have to do I reached for it and put in my mouth so I could bite down on it as I try to dig the bullet out with a knife I found a few weeks ago. The sound of clashes and gun shot filled the air as I screamed into the wood as I did this task, almost passing out from the pain. Soon I got the bullet out and tossed the knife away. I put my hand to my wound and tired to use my semblance to cauterize the wound but with my aura broken it wasn’t working.

An angered yell brought my attention back to the fight, Indigo looked worn out and so did Adam. The latter seeming to double his attempts to strike Indigo. With another clang, their weapons clashed but this time, it was Indigo that was faltering before Adam swiftly kneed Indi’s stomach and gained the upper hand, shoving him off and shifting his sword into a gun before firing at Indigo’s left knee, gaining a pained yell as a result. The latter fell onto his remaining knee, unable to recover from the shot but before Adam could strike once more, Indigo quickly aimed his tonfa as it changed into its submachine gun before firing once into Adam’s arm and as a result, the wounded arm hung limp and dropped his weapon. Enraged at this Adam kicked Indigo across the face, making fall onto the floor as a result while he picked up his weapon with his only functioning arm before doing something I thought impossible.

“Die, worm!” Adam yelled striking down a wounded Indigo. His blade piercing through the center of his chest. I stared with wide eyes as Indigo struggled to remove the blade and he struggled and struggled until he went limp.

There was no sound other than some yells and screams in the distance and the sound of fire nearby as I stared at Indigo. That all shakered as Blake let out a blood girdling scream as she pointed her weapon out at Adam and fired. Some shot went wide while Adam barley was able to block her shots until she was clicking with an empty mag. Adam growled as walking over to me.

“You’re turn.” he growled at me. I stared up at him until something drew my attention away, making me smirk a bit. “What are you smiling at?!”

“Flame bot.” I answered, making him tilt his head a bit in confusion.

“Flame bot?” he said as he turned around, right as he got shot with a shotgun blast of fire from the Flame bot. He screamed in pain before the bot grabbed him and threw him out of the ruined building. It turned back to me and looked at the wound, the next few minutes was me grunting in pain as the bot was cauterizing my wound. When that was done it went over to the others, Blake crawled over to Indigo and tired to help him.

“Y-your going to be fine, we just need to get to a doctor and you’re going to be fine and… and…” she had her hands on the wound to try and stop the bleeding. Tears fell ran down her face as I laid there as I pulled the gem from aunty. Just as I did I heard footsteps as Weiss came around the corner.

“There you all are, what’s going-” she stopped and looked around at Me, Yang, Blake, and Indigo. She covered her mouth in shock at what she’s seeing before running over to Blake. I sighed as I put my head back on what I’m leaning on.

“What else could go wrong?” I whispered. Just as I said that I heard a loud screaming as a white light was coming towards us. “Oh come on~!”

As the light past over us something weird happened, the gem glowed and shattered in my hand as I felt the cold energy washed over me and out. It took a few moments before the light subsided and I was back in the Valley. I was on my back at this point as I pushed myself up to see I was in a patch of tall grass. I let out a sigh as I didn’t really want to up and disappeared with the others there but I guess it couldn’t be helped.

“Uhhh…” a voice grabbed my attention as I slowly turned to see both Weiss and Blake there, looking around at their new surroundings. I stared at them before looking back to see Flame Bot and Yang, now passed out, there as well.

“Oh… shit.” I said.

“Viri…” Weiss said as both she and Blake stared at me. “Where are we?”

I didn’t say anything as I looked around some more until I saw a familiar sight coming towards us. Sure enough, it was Mother coming to see me. I looked back at them before speaking.

“Remember what I said at the sleepover about my past?” I asked them. They nodded as they noticed the figure coming closer. “Well… I wasn’t telling you all the full story.”

Author's Note

The End of Beacon and Team RWBY is in the Valley... Oh boy

Some self reflection and Ghosts...

As the two of them stare at me, probably with a million questions about what I said the sound of flapping wings came up behind and Mother landed with Sylph bouncing over to me. She gave me a few licks before making some worried sounds as I wince a bit.

“I’m just… tender.” I told her. Mother walked up with a worried look before asking.

“What has happened to you? Who did this?” She asked, helping me up to my feet with a wave of her hand. The pain I felt vanished along with the wounds thanks to mother.

“Some guy who has a messed up arm and a number of really bad burns.” I told her.

“Hold on, backup.” Weiss said, standing up and marching over to us. “We were just in Beacon with everything burning and Indigo…” she didn’t finished what she was saying before moving on. “Now we’re here which is who knows where with Yang having her arm cut off… of jeez Yang!” she ran over to check on her. She let out a groan but seemed to be alright, for the most part. Flame bot stood up and away from everyone else, probably waiting for something. Blake was still crying about Indigo as she stayed were she was. I looked at her sadly and looked over to Mother.

“It’s… a long story.” I told her. Mother nodded before looking over to Yang, seeing her badly injured and bleeding. Closing her eyes, mother hummed and Yang soon shone in a familiar golden light. Once the light died down, I saw that Yang’s wound had closed and her injuries were gone. Her pained expression turned to a calmer one but as the light fade her arm was still cut off, leaving her with a stump.

“Uhh…” Weiss said, looking over at me with confusion.

“Just… magic.” I told her as I went over to Blake. She was still crying.

“It’s all my fault… if I didn’t come to Beacon… if I just stayed away…” she sobbed. I pulled her into a hug, rocking her slightly. I saw Flame-Bot turned it’s head before walking off in a direction. Mother watched as I comforted Blake as she held Sylph.

After calming Blake down the three of us… well both me and Weiss since Blake was still out of it, explained to Mother what has happened in Beacon, the White Fang and Grimm attacked, Adam and Indigo, then the White light. When we finished Yang finally started to wake up.

“Ugg, what hit me?” she asked as she pushed herself up with one hand. She looked around and saw her stump. “... Oh, that was real.”

Yang expression darkened as she stared at this. Blake saw this and went over to her to explain, and probably say sorry a half a million times to her. As this was going on I explained to Weiss who Mother was. Her jaw hit the floor when I told her what she was.

“She’s a god!?!” she yelled loudly. I blinked a few times and shook my head.

“Kinda… and ow.” I said as I tired to regain my hearing.

“But… I… she’s a… oh Oum…” she said as she puts her head into her hands as I saw some of her hair stand on end.

“Is something the matter, you two?” Mother asked from afar as she helped Yang to her feet.

“Just someone finding out you’re a powerful being that can create anything with a flick of your wrist.” I answered with a shrug. “You know, the usual.” Mother chuckled before looking over to Blake but they were too far for me to hear their conversation. Before long the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard. We all turned and saw Flame-Bot walking over towards us carrying Ruby in its arms.

“RUBY!” Yang yelled as she ran over to her to check on her younger sister. I patted Weiss before heading over to the other two. I saw Ruby was passed out and muttering something about cookies under her breath. This made Yang let out a sigh. “She alright.”

“Yeah…” I said with a smile.

“She is exhausted both physically and mentally. It might be long before she awakes.” Mother informed us after briefly looking over at the unconscious Ruby. Yang looks up at Mother before looking around us.

“Is there anywhere we could find a bed or… a house.” she said, as I looked at her and the others they were all tired now, the stress and adrenaline wearing off. With a nod, Mother closed her eyes and before we knew it, we were in a large room fitted with multiple beds. Once Mother opened her eyes, she saw the confusion of the group before picking up Ruby and gently placing down onto one of the beds. Weiss stood up, walked over to one of the beds and flopped onto it.

“No one wakes me up for the next few hours.” she said through the pillow. Blake simply got into one of them and simply hugged one of the pillows tightly and sat there, leaving me and Yang there with Mother. Yang stared at her stump and looked like she was close to having a freak out about it. Her breathing began to quicken as she closed her eyes tightly.

“Please stay calm, young one. I may have healed your wounds but I cannot heal the mind.” Mother said to Yang. The latter helped Yang into her own bed. “Rest. You’ve all been through much today.” She said. She looked over at mother… then promptly fall over in bed. The sound of her snoring signaled that she was fast asleep. As this is going on I looked back and saw Fire bot standing outside of the room. Seeing if anyone needs me I step out of the room. Fire bot turned to me and watched me walk around him and I simply stared at him, trying to figure out what going on with… it.

“What… are you?” I asked mostly at myself and to it. As it simply stand there the robot body burned away and was now back to it normal… fiery self. I shook my head at it. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

The fire elemental simply stared at me as Mother walked out of the room and looked at the both of us.

“I want to hear what happened.” She said once the door closed behind her. A look of seriousness replacing her worried one. I put my face into my hands again and let out a loud groan.

“What happened? What do you want to know?!” I began to pace around in the hallway as I continued. “You already know what happened at Beacon, the others can tell you that much. If you’re talking about this, fire guy, here oh that’s not the start of it. What’s the start of it is that before the fall I went to a warehouse to help Indigo and made a giant volcano!” at this point I didn’t know what’s going on with me. I tried to calm down but it didn’t really happen as I spoke again. “I don’t know what’s going on with me!” I felt her arms wrap around me before she pulled me into a calming embrace. I didn’t realized I was shaking and crying into her embrace, I simply hugged her back. After a few minutes of this we pulled away and Mother led me away from the room, for once the elemental didn’t follow as I was led outside to a table. We sat down as I was taking some deep breaths before I told her what happened at the warehouse. She listened to me as I explained what I remember until I got to the part of when I blacked out.

“I… I don’t know, the crates were very durable so I pushed myself to the point where I was when I made the second sun. Everything went white and… I heard something, a voice.” I told her. Mother raised a curious brow at the mention of the voice. When I saw that I thought back on what that voice said. “Heat, fire was around me and… something clicked inside me right as the voice said… ‘The Flames of Creation… this is the path you take…’.” I finished as looked at mother. “What does that mean?”

“That is something you must find out by yourself.” She said, closing her eyes as she did. “For now I suggest you rest a bit.” Mother said.

I simply nodded, now I’ve calmed down as well I started to feel tired as well. I pushed myself up and started to make my way to the others. I stopped and looked back at Mother.

“Talk to you later then?” I asked.

“I’ll come by to check on you and your friends.” Mother replied, standing up after opening her eyes. A small smile greeting as she did. I smiled back before trudging back to the room. Flame-Bot, to which I named the elemental now, stood out front of the room and watched me walk past and enter the room. I simply walked towards an open bed and, like Weiss, flopped onto the bed, passing out right then and there.

After a few hours of sleeping I woke up to see everyone, even Ruby, awake and talking. Ruby had so many questions to ask, mostly on what happened and where she was. At this point I started to explain to them what’s going on with Mother and my aunt.

“So… Everything you told us was a lie?” Yang asked me.

“No no, everything I told you at the sleepover was true. I just left out a few details.” I told her.

“Why though?” Weiss asked, to which I gave her a look of ‘’re you kidding me?’.

“Would you believe me if I have told you everything?” I asked her. She paused for a moment to think about it.

“Good point.” she said. I laughed lightly as I looked at Yang who seemed distracted.

“You okay?” I asked her. She seemed to snap out of it as she looked up at me.

“Huh, uh kinda.” she answered. “Just an odd dream I had.”

“What was it about?” I asked.

“Well I was laying in bed at home,” she pointed to Ruby to say that they were at their home. “I was thinking about what has happened at Beacon… feeling hurt that Blake left us and then I was talking to Ruby and-”

“You told me to leave you alone.” Ruby continued, making Yang stop talking.

“Yeah… it felt so… real.” Yang said. Blake looked a little sad at what Yang has said but she spoke up.

“I had the same kind of dream, but I was away from everyone in Vale, feeling bad and…” she didn’t continue what she was going on and changed topics. “It also felt real.”

“I dreamt that I heading back home with my dad…” Weiss added. “I… don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well at least everyone is okay right…” Ruby said, giving Yang a sorry look but everyone didn’t look in her direction. “Right?”

“No… Indigo…” Blake started to tear up a bit before started to cry in her hands. Weiss came over and tried to comfort her as Ruby’s eyes widen.

“No…,” she said before she started to tear up. I went over to comfort her. She was horrified to hear of Indigo’s fate and she really didn’t want to believe it.

“I don’t want to believe it either, sis.” Yang said in a solemn tone. I felt my arm getting damp from her tears. I squeezed her comfortably in hopes to help her feel better. After a while, the door opened and Fire-Bot moved out of the way for mother as if he was a bouncer or something.

“I see I have arrived at a bad time.” Mother said, looking at Ruby as she spoke. Ruby, in turn, wiped away what’s left of the tears she had.

“I’m fine… I’m fine…” she said with a smiled. “Thank you for the bed’s ma’am.” With a smile, Mother nodded and said.

“There’s no need to thank me, little one.” She said, smiling at Ruby calmly. She then looked at the group before saying. “I’m sure you all have questions and I’ll be happy to answer them.” She said.

“That’s an understatement.” Yang said. “Viri told us this but I want to hear it from you; who are you?” This gained a chuckle from Mother.

“To explain who I truly am is to explain existence as a whole. Currently, I am known as Mavisath or the All-Mother.” She said in an introductory manner. Yang blinked at this.

“Okay then…” Yang said. The others went off with their questions as Mother answered them. Most of their questions where that of where they were, how did they get there and so on. This went on for sometime until Weiss asked an interesting question.

“Does this place do something to one’s mind?” she asked. Mother arched a curios brow before giving it some thought.

“No, not unless I will it do so.” Was Mother’s answer. This left Weiss somewhat confused.

“Do you mean your dreams?” I asked her.

“Well yeah, my dream was just too… Realistic.” she commented. Mother heard this and said.

“Then they weren’t dreams but visions of what might be.” Mother said to Weiss. Weiss looked at her oddly as Mother looked at each of them for any other questions.

“So... Are we stuck in this room or can leave?” Yang asked.ed. Mother looked at her before glancing at the door behind her.

“You are allowed to leave the room and roam the halls if you so wish.” Mother said, looking back at Yang.

“Good, I don’t want to stay here,” she shifted a bit. “I would get stir crazy.”

“I wouldn’t mind wandering around and…” Blake stopped and looked at me and Mother. “How big is this place?”

“Big.” Was Mother’s answer, a chuckle following suit. I simply nodded at her.

“Oh…” was all Blake said.

“Well, I’m… going to stay here.” Weiss said. “I… need some time to myself.” Mother nodded in acknowledgment before looking at Ruby.

“What about you, little one?” Mother asked her. Ruby looked at her and everyone for a moment.

“Umm.” was all she said.

“If you want, I can give you all a small tour of the place.” I told her. Ruby, seeing an answer pointed at me.

“That, I’m going to be with this tour.” she said quickly. Mother looked at Ruby with an odd expression before smiling at her.

“Well then, if you need anything and I do mean anything, I will be happy to help.” She said to all of Team RWBY before her gaze landed at me. “In the meantime I will be constructing you another gem.” She informed me before looking at the Elemental, giving it a pat on the head with a smile. It watched Mother leave before looking at me, then back at her, then back at me as if to say ‘did that just happen?’

I simply snorted at it and looked at the others. “So, you three wanted to have a tour?”

“Well, kinda. I wouldn’t mind swinging by the open field place again.” she shifted a bit as she glanced at her stump. “I need some time to think.”

I gave her a somber nod as I led them out of the room. We walked down the halls where only had a large carpet that went on forever and large Dova statues

“I… not really comfortable with all these statues.” Ruby said worriedly.

“Don’t worry, they’re just statues.” I informed her. She gave me a small smile as we continued on. We came to a door that leads to the Valley. I opened the door and let Yang walk out.

“Stay close to the door if you need to run back in.” I told her.

“Yeah, wait why did you say ‘run’?” she asked me.

“Oh for no real reason.” I said as I remembered the giant Non-Dova that’s around. She gave me an odd look as I walked off with the R and the B of Team RWBY. The tour wasn’t anything special since it was one long hallway with occacally a few circular rooms. It was funny to see them stare at some jumpers that walk past. Some looked human but others not so much.

“It’s rude to stare.” I told them.

“Sorry but… the last guy looked like a hulking demon.” Blake said.

“Yeah and before there were two others with snake tales for legs!” Ruby added.

“Well I could tell you the full reason of that but it would take forever.” I giggled at them. “Let’s just say that some beings from far, far away worlds come through here.”

“W-worlds?” Blake asked as we continue on. After a few minutes we came to a long hallway where I could see ghostly shapes ahead. A chill went up my spine as my hairs stood on end.

“O-okay time to go the other way and-”

“Wait what’s down here.” Blake asked as she looked down the one hallway.

“That’s the Hall of the Dead…” I said shakingly. “It’s a place w-where lost s-soul go to get judged f-for their a-actions.”

“You okay?” Ruby asked. I shook my head a bit.

“I don’t like this hallway and I make sure to not go down it and-” I started to say but when I turned I saw a Ghost walk past us and looked at me. The hollow eyes stared at me for a moment before moving on.

But it gave me enough time to have me scream like a little girl and bolt down the hallway away from ghosts.

It may not be cool but at the moment I was hiding under my bed in hopes that the ghosts don’t find me. Zombies, ghouls, skeletons, and whatever I’m fine with but… I can’t stand ghosts. I was curled up in a ball as I heard the door to my room open.

The loud thumps of footsteps greeted my ears. I looked up to only be greeted with bare feet. When the owner of the feet bent down to look under the bed, it turned out that it was Father dressed in his attire for the dead. He must’ve been in the Hall of the Dead when I ran away.

“Come here, Viri. The Ghosts can’t hurt you.” He said with a soothing tone, reaching a hand out to me. I looked at his hand before taking it, letting him pull me up.

“I know it’s childish but…” I didn’t say as the memory of the first time I saw a Ghost. Father’s dark garbs soon vanished, leaving him in his usual simple baggy pants. He chuckled at my words before saying.

“The Spirits have not harmed you before and they certainly will not harm you now. I will make sure of that.” He said in a tone a parent would use to soothe their child. I smiled a little at this.

“I know, but still… creepy looking.” I said before realizing something. “And I left Ruby and Blake alone in the middle of the halls. I’m the worst tour guide.” Father chuckled before walking ahead.

“Then let us head back to your friends.” He said, looking back at me. I followed behind him as we went to find the others. Luckily, or luckily for me is that we found Blake at the Hall of the Dead looking like she was deep in thought. She turned to see me and saw Father with me.

“Guess you found her.” she said to him. Father nodded before saying.

“She avoids this hall on account of her fear of the spirits.” Father said with an informative tone. I didn’t say anything as Blake raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t think you were one to be scared of spirits Viri.” Blake asked with the rare smirk from her.

“They’re just creepy okay!” I said crossing my arms and muttered a little. I looked around and saw that Ruby wasn’t here. “Hey, where’s Ruby?”

Blake took a moment to look around. “I don’t really know, I think she went off exploring or ran off to find you.”

“Perhaps she’s just exploring. The little one reminds me of Viri with her adventurous spirit.” Father said with a small smile.

“Yeah, those two are quite the same.” Blake said with a chuckle.

“Oi! I’m right here!” I said annoyed. The two of them laughed at my expense. I turned on my heel and started walking off down the hall. “I’m going to go find Ruby now.”

I didn’t hear what either one had to say as I turned the corner. After some more walking and turns I soon started to hear Ruby’s voice.

“Did I come this way before or… Ooo this place is way too big~!” she said. I turned to see her on the ground with a piece of paper and a pen. She looked at the paper before looking up at me. It took me a moment until she dashed forward and tacked me in a hug. “Viri~!”

“Ah!” I yelped as she hugged me.

“I got lost looking for you and this place is so big and I tried to make a map but got more lost~!” she cried as she held on to me. I simply patted her on the head as I pulled her off.

“It’s okay, I appreciate you coming to find me after… freak out.” I said grimly. I turn to where I came from. “Come on, let’s go find the door to the Valley, I need some sun.”

She nodded happily before we headed down the hallway. After many twists and turns we came up to the door to the Valley. When I open the door I saw Yang there sitting on a large rock. She looked back at the two of us.

“Hey you two, I saw a large dragon!” she said.

“What?! There’s a large dragon here!?” Ruby asked, looking over at me. I chuckled a little.

“Well, I did say run if you can but that’s the reason.” I said rubbing the back of my head. After Yang and Ruby stare at me for a moment I heard some footsteps coming from the hallway. I leaned out to see Father and Blake coming this way. I noticed that Blake seemed more somber at the moment. “You okay?”

“Yeah… I’m fine.” she answered. I stared at her before looking at Father. He said nothing as he watched Blake as she walked towards the two sisters.

“You okay?” Ruby asked her sister. Yang looked at her before looking at the stump.

“I… don’t think I’ll be okay.” she said as she turned away from Ruby. Ruby looked at her with sadness and a little shock as Father came over to them.

“You may think that now but soon, you will overcome your pain. You will become stronger than ever before.” Father said, placing a hand on Yang stump. Yang gasped in surprise as her pupils grew. This was something I have rarely seen Father do. He gave Yang a brief glimpse into her future. Once her eyes returned to normal, Father moved his hand away and said. “As you mortal say; what doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger. So be strong, Xiao Long, be strong not for yourself but for your friends and your family.” He said. Yang took a moment to catch her breath and looked up at him.

“You’re… kinda odd.” she said before giving him a smile. “But… thanks.”

“You’re not the first to have said that.” Father replied with a chuckle. Yang looked at him before looking over at me.

“Let me guess, he’s your mother’s right-hand man or something?” she asked. I shook my head.

“No no, Mother and him are one and the same.” I tilted my head a bit as the three of them started at me wide eye. “Did I mention that?”

“I’m… I’m not going to say anything. I don’t have anything to say.” Yang said as she turned away. Blake didn’t say anything, didn’t blame her too. Ruby simply stared at Father.

“How?” she asked.

“To put it simply, I am not bound to a single gender and am able to change when I see fit.” Father said, somewhat answering Ruby’s question. “I’ve also taken it upon myself to fill in the roles as Mother figure and a Father figure for Viri.” He added. Ruby looked over at me as I nodded.

“It was odd at first but I got used to it when I was young since… you know.” I said. Ruby nodded before looking back.

“That’s… kinda cool, I think.” she looked back at Yang. “Is it?”

“Not talking about it!” Yang said. We all laughed as I noticed Weiss coming around the corner.

“There you all are, I’ve been looking everywhere for you four.” she said, marching in. She glanced over at Father and stopped. “Who are you?” with that we all looked at each other for a moment.

“So… who wants to tell her?”

Author's Note

Well things just got odd with Viri. Her semblance has evolved to something greater and Team RWBY is with her. What’s in store for them all?!

I don’t know, this is fun. :3

A secret shared and a bigger family

“Screwdriver?” I asked

“Screwdriver.” Ruby answered as she handed me a screwdriver. I took it and screwed in some bolts.

“Wrench?”

“Wrench.” she again answered as she handed me a wrench to which I used to tighten a few things.

“Yellow spray?”

“Which yellow?” Ruby asked, showing me two cans of yellow.

“The bumblebee one.” I told her. She smiled and handed me the spray can. I pulled up my mask and laid some covers on a few part before spraying. After a few minutes of that I stopped spraying and took a few steps back. In front of me and Ruby was a metal prosthetic arm that we’ve been working on for Ruby’s sister Yang. It been a few weeks since the two along with Weiss and Blake came to this world after the events Beacon. The dreams they’ve been happening seemed to be as if they were living a different life in Reamnet, visions of what could have happen from what Mother has happened.

Yang has been a bit off for the time with nightmares of Adam as a demon and what has happened to her arm. This continued until she, as she puts it, couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to hit something. As it seemed Mother and her had a short sparring match to allow Yang to blow off some steam. I didn’t know if it worked since Yang didn’t get a single hit in.

After that Mother has took some time of helping me with my semblance to train with team RWBY, more so with Yang and Blake. It went smoothly, for the most part as Yang was off in her fighting style with only one arm, to which me and Ruby were going to fix.

The idea was to build her a new arm to use and when I told Ruby about it she was more than happy to help, maybe a bit giddy as well.

“You think she’ll like it?” Ruby asked me as I looked at the arm.

“I think she’ll love it.” I told her. The two of us grinned as we had something to eat as the paint dries, yeah for fast drying paint! After it was done we wrapped it up and carried it towards the Valley where the others were at. When we got there I opened the door to the Valley and both me and Ruby walked out to another spar with Mother and Yang. Weiss and Blake were on a large rock watching as Yang tried to punch and kick Mother, to which was blocked and pushed away. It continued until Yang was flipped over and she landed on the ground with a thud.

“You can do better, Yang. I know you can.” Mother said in an encouraging manner. Yang groaned as she pushed herself up to a sitting position.

“I know I can, it’s just…” she looked at the stump that was her arm. “It I just feel off without another arm.”

“To which we are happy to announce…” I said, putting up the wrapped up prosthetic arm. “Your new arm!”

“Yay!” Ruby said happily. Everyone looked towards us as we stood there.

“What?” Yang said, laughing a little at our announcement.

“Ruby and I spent the last few weeks building you a new arm.” I told her we walked over and put the arm down. “Hope you like it.”

Yang stared at the wrapped up arm before slowly pulling the wrappings away. She picked up the prosthetic and gave it a look. Mother came over to take a look at the arm as well. Mother then looked at Yang.

“Go ahead, put it on.” She said, waiting for Yang to do so. Yang looked at her before looking at the prosthetic.

“This… reminds me of Mercury.” she said bitterly.

“Yeah, but it’s cooler than his legs.” I said proudly.

“Yeah.” Ruby said. Yang looked at the two of us before turning the arm over.

“So… how do it put it- ah!” as she said it the arm moved towards her stump some whirring sounds came out of it, making Yang wince a bit. “Ow owowowowowow!”

After a minute of this she stopped saying ow as the arm was attached. She took some deep breath before looking up at me. “Thanks… for the warning…”

“Sorry, didn’t think it would go off that quickly.” I said sheepishly. Yang didn’t say anything as she looked at her new arm, she turned it a bit and open and closed her fist.

“Wow… it feels… real.” she said as she moved her arm around some more. “This is amazing.”

“Magic and technology, if you find that sweet spot you open a whole new world.” I said happily.

“Yeah, Ooo I have so many ideas for Crescent Rose!” Ruby said happily.

“You mean like those inscriptions in that book we found?” I asked. She nodded as the two of us started talking about some designs before noticing everyone was looking at us.

“I swear, if it’s about weapons or building something those two are exactly alike.” Weiss said. I blushed at this as Yang was doing some shadow boxing.

“Oh yeah, I could get used to this.” she said as she did some jabs. One of those jabs made the barrel in the arm extend and fire off a shot, blowing a chunk out of a rock. Yang stared at it before looking over to us.

“Uhhh, be careful with that. The arm is sorta wired to your nervous systems and it’s also attached to your brain to get signals from it, and I thought it wasn’t loaded.” I looked over at Ruby.

“What? I got all the shots out… I think.” she said, looking at the rock. “Guess not.”

“I… have no idea what you just said.” Yang said as she looked at her new arm some more.

“Your adjusting quite well.” Mother said, smiling at Yang’s excitement. Yang nodded as I sat down on the ground as Ruby went over to her friends. I watched the four of them talk to each other more happily then the first time they came here. Blake was less somber then after her time in the Hall of the Dead. I didn’t know what she saw there but didn’t pry, I’m just happy they are getting better.

As I watched Mother came over and sat down beside me. “Things look like their looking up now huh?”

“It looks like they are indeed.” Mother said in agreement. She glanced at Blake, her smile faltering a bit before saying. “But one thing does concern me.” She said.

“What’s that?” I asked her, looking over at Blake.

“Blake has informed me of the death Indigo Parker, your former professor if I am correct?” She asked to which I nodded and waited for her continue. “A few days ago, she came to asking if it was possible to see him one last time before his soul was judged. It was a reasonable request, I had expected her to ask if I could bring him back.” I looked at Blake, saddened to hear what Mother was saying. “So with Blake in tow, I searched for your friend’s soul but oddly enough, he was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t even on the list to be judged.” She said.

“He… wasn’t?” I asked. I thought back to the time when Indigo was killed, getting stabbed through the heart with a blade would, without a doubt, kill someone. “But if he’s not there, then could he be alive? Maybe his semblance brought him back, the shadowmancery he does.”

“I’m not sure, you may have to consult my sister.” Mother said, smiling sadly before looking at Blake. “For her sake, hopefully he is. She seems to care a lot for the man.”

“Yeah…” I said before raising an eyebrow. “So, road trip to your sister’s place?”

“You say that as if it were a long trip.” Mother said jokingly as she stood up. I rolled my eyes as I stood up and went over to the others the told them what’s up.

“You’re off to see your Aunt?” Yang asked. I nodded to her to answer. “Yeah if it’s alright with you I’m going to stay here, want to train with this arm a little more before I go anywhere.”

“And I’m staying here to make sure it doesn’t fizzle out.” Ruby said.

“Right, what about you two?” I asked Weiss and Blake. Weiss shook her head.

“Thanks for the offer but I believe this is a family matter.” Weiss said. I nodded and looked over at Blake.

“What about you? It may have something to do with Indigo.” I told her. I said her eyes widen and take a sharp intake of air, as if she could finally see Indigo again before looking deflating.

“I… no, I shouldn’t go. Thanks but I don’t want to get my hopes up.” she said sadly. I gave her a somber smile and hugged her.

“I’ll tell you what we find out when we return.” I told her. She nodded as she let’s go, I went over to Mother as a set of double door appeared. She raised an eyebrow at this before the two of us walked in to… a large room? I looked around and saw the walls were a dark red colour with some purple streaks coming down the walls. Some black chairs with a table in front of them with some books and magazines on them. The most noticeable detail was the symbol of the Mal Kun company on both sides of the wall and a large statue of the symbol behind a desk. There was a male typing away on a keyboard. I looked to Mother as she scanned the room. “We’re at her work?”

“She does take matters such these very seriously.” Mother answered. With that she walked over to the desk where the man was.

“Welcome to the Mal Kun Company, how can I help you?” he asked without looking up.

“Umm, hi we’re here to see Axycia Mal Kun?” I asked him.

“Sorry but Miss Mal Kun is really busy right now due the events of Beacon Academy.” he explained. I blinked at this, releasing we’re in Reamnet. “Which means she’ll not take any meetings or appointments at this time.”

“But this is important.” I told him, making his frown.

“Look, like I said before she’s busy right now so I ask you to leave before I call the-” he turned to look at us and his eyes widen. “...oh, you’re her sister and niece.” With a calming smile, Mother looked at him.

“I do suggest you look at the people speaking to you next time or I’ll have to suggest a new secretary to my sister.” Mother said. The man opened his mouth before moving over to push a key on his keyboard.

“Miss. Mal Kun?” he said, without looking at the screen.

“Yes? What did I tell you about calling me?” my aunts voice spoke through the speakers.

“Yes ma’am but this is important.” he explained.

“Is the world going to blow up? Is there an army of Grimm right outside?... Is the press here to bug me again?” she asked.

“No… your sister and niece are here. They want to see you.” he said. There was a pause before she spoke.

“Right now? They’re here?” she asked.

“Yes ma’am, they’re standing right in front of me listing in and your sister threatened to tell you about me not looking up.” he said, making me tilt my head at him.

“Yeah that’s her… send them in, oh and ask if they want something to drink. I got coffee on the way.” with that there was a beep and the man looked at us.

“Do you two want something to drink?” he asked. Mother shook her head but thanked him for offering. I shook my head as he stood up and lead us to aunty’s office. “I’m uhh, really sorry about that and the way I talked. I don’t have much of an excuse for it.”

“All is forgiven, I simply as that you show other respect when conversing. Looking directly at is a start in the right direction.” Mother said, her smile never faltering.

“I’ll… yeah I’ll do that.” he said, rubbing the back of his head.

“Is everything alright?” I asked him. He simply shook his head.

“Not really, due to the destruction of the CCT tower at beacon communications has been cut everywhere in Vale. The others are still active but only for their own region.” he explains. His mood turned sour with what he says next. “And the Schnee company has not only stopped exporting Dust to Vale, but to everywhere. Now Miss. Mal Kun is up to her head with paperwork and phone calls… along with some personal matters.” Mother arched a curious brow at this but said nothing. Before long we came up to a large set of dark double doors. The man opened one of them to allow us in, as we did we saw the room was a darker shade of red with some white streaks through it, making it looks like it was shooting stars in a red night sky. A large picture of dragons flying through the sky hanged on our left as a large window with the blinds drawn was to our right. In front of us was my aunt, talking on some sort of earpiece.

“Look I sent two groups to get the communication towers up so Vale has something to get reports through… Yes I know the Grimm activity rising after the fall but I can’t have Huntsman to go out on guard duty because their keeping other towns safe… Yes I’ll send some bots over… thank you goodb- goodby- GOODBYE!” she yelled before taking her earpiece out and turning her head to the left. “Xana! Are you coming?!”

Another set of doors open an a female Faunus comes in with a platter with a bot and a few cups. “Here you are ma’am, your coffee.”

“Thank you Xana, you’re a saint.” Aunty said as she took the coffee that was poured for her. She looked up at us before speaking. “Leave the pot, you can go and thank you again.” With a bow Xana hurried out of the room as my aunt took a sip of her coffee.

“So… what does my sister and niece need?” she asked, putting on a forced smile. Mother looked at me, waiting for me to speak up.

“U-um well, you see…” I cleared my throat before continuing. “Do you know that Team RWBY has come to the Valley?”

“They have?” Aunty asked, tilting her head a bit. “I could’ve sworn that I got information that your Schnee friend was in Atlas right now… that’s something I need to look into.”

I frowned and looked at Mother for a moment before continuing. “Well, during the time Blake asked Mother to take her to the Hall of the Dead to see… Indigo one last time before he goes.”

“Okay, and?” she asked, looking over to Mother. “You know that we both do some service in the hall but you should have no problem getting a soul to come forth.”

“There lies the problem, no such soul was found. I’ve searched even the archives but found nothing.” Mother said, informing Aunty of the problem.

“Hmm, well if you said that his semblance is that of Shadowmancery then there might be a way for him to live.” she said. We waited for a few minutes but aunty didn’t say anything.

“Well…” I asked her.

“Now now, I’m just… enjoying the moment that my sister is asking me for something that she doesn’t know about. I just want to enjoy it the feeling of it.” she explained. I looked over at Mother with a ‘really’ look on my face before aunty continued. “Okay, now that’s out of the way I believe his semblance saved him by turning his body into shadow so it could heal.”

“Wait, he could do that?” I asked.

“Yeah, well kinda, I believe when he was dying his semblance awoken to use this trait. But I don’t believe he’ll be around for some time, since if you said he got killed then it will take some time to heal. It’s shadowmancery, not the greatest at healing base magic.” Aunty explained.

“Interesting.” Mother said, intrigued in Aunty’s explanation. “Then perhaps there is hope for him.” Mother said. I smiled at her at the news.

“Yes yes, there’s hope. Mind you he may not have memories but the chances of him having a complete mind wipe is slim.” she explained with a small gesture. “If that’s all you wanted then I would like you two to leave, I’m really busy and-” before she finished the side door opened again and a young voice said something.

“Mommy, are you here?” a young boys voice said. My aunts face turned white as we all turned to see a boy who was about seven years old with small draconic horns and black scales on the sides of his face and arms. He wore some PJs and dragged a small beowolf stuffy behind him. He yawned as he rubbed his bright green eyes and looked at us. “Hello.”

“Ahhh, I uh.” Aunty stood up and walked over to the child and talked to him quietly. I moved over to mother who was staring at the two of them.

“I didn’t know she had a kid? Did you?” I asked her.

“I had my suspicions.” She answered, waving at the boy who briefly glanced at her. “Why she kept him as a secret is something I have yet to figure out.”

I didn’t say anything as the Faunus from before came over and picked up the child to, I guess, take him away. He turned to us and waved.

“Bye-bye.” he said as aunty closed the doors. She didn’t say anything as she walked over to her desk.

“I hoped… I could keep him a secret until he was older until I was sure…” she said softly.

“Aunty, what’s going on?” I asked her. She took a deep breath before saying nothing for a minute long.

“You know that… the Vokun Dovah race is all but close to extension right?” she said, which I saw made her wince as if saying those words brought her pain. “I… thought I could handle it, knowing that a few were still alive but know little or non of their heritage but… I can’t.” she turned to her sister with tears threatening to fall. “You told me that things would be fine but I didn’t trust you so I went behind your back and tried to bring them back.” Mother looked at her, her face bearing no expression.

“Why?” I asked without really thinking. Aunty looked at me and frowned.

“Why? Why! Because I was alone!” she yelled at me before she went over and sat down. After a few minutes she sighed and put her head in her hands. “Due to my mistakes the Vokun Dovah race suffered and got almost wiped out. Almost all of them were sent to Oblivion due to their involvement with the war me and her had.” she said nodding to Mother. She then looked up at Mother with anger in her eyes. “You can do anything to me, put me through hell for all I care but if you dare lay a finger on my children I swear nothing in the multiverse can protect you from me.”

I took few steps back from her and Mother, feeling a shiver of fear coming up my spine. Mother smiled a little at her sister’s words before sitting down on the chair in front of her desk.

“What is his name?” Mother asked, catching Aunty by surprise at this. She blinked at me before answering.

“Divos.” she said with a bit of confusion in her tone. “Divos Mal Kun, as you can tell he’s seven years old if you were wondering.”

“Are there others? Nephews, Nieces?” Mother asked. My aunt was surprised at this before standing up.

“Follow me.” she said before walking through the side room. I looked over at Mother as she stood and followed. We walked down the hallway until we came to a room which had more colourful walls and more dragons flying around. I saw Divos reading a book with the Fanus woman from before but there was three more kids, all female. Their ages range from the same age as Divos to around four. “As you know, Divos is the male while that one,” aunty pointed at one that was the same age but with white hair and blue eyes. “Is Ailis, the younger two are twins who are named Naomi and Tia.” she said pointing to two twins with brown and black hair that are playing with a blue ball.

As I looked at the kids I looked down and saw Ailis standing beside Mother, making me jump. What’s with people moving so fast!?!

“Who are you?” she asked Mother. The latter smiled, kneeling to look at the young girl.

“I am Mavisath, your mother’s sister.” Mother said to the young girl. Ailis stared at her before smiling.

“Hia.” she greeted. Aunty smiled at her before picking her up.

“Did you did anything interesting when I’m gone?” she asked.

I stood by mother as we watched my Aunt go over to her kids and hang out with them. I couldn’t but help smile at this.

“She looks happy.” I whispered to Mother.

“I’m happy to see her this way.” Mother said, smiling at the sight. After a few minutes Aunty came back with a slight frowned before turning back to her kids.

“You all play nice now as I do my work…” she turned and whispered. “My… mountains of work, damn it Jacques.” with that she left the room. We followed behind as I gave the kids a wave goodbye. We turned to aunties office as she sat down in her chair with a sigh.

“Is there anything I can do to help, sister?” Mother asked, wanting to help Aunty with her troubles.

“No everything is fine, just a lot of work just got pushed to me in a short amount of time.” she starts rifling through some paper and pulled one out. “Like look at this, there was a plan for the Schnee Dust company to build some towers in key locations to extract Dust but when there was no Dust they up and abandon them. It’s just wasteful if you ask me.”

“So what are you going to do about it?” I asked her.

“Well again with the CCT tower down I’m going to turn them to a network of communication so Vale has a better chance to send messages. I thought I had to fight for it but Jacques is so busy in Atlas that he wouldn’t know what happen until later.” she explained. As we listen to her talk I felt someone pull at my pant leg. I looked down to see Divos there. Were they fast or have shadow powers as well. He turned and looked up at Mother.

“If Mommy is your sister, does that make you my Aunty?” he asked. Mother smiled at his question before looking at Aunty.

“Only if your mother allows it.” Mother said, bringing Divos’ attention to his mother. Aunty rolled her eyes and chuckled.

“Why not.” she said with a smile. Divos smiled at this.

“Yay!” he cheered. Mother chuckled at his excitement. I smiled at this before my station was drawn to Aunty.

“So, what are you going to do with your friends?” she asked me.

“What do you mean?” I asked. She leaned back in her chair as she spoke.

“Well since they all are with you for some reason yet oddly here in Remnant, I’m just wondering what you had planned.” she explained. I thought about it for a few moments.

“I...don’t really know, to be honest.” I told her. My aunt leaned forward on her desk as she spoke.

“Well of you want my opinion, maybe take them to the new Huntsman school you helped build at that village your friend lives?” she asked.

“You mean Tak?” I asked. She simply shrugs as I turned to Mother to hear her opinion. With her being silent I turned back to Aunty. “Wait, wouldn’t they want to return?” this caused Aunty to sigh. She reached over and pushed a button which caused a small screen to lift up from her desk. The screen flickered and I saw Team JNPR, but Pyrrha wasn’t there, instead was… Ruby?

“From what I was told the young rose has this so-called power of the Silver Eyed warrior, a legendary being that could defeat the Grimm with just a look of their eyes. I also believe that after she has used it the first time it had an odd reaction to the gem you had, breaking and transporting you and your friends to the Valley but since Team RWBY haven’t been transported to another world before a copy of themselves was left behind.” Aunty explained. “It’s kinda like being Displaced but that’s something I don’t want to get into right now.”

I thought about it for a few moments until I spoke. “So...their dreams they’re having…”

“Are what happened here, they are linked to each other since there one and the same. And if they want to go back they will simply return to their normal bodies and go on with their lives as normal, I be it with more knowledge and understanding about a few things.” she added. Mother was intrigued with this new information

“Perhaps this can be replicated, only to affect a single entity of course.” Mother said.

“Way ahead of you.” Aunty said as she leaned back. “I always saw mortals disappearing by other beings was quite annoying, their friends and family worried sick about them to the point of… well you get the idea, I’ve done some myself but using this way a few times.”

“Hmm.” Mother hummed in thought. Whatever was in her mind had brightened up her smile. “I may have an idea but I will need time and if I what hope is true, than your friends will have one less friend to mourn.” Mother said. I raised an eyebrow at this before speaking.

“Okay. Well, I don’t know if there’s anything else we need to do here…” I said looking at both Mother and Aunty. Aunty simple waved her hand.

“If that’s all you two can go, I have a company to run and a whole nation to get it’s voice back.” she laughed as her son came over to her. She picked him up and put him on her lap.

“Alright then but if ever need anything, anything at all I’ll be happy to help.” Mother said to her, giving her new nephew and my new cousin a small wave goodbye.

“Bye bye!” he said with a wave. With that and a wave from me the two of us left and walked through the door to the Valley, just in time to see Ruby running away from Yang.

“You won already, stop chasing me!” she yelled.

“Not a chance sis, you really need to work on your hand to hand!” Yang yelled.

“You have a metal arm!” Ruby yelled. The two of us simply watched as this going on.

“They’re having fun.” I commented. Mother chuckled at the sight of a fleeing Ruby.

“Indeed.” Mother said in agreement before spotting Blake sitting by the edge of a cliff by herself. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go have a chat with Blake.” Mother said, spreading her wings before giving them a mighty flap that sent her skyrocketed her into the air before gliding towards Blake.

As this happened I saw a burst of rose petals rush behind me and Ruby appeared. “Help! Yang is not stopping with her training!”

“It’s for your own good!” Yang said, running towards me. Ruby yelped before running around me with Yang behind. I oddly felt like I was in the middle of ring around the rosy of this, literally.

“Don’t I have a say in this?” I asked.

“No!” Yang yelled before tackling Ruby. I watched them roll down the hill, it was also a big hill.

“Huh…” was all I said as I saw the two of them sprawled out on the ground. I turned and walked over to Weiss who was sitting on the grass. “How long was this going on?”

“For sometime, mostly is them running around.” Weiss said with a sigh. “So, how did it go with your aunt?”

“There was… something.” I said, glancing over at Mother and Blake. “My Mother is going to handle it so…”

“Right.” Weiss said. I looked back at Blake, seeing Mother sitting beside her as she spoke. Mother must’ve mentioned what Aunty said as Blake’s solemn look was replaced with a hopeful one. Mother smiled as she continued to speak but Blake stopped her when she tackled Mother with a hug, surprising her. Mother didn’t waste a single minute before she returned the hug, giving Blake a shoulder to cry on. She must’ve been holding in her pain and tears, not wanting to show weakness but whatever Mother said must’ve broken the damn.

I smiled a little as I turned to see Ruby and Yang training, seemingly that Ruby given up running from her older sister.

So far everything is going fine and I wondered what the future will hold.

Author's Note

So this was a little bit out of the way chapter that I wanted to do, sure there’s not a lot of context with The Mother and Aunt’s past but really that’s a whole story on it’s own. Also I think the idea that Ruby building Yang’s new arm is a cool idea xP

That Displacement Tag is a funny thing too

The Return of an old friend

It’s been a few months since Yang had gotten her new arm and Mother’s and I trip to see my aunt. Over that time the four of them and I learned a bit more of our Semblances. Yang learned different combat styles other than boxing and kickboxing while Ruby did learn a little hand to hand but she gotten some new tricks with using her semblance along with Weiss and Blake.

Blake could use her semblance to use clones of herself to fight with along with being able to make after images, which she mentioned that it reminded her of her friend, Sun. For Weiss, she learned to summon fallen foes she had defeated in combat. I was wondering if the way I could summoned fiery creatures was the same as Weiss but she said that her’s was only for short periods of time while mine lasted much longer, since Flame-bot was still around. I wonder if there’s a way to combine our semblances if their close to the same?

For me it seems any of my fire attacks seemed more… well hotter than before, also the second sun in the sky seemed to be the same size as the first one. I wonder if it’s linked to my Semblance?

At the moment I was staring out in the Valley deep in thought, seeing some birds fly over head… or at least I think they’re birds. Sound of familiar wings flapping above me had taken me out of my thoughts.

“Is there something troubling you, dear?” Mother’s voice greeted my ears as she touched ground behind me. I looked back at her and smiled.

“No, not really.” I said getting up and stretching. “How’s everything with you?”

“The young ones under my care are currently enjoying their time with their own families. A day ago I was tasked by sister to look after her children while she spoke to the current owner of the Schnee dust company.” Mother said, smiling a bit before saying. “She had a few choice words she rather not have any of her children hearing.” She added.

“Ah… I don’t think I want to know why she went over there.” I said, having a pretty good idea what she was going to do.

“I’ve also received word of a peculiar survivor deep within the ruins of Beacon Academy.” Mother said, catching my attention fully.

“A survivor?!” I said in bewilderment. “I can’t believe someone could live so long in the ruins.”

“That’s not the only peculiar part about it, whoever this person is posses the same abilities of your former professor.” Mother said curiously.

“Really?” I said, thinking if there was anyone had Indigo’s abilities, or maybe… “I should go check it out.”

“That is a dangerous task, Viri, especially on your own. The whole Academy is swarming with Grimm.” Mother said, warning me of the danger. I looked over at her before I felt a familiar heat from behind me.

“I won’t be alone, I have Flame-bot.” I told her as the Elemental stood behind me. Mother thought about this before sighing.

“Alright, just please try to avoid any confrontations with the Grimm.” She said, smiling a bit as she did. I nodded as Flame-bot walked, wait does it walk?, over and into a new suit I built for him. It was the same as the Atlas bots that I seen before, but with a new paint job; black with white highlights. It looked over at me as I grabbed Molten Coil, which hummed at my touch.

“Alright, I’ll be back.” I told her. I turned around in time to see a large set of doors opening. A blinding light shining out from it as it opened.

“I will be keeping a close eye on you during your expedition.” Mother said as the light died down, revealing a debilitated hall of no doubt was Beacon Academy. A distant clap of thunder greeted my ears as rain poured down the shattered windows and collapsed walls. I grumbled at the idea of the rain but with Flame-bot in tow the two of us headed through the door.

Cold rain soaked me to the bones as I stepped out into the rain, making me shiver as I pulled up my coat that I totally had. No really I did. I looked over at Flame-bot who didn’t seem to mind the rain as he looked around. I wonder if Mother was looking through it’s eyes to watch me?

“Let’s go.” I said as we headed out. The place was really quite other than the rain as we made our way through. I saw a number of Atlas bots litter about as we sneaked our way through the streets. We stopped to allow some Grimm to pass, I didn’t want to fight an army of Grimm.

After a hour of sneaking we came across the place where Indigo died. I walked through the destroyed room that it took place, flashes of memories of what happened that day played out in my head; seeing Yang and Blake on the ground wounded and armless, getting shot in the stomach from Adam only to see Indigo come to protect us… seeing him die in front of me.

I shook my head to banish those thoughts as I came to the room where it happened and seeing that the body of Indigo was gone, well almost gone. Over to the side was a decomposing arm that looked like it used to belong to him.

It didn’t help when I first saw it I almost threw up by the sight of it. But there was one thing that was odd; if his arm is here where’s the rest of his body? I didn’t have time to think much about it, hearing an echoing howl. I looked towards the direction where the howl came from.

“That doesn’t sound good…” I said as I looked at Flame-bot. “We should move.”

The two of us continued on out of the building and continued wandering around in hope we find this survivor. We managed to end up in what was left of the mess hall, I could barely recognize it at first glance. I frowned as many good memories I had here sprang to mind as I walked through the place. I also remembered some food fights that I was in and man, this place can do some epic food fights.

I was taken out of my thoughts at the sight of a Beowolf barging in through one of the barricaded doors. My hand went to Molten Coil as I moved to a pile of rubble, hoping that it didn’t see me. Flame-Bot simply stood still, looking at the Beowolf. The beowolf growled, sniffing the air as it did. It briefly looked at my direction before looking at kitchen area, growling as it slowly made its way closer to it before readying its pounce. Before it could pounce however, large shadowy fist materialized itself under it, slamming the beowolf onto the ceiling.

I watched as this fist slammed the Beowolf up onto the ceiling with shocked, as the Fist pulls away the Grimm fell down onto the ground with a loud thud. The Beowolf groaned as it attempted to get up only to slammed against the ceiling again, leaving more cracks and a bigger dent before falling back down again. A single whine was heard from the Beowolf before once again being slammed against the ceiling, this time dissipating upon impact. The large shadowy fist lowered itself back onto the ground from whence it came. I was about to stand up but a noise from the kitchen had caused me to drop back down. Glancing from cover, I was able make out a figure hopping over from the kitchen area, groaning afterwards before I hid again. The groan sounded male and in pain.

Glancing back at the male figure, I spotted him making his way out of the mess hall, faintly muttering to himself as he did. As I watched him I decided to make myself known to the man.

“Uh, excuse me.” I said loud enough to let him hear me but not full-on yelling. He stopped for a second or two before shaking his head and continuing on into the remains of the dormitory. I frowned at this. “Well that was rude.”

Watching him walk off I motion to Flame-bot to follow him as I went after him as well. I didn’t know if this man knew I was following him or not. If he did I didn’t know if he cared.

He stopped by a collapsed wall, standing very close to the edge as he reach a hand out. Water quickly pooled in his hand before he brought up his mouth. He was drinking water.

“Oi, can you hear me?” I asked him, seeing if he does notice me, besides if there were more survivors here means more people to save. A sorta win-win scenario, I think?

“Who are you?” He asked, not turning around. He reached his hand out once again for another handful of water.

“Oh good, you can hear me.” I said as I felt Flame-bot nudge me as if to say ‘move this along’. “Right, I’m Viri Mal Kun, I’m here to see if there’s any survivors here.”

“Viri… A-Adam.” He struggled to say while grasping his head in pain, splashing himself with the water in his hand from doing so.

“Woah, easy there.” I said as I went a little closer, by this time I noticed that he had only one arm, also the name Adam made me frown. “Have you seen Adam? If so was he getting eaten by Grimm because I wished that happened.”

“If only.” He said angrily, lowering his hand from his head.

“Well damn, one can hope.” I said grimly. Flame-bot nudge me again. “Yes yes I know, you shotgunned him in the face with fire which was nice but back to the matter at hand.” I looked at the man. “What’s your name sir?”

“I keep asking that myself ever since I woke up.” He said with a dry chuckle before turning toward my direction. “I suppose… if I recall correctly, my name is-” He was cut off by a Nevermore swooping up into the air. He looked and saw the Nevermore was turning back. It fired its razerlike feather at him, only to be blocked by a wall of shadow. I frowned at this as I pull out Molten Coil and fired a few shots at it. Some bounced off it’s body while others hit and caught flame. I pulled back before letting the chamber spin faster, letting out some embers. Those embers ignited and started to float around me. Thrusting my blade towards the Nevermore the flaming embers flown towards the Grimm and start to fly around it. Soon there was a screeching flaming Grimm flying around in pain before falling out of the sky and crashing down somewhere else. I turned and took the man’s one arm.

“Come on, that would’ve drawn a lot of attention from any Grimm around here.” I told him before trying to lead him off away.

“I know my way around.” He said, pulling his arm from my grip. “Follow me.” He said before sprinting off down the hall of dormitory. I followed suit, hearing the distant screeches of angered Nevermores getting closer. I briefly lost sight of the man before being pulled into one of the dorm rooms. Flame bot quickly entered the room as well before closing the door. “They’ll no doubt send search parties but we’ll be safe in here.” I was briefly blinded by a lantern that lit up the room. The room looked familiar but with it in such a chaotic state, I wasn’t able to note anything. “Sorry for the mess, I wasn’t expecting a visitor.” I looked over to the man, seeing his messy steel gray hair, his right Indigo eye and midnight purple eye. Oddly I felt I met him before.

“Hey… have we met before?” I asked him, making him tilt his head a bit.

“Have we?” He asked back in confusion. The two of us stared at each other for a few moments before I shook my head.

“Anyway you were going to say your name before a Nevermore came to turn us into chow.” I said. He looked at confusedly before shaking his head.

“Ah yes, I was… wasn’t I?... Of course, of course.” He said a bit to himself. He took a deep breath and exhaled. “I believe my name my name is… Indigo?”

“Wait, Indigo?!” I said as I stared at him. “Like, Indigo Parker?!” He nodded a little, groaning ae he did.

“I believe so.” He said. I stared at him for a bit before remembering what my aunt says that due to Indigo’s semblance his mind could be a bit messed up.

“Okay… umm, think.” I said to myself as I thought on what Indigo may know. “If you are Indigo, do you know what you said when you helped me getting a new outfit due to it being to small?” He groaned a bit but stayed silent afterwards for a little while.

“I… your size is about the same as one of my former teammates.” He said, letting go of his head as he did.

“What was her name?” I asked him. He looked off to the said as he thought about it.

“Dew… Her name was Dew but I remember calling her by her nickname, Dewm.” He said, chuckling as he did. Yup, that sold it.

“Oh my Mother, Indigo!” I went over and hugged him, probably confusing him by this. “I thought you died! No wait, you did die by that asshat but you’re standing here and, oh never mind that you’re here right now and that’s good! I think? No, yes, yes it is.”

“So we have met.” He said to himself. I nodded to him as I pulled away.

“Yeah, your my teacher for most of the time here in Beacon.” I told him with a smile before faltering a bit. “Though you did made me go through a lot of training when I was away for a while.”

“Yes… yes, I recall that.” He said with a nod. He sat down on the broken bed, a sigh escaping his lips as he did. “My memories are scattered about and jumbled with others.” He said.

“I… see, kinda.” I sat down near him. “Do you remember Team RWBY? Ruby, Blake, Yang, and Weiss?” I asked him.

“Hazily…” He said closing his eyes for a minute or two. His eyes fluttered open, he looked confused before looking at me with a curious glance. “Sara? That can’t be you can it?... No, No, I remember your dislike of swords… You’re not Sara. Her daughter?” He said before rambling on to himself. I blinked at him confused.

“What? Who’s Sara?” I asked. The only Sara’s I know of is some people with that name and the woman from my book… okay a few of my books. “Indigo, what are you talking about?” He blinked a few times before shaking his head.

“What?” He asked, not remembering what he had just said. I opened my mouth but didn’t say anything at first.

“You… just called me Sara.” I said before shaking my head. “Actually, never mind about that do you know if there’s anyone else here in Beacon that’s alive or is it just you?”

“Last I checked, I’m the only one here.” He answered sadly. I looked at him sadly that he has been here alone for this long.

“Well I had hope there was more survivors but I figured there wouldn’t be other than you.” I said. “So, I think we should leave here before more Grimm come.”

“I’ve tried once before, there are just too many Grimm out there.” He said with slow shake of his head. I raised an eyebrow at him before standing up.

“Well you’re in luck since I’m here.” I told him as I pulled out the necklace that Mother gave me after the first one got destroyed. “We’re going to cheat.”

With an odd look I held the gem up and looked at the closed door. “I found him, can we get back please?”

The gem became warm as the outer door frame started to glow. I turned back at him and smirked. “See, cheating to get out.” He stared at the door in silent shock.

“W-what’s happening?” He asked with a stutter. I chuckled nervously.

“Yeah uhh, in short, I have been keeping a large secret from you Indi, but do you really want to stay here in the ruins of Beacon or come with me and see Blake again?” I asked him, feeling that he wants to see her again.

“Blake… she’s alive?” He asked with a hopeful tone. I smiled, knowing that he at least remembers her fully.

“Yes, yes she is. And I will say that’s she’s worried sick about you.” I said. He stood up, a look of determination he walked up to the door.

“Then let’s not keep her waiting.” He said, a smile forming as he did. With that I opened the door, which leads into the Valley. I walked through a long with Indigo, which he took a moment to look around as Flame-bot walked through as well before the door closed and disappear.

“Indigo welcome to the Valley.” I said as he looked out to a very sunny day, mostly due to the two suns in the sky. I looked around if I could see Mother. “Now where is- oph!”

I was tacked from behind by someone, one that sounded like Ruby as she was saying my head.

“Where did you go~!?” she cried.

“I was...doing something.” I said with my face in the ground.

“You left me to suffer with Yangs training by myself!” she said annoyed. Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

“It wasn’t that bad Ruby, and- woah.” I heard Yang said as she was near. I moved Ruby off me and turned around, over the few months their features changed a bit, mostly that they have longer hair and Ruby grew a bit, just a bit. They were in some sparing outfits and Yang was looking at Indigo with confusion. “Uh, who are you?” Indigo was silent, looking at Valley in awe. Yang looked oddly at him as I got up.

“Ruby, can you find Blake and my mother?” I asked her.

“Sure thing!” with that she turned into rose petals and zoomed off. I walked over to Yang as she leaned closer to me.

“Who’s the guy?” she asked.

“You’re not going to believe it but that’s Indi.” I told her. She looked at me shocked.

“Indigo! He’s alive?!” she asked me.

“Yeah, seems that he was able to come back but in a different body.” I told her, feeling like this would be a reference of something. “The only thing is that his memory is a little...messed up.”

“What do you mean?” she asked as Indigo looked up to see some birds flying over head.

“I think he has memories of somebody else in his head, he even called me by someone else’s name.” I told her. She narrowed her eyes at me before looking at Indigo.

“Hey, Professor Indi.” Yang called out to him.

“Hmm, wha? Professor?” He said in confusion before shaking his head. “Right, I am… was a Professor in Beacon.” He muttered to himself before finally looking at Yang. “Yes, Yang?” He asked.

“Just seeing if you knew me.” she told him with a smile. He nodded slowly before his gaze went down to her arm, mostly the prosthetic arm.

“Ah… I’m sorry… I should’ve known he would’ve been there.” Indigo said, referring to the events that transpired during our confrontation with Adam. Yang rubbed her arm in memory of that and I saw her shake a little before taking a deep breath.

“It’s… fine, I was a little rash at what happen.” she said before looking at him and seeing the lack of arm. “You on the other hand- errr, I mean…” Indigo looked at would’ve been his left arm, chuckling dryly as he did.

“It’s fine.” Indigo said, shaking his head before saying. “I’m ambidextrous.” He said jokingly.

“Yeah… but if you want I think Ruby and Viri can build you an arm.” she showed him hers. “They made mine.”

“Yeah, it wouldn’t be hard, just take some time.” I told Indigo. He shook his head, surprising me and Yang.

“I’m fine, really… but thank you.” He said to the both of us. I looked over at Yang as she shrugs right before a burst of rose petals returned with a black bunch as well. Ruby appeared near us before Blake comes stumbling out, blinking.

“Ruby… did you have to do that?” she asked.

“It was faster.” Ruby said with a smile. Blake frowned at her before looking around and her eyes landed on Indigo.

“I-Indigo?” she asked, making me wonder how she knew it was him. With a nod, Indigo looked at her and said.

“Yeah… Yeah, it’s me.” He said, giving her a small smile. Blake stood there staring before tears welled up in her eyes before giving him a hug, crying into his shirt. With his one arm he gave her a hug back. “I’m so sorry.” I heard him say to Blake.

The three of us stood by away from the two smiling as the two embraced. “I think we should leave the two of them alone.” I told the two.

“Yeah, they need it.” Yang said. Soon we entered the hallway through the door while Indigo and Blake spent time catching up. We walked down the halls before Yang spoke up. “I should go tell Weiss about this, old ice queen is always in the library reading.”

“Yeah, I wonder why?” Ruby asked. Yang shrugged as he hooked Ruby with her arm.

“Don’t think I forgot what you said before sis.” Yang said with an evil smile.

“Uh I er what I mean is.” she started to say as Yang started to drag her away. “Viri help~!”

I gave her a wave as they went out of my view and leaving me alone. I frowned as my mind wandered back to what Indigo said before coming here. “Sara… who’s Sara?”

“Someone you know?” The Voice of Father brought my attention away from my thoughts. He must’ve been out of the palace, as he now had the form of a red scaled Dovah. “Or perhaps it is someone you want to know?” He asked.

“I… I don’t know anyone named Sara, other than a someone in my books but… when I went out to Beacon I found Indigo, he looks different but had his memories but also one of another person.” I turned to him and shifted a bit. “He… well for a short time he called me Sara, saying that I look like her or something.”

“I may know of who he speaks.” Father replied before asking. “Has he mentioned anything else?”

“Umm, well other than I look like her she has a disliking to swords and thought I was her daughter.” I crossed my arms and frowned. “And I think it’s rude to dislike swords, Molten Coil is a great weapon.”

“Viri… the woman he mentioned. Her name is Sara Warren, you know her as the Crimson Huntress. Viri… she is your mother.” Father said. I stumbled a bit as he told me this, everything seemed to slow down.

“W-what…” wall all I could say. Sure I knew that my Father wasn’t my real parent but I didn’t know that my real mom was alive. I put my hand on the wall as parts of the book of the same name sorta fit as well, for the most part. “I… she’s my mom… but…”

“I’m sorry if this upsets you, dear but… you had to find out eventually.” He said, catching me after almost falling. He helped me up as I felt a tear ran down my face.

“Why… Why did she abandon me!” I yelled, punching the wall near me. A burst of flames flared out as I did this and again. “Why?!? WHY!?!”

I punched the wall a few more times before I fell to my knees as I cried. I felt hollow inside like when I was young, when I was out in the cold.

“They didn’t do it by choice.” Father said, shrinking down to my height and kneeling beside me before pulling me into a comforting embrace. I cried into his embrace as the idea of being abandoned was too much. I cried for sometime before I calmed down enough to be simply sniffling.

“T-Thanks…” I said, looking over at the now burnt and cracked wall. “Sorry about the wall.”

“It is alright. Your well being is my primary concern.” Father said before the burnt marks vanished the cracks sealed themselves shut. After that Father pulled me up as I wiped away my tears.

“Is… are my parents alive?” I asked him.

“Your father had passed judgement in the Hall not long before me and my sister found you.”Father said with a solemn tone My ears flattened atop my head after hearing this. “Your mother…” He sighed, not knowing what to say. “Your mother’s whereabouts are unknown but she is alive.” He said. My ears perked up when he said that.

“Then… I could meet her?!” I asked sounding hopeful.

“Only if you find her whereabouts. I’m sorry but I cannot say much more.” He said regrettably as he stood back up. I was silent for a moment or two before nodding.

“It’s still something.” I said, still hopeful. “That means if I find out where she is then I can ask her something important… why does she hate swords?”

It was silent for a good minute before Father started laughing. I turned back at him confused. “Why are you laughing? It’s an important question!”

Somewhere in Equestria

In the dark caves of her castle, Queen Chrysalis was working on her final preparations on her plan. She slowly grins as her drones fed her reports of the states of Canterlots guards and defenses.

“So Canterlot would be almost defenceless during the wedding. With only Celestia the only threat but if my plan goes smoothly then she wouldn’t be too much of a problem.” she said. Near her in the shadows was another woman wearing black armor that covered her chest, arms, and legs leaving her mid-draft and thighs exposed. On her back were two axes that seemed to distort the air with the heat they were producing. Her hair was cut short while her fox ears, one of them look like it has a large bit to it, were the same colour as her hair, which was a silvery white.

Over her eyes was a black mask that similar to a Grimm mask only it glowed a sickly lime green. She leaned against the wall before the Changeling Queen turned to her.

“Do you know your mission my dear slave?” she asked.

“Yes my Queen, I will ponynap this Alicorn of Love when the time is right.” she said with a bow, making the Queen laugh.

“Excellent! When this wedding is over, I will rule Canterlot and all of Equestria!” As Queen Chrysalis laughs all of her drones cheered that echoes across their hive, almost shaking the ground alone.

Author's Note

Dun, dun, daaaaaa~! Viri now knows that her mother's name! Indigo is back with only one less arm because Adam is an ass, and Queen Buggy is working on the plan of the end of Season 2... all the way before the start of the show! Got to say, she’s a hard worker

A new adventure awaits!

Another month passed since I went back to Beacon to rescue Indigo. Indigo has been… adjusting to his new surroundings, at one point he freaked out over the large Non-Dova that lives in the Valley but to be honest everyone freaks out when they see a kaiju size dragon walking around.

There are times where he has moments of split personality where he looks at everyone oddly and calls me Sara, my real mothers name. Though there were a few times where Indi would go all Professor on us during training which made us happy to see him.

I… had a difficult time with the idea that my mom was alive and out there. On one hand I really wanted to meet her and ask her questions, but on the other I was scared to see her. Also there’s the fact that when I see Mother and call her that it feels… off.

I kept it to myself as I reread the Crimson Huntress, seeing if I can pick out what Sara was like. Although it wasn’t much I started to see a image of what my mother is.

I let out a sigh as I sat in the hot springs in the valley, something my aunt made for some relaxation. It was a very good idea as the place was a natural hot spring… kinda, the words ‘natural’ around two powerful beings that could make whole universes with a flick of a finger lands in the gray area.

“I see you’re enjoying yourself.” I looked up in time to see Mother step into the water. She greeted me with her calming smile.

“What can I say, hot springs are amazing.” I said with a smile. That got a chuckle from Mother. The two of us chuckled as the clouds float on by over us. “So here to relax or have something to ask me?” I asked her. Her smile faltered at my words before she sighed.

“I’m just worried about you, dear.” She answered truthfully. I shifted uncomfortably at this. I could say that I was fine and well but that would be lying. Also in the state of… undress we were in, it was hard to openly lie to another.

“I’m still a little iffy about now knowing the name of my mother and yet you’re around and I call you Mother… it just feels off.” I told her, pulling my legs up and wrapping my wet tail around me.

“I understand but just know, that if you ever wish to talk about it, come and find me.” She said, smiling afterwards. I looked up at her and thought about it.

“Does it feel… odd for you? For the time you had me and I called you ‘Mother’ or ‘Father’ give or take your form you were in, does it feel odd with the knowledge of who were my true parents are?” I asked her. Mother hummed in thought.

“It was only for a short period of time but yes, though I happy to have been your parent figure.” She said, answering my question as she did. I looked up at her before thinking about another question.

“I wonder what was it like for her, Sara I mean. Did she know I was alive? If she did… what would she think or feel like during the time away from me?” I said out loud.

“More questions to ask for when you find her.” Mother said, lighting up the mood a little. I gave her a smile as I lowered myself into the water. After a few minutes of resting Mother got out of the hot spring along with the water. The water formed around her until she was wearing an amazing blue dress.

“Okay, that’s really cool.” I said.

“Thank you, dear.” Mother said, showing off her new dress a little before saying. “I’ve been meaning to try it for a while.” She said as the Hot spring pool gradually refilled.

“A dress made out of water, why not.” I laughed as grabbed a brush from behind me and brushed my tail. “I think I’m going to stay for a little longer until I get out.” With a nod she turned to leave but stopped.

“Oh and one more thing, do keep a close eye on your friend Indigo. If what you say is true and his memories are jumbled about and mixed with others than you’ll need be sure he doesn’t do anything drastic.” Mother said, referring to Indigo’s split personality dilemma.

“I will.” I told her with a smile. She smiled back before walking off. I was left alone for about ten minutes before the rest of Team RWBY came in and started to have fun. Before long I got out of the hot spring after I got splashed in the face one too many times. I wrapped myself up in a large towel and started making my way back to my room.

I walked down the walls as I felt my hair and tail became dry and fluffy, making them poof out a bit as I turned one corner and saw Indigo looking up at one of the many statues of Dovas of the past. After having brought Indigo back with me and after the tearful reunion, Indigo had gotten himself cleaned. He no longer sported a beard, having shaven it off the first chance he got. He had also gotten his hair done, giving him a less messy look to it.

“Hey.” I called out at him, drawing his attention to me. He glanced at me before looking back at the statue. I walked over to him and looked up at the statue. “Cool statue huh, I sometimes forget that they are much larger than this.” He stayed silent, his blank gaze falling onto the floor. I looked over at him worried. “Hey, you okay?” I asked, putting my hand on his shoulder.

“Far from it.” He said just above a whisper. “One moment I see myself sitting next to Blake, watching over a sparring match, then within single blink the world around me changes into a bloody battle, people I never knew yet somehow know were dying around me.” He said, lightly shaking his head before taking a deep breath. “I feel myself slipping more on more into obscurity. These visions, these memories… haunting me as if they were my own.”

“Have you tried to talk to Mother? Maybe she can help.” I asked. He shook his head once again.

“Through my recent episodes, Blake has been able to bring me back. She’s slowly helping me remember.” Indigo said. So that’s what they’ve been up to lately. “But I’ve made a mistake… and she’s quite upset but still willing to help.” He added in regretful tone.

“What was the mistake?” I asked, quickly cursing myself for saying that.

“It was brief but I had slipped again into the memories not my own.” He said, taking a deep breath before saying. “I had called Axycia.” He said. He looked over at me and probably saw face go through a number of emotions.

“Axycia… you mean that same Axycia that’s the sister to Mother, my aunt…” the two of us stared at each other in silence as this sets in.

“I don’t know.” Indigo said, truly confused. We stood there for some time, kinda awkward for me since I had a towel on, before I spoke up.

“Maybe I should call my aunt and see what she says?” I said to him. “Maybe clear things up.”

“I guess…” He wasn’t able to finish is sentenced as his indigo iris dilated while midnight purple iris shone briefly. “Yes… Yes that sounds like a good idea.”

“Uhhh, okay then…” I said, kinda wondering what just happen. “Maybe have Blake there as well so the both of you can hear it.” He nodded albeit reluctantly before heading off to find her. I quickly went to my room to dry off and put some clothes on. The idea of talking to Indigo in that state of undress was really weird. I then sent a message to my aunt that I need to talk to her and hope she had time to do this. I didn’t see any reply as I walked out of the room and found Blake and Indigo in a small room with a few chairs and a couch. Blake had her face in a neutral expression as Indigo simply looked like he has a lot on his mind. I didn’t say anything as I sat down and waited for maybe my aunt to come.

After ten minutes of waiting the door opened and she walked in a dark red suit and some tinted sunglasses. She held a scroll in her hand as she tapped at it.

“I have thirty minutes to an hour of free time before I have to bolt, so what do you need to my dear?” she asked me. I looked at her before Blake spoke.

“You’re Axycia Mal Kun right?” she asked.

“Yes my Faunus friend, I’m one Axycia Mal Kun, what do you-” she stopped as she turned and saw Indigo who was staring at her. She tilted her head a bit. “Weren’t you dead?”

“I thought so too.” Indigo replied, his midnight purple eye shining briefly. “You look like you haven’t aged a day, Axycia.” Both me and Blake stared at the two of them as my aunt smiled.

“You look younger Theodore.” she said with a smirk.

“Umm, you know him?” I asked her. She turned to me with a raised eyebrow.

“Knew him? We used to be a couple.” she answered, making Blake cough in surprise as I looked at both Indigo and her.

“You two?” I said, making my aunt roll her eyes.

“Well not ‘him’ exactly, Theodore Parker is Indigos grandfather.” she looked up to the ceiling with a sigh. “Those were fun times.”

“Uhh…” I said looking at the other two. Blake frowned at her as she said this. “What happened to you two?”

This caused my aunt’s smile to falter a bit. “I… had a habit to disappear from time to time, Theodore was there when I came back but… one time… I went and didn’t come back for a long, long time.” she turned to Indigo, who’s midnight purple eye was still glowing. “I was there when they buried you.”

“Yes, when she never came back I had thought the worst but I had not been given the time to grieve as I was called into arms.” He said, shaking his head lightly before saying. “I had hoped that by the end of the war, I would be able to see you again, perhaps even propose but…” He said, knowing he we knew what he meant. “Eventually I married another, had children and settled down, knowing my efforts in the war had changed the world.” He said. This caused my aunt to look down at herself.

“I’m.. I’m sorry that I left, if I stayed…” she didn’t finished as it was something that she didn’t want to say. “I didn’t forget about you Theodore, all this time I never forgot about you.” her gaze turned to Blake before sighing. “But sadly, the Theodore I knew in the past is long dead, you’re just the memories of him in one of his children’s children.”

Blake looked at the two of them as Axycia looked at her. She reached over to her hand and moved it over to Indigo’s knee. “I wish I could help you, but both souls have merged into one and the memories of both are scrambled.” She kneeled down to their level and smiled sadly at them.

“Actually, I’ve merely fused with my grandson so he wouldn’t be robbed of his life. I’m transferring my regenerative abilities onto him, of course it came with some… serious side effects.” In-Theodore said, breaking the silence. Blake looked over at the two as my aunt looked over to his stump of an arm.

“Missing an arm is one of them?” my aunt asked with a smirk.

“I’m afraid to say that the bastard that nearly took my grandson’s life had cut off his arm before I began the process.” He said with a bit of sadness. Axycia looked at this for a moment as she wanted to say something.

“Well, maybe Axycia could heal that part, give the arm back.” I pointed out to them.

“Viri I’m not the greatest at healing but… this I could do.” she said, looking at the man.

“No!” Theodore said in panic. He quickly calmed down before saying. “I thank you for kindness but… Indigo has already solved his dilemma not too long ago.”

My aunt nodded at this and turned her head a bit. I saw her let off a quick sigh before looking back, guessing she wasn’t really that good on healing magic.

“Well, if there’s anything I can do for you just tell me.” she told him. He smiled at her offer.

“Thank you, Axycia.” Theodore said, sitting down with a chuckle. “To think I’ve fallen for a literal goddess. Luckiest man in history I say.” This brought a blush to Aunty’s cheeks, surprising me as I’ve never seen her blush before.

“Uhh, yeah well umm I have to… bye.” she said before walking out of the door blushing. My jaw was on the floor before looking at the man.

“You sir, are amazing.” I told him before pointing at the door. “I never saw her do that.”

“You should’ve seen her back then.” He said, reminiscing his past. He looked back at me. “While I do enjoy a good banter, I’m afraid I must be going.” He said, smiling at both me and Blake. He faced Blake before saying. “The boy truly cares for you deeply, you mean the world to him.” He said to her. Blake smiled at this, a bit taken back but happy nonetheless. “Until next time, my dears.” He closed his eyes, a loud exhale was heard from him. He was left panting before he looked at me then at Blake.

“Did… Did I miss anything?” He asked taking a few deep breaths. Blake hugged him, surprising him a bit but ultimately returned the hug. I smiled at them before speaking.

“Nah, you didn’t miss anything.”

A few weeks passed and Indigo seemed to get better as in he didn’t switch into his grandfather as often.

One odd morning when we came to the Valley and waiting there with his tail wagging and panting excitedly with a bow tied around his neck was Oni, simply sitting there for Indigo. Indigo stared wide-eyed at the Beowolf in front of him.

“Oni!” Indigo exclaimed, happy to see his companion safe and sound. Speaking of which, Oni was quick to act and tackled Indigo onto the ground before happily licking his face despite Indigo’s protest. After a while Oni finally stopped, letting Indigo wipe off the saliva. “How did you get here? Not that I’m complaining.” He said, a happy smile on his face as he began to pet Oni. It was nice seeing him happy like this, having only seen his rough side during Beacon it was a sight to see him smiling like this. I also have a feeling that my aunt had something to do with this after her interaction with Theodore.

With that said it also let Sylph have someone to play with. Speaking of her she grew over the months she been in the Valley, now almost the size of Oni. She even made a small area in the Valley she calls home, that is if you call a small icy place a home.

Indigo also came back with teaching me and the rest of Team RWBY about being a Huntsman/Huntress’ alongside Mother. I also think he got some new tricks from the memories of his grandfather as well since there are times were his teachings were completely different.

One day Indigo got all of us to have a sparring match with him to see how we improved. Not only that but Mother and Aunty came to watch.

“So you’re really an all-powerful goddess?” Weiss asked my aunt.

“Of course dear, but I don’t use my powers to expand my business, it just be boring if I did.” she explained as Indigo got everyone’s attention.

“Gather ‘round, students!” Indigo exclaimed loudly, grabbing everyone’s attention. He appeared having walked up the path up to our little area. I was the first to notice his new attire. It looked similar to his old outfit back in Beacon this time without his vest and the left shoulder of the shirt was ripped off. Indigo noticed Mother and Aunty before saying. “Mesdames.” He said, greeting them both. Aunty smiled at him along with mother.

“So… we’re doing a sparring match with you?” Yang asked him as she looked towards his lack of an arm. “Wouldn’t it be hard with… uhh…” Indigo rolled his eyes.

“As Huntsmen we improvise and adapt to the situation, no matter how severe.” Indigo said, reciting one of his earlier lessons. I felt a little nostalgic moment when he said that.

“So… it is a one on one or one on…” Ruby quickly did a head count. “One on five?”

“Seems fair enough.” Indigo said with a nonchalant shrug. We all looked at each other.

“Why do I feel like this is a bad idea?” I asked.

“Viri, everything I do is a bad idea.” Indigo replied with a smirk. I gulped as we all moved into the arena. I pulled out Molten Coil and got ready as did everyone else. Indigo simply stood there waiting as Mother and my aunt made some seats for themselves.

“Well Teach.” Yang started as she got ready. “Time to show you what we picked up when you weren’t around.” Like a blur, Oni had sprinted between us wanting to sit beside both Mother and Aunt. With a smirk, Indigo balled his hand.

“You’re not the only one with new tricks.” As he spoke, I noticed the shadows from the trees and rocks were being attracted to Indigo. The shadows coursed through his body and with an excited laugh, Indigo’s stump grow a shadowy arm. I blinked in surprise at this before thinking about it. It makes sense that he would do this and with two suns there would me more shadows.

“Oh… okay.” Was Yang’s reaction as she stared at the arm. Weiss’ jaw was on the floor at this as Blake tilted her head at this.

“That’s… so… cool!” and lastly Ruby said excitedly. “How do you do that?!”

“Wait you’re excited about this?” Weiss asked.

“Well yeah, it’s really cool!” Ruby replied.

“It was a few days after I woke up in Beacon. The first thing I felt was power… power that I have never thought possible.” Indigo started as he opened and closed the shadowy hand. “I felt my semblance’s true potential and I harnessed it, used it to better my survivability.” He said, gazing at us as we all had our weapons drawn. It was then I realized his lack of tonfas or weaponry for that matter.

“Even if he has a shadow hand, arm, whatever, we still got him.” Yang said as she went into a boxers stance. I glanced over to Indigo as his eyes dart from one to another.

“I don’t know about that…” I said before the first move was made by Yang as she rocketed forward, delivering the first punch. Before she got even close to Indigo, a familiar shadowy fist rose up from the ground beneath Yang, sending up into the air before landing with a loud thud back onto the dirt.

“Ow…” was all Yang said before Ruby got ready along with Weiss.

“Ready?” Ruby asked. With a nodded Weiss made glyphs on the ground as Ruby bolted forward, seemingly going faster as she past each glyph and firing off a shot a few times. Soon she was a blur around Indigo as she moved in to strike him. Only for her scythe to phase through him. With a smirk, the color seemingly disappeared from Indigo, his entire physical appearance diminished and left only a silhouette. The silhouette was then absorbed into the ground before vanishing.

“Can’t hit what’s not really there.” Indigo’s voice was heard all around us as a multitude of silhouettes rose up from the ground and took the form of Indigo. “Or am I there.” They all said in unison.

“Well, now it feels like we’re in a house of mirrors, just without the house and mirrors.” I said as the other two turned to face the other Indigos.

“Well, it’s just the four of us.” Blake said as we all saw Ruby slowing down and started to stumble a bit.

“Ugh, I feel like I’m going to throw up.” she said before falling over. We all stared at her for a moment.

“We should’ve practiced that a bit more…” Weiss said.

“Okay… the three of us, we can still take him.” Blake corrected. With that said I looked over at Weiss.

“Firewall?” I asked. She smirked.

“Firewall.” she replied as her rapier’s revolver chamber rotated to red as flames followed up the blade as Moltens chamber started to spin. After a moment the two of us slashed forward towards the Indigos, sending a wave of fire towards them. They all looked at the fire before saying.

“You’re no fun.” They said before being engulfed in the flames, all of them revealing themselves to have been Silhouettes. With a frown I looked behind us, seeing Indigo sitting cross-legged waiting. He noticed me staring and stood up. “I’ve got one last good trick up my sleeve.” He said, crouching down and reaching into the shaded ground with his shadowy hand. His hand sunk into the shade like water before he straightened up and pulled something out from within. We all stared with side-eyes as he did this. What he pulled out was amazing, a large shadowy scythe, its size rivaling Ruby’s Crescent Rose.

“Oh you gotta be kidding me…” Weiss said as she saw this.

“You got this!” we heard Yang yell out with Ruby passed out beside her.

“Yeah, but you’re not the one to dealing with this.” I muttered as both Weiss and Blake went after Indigo. With some quick Glyphs Weiss got Blake up in the air as she used some more to stay mobile. In the air Blake had her weapon change to a gun to shoot down at Indigo as Weiss weaved in and out trying to slash at him as well.

Indigo effortlessly dodged Weiss’s slashed and blocked Blake’s shots with his new scythe. He quickly countered Weiss’s last swipe of her rapier with the blade of his scythe he swung at her, the scythe having an audible swoosh as he spun it around in his hands before swinging again. Weiss was able to dodge before jumping back out of his reach. Blake was still in the air when this happened and attempted to help Weiss but having somewhat heightened reflexes, Indigo used his scythe to pull her down to him. He held her close briefly, a smirk on his face as he said.

“Dinner, later?” He asked, to which Blake nodded before being spun around kicked over to Weiss. “Sorry.” He said, actually meaning it before finally looking at me.

“Smooth~.” I said as I held Molten coil.

“Go… Viri… hurk.” I heard Ruby said before throwing up a bit. I simply smiled before some embers shot out of the chamber.

“Remember these?” I asked before shooting out the flaming flares. As I kneeled down. Indigo looked at me with an arched brow as he leaned into his scythe. He simply swept them away with his shadow hand as if they were nothing.

Though that was the point as I changed Molten Coil in to her second form and pulled the trigger to shoot me forward. Taking a page out of Ruby, kinda, I rolled over and turned into a flaming wheel of fire heading towards Indigo. Blinking a few times at this, Indigo readied his scythe in on matted. It looked as he held a… golf club. Ah hell.

The next thing I noticed was that I was rocking away from him like a golf ball, right as Ruby stood up. I slammed into her and fell on top of her. “S-sorry…”

“It’s… fine…” she said with a groan. “Mind… moving your elbow? It’s pushing into my stomach…”

“Oh, sorry.” I said as I moved a bit until I was face to face with her. I blushed before rolling over.

“I thought you all said you trained?” Indigo asked, helping Weiss and Blake back up. I got up and helped Ruby up.

“Ugh, put me back down… everything is still spinning…” she said as I let her back down.

“We did… didn’t think you got this good.” Yang said as she got up. “And I was the first one out.” she grumbled.

“Yeah, how did we know you could do stuff like that?” Weiss said. He shrugged and said.

“You should’ve at least expected something.” He said to her. Team RWBY looked at one another as I looked over at Mother and my aunt. It seemed that Sylph came to watch as she was sitting beside Mother.

“Well, it seems we need a lot more training.” I said to him. He chuckled after hearing this.

“You got that right.” He said between chuckles before being slugged in the shoulder by Blake, silencing him. “Sorry.” He said to her.

“You still owe me dinner.” she said with a smirk. Indigo smiled as I heard both Mother and Aunty coming over.

“You think I held back too much?” I asked, glancing up to the second sun in the sky.

“No, you fought fair and so did he.” Mother said, glancing at Indigo as he conversed with Blake.

“I also believe that move was similar to something Ruby can do?” Aunty asked. I simply shrugged.

“Yeah, a little, but the getting dizzy does suck…” I thought about it and looked at her. “Wait, you know Indigo can do this.”

“Maybe~, I’m not saying.” she said innocently. I frowned at this as my aunt smiled. Shaking my head I turned back to see Ruby standing and asking Indigo about the shadow scythe he did. By the look on his face she was asking a million questions about it. I stared at them before an idea came to mind. I walked over to the group and looked at Indigo.

“Hey, do you miss being a professor?” I asked him, getting his attention. He looked at me curiously.

“That’s sort of an question out of the blue.” He said to me, confused by the question.

“Well it will help with what I have to say next.” I told him when the others came over. Blake looked up at him as Indigo thought about it.

“Yeah, I guess I do miss it.” He said, smiling a little sadly before saying. “Anyway, why do you ask?”

“Well, if you remember the time I was out of school for a few weeks, the reason was that I was doing something important.” I said before explaining to them about the Village Tak lives in and the Huntsman school that I helped started. Blake was surprised that there was another world with Faunus in it as well as magic. Yang and Weiss had many questions about this, mostly on the fact that there were anthro ponies there as well.

“Like, real-life ponies, that stand on two legs.” Yang asked. I nodded my head as she thought about it. “I just can’t picture it…”

“Yeah, it was a big shock when I first saw them.” I said before looking back at Indigo. “Anyway, they only have three teachers from all as I know of but if you want I could take you there and you can be a professor again. If you want I mean.” I told him. Indigo considered it before looking at Blake who simply smiled at him.

“Sure, I’ll join.” He said his decision.

“Uh, just to ask in this whole another world traveling gig but-” Weiss started before Yang interrupted her.

“Did you just say ‘gig’?” she asked. Weiss frowned at her before continuing.

“As I was saying, is there a way for us to, I don’t know, go back home?” she asked.

“To answer that Weiss, you are kinda already there.” Aunty said before going over what she told me and Mother.

“So… there’s two of us?” Blake asked her.

“Yes, your dreams are the time your other selves have done over in Remnant.” she said.

“Well… if that’s the case I’m going with Indigo here.” Blake said as she looked over at him with a smirk. “Someone has to keep an eye on you.”

“Wow, you got over that quickly.” Indigo said, a little surprised by her sudden decision.

“I don’t know, maybe you been rubbing off on me.” she said with a smile. I chuckled as I looked over at the others.

“Well count me in.” Yang said with a smile. “A whole new world to explore, who wouldn’t want to go?”

“I wonder what questions I could ask, to myself?” Ruby asked in a dreamlike state. Yang nudged her to snap her out of it. “Huh? Oh right I want to go!”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because ponies.” she answered, making me laugh. Everyone looked over at Weiss as she looked at them.

“But, what about our home? Our friends and… families?” she asked, sounding like the last part was forced.

“Well like she said there copies of us over there and if we want to go back we can simply pop back over there as if nothing has happened.” Yang said before looking at my aunt. “Right?”

“Yup, you gain all the memories of the other half as well knowing what happened here. Just the skills you trained before might not transfer over since, you know, muscle memory.” she explained. Yang nodded and looked back at Weiss.

“Come on Weiss, we’ll see Ponies!” Ruby said childishly. Weiss stared at her and the rest of her teammates before sighing.

“Ugh, fine I’ll go.” she said.

“Yes!” Ruby said as she looked off to the Valley. “Today, Team RWBY of Weiss, Blake, Yang, their team leader Ruby and friends will now go out and do something they never done before! Banzai!”

“Banzai!” Yang, Blake, Ruby and I said as we had our fists up in the air before tilting to the left and an odd sound was heard.

“Oh and Viri.” my aunt said. I looked back and saw her handing me a new Scroll. “Do try and not break this one.” I blushed as I took it.

After some time to gather our stuff we were all ready to hop over to the other world. I was standing a little away from the group with Mother as they were talking.

“Do you think I’m doing the right thing?” I asked her, now not too sure about this.

“Yes, I’m sure you are.” She said, smiling at me. I looked over at her before I smiled at her. The two of us hugged before I headed down to the others.

“Ready to go?” I asked them. They all nodded before Ruby hooks her arm with mine.

“Onwards to adventure!” she yelled happily. I blinked at this.

“Uh, Banzai?” I asked.

“Banzai!” she yelled, earning a laugh from everyone.

Author's Note

I don’t have a lot to say other then Indigo is still a badass, and Banzai!

Forever Free Academy

I walked out of the doorway that Mother made and saw the familiar trees of the Everfree. I smiled at the sight of them as I felt Sylph nudge up to me. I scratch behind her ear as I heard the others.

“Whoa… it’s so… colourful!” Ruby said as she looked at one of the trees as if it was an interesting weapon.

“Very colourful.” Weiss said as she looked around.

“It’s really colourful that…” Yang stopped for a moment before looking at me. “I can’t even come up with a pun.”

I laughed as Blake, Indigo, and Oni came through. I looked around for a moment before looking at them.

“Welcome to the Everfree forest!” I said to them. Indigo chuckled at this, earning a roll of the eyes from me.

“The Everfree… is everything here always free?” Yang asked. I simply shrugged as I spun on my heel.

“Anyway, we should be close to-”

“Ponies!” Ruby said as she bolted off into the forest before I got to finish.

“The… village…” I finished as I let out a sigh.

“Ah Ruby, never one to sit still.” Was all Yang said before we started to follow her. As luck should have it she went the right way towards the village, only to crash into one of the stalls.

“Ow~...” she said as we got to her. Some of the village folks came around to see if she was alright. Blake took a look around at everyone here.

“A little surprised?” I asked her.

“Just a little. Never really think there’s any other Faunus other than Remnant.” she replied. I smiled at her as Yang pulled Ruby out of the smashed up cart. The owner of the cart has a few choice words for Ruby, mostly to watch where she’s going.

“Well… I’m just going to go check up on a friend of mind, be back soon.” I said as I looked over at Indigo. “If you ask around someone will point you to Zecora.”

“Alright.” He said, looking at the abundance of fuanus people walking about. “This’ll be quick… hopefully.” He said to himself, walking off with Blake in tow. She stopped beside and glanced at me before saying.

“I’ll keep an eye on him.” She said with a smile. I gave her a thumbs up before heading out to find Tak. The first place I went to was his family’s farm.

“Hello?! Anyone here?” I called out.

“What brings here to my farm, miss?” From the corner of the nearby barn, came the tall horse faunus that was Tak’s father.

“Oh, just seeing if Tak’s around.” I told him. “Also how have you’ve been?” He looked at me confusedly for a minute or two before his confusion was replaced with realization.

“Oh it’s you!” He exclaimed happily. “I’ve been good. I’ve had to work double to keep Tak from overworking himself but I don’t mind.” He said.

‘Two peas in a pod…’ I thought before speaking. “Well at least Tak is keeping himself busy work… again, do you know where I can find him?” I asked.

“Last I saw, he was meditating near the house.” He answered, pointing towards the rather large home in the distance.

“I see, thanks sir.” I thanked him. He nodded with a smile before returning to work. I went up to the large house and started to look around for Tak. I soon found him by a tree meditating like his father has said he would be.

He wore the very same attire he had when we first met, this time without the bandage wrapping around his midsection. I stood a little away from him as he meditated waiting for a good chance to get his attention. After a few minutes he let out a breath and opened his eyes.

“Hello~.” I said in a cheery tone. He let a surprised yelp, quickly hopping to his feet.

“Who’s there!?” He said in a panicked tone. My ears flatten at this as I heard it.

“It’s me, your friend Viri.” I told him. He calmed down a bit after hearing this “I’m getting a bad habit of scaring you aren’t I?”

“I’m blind, my hearing is heightened more than a normal fuanus’.” He said, rubbing his ears a bit as he did.

“Ah… sorry.” I said to him as I shifted a bit. “So uh, how have you been?” He sat back down with his legs crossed before answering.

“Good… better even. Zecora was right, I really needed to take some time off for myself.” He said, sighing happily as he laid down onto the grass. “I still helped around with the construction effort.” He added.

“Cool, how’s that coming along?” I asked, walking over and sitting down beside him. He sat up, looking excited as he did.

“Oh yeah, it’s done.” He said with a wide grin. This made me smile.

“That’s fantastic!” I said happily. “I got to ask, did you all come up with a name for the place?”

“Zecora thought on calling it Forever Free Academy.” He said, still smiling.

“Huh… it kinda fits.” I said as I tilted my head. “Oh by the way, other then the three professors already here I brought another one to come help.” He tilted his head at this. “He’s one one of my professors of the school I used to go to. The man is a little odd and went through a lot but he’s a great teacher.”

“And he want to help us? Why?” He asked, curious to know.

“He likes teaching.” I told him with a shrug, even though he couldn’t see it. “Also maybe the idea of teaching a whole class on how to be Huntsman would give him a challenge.”

Before Tak could say something I saw a flash of red rose petals went past us, earning the attention of both of us as Ruby stopped.

“There you are!” she said happily. This earned a jolt from Tak as Ruby continued. “We met with this Zecora you told us about and she has a cool mohawk and staff, even through it’s just a staff, and said the school looks like an old castle which is going to be cool and-” I stopped her from talking by covering her mouth. I looked at Tak who was wide eyed.

“Yeah, this is also one of my friends Ruby Rose.” I told him as I lowered my hand.

“Hello!” she greeted. Tak slowly waved at her, stunned by her sudden appearance.

“U-um, h-hello.” He said with a bit of a stutter. Oh great, he’s shy again.

“Ruby this is my friend Tak.” I told her. She smiled and offer her hand to him.

“Hi Tak.” she said. Tak simply stared off into space as Ruby looked over at me.

“Uhh, he’s blind.” I explained.

“Ohh…” she looked at him for a moment. “Are you like some really awesome monk guy with kung fu moves?”

“Kung what?” He asked in confusion, not really knowing what she meant.

“You know, cool punches and kicks and…” she soon started to odd and funny stances. “Waaah, oohh, hiia!”

I started to laugh at this before leaning into Tak. “She’s a great friend to have if you can handle the childish nature she has.” That got a laugh out from him.

“She sounds like she can be a handful at times.” He said just low enough for Ruby not to hear.

“Sometimes, but that makes it fun.” I chuckled as Ruby noticed us talking.

“Did I miss something?” Ruby asked.

“Nah, you didn’t miss much.” I told her.

“Oh, okay!” she said before continuing. “Also Indigo talked to Zecora and I believe everything has been sorted.”

“Great.” I turned to Tak and said. “Ya want to see the rest of my friends and your new professor?”

“S-sure.” He said, a nervous smile forming. I rolled my eyes as the three of us headed back after convincing Ruby not to ‘dash’ us over there. When we got there I saw the others along with Zecora talking to Indigo.

“Hey everyone.” I greeted them as I gestured to Tak. “I like you all to meet Tak. Tak these are the rest of my friends; Yang.”

“Sup.” Yang said with a wave of her prosthetic arm.

“Weiss.” I said, gesturing at the Ice Queen herself.
“A pleasure to meet you.” Weiss greeted with small bow, to which Tak returned in kind.

“And Blake.” I then gestured towards Blake as she stood beside Indigo. Blake smiled and said.

“Hi.” Blake finished greeting after the rest. Tak simply waved at them as I got the attention of Indigo.

“And this is Professor Indigo.” I introduce him. Indigo walked up to the bat faunus, making Tak take a step back in fear.

“So you’re Tak?” Indigo asked, arms crossed and a brow raised. Tak nod hesitantly. “Zecora was just telling me all about you and frankly, I find it hard to believe.” Tak’s ears flattened atop his head after hearing his words. I frowned at this as the others looked at one another.

“Hey, be nice.” Blake said firmly. Indigo said nothing to her as he stared Tak down.

“Being a Huntsmen mean you will put your own life at risk for the safety of other, are you willing to that?” Indigo asked Tak. The bat faunus didn’t waste time in answering.

“Yes.” Tak said, his shyness having disappeared and replaced with determination.

“Would you sacrifice yourself if it meant everyone you know, love and care about would live on?” Indigo asked Tak once again.

“Yes.” Tak once again answered without a second thought.

“If it wasn’t for Tak Sylph wouldn’t be here.” I added. The fox grimm in question came over and nuzzled Tak’s leg a bit. He jumped a bit but smiled as he scratched behind her ear.

“What drives you to want to become a Huntsman?” Indigo asked after Tak stopped scratching Sylph.

“I want to help those in need.” Tak answered with dull gaze landing on Indigo. The latter smirked before patting his shoulder.

“You remind me of myself when I was younger.” Indigo said with a smirk. “Alright, I’ll teach him.” He said, turning around to face smiling Zecora. She raised an eyebrow at him.

“A man with a missing arm teaching one that doesn’t rely on sight. Kindred spirits perhaps?” she said. Tak blinked, not knowing what was going on while Indigo simply chuckled.

“I see potential for something great in him.” Indigo said, walking back to Blake. She smiled at him as I nudged Tak.

“Welcome to the group Tak.” I told him with a smile. He smiled back shyly but I could tell he was excited inside. Just then a loud bell started to ring and the Faunus around us started to quickly move.

“What’s going on?” Ruby asked.

“No time, Tak a little help.” Zecora asked him. With a nod the two of them led us to a building where the two of them pulled a lever and a rod emerged from the building.

“Viri, what gives?” Yang asked me.

“I don’t know.” I answered before Zecora turned to us.

“Thundermore.” she only said as we all heard a loud screeching sound. We looked up just to see a giant Nevermore flying over us.

“HOLY BIRDY!” Ruby yelled. I nodded as I saw lightning coming off it. With a flap of it’s wings that sounded like thunder lightning shot out of it. We watched as each bolt went to the rods and went down it. This went on for five minutes before the Nevermore, or Thundermore, flew off. With that the rods went down into the building.

“I think that’s a good charge.” Zecora said with a smile.

“Uhhh, question; what happened?” Weiss asked.

“A Thundermore passing, they have lightening stored in them and they discharge it as they fly. We use lightning rods to store that lightning for power.” Zecora explained.

“How… did the Village get this advance?” I asked. Zecora turned to me and smiled.

“Other Faunus villages were kind enough to share their secrets with us.” she answered. Tak walked up beside Zecora, having already put away the lightning rod.

“The rod is safely secured, ma’am.” He said, bowing as he did.

“Thank you Tak, as always.” she said with a chuckle. She turned the rest of us. “If you all are going to attend the school then you all better be at the opening ceremony in…” she leaned over to look up at the sun for a moment. “Two hours. I do hope we’ll see you.” she turned to Indigo. “If you’re going to be teaching, I suggest you go talk to the other three teachers so you get to know them better.” Indigo nodded before looking at Tak.

“See ya soon, kid.” He said with a wave as he left. Tak smiled, having met someone willing to help in the school.

“So… what do we do for two hours?” Blake asked.

“Play games?” Ruby suggested. This caused Yang to smile.

“Ohhh, I know the perfect game~.” Yang said. I made an odd look when Yang started to pull out the game.

Two Hours Later

We stood outside in front of the newly rebuilt castle that was now Forever Free Academy. I saw there was about fifty or so others around us. Mostly everyone in our group were excited, while others…

“It happens every time!” Ruby cried as she hugged Weiss.

“That game is taxing on one’s mental and emotional self.” Weiss cried out as well.

“This… all from a strategy card game…” I commented to Tak. He simply shrugs, not really understand their distraught.

“I simply let one of them win.” Blake said right as the speakers came on. Yes there’s speakers, who knew?

“Greetings everyone. Some may know me but to others I am Zecora, the leader of the Village of Everfree and the new Headmaster of Forever Free Academy. All I can say to you all is that I believe this is the first step to a greater future for all of us.” she announced. Everyone around us started to clap as we joined in. “Joining us are four well trained Professors that will teach you the basics of becoming Huntsman and Huntress’. They will give a short speech on who they are and what you’ll expect they will teach you.”

This caused some Faunus to muttered to themselves before quieting down from a hand from Zecora. “First is Flae Hai.” Everyone clapped as the short red haired Faunus wearing his brown coat and black shirt and baggy pants. He now had a bit of a goatee and wore glasses.

“Thank you, now I did make a speech for this but I was told that I had to keep this short.” he said which made everyone laugh. He tilted his head and frowned. “That wasn’t a joke, but as you all know I’m Flae Hai, a scholar of Grimm, Dust, and now the Staubgrimm.”

“The what?” Yang asked.

“I’ll tell you later.” I told her as Flae continued.

“When you all come to my class I expect you all to take notes and listen, I rarely repeat myself.” he said before looking at everyone. “That is all, good day.”

With that he walked off and Zecora came up. “Thank you Professor Flae. Now next is Xan Long, a woman from far from the sea that came to this land to see what it has to hold. I believe she will learn this from all of you as well.”

I saw Xan walking over to Zecora with a smile. She wore a lovely blue coloured robes with her hair pulled back. She turned to us with a smile.

“Greetings everyone, as some of you know I’m Xan Long. From my home I was a well trained warrior that learned many different styles of combat. From melee to range and even to some dust use.” she turned her head a bit. “Though I believe one other would be better to learn from when it comes to Dust. But in any case I will bring what I know to you all that wished to learn.”

Another round of applause as Xan walked off and Zecora came back. “The next professor is a man that came high up from the mountains but as I found out some months back that he came farther off. I wish to introduce Rom Thorkelsson.” there was applause that slowly died out as Rom walked towards Zecora. From where I stood he looks imposing. He simply wore a green shirt and jeans as he looked at all of us.

“I’ll make this short, I’m here to teach you how to survive and maintain your weapon.” he began. “You may have teammates with you but your weapon is your closest ally. With that said I’ll make sure that each and everyone of you have a weapon they can trust, I know you all can since you’re going to build it.”

Everyone muttered for a bit as Ruby simply got really excited about this. This got me to chuckle. Rom looked over at Zecora with a flat look. “Can I go?”

“Yes Professor Rom, you can go.” Zecora said.

“Just Rom.” he said as left the stage.

“Now for our last professor, he has just arrived just some time ago but I believe he has seen much than I, I wish to introduce Indigo Parker.” Zecora announced. Everyone turned and saw Indigo walked towards her. I heard a number of them talking about him and said they haven’t seen him before. There were talks about his missing arm but that was drone out as Indigo looked out over us.

“I’m going to cut to the chase. I don’t just teach how to coordinate with one another or preach about battle tactics, I aim to test the survivability, adaptability and quick thinking of each and everyone of you.” Indigo said with a serious tone, earning the murmurs from the crowd. “I aim to make the next best generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses, capable fighters willing to put their lives on the line for safety of others…” He stopped, looking off into the crowd before sighing and saying. “Yeah, that’s all I got. I really didn’t have time to make a speech.” He said with a shrug and walking off the stage. Zecora walked back up with a smile on her face.

“Well, I believe we all will have interesting events with the years to come. Now this is the end of the ceremony and you all are allowed to go explore the castle and it’s grounds as well talk to your professors if you wish to. This week shall be getting everything started but for the next week…” she gave us a throaty laugh. “Get ready for your training.”

With that said everyone started to move towards the castle and/or to the professors. Team RWBY, Tak and I went over to see how Indigo is doing.

“So, what do you think of the challenge of teaching these people?” I asked him.

“I’ve taught you and RWBY.” He said in a deadpanned tone. I stared at him before looking back to the others.

“Can’t say that it’s going to be easy or hard…” Weiss said.

“Keep in mind that we also all did a sparring match against Indigo and yet we didn’t lay a hit on him.” Blake said before looking at Indigo. “You also own me a dinner.”

“Haven’t forgotten about it yet, hon.” Indigo said with a chuckle. She smiled as the rest of us rolled our eyes.

“Well I don’t know about you but I’m going to go look around in the school.” Weiss said before heading off.

“Alright, while she’s going to go do that I’m going to take a nap.” Yang said before walking off as well. This leaves me, Tak, Ruby, Blake and Indigo. Though I believe both Indigo and Blake will head off somewhere soon together which leaves me, Ruby, and Tak.

“What are you going to do Tak?” I asked him.

“I’m not sure, maybe I’ll see if dad has any work needing to be done.” Tak said with a shrug. I rolled my eyes as I watched him head back to the village and Indigo and Blake headed off towards one of the other professors as they were calling for Indi as well as a grumpy Yang, leaving me and Ruby alone.

“So… what do you want to do?” I asked.

“Uhh, want to hang out?” she asked. I simply shrug and smiled.

“Sure.” with that the two of us walked in a random direction. “So what’s so great about this game you four played?”

“Oh well it’s called Remnant the game. It’s a really fun game about…” with that the two of us talked about the game that, for some reason, made both Weiss and Ruby cry over.

A Little Away from the Ceremony

“Can you believe it Shy! A school for Huntsman that are Faunus!” A young woman said to her friend. She had short multicolored hair that of a rainbow and white skin. She wore a blue tank top with a rainbow lightning bolt on it and some black shorts. On her back were a pair of brown wings with the tips of her feathers a different colour of the rainbow as well.

“Umm, that’s great but… why did you bring me with you Skyler?” the other asked. She was a pegasus mare with yellow fur and a pink mane that covers one of her eyes. She wore a green sweater and blue long skirt. She shifted a bit as she looked around. “Also we shouldn’t even be here.”

“First off; I had to make sure I wasn’t dreaming this, and second; you need to relax, this many Faunus in one place from the Everfree shouldn’t draw any attention of the Grimm.” Skyler explained. This didn’t calm the shy pony. The Faunus on the other hand looked over and her smile grew. “Finally, a chance of becoming a Huntress.”

“Just like the Wonderbolts?” the shy pony asked with a smile.

“Yeah!” Skyler said as she pump up her chest with pride. “Think about it; me, the first Faunus to join the Wonderbolts! It’s going to be awesome!”

This sorta drew attention of some Faunus that were nearby with how excited she was. Skyler covered her mouth before the two ducked under a bush as two Faunus came over.

“You hear something?” a male Faunus asked.

“Kinda, maybe it was someone else?” a female Faunus said.

“Maybe. Hey did you get a look at Professor Indigo? I wonder how he lost his arm?” the male asked curiously.

“I don’t know, and I don’t really want to ask. Do you think he can be a Huntsman with one arm?” the female asked, earning a shrug from her companion.

“From how he talked and presented himself, I think so. Besides, Tak is taking classes and he’s blind.” The two women in the bush listened to the two faunus walking off before peeking out.

“Indigo huh? The guy with no arm.” Skyler muttered to herself.

“Umm, can we go now?” the shy pony asked to her friend.

“Huh? Oh right, sorry Fluttershy.” Skyler said before the two of them snuck off back to town.

Author's Note

Just as a note I posted this on my phone.

Welcome to Forever Free Academy! It's not as big as other schools but it has a lot of heart!

Next Chapter is going to be interesting since we're hitting Season One of MLP... After a lot of chapters later xD

Skyler the Faunus = Rainbow Dash

Meeting the Princess and heroes... k

To recap what happened, we had a dance in the school, a mad goddess lady that turned out to be a five-year-old cat Faunus battled me and Indigo until I slammed into her as a flaming golf ball, and now the Princess of Equestria is here to talk to Headmaster Zecora and Indigo as the rest of the professors are out dealing with Grimm. Indigo, on the other hand, wanted to go find that kid and before anyone could stop him he started his search. I went with him since he was going the same way to my room and I needed to change.

“I missed my boots.” I said happily as I walked down the hallway with Indigo.

“You really hated the heels that bad?” He asked, glancing at me with a questioning look.

“Yes, they’re really uncomfortable on my feet.” I told him with a frown as I crossed my arms. “My boots are more comfortable than those stupid heels. And I don’t trip in them as often.” Indigo chuckled at this before we stopped by my room. I ducked into before stopping as I was closing the door. I looked out of the door at Indigo before slowly going over to the bed. I bet he heard some odd sounds coming from my room as well as some yelling as I stepped out with that kid in tow.

“You’re mean.” She said.

“Well, you’re in my room, so there.” I said before putting her down in front of Indigo. “Stay.”

“I’m not a pet!” she said angrily. I simply stared at her.

“I’ll give you a cookie.” I bribed her. She stared at me as she gave it some thought.

“Viri no, we don’t need another cookie monster.” Indigo quickly said. The kid looked up at him with a frown. I shrugged as I moved into my room and closed the door. After a few minutes, I stopped out in my normal clothes. I was greeted with the sight of Indigo holding up the kid as she ate a rather large cookie. “She wouldn’t stop asking for one.” He said with a sigh. I chuckled a bit at the sight.

“So now we have the kid, should we go see this Princess lady?” I asked him. This caused the kid to freak.

“No! Don’t take me to her!” she yelled as she tried to break Indigo’s grasp. “Let me go! Please!”

“I don’t know what the deal between you and the princess but if push comes to shove, I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt.” He said to the kid, managing to calm her down a little.

“... She sent me and her to the moon a thousand years ago.” she said simply.

“Wait, you’re a thousand years old?” I asked.

“Well, more like nine hundred ninety-five years old.” she said before looking back at Indigo. “Can you put me down now, I won’t run. Promise.”

“Alright.” He said before gently placing her down. Once she was down, his shadowy arm dissipated having fulfilled its use for now. “Just don’t try to run.” He said.

“Okay…” she said before looking at me and then him. “You two… aren’t from here, are you.”

“We’ll tell you about that later, right now we have to meet with the princess and her sister.” He said, not sounding to overjoyed in meeting them. It seems like she wasn’t as well.

“Are you sure I can’t just hide somewhere? I know a lot of hiding places.” she offered.

“Kid, you tried to kill us not too long ago. I’d rather keep an eye on you than to let you anywhere out of my sight.” Indigo said, looking down at her as his indigo colored eye shone briefly.

“It was worth a shot…” She said before walking over and tapping on the wall with her foot. A section of the wall opened up as she did. “This way to the main room we were in before.”

“How…” I started to ask as she looked at me.

“I used to live here, I know everything about this place than anyone… okay that’s not true but… just come on.” She said before crossing her arms. Indigo rolled his eyes before glancing at me.

“Ladies first.” He said jokingly as he gestured towards the passageway. She frowned at him before walking through the passageway with me following behind. Literally ten minutes later we were back in the main room.

“Whoa,” I said as I looked around. The kid seemed proud of herself about this.

“Told you I know everything about this place.” she said as Zecora looked over at us.

“Who’s this child?” Zecora asked.

“This little rascal was the one causing us so much trouble.” Indigo said, gesturing towards the kid beside him. Zecora looked at the kid before glancing at us. “Don’t ask how it happened, we don’t know either.” Indigo quickly added. Zecora walked over towards us and looked down at the child.

“What’s your name child?” Zecora asked.

“I’m Nightmare Moon!” She exclaimed while crossing her arms. This caused Zecora to arch a brow.

“Nightmare Moon, as in the same that tried to bring endless night all those years ago?” Zecora asked curiously. The kid stared at her before looking at both Indigo and me slowly.

“Uhh, yes?” She said unsure if it was the right answer.

“Huh, I thought you’d be taller.” Zecora replied. The kid muttered angrily to herself about this. Indigo patted her head gently, quieting her muttering as he did. “Anyway, we should go meet up with the Princesses and the ‘Heroes’ of Equestria.”

“Lead the way, Headmistress.” Indigo said with a nod. She turned and headed off towards the door. On the way, I saw a number of students were trying to repair the damage that was done to the main room as well as getting some first aid to those that got hurt.

“Did anyone get…” I started to ask but Zecora cut in.

“Luckily no, after the flash of light the Grimm started to act oddly. At first, they were soul bent on attacking the school but again, after the light they became confused and some ran off.” Zecora explained.

“Crisis averted, I suppose.” Indigo said with a shrug. I frowned and looked at the kid.

“Don’t look at me, I was faking it when I said I was calling them to me. They were simply following me as I came here.” She said defensively. I shook my head as we came to where I guess we were supposed to meet these people.

“Princess Celestia, sorry for the long wait,” Zecora said to the tall pony woman. She had an aurora mane that seemed to move on its own with ivory colour fur. She wore a simple but very nice dress with gold filigree on it. She had a pair large wings on her back and a longhorn on top of her head.

“It’s fine Ms.” she said in a motherly tone. Before anyone could say anything there was a loud gasp.

“Evil Enchantress!” A Faunus said as she leaped into the air and floated down to the ground as if she was a leaf. She had poofy pink hair and wore a small shirt red with three balloons on it with some purple pants. Indigo blinked at this but said nothing.

“Diana…” A mare simply said. She had white fur with a horn on top of her head with a curly purple mane. She wore a designer gray shirt and black pants. Oddly her tail seemed a little shorter than the others. Along with her, there was two other ponies and three Faunus; another one with a horn only she had purple fur and a moderate purple mane with a pink strip with some dark blue strips in her mane. She wore what looks like a students uniform with an image of a sun with a pair of wings with it on her breast pocket. The last Pony was one with only wings. She had yellow fur and a pink mane that wasn’t poofy. She wore a green sweater and purple skirt. She seemed to be shy as she ducked behind one of the Faunus that was there.

Speaking of Faunus the one pony was hiding behind had rainbow coloured hair with wings on her back that were brown with rainbow tips at the feathers. She wore a track runners outfit that was a dark blue and black colouring. The last one was… Jacqueline? She was there wearing a brown jacket with a red plaid shirt and simple jeans.

“Jacqueline?” I said to her. “Is that you?”

“Sure am, hey there Viri.” she greeted, making the others look at her. “How ya been?”

“Wait, you know her?” the purple pony ask.

“Of course I do, she was with my friend Tak when they came over to get deliveries,” she explained before leaning over to look at the school. “I guess I know where all that lumber went to.”

“If you all don’t mind, I think we should continue please.” A voice said. I turned to see a woman standing behind the Princess. As she stepped out I saw that she looked almost exactly like the kid, only a little older and had light blue hair instead of black. She glanced down at the kid which she hid behind me.

“If you don’t mind me asking for each of your names.” the Princess asked. “I just want to be polite.”

“Indigo Parker, I’m one of the professors here.” Indigo introduced himself with a small bow.

“I’m Viri Mal Kun.” I introduced as well as bowing a bit. The Princess arch a brow at me.

“Well then, I’m Princess Celestia and this is my younger sister, Princess Luna.” Princess Celestia introduce them both. I tilted my head a bit in confusion as Celestia is a pony and Luna is a Faunus.

“Different moms.” the kid whispered to me.

“Quiet you.” Luna snapped at her, making her yelp. Indigo frowned at this but kept quiet.

“Luna please.” Celestia said softly. Luna only nodded a bit before frowning at the kid as Celestia gestured to the others. “And this is my student Twilight Sparkle and her friends.” The five of them other than Jacqueline introduced themselves as Rarity and Fluttershy as the other two ponies along with Skyler Dawn and Diana Baker as the other two Faunus. I waved at them. “I see you all turned our castle into something useful.” Celestia said as she looked at the school.

“Your castle?” I asked her.

“Yes, it used to be known as the Castle of the Two Sisters, as you can tell which sisters.” Celestia explained.

“Told you…” the kid said before shrinking back as Luna frowned at her. I shook my head at this.

“So… do you want that castle back?” I asked her, earning a stare from both Indigo and Zecora. Celestia pondered on the question for a moment.

“Sister, from my memory alone our old castle was in ruins yes?” she asked Luna.

“Yes, it was, just some abandoned ruins.” Luna said as she looked around. “I don’t see any ruins of a castle anywhere. Do you?”

“No, I do not. I see a school here.” Celestia said before I caught a glimpse of her smile faltering a bit. “The nobles aren’t going to like the idea of a Faunus school.”

“The nobles are a pain in the ass!” the kid yelled behind me. Everyone looked at her as she tried to hide. Only for me to step out of the way which she looked at me if I just abandoned her.

“Hey, you walked into this one kid.” I told her.

“You’ve already gotten into enough trouble as it is, kid.” Indigo said with his arms crossed. The kid looked at him and at me before Luna spoke.

“Sister, what should we do about… her?” Luna asked her. Celestia hummed in thought as the kid started to panic.

“Don’t send me back to the moon! I don’t want to be alone!” she said before looking around to see if she could make a break for it. Celestia glanced over at me, Indigo and Zecora before speaking.

“I believe we don’t have to do anything to her. I think she’s being handled already.” Celestia spoke simply, earning a frown from her sister.

“Are you sure sister?” Luna asked.

“Yeah.” Skyler flapped her wings over to the kid. “She did try to take over Equestria and plunge it into endless night.” The kid backed up a little with a frown.

“Beat it chicken wings.” she retorted. Skyler’s eyes widen at this.

“Chicken win- why you little.” before she could do anything Jacqueline came over and pulled her back as Skyler was thrashing about.

“Easy there partner, no point of fightin.” she said.

“I do believe you all could handle her, can you?” Celestia asked Zecora and Indigo.

“Yeah, she won’t be much trouble.” Indigo answered, frowning at the kid for having insulted someone. The kid shrank a bit at this.

“Yes, I believe with our watchful eyes would keep her under control.” Zecora told the Princess.

“Well, with that said I think we should be off.” Celestia said before looking at all of us and giving each of us a bow before looking at Zecora. “Have a good evening, Headmistress.”

“You as well, Princess.” Zecora said with her own bow. With that the others turned and walked off, Skyler looking back at us as if she wanted to say something before giving that up and flew back to her friends. As they left we all looked down at the kid.

“W-what?” she asked us. Indigo shook his head in silence. Zecora looked down at her and off at the castle.

“I believe we should allow everyone to rest after an eventful night.” she said before looking at Indigo. “I believe you can oversee everything from here?”

“Of course.” Indigo said with a nod. She smiled before walking off towards the school.

“So, what should we do with this one?” I asked Indigo as I gestured to the kid.

“You let me worry about that, you should go check on the rest.” Indigo said simply. The kid looked up at him curiously.

“Right, good luck.” I told him before walking off.

“You’re going to leave me with him!?” The kid yelled at me, clearly not liking the idea of being left with Indigo.

“Yup, night.” I told her as I continuing towards my room, feeling tired from the eventful night. When I got to my room I simply fell onto my bed and passed out.

The next week went by without a hitch with the repairs. Most of the classes were put on hold due to the damage and injuries of students for a few days. During that time I got around to showing Mother the state of the dress and told her that it got this way from fighting a shadow queen lady that turn out to be a five year old girl, and said that it sounded odd when heard out loud.

At the moment I was walking down the hallway reading through my book before I overheard something about beings out in the woods watching the school. I stopped and looked over to a two female Faunus talking.

“Excuse me, what were you talking about beings watching the school?” I asked.

“Oh, well just a few days ago we saw some ponies and other Faunus hiding in bushes watching the school.” one of them explained.

“Is this some sort of surprise test?” the other asked.

“I don’t know, if so then someone needs to be more clever about it.” I said, earning a laugh from them. “Do you know what they look like?”

“Umm, I believe one of them was a purple unicorn from what I saw.” one of them said. “Kinda looks like the same one that came a week ago.”

A purple unicorn? Twilight? Why was she sneaking around? “Thanks for the info.”

“No problem, so back to what I was saying…” I drown them out as I made my way towards the nearest teacher, which was funny enough Indigo. I found him with Blake and the kid who were in the library. The kid was putting away books and grumbling to herself.

“What did you this time?” I asked her.

“I don’t know! I was told to do this!” she replied to me.

“You’re not getting a free pass after what you did, missy.” Indigo said to her while Blake looked up from her and onto the kid.

“He’s idea was for you to clean up the mess you made at the gathering hall, I convinced him to make this your punishment instead.” Blake said before returning to her book. The kid continued to grumble as she climbed a ladder up a bookcase.

“Right, so I don’t know about you but I think we might have spies.” I told Indigo. He raised a brow at this, holding back a laugh as he did.

“Spies?” He said questioningly. I just shrugged, not knowing how to clarify.

“Don’t know, just was told some Ponies and Faunus hiding out in some bushes near here.” I told him.

“Maybe those same six that came here with the Princess last week.” the kid said as she slid down the ladder. I stared at her with a blank look before Blake spoke.

“How do you know that?” She asked. The kid rolled her eyes.

“Because I saw them spying.” She answered clearly annoyed. “I had time for myself and simply wander one of the many secret passages away that surround the area. I found them spying on the school and simply watched them until they left.” Indigo sighed and shook his head before looking at me.

“Come on, let’s go meet our spies.” He said with a mocking tone before looking at the kid. “You can take a break while I’m gone, Iilah.” He said, a smirk forming as he did. The kid frowned at him before we walked away from her.

“Iilah?” I asked Indigo.

“It means Moon in the weird dragon language of yours.” He said, waving his hand as he did. I looked at him confusingly, wondering how me knew Dovah. “I had plenty of free time back at your mother’s palace, eventually I found the library.” He said with a shrug. I arch a brow at him

“Oo? Ful hi vis mindoraan fos Zu’u los sahgaat?” I said in Dovah. This earns an odd look from Blake. With a chuckle, Indigo faced me and said.

“Geh tinvaak med daar wahl zey honaat zurun.” He said. I simply grinned at him.

“Hey, we all sound odd.” I told him with a chuckle. Blake just stared at the two of us.

“I just… I have no idea what you just said right now.” she told us.

“I’ll tell you all about it later, hun.” Indigo said with a smirk before glancing at the kid. “Keep an eye on her while I’m gone.” He said to Blake, earning a nod from her. The two of us headed out and, after some time looking around in some bushes we found where the spies are hiding. It wasn’t really that hard since there was a small hole where a stack of books, notebooks, and pencils were stored. I flipped open one of the notebooks and read through it.

“Day three: most of the Faunus at this new school look like they healed up as I saw more and more of them about. Day Four: Looks like classes are back and the man named Indigo, the one with one less arm, lead his class outside to do some sparing. Much like the Huntsman schools in Canterlot but it seems more… brutal?” I looked up at Indigo. “Someone doesn’t seem to know how you do your teaching Indigo.”

“Aww, sounds like they’re missing out.” He said jokingly before chuckling. He looked down at the hole before saying. “What else is in there?” He asked.

“Umm, a sewing kit, some apples, some more books and… a very fresh cupcake.” I said, pulling cupcake out of the hole. “It’s warm… like, sitting out of the oven for a few minutes warm. How?”

“I don’t know… you going to eat it?” He asked, glancing at me before back down at the cupcake. I stared at the cupcake before giving it some weird looks.

“I don’t think so…” I said slowly. He shrugged as I put it back down.

“Seems we’ve got some grade A stalkers.” He said, after giving the journal a quick look. As he did that I heard some rustling from the bushes. The two of us turned and looked at where it was coming from before I pulled Indigo into another bush. He gave me an annoyed look before I put my finger to my lips to say quite. The two of us looked out to see Twilight walking out of the bushies along with a Faunus boy. He had green spiky hair with some purple scales on his arms and sides of his face. It was lizard-like Professor Flae but I believe he was a Dragon Faunus with the horns coming out of his head.

“Again, this is a bad idea even for you.” the guy said, sounding young as he crossed his arms.

“We’re just making some notes on this Faunus school for future study.” Twilight said as she pulled the books out of the hole with her magic.

“This is definitely not stalkerish.” the Faunus Drake said in sarcasm. Twilight rolled her eyes as she looked down at her books.

“Hey! One of my notebooks are gone!” she yelled. I glanced over at Indigo as he was reading the notebook in question.

“Maybe one of the many animals took it while you were away?” Drake said.

“But they didn’t take the cupcake!” she said as she held it up. Drake took the cake in his clawed hand and took a bite out of it.

“Their loss.” he said with a mouthful of food in his mouth. Me and Indigo watched the two of them bicker back and forth before looking at each other.

“Seems we found our spies.” I whispered to Indigo. “Or mostly the most consistent one with Twilight coming back every time with one or more of her friends.”

“Seems that she’s the odd one of her group.” Indigo said with a whisper as he continued reading. “Hmm.” He hummed, gripping the notebook by a page before ripping it off.

“What’s that?” I whispered back to him.

“She doesn’t seem fond of us having kept custody over Iilah after what she did.” He said, crumbling the page into a ball. I frowned at this before looking back at the other two as Twilight was already writing stuff down with Drake sitting nearby.

“You know someone’s going to find out about you spying-”

“I’m not spying, I’m researching.” Twilight informed him. Drake rolled his eyes at this. “Besides, this spot is a great spot to hide in, no one would look here.”

I made a face before I looked over at Indigo, arching an eyebrow. He frowned at her words before glancing at me.

“Shall we?” He asked. With a nod the two of us stood up and stepped out of the bush where the two others are. Drake saw us and went wide eyed as Twilight was too busy with writing.

“Uhh, Twi?” Drake said.

“Not now Drake, I’m busy.” she said without looking up. Indigo shook his head at this.

“Twilight, this is important.” Drake said as he looked up at the two of us.

“So is this Drake.” Twilight respond. I looked over at Indigo and gestured if I should speak first or should be him. He looked down at the busy unicorn mare.

“I think this is more important than what you’re doing.” Indigo said with an annoyed tone. The mare stopped what she was doing and I swore I saw her fur turn a bit lighter. She slowly turned towards us and laugh nervously.

“Umm, hi?” was all she can say at Indigo.

“A little too late for a hello.” He said with an unamused expression. Twilight looked up at the two of us before I spoke.

“Why are you spying on us?” I asked.

“Ah well you see… umm, it’s really…” Twilight rambled a bit before Drake spoke.

“Blame her sense of curiosity.” he said in a flat tone.

“Noted.” Indigo said as Twilight slowly stood up.

“Why didn’t you just come and say you want to see the place?” I asked her. She gave me a look that said that I was missing something.

“Most Huntsman academies don’t allow Faunus to attend there so I figured it was the same here.” She explained. I blinked at her.

“That’s rude.” I replied, feeling a bit insulted by her explanation. Indigo nodded in agreement.

“It’s also very rude assume, miss.” Indigo said with shake of his head. Her ears flattened on top of her head at this.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to be rude.” she said sadly. He rolled his eyes, not accepting her apology just yet. He looked down at the discarded notebook before kicking it towards Twilight, the crumbled up page still in hand. The unicorn looked down at the notebook and picked it up. After dusting it off a bit and brought it close to her. I frowned and elbowed Indi.

“Was that really necessary?” I asked. He rolled his eyes before saying.

“Don’t, just don’t.” He said, pocketing the crumbled page as he did. He then rubbed his right temple before shaking his head. “Ma’am, what you’ve been doing is considered an invasion of privacy. A very big invasion of privacy” He said, pointing at the notebook she held close. Twilight didn’t say anything other then looking down at the ground.

“Hey look.” Drake said as he stepped in. “She didn’t know that what she did was bad but last I checked the Everfree forest didn’t have rules.” he then looked towards the school.

“Drake…” Twilight said before getting cut off by the Faunus.

“Not now- and from the looks of it we’re pretty far from the school.” he said before crossing his arms and glaring at Indigo. Indigo raised a brow at the boy.

“It doesn’t give her an excuse to document people’s lives, especially without them knowing.” Indigo said clearly annoyed.

“It was actually to document how a Faunus trains differently to become a Huntsman…” Twilight muttered but she shuts up when both Indi and Drake looks at her.

“Look she did something that looks bad, but you seemed to act she was going to something like blow up the school, which she’s not and-” he stopped when I groaned. I grabbed Indigos arm.

“I need to talk to my professor.” I said as I pulled him away from the other two. “Okay, what’s on that page that got you so bent about? You were fine before you read it.” He sighed before pulling out the crumbled page and straightened it out before finally handing it to me. I took it and read it, seeing that it talks about the mares thoughts on Nightmare Moon and that she thinks that she should be destroyed. I slowly frowned more as I read.

“You can see now why I’m upset.” He said just below a whisper. I simply nodded.

“Yeah, I do…” I said as I folded the paper. “I don’t know much about Nightmare Moon, but I guess she’s just scared about the worse outcome.” I point at Indigo as he frowns. “I’m not saying I agree with her but I can understand her view of things.” With a quiet sigh, he nodded understanding my point.

“Alright but she better not try anything.” Indigo said, glancing at the purple mare as he spoke.

“I don’t think she will.” I said as I glanced over to her. “But do you really think she’s going to sit back while her curiosity runs rampant in her head.”

“Look, the way she’s handling her research…” He said while making air quotes before continuing. “Is considered an invasion of privacy unless she gets the okay on the people she writes about. Not to mention the fact that if it weren’t us who found her stuff, she might’ve been mistaken with an actual stalker.” He said.

“Good point.” I said before glancing at Drake. “Although I believe Drake has a lot of back bone to stand up to you.”

“Sure the kid can talk back but can he stand a chance against me? I think that’s a more important question.” He said, chuckling as he spoke.

“Admit it, you enjoy someone one other than Blake that can talk back to you while not being scared of you.” I said with a smirk. He shook his head with a smirk of his own. The two of us walked over as the two looked at us.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Drake asked as he had his arms crossed.

“If you wanted to do some research, you should’ve asked the Headmistress for permission into the premises. Along with that, you will need the consent of the people you document and have already documented.” Indigo said, leaning onto the tree beside him. Twilight seemed to lighten up at this before Indigo mentioned the consent.

“Alright.” she said before Drake looked at her.

“Remember the time with the bug keeper.” Drake mention. Twi shifted a bit before nodding.

“I… don’t want to know…” I said before the two of them said they will come back to talk to the Headmistress tomorrow. As Twilight started gaither her things I looked at Drake. “You seemed to know how to.. Handle her.” he simply shrugged.

“One learns the ways when you spent most of my life with her as a younger brother.” he explained. I tilt my head as he continue. “Step-brother.”

“Ahh.” I said as Twilight came back and the two started to head off back to their home.

“Well now that’s handled, we should head back. Your next class starts in two minutes.” He said in a nonchalant tone, having pulled out his scroll to have checked the time.

“Oh… shit!” I said before I booked it towards my next class.

Author's Note

Oo? Ful hi vis mindoraan fos Zu'u los sahgaat? =Oh? So you can understand what I am saying?

Geh tinvaak med daar wahl zey honaat zurun. =Yes but talking like this makes me sound odd

The Return of an old friend (Part two!)

After the incident with Twilight, the next few days went by smoothly. Iilah mostly kept to the library and simply stayed there for the time. Indigo made sure she has something to do and the rest of the staff and students seemed to keep an eye on her, now knowing what she did and can do. She was upset that she thinks everyone is after her but didn’t do anything about it other than being annoyed.

At the moment I was sitting in one of Indigo’s classes as he was giving a lesson as everyone heard a loud scream from Iilah. I looked over at Indigo as he let out an annoyed sigh.

“If you’d all excuse me for a moment.” He said in a professional manner before heading out to the library. After he passed me I got up and followed him. He looked over at me with an arched brow.

“Don’t say it.” I said as we continued on. Once we got there we found Iilah standing in front of a bookcase, one that half of the books were missing.

“But… I just… I just sorted those!” she said as she saw us and put up her hands. “I didn’t do it I swear!”

“We weren’t going to accuse you of anything.” Indigo said, walking up to her. I stood behind him as I saw this one bookcase didn’t really hold a lot of books, mostly it can hold up to twenty in total.

“Find the cards!” Iilah said as she ran to a desk with drawers in it. She pulled one of them and inside there was a number of cards in it. Indigo looked at her oddly as she checked the cards.

“So… what’s up with the cards?” I asked her. She frowned at that as she kept looking.

“Magic cards will say who has the books at the moment.” she turned and smiled. “Took me a while to imprint every book here but hey, I spent a long times sorting this library.”

“Impressive.” Indigo said, actually impressed at her organization. “So who took your missing books?” He then asked.

“Let’s see… a here they are- Oh really!!” she yelled before groaning. “First the Elements thing and now this!”

I looked at her confused before looking at the card which has the name Twilight Sparkle on it. “Why is she here?” Indigo’s look of confusion was then replaced with one of realization.

“Ah right, well after our talk with Twilight, she had gotten permission for her and her friends to come see the school and have a look around.” Indigo said. Iilah crossed her arms at this.

“She should’ve asked to read these books, some of them are really really old…” she grumbled.

“I doubt they’ll be able to damage the books, Zecora mentioned that some have been enchanted to the point of invulnerability.” Indigo said, looking at some of the books. “The older they are the harder they are to damage as Zecora put it.” He added. Iilah still frowned at this, guessing that she still felt resentment towards the mare.

“Well if she returns them I’m fine with that, but if there’s a single one missing then I’m going to raise Tartarus.” She said before walking off. This got a chuckle from Indigo.

“Right, I’ll go dismiss the class.” Indigo said, turning and heading back to his classroom. I followed him back before speaking.

“She seems to be getting better…” I told him.

“She’s getting there. I think she even enjoys having me and Blake around, though I doubt she’ll admit such a thing.” He said with a little laugh. He shook his head before adding. “I’m still trying to get her side of the story, you know, about the whole Nightmare Moon and eternal night thing.” He said.

“Maybe ask Twilight about it or maybe her friends?” I asked as I put my hands behind my head.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” Indigo answered simply.

“You want to hear it from her?” I asked, thinking that the others would simply villainize her. He nodded, a serious look forming on him.

“Yeah, I’ve already heard their side of the story but I want to hear her side of it.” He said before shaking his lightly and adding. “Everyone has a reason for being what they are now.” He said. As I listened I looked on ahead and saw Sylph walking in front of the halls with her ears turning in different directions and tilting her head. “Is something up with Sylph?” Indigo asked, noticing the Fox grimm in question. I only shrugged as Sylph walked over to a wall and started pawing it. After a minute the wall seemed to open up and she went inside it.

“Oh… a secret door.” I said as the door closed behind her.

“This place seems to be littered with them.” Indigo said with a roll of his eyes, not really surprised to see yet another secret wall door.

“Right… kinda neat that she can find them.” I said to him. He just shrugged as he continued his walk back to his classroom. I followed him back to the classroom just in time for him to dismiss them for the day. As I went to gather my things, a familiar bark echoed from out in the hallway before a blur of black fur zoomed into the now empty classroom only to stop just beside Indigo’s desk.

“Hey Oni, back from your expedition?” Indigo asked, gaining a nod from the Beowolf in question before making an odd, dog-like noise and wagging his tail. “Yeah, you must’ve enjoyed it seeing as you took your sweet time.” Indigo said, scratching behind Oni’s ears. I smiled at this as I walked over to them.

“What’s this about an expedition?” I asked.

“Oni wanted to explore the forest when we first got here and while I knew nothing about the dangers that lurk within these woods, I trusted Oni to come back in one piece.” Indigo said, still giving the Beowolf some attention. “So before I started working here, I allowed him to go and explore. He’s earned it.” Oni looked at me before walking up to my leg and nuzzling it a bit, having missed me as well. I smiled as I knelt down and petted him.

“Had fun?” I asked him. He then proceeded to lick me. I laughed at this as a wall opened up and Sylph came walking out. Her ears pointed forward as she saw us there. “Hey Sylph, have fun exploring?”

She yipped at me before sitting down as the door behind her closed.

“Secret door in my classroom? Hmm.” He said before humming out loud, stroking his chin as if he had a beard. “Bah, thoughts for another time.” He said before finally standing up from his chair. “Come on, let’s head back to the library before anything else happens.” He said before gesturing for Oni to follow him as he exited the classroom. I stood up and followed him towards the Library, Sylph in tow. As we did I saw other students walking through the halls and giving us a wide berth. Mostly do to Oni being a Grimm and Sylph being a Staubgrimm.

Oni looked at the students curiously as we passed them by. Indigo frowned, not happy to see students avoiding Oni as if their lives depended on it. Sylph seemed to notice this before snorting a bit, stopping to scratch her ear before moving quickly forward. As soon as we were coming up to the hallway to the library Sylph already rounded the corner and a yelp came around there. It didn’t sound like Sylph as she seemed to have sat down staring at something.

“What was that?” Indigo asked.

“I don’t know.” I said I moved around the corner and saw who made the yelp. Skyler was on the ground staring at Sylph as Sylph stared back. “Found out what happened.”

“Y-y-you see the white Grimm in front of me!?! W-why are you just standing there!?!” She asked me scared as if Sylph is going to attack.

“What?” Indigo said in confusion. Oni tilted his head aswell in confusion. Skyler looked at him and at Oni, getting more freaked out. She tried to push back but Sylph puts a paw on her foot, as if to say ‘Stay’.

“Guess you never seen these two before huh?” I asked. When I saw Skyler shake her head I continued. “Well, this here is Sylph, an Winter Fox Dust Grimm and this is Oni, a Beowolf.” Sylph greeted her with a twitch of her ear and some frost coming out of her nose. Oni greeted with a happy bark and an excited pant.

“But… I thought…” Skyler said before Sylph walked around her and started to push her up. Soon Skyler was standing and Sylph made a high tone sound before scratching her ear again.

“You thought what?” Indigo asked, curious to know. Skyler look at him and looked over at Oni.

“I thought all Grimm were dangerous creatures…” She explained. Sylph seemed to be annoyed by this as she snorted more frost at her, making her jump. “Hey! That’s cold!” Oni chuckled at the sight, finding that display funny.

“What brings you here?” Indigo asked once again.

“Uhh, I was here to see what kind of training this place teaches.” she said as she glanced over at Sylph. I walked over and started scratching her neck. I found the spot that makes her mush as she laid down with a happy look on her.

“So… you want to ask those questions?” I asked her. She looked over at me and nodded.

“Well yeah.” she said with a huge grin on her face. “I wanted to become a Huntress and be the first Faunus to join the Wonderbolts!”

“Hmm, maybe you’ll be interested in learning a thing or two in my next class.” Indigo offered to the primatic haired faunus. Her eyes lit up from this as she seemed to get excited.

“That would be awesome!” she said happily. Indigo chuckled at her childlike excitement. “When’s your next class?!?”

“Soon, I’m currently on break.” Indigo answered. Skyler slumped a bit at this.

“Aww, guess I have to wait.” she said before looking at Sylph. “Is...she going to be there?”

“I don’t know, maybe.” I said with a shrug. “I don’t really keep her anywhere, Sylph her simply wanders around the school happily.”

“And… you’re okay with that?” Skyler asked.

“Yeah, why shouldn’t I be?” I asked her after answering the question.

“Same with Oni but he likes to wander around the forest more.” Indigo said, petting Oni as he did. Indigo then pulled out his scroll and checked the time before looking at me and saying. “Anyway I should get going, I promised Blake I’d take her out for lunch today.” He said before gaining a look from Oni. “Just lunch.” He said, putting emphasis in his words as he did. Oni rolled his eyes before heading off deeper into the library. As this happened Indigo headed off to find Blake, leaving me with Skyler.

“He’s… kinda odd.” She said while looking at Indigo with a questioning look.

“I don’t think so, Indigo is just… Indigo.” I told her with a shrug. Skyler looked at me funny before we heard a loud scream coming from the library. “What’s with everyone screaming today?”

Skyler didn’t say anything as we headed towards the scream. We soon found out that Twilight was the one that screamed as she was standing on the table with Oni staring at her. The Unicorn mare saw us as she holds a chair in hopes of defending herself.

“D-Don’t just stand there! There’s a Grimm!” she yelled. Oni gave her a blank stare, having been verbally degraded to a simple Grimm. I walked over and petted him a bit.

“They’re not like those from Beacon, they are just scared of the outer look of you. Give it time and they’ll see your sweeter side.” I whispered to Oni. Oni whined at the mention of Beacon, his ears fell flat atop his head. “Sorry, forgot you’re still a little sad about that. Maybe you can go find Weiss?” I asked, trying to brighten Oni’s mood a bit. He nodded albeit slowly before turning around and heading off in search of elusive Schnee.

“But...what… how?” the unicorn mare questioned as she was standing on the table with the chair. I gave her an annoyed frown.

“Not all Grimm are mindless and evil. Now get down from there, you’re making the table dirty.” I told her as I crossed my arms. Twilight slowly got off the table, glancing at Oni’s direction every few seconds or so. I also see the stack of books on said table which I guessed were the same books that Iilah was fussing over. “So you and Skyler are here, who else are around?”

“Just us really.” Skyler answered as she sat down in a chair. She looks around to see if there’s anyone around. “So… is that Nightmare kid still around?”

“Iilah.” I corrected her. “Her name is Iilah and yes, she’s still around and she was a little peeved that you took those book without asking.” I said glancing over to Twilight with a frown.

“She got mad that I took some books?” she asked me, tilting her head a bit.

“She spent a long time sorting through those books so she got a upset someone moved them.” I told her. She frowned at me before speaking.

“I don’t see why this has to be a big issue.” she crossed her arms at me. “More so, she’s Nightmare Moon, an entity that tried to bring endless night to all of Equestria!”

“Right… and you’re scared of a five year old girl with a temper issue?” I asked, arching a brow. The two of them looked at each other before I continued. “Look, I don’t know what happened that gave her all this hate from you all and so on but right now you all should stop. Right now she hasn’t done anything wrong and if things turn sour the staff here can handle it. Got it?”

“But-” Twilight started before I cut her off.

“Got it?” I asked again, a bit more forceful. The two of them stared at me for a few minutes before they nodded. I leaned back and sighed. “Good, now I better be going. Come on Sylph.” the Staubgrimm in question walked past the other two, earning a yelp from Twilight as I made my way out of the library. As I did I let out a shaky sigh as I looked down at the ground. I didn’t want to be rude to those two but I didn’t think anything else would work otherwise. Sylph looked up at me quizilla as she nuzzled me, smiling I petted her head.

“Thanks.” I told her. She made a happle yip before the two of us headed out. We headed outside of the school and walked around before I started to hear someone’s voice.

“Oh who’s a good boy, you are! Yes you are!” the voice sounded like Weiss and, after peeking behind a tree I saw the two of them as Weiss was being all… lovey mushy with Oni. He seemed to enjoy is as he was wagging his tail. I snickered at this which drew Oni’s attention, making Weiss turn and blush at us. She stood up and cleared her throat. “You uhh… didn’t hear anything… did you?”

“Nope~.” I said with an eat shit grin. She frowned towards me and looked the other way.

“Well, anyway… what do you want?” she asked me. I chuckled as I shook my head as an idea came to mind.

“Yeah, I saw you and Tak together at the dance. I just wondered what’s up with that?” I put my hands up as she looked at me. “I’m just wondering, you can tell me nothing.” Weiss blushed a bit, having been reminded if the dance. I raised a brow at this expression. “Oh? What’s with a blush?”

“He-He asked me to the dance and… I said yes.” She said, though I knew this wasn’t the full answer but it was an answer nonetheless. I stared at her for some time as she blushed.

“Alright, have it your way.” I said as I smiled. “I believe I should be going.” With that I walked past her and petted Oni with Sylph behind me.

“Wait!” Weiss suddenly yelled. I looked back at her in time to see her walk up to me. “Tak and I both asked one another, that’s how it happened.” She admitted with yet another blush.

“Right, but I have a feeling that there’s something more than simply that.” I frowned as I thought about it. “Or I’m looking way too into it.” She looked at me oddly when I said this.

“What?” She asked with honest confusion. Seconds later she shook her head a bit before saying. “Nevermind, I-I’ll see you later.” She said, walking off in a hurry. I stared at her as I looked down at the two Grimm near me.

“I was looking way too into it wasn’t I?” I asked them. Sylph simply snorted frost out of her nose as Oni looked up at me with a bemused look, he let out a low nonthreatening growl. “Right.” I pulled up my Scroll to check the time. “Ah! I’m going to be late for Indigo’s next class!”

With that, I ran off towards his classroom. I got there with a few minutes to spare, just to see Indigo looking at me with Oni and Sylph there before me. “Oh… come… on… that’s cheating.”

“Hmm, close call.” Indigo said, noting the timing of my arrival. “Take your seat, Viri and wait for the rest.” He said, motioning towards the row of empty seats. I took some breaths before walking down to the seats. As I did I saw a blur of colours zoomed through the doorway and stopped over me.

“Ha! Made it on time!” Skyler said proudly before looking at Indigo. “And don’t you say I was late teach, I’m never late.”

“Fine by me.” Indigo said with a shrug. He then motioned towards the empty seats and said. “Take a seat.” He said as more students entered. Once everyone took their seats, Indigo stood up from his chair and leaned onto his desk. “Let me begin this session by saying that each and every one of you have shown potential throughout the past months, I was impressed by you all with the courage and bravery you’ve all displayed during the Grimm attack. But a Huntsmen doesn’t always face off against the Grimm, at the time you’ll face one of your own or worse.” He said, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. “So today we’ll be having a sparring matches out in the field, so go change into your battle attire and get your weapons, we will meet outside in ten minutes.” He said. Students hurried their way out the door, excited to not have to sit in one of Indigo’s lectures.

“You guys really going to go spar against each other? I thought Huntsman fight Grimm?” Skyler asked. I turned to her and frowned.

“Where did you hear that?” I asked her.

“One Huntsman from Canterlot.” she answered with a straight face. Oh boy, this is going to go well with Indigo.

“I have a feeling that Huntsman here are a bit different then I thought.” I muttered to myself as I felt a metal arm wrap around my neck.

“Hey Viri, how’s it going?” Yang asked me with a smile.

“I’m alright, you?” I asked.

“Oh you know, same old same ol- hey, who’s your friend?” Yang asked as she looked at Skyler. I moved her arm off me before I spoke.

“Yang, this is Skyler, Skyler this is Yang.” I introduce them.

“Whoa~, is that a metal arm?!” she asked as she stared at her prosthetic.

“Yeah, feels like the real thing but shinier.” Yang said with a grin. I chuckled as I saw the rest of Team RWBY talking to other Faunus as we made our way outside. Once outside I saw Skyler was flying overhead as she watched.

I found Indigo waiting by the large clearing, sitting on a foldable chair he no doubt brought with him. Next to him was Oni, holding up a bucket with his mouth. Indigo saw us and motioned towards the bucket.

“Form a line and pick a name from the bucket.” Indigo said. Oni wagged his tail as everyone formed up. As the others picked out a name and walked away, making the way for me to do the same. I reached in and picked a name and pulled it out, walking a little away to see what I got.

When I looked to see the name on the scrap of paper, I wasn’t much surprised to find Indigo’s name though it did made me question why he would put his own name. I simply shrugged, my thoughts giving the simple answer of live demonstrations.

“Alright, now that everyone has their scraps, read their names and face your opponent.” As soon as he said, many of the students faced others while I stayed facing Indigo. Indigo’s brow raised questioningly before saying. “Now this’ll be a tournament style session, you win against your current opponent you’ll move onto the next, loser is disqualified and may leave the class for the duration of the day.” He said before pointing at a random duo. “You two, you're up first.” The two students nodded and headed towards the center of the field while Indigo walked up to me. “I’m guessing you got mine.” He said.

“Yeah, I have a to ask why?” I asked him. He shrugged as he looked at the two in the center of the field.

“Don’t know really, though I’ll mention this now, you’ll move up even if you lose against me. It’d be unfair otherwise.” He said. No matter how many times I attend his class, I’m always surprised with how he acts during his lessons. Sometimes lenient, other times strict.

Not saying anything the sparring match between the first two ended with a Faunus with a spear won. He helped his opponent up before the two of them walked out of the area.

“You two!” Indigo yelled, at another duo before motioning towards the field. I watched as they walked before hearing Indigo say. “Did anything happen after I left the library?” Indigo asked before signaling the start of the fight.

“Not really… I found Twilight freaking out when she saw Oni.” I told him as I watched. “Had some choice words with her about things and left. After that I talked to… Skyler and it seemed Huntsmen here are a bit different than the ones at Beacon.” Indigo hummed, looking off towards Oni before sighing.

“It’s hard not to miss Beacon Academy, it was our home for the longest time. The other professors were like family to me and Oni.” Indigo said with a solemn tone. My ears flattened on top of my head as the sounds of the sparring match was still going.

“Sorry…” I said to him. I understood what he meant that the other professors were like family to him and Oni.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” Indigo said just as the second match concluded. The victor was the female wolf faunus with a retractable staff. Indigo looked at another duo, signaling them to move up for their fight.

“What about the three professors here? What are your thoughts about them?” I asked Indigo as the match started. Indigo shrugged his only shoulder.

“They’re good people I suppose, going out of their way to help this school but I don’t know much else about them, to be honest.” He said, somewhat answering my question. I simply nodded as I petted Oni with a small smile on my face. Soon the third match was finished, the winner was a female ram Faunus with a hammer. As the two of them left the next pair was a male lizard Faunus with some daggers facing against Yang. “I think I see a clear winner here.” Indigo said jokingly at the sight of Yang walking up to the center of the field. I rolled my eyes as I glanced up to Skyler, who has the biggest smile on her face as this must’ve been the coolest thing she has ever seen. I waited until the fight was over, which lasted a little longer then I thought but the outcome was the same with Yang winning the fight. I noticed that her hand, her normal on, was shaking and she closed her eyes and sighed before walking off.

This went on for quite a while, after each match another two would fight. Most of the matches lasted longer than anyone would’ve liked, it was a surprise to everyone when Ruby had won the match within the first minute and during Blake’s match with a much larger faunus, they’ve better against her with the mindset that brawn is better than brains, so it came to no surprise for me and Indigo that Blake won with strategic strikes and quick reflexes. I did, however, pay close attention to the Tak’s match against Weiss. Both of them were equally matched in skill and speed, Indigo had to call it a draw and gave them the choice to move up or simply sit the rest out. Both of them chose the latter, extremely exhausted.

I was in deep thought, having let my mind wander a bit amidst the rest of the matches until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to the owner of the hand and saw that it was Indigo.

“We’re up.” He said, removing his hand from my shoulder before walking towards the center of the field, gaining confused murmurs from the rest of the students with the exception of Ruby, Blake, Yang and Weiss while Tak sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

I took a deep breath before moving on towards the area. As I did I heard some muttering from the other students.

“What’s going on? Is Viri in trouble?”

“Viri going to spar against Professor Indigo? Who do you think will win?”

“Don’t know, this is the first time I saw the two of them fight.”

This went on until I stood across from Indigo. I held Molten Coil close to me, ready for the fight. I nodded, signaling him that I was ready.

With a nod of his own, he began to absorb the shadows around him to once again form his shadowy arm. This gained surprised gasps from the other students. Indigo soon got into his fighting stance, signaling me that he was ready as well. We both looked at one another with narrow gazes, Indigo taking his time to calling the match to start

“Now!” Once those words left his mouth, we both charged at one another. As we came close I pulled back and thrust downwards towards his legs. Indigo was just quick enough to dodge this by a few inches. As a counter to my failed attack, he summoned his large scythe before swinging it around in a whirlwind of slashes with a speed that could rival Ruby’s. I pulled Moltens trigger shot a shell, moving me away from Indigo. Shifting a bit I saw that Indigo held his scythe with his shadowy hand.

I kinda missed his tonfas but I decided to use the one issue with using a big scythe like that; time to get in close! Bolting forward towards Indigo, twisting Molten Coil around and shoot a few round to propel me forward. Indigo saw this and stood up straight, leaving me to wonder why but before I could even think of anything else, I was sent skyrocketing up into the air. The cause of this was a familiar giant shadow fist.

“OH COME ON!!! I yelled as I went up into the sky. Soon as I went up I slowed down before going back down. Taking Molten Coil with both hands I felt the flames curled around me I became a flaming… me and rocketed downwards towards the ground. I saw that pain in the ass giant shadow hand right before I collided with it. A loud explosion and flames burst around me before I stumbled out of the newly created hole in the area. I didn’t see the giant shadow hand and I looked at Yang. “I defeated the hand!” I yelled triumphantly right before I fell over onto the ground.

“Exhausted already?” Indigo asked, loud enough for me to hear.

“I’m fine!…” I said as I pushed myself up. The fall gave me flashbacks from the time I did my trial in Beacon. I picked up Molten Coil before turning to Indigo. “I’m ready when you are.” Before he could say something there was a loud voice from the crowd.

“Hold it!” the voice yelled. We all turned and saw Twilight standing there with her hands on her hips. Everyone else looked at each other in confusion as Indigo groans.

“What is it you want?” Indigo asked in annoyance. The unicorn marched over towards the two of us, looking angry.

“I know we’re in the Everfree Forest and there aren’t any real rules here but-”

“Come on Twi, it was just getting good!” Skyler said annoyed as she floated overhead.

“This is serious! Professor Indigo just showed a display of Dark magic! A school of Magic that’s illegal in Equestria.” she turned towards Indigo. “That also means here as well.”

I looked at the two of them back and forth as they stared at each other. Twilight doesn’t really sound like she’s being malicious towards Indi, more like following a rule she learns so long ago. Indigo looked at the purple mare curiously before glancing at me, to which I simply gave him a shrug.

“Dark magic?” He asked curiously before planting his scythe onto the dirt and crossing his arms. Twilight looked at him as if he lost his mind, though I kinda thought he did, regained it and lost it again in an everlasting loop.

“Dark magic, evil powers of shadow and death. Able to raise the dead, control others, bend or break the wills of others, and,” she gestured Indigo’s scythe and shadow arm. “Shadow magic.” Indigo blinked at this, having been told that his semblance was a series some form of evil magic spells.

“And what makes you think this…” He said, holding up his shadowy hand. “And this…” He said, gripping the scythe before saying. “Is some sort of bad hocus pocus magic trick?” He asked finally, arching a brow as he leaned onto his scythe.

“It is!” Twilight proclaimed, stomping her foot (Yes I said foot) onto the ground. “What else could it be other than Dark magic?!”

“My semblance.” Indigo answered plainly, a look of bemusement donning his face. I also saw a look of confusion on Twilight’s face.

“Semblance? What’s a semblance?” she asked. This took me aback a bit as the idea that this world doesn’t know what a semblance is. Before anyone could say anything a voice that was oddly familiar to me spoke out.

“Now now this isn’t a good place to start yelling about the fundamentals.” the voice said. Everyone turned to see a man walking over towards us. He wore a dark green coat and gray vest with dark green pants. He wore a large hat on and holds a staff in his right hand. From the hand I saw there was darker green scales on it, meaning he was a Faunus or a Lizardman. “But to clear things up what the both of you are saying and thinking both look the same, but really are completely different.”

I looked at Indigo as Team RWBY came closer as Indigo stared at the man, his eyes narrowed. Twilight crossed her arms at the man.

“Oh really, what makes you so knowledgeable about this then?” she asked, arching a brow. The man removed his hat and my jaw hit the ground, along with Team RWBY. The man looks a lot like a younger Ozpin.

“I’ve been all over the place, seeing different cultures and people that hold wonders.” the man said before looking around at everyone before looking at us. He gave us a wink before speaking. “I believe a break is in order so we don’t hold everyone up with us bickering, don’t you say Professor?” he asked Indigo, who blinked a few times as he realized he was being talked to. With a sigh and a nod he turned to students and said.

“Class dismissed.” He said to the class, earning a few moans of disappointment before they all left. Indigo rubbed his eyes with his normal hand as the one made of shadows dissipated along with the scythe. As this happened Skyler floated down a little upset that the sparring stopped.

“Now this maybe a long talk, is there anywhere we could talk?” the man asked Twilight.

“Oh… umm…” Twilight fumbled for the answer as she was taken a bit off guard with how everything changed in less than a few minutes. “There’s the library…”

“Perfect, we can talk there. You two go on ahead as I need to say a few words to the others.” he said as he gestured to us. With a suspicious nod both Skyler and her head off to the school, Skyler complaining along the way. The man turned towards us as we all stared at him. It was until Indigo talked that broke the silence.

“I’m beginning to wonder if death means anything anymore.” Indigo said, breaking the silence. The man simply chuckled at him.

“For beings like me, and as it seems you as well, death is just another bump in the road.” the man said.

“It felt more like a tidal wave of loss and confusion to me.” He said, thinking back at his time in the ruins of Beacon Academy. “And painful, very painful.” Indigo quickly added before shaking his head.

“Umm, what’s going on?” Yang asked what the rest of us were thinking. The man looked over and smiled.

“I believe you all met me before, at Beacon.” the man said as he tilted his head. “A one Headmaster Ozpin.”

“WHAT!?!” Was what Team RWBY all yelled, making me jump from how loud it is. They all started to bombard him with questions before they all stop when he puts up a hand.

“How about we deal with the current problem first, then we can get to why or how I came here.” Ozpin said before looking at Indigo. “Also, is there any coffee here? I haven’t had a cup for, oh a really long time.”

Author's Note

Oh? the Ponies don’t know what a semblance is? Interesting. Also Ozpin as a Faunus... I think it’s cool.

Semblance and Magic are different, where's why.

After the the conversation with Twilight and Ozpin, the rest of us headed towards the library. Team RWBY simply bombarded Oz with questions which he answer. Some of them were a little vague as he went. Indigo didn’t seem to ask any to him which I walked up next to.

“So… a coin for your thoughts?” I asked him. He shrugged before answering.

“I'm not really sure how to react, some part of me feels like I already knew.” He said after a brief moment of silence. I stared at him before looking back at Oz.

“I’m not sure how to react to this either. It’s as if someone just… dropped him in a new body…” I said unsurely. He shrugged, looking at Team RWBY as he did.

“Could be possible.” He said, looking at me as he did. “Anything’s possible nowadays apparently.” He added.

“That’s… true.” I said with a shrug. “Guess it just ‘let’s watch and see what happens’?” I then frowned a bit. “Also… really, the shadowfist?” He chuckled at this before saying.

“Hasn't failed me yet.” He said with a smirk. I sighed and shook my head.

“At this point I might never beat you.” I grumbled, remembering the training Mother and my aunt put me through. We both looked at Ozpin and RWBY in silence, simply waiting for their flood of questions to subside. It only subside when we got to the door of the library.

“Ah, I believe this is the place?” Ozpin asked us. Indigo nodded before opening the door and letting Ozpin, RWBY and me to enter first. As we did I saw a glimpse of Iilah sitting at a desk in the corner near us. She saw us and simply and lazily waves before going back to her book, this caused Indigo to roll his eyes at the kid before continuing on.

“Take a seat anywhere, just keep in mind not to make a mess.” Indigo said, motioning towards the row of tables, some of which were occupied with studying students. Team RWBY went over to where Twilight and Skyler were sitting. Twilight glanced over and made an odd look at them before going back to Skyler. Ozpin took a moment to look around at the place.

“This brings back memories, good memories.” he said simply.

“It's got a homey vibe to it.” Indigo said, somewhat in agreement. “It's definitely not Beacon but it's a close second.”

Ozpin chuckles at this before the rest of us headed over to the table. We sat down with Indigo away from Twilight as I sat next to Ruby. Oz shifts a bit in his seat before looking at everyone.

“Well, I believe everyone here has something to say, but I believe miss Rose and her friends already exhausted their questions for the moment.” he said as he looked over at them. Indigo glanced at them before chuckling to himself.

“I just have one question.” Indigo said, gesturing at Ozpin as a whole. “How? I've seen your office, I saw you there… dead.” Indigo said. This drew the attention of everyone as Oz simply stared at Indigo.

“Indigo, I’ve seen what you can do and how you handle situations. What happened back there was… well there was more going on. Something that’s still going on and to explain it would take some time.” he said cryptically. “But let’s say that was… not really a fake since that did happen.”

I didn’t really get what’s going on as Ozpin looked at his hand and study it. “Not the first time but, interesting.”

“Vague but I'll take it as an answer for now.” Indigo said, leaning back onto his seat as he did. I simply stared at Ozpin, about to ask but he cut me off.

“Another time.” he said before looking at the purple unicorn. “I believe you have some questions?”

“Uh, oh uhh…” she pulled out a notebook and flipped through it. “Okay, the first one is for everyone.” she points at Indigo. “Why isn’t anyone here freaked out about the shadow magic he’s using?”

We all stared at her before looking at each other before coming up with the same answer. “Eh.” we all said. Twilight was taken aback at this.

“Not this again.” Indigo said under his breath.

“It’s not Shadow magic, it’s something called a Semblance.” Ozpin explained. Twilight frowned at him.

“Yeah, I heard that but what’s a Semblance?” she asks. Ozpin sighed before whispering something to Indigo, making him chuckle.

“Well, a semblance is the manifestation of one's innate and personal power.” he gestures to team RWBY. “Each and everyone has something called an aura, which a Semblance is a more tangible projection of one's Aura.” Oz leans back a bit before continuing. “What you see ask magic is just another's own power.”

“You mean… everyone has this power?” Twilight asks.

“In a way, for a unicorn like yourself you use your aura to cast spells and be more flexible with it. For beings like us, it just a power that we can use time after time, though through training we can unlock new potentials.”

Twilight spent the time listening and taking down notes, trying to write down everything Ozpin was telling her.

“So… that shadowy power, it’s your semblance?” Skyler asked Indigo. Indigo nodded, seeing that she finally understood somewhat. She then looked at the rest of us. “And what can you all do?”

“I can go really fast!” Ruby said happily, making Skyler snort.

“Oh yeah? Prove-” before she could finish Ruby disappears in a burst of rose petals and zoomed out of the room just to come back a moments later.

“Tada!” she said with a smile. Skyler blinks at this, turned to the door and back again.

“Okay~...” she said, dragging the word out.

“Don’t mind her.” Blake answered before continue. “For me, I can make after images of myself, or shadows for short, when I fight.”

“I can use glyphs with my semblance and dust.” Weiss explains.

“If someone hits me I can redirect it and hit harder.” Yang said simply. Skyler nodded before looking at me.

“I uh… control fire.” I told her.

“That’s cool.” Skyler said before leaning back, deep in thought before she turned to look at something.

The rest of the time went on as most of the questions came from Twilight and Ozpin, like with the others asked him questions, answered them truthfully or vaguely. Indigo had gotten up from his seat and went to talk to Iilah, for what though is unknown to me. Soon Twilight stood up.

“Thank you for answering my questions Mr. Ozpin.” Twilight said with a smile.

“Anytime Miss. Sparkle.” he said before looking at Skyler. “I do hope I can see the two of you again.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Skyler said with a grin. Twilight smile falter a bit before taking her leave. Skyler soon followed behind her while Team RWBY was simply minding their own business. Indigo soon returned but Iilah followed behind him, though Indigo didn't seem to mind.

“Did I miss anything?” He asked, taking a seat on the chair he sat on earlier. He soon noticed that both Twilight and Skyler had left. “Right.” He muttered before looking at Ozpin

“Who’s he?” Iilah asked Indigo as she points at Ozpin. Ozpin looked at her, then at Indigo, then at Blake.

“Hmm, seems that you two took things to the next level?” Ozpin asked Indigo. The latter blinked at Ozpin before looking down at Ilah and then at Blake. He really must've not expected such a question as it took him a bit to put two and two together.

“Oh nonono, she's not our kid.” Indigo quickly said, a bit embarrassed as he did. Ozpin laughs which drew the attention of the others. Blake seems confused at what going on as Iilah seemed to be making gagging sounds.

“I know, she’s a bit old to me yours.” Oz said before looking at me. “You seem to have change from the last time we met.”

“Yes… I have.” I told him, remembering the talks I had with others. He simply smiles at me before looking over at the others. After a while of sitting there and letting my mind wonder I stood up and said I was going to my dorm room. Was it called that? I don’t know.

I made my way there and went inside. I kick off my shoes, changed into something more comfy and laid down in my bed. I pulled the Crimson Huntress book from under my pillow and began to read it. I already know what happens in it after a hundred times I read it but it was also my only connection to my mom. I smiled everytime I read it, a warm feeling of familiarity fills me as I do. I was soon interrupted with a knock from my door. I jumped up at me before looking at the door as there was another knock. I soon walked over and opened the door. “Hello?” Standing there was Mother. I looked at her for a moment before speaking again. “Oh… did I miss a message?” She smiled before shaking her head.

“I just thought I'd stop for a surprise visit.” Mother said. I looked back at her for a moment before speaking.

“Well this is a surprise.” I said as I opened my door to see if she wants to come in. She walked inside, scanning the room as she did before spotting Sylph laying on the bed.

“You've been so busy with school lately, you've barely ever called. So I has though why not go out for a little visit.” Mother said, sitting down on the bed as she did. Sylph looked up from where she was laying to see Mother there. Her tail waged a little to show that she was happy to see her.

“Sorry, a certain professor is getting a reputation of handing out way too much homework.” I said as I closed the door. “And I don’t mean Indigo.” Mother chuckled at this.

“Ah, so another has taken his place then. A teacher who hands out more homework than any other?” She asked in a joking manner. I rolled my eyes as I walked over to her and moved the book off the bed so I could sit next to mother.

“I should be laughing but… it kinda not that funny towards me.” I said with an arch brow. Mother shook her head at this with a smile, scratching Sylph in her sweet spot as she did.

“I've heard throughout the school that a stranger had interrupted one of your classes, is that true?” She asked curiously. I stared at her for a moment before I spoke.

“Yeah… Professor Ozpin came.” I told her as I sat down next to her. “And oddly it looks just like him, other than looking a little younger and a lizard Faunus… I think?” She glanced at me after saying this.

“Younger, you say?” She asked, to which I nodded. “His body may be younger but his mind will always be the same.” She soon said.

“Okay…” I said, trying to process the new information. I gripped down at the book I held as I thought about it. “So… something like reincarnation or something?”

“In a way, yes.” Mother answered with a nod. She closed her eyes before saying. “It's a little more complicated than the act of reincarnation but similar in most aspects.” She said.

I nodded at this, not really wanting to go into the fundamentals of reincarnation. I realized that my hands were fidgeting with book in my hand, a number of dog-eared pages marked the ones that I enjoyed the most out of the book. I pulled my hands away and gave Mother an apologetic look.

“Is something wrong, dear?” She asked in a worried tone.

“No no, nothings wrong.” I said, looking down at the book and chuckled. “I just… got really attached to this book.” I rubbed the back of my head and laughed nervously. “That kinda makes me sound weird doesn't it?” Mother chuckled at this, calming my nerves a bit.

“I see.” She said between chuckles. She then noticed how tightly I held onto the book. “Dear, I understand that this book means a lot to you but I don't want to see you dedicating so much time for just one book.” She said to me, her soothing voice calming my nerves even more. “I'm not telling you to stop reading it, just to simply read it less and enjoy your time here.” She added. I frowned a little before thinking about it. I really read this book from cover to cover and then some.

“Yeah…” I said as I sent the book down beside me, then push a little away. I stared at it before realizing something. “The ending was a cliffhanger! I don’t know if there’s other books?!” I saw Mother looked at me with a frown and an arch brow. “It’s more of a readers view thing, you can’t just leave a story off like that!” Mother chuckled at this, her frown vanishing within an instant. She shook her head as she chuckled before saying.

“If it'll make you feel any better, I can search for any possible continuations of your book.” She said, smiling as she did. I smiled brightly at her and gave Mother a hug.

“Thanks.” I told her. She soon returned the hug and after a minute or two like this, she pulled back and stood up.

“I suppose I should get going, your headmistress has requested my presence upon my arrival.” She said, walking up to the door as it opened by itself. “I will be sure to greet your friends while I'm here.” She said, finally heading out through the open doorway. I chuckled a bit as I got up from the bed. I picked the book and looked at it. After a few minutes I cleared some space on one of my shelves and put the book on it. Stepping back I smiled as I saw that it was the first of many books I may have. As I turned away something caught my eye, something that seemed, off about the book. Taking a closer look I noticed that there was something peeling away from the cover.

“The book has a secret? Cool~.” I said as I carefully peeled it away. It was a rectangular piece of paper with the words ‘Team RUST, best Huntsman team of Vacuo!’ on the back. Confused I turned it over and I saw that it was a photo. It was a team photo of what I guess is Team RUST, two of them was Faunus and the other two were human. One of them was a female Faunus with black wings on her back, guessing she was some Crow or Raven Faunus? She had a small smile and wore a breastplate with some Norse symbols on it. On her back was a large steel gray greatsword. Over her head was the name Ube Westergaard and another name pointing at her weapon says Valkery’s Cry.

Another was a brown skin human man that looks like he was some kind of DJ man, wearing sunglasses and a fedora. He wore a pinstripe vest and some black pants and near him was… a bazooka. A blue rocket launcher that looks like it was part of some kind of speaker. Over his head was the name Tealle Turner and his weapon was the Basszooka.

The last two were the most surprising to me, one of them was a male human with short black hair and blue eyes. He wore simple clothes and have two blades at his side. Over his head was the name Ray Warren with a drawing of a heart next to it. His weapons were also called Sunrise and Sunset.

The last one was a Fox Faunus that looked almost like me, silver-white hair, white skin and red eyes. She was smiling as she held two weapons in her hands, both axes with chains connecting them to her bracers. Over her head was only the word ‘Me!’ over her head, along the names ‘Volcanic Wrath, and Volcanic Fury’ for the names of her weapons.

“Mom…” I whispered as I stared at the picture before shaking my head. I put on some more clothes on before folding the picture and putting it in my pocket. I ran out of my room in search of Indigo.

Luckily my search wasn't long, I had managed to find him exiting Team RWBY’s dorm. He closed the door behind him before noticing me.

“Oh, hey Viri.” He greeted. I stopped right up in front of him as I took some breaths.

“Hey, quick question; what do you know about Vacuo and maybe a group called Team RUST?” I asked him. He hummed a bit in thought before saying.

“Well, my grandfather was from Vacuo, even served in the Great War.” He said with a bit of pride in his tone. A brief flash of his midnight purple eye hinting that it was added by the man he spoke of. He then looked puzzled and said. “But I haven't really heard of a team RUST, haven't been to Vacuo in a really long time.” He said. Before I could say anything, his indigo eye dilated while the midnight purple one shone brightly.

“He hasn't, but I have.” Said Theodore, having taken control of Indigo’s body. “I can't be out for long so ask quickly.” He said. I blinked at this before continuing.

“What do you know about them?” I asked. Theodore thought about it before chuckles.

“They were… interesting to say the least. They were similar to Indigo’s group but more… wild. They didn’t have many plans, to the chagrin of their leader, but they were a great team together.” He tilted his head a bit in amusement.“I remember a rumor about them and it’s ‘don’t tick off the Silver-haired Fox Faunus.’ I saw one man did and, well, her temper was explosive.”

“Right… did, any of them got together with another?” I asked him. He raised an eyebrow before speaking.

“I believe so, the leader and Fox Faunus did, I believe their names were… Ray and Sara.” he then chuckles. “Only Ray can make the volcanic fox calm down.” I couldn’t help but smile at this.

“Thanks Theodore, this means a lot.” I told him. With a smile and a nod, the shining midnight purple iris slowly stopped and the dilated indigo iris returned to normal. With a groan, Indigo placed a hand on his head.

“Oum dammit, I must've blacked a bit.” He said just above a whisper before looking back at me. “Sorry about that, I guess I must've been exhausted. Thanks to Ozpin, I had to have a long discussion about having kids with Blake.” He said, rubbing the side of his head.

“Ohh… that must’ve went well…” I said before looking around. “Hey, you want to see something that I found?”

“Sure, I suppose.” He said with a shrug of his shoulder. I pulled out the photo I had in my pocket before speaking.

“Well, this is the reason I asked about Team RUST.” I said as I handed him the photo. He looked at the photo, shaking his head as he did.

“I might've heard them from somewhere but I'm not sure.” He said, looking back up from the photo. “Sorry.” He said before looking back down at the photo. “Whoa, check it out. She looks almost like you.” He said, pointing at my birth mother.

“Yeah… that’s my mom…” I thought about it. “My actual mother, the one that… oh you know what I mean.” I said. He nodded in understanding before saying.

“Sorry I can't help. I've honestly never heard of them.” He said with an apologetic look.

“I understand.” I said as I took the photo back. “It’s just other then Mother, I haven’t really told anyone about my real mother. Which might be due to most of her that I know about her is stuff from a book about her which could go one of two ways.” He blinked at this before shaking his head.

“A book?” He asked. I nodded.

“Yeah, it’s really a good read.” I said with a smile. “Anyway I guess I should stop talking about this for the moment.” He nodded, still somewhat confused.

“I'll see you later, Iilah wanted me to come by the library.” He said, walking off towards the direction of the library. I chuckled before I headed off to simply wander a bit. After sometime of doing that I caught a glimpse of my aunt sitting on a bench reading. She was wearing some simple traveling clothes. She looks up at me and smiles. Soon she was right in front of me, making me jump.

“Hi there.” she greeted with the same smile as before. I looked back at the bench and back at her.

“Did you have to do that?” I asked.

“Yes I did.” she said cheekily. I rolled my eyes before speaking.

“So, what do you want?” I asked her. Her smile grew bigger as she spoke.

“Well, it just so happens that after months of no new missions for you, I've finally found one that may very require your all.” She said, a little too excited.

“Okay? What is it and why are you getting excited about this?” I asked.

“Because it's been a while since I've last tested your skill fighting skill and survivability.” She quickly responded without missing a beat. I slowly nodded before I spoke.

“Right, what’s this mission or test you got me in?” I asked. After calming her excitement down a little, Aunty pulled out a folded picture from her pocket and handed it to me.

“I've taken an interest in one of the countless words your mother and I have created. The habitants while mostly varying types dinosaurs, a small portion of the inhabitants consist of humans.” She said informatively as I unfolded a the photo, seeing that it was an aerial shot of a burning village. Several dead armored men and women littered the ground. A single figure standing in the middle of it all, simply watching the fires. I wasn't able to tell what the figure was from the picture, it being the only blur on what could only be described as a flawless photo. “One of which has gone… rogue to say the least.” She then handed me another photo, this one being with a closer look and a different scene. The picture was taken just in time to see a bullet impact upon an armored man, whom by the look on his face was begging for mercy. The person responsible, an armored woman in a gas mask, held the pistol that fired the bullet. The scene behind her was nothing short of a massacre. I frowned at this, feeling a bit sick.

“Gone rogue? It looks like this woman went on a killing spree.” I told my aunt.

“One of many, if what I've heard is true.” Aunty said with an informative tone once again. “Your mission is simple, defeat her and find out why she's doing this.” She added. I looked at my aunt and then at the photos.

“You… want me to defeat her?” I asked her. She nodded before crossing her arms and saying.

“Yes, and I will accompany you in case things get too difficult.” She said.

“Oh…” I looked at her for a moment before nodding. “Alright, when should we go?”

“Hmmm, now!” she said as she raised her hand up to teleport us. As she did this I heard the sound and felt someone run into me.

“Hey Viri! What’s up?” Ruby asked as soon as my aunt snapped her fingers, then everything went dark. Then there was a voice from my aunt speaking.

“Whoops.”

Author's Note

Well this is going to be interesting.

Next up, Dinos! xD

Dinos are fun!... Maybe

I groaned a bit, feeling the dirt on my face when aunt Axycia teleport me to… wherever here is. I pushed myself up to see we’re in a lush forest, the trees seemed to go on for miles as I saw Axycia looking around.

“Ugh… anyone see that man’s number?” Ruby said, making me realize that she too came with us, for some reason. I saw her laying on the ground groaning as I moved over to her side.

“It was no man… it was a teleport.” I told her. I noted the large redwood trees, the sunlight peeking through the leaves. Aunty was already up, looking at our surroundings with narrowed eyes. I helped Ruby up, noticing her dizziness.

“I feel like I’m going to hurl.” She said with a groan.

“The feeling will pass in a few minutes.” I told her. She let out another groan of discomfort as she clutched her stomach. I patted her back in comfort as the echoing sounds of chirping bird greeted my ears. It was really calming, hearing the sounds of the forest. The sounds were soon replaced with an odd and very close hissing. I was quick to react and turned to the source, seeing a small raptor-like beast. “Uhhh, Axycia?”

Axycia looked over at the raptor as it seemed to study us. It took some steps forward and sniffed the air. He let out a sound similar to that of the birds I heard before. I took a step back and it reacted with a hiss, its neck expanding into frills. Ruby saw this and held onto me tightly.

“Get behind me.” I whispered to her, my hand on Molten. My aunt simply watched this happen without moving. It hissed once again as it saw me grip Molten Coil but a loud whistle caught its attention. It turned to face the source behind it, following along with gaze I saw that it was a man in metal armor with pike in hand. The armor itself while made of metal, looked primitive. It sorta looks like someone made knight armor with what little they had around.

“Who are you?” I called out. The man looked at us curiously before lowering his weapon.

“I could ask you the same.” He said, scanning both mine and Ruby’s attire before saying. “Never seen clothing like that before. Are you new to the Ark?” He asked before petting the raptor-like beast. I glanced over at my aunt before at the man.

“You can say that.” I told him, still not letting go of Molten. The man chuckled a bit before saying.

“While it’s nice to meet new survivors, it’s not safe to sit out here. Bears and wolves prowl these lands.” He said, warning us of the danger before adding. “We can talk more back at the village if you’d follow me.” He said, turning around before whistling at the raptor-like beast. The beast out a low growl before running ahead. The man soon looked back at us and gestured to follow him. My aunt simply walked forward to follow, humming a little tune as she did. I looked back at Ruby as she held onto me.

“You okay?” I asked. She nodded a little.

“Yeah… oh, wait, no I’m not I forgot Crescent rose!” Ruby said sadly. I gave her a deadpan look before sighing.

“Let’s just follow them.” I said to her. As the two of us walked Ruby whispered to me.

“We just saw a real-life dinosaur! That’s so cool!”

“I know!” I whisper back with a smile. As we walked, we marveled at the forest having never seen trees this tall before. We all stopped at the sound of a rustling bush, the man raising his pike towards the bush. We all waited for the worst to walk out only to see an innocent dodo bird walk out. It ruffled its feathers a bit as it walked, not minding us being there.

“It’s a Dodo!” Ruby said in a childish tone.

“Woah~.” I simply said which made aunty chuckle. The armored man glanced us in confusion but kept silent during the rest of the walk. Our destination being on a simple wooden platform with a rope that suspended it a few inches off the ground. Ruby and I looked at it curiously before the man walked onto it with Aunty following suit.

“Come on, it’s perfectly safe.” He said to us, trying to encourage us to hop on as well. Seeing that standing still won’t do us any good, we walked onto the platform. With a nod, the man took off his helmet, revealing his shaggy hair and a scruffy beard. He then let out a deafening whistle that echoed through the forest and as a result, the platform shook before slowly ascending. I looked up, wanting to see where it would lead us but the leaves blocked the view. The armored man noticed a few branches blocking our ascent and pushed them away with his pike long enough to pass them. Our vision was soon blocked by leaves for a brief moment before the platform stopped, opening my eyes, I was greeted with the sight of a muscled woman waiting with her hand on her hips. Her attire look leathery, her boots, pants and even shirt. Her brown hair hung loosely over her shoulders.

“I was wondering when you’d be back.” She said, crossing her arms as she did before noticing us. “And you brought guests?” She asked the man.

“I found them nearing the swamps, Dilo found them before I did.” The man said before walking off the platform and onto the large wooden platform built onto the large tree. I looked around, seeing a multitude of platforms connected via catwalks. The platforms I saw had two houses each, big enough to fit a lot of people. Aunty walked off the elevated platform and onto the tree platform. The man looked at us before saying.

“My name is Kennedy, most of my tribemates call me Ken.” He said, turning to the muscled woman and saying. “She’s Dianne, my wife and the tribes strongest.” He said.

“They live in Treehouses…” Ruby said childishly. I couldn’t help but laugh at this before looking at Ken.

“Hey Ken, I’m Viri, this is Ruby,”

“Huh? Oh, hello!” Ruby greeted.

“And this is my Aunt, Axycia.” I greeted them. My aunt bowed to the two of them. Ken and Dianne bowed in return, not wanting to be rude.

“If you all wouldn’t mind, I’d like to question you all for safety reasons.” Kennedy said while Dianne walked off after giving her hubby a quick peck on the cheek. “If you’d follow me please.” He said, walking over towards the only large building on the platform we stood on. It was the largest building we’ve seen. We followed him inside as Ruby simple marveled at all the ‘Treehouses’.

We entered the building and was greeted with a well-furnished living room, the tables and chairs looked handmade. Ken motioned towards the bench beside a large wooden table, the table itself had handmade carvings on its surface. The carving looked similar to the howling wolf from the White Fangs emblem. We all sat on the well-made bench while Kennedy sat on the other side of the table before asking.

“Are any of you from any of the neighboring tribes?” He asked, having discarded his pike and helmet atop a wooden crate labeled ‘hunting gear’.

“Uhh, no we’re not.” I told him I looked over at my aunt for any input. She shook her head no before saying.

“No, we’re just a group of wanderers. We’re from the Northern Plains.” Aunty said, gaining a curious look from the man before adding. “I was there when these two appeared, I’m basically their guardian.” Kennedy seemed satisfied with this answer and said.

“Ah yes. The north is no place for newcomers.” He said before looking back at me and Ruby. “So I assume your gems are like ours, no?” He asked before removing his left gauntlet, revealing a grey gem embedded into his wrist. Both Ruby and I stared at it before looking at each other.

“Do we have gems?” Ruby asked.

“Uh…” Was all I could say at this. He looked at us in confusion, he then looked at my aunt waiting for an answer.

“You… don’t have gems?” He said, having a hard time believing this. “How is that even possible? Everyone in the Ark possesses a gem.” He said, looking out the large window. We were high up enough to be able to see through the leaves, being able to faintly see the menacing Volcano. “Even her.” He said just above a whisper, though in the tone he said it, I don’t think it’s a good subject to touch just yet. Though Ruby didn’t seem to have the same idea.

“Who’s her?” Ruby asked him. He clawed at the finely crafted table, obviously never expecting this question. He turned to look at us, a look of horror on his face.

“You really aren’t from the Ark, are you?” He asked. We shook our head, while Aunt Axycia looked out the window in interest. With a sigh, Kennedy decided to explain a bit. “We only know as Mother, an inhuman being with unimaginable power. She has already wiped out three of our allied tribes and we fear we may be next.” He said. I gulped as I looked over at my aunt for a moment.

“That’s… something.” I said with a little nervosity. Ruby looked over at me then at Kennedy.

“Why would this lady destroy other tribes?” she asked. He shrugged, shaking his head as he did before saying.

“No one knows exactly why she does it. The closest thing we’ve ever gotten to a reason was from a survivor of the last tribe she wiped out.” He said, looking down in sadness. “They were a tribe of warriors, men, and women that should never be trifled with… and yet she single-handedly wiped them out.”

“What did the survivor say?” Aunt Axycia asked, still looking out the window. Ken closed his eyes and said.

“He said that she looked at him, she had him dead to rights but didn’t kill him. Simply uttering the words Mother Knows Best.” He said before shaking his head. “We found him later that day at the brink of death, we took him in and let him recover before he left without as much as a single word.”

I glanced over at Axycia as she stared out of the window. She tasked me to fight this woman, but after what Ken told us I’m not so sure anymore.

“Do you expect this ‘Mother’ being to come here next?” I asked Ken.

“We’re not sure, that survivor we found had mentioned that she simply showed up within the borders of their village. She hummed loudly to herself, a lullaby a mother would sing to her children.” He said, a bit of fear evident in his tone.

“Right… Can I talk to you for a moment?” I asked my Aunt. “Outside, alone.”

She looked at me oddly before nodding. The two of us walked out of the room outside. I turned to her with a frown. “Look, I know you told me that my task to defeat this woman but, after hearing that from Ken, do you think I could stand a chance against her?!” I asked her.

“Oh come now, you selling yourself short.” my aunt said with a roll of her eyes.

“I think you don’t understand what he said, she wiped out a tribe of warriors single-handedly. What can I do against that!?” I asked her. She stared at me before putting her hand on my shoulder.

“Look, I know you’re scared about this. But trust me, I know that you are more than enough to deal with this ‘Mother’.” she smiled at me. “I believe in you.”

I looked at my aunt as she said this, my nerves didn’t calm down though. I simply nodded before she led me back into the room.

“So… can I have a dinosaur?” Ruby asked childishly. Kennedy blinked at scythe wielder before noticing us.

“Ah you’ve returned.” He said with a bit of relief.

“Yeah, just need to ask her something.” I told him before sitting beside Ruby. “So, what are you two talking about?”

“Dinosaurs!” Ruby said happily before looking at Ken. “Can I have one, Please please please~!” To her dismay, Ken simply shook his head.

“Sorry, but we don’t just give we away our tames. We at this tribe have risked our lives in taking them.” He said, explaining his answer. Ruby pouted a bit but didn’t say anything, I guess the idea of having a pet dinosaur would be really cool. I chuckled at this as I looked out of the window. As I looked out the window, I kept getting the feeling of being watched. Shaking my head I looked back at Ken as he was talking to my aunt about something. I decided to lean back and tried to drown out the talking and let my mind wander for a bit.

Though my mind wandered, I couldn’t help but look out the window again, though this time a woman in a gas mask looked back at me. I could hear the heavy breathing as it were next to me. The woman tilted her head as if looking at me in confusion before turning around. I blinked only to find that she disappeared. I blinked a few more times as my mind raced to figure out what just happened.

“What the living hell!?!” I yelled, scrambling back into Ruby. Everyone turned to me from my outburst.

“What’s wrong?” Ken asked, having been surprised by my outburst. I looked over at him and back at the window.

“There was someone there! Right at the window!” I yelled, pointing. “Woman with a gas mask did no one see her!?” Ruby shook her head while Aunt Axycia looked at me oddly. Kennedy looked horrified.

“Nonono.” He muttered under his breath, terrified. He looked out the window, seeing if what I said was true but despite seeing nothing, he was still terrified. “How did she find us?” He asked just loud enough for me to hear as he grabbed his helmet but tossed the pike to the side before opening the crate. To me and Ruby’s surprise, Kennedy took out a relatively modern looking shotgun and a couple of shells as well. “Better safe than sorry.” He said, loading in six of the shells before pumping the gun.

“I’m not going to question that.” I said to him.

“Uhh.” Ruby said as she looked around. “Do you have a scythe?”

“A scythe?” He asked, not knowing what she meant. Ruby looked at him in confusion as my aunt spoke.

“Maybe a different weapon would work.” she said calmly. Ruby looked at her and back at Ken.

“Uh, a rifle?” she asked. Ken quickly rummage through the small crate before finally pulling out a handgun.

“This is the only thing I can give you, it’s already loaded so make each shot count.” He said, tossing the gun to Ruby. The latter caught it before mockingly pointing the gun at the wall pretending to shoot it.

“Bang!” She imitated, making me shake my head at her. The ground beneath us shook, surprising Ken the most before ran over to the door and looked out the small window next to it. He looked mortified at whatever he saw out there.

“We’re under attack.” He said, muttering it loudly before a look of panic crossed his face. “We’re under att-” Before he could finish his sentence, a set of knocks interrupted him. He turned to look at the door, gun in hand and ready to fire. As he contemplated in opening it or not, the silence that we grew accustomed to had been shattered by the sounds of danger. People screaming, fires raging, the shattering of wood could be heard. But one sound stood out from the rest, a constant mother hum. Once again there was a set of knocks from the door and Kennedy moved in to open it, in doing so the hum was briefly replaced with a dark chuckle. Every nerve of my body screamed at me to move.

“Ruby stop him!” I yelled at her. She looked at me before she turned into a burst of rose petals. She zoomed over before knocking Ken down. Molten Coil was out an in my hands as my aunt simply stood to the side with her arms crossed. The door soon had a bloodied spike impaled at its center, where it would have most likely hit Ken if it weren’t for Ruby. Before anyone could say anything, another bloodier pike pierced the door followed by several more. The humming soon returned, after another ominously dark chuckle. Ruby got off Ken, allowing him to get up.

“Thanks but I need to go out there, my tribe needs me.” He said, opening while looking at Ruby. Both me and Ruby were horrified to see what was stuck to the door. “What are you- No.” He said, having turned around only be greeted by the bloody body of his wife. Several pikes holding her up on the door. “No!” He yelled.

The humming got louder and closer, Ken turned face with a terrified expression as he aimed his weapon out the doorway. I was unable to see who was out there but judging by the constant humming, it was no one good.

“Get away!” He yelled, firing at the person outside. The humming was once again replaced with a chuckle. The next thing we knew, a pike had pierced the center of Ken’s head, horrifying Ruby in the process. Soon the humming returned as a riot armor-clad woman in a gas mask entered the home. She had long raven black hair reaching down to her shoulders.

The sound of a gun hitting the ground as Ruby fell onto her knees. She was in a panic like state as the woman looked around. I held Molten Coil in my hands as I trembled.

“What do I do, what do I do, what am I supposed to do? Ken is dead and I’ll be next, what do I do??” I thought as I stared at the woman. The woman looked at the terrified Ruby before looking at me. She tilted her head a bit before picking up Kennedy’s shotgun. I expected her to just shoot us there and then but she simply cocked it several times, discarding the shells in the process. With that done, she tossed the gun to the side and headed out the door, not minding us being there. We heard the sound of what could only be one of the many support beam snap, causing the ground to shake.

Aunty quickly opened a portal and pushed us through, making me land on the dirt with Ruby beside me. I took a moment to look around where I was before seeing Ruby curl up into a ball.

“Ruby?” I said her name in a shaky voice. She didn’t respond as she just stayed like that. It wasn’t long before my aunt appeared near us.

“That was close, any longer and the whole thing would have collapsed on you.” She said, dusting herself off nonchalantly. I didn’t say anything as I pulled my legs up. “Something wrong?” She asked, curiously glancing at me and Ruby. I glanced at Ruby still trembling. I put my hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down.

“Just… I was freaked out.” I told her. My aunt didn’t say anything as she moved around us, looking out to the forest. Following her gaze, I could see the black smoke of the fire rising up from the forest. I could still hear her humming. I put my hands over my ears, hoping to block out the humming. But I could still hear it. It soon stopped the sounds of blowing wind replacing the humming.

“She works quick. Efficiently as well.” I could hear Aunty say just above a whisper. I looked back at her as I saw Ruby sit up.

“You okay?” I asked her. Ruby looked over to me, her silver eyes are red from bloodshot. She shook her head as she sat next to me. “I could ask my aunt to send you back to the school.”

“And… let you face this woman by yourself?” she asked me. I gave her an odd look and felt like this was an argument I wasn’t going to win. “Besides, I want a dino.”

“Why?” I asked her, arching a brow.

“Because Dinosaurs are cool.” she said. I snorted before I started to laugh. Soon the two of us were laughing together before calming down. We saw Aunt Axycia staring at us.

“We should get going, there’s no telling how close she is.” Aunty said, walking away from the forest and towards the flowing river, where a few noticeable dinos were drinking water. Ruby simply went from shaken to a happy girl just from looking at the dinos. I had to hold her down so she didn’t run towards them.

“But Dinosaurs!” Ruby whined at me.

“But Ruby Dino food!” I countered back at her. “I don’t know if some of them are plant-eaters or meat-eaters.”

“Plant eaters.” Aunty said before pointing at a dino with horns protruding from its body. “Plant eater.” She then pointed at the very large and very long dino, if I remember correctly it’s Brontosaurus. Watching this I started to hum the theme song to Jurassic Park.

“What are you humming?” Ruby asked.

“A theme song from a good movie.” I told her. “You don’t know it?”

“No.” Ruby answered.

“Right, after this me and you are watching that movie.” I told her. Aunty then pointed at another, smaller dino that was currently sprinting at us.

“Meat eater.” She said, looking at me expectantly. I looked at her then at the small dino sprinting towards us.

“Whoa!” I yelled as the dino jump at me. I ducked under as it sailed over my head. It landed a few feet behind us before turning around to hiss at me. I stared at it before I saw it was charging at me again. As it lept I pulled Molten out and pulled the trigger. It fell on top of me before rolling off into the water, making the rest of the dinos runoff. I blinked a few times before Ruby was at my side.

“Are you okay?!” she asked me. I simply and slowly nodded.

“That… just happened.” I said as she pulled me up. I looked over at my aunt as she simply stood there. “Thanks for the warning.” She nodded before looking at the fleeing dinos. Ruby was sad to see them leave, I was just relieved not really knowing if they were friendly or not. Ruby pulled me up while I put Molten Coil away. The two of us smiled before looking at my aunt. “Onwards?”

“On your command, oh fearless leader.” Aunty said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes as the three of us headed off. Hours past as we walked through another, smaller forest and ran into some more animals, some not so dangerous while others were. Luckily a good burst of fire from Molten scare them off. Soon the sun started to set and aunty said we should set up camp.

“Wait, what about the others? What about school?” Ruby asked her. Axycia simply grinned at her.

“Don’t worry about it, I got that handled.” she informed Ruby as she looked around. “Think of it this way, when we get back it’ll back you never even left.” She said with a chuckle. Ruby looked over at me as I just shrugged. The three of us soon headed out to look for anything we can use to build with or food. I spent the next while picking some berries into my bag when that feeling being watched came back. I shivered as I stood up and looked around me. I didn’t see anything until I saw a blue light coming from my right. As I looked right at it the light disappeared, almost looked like it flickered out.

Staring at the area where the light was until I shook my head. Was I imagining things? Was it this Mother woman stalking us? Or something else?

With that thought in mind I headed back towards the others, but as I walked, that feeling never went away.

Author's Note

Well, things aren’t looking good for the crew of... just Ruby and Viri. Will they survive the harsh life of Ark? Who is this Mother, who is totally not Viri’s Mother, and what’s up with that blue light? And most importantly; Will Ruby get a Dino pet?!?

A present, New Village, and Blue lady

What I thought was going to be a quick mission to defeat this woman became longer. Axycia seemed to find this place more and more interesting as we explored. Days past that turned into weeks from the first encounter with the Gas-mask woman and Ruby… she wasn’t really doing so good. She missed her friends, her sister and team, she cried herself to sleep almost every night which made me feel like a knife was stabbing it’s way into my heart. I took some time, a few hours in fact, to pull her aside and simply talked to her, try to calm her down and help her.

It seems that missing everyone wasn’t the only thing that was bothering her. Seeing Ken die right in front of her, reminded her of two of her friends in Remanent Pyrrha and and Penny. I listened to her talk about them, feeling myself almost be brought to tears. I didn’t know what to say when she was finished but simply hug her.

After that Ruby seemed a little better, I don’t believe she would simply get over it over one talk so I promise her if that she needs to talk I’ll be there for her.

The three of us also built a small campsite as well as a few other things. It seems aunt Axycia has knowledge of different things that she shared with the two of us to help her build. We had a place to sleep, a storage place, some walls, and a water catcher for some rain water.

We’ve had a few close encounters with the larger predators, a pack of some Rex like dino with horns. Though terrifying, they weren’t that hard to evade as they prefer to attack head-on. I’ve even spotted an actual T-Rex, luckily I was quite a ways away from it though that didn’t stop me from worrying that it might stumble upon our camp. Though it also didn’t stop Ruby to be upset with me.

“You got to see a T-Rex and you didn’t come and get me.” she grumbled as she carried a bucket of water over to some barrels.

“Sorry but I was quite away from the camp.” I said with a groan. Ruby didn’t say anything as continued what she was doing. “Don’t be like that, you’ve seen plenty of Dinosaurs already.”

“None of them were T-Rexs.” she pointed out. I rolled my eyes at this.

“It’s been like three months and she’s like this…” I muttered to myself.

“Honestly you both argue as if you were children.” The voice of my aunt brought my attention to her as she came back with pouches full berries, though I could see two extra pouches that no doubt contain the white and black berries. “Have you yet to venture further into the forest?” She asked, dropping the pouches beside Ruby. The latter taking out a red berry and happily eating it. I pulled out a map and opened it up to show Axycia.

“I traveled a bit further out yesterday and all I found was more trees and some open planes.” I told her.

“And a T-Rex.” Ruby muttered loudly enough for the two of us to hear. I glared at her as my aunt took the map.

“Alrighty then…” She said, looking at the incomplete map before drawing out a few things. Before I knew it, She returned the map with a full sketch of the forest along with the river. A big red circle was drawn around the volcano, the words peculiar was written within the circle. A red x was drawn just south of our position. “I’ve bumped into a survivor there, he’s apart of the tribe in the swamps, a bunch of peculiar fellows they are.” She said.

“Peculiar how?” I asked.

“This tribe appears to have been around for quite some time. Their armor is nothing like I’ve ever seen.” She answered back.

“Right… I guess we’re going to head out to find these people?” I asked her, studying the map as I asked.

“If you’re up for it, it’s not my choice.” She said, taking a seat next to the campfire. I never really understood why Axycia made it sound like I was the leader. Looking at the map a bit move before I closed it up.

“I think we should check them people out, maybe they can help.” I said. I saw a nod from my aunt as Ruby simply ate her berries. Frowning I thought back to the project I’ve been working on for some time and decided to us it as a peace item. Walking over to my workshop area I open a chest and pulled out my project. It looked like a large walking staff or cane of some kind of some metal that I found and foraged together and, after some time it was finished.

“We’ve been through a lot… haven’t we?” I asked the cane. There was a slight hum as I pulled out one of Molten Coils carriages. Attaching that to my belt I brought the object to Ruby. “Hey, peace treaty?”

“I don’t see why there should be peace between- what’s that?” she asked as she saw the item in my hands. I shrugged as Axycia looked over at us as she saw the cane.

“Oh, nothing much.” I said as I pulled a trigger on it. The cane expanded until it was a large scythe. It was much slimmer and a darker brown to Ruby’s Crescent Rose but there was a large burning gem up near the blade. Ruby’s eyes widen as she saw this. “Something cool.”

“Where… where did you get this?!” She asked, looking at the scythe with a familiar giddy look.

“I built it.” I said as I pull a trigger and it collapsed into itself and turned into a cane.

“Where did you get all the parts?” she asked. I gave her a small sad smile.

“Well… I uh, took apart Molten for this.” I said as I handed her the cane. “Take it.”

“B-But, you and Molten… you two been together for as long as I remember!” Ruby said, shocked at the idea I took my own weapon apart to make her one. I simply shrugged.

“Yeah, but I believe you could do better.” I told her as I pushed the weapon into her hands. She looked down at it and at me as I smiled and patted the cartage. “I still have her spirit.”

Ruby looked down at the cane before walking off with it. I walked over and sat down beside my aunt with a sigh.

“Do… do you think I did the right thing?” I asked her, seeing Ruby test out the scythe, the look of joy on her face seems to make me smile.

“Well, if seeing her happy was your main goal than yes.” She said before glancing at me with smirk. “Nothing beat seeing the one you love happy, doesn’t it?” She asked me, a knowing smirk on her face. I felt my cheeks go so red that they could’ve catch on fire.

“W-w-w-what d-do you mean b-by that?” I stuttered. “I-I-I was simply being a good f-friend and… and…”

“Sure you are.” my aunt said as she stood up. “I’m sure you mean that.”

I watched her walk away humming to herself and left me blushing at what she was saying. After that I ran to a barrel and dunked my head into it. Bubbles rushed past me before I pulled myself up and took a deep breath after that.

“You… okay?” I heard Ruby asked. I turned to her as she stared at me.

“Me? Oh yes, I’m fine. Totally fine. So fine I’m great! Are you great? I’m great. Great great great…” I soon stop rambling as Ruby stared at me. “I’m uh, going to get some stuff, later!”

I quickly moved towards the sleeping area as I saw Axycia holding something up at me. I couldn’t tell what it is but as I watched her put it in her back pocket and waved at me. I waved back confused as what she just did.

“Wait until your mother sees your face.” She said with a laugh. I simply let out a odd chuckle as I bet my face was red.

The three of us walked through the forest towards where these people are at. Axycia was walking out front since she would know the way as I held the map in hand. The outfits we wore were somewhat combined leather with the clothes we had on us. It was a bit odd looking but it worked.

“It says here we’ll be getting close to the spot, about five to seven minutes.” I said to the other two. We soon found ourselves exiting the forest and stopped between the border to the forest and a large swamp.

“Hmmm.” Aunty hummed out loud just before we heard a distant boom from within the swamp. “Oh would you look at that.” She said, looking up from the swamp and seeing a figure flying up before hovering in mid-air for a brief moment before plummeting back down, resulting in a loud boom of something impacting the ground hard.

“What is that?!” I yelled over the sound of the boom. Aunty walked ahead without a word, heading towards the direction of the figure. Ruby and I followed behind her, trying to keep up. It was kinda hard since we were going through a swamp. For Axycia she seemed to go through it no problem.

“She… makes… it… look… easy!” Ruby said as she slog through the mud. I grumbled a bit as we tried to catch up.

I heard a low growl nearby and stopped, scanning the area around but finding nothing. Ruby looked at me oddly and I just shrugged, thinking that I must be heading things. When we caught up with Axycia, she was in the middle of conversing with another survivor, this one wearing armor that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie. The two of us stared at the armor for a few moments before I spoke.

“I want one.” I said.

“Me too.” Ruby agreed.

“How does it work?”

“What is it made out of?”

“What else can it do?”

“Are we getting giddy over some armor?” Ruby asked.

“Yes.” I answered. I looked over at her and saw, and what probably was on my face as well, was a large smile and giddiness on her. The two of us quickly trudged our way over to the two, now with more determination than before.

“Our plan was to hide out in the swamps, knowing the dangers it already contained along with strategic planning we’ve been able to hide from that menace for a while.” Spoke the person in the armor, by the sound of their voice it was male. It should’ve been obvious judging by his brute like physique. Behind him were two more armored individuals, these ones being female judging by their physique. “Recently we’ve acquired the means to build a forcefield and are currently in the process of building it, when it’s finish though, oh ho ho, this swamp will be untouchable!” He exclaimed, gaining the chuckles from his female companions. Soon the two of us got to the rest of them panting as they looked at us.

“Where… did you get… that armor?” I asked.

“And where… can we got some?” Ruby added.

“If not that, blueprints of them.” I also added after her. The man and two woman stared at us as we both smiled happily. The man coughed a bit, most likely to break the silence before speaking.

“Ah these aren’t that easy to obtain or even maintain. To even think about building these beauties…” He started, gesturing at his armor before saying. “You’ll need to prove yourself as a capable survivor by killing a Guardian of the Island.” He said.

“Our entire tribe chose to face the great Dragon.” Said one of the armored females.

“We defeated it and as reward, we learned how to use and create Tek gear like our armor.” Said the other armored female, both of their voices sounded the same.

“Aww~” Both Ruby and I groaned at not being able to take a closer look at the armor. This earned a chuckle from my aunt.

“Oh don’t be like that.” She said, chuckling as she did. As she turned back to the other three I was left alone with Ruby.

“Phoenix Rose.” Ruby whispered to me.

“What?” I whispered back. She smiled and lifted the cane.

“This, I’m calling her Phoenix Rose. Do you like it?” she asked. I stared at as I ran the name through my head before seeing her really close to me. I blushed a bit before nodding.

“Y-yeah. It’s a perfect name.” I said with a smile. Ruby tilted her head a bit but didn’t say anything as she smiled at Phoenix Rose in her hands. I caught a smirk from Axycia before she turned to face.

“Is it possible for that the three of us could hunker down in your village, we’ve been living out in the woods for quite some time.” Aunty said to the man. He took a step back and glanced at his comrades before shrugging and saying.

“It’s not really my say, I’m not head honcho of this operation.” He said while his two female companions looked at one another before looking at us.

“We could ask him.” They both said simultaneously.

“Yeah, he’s usually a friendly guy when not in outside excursions.” Said one of the females. My ears twitched at the sound of this.

“Who is this guy?” I asked the three.

“He’s name is Rockmond, we usually just call him Rocky.” The man said before snapping his fingers and saying. “Oh right names, we didn’t go through the proper introductions. My name is Edward, Ed for short and these two are my battle buddies, Heaven and Nevaeh. They’re sisters.” He said as they waved at us. Ruby waved at them as I looked up at my aunt.

“So… are we going to go with them or… what?” I asked.

“Depends, do you really want to stay out there in the wild?” She asked back, a curious brow raised.

“That also depends one if they have those red berries.” Ruby said. I laughed before answering my aunt.

“I think that answered that question.” I told her. Axycia chuckled at this before looking back at Ed.

“Again, it’s you can stay as long as our chief says yes. Now come on, this-” He was cut off as a very large alligator-like beast, leaped out from the water and trapped Edward within its jaws. I yelled as I jumped back away from the alligator as it thrashed around. Ruby, may be out of reflex, trigger Phoenix Rose and she extended to her full length.

“You think you can take a gator?” I asked. Ruby simply smirked at me. Though her smirked vanished when we heard Edward laughing. We looked at him as he grabbed hold of its jaws, his armored gauntlets taking on a bright blue glow as the beasts jaw was forced open and before we knew it, Edward was hovering just a few feet above before one of the twin sisters revealed an odd looking sword. I couldn’t question it quick enough before the metal blade was engulfed by a blue aura. With impressive speed she struck the gator’s snout, cutting it off with ease before she delivered the final strike on it scaly neck, cutting through its thick scales like it was nothing.

“And for good measure.” Edward said, grabbing the corpse of the beast and delivering a devastating punch that sent the corpse miles away. “Ah, nothing like a good sarco killing.” He said with a laugh once he touched ground. Both me and Ruby stared at him in silence shock as my aunt looked over at us.

“Three… two… one-”

“LASER SWORD!!!” the both of us screamed in happiness.

The three of them lead us through the swamp towards their village. The two sisters were a little ahead of us after both me and Ruby asked a million and two questions about the laser swords.

Axycia had been conversing with Edward, no doubt tuning us out as they spoke. Edward was mostly asking her about our lack of gems everyone else seems to have. Though Edward mentioned something about Ascending and how it affects the gem, intriguing me and my aunt.

“What’s up with these gems?” Ruby asked the two sisters. One of them looked back at her, I couldn’t tell who as they both wore identical helmets.

“These gems…” She began by gesturing at the protruding gem sticking out from her armored wrist. “Are our way of life. These things allows to check our vitals, hunger and thirst.”

“ We’re able to digitally store items in them, giving us a form of mobile storage.” Said the other sister, stepping into the conversation.

“Not to mention they allow us to improve our attributes, we can improve our health, our stamina and even our strength.” Said the first sister. I blinked at them, to which they titled their armored heads before realizing the situation and taking off their helmets, revealing their surprisingly long brown hair. Their facial feature were identical but their eyes were different. One had bright blue eyes while the other had a dark green color to her eyes.

“I’m Heaven.” Said the one with blue eyes. I nodded before looking at the other sister before she said.

“And I’m Nevaeh. Sorry, we keep forgetting our armor sets are identical.” Said Nevaeh with an apologetic tone, rubbing the back of her head as she did.

“Yeah, we’ve been thinking about painting our armors. We just need a load of berries to get started.” This time it was Heaven that spoke, showing off a pouch of berries tied to her hip.

“Cool~,” Ruby said. I nodded as we kept walking.

We stopped at a large blue, wavy wall but when Edward and the twins walked up to it, it opened up like a cool space door. They stood there, waiting for us to go through and once we did they followed suit, the door closing behind them.

When saw the village we could only stare in awe, seeing the many buildings made of similar metal to the armor. Many of its inhabitants enjoying themselves amongst one another in various colored armor.

“Alright Ed you’ve exactly ten second to tell me who you’ve brought and why.” We heard a voice, when we turned to the owner of the voice I was surprised to see a man wearing a pair of the armored leggings and boots. Its normally blue light were shining a bright golden one instead. The white armor plating was painted black with the exception of a few being gold. He had the body of an athlete, unlike the other men we’ve seen out in the wild.

I shook my head remembering the encounter with a primitive and territorial tribe, the men of the tribe looking as if they took way too many muscle giving drugs. Ruby looked at me oddly but said nothing.

“Sir, these are friendly survivors we’ve found out in the swamps. One of them asked the possibility of them staying here.” Edward said with a salute. This must be Rockmond then, the tribe leader. He looked odd, odder than the other survivors we’ve met. For one his amber eyes shone, like if they were machine. The next big thing was that some strange metal contraption was attached to his spine, running all the way down to the leggings, speaking of which the leggings themselves looked odd as well and instead of boots were mechanical feet.

“I get the dinosaurs, but cyborgs?” Ruby whisper to me. “It’s like someone misplace stuff from different times.” I giggled a little. The man soon faced us, looking at Ruby mostly, no doubt having heard what she said.

“You three want to stay here, is that right?” He asked, walking over to us as he spoke.

“Uhh, yes?” I said to him as I looked up. He then looked at Aunt Axycia before shrugging and saying.

“I’ve already made up my mind after we spoke, sure.” He said, backing away a bit as he spoke. “We’re just about done with the forcefield but we still need some more hands. If help is needed, you help, that’s how we work around here.” He said. I simply nodded.

“Right, got it.” I said as I looked at Ruby.

“Crystal clear.” she added with a thumbs up. He nodded, looking at Axycia and saying.

“You free to use my home, I had a guest room built just an hour ago.” He said, gaining a nod from us.

“Thank you sir.” I thanked him. Ruby did the same as she bowed a bit. He looked at us oddly but said nothing about it and walked ahead of us.

“Come on, I’ll show you the way.” He said, walking off making loud thumps with his mechanical legs. The three of us followed him from behind. My aunt simply looked ahead of us as both me and Ruby marveled at everything around us. When we spotted a spire being built by a few of the tribe members, I had to hold back the urge to ask how everything works. Heaven then revealed that the spire was indeed the forcefield under construction and almost finished by the looks of it.

“I’m still surprised that everything here has nothing to do with Dust.” Ruby whispered at me.

“Yeah, I wonder what they use instead?” I whispered back. She only shrugs.

“Don’t know, maybe some kind of energy gem or maybe…” Ruby and I started rambling off on some ideas as we walked. We soon stopped at a larger home, it was three stories high. The door was similar to the gate we entered from and like last time, it opened up once we close enough to it. We entered and found a well furnished living room, with a doorway that led into a short hall. A set of spiraling stair connecting this floor with the one above.

“You’ll be staying at the third floor, you’ll each have a storage crate to store some valuables and some spare clothes on your beds.” Rockmond said, moving aside and allowing us to enter, feeling the cold air from inside. “Right, forgot to mention the AC, it only has one option and that’s cold so you’ll have to excuse that.” He said. I felt the cold air but it didn’t really bother me as my tail was wrapped around me. Ruby shivered a bit though.

“I’ll take those clothes please.” she said as she shivered.

“Then head on up to the third floor.” He said, allowing Ruby to burst up into the stairs with rose petals behind her. This earned a surprised look from everyone other than me and Axycia. “She’s a quick, that’s for sure.” Said Rockmond, shaking his head a bit at this.

“You have no idea.” I said with a grin, remembering a time that I timed Ruby’s dash’s. “Anyway, I’m going to go up the stairs myself, if no one minds.”

“Just be down at sundown for supper.” Rockmond said before looking at Axycia. “Now about what you said before…” I was unable to hear the rest, having already gone up the first set stairs. The second floor was filled with weird gadgets and machines, there was even a large map of the entire area. By the looks of it , we were in a very large island. I spotted a ladder leading up, another one of those weird doors at the top. I climbed the ladder and it opened without as much as a peep from me. To my chagrin I didn’t know that Ruby was there already changing clothes. I yelped and dropped down the latter, causing the door to close.

“Sorrysorrysorrysorry!” I said quickly as I stayed there.

“It’s fine!” I heard Ruby said. Before long the door open and Ruby poked her head out. “It’s safe.”

With a sigh and a blush I climbed up into the room and looked around. I saw there were three large dressers, a full body mirror and a large window that gives us a view of the village. Also we had bunk beds with storage chests on both sides of the beds.

“Bunk beds!” I said happily.

“I called top!” Ruby said, somehow already on top. I saw her already changed to some warmer clothes as she smiled down to me.

“No fair.” I grumbled. Ruby simply blew a raspberry at me. I just made a face at her before sitting down on the bottom bunk. It wasn’t long before Ruby said she was going to go down to take a look around of the place before zooming back down the ladder, leaving me alone on the bed.

I sighed as I looked out of the window to see I still had time before sunset to go down, maybe I could take a nap before then. I sighed and looked away from the window to see… a blue woman standing near me.

“AH!” I yelled as I fell to the ground. “... Ow.”

“Oh no no, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” The woman said, her voice sounding like that of an echoy ghost. “I-I didn’t think anyone could see me.” She added. I groaned as I pushed myself up.

“It’s… hard to miss a glowing blue-” I stopped as I took the rest of her in, or in this case lack thereof. My face went beat red as I looked away. “A glowing naked blue woman in the room!”

“I lack the capabilities to project some clothing. As of this moment, this is the best I can do.” She said in an apologetic tone. I grumbled a bit before climbing up on the bed again.

“It’s not like I haven’t seen a naked woman’s body before… what, the important questions first; who the hell are you? And don’t say Cortana.” I asked her, making sure to look at this woman’s face.

“My name… i-it’s Lana, yes Lana.” She said, placing hand on her head as if she had trouble remembering.

“You… don’t remember your name?” I asked her. Seeing her take a few moments to think about it I continued. “Okay Lana. What… what are you? You look like a hologram.”

“Because I am, I’m linked to the Ark and am able to project a physical image, though previous attempts have proven that none of the survivors are able to see me or hear me.” She said with a sad tone before looking at me with hope. “But you, you can see me.” She said.

“Yeah… I can definitely see you.” I said before an idea came to mind. “Wait, did you try to show yourself to my friend? She was just in here before bolting away.”

“Sadly, she was unable to see me despite my attempts.” She said, once again in a sad tone.

“Well, there goes the ‘not having a gem allows me to see’ idea.” I said before scratching my head as I felt my ears twitch. “Or maybe I’m a Faunus, maybe that’s it?”

“A Faunus? The word sounds familiar to me but I cannot quite recall.” Said the holographic woman. I simply shrugged.

“It’s kinda half human half animal.” I told her before asking her something. “What’s the Ark?” Her eyes grew wide and dull before saying.

“The Ark, better known as the Island is a large enclosed habitat simulating a tropical Earth.” She said in a monotone voice. Her eyes soon returned to normal and with the shake of her head she said. “That was new.”

“I’ll say, you kinda sounded like a robot.” I told her. I looked at her for a moment before asking. “You okay?”

“Yes, for now at least. I’m not sure how long I can hold this form.” She said, just as her body seemed to fizzle a bit like a glitch which freaked me out a bit. “This is the longest I’ve kept this form.” She said, blinking nonchalantly.

“R-right… well, if you can come back any time you can and we could talk more.” I told her. The idea of Lana being alone for so long saddens me. “And maybe work on making hologram clothes.” I said with a little snicker. This caused her to look down at herself in sadness, this must’ve been big deal for her. I put my hands up in an apologetic manner. “Or having you be in this form longer then before… I’m making this worse am I?”

“It’s alright, I really do need to work on the nudity situation. Perhaps toning down the realism?” She said, muttering the last bit to herself before fading away. My ears flattened on top of my head at the idea I made her sad. I looked around and saw a journal on one of the desks. Getting up I walked over and opened it. Seeing that it was blank I found a pen and started writing down what just happened. When I finished I opened a chest to put the journal in. I wrote ‘Lana’ on the front of the book before putting it in the chest.

“This might help you, Lana.” I said as I turned to the way out of the room to go find out what everyone is up to.

Author's Note

Got to love Viri and Ruby’s getting giddy when they see new weapons and tech.

Also so people don’t start saying this (Though I believe they will)
’Viri and Ruby sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

The Truth behind the Ark (Kinda)

I remember the time the three of us came to the island. That was a few years ago now as Ruby, my aunt and I lived in the Village. So far we were never without work as both Ruby and I were almost always helping with building and planning out new stuff, which the both of us enjoyed very much. Axycia was more on exploring and researching anything and everything she found. Though the idea that she’s an all-powerful goddess that allow her to simply know what it is was kinda odd to me.

She also looked mostly the same when we first came here. Ruby and I, on the other hand, changed quite a bit. I was a bit taller and had some muscles from all the caring and training. My hair grew out a bit and my tail became fluffier. I now had to brush it almost every day just so I can keep it clean.

Ruby also grew a bit and filled out before. She was seventeen when we came here, but now with her being twenty-four, it was apparent that she drew attention from the others. Her hair grew out to her shoulders and simply looks… older. There are times where I just stare at her as if I was charmed by her. Axycia knew this and tease me about it all the time, I try to deny it but every time I think about it, it became harder to do that.

Lana continues to come back in her hologram form to talk to me, which made both me and her happy about. Over the years Lana soon remembers who she was and, after some more questions, remember that she was once Human. But every time we tried to figure out how she came to be she just didn’t seem to remember. The one thing that seemed to didn’t change is her ability to make clothes for herself. The only thing she could do what make it so she was sorta be in between of looking like she was naked and not. I got a lot of Cortana vibes from her.

At the moment I was talking to her about my day after having an hour with Ruby with talking. I felt bad that Ruby was still having nightmares about Beacon but she was happy that I was there for her in the end. Another thing I found out was her friendship with the android Penny and Ruby’s crush on her. The idea of her having hots for a high powered android just sounded cool but it also made my heart ache a bit. I didn’t tell Lana the full story about it as I wrote more stuff down in the journal.

“You’re sounding more like a person when it comes to information.” I said to Lana as she was sitting across from me on the bed.

“I’ve been reworking the default programming and simply adding my own.” She said, smiling at me as she did. I smiled back as I wrote down what she said. I shifted a bit before I asked her the important question.

“I’m going to try again and ask you that question Lana; How did you get into the Ark system?” I asked her.

“I’m sorry but I still can’t remember how.” She said sadly, shaking her head as her gaze went down. I sighed at this as I wrote down ‘Lana still can’t remember.’ in the book.

“It’s alright Lana, it’ll come back to you.” I told her. This earned a smile from her. Her smile turned into a smirk.

“So~. I’m guessing you were talking to your crush before coming here?” she asked me. I groaned a bit.

“Lana, really?” I said with a frown.

“Oh come on, I think it’s really cute! The two of you are total fangirls over anything tech related and the way you talk about her shows that you have feelings.” she said before crossing her arms. “Why don’t you simply ask her out.”

“I… I can’t okay.” I said. “She a great friend and all but, I don’t know she has feelings for me.”

“Viri, if you really do care about her then simply ask her out.” Lana said sternly. I stared at her before speaking.

“I’ll think about it, happy?” I asked. She smiled and nodded. “Great, now I have to be nervous about that and the other woman.”

“What do you mean?” Lana asked, tilting her head a bit at this. I gave her an uneasy look before speaking.

“Well, before we all came to the village, we found this other tribe. After a while… she came.” I said. I shook my head as I continue. “It scares the hell out of me every time I go outside the force field. I feel like she’s watching me from somewhere I can’t see. She feels like someone from a Horror film, with the Gas mask and her going by the name Mother.” Her digital eyes dilated at the mention of the word Mother. She grasped her head and screamed in agony before fizzling out of existence. I looked around in surprise from this. “Lana? Lana!”

I went over to where she was and move my hand over it. Of course, I couldn’t feel anything there. Slumping back, I blinked a few times before writing down ‘The word Mother makes Lana freak. I wonder why?’

I sighed as I put the journal on my chest. With a sigh, I left my room and slid down the ladder. As I turned I came face to face with Ruby. I yelped as I didn’t expect her there.

“Hi Viri!” she greeted happily. I blinked a few times.

“Uh, hi Ruby.” I said, now calmed down a bit from the scare. “What’s up?”

“Hmm, nothing. Oh, The head leader of the Village wants to see us.” Ruby explained.

“You mean Rockmond?” I asked her.

“Yeah him.” she said with a smile. I rolled my eyes at her.

“Alright, when does he want to see us?” I asked.

“Right now.” Before I could say anything Ruby grabbed my arm and the both of us zoomed out of the building and away from it. Next thing I know I was stumbling in front of Rockmond with Ruby.

“A little warning next time please.” I asked. Ruby just shrugs before saluting to Rockmond. The man in question has aged quite a bit, his once brown hair was starting to grey out but despite the age, he was still as active as he was when we first met.

“I got Viri sir!” she said before giggling. This earned a chuckle from Rockmond before he spoke.

“I see that.” He said between chuckles. Once he stopped he looked at with a serious look. “Listen to you two, lately I’ve been hearing a lot about a sighting of our gas masked hunter. And it has occurred to me that you two might not know much about her, even after your first encounter.” He said. The reaction he got from us was nervosity and a scared look.

“To be honest sir, I wish she would simply stay away from us.” I told him, earning a nod from Ruby.

“I still have nightmares about her.” Ruby said. He gave us sympathetic looks before saying.

“You may think of her as a menace and you have every right to do so but you need to know she wasn’t like that.” He said, taking a seat at one of the many benches in the village. The two of us looked at each other.

“What do you mean?” Ruby asked.

“I mean she was used to be one of us, just another survivor on the Island trying to make due.” He said, placing a hand on his forehead. “She was the leader of the tribe I was a part of before I made this one.” He added.

“She was?” I asked, sitting down beside him.

“Yeah she was, we looked up at her like a role model. Everyone in the tribe wanted to be just like her.” He said with a little smile as he shook his head. “We even called her Mother a few occasions.” He said chuckling in remembrance.

“That’s sweet… kinda odd with the Mother part, but still really sweet.” Ruby said. Rockmond gave her an odd look as she smiled sheepishly.

“It all changed when she took the Alpha trials of Ascending. The last I saw her, my leader, was when she began her hike up the Volcano to begin her trial and ascend.” Rockmond said with a sigh. “Something obviously went wrong in there, she came back out months later wearing that accursed mask and barely clothed. Upon sight of my tribemates, she ripped them to shreds and stripped them of their gear. I was lucky to make it out with my life.” He added. I shifted uncomfortably at this.

“What was her name?” Ruby asked.

“Lana Shepherd.” He answered without missing a beat. My eyes widen a bit. Was Lana… no, it can be. Can it?

“Viri? Are you okay?” Ruby asked me. I looked at her and at Rockmond.

“I… I just remembered something that I need to… bye!” I said before I bolted away from them. I ran back to the house and climbed up the stairs to my room. I burst into the room before I shouted. “Hey! You here?! I really need to talk to you!” Soon enough, the room emitted a familiar bright blue glow before Lana’s body formed sitting on the bed, her gaze at the wall. I went over to her and stared. “Lana… you there? I have a really important question to ask.”

“Ask away.” She said, her voice lacking any emotion. I blinked at this.

“Okay, two questions: are you okay? Before you sounded pretty freaked out before.” I asked.

“I remember… I remember how I became… this.” She said, looking at her hands as she spoke. I stared at her for a moment.

“Lana Shepherd.” As I said that she looked up at me. “That’s your name… Lana Shepherd.” She nodded in acknowledgment. I sat down on the bed and looked at her hands. “I’m… I’m so sorry for this but, what happened? What happened during your trial up in that mountain?”

“I fought my way deep into the cave, slew the Gigan that stood guard and found the terminal that sent me out of the island and into some sort of Tek hall. There I found it, the Overseer of the Ark.” She said, displaying an image of a large mechanical thing in the shape of the survivors gems. “It started attacking me on sight and sent hordes of its defense drones. I fought it with all my might and won but the blasted thing had one last trick up its sleeve. It had swapped my consciousness with its own and had trapped me in its body.” She said before burying her face in her hands.

“Then… this Overseer has been running around in your body all this time.” I said. “But… why is it trying to destroy other tribes?”

“It sees them as a threat. The Overseer’s job is to watch over the Ark, supply the survivors with supply drops and allow them ascension.” She said, raising her head from her hands and adding. “There was something that corrupted it and caused it grow very hostile.I was denied my Ascension and trapped in its body.” She finished, her digital eyes tearing up. I looked down at the bed and out of the window. It was a few moments before I stood up.

“You remember someone named Rockmond?” I asked her.

“Yes, he was my second in command of my old tribe.” She answered, looking at me with teary eyes before she wiped them away.

“Yeah, he’s not the second command anymore, more like the leader of his own tribe.” I turned and smiled. “He called me and Ruby out and started talking about you.” This causes her to smile as I continue. “We are also going to try to bring you back Lana.”

“That’s impossible, especially with that thing running amuck with my body.” She said, hate filling her tone at the mention of the being responsible for her current state.

“Yeah, that thing is in your body.” I said, pointing at her. “But you’re in its body, take some time and you could have full control over what it can do and do the same thing with it.” She nodded slowly at this. I frowned a bit as a thought came to mind. “Why is it always in books that anyone gets switch with a different being never think of figuring out what they can now do?” I looked back at Lana as she stares at me oddly. I blushed at that. “Sorry, my mind wanders a bit.” she then raised an eyebrow.

“You think I haven’t been trying? The Overseer made it hard for me to access anything it can do.” she explained. “It took me forever just to make this hologram, and it’s not the greatest.”

“... Good point.” I said as I sighed.

“Viri?” I heard a voice from behind me. I turned to see Ruby there. “Are you okay?”

I stared at her, looked Lana, then back at her. “Yes… I’m fine. Can you go find Rockmond and my aunt?”

“Sure… why?” she asked me. I sighed as I looked over at Lana, which to Ruby was an empty bed.

“There’s… a lot of things to talk about.”

When the other two came up to the room I started to tell them everything, me talking to Lana, the questions, the Journal, everything. They all listened to me explained until I came up to now. I rubbed my face a bit as I sat back down. “And… that’s it.”

“She… she was trapped in this system? All this time?” Ruby asked. I simply nodded as I looked over at Lana who was on the second bunk looking at us. My aunt simply flipped through the pages of the Journal as I talked.

“So she was cheated from her reward.” Rockmond said, a frown on his face at the revelation of Lana’s fate. “That monster has no right to live, even in her body.” He said, balling his fist.

“Yeah, but what I don’t get is how did it make her so powerful.” I asked. I glanced over at Lana before a thought came to mind. “Did it… max out all of your stats as it switched?”

“No, without my consciousness the specimen implant is inactive, therefore useless. But the attributes I had before it took my body would have stayed.” She said informatively.

“Right…” I looked over at Rockmond. “I’m guessing she was really strong and fast back then?”

“Yes, her strength was unrivaled and her speed was something every survivor could wish for.” Rockmond said, leaning onto the wall.

“Great, so we’re dealing with a superhuman with the mind of a crazy computer.” I grumbled. I looked up at Lana. “Er, no offense.”

“No offense taken.” She said, sitting up cross-legged. I looked at everyone else for a moment before looking at both my aunt and Rockmond.

“So… I got nothing, do you two have anything?” I asked. Rockmond looked at me for a moment.

“I...need some time to think.” he said. “I knew something was wrong but… didn’t think it would be this.” he shook his head a bit before continuing. “I’ll give some thought on it and come back with my ideas.”

With that, he climbed down on the ladder and out of the room. My aunt… was nowhere to be seen, along with the journal. She just jacked my Journal! Rude.

I sighed as it was just me, Lana, and Ruby. Ruby was sitting on my bed deep in thought as I stared at her. Lana saw me, then looked at her and gestured me to talk to her. I looked at her oddly before walking over to Ruby.

“Hey, you alright?” I asked.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah I’m fine.” she told me. She brushed some hair out of her face before continuing. “It just, how much we seemed to fit into this world.” she looked over at me with her silver eyes. “Did it feel like that when you came to Remnant?”

“Kinda, I was born in Remnant and lived there until I was like five or six.” I told her.

“Oh… right.” she said with a giggle. “Did you travel to other worlds?”

“Not really, in truth I went to Reamnet and Equestria, that’s it.” I told her.

“That… sounds kinda lame.” Ruby said. I playfully push her as she laughed. “Haha… so, you remember our earlier talk?”

“About Penny?” I asked. She nodded with a blush.

“Yeah… I think it was her that I learned that I…” Ruby trailed off a bit.

“Were into girls?” I asked with an arched eyebrow. She blushed even more at that.

“Say that louder, the Dinos didn’t hear you.” she said.

“Okay.” with that I took a deep breath. Ruby scrambled and covered my mouth.

“I didn’t mean it!” she said. I simply started to laugh as I pulled away.

“Come on, that was funny.” I told her. “Moving on, Penny and girls.”

“Well, sure I had a crush on Penny after we got to talk and I told Yang about it.” Ruby then frowned a bit “Yang also spent the next night explaining to me about relationships.”

“Wow, that’s… unlike her.” I said, thinking back from before.

“You telling me… Anyway, I don’t believe Penny would feel the same way though.” she said sadly. I was taken aback by this.

“What, why?” I asked. She shrugs.

“Oh well, she’s an android and maybe didn’t understand feelings.” Ruby then pulled her legs up to her. “Besides, I doubt she would yes if I asked.”

“That’s not true!” I told her. She looked at me with that same sad smile.

“Thanks for saying that but it’s true. I don’t have Weiss’ complexion and singing voice, or Blake’s calm and caring personality, nor my sisters… well, she’s hot.” Ruby looks down at herself. “I’m twenty-four years old but I think even that wouldn’t do me favors.”

“That’s not true!” I said loudly. Ruby looked at me to say something but I continued. “You’re the greatest person I know. You’re kind, thoughtful, funny and most importantly beautiful.” Ruby stared at me in shock as I stared back.

“You… you mean that?” Ruby asked. I nodded as I just realized what I just said.

“Uhh…” was all I could say until there was knocking. I looked over and heard Rockmond and my aunts voice coming from below. “Let’s… talk about this later.”

I stood up just as Rockmond was climbing up. I saw Lana looking at me and giving me thumbs up with a smile. I suppress the urge to roll my eyes as the other two climbed up.

“We’ve come to decision and with a few of my trusted warriors, it might just work.” Said Rockmond before helping my Aunt up to her feet. This caught Lana’s full attention and mines.

“And that is?” I asked.

“Tomorrow at dawn, we’re going for a hike up the volcano.” Rockmond said, his tone indicating that wasn’t kidding.

“You and your group?” I asked him.

“You and Ruby are amongst my most trusted warriors, along with Edward and the twins.” He answered, looking at the two of us. Lana looked at us worryingly as he said this.

“Okay, we go up to the volcano and… then what?” Ruby asked Rockmond. He looked at us before looking out the window, seeing the top of the volcano just beyond the forcefield.

“We enter the cave and… we’ll the rest is a bit of a work in progress but it’s nothing we can’t do.” He said with a bit of a shrug before glancing back at us. “Right now though, we need to get you fitted with some armor.” He said with a smirk.

“Wait… do you mean....”

“We get some power armor?!” I said, finishing Ruby’s sentence.

“Well, what other kind of armor do you think I’m talking about?” He asked jokingly while crossing his arms with a smirk. “Head on over to the Replicator, someone will be there to suit you up.” He said, gesturing towards the large spinning orb near the smithy building. I always wondered what that thing was.

Both me and Ruby look at each other before a broad smile formed on is both.

“We get power armor!!!” Ruby said excitedly. I nodded happily. This earned a laugh from everyone else. With that said me and Ruby headed off to the Replicator in a happy hurry. The one thing I wondered was what Ruby was carrying with her. It was a wooden box that she was holding under her arm. I didn’t ask about it as we got to the place.

We looked up at the large, orb-like building with some kind of light or energy inside it.

“Ooo~.” The two of us said as we stare at it. From the side of the structure, was the man responsible for everyone’s weapons and armor. He was at the same age as Rockmond, maybe a little older by a year or two. He was banging something hard with a hammer, it must’ve been something primitive for him to be using a hammer.

“Um, hello?” I called out to him. He stopped and turned to face us, revealing his one glazed eye, his other eye being a solid red color.

“Hmm?” He hummed, narrowing his eyes at us to get a good look at us. “Ah yes, Viri and Ruby. I was expecting your arrival.” He said, letting go of the hammer and leaving atop the wooden table he was working on. “I’ve already been informed of your need for armor.” He said, going into a back room leaving the door slightly ajar. The two of us looked at each other as we waited. He soon came back out wearing a half complete suit of Tek armor minus the chestpiece. “Follow me.” He said and we did just that. He led us towards the orb as it spun around, emitting its hypnotic light. “Place your hands on the replicator.” He instructed us. Hesitantly we did as he said, feeling the oddly cool surface of the orb. “Alright now, you might feel a little discomfort or pleasure, different between people. I don’t know why.” He said muttering the last bit mostly to himself as he walked up to the large machine. He soon went out of view, having gone to the other side of the large machine.

We stood there with our hands on the orb before the machine shone its hypnotic blue color. After a few minutes of waiting, I started to get a little bored with standing here.

“Umm, is something going to happen?” Ruby asked the man. Upon saying this, the orb emitted a wave of its blue light that coursed through Ruby’s body, her hands being covered in the light as it formed the tek gauntlets. Once the light moved up her chest, the armor formed around her before the light down to her legs, creating the leggings and finally the boots. Once everything was done, the helmet formed around her head, her face still visible until the visor formed. Soon Ruby was encased in Tek armor. She stepped away from the orb and looked at herself. “Whoa…”

As Ruby looked at the armor the orb emitted the same wave for me. I watch the same process happen again, only for me. After a few moments, I was in my own set of armor. I took a few steps back to give myself a once-over.

“Yeah… whoa.” I said when I felt… something. It kinda came out of the blue but I felt really… warm. I shifted a bit as the man came around to see us.

“There we go, nicely armored and fully charged. Your suits have been fitted with element batteries, element is what we use to power all of our tek. Your batteries will allow you to consume less element and store more.” He said, looking at me as I shifted a bit. “You alright?” He asked.

“Yes!” I said in a higher tone. I cough a bit as I tried to calm down a bit.

“Is it uhh, warm in here? I feel really warm.” Ruby said as she too shifted a bit. He blinked at the both of us before sighing.

“Right, the aftereffect. Well, just know that it’ll wear off in about an hour or so. In the meantime, do be sure to be in private when you’re ehh… relieving the stress as most would say.” He said, heading back to his workbench after bidding us farewell. The two of us looked at each other for a moment.

“You… don’t mind if I use our room to… you know…” Ruby asked.

“No no, you go ahead… I’ll just… ask my aunt if I can use her room to… you know.” I told her. The two of us stared at each other before we quickly headed off to do our… relieving.

What happened is that it didn’t last an hour, it lasted for the rest of the day. At the end I passed out from this, feeling the effects wear off.

Well, that was fun... I think?

Author's Note

So we get a look at what Ruby and Viri look like a few years older and... yeah that ending just happened.

The showdown with Gas mask Mother

After a night of… relieving, Ruby and I woke up before dawn and waited for the rest of them. I had the armor on as I was outside. The night sky slowly lighting up with the suns rays. Ruby sat beside me as she looked around.

“So...how are you?” she asked me. I only shrugged.

“Alright, you?” I asked.

“Same.” I told her. The two of us were silent for a bit before Ruby spoke.

“I guess… after this we go back home?” she asked. I thought about it before nodding slowly.

“Yeah… I guess we will.” I said with a slight snort. “Though with us being older might be a little weird.”

“Yeah.” Ruby said with a chuckle. “Might be fun to be the ‘older’ sister for once” she laughed. I laughed with her as we waited. There was a blue flash and I saw Lana there watching us. She gestured to me and mouthed ‘Ask her’ with a smile. I took a deep breath and let out a shaky breath. This might be a bad spot for me to ask this but if I don’t I might regret it. But as I was going to speak Ruby cut me off. “Hey, I got you something.”

“Oh… uh, okay.” I said. Ruby smiled as she pulled the box from yesterday and hand it to me. Looking at it oddly I took it into my hands and felt the weight of it. “Oph, what’s in here?”

“Well, since you made me Phoenix Rose I think it’s only fair.” she said with a smile. After hearing this I quickly opened the box and saw what’s inside. As I saw it I gasped at the sight; it was a large rifle like shotgun with a dark red colouring and some design work on it so it looks like a flaming fox was dashing forward. I slowly pulled it out of the box and looked at it.

“Ruby I… I never…” I saw speechless, this was too amazing for anything I could say. Ruby giggled a bit.

“It took me some time to make after you made Molten Coil into my weapon. Oh also if you do this to it.” Ruby showed me to make it transform. Soon the handle moved upwards and the gun turned into a longsword. “You like it?”

“Like it, Ruby I love it thank you!” I said, giving her a big hug. The two of us hugged each other before pulling away after a minute. “I’ll make it up to you after this.”

“Oh… I think I have something in mind.” Ruby said playfully. Before I could ask what the sun rose up and I saw Rockmond, Ed, and the Twins coming this way.

“First of all, next time ask if the walls are soundproof.” Rockmond said, rubbing the sides of his head. The twins giggled at this while Edward smirked. Both me and Ruby went completely red at this as Ruby covered her face, muttering that they heard her.

“Uhh, sorry…” I told him.

“Just… just warn me when you’re going to do that.” He said with a sigh. The two of us muttered an apology as he looked at the rest of us. He walked away from us, leaving both Ruby and I with the other three, which too of them were still giggling.

“This is completely embarrassing.” I said with a groan.

“It’s not as bad when these two had their armor.” Edward said, gesturing back at the twins who in turn, rolled their eyes. “They suffered the same pleasurable effects and boy were they loud. The entire village could hear them going.” Ed continued with a laugh before being slapped in the back of his head by Heaven. I couldn’t help but laugh at this a little.

“Wow…” Ruby said, still blushing at the thought. “Umm, was I… loud?”

“Why do you have to ask that?!” I asked her.

“I don’t know, curious maybe?!” Ruby answered. This earned a round of laughter from the twins.

“No, the house was able to hold most of the noise. The only ones that could hear your activities are people next to house.” Nevaeh said, calming Ruby down a bit. Edward then stepped up and said.

“Besides, even if people did hear you it’s not like they’d make fun of you. We’ve all been through the replicators odd after effects.” Ed said in a comforting manner before saying. “I was part of the few that went through severe discomfort and I think I’d prefer the other than going another wave of that horrid discomfort.” He said with a shiver.

“Right…” I said as we all saw Rockmond walk towards us. He was decked out in his custom painted armor, black and golden yellow. He carried a rifle in his hands and a sword on his back. I couldn’t help but think he looked badass.

“Everyone ready?” He asked us, Edward and the twins nodded at this, each brandishing their weapons. I looked over at Ruby who held her weapon. The two of us smiled and nodded. I looked back at Rockmond with a smile. I saw Lana floating behind him with a worried smile on her.

“We’re ready.” I told him. With a nod, he turned to face the volcano before saying.

“Then let’s go, we’ve don’t have time to waste.” He said, leading the way. The rest of us followed him towards our destination.

The trek towards the Volcano was a long one as we all moved through the swamp and back into the Redwood forest. During the time I pulled the weapon that Ruby made for me and put the cartridge of Molten Coil and put it into the weapon. It was slow but over time I felt a familiar heat coming off from the weapon.

After a few hours, we all stopped for a break and eat. Ruby went off to do something as I drank some water that I had. An hour passed and Ruby didn’t come back, which made me worry.

“Hey, did anyone of you see Ruby?” I asked, looking around us. Rockmond looked around after hearing of her absence before frowning and shaking his head. Everyone else did the same, shaking their heads no. It was then that Lana appeared, looking off into the direction of the old camp.

“Ruby?” I called out before standing up. “Ruby!?!”

I would’ve started to run off as I head, and felt, loud thuds nearby. I stopped when the thuds continued, and sounding louder as if they were coming closer. “Uhh, guys… what’s that?”

“She wanted to ride one for the longest time, I didn’t want to make her sad.” Lana said nervously as the stomps grew closer. Rockmond and the other readied their weapons. As the stomping grew louder and louder right before us something burst out of the trees. We covered out heads with our arms before I looked up.

“Oh you gotta be kidding me.” I said as a large T-Rex stood before us. It looked around and let out a thunderous roar. I had to cover my ears from how loud it was. When it stopped it looked down at us before someone peeked over it’s head.

“Hey guys! I made new friends!” Ruby yelled down happily. The Twins, Ed, Rockmond, and I simply stared up at her as she waved.

“The Jerboa on her head was because she thought out loud what was the cutest creature to ever exist. I found data of a little furry creature named the Jerboa.” Lana said, floating over to the Rex. The furry critter on Ruby’s head stared at Lana’s direction, as if it saw her. Lana waved at the furry creature and it let out a purr. The Rex also seemed to turn toward her but swinged it’s head back towards us. Did the animals know where Lana is?

“Wow… your girlfriend sure is something.” One of the twins said, which I was grateful that I wore a helmet to cover my blush.

“You guys need a lift?” Ruby called down. Rockmond chuckled at the offer, he obviously was okay with walking, his legs being mechanical and impossible to tire. The twins quickly boosted themselves next to Ruby while Edward shook his head at the Rex. I for one climbed on the T-rex for the sake of simply riding on a T-rex.

Ruby looked at all of us before having the Rex turned towards where we were going and soon we were heading off. The loud thuds of the Rex shook the ground as we made our way, the sound of the twins laughing as they rode up front as I was a right behind them, holding on to the Rex. I saw Lana simply floating nearby.

“First holograms, then able to control animals.” I said towards her.

“Not control.. Influence. They see me as a Mother figure and… I truly care for them all as if they were my own.” Lana said, hovering next to me. As she said that the T-Rex made a noise that signals the he, or she, heard Lana. I chuckled at this as Lana smiled at the T-Rex. I then thought back to the scene where Weiss was being all mushy with Oni and imagen Lana doing the same with a dino. The idea was too much and I started laughing. Lana tilted her head at this and Ruby looked back at me as I laughed.

“You okay? What’s funny?” Ruby asked me.

“I’m alright, thought of something funny!” I yelled back with a smile. As we continued on I began to see the volcano getting closer and closer as we made our way towards it. As it did I started to get nervous. “Lana… be honest, do we have any chance of winning?”

“Don’t worry, once you lure back here at the lair, I will handle it myself.” She said, frowning before adding. “Throughout my time as Overseer, I’ve managed to come across something that even it has never seen.I just need a DNA sample of any kind, get that and we’ll beat that thing for sure.” Lana said.

“So get hair or something, got it.” I said with a nod. As we stopped at the base of the volcano I pull myself off of the large Dino which lowered its head to help. We all stood in next to each other as we stared at the place.

“Alright everyone, let’s go.” Rockmond said. With that being said, his legs shone a golden yellow before he ran up the side of the volcano like a blur. Edward and the twins followed suit, them being bright blue blurs.

“Uh, can we do that?” Ruby asked me.

“Maybe… never asked.” I said. I looked down at my legs for a moment. “Uh, go fast or something?” Lana giggled at this before she vanishing. Before I could question her disappearance, my legs began moving by themselves before they rapidly gained speed up the side of the volcano. I soon came to sudden halt at the top, feeling nauseous after the experience.

“Your welcome.” Came Lana’s voice within my helmet. I blinked a few times before seeing Ruby coming up behind me… and slowly falling down to to ground.

“Thanks…” I said to her. I heard her giggle as I saw the others nearby. I picked Ruby up and helped her over.

“What… happened?” she asked.

“Don’t question it.” I told her as we made it over to the others. Rockmond stood closer to the edge than the rest, he took an audible deep breath before sighing. Ed and Heaven stood beside each other, while the other sister walked up to their leader.

“This… This brings back memories… horrible memories.” Rockmond said, looking off to the side, his gaze landing on an armored skeleton laying close to the edge, it’s lower half nowhere to be seen. Lana looked away in guilt, thinking she was partially to blame for it. “I honestly never thought I’d find myself here again. Even less with team armored with Tek.” He said, his gaze soon landing on the center of the volcano, a pool of lava was seen down below.

“I’m s-so sorry.” Lana said, teary-eyed at Rockmond. She floated over to him and attempted to hug him, but this resulted in her arms phasing through his body. I looked towards them sadly.

“Come on, we’ve wasted enough time just standing around.” Rockmond said before sliding down into the volcano.

“Never seen him this serious before.” Said Edward just above a whisper before following suit with both twins behind him. Ruby and I look at each other for a moment before following suit.

The six of us slid down and walked into the volcano. Before long we came up to a large doorway. Like the Village it looks more sci-fi then anything else. The door seemed to be close at the moment as I looked at everyone, even Lana.

“So… how do we get in?” I asked them. Lana, hearing this, floated over to the door while Rockmond thought on a way to open it. Soon Lana vanished, just before the door slowly opened, surprising Rockmond and the others. “Way a go Lana.” I said happily.

She soon appeared beside me, though her form fizzled a bit as she appeared. Grasping her head and shaking it, she followed behind the squad of survivors. Me and Ruby began to follow behind them, weapons ready.

“You okay?” I whisper to Ruby.

“Yeah… A little nervous.” Ruby whispered. “Kinda wish Indigo was here, he could’ve helped us with this.”

“I know, but Indigo… he been through a lot and then some. This could be his only time to have some relaxation.” I told her. Ruby nodded at me.

“Yeah… also, what do you think of him and Blake?” Ruby asked. I simply stared at her.

“Not to be rude but...really? You ask about that?” I asked her.

“I think it’s cute.” Ruby said, ignoring me. I sighed a bit.

“... Yeah, they’re cute together.” I told her. We soon stopped behind the others as they too stopped. “Something wrong?”

I looked at the group and saw some giant red birds. “Umm, those aren’t Dodos, are they?” Ruby asked.

“No… No they’re not.” Edward said as we watched the large birds mind its own business. Rockmond thumped the ground with the butt of his rifle, the birds attention was soon switched to us and it screeched loudly that even echoed through the cave. Various roars and similar screeches were returned from within the cave.

“That’s not good.” I said, holding my weapon in my hands. The pack of large birds quickly turned to face us before charging at us, fluttering its wings threateningly. Lana walked in front of us, a calm look on her face before she closed her eyes. She hummed a familiar tune, one used by her opposite the day me and Ruby arrived but unlike Mother’s sinister humming, Lana’s was calming and motherly. The large birds came to a full stop, somehow hearing Lana’s humming.

“What’s going on?” Edward asked, confused as to why they stopped. Heaven lowered her sword, her sister slowly lowering her rifle. Rockmond stared at the birds in suspicion. Ruby looked surprised by the sudden shift in their behavior. I smirked a bit as Lana was surrounded by the large birds. It was funny when one of them tried to nudge Lana’s arm only for it to go through it.

“What the hell?” Naveah asked in confusion.

“Are you complaining that they aren’t trying to kill us?” I asked her. She turned to look at me and shook her head.

“No, just confused.” She said. I looked at Lana as she smiled at the large bird that attempted to nudge her. She placed her hand over the beak of the bird,the latter fluttered its wings a little in excitement.

“They were frightened.” Lana said, looking back at me before adding. “They’ve been locked up for so long, the sight of the group frightened them. They thought they were in danger.” She added.

“Hmm.” I looked at everyone before putting my weapon away. “Maybe if we go around them without being hostile, they will leave us alone.” I nod over to where Lana is. “Lana said they were frightened.”

“Who?” Edward asked, looking at me as if I’m crazy. I looked over at him then at Rockmond, figuring that he may not have told them.

“Oh, you know, a ghost.” I said with a smirk. Lana looked over at me with an odd look.

“I think you’re going off the deep end, you sure your suit is powered up? Not suffering any heat-induced hallucinations?” Ed asked, sounding worried that I might’ve gone crazy.

“No, I may have fox ears but I’m not like that.” I told him. “And the suit is fine, I’m not going crazy.” He gave me one last glance before turning to look at Rockmond. The latter already a ways away. As we walked down the cave Lana followed beside me. “Rockmond didn’t tell them, those three think I’m crazy.” Lana nodded before we soon found ourselves at an edge, overlooking the large cave. What awaited us below was predators aplenty, every single one of them looking up at us with murderous intent.

“Uhh, is there a way to get around this?” Ruby asked. I looked up at Lana for anything. Closing her eyes, Lana fizzled out leaving us to fend for ourselves. Though as soon as she left, the echoes of a familiar sinister humming was heard coming from behind us.

“Ah shit.” I said as I slowly looked behind us. Luckily we were already quite aways away from the entrance but that didn’t calm me down one bit.

“Fuck, its onto us.” Rockmond silently cursed. We all turned around as the humming was getting closer.

“What do we do?” Ruby asked, now sounding scared. Rockmond raised his rifle, ready to fight only to be surprised by a sudden field of energy engulfing him before he soon vanished. The same thing happened to Heaven and Naveah. It soon happened to Edward and as this happened the humming grew closer and closer before she finally came into view, heavily breathing through the mask. The sinister humming soon turned maniacal as she dragged a large bloody axe behind her.

“Oh come on! Does this Overseer guy has a thing for Horror films!?!” I yelled as it was just me and Ruby left. The field of energy soon appeared slowly moving up mine and Ruby’s bodies as Mother grew closer, lifting the axe up to her shoulder. Not really sure what will happen I pulled the weapon up and pointed at the woman. The field almost encase the both of us as the woman got more and more closer. “Let’s see what you can do.”

As I pulled the trigger a loud blast exploded out of the gun and hit the bloody axe, turning it into shards and blowing the woman off her feet from the sheer force of it. It also felt like my arm was about to get ripped off it if wasn’t for the armor, or maybe the way I was holding the dang thing as the field finished. When that happened my vision was blocked by a bright light before falling onto the floor. I groaned a bit as I held my arm.

“Oww~” I groaned as I sat up. “Did you put the blast to max?”

“No… you were holding it wrong.” Ruby said before she got up and looked around. “Whoa… where are we?”

I pushed myself up to look around. We were in the middle of some kind of spaceship. The roof of the place look like black rock with the same sci-fi doors from the entrance of the cave. Nearby was a beam of white light coming off of some large gem. I pushed myself up as I saw Rockmond, Ed, and the twins there as well.

“You all okay?” I asked them.

“Yeah, we’re fine.” Said the twins in unison. Edward grasped his helmet covered head and groaned while Rockmond looked around in confusion.

“What happens? Where are we?” Rockmond asked out loud. I pushed myself up and walked around a bit. I looked at the white beam and gem before walking over to it.

“What’s this?” I asked, walking closer and closer to it. “Looks important.” I said, reaching a hand out to it

“Please refrain from touching me.” Echoed the familiar voice of Lana. I retracted my hand in surprise. “I’ve noted that my body is rather extremely cold.”

“Oh…” I looked back at everyone else. “Did anyone heard that?”

“Yeah…” Edward said, looking at the obelisk as he spoke. I tilted my head as I pointed that the floating obelisk.

“This, is Lana. The being I was talking about.” I told him before looking at the obelisk. “Guessing you teleported us up here?”

“Yes though it was something that went against the programming.” Lana said, the obelisk shining a bright blue light before the holographic image of herself appeared in front of it. “While I gave you all the advantage, there is no doubt that beast is on its way here. I can feel it, killing them all just for simply being in her way.” Lana said, horrified at this information. “Prepare for a fight like no other, and don’t hold back. Kill her.” Lana said angrily.

“Whoa, hold on, if we kill her then you have no body to return to.” I said, looking at the floating obelisk. “You’ll be stuck like this forever.”

“I have found something deep within this facility, something even she didn’t know existed. With it, I am in no need to return to that body… not after what she has done.” Lana said, looking down in sadness. I stared at her and looked at everyone else. From what it looks like they all see Lana standing there.

“If… that’s what you truly want.” I said, not sure what she would say.

“La-Lana?” Rockmond said, breaking the brief silence between the group. Lana nodded, looking at the man. “I never thought…I... I have so many questions.” Rockmond said in an awestruck tone.

“I know and I hope to answer them soon.” Lana said, nodding to Rockmond before looking at Ed and the twins. “You all should get ready, she is nearing the terminal as we speak.” Lana said. As she sees this, Ruby slowly walked towards Lana, staring at her.

“You’re so…” Ruby paused for a moment as she stared. “Blue.”

“Really? That’s what you say to Lana?” I asked Ruby.

“But it’s true! She’s a Hologram and she’s blue!” Ruby pointed out in a cheerful tone. Lana blinked at Ruby in confusion.

“This… I suppose she’s right, I am very much blue.” Lana said before smiling, her projected body taking a green color. “And now I am green.” She added before she returned to her normal blue color.

“That’s really awesome! Can you do other colours?” Ruby asked childishly. I looked at her, trying to figure out why she’s asking Lana this. Lana soon looked down the large hall and onto the hall, a look of worry on her projected face.

“She’s here.” Lana said, vanishing into the Obelisk. The latter let out mechanical hum as it lifted off the ground. “Please do whatever you can to protect me while I figure out how to use the defensive measures in this body.” Lana said. I nodded and looked at Rockmond.

“Are you ready sir?” I asked him, pulling the gun I had with me out.

“Wouldn’t matter if I said no.” Was Rockmond’s response. With that said we all started to get ready. Ed and Naveah took positions a bit back away with their rifles while Rockmond, Heaven stood near the gem to guard it. Both me and Ruby were standing at the ready as we heard her coming.

“You ready?” I asked her. Ruby looked at me as her weapon extended to it’s full size.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” she said with a nod.

“You two sure you want to fight that thing alone?” Rockmond asked. “It’s a monster with no humanity… err, no offense Lana.”

“None taken, now shush.” Lana asked. As we stood there the sound of that sinister humming came closer and closer until the woman in the gas mask walked through the door with a metal spear and a shotgun that I remember to be owned by Ken. I gulped at this as the woman looked around the room and saw us there. It tilted it’s head at us until it looked at Lana the gem. She growled at she pointed the gun at her, ready to fire. A loud bang went off but instead of the being firing, Neveah shot the gun out of its hands, making it snap her head towards her.

“MotherKnows, best!” the woman yelled in a beastly tone. It didn’t sound like a woman or a synthetic being, just a monster in a body. Before anyone could say something it turned towards Neveah and charged at her. Neveah was a moment to late when the woman charged at her to kill her. Luckily Ruby burst into rose petals and slammed into her, knocking the woman away. I don’t know if Ruby is faster than the thing but I didn’t have time to matter on that idea as I aimed my gun at it and opened fire. Each shot sounded like a small cannon went off as I’m blowing holes where the monster was as it jumped away. Slowly I’m starting to fall in love with this gun.

The two with rifles took shot when they could as me Ruby stood toe to toe with it. When the monster took a swing, Ruby dodged it with speeds that looked superhuman, sometimes turning into that burst of petals to get behind it. Ed fired a shot that hit it’s arm, making it scream in pain. It spun around and before anyone could do something it dashed forward and thrust it’s spear into Ed’s shoulder. He let out a painful scream as his rifle dropped onto the ground. The beast looked at him as she raised her hand up to try and rip Ed’s head off.

Not before Rockmond came up and knocked it away with his sword. It cut into it’s armor as it was knocked away. “You took over my leaders body, killed a number of tribes, and now trying to kill one of my own tribe members! I don’t care if you’re using Lana’s body, you’re dying here today.”

It simply hissed at him as he charged after it with his laser sword. But it was simply too quick for him to hit as it spun away and dodge his attacks. After one last swing it punched Rockmond away and grabbed his sword. With that she chopped off his legs and was about to kill him if it wasn’t for Heaven charging after it with me following behind as my weapon turned into a sword. The two of us pushed it back a bit until it blocked one of my swings and kicked Heaven away, sending her into a wall with such strength. It turned towards me and swang it’s sword at me. I blocked and parried it’s blows before it pushed me to the ground and hit in a way that my weapon was knocked out of my hands. I looked up just to see it raised its arm up to bring the sword down onto me, I felt it cut into my armor and into my leg. I let out a painful scream as it pulled it out and was about to do it again but I watched as Ruby came up and used her weapon to cut into its arm.

A bestial scream came out of its mouth as it whipped around and grabbed Ruby by the throat. The sound of choking filled my ears as it threw her at Neveah who was about to take a shot. The two of them slammed into the wall as it turned towards me and picked up the sword.

“Mother Knows Best!” it screamed at me as it was about to bring it’s sword down on me.

“No You DON’T!” Lana screamed as the sound of things were being teleported in. Some odd flying robot things appeared and pushed it back as some more robots appeared. The ones on the ground looked like some sort of crab thing with glowing claws while the ones in the air look like flying robot drones. It growled as she slashed one of them, only for another to replace it. The obelisk shone its bright blue color, the pieces of the destroyed drones flying off towards the obelisk. The bits and pieces circled around Lana, forming a barrier using the scraps. This caused Mother to stop in its tracks, shocked at what Lana had done. With muffled growl, Mother admitted she was outnumbered but before victory could be achieved, Mother once again let out a beastly yell before tearing apart every single drone before she was left panting. This was the first I’ve ever heard her out of breath.

“I’ve had about enough of you!” Lana yelled, using the scraps of the newly destroyed drones to add to her barrier before the barrier formed a giant hand. The hand smacked down onto Mother before picking her up and smashing her against several metal columns. The hand finally tossed Mother out of its grasp before forming into a fist and smashing her onto the ground.

The hand suddenly disassembled, its pieces scattering across the floor before forming themselves on Mothers wrists and ankles as shackles. Mother struggled to break free but was unable to. It was then I saw the state she was in, for having been regarded as nigh unstoppable, she was very worse for wear. Her gas mask having had a lense shattered and the other cracked, her armor torn and shredded. She was bruised and bloodied.

“You want my body, keep it.” Lana said, as an energy field formed around Mother. The latter looked at this and began to double her attempts to free herself. Once the light fully engulfed Mother, the barrier shot forward passed the Obelisk and onto the large viewing glass that overlooked what appeared to be domelike habitats. The light successfully went through viewing glass without shattering it and once out in the deep void of space, the light diminished, revealing the floating Mother. “There… it’s done.” Lana’s voice echoed as her obelisk floated down gently to the ground. I groaned as I sat up, seeing the body of Mother floating outside.

“You… threw her out into space…” I said, looking at the obelisk. “That’s… honestly the most funniest thing I have ever seen.” As I said this, I noticed a few bloodied pieces of metal scrap float away to somewhere, disappearing into the floor.

“That felt… satisfying.” Lana said as her hologram appeared walking out of the Obelisk. “I feel… relieved oddly enough.” She said. I watched her before standing up, or try to. The pain in my leg made it impossible as I fell down onto the ground.

“What’s with me getting stabbed! First in the gut and now my leg!” I complained as I rolled around on the ground.

“You… don’t… have a… spear in your arm!” Ed yelled as he was still up on the wall. “A little help here??”

“Can’t…” Rockmond said as he laid on the ground with no legs. The Twins and Ruby came over to us before helping the three of us out. Soon we were next to each other as the three were mending our wounds.

“So… what now Lana?” I asked her. She smiled before looking at the center of the room as the floor opened up a small a bit, enough for a small pod to be raised up into view. It looked like it has been in the freezer for way too long, a thin layer of ice covered the small pod.

“I’ve been working on this for quite some time and was in need of any form of DNA sample.” Lana said just as the bloodied pieces of metal came into view. They flew onto the pod and upon contact, the blood was gone having been absorbed by whatever the pod was. “Here we go.” She said, her projected image walking into the pod as it emitted a few odd sounds. Once the noises stopped we were left with silence for a moment or two before the layer of ice cracked as the pod opened, steam pouring out of the machine as it did.

“Oh dear, left right left.” From within the steam was an exact copy of both that now dead Mother and Lana’s projected form. Everything was an exact match, even the long raven black hair. “Breathing. That’s something I never thought I’d do again.” She said. We all stared at her for a bit before both Ed and Rockmond turned away as the twins looked at each other. Ruby simply covered her… visor with her hands. The clone woman looked at them oddly before looking at me too which I took off my helmet.

“Uhh, you do know you’re… naked?” I told the Clone, making her look down at herself. She tilts her head a back and forth a bit before looking back up at us.

“Oh, clothing… right.” She said before her body was encompassed in a bright blue light that blinded everyone for a second or two before showing the clone in a sorta skin suit. It was the same colours as the Tek armor, a silver colouring with glowing lines of blue course through the body.

“That’s… so… COOL!” I yelled as I jerked a bit, flaring my wound before falling over. “...ow.”

“Please allow these bots to heal your wounds.” The clone said, just as three odd-looking drones appeared and one hovered over to me. It scanned me with a blue light before noticing my wound and emitting a soothing green light over it. I watched in awe as the wound not only closed itself but appeared as if it were never there. Another drone went over to Edward and did the same process. “Go on, stand up.” She said to me. I nodded and, with some help, I stood up and tested my leg. It was fine, like it was as if I never got stabbed.

“This is just… the coolest.” I said looking up at the woman. “Other than the fight before and that, this is just… awesome.”

“So… what do we call you?” Ed asked. “Do we call you Lana or… something else?”

“This body may be that of a clone but my mind and soul are the same. I’m still tied to Overseer Obelisk but not as severe as before.” She said, smiling before looking at her hands. “This was all I ever wanted. Freedom.” She said.

“So… you can do… anything, like this I mean.” Rockmond asked her as he let a drone build him some new legs. I looked over at him oddly as he shrugged. “I can’t really say ‘God’, I don’t believe in one.”

“I’ve accepted the responsibilities of being the Overseer of the Ark, without one the Ark will slowly die.” Lana said, closing her eyes as the obelisk hovered over behind her. “To think such malevolent being oversaw the Ark for so long. It infuriates me to no end.”

Rockmond looked at Lana before, after his new legs were finished, he stood up and walked over to her. With him standing there staring at the woman he leaned over and gave her a hug. “It’s… good to see you again.” Lana returned the hug.

“It’s good to finally see you too.” She said, a bit teary eyed. I smiled at the sight of this, seeing the two of them reuniting after so long. I looked off to where the pod was and then around at the place.

“I wonder… can you clone… anyone, not just yourself?” one of the twins asked Lana. The latter having pulled away from the hug, nodded at the question.

“Yes, as long as sufficient DNA samples are given.” Lana said. Naveah looked over at her Twin.

“You’re not thinking of cloning yourself?” she asked her sister.

“What, no. I already have you.” Naveah said with a laugh. I looked over at her and then at Lana.

“Is it wrong to say that I really want to see that happen to me?” I said out loud. Everyone looked at me as I said that.

“What, have a clone?” Ruby asked.

“Yeah, I just… its just something interesting,” I told them. I also blushed a bit. “And… I don’t know, kinda wonder what it would be like to have a twin.”

“I’ll tell you it’s not as cracked up to be.” Heaven said.

“No, it’s not, you love me.” Naveah said. The two of them stared at each other before laughing at each other. I rolled my eyes as I looked back at Lana as she stared at me.

“I suppose you all wish to return, no?” Lana asked, glancing at everyone. The Obelisk humming behind her. Everyone nodded as I stood there.

“You still want to see if you can clone yourself?” Ruby asked me.

“Again, it was an odd thing I had when I was little.” I said as the idea came to mind. “Also, aren’t you coming with us Lana? Or do you have to be here?”

“There is nothing restricting me from coming and going.” Lana quickly answered before the obelisk moved back towards the center of the room. As this happened I got an idea about something.

“Hey, you guys go ahead of me.” I said, looking at Lana. “I… need to talk to Lana for a bit.”

They all looked at each other before Rockmond looked at me. “If you’re sure, then we’ll see you back on the ground.” I smiled at them as they walked away from me. Ruby waved before there was a bright light and they all disappeared. I looked back at Lana and I became a bit sheepish.

“I… need a little favor from you Lana.” I said as I sat down on the ground. She tilted her head at this before asking.

“What might that be?” She asked with a curious tone. With that I explained to her a few things about me and my mother, my real one. I didn’t tell her that Ruby, my aunt and I weren’t from this world but I simply told her that I missed my mom and know she’s alive.

“Now… after all this time that I grew up, I think she would’ve missed taking care of a child.” I said to her sadly.

“And you wish for me to create a much younger clone of yourself?” She asked with a raised brow. I sighed a bit at this and nodded.

“I know it’s… dumb but, I just feel bad for my mom okay?” I hung my head in shame. “I just hope for some good I can do for her when I find her.” The next few second were spent in utter silence, making me more nervous by the second before- “Ow!” I yelled, feeling a strand of hair being pulled out my scalp. I looked to see Lana with a little smile.

“Any form of DNA will do.” She said, showing me the strand of hair she pulled. I stared at it before smiling.

“Lana, you’re a saint.”

Author's Note

So as it seems being a giant computer program makes wearing clothes not an issue for if one turns back into a human. Luckily there’s skin suits (or skin-tight suits) that can help.

Coming home to... interesting events

The bright light dimmed a bit as both me and Lana were beamed down from the space station. I blinked a few times as the Tek armor was stored away in some kind of case. I looked over and saw Lana kneeling down to the ground.

“What are you doing?” I asked her as she ran her fingers though the grass. She then fell over onto the grass and spread her body out.

“Just feeling the grass after so long not able to feel it.” she explained as she sat up. A gust of wind blew past us as it made her shiver a bit which made her more happy. “That felt so cold! I love it!”

“Yeah… I don’t know if I agree with that thought.” I said with a chuckle. As Lana stood up I heard the sound of people coming. The both of us saw Ruby, Rockmond, Ed and the twins coming up towards us.

“Viri!” Ruby greeted happily as they all came up to us.

“Well about time you came back, you been up there for some time now.” Ed said with a smirk.

“You got yourself a clone?” One of the twins asked.

“If so where is she at?” the other asked. Ruby looked at me funny as I chuckled.

“Well, sorta.” I said as I felt someone peeked out of the side of my legs. She was about the same age as Iilah with fox ears and a tail. Only difference is that she had black reddish hair with some silver at the tips of her ears and the fringes of her long hair. She wore a small gray dress with bare feet. She also has one eye silver while the other was a crimson red as she stared at everyone with curiosity. I asked Lana about that but she said that it looks cute.

“Ahnok.” she greeted. Everyone stared at her before looking up at me oddly. [Hello]

“She’s… you?” Ed asked me.

“Kinda, she may not look exactly like me but in a sense she’s a younger me.” I told them as I picked the girl up. “But in truth I see her as a younger sister.”

“Jii!” the young girl cheered happily. [Yay!] I smiled at her behaviour. While I was up with Lana we did a few quick tests on her before coming down. What we found out was interesting; the clone acted out almost like me but in some cases it was different. Such as when I was younger I was more of an adventuring type that would run off to explore, the clone was more curious. For an example as I put her down the child saw something and kneeled down to look at it. I looked over and saw some ants crawling on the ground.

It was also funny to see Lana have no idea what the girls saying, at all.

“So...she’s you?” Ruby whisper to me.

“Yes… and no. She should have all my memories but doesn’t act them out. It’s as if she’s me when I was at that age.” I told her as I tilted my head. “I wonder what Monah would think?”

“Hey! I understood that!” Ruby pointed out happily. I was smiling as Ruby understood Dova speak. The girl looked up at us with a smile.

“Frolok ahst daar klav! Nust los ful krahus!” she said happily. [Look at these ants! They’re so cool!]

“Okay, what?!” Rockmond asked loudly. I laughed as I picked the girl up.

“Oh, just a language I can speak.” I told him.

“You can speak… different languages?” Ed asked.

“Geh.” I spoke with a smirk. [Yes] Ed looked at me funny and shook his head.

“We should head back to your village, the people worry for their leader’s return.” Lana said, gaining all of our attention. Rockmond nodded before looking at his surroundings, finally noting that we were in the grassy plains not too far from the village. “Shall we get going?” Lana asked.

We all headed back towards the village, on the way we came across a large T-Rex. We were ready to fight it but it laid its head down at Ruby, revealing that atop its head was the Jerboa furball that Ruby had befriended. The Jerboa hopped off the T-Rex’s head and climbed on top of Ruby’s.

“Aww, I missed you two as well.” Ruby said happily. The Rex wagged its tail excitedly as Ruby rubbed the rex’s snout.

The little girl with us ran over to Ruby to get a closer look at the T-Rex. From where she’s standing I saw stars of excitement in her eyes. I laughed at this as the rest of us walked over to Ruby’s T-Rex.

“Guess it missed Ruby?” I asked out loud.

“It certainly has, its been waiting patiently for her return near the volcano.” Lana said, walking into the view of both creatures. The T-Rex saw her and stared at Lana for a few moments. Soon after it nudged Lana a bit before giving her a lick.

“Dawww, the Rex likes you!” Ruby said happily. Lana laughed at this before hugging the Rex as she did.

“Aw that’s so sweet of you.” Lana said, smiling as she pulled away from the Rex. The Rex stood back up as we continued back towards the Village. As we got to the force field we all stopped and waited for it to open.

“Fosro tol?” The little girl asked as she stared at the dome. [What’s that?]

“It’s a forcefield. It’s here to protect the village inside.” I explained to her. The little girl looked up at me and then at the forcefield.

“Krahus, vir dreh nii kroson?” she asked. I thought about it before shrugging. [Cool, how does it work?]

“Don’t know.” I answered. The Rex stood behind us, staring at the force field before bowing its head down, allowing Lana to hope of the Rex. It had insisted to carry Lana and Ruby throughout our walk. The giggling the child was heard as the Rex’s tail moved from side to side slower than usual. The child had been holding on to the tail the whole way here, its safe to say that she enjoyed the journey back.

Rockmond and the others walked up to the force field, making it open for them. Rockmond stood there and motioned us to walk in, even the Rex which surprised everyone but Lana and Ruby. The latter cheered at this.

“Woohoo!” Ruby cheered as the Rex stomped through the field. As I watched this happen I saw that, as the child went in on the Rex’s tail, bit’s of static electricity jumped off her and into the field. She took notice at this as she looked around before rubbing her arm a bit. She looked around a bit scared at this as she drew in close to the Rex’s tail.

Lana saw this and walked up to the child before comforting her. As I watched this and the child seemed to lean into Lana’s comfort I realized that, in a technical stand, Lana would be her mother. I maybe have to ask Lana that when I have a moment. Once in Ruby climbed down off the Rex while Lana lifted the child down off the tail of T-Rex.

“Nox hi.” the child said to her. I chuckled a bit before walking over to them. [Thank you.]

“She said thank you.” I told Lana.

“No thanks are necessary.” Lana said, smiling down at the child. The child in turn hugged Lana before running off to see the others.

“If I had to guess, she sees you as a mother.” I said to Lana. Lana tilted her head at this before looking at the child running off before saying.

“Peculiar. How can you tell?” She asked looking back at me.

“Well you, mostly this body of yours, was made almost the same way as hers. A sorta kinship in a way.” I said before looking back. “Or you just have that ‘Mother’s feel’ about you.” She smiled at this, finding it as a compliment.

“Perhaps.” She said with a small nod.

“Now this is interesting.” a voice said. I jumped a bit as I saw my aunt standing behind us. “When you all left there was one of you, now there’s two. Why is that?”

“Axycia! A little warning next time please?” I asked her.

“Hmm, naw don’t think so.” she said before looking at Lana. “Have to say, love the outfit.”

“Thank you.” Lana said with a small bow. Axycia looked at her for a moment before looking at me, then back at Lana.

“Can someone explain to me why there’s a younger version of her here?” Axycia asked, pointing at both me and the child. Lana looked at me, silently asking if we should tell her. I nodded at her and gestured to my aunt.

“That would be my doing, Viri had requested a much younger clone of herself.” Lana said in an informative manner with her hands behind her and clasped together. Axycia stared at Lana for a few moments in silence. Her eyes shifted a bit as she was thinking before a small smirk appeared on her lips.

“Well, this is interesting and I believe I might just… look into this.” she said with a smile. Lana looked at her with a raised questioning brow.

“If you wish to speak more about it, do not be afraid to ask.” Lana said to her. My aunt smile grew more as Lana said that.

“Viri, we’re going to be heading off soon. I just need to talk with the Overseer.” Axycia said. Lana stared at her for a moment before the two of them disappear. I sighed at this in a little annoyance.

“Just… don’t scare her.” I grumbled as I walked over to the others. “Hey, so it seems that the three… err, four of us will be heading out soon.”

“What? You’re leaving?” Ed asked as he looked at me.

“Yeah, sorry but it seems we need to move on now.” I told him. Ruby looked at me for a moment before speaking.

“You sure?” she asked to which I nodded.

“Axycia said that we are heading out after she’s done with talking to Lana.” I told her with a sad smile. I looked at everyone here. “I think we can come back and visit from time to time if you want.”

“So you’re leaving just like that?” Rockmond asked with an arched brow, having taken off his helmet. I looked down at the ground sadly and nodded.

“Yeah, it just something I do…” I said to him. “I know it’s rude and mean but…” I didn’t finish as the guilt of leaving like that was making it hard to speak.

“Alright then, though I do hope you keep your word on visiting. The village won’t be the same without you two.” Rockmond said with a smile. I smiled at him and nodded.

“I will visit! I’ll miss this place!” Ruby said loudly and with a smile. She sniffled a bit before hugging the Twins. The three shared a group hug before separating a minute later. I watched this I remember the time we spent on the Ark and all the fun.

I also remember the times that I tried to… tell Ruby about my feelings for her. But every time I tried I get scared and back off. I sighed a bit, thinking that this will only be just friends. I soon saw the Twins calling me over for a hug as well, which I happily did and hugged them.

“I’ll miss you two.” I told them. The child came back giggling but stopped at the sight of us and stared at us in confusion. As we separated I looked over at the child before walking over and kneeling down. “Hey, we’re going to be heading off soon.”

“Kolos bo?” the child asked. [Where to?]

“Someplace… different.” I told her. She tilted her head a bit.

“Vomedaas? Vir Vomedaas? Ahk, fen mu bo zek het?” she asked me. [Different? How Different? Also, will we come back here?]

“It’s hard to explain, and yes we’ll be coming back to visit.” I told her. This earn a smile from her as she ran over to give the group a hug. As she finished hugged everyone both Lana and Axycia came back. Lana stumbled a bit while Axycia stood there smiling.

“You’re back!... Where did you go?” Ruby asked the two of them. Lana opened her mouth but my aunt cut her off.

“Just needed time to talk.” she said happily. She soon walked over to us with a happy hum to herself. I stared at her before going over to Lana.

“You okay?” I asked. She nodded before saying.

“Yes, why wouldn’t I be?” She asked while tilting her head.

“Just… asking.” I said to her. With one last few words and some gathering we stood by the forcefield again to say our goodbyes. I gave Lana one last hug goodbye. “Take care of yourself Lana.”

“I will…” She said before glancing at Ruby and whispering. “You should really tell her sooner rather than later, Viri.” She said, smiling as she did.

“I know… Just scared of the worst outcome.” I told her with a sad smile. “She’s already a great friend, I just don’t want to ruin that for us.” Lana looked at me with a calming smile.

“Sometimes you have to take a brave step forward without thinking of the worst outcome.” She said in encouragement. I took a shaky breath before nodding.

“I will Lana… I will.” I told her with a smile. With that, I stood but my aunt, Ruby, and the child as we waited for the wall to open up.

“Guur guur!” the child said while waving at the others. [Bye bye!] As they all waved the wall opened up and we all started to leave. We walked for sometime before we stopped.

“You all ready to go back to Forever Free?” my aunt asked. The two of us nodded as I looked over at Ruby. I tried to be a little daring and reach over to hold her hand. She jumped a bit before I squeezed her hand a bit. She didn’t pull away so… that’s good, I think?

Soon my aunt clapped her hands and shadows wrapped around us. I closed my eyes as this happened before opening them and saw we were in a familiar hallway. My aunt wasn’t anywhere to be seen as I let go of Ruby.

“We’re… back at school.” I said. At first I blinked at the sound of my voice. It was younger then I was used to. I looked back and saw Ruby also younger as well. Almost as if we never left the school.

“Whoa…” Ruby said as the child looked at us oddly.

“Druv los hi ziin goraan?” she asked us. [Why are you two young?] I looked at her before at Ruby.

“I guess… we’re not old anymore.” I said. Ruby slumped a bit.

“Aww, I wanted to be the older sister.” Ruby whined. The Jerboa looked around at where it was at the time before laying on to of Ruby’s head. I laughed at this before seeing that this might be a good time then any to tell her.

“Ruby… I have something to say.” I started. I blushed a bit before shifting a bit. “Over the Seven years, more so when we first started to hang out, I saw you as a great friend… but really I-”

“Wo los hi?” the child asked. We both turned and saw Indigo walking down the hallway towards us. He stopped when he saw us.

“Hey you two.” He said walking passed us but stopping just a few feet away before turning around, seeing the child beside me. He looked at her with an arched brow.

“Uhh, yes this here is…” I paused for a moment as I tried to come up with a name for her. “...Qo.”

“Qo?” Both Ruby and the child asked me. I simply nodded at this as the child looked away before looking up at Indigo.

“Ahnok, Zu’u los Qo!” she said happily. He blinked at this and looked down at the child before shaking his head saying.

“Not even going to ask that right now, I’m already late as it is.” He said before hurrying down the hall. Ruby and I looked at each other before Ruby spoke.

“So… what now?” Ruby asked. I sighed a bit.

“Don’t know, honestly I kinda want to go lay down.” I told her. Ruby smiled at this before nodding.

“Yeah, so do I.” she said. The three of us soon headed off towards my room. When we got there I opened the door and let Qo in. I heard her giggle happily as she ran in. I looked back at Ruby.

“That was a fun adventure wasn’t it?” I asked her.

“Yeah, it was.” Ruby said with a warm smile. I took a deep breath and let it out.

“Ruby… before we got interrupted, I wanted to say-” I stopped when Ruby put a finger on my lips.

“You don’t have to say anything Viri.” she then did something that surprised me; she kissed me. I was so shocked at this that I didn’t know she was giggling at me. “I kinda had a feeling for some time now.”

With that she headed off. I watched her go and saw her look back and waved with a blushing smile. I turned back and walked through the door. As I closed it I slid down with a happy sigh.

“Hi bek?” Qo asked me as she sat on my bed. I looked at her with a goofy smile. [You okay?]

“Kid, Zu’u los pruz wey bek.” I told her with a smile. [Kid, I’m better than okay.]

As I sat there I heard a familiar sound coming from my bed. I got up to see my Scroll there buzzing. I got onto the bed while Qo continue to look around as I accepted the call. It was from Mother.

“Ahnok Monah, vir los hi -oo saraan.” I cleared my throat a bit. “Sorry, how are you?” After I said this, I placed the scroll down before it displayed the image of Mother smiling at me.

“Hello dear, I’m fine.” She said with a smile I haven’t seen in seven years. Suddenly Qo moved up beside me, curious to know who I was talking to. “How have things been during your long expedition into unknown territory. I wouldn’t have thought you’d come back with a granddaughter.” I blushed at this as Qo looked at the hologram of Mother.

“Uh, no no no, it’s not like that.” I said, laughing nervously. “She’s simply a clone of myself that’s younger as you can see and…”

“Fiikmeyar? Nid Zu’u los Qo.” Qo said with an odd look. [Clone? No I’m Qo.]

“Yes yes you’re Qo, that’s not what I… ugh.” I said as I put my head in my hands. “It’s… something.”

“Aww, she looks just like you did as a child.” Mother said, a big smile on her face before I was briefly blinded by a light. “I wouldn’t have guessed you would bring back a new member to our odd little family.” Mother’s voice greeted my ears before I slowly regained my sight. I saw her standing near the bed as Qo looked up at her.

“Ahnok!” Qo said happily and waved. Mother sat next to her, a smile greeting Qo as she looked up at her. [Hello!]

“Ahnok til mal gein.” Mother said, surprising Qo of her knowledge of the language. [Hello there little one.] Qo smiled happily as I sighed.

“I’m not going to try anymore.” I mumbled as I saw Qo crawl around a bit before finding a small book. She seemed interested in it before opening it. Mother soon began brushing her hair with her fingers, her smile never leaving. Qo smiled at this before looking up at her.

“Wo los hi dremsil reg?” Qo asked Mother. [Who are you nice lady?]

“Zu’u los faal Mavisath, Faal Pah Monah.” Mother said, introducing herself to the curious Qo. [I am Mavisath, The All-Mother.]

“Pah Monah? Nuz, Hi los ni dii Monah. .. Vir dreh tol kroson?” Qo asked as she looked over at me and pointed. “Ahst pruzaan, rekro dii monah.” [All Mother? But, You are not my Mother. . . How do that work?] {At best, she’s my mother.}

“Wait what?!” I said, shocked at this. “Woah Woah Woah. Hold on, that’s not what…” I stopped to see Qo’s odd look at me. She didn’t understand what I meant by it. Mother chuckled at this before continuing to brush her hair.

“Zu’u aal ni kos hin monah nuz Zu’u los hin Monahsemonah.” Mother said to Qo. [I may not be your mother but I am your Grandmother] This caused Qo to smile happily.

“Monahsemonah!” she cheered as she hugged Mother. [Grandmother!] The sight of this made me smile as Mother hugged her back. She was really excited to have just received a new family member for her. I pushed myself down to the ground beside them as Qo looked over at me with a smile.

“Welcome to the family kid.” I said with a smile. Qo grinned back before giving me a hug. I hugged her back before letting her sit on my lap. I looked over at Mother. “Congratulations, you’re a grandmother.”

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t see this happening until a few years from now.” She said with a chuckle.

“Yeah… wait, in a few years?” I asked her, earning a chuckle from her.

“Don’t worry Viri, I was merely joking.” She said between chuckles. I looked at her oddly as Qo looked up at me.

“Right…” I said as I shifted a bit. I looked forward a bit as I thought back to what all happened. I smiled happily at what happened at the door of my room with Ruby.

“Oh and congratulations, dear.” Mother said, catching my attention once again. I looked at her oddly before she said. “You finally admitted your feelings to the young Rose. Oh you’ll be a cute couple, I just know it.” She said. My face went completely red at this as I tried to say something but my mouth didn’t know how to work.

“Nust vesey ahk!” Qo said happily. [They kissed too!]

“Quiet you, you don’t know that!” I told her.

“Geh Zu’u dreh.” Qo said to me. [Yes I do.]

“No you don’t.” I said.

“Geh Zu’u dreh.”

“No you don’t.”

“Geh Zu’u dreh.”

“Nid hi dreh ni.” I said with a frown. [No you don’t.]

“Geh Zu’u dreh.”

“Nid hi dreh ni.”

“Geh Zu’u dreh.”

“Nid hi dreh ni.”

“...Nid Zu’u dreh ni.”

“Geh hi dreh!” I said before realizing what I said.

“Ha! Hi saag nii!” Qo said happily. [Ha! You said it!]

“I can see you two are already having a sisterly moment.” Mother said, gaining both of our attentions. “I have no doubt that you’d wish to see your friends again, Viri. Enjoy today to do just that in the meantime, I will teach your new sister… What is it they call it… English, yes… I will be teaching Qo English, at least so she could understand what others say to her.” Mother said, patting the bed beside for Qo. Qo saw this before climbing up onto the bed before sitting down and looking at her.

“Yeah, I should go do that.” I said with a smile. I stood up and headed towards the door of my room.

“Guur Mom.” Qo said to me. I turned back to her. [Bye mom.]

“Niidro briinah.” I told her. [It’s sister.]

“Los til dumedak?” Qo asked me. [Is there a difference?] I gave her a look before Mother chuckled.

“Leave her to me, I’m sure I can sort this out.” She said to me with a smile before looking at Qo. “Nu ruz mal gein, fos dreh laan wah dreh diist?” She asked Qo as I left the room. [Now then Little one, what do you want to do first?]

I was already outside of the room before I could hear Qo answer. I sighed a bit as I looked around down the halls. I put my hands in my pockets and simple headed down a hall to see if I could run into anyone of my friends.

About two minutes of walking I found Yang marching towards me. “Oh, hey Yang hows is it-”

“You’re going out with my sister?!?!” She asked me loudly. I blinked at this in surprised. “I want to know everything!”

“Oo sen…” [Oh boy…]

Author's Note

Ahnok pah, daar los oblaan do daar rup, Zu'u hind hi pah oo saraan
[Hello all, this is the end of this chapter, I hope you all- oh wait a minute...]

Right, this is better, so this was a fun chapter since this was the time we had a character that just speaks in a different language. Also, little Qo is born! She’s the clone of Viri but they’res some things about her that are different to Viri.

Koraav hi pah ko borii rup! [See you all in the next chapter!]

The chill day... or something like that.

I spent the next half hour explaining to Yang about my thoughts on her sister and that I have feelings for her. Sure I could simply lie to her, but I think she would have pounded my head in with her fists if I did that. When I finished we were outside sitting under a tree. I scratch my head as Yang stared off in the distance.

“From what you said, it sounds like this has been going on for years.” Yang said.

“Like seven years in a world that has dinos in it.’ I thought as I shifted a bit. After some time Yang sighed.

“I… don’t really care.” Yang said simply. She turned to me. “For as long as I can remember I protected Ruby ever since she and I was young. I knew things about her that she didn’t know of before.”

“Like… who she likes?” I asked. Yang snorted.

“You mean she likes girls? Yeah, maybe she’s saw me with a few guys and girls in the past and wondered about it. But anyway I believe she will do go with you Viri.” Yang blinked and her eyes went red as she frowned, leaning forward. “But if you do anything that would hurt her, I’ll break every bone in your body. Got it?”

“G-got it.” I told her.

“Good.” Yang said as she pulled away and stood up. “Now then, I have to go find someone for a textbook.”

With that she walked off, leaving me alone under the tree. After some time to myself and my thoughts, I stood up and headed back inside. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my scroll just to verify the current date. Aunty was right, it was as if we never left. As I continued down the halls I overheard some other students talking about Ruby’s Jerboa. Some say that it’s an oversized jumpy rat while others say it was something else. I mostly heard that it looked cute and fuzzy, which made me smile.

I soon spotted Indigo walking down the hall, this time he wasn’t in a hurry. Following beside him was Oni, upon sight of the beowolf I smiled having not seen him for a long time. I couldn’t help but run up to them with a smile on my face.

“Hey you two!” I greeted happily. Indigo stopped and so did Oni. He looked at me with an arched brow.

“What’s gotten you into such a chipper mood?” Indigo asked with a little smile. Oni sniffed me and tilted his head before sniffing again. I kneeled down and scratched behind his ears.

“I’m just happy to see you two, is there something wrong with that?” I asked them. Indigo shook his head before saying.

“No it’s just… nevermind.” He said and shook his head before sighing. “So I heard about you and Ruby.” He said with a smirk. I blushed at this as he chuckled. “Honestly, can’t say I didn’t see it coming.” He said with a chuckle.

“Really, really! How fast can news got around?!” I asked a bit annoyed. I blushed a bit before looking at Indi. “Sorry for that.”

“Ruby found me and Blake during lunch, her face was red as a tomato before she told us.” He said, informing me of how he knew. I blinked at this.

“Oh… right…” I shifted a bit before whispering. “So… what did she say? Nothing bad… I uh, hope.”

“Nah nothing like that. When we asked her what she thoughts about, her response was nothing but positives.” He said, leaning against the wall as he spoke. I blushed a bit more at this while letting out a breath that I was holding. “She really likes you, Viri. I think you got yourself a keeper.” He said with a chuckle.

“Yeah… I think so too.” I said before gulping. “I also got a bad reminder that if anything bad happens to her and it was my fault, Yang will bash my face in.”

“Hey, if you really do love her then that’ll never happen.” Indigo said in an encouraging tone. As he said that my face went completely red.

“Ahh, I uh, don’t know it’s really that time to say I love her, but I do really really like her and I would never Umm, err, uh, what were we talking about again? Something about Oni? How is Oni anyway? Ahaha~” I rambled as I looked down at Oni with a forced smile.

“Never thought I’d see you like this, Viri.” Indigo said with a laugh. Oni chuckled as well but nuzzled into my leg, signaling that he cared. “But seriously, if you do really really like like her…” He said, using my term instead of the word love. “Then you have nothing to worry about.” He said. I stared at him for a few moments before nodding.

“Yeah… yeah, your right.” I said shifted a bit. “I just don’t want to mess it up.” He patted my shoulder encouragingly before saying

“Hey, if you ever have some relationship questions just come find me and Blake.” He said with smile.

“Yeah, I will… hey, where is Ruby?” I asked him. He shrugged before answering.

“Last I saw her, she was heading towards the library.” He said, motioning towards the direction of said library. I nodded before I started to head in that direction.

“Thanks!” said back to Indigo and Oin. He waved at me as I hurried along. I got to the library and enter into it. The place had a few students studying as I looked around. I soon found Ruby sitting at a table with her Jerboa sleeping on the table. I smiled as I walked over to the table and sat down beside Ruby.

“Hey.” I greeted her. Ruby turned with a smile.

“Hi.” she greeted back with a small blush on her.

“So… went to Indi and Blake?” I said to her. She smiled sheepishly.

“They told you?” Ruby asked.

“Indigo did, ran into him just a few minutes ago.” I told her. Ruby simply smiled at this before I continued. “So… is this a thing now?”

“What? After what I did in the hallway you have doubts?” Ruby asked with a chuckle.

“Well, I don’t know. I never did something like this before and I’m nervous and well-” I stopped when Ruby looked at me scared.

“Am I making you nervous?” She asked.

“No, nonononono that’s not it, it’s just umm…” my eyes dart around a bit as I was sorta panicking. “I never had a… well, a close other, a boy or girlfriend before so I’m nervous of messing it up.”

The both of us stared at each other for a moment before we started to laugh. We soon stopped when we looked at each other before Ruby spoke. “How about we just… see how this goes?”

“Yeah… I like that plan.” I told her with a smile.

“Oh my Makers, just kiss already!” a voice asked us. We both turned to see Iilah staring at us with a few books beside her. “I don’t want any mushy stuff in my library, do that elsewhere.”

We watched her take her books and went off into the library. The two of us were silent before we started to laugh.

“Well, this will make things… interesting.” Ruby said with a smile. I nodded.

“Yeah, it sure will.” I said as I moved my chair beside her and gave her a one arm hug and kiss on the cheek. Ruby blushed at this before getting excited.

“Oh! I think I figure out how to make those laser swords!” Ruby said.

“No way, really!?” I asked as Ruby pulled out a notebook.

“Yes, I got to see them a bit closer at hand and if we use Dust we could actually build one!” With that the two of us started to talk about building a laser sword, only as really really really close friends. Which was also known as a couple… that’s what it’s like right?

The next couple weeks went on smoothly, both in school and Ruby and I’s relationship. Everyone that knows about it were happy about it and didn’t cause trouble, which was a relief to me. The past seven years in the Ark helped hone both our skills in certain subjects and our fighting skill. We could even stand up to Indigo when we sparred against him, only to get knocked around with his giant shadow fist.

At this point both the rest of Team RWBY and Indigo wanted to know what’s up with us and Hopper, Ruby’s Jerboa. It was increasingly hard to come up with excuses to change the subject, eventually someone heard us complaining about it and had demanded, along with the other, for the truth. They had us outside away from the school since Iilah didn’t allow us to hold this meeting in the library.

“Okay you two, speak up. What’s going on?” Weiss asked both Ruby and me.

“Well, the two of us are now together and-” I stopped when Yang groaned at this.

“Not that! We already know that!” she proclaimed as she crossed her arms.

“We’re tired of the multitude of excuses you two give us.” Blake said, though not as loudly as Weiss did thankfully.

“All we want is the truth, that’s it, nothing else.” Indigo said, having his arm around Blake as he spoke. I looked over at Ruby as she did with me before the both of us sighed.

“Well… we were kinda… gone for a while.” I said simply.

“Yeah, to a place of Dinosaurs and lasers!” Ruby said happily. Everyone simply stared at us as if we were crazy.

“We asked you not to lie to us.” Weiss said as she glared at us.

“Relax Weiss.” Indigo said, earning a sigh from the schnee. Yang looked at the two of us before speaking up.

“Guys… I don’t think they’re lying.” she said. Blake glanced at her blonde teammate before saying.

“How can you tell?” Blake asked with an arched brow.

“I know when Ruby is lying, she’s not lying now.” Yang said before shifting a bit. “Also she learned how to fist fight as if she practice for a few years. There’s no way she did that over a few weeks to a few months.”

“Also, they seem more… older than they look, also there’s the big fact of that.” Weiss said, pointing at Hopper. “And the facts that, for some odd reason, Viri has a younger sister.”

“Is there something wrong about that?” I asked, not liking the way Weiss was talking about Qo. Weiss looked over at me and shook her head.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just, before you were an only child and then, all of a sudden, you have a younger sister.” Weiss explains.

“Who just so happens to look like a kid version of you.” Indigo said, adding to Weiss’s words. I kinda played with my fingers a bit before speaking.

“Well, you see my aunt came by and asked me to do a mission for her, I agreed and was about to teleport me off when Ruby came around and got caught in the same teleport. So for the next seven years we were off world and-”

“What!? Seven years!?” Yang yelled in surprised, making everyone jump.

“Uh, yeah…” I said to her.

“Wow, seven years… what was holding you back there?” Indigo asked with a raised brow while rubbing his ear, having been sitting next to Yang when she shouted.

“Mostly the task and my aunts curiosity of the place.” I told him.

“We also got some cool armor as well.” Ruby said.

“Yeah! We went super fast in it!” I said happily.

“Really, is that all?” Yang asked.

“No there some other things that we didn’t get to figure out.” Ruby said with a shrug.

“What was it like there?” Blake asked curious to know of the Ark

“Well, from what I saw we were on a large island filled with different animals like Hopper here.” I pointed at Hopper who was sleeping in Ruby’s lap. “Also Dinosaurs, large dinos of all kinds.”

“I got to ride on a T-Rex!” Ruby said happily now remembering that. Everyone blinked at this, not knowing if that were true.

“Right… so, how was the armor?” Yang asked, not sure where to go with it. “Was it comfortable?”

Both our faces dropped as we looked at each other as the memory of what happened when we got them came back… also what happened a little later. We both blushed at this thought as we continued.

“Oh yeah… it was comfy…” Ruby said.

“Yeah, and that’s it, nothing else happened that night… yes.” I said as I cough into my hand. Indigo and Blake looked at us oddly the most, knowing something was up but said nothing. Yang seemed to sorta get it before smirking.

“Oh~, sure nothing happened that night, I totally believe you.” she said with that smirk. This brought a chuckle out from Indigo but was quickly silenced by Blake with a simply nudge of her elbow.

“I’m gonna take a wild guess and say that something embarrassing happened that day?” Blake asked after giving Indigo a glare. The both of us stared at her before remembering what Rockmond said about non-soundproof walls.

“You can say that.” I said in a bit of a higher tone.

“Well if you ever want get it off your chest, I won’t mind lending an ear.” Blake said to us and we nodded at her words. It was a high probability that we might tell her as it’s really uncomfortable to hide away for long. I looked over at Ruby and saw her nod a bit. Yeah, maybe telling Blake since she would be the best to tell. I know Yang wouldn’t be the greatest and Weiss…

Both me and Ruby stared at the Ice Queen as she looked at the two of us. “W-what’s wrong? Do I have something on my face?”

“No.” both me and Ruby said.

“I have a question for the both of you, it’s just something I want to know out curiosity. Did you two ever… miss all of us?” Indigo asked, tilting his head a bit as he spoke. Ruby and I stared at him before looking at each other.

“From day one.” Ruby answered, me simply nodding.

“There were hard moments during that time of not able to see you guys.” I said. He smiled a little at the answer.

“So what was you your task over there anyway?” Yang asked, curious to know the reason for the departure. I leaned back a bit.

“It was supposed to fight and defeat someone there.” I told them. I scratch my head a bit as I thought about it. “Which I passed… I think.”

“You think?” Indigo asked with a raised brow

“Well yeah, I think.” I leaned to the one side. “On one hand it was defeated with my help.” I then leaned on the other side. “One the other I wasn’t the one that defeat it.”

“Then who did?” Weiss asked with her arms crossed. I smiled at her.

“A friend of ours named Lana.” I said. “She had some personal issues with it.”

“I wonder how Lana is doing?” Ruby asked.

“I think she’s doing good.” I said to her. “I wonder if she could… na never mind.”

“What?” Ruby asked.

“I thought what she would think if she came here but remembered that she can’t.” I explained.

“Oh… maybe we bring pictures!” Ruby said.

“Oh yeah, that could work!” I said happily.

“So Lana is a friend, I imagine?” Indigo asked once more as Blake leaned her head onto his shoulder. “And you’ve mentioned she had personal problems with your target?” He added.

“Yeah… it kinda did some messed up things to her and her family.” I said sadly.

“Oh…” Indigo muttered to himself. He nodded and accepted the answer but I get the feeling that he knew were being as vague as we could be. I felt Ruby lean onto me which made me smile. I wrapped an arm around her as I spoke.

“In the end she got her revenge, now has a big job that’s important to her.” I told him. Indigo nodded with a little smile before glancing at the side, his gaze landing on Iilah, who was listening in on the whole conversation.

Iilah sat there in silence as she seemed to processes this. “I got nothing.”

“Wait, why are you here?” Yang asked her. Iilah blinked at her before frowning.

“Is it wrong for me to go anywhere I want?” she said as she crossed her arms. “Besides, you’re the only group that I think is tolerable.”

“Jeez, don’t have to be rude about it.” I muttered a bit. She simply shrugs.

“Whatever.” Iilah said.

“Iilah.” Blake called out for the faunus child. When Iilah looked at Blake she was greeted with a disappointed glare from Blake. “What have I told you about treating others.” She said. Iilah frowned before muttering.

“Treat them nicely…” she muttered. With a nod, Blake then patted on an empty space between her and Indigo. Without as much as a peep, Iilah walked over and squeezed in between the two. Iilah still grumbled a bit but for a moment there was a small curl of a smile as she sat down.

Before anyone could talk the tree above us rustle and Qo poked her head out.

“Hello!” she greeted with a upside down. “Virdro pah?” [How’s everyone?]

“Uh, what?” Yang asked.

“She’s asking how is everyone.” Indigo said, giving little Qo a friendly wave of his hand. “Mu los flogah, mal Qo.” Indigo said to the smiling child. [We are fine, Little Lightning]

Qo looked at him for a moment before looking at me with the same smile. “Rok mindoraan mii! Rokro krahus!” [He understand us! He’s cool!]

“You known him for about... Ten minutes.” I said with a snicker.

“Ahrk?” Qo asked before hopping down. [and?] I arched a brow at her and was about to speak but Indigo spoke up first.

“She thinks I’m cool, cute.” Indigo said with a chuckle. Qo hopped down from the tree and stood up giggling. She was wearing a simple t-shirt and pants with no shoes. I tried to get her to wear shoes but that lead me getting a shoe in the face. So I don’t bother any more.

Qo looked over at Indi and Blake. Her eyes landed on Iilah as she stared at her for a few moments. Iilah looked around as Qo looked at her.

“W-what?” Iilah asked her. Qo pointed at her before looking at her.

“Los rek kid do daar ziin?” Qo asked. [Is she the kid of these two?] this got the attention of both Blake and Indigo.

“What?! What did she say?!” Iilah asked. Blake looked up at Indigo at this.

“What did she say?” She asked. Before Indigo answered, I got Qo’s attention.

“Kolosro Monah?” I asked. [Where’s Mother?]

“Hi seik Bormahsebormah?” Qo replied. [You mean Grandfather?]

“Bek, kolosro los rok sis” I asked. [Sure, where’s is he sis?]

“Nearby, Zu’u lorot. Zu’u dreh ni mindok.” Qo answered as she walked over and sat on Ruby’s lap. Qo looked up at her with a cheerful smile. [Nearby, I think. I don’t know.]

I frowned at her. “Fos dreh hi seik Hi dreh ni mindok?!” [What do you mean You don’t know?!]

“Zu’u went vau fah paagol.” Qo answered simply as Ruby petted her head. Qo seemed to really enjoy that as she leans into her hand and her tail started to wag. [I went off for a walk.]

“You two really are sisters.” Indigo said with a chuckle. Blake smiled at his words. It wasn’t long before Qo seemed to be purring to Ruby’s petting.

“Yeah we’re sisters, and really close.” I said with a smile.

“Really close.” Ruby said with a snicker. I looked at her with a frown.

“Why do you say tha-” before I could finish Ruby reached up and scratched behind my ears. I made a goofy grin as I leaned into her hand.

“See, really close.” Ruby said with a laugh. Both mine and Qo’s tails wagged at Ruby’s petting.

“Ah there you are, little Qo.” Spoke the voice of Father behind me. Glancing back, I was able to see him as he touched ground and folded his wings behind his back. Everyone looked at him in silence before Yang spoke up.

“You know, I’m should be surprised by this by now but I’m not.” she said simply before smiling. “So how goes it good looking?”

“Yang!” Weiss snapped at her. “Really?”

“What?” Yang asked her. I would say something to her but… petting.

“Hello Yang, everyone.” Father said, greeting everyone with a bow of his head. His gaze soon landed on Iilah. “Ah yes, you are Iilah correct?” He asked.

“U-Umm, yes?” she answered.

“I’ve heard a lot of things about you, little one.” He said, still smiling as he spoke. Iilah looked up at him and gulped. “Do not fret, little one, I’m simply happy to see you being well taken care of.” He said to her.

“Ruby… stop…” I said as she petted me.

“But you’re cute like this.” she said before scratching some more. I was just pudding to her as she does this. Father chuckled at this, making blush a bit more because of it.

“Perhaps I should leave you all to what you were doing, I was merely worried that Qo had wandered off.” He said with a nod of his before turning to leave.

“Hey, you can always come back handsome!” Yang yelled out happily before getting hit by Weiss.

“Really! Do you have to do that!?” Weiss asked angrily.

“Yes I do, and I’m not ashamed.” Yang replied. Indigo rolled his eyes and turned to look at the rest of us.

“So me and Blake were thinking about checking out the Pony town nearby and wanted to know if any of you would want to come with.” Indigo said, gaining a fearful look from Iilah to which he unwrapped his hand from shoulder to pat her head in a comforting manner. “You don’t have to come with if you don’t want to.”

“Zu’u laan wah bo!” Qo said happily. I blinked a few times before realizing Ruby had stopped petting me. I pushed myself up and crossed my arms. [I want to go!]

“Can’t believe you did that…” I said. Ruby giggled.

“You enjoyed it.” she said. I grumbled a bit before Ruby continued. “I’ll pet you some more later.”

I didn’t say anything at first before speaking. “You’re an evil woman, you know that?”

“Yup.” she said with a grin.

“So anyone up for a trip to town?” Indigo asked once again.

“I’m up for it.” Yang said.

“I believe both me and Viri are coming.” Ruby said with a smile. I simply nodded.

“Zu’u los coming ahk!” Qo said. [I’m coming too!]

“I’ll come.” Weiss said. “Have to make sure nothing bad happens that was caused by us.”

“Who made you leader?” Yang asked. We laughed at this before I looked over at Iilah. She didn’t say anything and looked down.

“Do you want to come with us?” Blake asked her in a soft tone. Indigo looked down at her with concern before saying.

“We’re not going to make you if you don’t.” Indigo said in tone similar to Blake’s. Iilah looked up at them before opening her mouth.

“Los hi coming?” Qo asked, kneeling near her. [Are you coming?]

“Huh?” Iilah said before Qo continued.

“Los hi coming, Los hi coming, Los hi coming?” Qo asked repeatedly before Iilah spoke.

“Ah!Alright I’m coming!” she said as Qo smiled happily.

“Yay!” she cheered.

“You sure?” Indigo asked Iilah just to be sure. Iilah slowly nodded at this. “Alright then.” He said before standing up with the help of his shadow. He held his hand out for Blake and helped her up to her feet before offering his hand to Iilah, who hesitantly took it before yelping in surprise as Indigo pulled her up and onto his shoulder.

I smiled at this before seeing everyone else stand up.

“Need some help?” Ruby asked me as she offered her hand to me. I smiled as I took it.

“Thanks.” I said as she pulled me up. At that point I felt someone jump onto my shoulders.

“Amativ!” Qo said happily. [Onwards!]

“Ahnok, Wo saag hi vis ruknaar vok nau dii nau dii suld!?”I asked her annoyed. [Hey, Who said you can climb up on my on my shoulders!?] Qo giggled at this as well as Ruby.

“You two look… Qiib together.” Ruby said with a smile. [Cute] I blushed at this as I saw Qo smiled down at me.

“Fine…” I said with a sigh, making Qo cheer happily. Indigo soon led the way, saying he knew a safe path to take to town thanks to Tak. The walk there was peaceful, almost relaxing even but just to sure we all had our weapons in case of danger. I glanced over at Ruby and saw that not only she had Crescent Rose, but also Phoenix Rose. I didn’t say anything but I smiled a bit more.

We soon exited the forest and the town was in sight. I could see that Iilah grew nervous at the sight, Indigo and Blake saw this too. Blake gave her a comforting smile and rubbed her back a bit, which managed to calm her down a bit.

“Zu’u koraav ponies!” Qo said as she pointed at some towns folk that were flying around.[I see ponies!]

“Looks like we’re here.” I said.

“Man, I can never get used to the sight of them.” Yang said, earning a glare from Weiss.

“Yang that’s rude.” Weiss snapped at her.

“What? It’s true.” Yang said defensively. “They’re horses… on two legs, and with feet.”

I rolled my eyes at this as I looked at Indigo, seeing Iilah on his shoulders as we walked. Blake walked beside him as we entered the town.

“I’ve never really been here before, I’ve seen it from the distance but never really bothered to check out the town.” He said as we passed by a few ponies. Those ponies stared at us as we passed but didn’t say anything. Not only that I also saw some Faunus walking around and had some stalls up to sell their wears. Iilah seemed nervous as she looked around at the place.

“You need to chill Iilah.” I said to her. She frowned at me for that.

“Why should I calm down?” she asked me as she watched some more ponies walk past us.

“Well, I don’t think anyone would think that a young girl could really be some void nightmare being.” I pointed out to her. She blinked at this as she thought about it.

“Besides, do you really think me and Blake would let anyone hurt you?” Indigo said to her with a lighthearted smirk.

“That’s… true…” Iilah said, smiling a little before saying. “Well, since one of the others couldn’t even get a hit on you then I think I’m safe.”

“Hey!” The rest of us except Qo and Indigo snapped at her. Indigo laughed at this before shaking his head, a smile on his face. The rest of us grumbled a bit which made Qo look confused. We came across an odd building, it stood out from the rest due to it looking like a giant carousel. The windows displayed mannequins and fancy clothing, most were female clothing though one was that of a male.

“That is an odd choice for a building design.” Indigo said, wondering why anyone would make a building such as this.

“Looks like this a clothing store.” Blake said, noticing the display windows.

“Nust frolok malbrii!” Qo said, pointing at the dresses. [They look pretty!] She looked down at me. “Vis Zu’u lost gein? Lig?” [Can I have one? Please?]

I raised an eyebrow and looked at the dresses. “Zu’u dreh ni mindok. .. Zu’u lorot osos do niin los expansive…” I said. [I don’t know... I think some of them are expansive…]

Qo placed her chin on top of my head sadly.

“We don’t know that for sure.” Indigo said before sighing. “Any of you want to check it out?” He asked, looking back at us. The rest of us nodded as we all headed inside the clothing store. Inside we saw more mannequins with more dresses and suits as well. We all went around to look at them. Yang seemed uninterested in them as she simply skimmed through the clothes as Weiss took time to see each one.

“Oh this looks lovely!” she said as she pulled a light blue and white dress. I simply smiled as I put Qo down so she could look around.

“Ulaakei, ahrk dreh ni kren naan.” I said to her. [Careful, and don’t break anything.]

“Okay!” Qo said as she disappeared behind some rakes.

“Look around if you’re interested.” Indigo said to Iilah as he gently placed her down. She nodded a bit shyly before walking off. Indigo then turned to me and said.”If don’t mind me asking, how did Qo came to be?” He asked out of the blue. I looked at him in surprise before he said. “Sorry, it’s just something that’s been in my head for a while.”

“Ah, well the truth is Qo is really a clone of me.” I said to him, gaining an odd look from him as a result. “When Ruby and I finished the task, Lana helped me out with something and, after some time later, Qo came to be.” I turned to see Qo holding up a blue shirt and started sniffing it. I chuckled a bit. “She is a bit of a curious one though, almost like any young kid.” Indigo looked at her as she moved from clothing rack to clothing rack with an arched brow

“I mean, I see similarities but I can’t see how she’s a clone.” Indigo said, glancing at Qo then at me.

“Well I asked Lana to have some differences to her so she’s not an exact copy, what she did I have no clue.” I told hem.

“Is it odd to say that I think she looks a little bit like Ruby?” He asked, glancing at Ruby as she browsed through many dressed though not as enthusiastic as Weiss. I stared at him for a moment.

“Yeah well, what of it?” I asked as I looked at Qo and Ruby. Sure their air colours, kinda, look the same and one of Qo’s eyes was silver. Could just random pick… right?

“If you said she was a clone, she would’ve looked exactly like you but she not only looks slightly different but her personality.” Indigo said, pointing out the many things that make Qo well… Qo. “She’s like a fusion clone between you and Ruby.”

I stared at him for a long time before laughing. “Haha, that’s a good one Indigo.” He gave me an odd look after I had finished laughing.

“That wasn’t a joke.” He said with a shake of his head. I chuckled a bit more at this.

“Come on, Lana took only a bit of my hair there’s no way that-” I stopped for a moment as I thought about it. The beast did drew some of Ruby’s blood in the fight and Lana did use her drones to heal her so… she could of… my face went white when I came to that point. “She used both of our DNA’s to make Qo… oh my Mother.”

“You make it sound like a bad thing.” Indigo said with arched brow and with concerned tone.

“Well it’s not… really it’s not but...I…” I stuttered as I looked at Qo who was showing Iilah some clothes she found. “I… I… I don’t think Qo is really my ‘little sister’ if I’m thinking this right.”

“If you think it like that then yes, she’s yours and Ruby’s kid.” He said before chuckling. “Nice going, Viri. Moving on up in your relationship.” He said with a smirk. I gave him a blushing glare.

“It’s not funny!” I told him as I slightly started to panic a bit. “Lana did this, she snuck a bit of her DNA into it and done it without telling us… that clever woman… How am I going to tell Ruby? We just became a thing just a few weeks ago and now I have to tell her about Qo… And Qo already knows about it.”

I began to pace a bit. “For the past week or so she has been calling me Mom and such, it wasn’t really for fun, it was her natural instinct. Nuz I’ve fun ek wah faan zey briinah, fos waan tol lost thesk ek vok ko klov? Fos dreh Zu’u dreh? Fos dreh Zu’u dreh?!” [But I’ve tell her to call me sister, what if that has mess her up in head? What do I do? What do I do?!]

“Alright chill out.” Indigo said, taking a step back after my outburst. “If she calls you mom, why not let her, it’s only natural right?” He asked. I took some deep breaths as I tried to calm myself.

“I… I need to talk to Qo…” I said as I moved over to Qo. “Ahnok, vis Zu’u tinvaak voth hi?”[Hey, can I speak with you?]

Qo looked over at me and nodded as Iilah frowned. “I still don’t understand you!”

I ignored her as I took Qo away from everyone and kneeled down. “Qo, do you understand me?” Qo blinked before giving me a nod and a soso gestur. “Okay, so, remember back then when you call me Mom? Can I ask why?”

“Dahik nii felt viilut.” Qo answered. [Because it felt right.]

“Yeah… well, I’ve been telling you to call me sister, but that was a mistake on my part.” I said to her.

“Zu’u mindok.” Qo said quickly. [I know.] This made me blink at her.

“You do?” I asked which she nodded. “Okay... Did you tell this to anyone else?”

“Yeah, Monahsemonah ahrk monah Dovahmiin.” Qo said. [Yeah, Grandmother and mother Ruby.] I blinked as I realized Qo called Ruby by Dovah. “Dovahmiin lor Zu’u kiird um nuz Monahsemonah fun ek tol nii lost vahzah, rek dremsil ahzuk tir muldeytorax, med hi drey.” [Ruby thought I was playing around but Grandmother told her that it was true, she kinda freaked out a bit, like you did.]

“... You saw that.” I said.

“Yep.” Qo answered with a smile. I sighed before looking at Qo.

“I’m… I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to tell you a lie…” I felt some tears coming up to my eyes as the guilt that I have done came up. I felt Qo arms wrap around me and hugged.

“Can I now call you… mommy?” Qo asked in rusty english. I didn’t say anything before I hug her.

“Yeah kid, go ahead.” I whispered. After a few minutes Qo spoke.

“...Can Zu’u ahk lost karaas?” she asked. [...Can I also have a dress?] I chuckle a bit.

“I’ll see what I can do.” I told her. I watch her lit up before running back to the clothes. I sighed and rubbed my eyes before walking back over to Indigo.

“Crisis over?” He asked with an arched brow. I shifted a bit.

“As it stand, I’m a twenty year old mother with my nineteen year old girlfriend who has a mindset of a twenty-six or twenty-seven year old. I believe so.” I told him. He shook his head at this with a chuckle.

“If it helps, you’ve got your friends to help you out.” He said with a little smile.

“Yeah… going to be one heck of a ride.” I said as we all heard a door open and a white unicorn with a purple mane came out and stared at us. She kinda looked familiar to me. She seemed to be wearing some simple clothings and looks like she wasn’t expecting anyone to come into the store.

“Starting now.”

Author's Note

If you take DNA from yourself and use it to clone someone, then it’s he/she is a brother or sister. If you take your DNA and mix it with someones else's and make a clone he/she won’t be a brother/sister.

Oh boy

New clothes, some truth, and a pair comes together :3

We all stared at the unicorn for a good few moments before she spoke. “Excuse me for one moment.” with that she disappear in a flash. I looked over at Indigo for a moment before there was another flash as the unicorn appeared again only this time she wore a dress shirt with a suit over it and a pinstripe skirt. She looked more professional than before. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique where every garment is chic, unique and magnifique!”

“Afternoon, Ma’am.” Indigo greeted, though still a bit weirded out.

“Yes, I do want to apologize for that earlier meeting, didn’t expect anyone to come it.” the mare said with a little laugh.

“Oh now I remember who you are.” I said as I just remembered. “You’re that one mare from some time ago, Rarity right?”

“Ah yes.” she said with a flick of her mane. “It’s nice that others remember me from time to time.” she looked down and saw Iilah nearby. “I also see you brought the little nightmare along.” This made Indigo frown deeply before shaking his head with a deep breath. It wasn’t before Iilah was picked up by some sort of magic and was brought over to Rarity who seemed to look her over.

“Um, do you mind?!” Iilah yelled which caused the unicorn mare to blink.

“Oh, sorry.” she said as she put Iilah down. “Kinda went on auto pilot there.” Rarity then made a notebook appeared and started to sketch something down.

“Well that was really rude of you to both point out and-” Blake was then cut off when Rarity gasped.

“You!” she said before there was an aura surrounding Blake. “Come with me!”

With that we watched the two of them disappear before hearing the two of them in the back room. The sound of zippers and shuffling of clothing, even a hair dryer going off.

“Umm, what just happened?” Iilah asked, confused. Indigo and I shrugged, actually speechless as to what had just transpired. Before long Rarity came out of behind a certain and the lights dimmed a bit.

“I would like to presence to you all, my newest line of dresses.” she said as the curtain was drawn away. “Midnight star gazer.”

We all saw Blake stood up on stage with her hair done in a way that covers her right eye. Her dress was a pitch black colour with some kind of dark blue into it that made it sparkle a bit. It seemed to show off her curves in a seductive manner which was off-put by how confused Blake was.

“Wha… what just happened?” she asked, looking at as. “Umm, you all okay?”

“Oh darling, you could say that a cat got their tongues.” Rarity said with a laugh. Indigo shook his head before saying.

“Blake, you look… stunning.” He said, making her blush from his words.

“Wow…” Ruby said as Qo nodded. Yang simply did a catcall.

“Well she would be stunning, I had the hardest time just finding the right model for this dress.” Rarity said with some pride. “I do say I outdid myself this time.”

“Yeah… can I… have my clothes back?” Blake asked the mare.

“Hmm, maybe we should get it.” Indigo said, though a little unsure. “How much for for the dress?” He asked Rarity. Rarity didn’t say anything as she started to do some calculation in her head.

“You want to get this dress?” Blake asked, looking down at it. “I do look good in it though.”

“Yeah, you do. Which is why I want to buy for you.” He said, smiling at the blushing cat faunus.

“Well, normally I would price higher since it’s brand new, which would cost around a thousand and five hundred bits…” I choked on some air at the price. “But since you did help me out, a simple seventy five will do.” Indigo smiled and reached into his vest pocket, pulling a small pouch filled with what I could assume were bits. They sounded like coins. He placed onto a counter and pulled the amount of bits required before handing them to Rarity. “Thank you.”

“Wait, aren’t you the Element of Generosity?’ Iilah asked her.

“Yes, why?” Rarity said. Iilah frowned and pointed at her.

“If you are then that should’ve been for free.” she pointed out. Rarity frowned at this.

“That’s true, but as you can tell I run a business and I do need the bits for it.” Rarity explained. Iilah frowned a bit at this but didn’t say anything.

“Come on, don’t be like that.” Indigo said, giving Iilah a pat on the head before looking at Rarity. “You got a changing room Blake could use?” He asked.

“Yes yes, it’s right over there.” Rarity said as she pointed to some more curtains. Blake had gotten her clothes before walking through the curtains. As Rarity turned Qo stood in front of her. “Oh, hello there child. What can I do for you?”

“Vis Zu’u lost karaas ol pruzah staavek geinzahkey malkey?” Qo asked her. [Can I have a dress as well miss unicorn pony?] Rarity stared at her for a few moments in silence as she chuckled oddly.

“Umm, are your parents here? Maybe I could talk to them to… know what you just said.” Rarity asked Qo. Qo simply stared and pointed at both me and Ruby. “... Oh.”

“You found out?” Ruby asked, to which I simply nodded.

“Hold on, parents?!” Yang asked in a shocked voice. “Did you two do something while you were gone and if so where do I get some?” This caused both me and Ruby to look at each other and then at Yang.

“What?” Ruby asked.

“What what? I’m just wondering.” Yang said. I sighed as I told Rarity what Qo said.

“Oh… I uhh, have to go check something quick.” she said before walking out.

“So what are you two going to do, knowing Qo is technically your kid?” Indigo asked, wanting to break the silence. He had already put away the pouch back into his pocket.

“I have no idea.” I said as I sat down with a sigh.” I just found out this just today so…”

Ruby sat down beside me and put a hand over mine. “We’ll figure it out.”

I stared at her for a moment before smiling. “Yeah… that’s true.”

“Wait… so she’s really is your kid?” Yang asked the both of us. I sighed and nodded. She then put both of her hands up happily. “I’m an aunt! Woo!”

“Woo!” Qo did the same thing and simply giggled. Indigo chuckled at her behaviour. Before long Rarity came out with two dresses, one was a dark blue with electric blue highlights and a purple one.

“Here you are, this one is for you.” she said, handing the blue one to Qo. “And this one is for you!” she then handed the purple one to Iilah.

“Huh? Why are you giving me one?” Iilah asked.

“Well, it’s just me being generous.” the mare said with a smirk. Iilah looked at her and then stare at the dress in her hands. She looked at Indigo, as if silently waiting for something.

“Go ahead, try it on in changing room.” He said just as Blake came out with the dress in hand. Iilah nodded before heading off into the changing rooms. Qo also did the same with one of the other ones.

“What did I miss?” Blake asked.

“Qo and Iilah went to try on some dresses.” Indigo quickly answered before looking at Weiss, who kept browsing without a care in the world. She was humming a song which Rarity started to hear.

“Oh my, she has a lovely voice.” she said with a smile.

“She could tell by Weiss’ humming?” Yang asked.

“Shush.” Blake said. Indigo chuckled before answering the mare.

“Yeah, she’s a talented singer, well known from where we’re from.” Indigo said, answering the mare’s unasked question.

“Oh really?” Rarity asked, looking back at Weiss. “Well I would absolutely love to hear her sing.” Indigo glanced at me and shrugged, not knowing what to say.

“I got nothing, I haven’t heard her sing before.” I said. Truth be told I didn’t know Weiss could sing until now.

Before anyone could say something the curtains opened and both Qo and Iilah came out in their dresses. Qo was super happy about it as Iilah… well she was smiling.

“Frolok frolok! Daar los amazing!” Qo said happily. [Look look! This is amazing!] I smiled at her as she came up to me. “Vir dreh Zu’u frolok Mommy?”[How do I look Mommy?]

The last word gave me pause. I felt my heart fluttered a bit with joy as she said that. I simply smiled and picked her up.

“You look amazing tolal.” I told her. [amazing honey.] Qo cheered at this as Ruby smiled at me.

“Do you like the dress, Iilah?” Blake asked, walking up to her as she did. Blake had checked to see if Iilah was comfortable in the dress and adjusting it a bit. Iilah blushed a bit before speaking.

“It’s… not bad.” she said as she moved around in it. Rarity gave her an odd look but didn’t say anything. Indigo kneeled down to take a closer look at Iilah.

“You look good in it.” He said with a smile. This earned him and Blake a small and barely noticeable smile. Iilah blushed a bit more at this before started to move around in the dress, giggling a bit. Indigo stood back up with Blake in tow, both of them smiling at her happiness.

“Well it seems that someone happy.” Rarity said, drawing the attention of Iilah. She cleared her throat a bit.

“Yes well, it’s alright…” she said.

“Sure it is.” Rarity said with an eye roll. At this point I heard a growl coming from Qo. She looked down for a moment.

“Kip!” she announced. [Food!]

“Well I think it’s time for some food.” I said with a chuckle. After Qo and Iilah got changed back to some normal clothes we thanked Rarity and left in search of someplace to eat.

After asking around for some directions, we managed to come across a large gingerbread house. Everyone stared at in wonder before deciding unanimously to eat here. Qo on the other hand seemed to have found out that the gingerbread walls of the place were fake after she tried to eat it. Ruby had to carry Qo as she got teary-eyed from this.

“Can’t believe you tried to eat a building.” Iilah commented as Ruby put Qo down.

“Nuz. .. Nii frolok med saad gingerbread.” So explained. [But... It looked like real gingerbread.]

“In her defense, it did look a bit too much like an actual gingerbread house.” Blake said, giving Qo a little smile. Before anyone could say anything I turned and a pair of blue eyes staring right at me. I yelped and jumped back at this.

“Hello~” the pink haired Faunus greeted us with a bright smile. Everyone was surprised by her sudden appearance as well. Qo immediately hid behind me after screaming in fear.

“What… how?” Weiss asked.

“What what?” the woman asked. Weiss was about to say but Yang stopped her.

“We’re here for food, not to ask many questions. A few questions is alright.” Yang said. Indigo, seeing that Iilah felt a little uneasy after the pink haired woman’s sudden appearance, picked her and placed atop his shoulders like before. Blake saw this and looked at Indigo oddly, silently questioning him only to receive a shrug.

I looked back and saw the woman staring at Iilah… on a stepladder. What?

“I have one~ important question for you missy.” she said. Iilah looked at her before the question was told. “Do you like… cookies?”

“What?” Iilah asked in surprise, nearly falling off as she did.

“Careful now.” Indigo said, adjusting Iilah back on his shoulders. Iilah looked at the pink haired Faunus for a few moments before answering.

“Uhh, yes?” she answered.

“Okay.” the lady said before… disappearing into a pink cloud and reappearing behind the counter.

“Duhhh.” was all I could say at that.

“I’m having second thoughts on coming here.” Indigo said just above a whisper. Iilah nodded a little in agreement. I shook my head as o saw Qo staring up at some of the pastries, drooling at the sight.

“I now see the Ruby side of her.” I whispered to Indigo as Ruby was doing the same thing with Qo. Indigo chuckled and looked at the two.

“Two girls with large sweet tooths…” Indigo said with a smile. Blake heard this and chuckled. “You’ve got quite the predicament.” Indigo added, glancing at me as he did.

“It makes them ‘them’.” I told him as we all gathered in front of the counter.

“Heyoo~, what can I get everyone?” The Faunus asked.

“Strawberry Milkshake with a brownie.” Yang said first.

“Some Earl Gray tea and a blueberry scone.” Weiss asked.

“Milk or cream?” the lady asked.

“None.” Weiss answered.

“A small chocolate cake.” I asked.

“Coffee.” Indigo asked before looking to the left to see an ad for some freshly baked doughnuts. “With a glazed doughnut.”

“Same but with some milk and sugar.” Blake ordered after having thought of what to order.

“A brownie and a glass milk.” Iilah requested from atop Indigo’s shoulders.

“Cheesecake!” Ruby said loudly.

“Voth sufolbrot!” Qo added after. [With cookies!]

“What?” the lady asked.

“With cookies.” I translated for her. With a nod we paid for our food and the Pink Faunus went into the back of the store. We found a large booth to sit in as we waited.

“This town ain’t so bad.” Indigo said after placing Iilah down onto the seat of the booth. “Colorful place, nice people.” Indigo said before sitting down with Iilah in between him and Blake.

“Yeah…” Yang said as a pair of ponies walked past the window. “Colourful would be the right word.”

“We might make some new friends here.” Ruby said cheerfully. I chuckled as I heard Qo singing happily about cookies. Mostly just saying cookies happily. We all chatted about anything we could think of.

“Hey Weiss, if there was a singing thing would you join?” Ruby asked. This caught Weiss off guard.

“Huh? What?” she asked.

“If a competition came up would you sing in it?” Yang asked her.

“Absolutely not.” Weiss said in her high class tone. “The idea of competing in such an event isn’t part of who I am.”

“Worried that you might lose?” Yang snickered, earning a glare from Weiss.

“No… I just don’t think there would be much of a challenge.” Weiss said with her arms crossed.

“Oooo, look out folks, Weiss Schnee has a competitive side of her.” Yang said, making some of us laugh.

“You know, I haven’t heard you sing before.” I said to Weiss. “Do you think I will hear you sing someday?”

Weiss took a moment as the food was coming out. “Possibly.” Iilah looked a bit excited at the sight of the food, Indigo and Blake looked down at the child with a curious glance. It’s kinda hard to imagine her being some evil being who wanted nothing but to bring eternal night.

Iilah took notice as she started eating. “What?” she asked with some food in her mouth.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Indigo said, though ironically with a mouthful of the doughnut he bit into.

“Both of you don’t speak with your mouths full.” Blake said firmly to the both of them. Indigo chuckled at this before taking a sip of his coffee. I was simply eating my cake as I glanced over to see both Ruby and Qo inhaled their cookies. They seem blissfully happy at this. I simply laughed at this. Ruby turned to be with a mouthful of cookies.

“Wah?” she asked.

“Oh nothing.” I said, kissing her cheek. She blushed a bit after that. Yang had struck out a conversation with Weiss, mostly regarding her Tak spending a lot of time together, Weiss’s face couldn’t be any redder than Ruby’s hood.

“Ohh! I was right, Ice queen has her sights on Batman!” Yang said with a laugh.

“What! Yang really!?” Weiss yelled at her.

“I’m not hearing a no~” Yang singsonged, making Weiss even redder.

“Really, you’ve got a thing for Tak?” Indigo said, smirking as he took another sip of his coffee. Weiss looked at all of us, still blushing.

“I… well...it’s not…” she stuttered before groaning. “Alright, yes I...have a bit of a crush on Tak…”

“Why do you act as if having a crush is something embarrassing?” Blake asked the blushing Schnee.

“It’s just… something different.” Weiss said, looking to the side. “Sure I had crushes before but this one is… just different.”

“Different than Neptune?” Indigo asked with arched brow.

“Neptune’s cute and all but Tak…” Weiss stopped as she thought about it. “I feel like he really listens to me and… I don’t know. What I do know is that he’s better than any high class boy I met.”

“Did you ever try telling him?” Blake asked, only to see Weiss shake her head. “Nervous?” Blake guessed. Weiss nodded.

“I’m trying to find the right moment…” she said.

“Weiss, there’s never going to be the right moment.” I told her. She shifted a little in her seat after hearing this.

“You’ll need to tell him eventually.” Indigo said before smirking a little and saying. “Who knows, maybe someone else will sweep him off his feet.” He said only to receive a punch to the shoulder. “Ow, sorry.” He said, leaning back onto the chair.

“Right… wait, is someone thinking about that?” Weiss asked, glaring at Yang soon after she spoke.

“Hey hey! Don’t look at me!” Yang said in surprised. Weiss sighed a bit before slumping in her seat. It was before Yang gave everyone an odd look. “Wait, if Weiss has someone… am I the only one single?!”

“Didn’t see that coming.” Indigo said before sipping his coffee. He must really like it, seeing as he is nowhere near finishing.

“Is that really that bad?” Ruby asked.

“Yes, yes it is.” Yang said before looking out of the window. Almost like she was scanning the crowd for someone.

“Maybe that explains why she was flirting with your Father.” Weiss said to me.

“Maybe, also he isn’t really my father, same goes with Mother, I just call them that since they raised me since I was a kid.” I told Weiss. Weiss took that as a surprise but didn’t say anything about it.

“So… is he/she single?” Yang asked with a smile.

“Ew! Ew!” Ruby said as she covered her ears.

“I’m not going to say it but as I have to; Really!?!” Weiss snapped.

“Hey, I’m not the judging type.” Yang said before looking at me. “But I will say they look amazing.”

I paused for a bit as I tried to re-rail what I was thinking. “I’m… not going to answer that.”

“Maybe ask him...her, they?” Indigo ended up confusing himself before shaking his head and looking at me. “Your parent confuses me.” He said plainly.

“Go with they until you see which form they are in.” I told him. After some time eating and talking we finished up and were heading out. “Thanks for the food!”

“No problem!” the pink Faunus said cheerfully. The group wandered around town for a bit before the sun was going down. We all headed back to the school to which we separate to do our own thing. Qo went with Ruby so she could see something that Ruby promise her as I headed back to my room. When I got there I saw Mother sitting on my bed petting Sylph. The Dust grimm was happily making noises to express her joy at this before noticing me.

“I know that feeling Sylph. All too well.” I said before taking my jacket off. “How was your day Mother?”

“Relaxing really. For the first time in ages I am able to take some time for myself without worrying about the total collapse of Dovah civilization.” Mother said, a smile on her face as she spoke each word. “How was your trip to the town? Had any fun?” She asked.

“Yes, I did have fun.” I said with a smile. I went to put my coat up before a thought came to my mind. “You knew what was up with Qo!” She nodded with her smile never faltering.

“Of course I did.” She said. I sat down beside her and fell backward.

“Honestly I shouldn’t be surprised that you knew that about my kid.” I said to her. She continued to pet Sylph as she looked at me and said.

“How does your significant other feel on the matter?” She asked, regarding Ruby’s feelings towards Qo.

“Well she seemed alright with it, Qo told me that she did sorta freak when you told her.” I said as I looked up at her. “But I think we’ll make it work.”

Mother’ smile brightened after hearing this, happy to hear that Qo will have the love and adoration of both parents. Sylph purred loudly, she was almost melting with Mother’s touch.

“Has anything interesting happened during your trip? Anything you’d like to share?” She asked, wanting to know about my day. I took time telling her how my day went, when I got to Qo and the dress I let out my gushing side.

“She looked so cute in her dress! Ah! I just wanted to hug her so much!” I said happily, which made Mother laugh.

“Do be careful to not smother her to death with hugs.” Mother said in a joking manner. I laughed at this. I continued on and got to the part with Weiss and Tak.

“I think she’s having what I was having trouble with; trying to tell the other about your feelings.” I said. I then thought of what happened after that. “Yang had a realization that she was the only one that’s single.”

“Well that’s unfortunate, isn’t it.” She said with a hint of concern in her tone. “I wouldn’t think she took that news well, did she?” Mother asked.

“Well she’s not going with the ‘end of the world’ reaction.” I said chuckling a little before remembering what happened afterwards. “The strangest part if it all was that she asked if you were single.”

I felt Sylph turn a bit, probably to give me a odd look as I continue as I stared up at the roof. “Before you ask, I didn’t really answer her question since it was out of left field. I would probably say that you would look too old for her or something.”

“And what makes you think that?” She asked me, her voice taking a playful tone.

“Hey, don’t take it the wrong way but it was off the top of my head.” I said as I pushed myself up. “Also when to the age part, you kinda look around thirty to forty...uhh.” as I looked at her I saw a much younger version of Mother, around my age I think. Truth be told anyone could say that she could pass off as a cousin of mine. “Oh you think you’re funny.” She chuckled at this before saying.

“Perhaps I should have a talk with Yang in this form?” She asked in a playful manner. It took me a moment to think after hearing her in a younger age. I blinked a few times before saying.

“I can’t tell if you’re considering it or not because I can kinda see it.” I said before I blushed at the thought. “I’m not trying to be matchmaker here! Sorry!”

“Yang has been flirting with me for quite some time and while I am unsure why seeks my attention instead of a mortal such as herself, I suppose I can try.” She said with a little smile, honesty evident in her tone. I gave it some thought before a few ideas came to mind.

“Maybe since you helped her through a really dark moment of her life.” I said to her. “She used to think she was an unstoppable being until Adam cut her arm off. You helped her through that struggle.” I then remembered what she said at the coffee house. “Also Yang think you look hot in both forms.”

“At least someone appreciates the work I put into maintaining these forms.” Mother said jokingly before laughing. I joined in with laughing before sitting up beside her.

“So… going to wait for a moment to see her or should we both go find her?” I asked with a smirk. “I just really want to see her face when you do this.” She arched a brow at this.

“I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that.” She said after giving it some thought. I smirked at her before standing up.

“Well, onwards” I said with a giggle. The two of us soon headed off to find Yangs room. It was kinda funny that each person has their own room in the school with Team RWBY being close to each other. On the way my mind came up with some questions. “You know, in this form your shorten name is Mavis, am I wrong?” I asked out loud.

“Yes, I suppose in a way it is.” Mother answered with a nod before glancing. “What do you have in mind?”

“Just a thought I had.” I told her. “Also are we going off that we’re friends or just as normal?” I asked. As she gave it some thought I noticed that everyone we pass was turning their heads towards Mother. Men and women simply stared at her. “It seems that you’re drawing attention.”

“Whichever one you think is best.” She finally answered before noticing the looks she’s been getting before shaking her head with a chuckle. “Mortals, so odd yet interesting.” She said just above a whisper. I simply rolled my eyes before we got to the door to Yangs room. I gave it a few knocks.

“Hold on!” Yang called out through the door. Soon the door opened and Yang stood there in a yellow tank-top and some black pants . Her hair has be put up in a ponytail and her arm was off. “Hey Viri, who’s your friend?”

I tried to hold back a laugh as I spoke. “Yang, this is Mavis.” I introduce Mother to Yang to see if she recognized her.

“Hey there.” She said with a smile and offered Mother her hand. “I’m Yang Xiao Long.”

“Greeting, Miss Xiao Long.” Mother said before giving her a small bow. Yang was a little confused at this before bowing back.

“So, you two need something?” Yang looked back into her room for a moment before saying. “If you want to hang out then I’m up for it.” I glanced to ‘Mavis’ to see her response.

“That would be nice.” ‘Mavis’ said with a smile. Yang smiled as she let the two of us in. I saw her room was… quite cleaner than I thought. Her bed was pushed into the corner with her desk. On the other side of the room with some text books. On her dresser was the prosthetic arm Ruby and I made for Yang. Speaking of Yang she pulled some bottles of water out and hand them to us with only one hand. “Want some water?”

“I am fine but thank you.” ‘Mother’ said, thanking her for the offer.

“I’m good thanks.” I said before looking at the arm. “Something wrong with the arm?”

“Oh no it’s fine.” Yang said before looking at her stump. “Just, having it off is doing a bit of good to me.” she said before looking a little nervous. “Is uh… your Mother still around?”

I pretended to give it some thought before answering. “Maybe, why?”

“Just… I really feel like I should give her my thanks to her after… you know.” Yang gestured to her arm. “Oh, sorry Mavis. Kinda forgot you were there for a moment… That was bad of me.”

“No need to apologize. It was a simple mistake.” ‘Mavis’ said with simply shrug, her smile having never faltered yet. Yang chuckled a bit.

“Right.” she said before nodding to me. “You know her mother is amazing. If it wasn’t for her I…” she paused for a moment. “I uh… wouldn’t really be here.”

“Wait what?” I asked, my smile dropping. Mother’s smile vanished as well, concerned over what Yang was going to say.

“Remember the aftermath of this?” she gestured to her stump. “I was… in a dark place for a while. I tried to hide it but there were times when I had some...close calls.” Yangs smile softened a bit. “But… your mom is simply a saint. Pulled me out with some words and… things got better.” Yang was sniffling a bit before standing up. “Sorry, I need to use the bathroom for a moment.”

With that Yang left. I felt a bit hollow inside at her words. “I feel… terrible for not seeing this…” I said as I sat down. Mother was silent, a look of sadness replacing the smile she once had. Before long Yang returned, looking better than before.

“I’m back.” she said before seeing the two of us. “Hey hey, what with the sad faces?”

“From what I just heard, how could I not be?” I asked. Yang rolled her eyes.

“Come on that was in the past, today is the present and we should be happy!” Yang said cheerfully. I smiled a little bit at her mood as she continued. “If you ever see your mom tell her I said hi again.”

“What about thinking she was Hot?” I asked.

“She is, never going to deny that. But I also think she has a bit of a playful side to her.” Yang smile turned into a smirk. “But if she challenges me to a game of Remnant, she is going down!” this caused me to start laughing. I noticed Mother smiling at this, seeing how she had gotten better after what she had just said. For the next while the three of us hung out, playing some games that Yang had in her room. Funny enough we played the Remnant game and Mother won the game, making Yang bow down to defeat. “I’m not worthy.”

“Really Yang?” I asked with a smirk.

“Telling the truth here!” Yang said. This made Mother laugh hard, more so than I have ever seen. Before long Yang went out to get some drinks, leaving the two of us alone.

“So, what are your thoughts?” I asked Mother as I pulled the number of Pigtails out of my hair after a dare from Yang.

“Well first off you look cute with those pigtails.” Mother said with a laugh. She then looked out of the door where Yang left. “And second, I had many others try to win my favor and my attention for so long that everything is simply the same… Yang Xiao Long is… different.”

“Oh~ is this you getting a crush on the Sunny Dragon?” I said with a smirk and using what Yang said was her nickname her father used. This earned me a chuckle from her.

“Perhaps.” Mother said with a smile and a shake of her head. I turned to her for a moment before I spoke.

“You never said there was another with you, someone you loved. Was there someone or… were you alone?” I asked. There was silence between us as Mother looked like she was thinking back. I think this was pushing my luck on that question.

“No… for as long I can recall, I’ve never had anyone else.” She said, looking down a bit sad.

“Oh…” I said. After sitting in silence for a bit I spoke. “Why not start looking? Yang is an amazing woman and if not her then there’s a number of others that could be.” I crossed my arms a bit. “Look at your sister, she’s an interesting type but when she talked to Indigo’s grandfather I saw her blush for the first time that I ever seen her. And I know it’s true mother I’ve seen with my own two eyes!” Mother smiled at this and chuckled.

“Perhaps you’re right.” She said in admittance. She smiled at me, silently thanking me. I smiled at her as I as Yang appeared at the door, with an odd look on her.

“Yang, you alright?” I asked her.

“Not really.” Yang said as she made her way over to Mother. “I found out this is your Mother and it took me this long to realize that.”

“Really.” I deadpanned.

“She looks young! How am I supposed to know?!” Yang asked before looking at Mother with a blush on her face. “I’m uhh, really sorry for what I said ma’am. I didn’t know it was-”

Mother stopped Yang by putting a finger on her lips. “It’s fine Yang, in fact I enjoyed what you have said so far… also.” she leaned forward and have the blonde a kiss. My jaw dropped as Yang stood there while Mother pulled away. “Call me Mavis.”

She backed away from Yang to see her stand that before falling over. We both saw her with a love-struck look on her as she laid there. “Guess you made her day.”

With a wave of her hand, Mother had lifted up Yang before gently placing atop her bed, where she could at least be lovestruck comfortably. Mother turned to me, a hint of a blush on her cheeks caught my eye. I smiled at her and gave her a hug.

“I’m rooting for you two.” I whispered.

“Thank you, dear.” She whispered back before pulling away. “I must get going now, I’ve been gone for too long and the Non-Dovah might get hungry.” She said as her form aged back up to what it was before. Yang said something happily in her state that made Mother turn her head and smile more. “I’ll return tomorrow after school hours.” She said to the both of us before disappearing in a flash of a golden light.

“Well… I saw both of them blush. That’s something I never thought I’d see.”

Author's Note

I think this is a bit of a heartwarming chapter. Also Yang and Mavisath... that’s going to be fun

Snow day, the flu, and free time

A few months past and winter came around. Everyone else were in high spirits due to the snow as most of the Village kids played in it. Qo spent most of the time with Ruby who, after school hours, played outside. I however didn’t really go out that much, mostly due to the fact that I didn’t like the snow or cold.

But there were times when Ruby and Qo got me to come out to play, mostly from Ruby’s promises of pets.

Right now though I let out a sigh as I sat in the nice hot springs in the Valley which Mother was kind enough to have a key for me to use. The hot springs decor changed to look more Japanese.

“See, this is how one spends the cold season.” I said as I leaned back.

“Sitting in a hot spring naked?” Yang asked as she sat across from me.

“What? There are countries in other worlds that have a number of people sit in a bath naked and it was still okay.” I told her in a informative tone. Yang rolled her eyes as she took a wooden bucket and poured some hot waver over her head. Due to how much hot water was here she had to leave her arm behind. “Hey, why did you come with me here?”

“Viri… hot springs.” Yang answered in a way that I should’ve known that. I rolled my eyes as the two of us relaxed in the hot water. There was a bit of snow here but it wasn’t in the way and wasn’t cold, just made things pretty. Soon enough I let out a sigh.

“I wished Ruby was here…” I said with a hint of sadness.

“Missed your girlfriend already?” Yang asked me. I simply nodded to which made Yang chuckle. “Man you are simply head over heels for her.”

I was going to say something until I saw Mother walk in wearing a bathrobe as well. She smiled when she saw the two of us chatting.

“Mind if I join?” She asked. It’s been odd trying to get used seeing her like this, a younger version of her female form who also happened to be dating my friend… yeah, odd.

Though it was funny when I saw Yang jump at what she said. “Huh, what, I umm, oh boy…” I giggled at her blushing face as I looked up at her.

“Yeah you can join in.” I told Mother… Mavis… yeah, still odd. For the past few months Yang had always wondered if she was in a wonderful dream ever since Mother kissed her. She stuttered and struggled to form coherent words upon sight of Mother being with her, which is something I wouldn’t ever expected to see from the buxom blonde. I watched Yang dump another two buckets of hot water on top of her head in quick succession as Mother got close as she was undoing her robe. Soon enough Mother was in the water with us, sitting next to Yang with a smile. Yang was still blushing like crazy at this.

“You okay?” I asked her.

“Uhh, yes! Yes, I’m fine it’s just… hot water, yes good hot water… In the hot spring… Yes.” Yang said with a nervous laugh.

“Aw, is someone shy?” Mother said, wrapping her arms around Yang before kissing the blonde on the cheek.

“This feels like it should be a dream but it’s real...how am I still questioning it?” Yang asked mostly to herself as she leans into her girlfriends hold.

“You two seemed to be enjoying each other.” I told the two of them.

“She seems to enjoy it more.” Mother said while looking at Yang’s blissful face. I couldn’t help but laugh at this, gaining a chuckle from Mother as I laughed. “So Yang, have decided to tell your friends?”

“Huh? Oh…” Yang blushed a bit. “Yeah, I did… That was… something.”

“Weiss asked if with me dating Ruby and Yang dating you was a good idea.” I told her as I picked up a brush. “I answered yes and left it at that.”

“Weiss needs to understand the oddity of our ever-growing family.” Mother said, resting her head atop Yang’s head. “What of the others?” She asked, glancing down at Yang.

“Blake and Indigo don’t know yet but I believe they heard rumors… then there’s Ruby and Qo.” Yang said, shifting a bit nervously. Mother arched an eyebrow before looking at me.

“We had a small party due to the news, both Ruby and Qo were that happy for Yang.” I said as I grabbed a bucket and dumped water on top of my head. “Qo even made the cake!”

“The cake had a few egg shells in it.” Yang commented.

“It was delicious.” I said with a bit of a forced smile at Yang. Mother chuckled at this, knowing the feeling.

“She went through all that trouble to congratulate you, the least you can do is be grateful for her.” Mother said to Yang, gaining a nod with a little smile from the blonde. “Though egg shells in the cake? Weren’t any of you supervising her?” Mother asked me.

“Ruby was helping… she said the eggshells helped build stronger bones.” I explained to her.

“Oh, Ruby…” Yang sighed.

“You know she means well.” Mother said to Yang, brushing her hair as she did. Yang smiled at this.

“Yeah, yeah she does.” Yang replied before giving Mother a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey Yang, how’s your training going?” I asked her. Ever since Yang got together with Mother she had gotten some training that she doesn’t share with anyone.

“Brutal,” Yang said, resting her head on Mother’s chest with a blush. “Even if the trainer is my girlfriend she doesn’t hold back.”

“Why should I? I plan to make you as strong as you could ever hope to be, making it easier won’t help.” She said with a little smirk.

“Never doubt you would make things easier.” Yang said as she looked up at Mother with a smile. “Though I’m not complaining.”

“Much…” I said as I was then hit with some water.

“You earned that one.” Yang snickered. Mother chuckled before unwrapping her arms from Yang, gaining a disappointed whine from the blonde before being quieted by full on kiss. Leaving Yang in the state of bliss, Mother walked out of the water with some of the steam following her before it formed her traditional white dress.

“I will see you two back at the school.” She said, waving at me as she walked off. Yang watched her leave before turning to me.

“I got to learn how to do that.” Yang said with a large smile.

“But you can’t use magic.” I replied.

“That’s not going to stop me!” Yang proclaimed. As she said that I thought I heard Mother giggle at this.

“Until later, Yang~” Mother said, giving Yang a seductive look as she sashayed her hips as she exited the hot springs with a flash of a golden light. I looked back at Yang to see her reaction. Her face was red and smiling happily.

“I’m both nervous and excited for what she has planned.” she said with her smile.

“You do know she’s simply teasing you.” I told her. Yang simply blinked at me.

“And I’m okay with that.” she answered. I simply laughed at her response.

The two of us stayed for a bit before it was time to get out. After drying a bit and putting on our robes the both of us went to two doors that led to our rooms. I opened my door to see Ruby and Qo at my desk.

“Okay, try reading it.” Ruby asked.

“The… leaves on...the tree...were green and… the trunk was...brown.” Qo said as she practices English. Ruby smiled brightly at this.

“Very good Qo, try the next line.” Ruby said happily. Qo smiled at this as I came up behind them and kissed Ruby on top of her head.

“How’re my two favorite beings in all worlds?” I asked them.

“Great! Qo is getting better at speaking English.” Ruby informed me. My smile grew at this as I ruffled Qo’s hair.

“Good job honey.” I said to her. Qo grinned as she continues practicing as Ruby went over to the bed and helped my brush my hair and tail.

“How’s Yang?” Ruby asked me.

“Same old same old.” I said with a grin. “Mother teased her a little before leaving.”

“Should I be worried?” Ruby asked. I shook my head as she brushed my hair. “Qo made a small snow Faunus outside the school.”

“Did she now?” I asked with a smile.

“Yeah, she hopes that you can go see it.” Ruby told me.

“I see, well I’ll see what I can do.” I told her.

“No, you’ll go see it.” Ruby said firmly. I glanced back at her as she continued. “I know you don’t like the snow or cold but… you’re missing out a lot of fun stuff with all of us. Mostly with Qo.”

I frowned sadly as I looked over at Qo, who was happily reading. I sighed as I turned back to Ruby.

“Alright, I’ll go look after my hair and tail drys.” I told her with a smile.

“Thank you.” Ruby said as she pulled me into a kiss. I kissed her back happily for a few moments.

“Hi bo wah wahl tir??” Qo asked. [You two going to make out?] Ruby blushed at this as I laughed.

“No kid, just talking oddly.” I told her with a little laugh. “Anyway, after I dry we’re going to go see this snow Faunus you build.”

“Really?! Yay!” Qo cheered. I smiled at her as I felt my hair poof out a bit from drying. With Ruby’s help we got it under control and spent a few minutes putting on warmer clothes. Qo and I headed outside and went towards where Qo built her snow Faunus. It looked like a normal snowman but with large ears on top of its head. Qo looked up at me happily to hear what I have to say. I smiled as I petted her head.

“Good job honey.” I told her with a smile. So beamed at me as she soon ran around playing in the snow some more.

“I thought you didn’t like the snow?” I turned to quickly face the owner of the voice, seeing Indigo in a peculiar set of clothing fitting for desert expeditions. To make it even more odd, he was covered in sand and dirt. “Never really expected you to go out in a time like this? Qo begged for you to come or was it Ruby?” He asked.

“Qo made a snow Faunus and Ruby told me to go check it out.” I told him. “Ruby can be quite confining when she wants to. Anyway, where did you head off to?”

“Your Aunt offered me a job out in some place called Scorched Earth, the name doesn’t lie, it’s nothing but a wasteland under an unbearable sun.” He said, removing his sand covered cap off. He shook his head and ruffled his hair causing sand to fall down onto the snowy ground. “Job done, I get paid in bits.” He said shrugging his only arm as he did. “I think I prefer the cold over the heat and sand.” He said before pulling out his pocket, causing sand to pour out from it.

“Well, I prefer the heat than the-” I was cut off a strong wind blew past us. I shiver all over as I rubbed my arms. “Cold and snow…”

“Your kid seems to like it, loves it even.” Indigo said, looking at the giggling Qo as she and Ruby made snow angels. “Even Ruby enjoys it.” He said. I stared at the two of them, at Qo’s smile and giggling as she had fun in the snow.

“Well, I’m glad she loves the snow. That means she’s getting good memories of it.” I said softly. Indigo frowned at this, knowing the meaning behind my words but said nothing. We stayed silent for a while before he sighed.

“I guess I’ll get going and leave you to it.” He said as he turned to walk away but stopped as he remembered something. “Oh right, if you see your Aunt tell I got the thing she asked for.” He said, gesturing at the bag he carried that emitter an ominous orange glow. I nodded at this, not knowing how to respond to that. He thanked and walked towards the school. It wasn’t long before I began to shiver from the cold, a memory of a time I rather forget creeping itself back into my mind. Before my mind could delve deeper, I was suddenly enveloped in a very warm blanket.

“I saw you standing outside and thought you might need this.” Mother’s voice greeted my ears. I looked up and saw that it was indeed her in her usual long white dress. I smiled as I pulled the blanket closer to me.

“Thank you.” I told her. She smiled down at me before noticing Qo and Ruby.

“Why not join them?” She asked curiously before looking back down at me.

“I don’t know… I’m still kinda-” before I could finish a snowball hit me in the head. I turned and saw Qo giggling at me. Something clicked when I saw her. “Oh, it is now on!”

I dropped the blanket and ran after Qo who’s laughing as she ran away. The two of us played in the snow for a few hours and it was the most fun I’ve had ever had.

“AAAHCOO!” I sneezed as I had three blankets wrapped around me. I sniffled a bit as Mother handed me some tea. “Thank you again…”

“Perhaps spending a long period of time out in the cold wasn’t the smartest choice.” Mother said before glancing to a sneezing Ruby and a red-nosed Qo, both of them bed ridden like me. “For either of you.” She said just before Qo let out a cute sneeze. Mother quickly grabbed another tissue before cleaning Qo’s nose.

“You started it.” I said towards Qo who simply stuck her tongue out at me. I did the same before I started sneezing. Soon the door opened and Yang came in with a few more blankets.

“Okay here most of the blankets from my room and what I could get from some others.” she said as she started to pass it around.

“Thanks, sis.” Ruby said as she got a blanket. Qo muttered incoherently when she got hers, gaining a laugh from Yang.

“What about you? Don’t you need more blankets?” I asked after I thanked her for giving me one.

“Eh, I’ll manage.” Yang said before seeing Mother and giving her a wink.

“Help me take care of them, then I’ll give you a reward.” Mother said, a smirk noticeable to only me having been raised by her. Yang blinked at this for a moment before her face became red as Qo’s nose, a dumb smile on her face from whatever was on her mind.

“Yes, ma’am...wait.” Yang paused for a moment before shaking her head and went to help with her sister. I looked at Mother with a questioning glance.

“Something the matter?” She asked, noticing my staring.

“What’s the reward for Yang?” I whispered. She arched a brow at me, shaking her head with a chuckle.

“Oh her reward is nothing you three should be concerned of.” She said in a playful tone, loud enough for Yang to hear. I glanced at Yang as her face went even redder than before. “I can see why she enjoys teasing others so much, the results are always so satisfying.” Mother said to me with smile. I giggled a bit before I sneezed a few times. Her smile was soon replaced with a look of concern before she took my temperature again. “I’ll go inform you teachers of yours and Ruby’s absence.” Mother said, standing up from the chair she sat on and walked towards the door. “I will return soon.” With that the door closed behind her, leaving us in Yang’s care.

Yang helped Ruby and Qo into my bed after blowing up one for me. She went complete nurse mode. After a few minutes of this, the three of us were tucked in with some hot towels on each of our heads.

“Kinda wish we have chicken noodle soup, that would help.” Yang said with a frown. As she said that there was a knock at the door. “Is that Mavisath?”

I shrugged at Yang opened the door and we all saw Oz standing there.

“Hello there, I heard the three of you caught a bad cold.” he said.

“Yeah… kinda got it when we were playing in the snow.” I told him before I sneezed.

“Yes well, be careful with the weather here. It seems this place is wilder than others.” he said as he hands a thermos to Yang. “Here’s some tea that Headmistress Zecora made to help you recover.”

“Thanks.” I said to him before continuing. “Is it weird not being the Headmaster anymore?” I asked him.

“No not really, I’ve done other things before I became Headmaster.” he explained before turning away. “Remember to do your homework, being sick isn’t an excuse for you to fall behind.”

With that, he left the room. Yang got us some tea cups for us to drink the tea.

“Thanks Yang…” Ruby said as she was handled her cup. “How’s your arm?”

“It’s still good sis, though the metal kinda gets really cold and burns my arm a bit.” Yang said as she showed Ruby that.

“Oh I knew I forgot something, I need to…” Ruby stopped to have a sneezing fit. “Ugh… anyway, I need to write down some plans and-”

“No, what you need to do is drink some tea and lay down.” Yang said, pushing a notebook nearby away. Ruby frowned at her sister but Yang gave her a look. “Ruby Rose.”

“Alright alright fine.” Ruby grumbled as she laid back a bit.

“Good to hear, now drink up.” Yang said, helping Ruby to drink her tea. I was sipping away when I saw Mother standing in the doorway watching Yang.

“I see Ozpin has dropped off the tea.” Mother said, smiling a little before looking at Qo, who took a sip of the tea and grew look of disgust. “Piin nii vok, mal gein. Nii fen krif vau daar gaas germs.” She said to Qo. [Drink it up, little one. It will fight off those nasty germs] Qo’s ears flattened on top of her head before she looked over at me. I simply showed her my cup and drank from it. The taste was a bit bitter but I pushed through it as I smiled. She looked down at her tea and sip some more. Ruby on the other hand drank a bit and made the same face as Qo did.

“Ugh, bitter.” she said as she frowned at the cup. Yang rolled her eyes at her before standing up.

“Come on Ruby, drink your tea.” Yang said before arching a brown. “Or do I have to do that thing again when we were little and sick.” Ruby went pale from that.

“No no! It’s fine, see!” with that Ruby changes the whole thing down. When she was done she made a disgusted face and twitched a bit. “See… all gone.”

I shook my head as I looked back at Mother. “Guess the teachers know?” She nodded before sitting beside Qo, whose face was slightly green once she finished the whole cup.

“Your assignments will be sent to your scrolls, you’ll need to turn them when you’re better.” Mother said, rubbing Qo’s back in a soothing manner as she groaned. I nodded as I glanced at Qo, seeing her like this worries me. I would go over to her if it wasn’t for my own unwellness.

“Did I do good?” Yang asked with a smile. This made Mother laugh as she got up. As she turned away I watched Qo push off of her bed and crawled under my blanket. Only her tail poked out from under the blanket.

“Don’t worry, once we’re alone you’ll get it.” She said to Yang, her voice taking a bit of a seductress tone as she caressed Yang’s cheek. Yang seemed to shiver a bit at what she did as I rolled my eyes.

“Wow Yang, never thought I see you like this.” Ruby chuckled at her sister. Yang glanced over at Ruby before looking at her girlfriend.

“Totally worth it though.” Yang said with a bright smile. Mother giggled at this as she stood beside Yang. Ruby shook her head as I felt Qo wiggle around until she was curled up beside me and finally fallen asleep. Mother saw this and smiled.

“You two head on out, I think the three of us will sleep.” I said to the two of them. This made Yang look at Mavisath happily as she chuckles. With a wave of her hand, both Yang and Mother soon vanished in a flash of golden light.

“Hey.” I looked over at Ruby as she moved some blankets over and her gesturing for us to come over. With a smile, I picked Qo up and moved her over to the bed and got in with her in between me and Ruby. The three of us soon fell asleep in bed happily and together.

The next few days went by as the three of us got better. It was a day before me and Ruby could head back to classes but with Weiss and Blakes help we weren’t falling behind. Oddly I haven’t seen Yang at all for those days. One day as Ruby and Qo were taking a nap and I was finishing up some homework I heard something go under my door. I turned and saw a note there. Staring at it I went over and picked it up. It simply says ‘Come to Yangs room.’ on it.

Curious I slipped some warmer clothes on before giving both Ruby and Qo a kiss on their heads. After that, I left the room and headed off to Yangs room. I soon got there and knocked on it.

“Hey, I’m here. Is everything alright?” I called in. When the door opened, Mavis poked her head out with tired eyes. Her usually well-kept hair was in disarray.

“Yes, something the matter Viri?” She asked, rubbing her eyes a little. I stared at her oddly for a few moments.

“I’m fine, is there something the matter with you?” I asked as I showed her the note. “I found this at my door.” She looked at the note, taking it in her hand before shaking her head.

“I didn’t write this.” She said, looking back up at me with an arched brow. I gave her an odd look before looking at the note.

“Odd, maybe it’s Yang… wait why are you in Yangs room?” I asked her. She blinked at this, silently trying to come up with an explanation.

“Hey… you up already?” The voice of Yang came in from her room. I slowly blinked at Mavis as she stared at me as I saw Yang poke her head out. “Oh hey, Viri. Sup?”

“Would this happen to be your handwriting?” Mavis asked, taking the note and showing it to Yang. Yang took the note as the two of them were still behind the door. Yang squinted her eyes a bit as she read it.

“I… think so…” Yang said as she looked at it some more. “I think I had a few of those bottles you brought from your place.” Wait, bottles?

“Did… did you two drink?” I asked the two of them. It wasn’t because of being underages, I believe they were of age, but the idea that Mavis drinking was… surprising.

“Only a little, though I can’t say the same for Yang.” Mavis said with a chuckle.

“ ‘Only a little’ she says.” Yang said with a laugh. “Girl you drank me under the table from what I remember.” Mavis looked back at me before saying.

“The most I’ve felt was just simple buzz.” She said with a roll of her eyes before adding. “To me you are, what you mortals call, a lightweight.” Mavis said.

“Lightweight! Oh it’s on!” Yang said before ducking back into her room.

“Wow…” Was all I could say before adding. “All this after you got together with Yang.” She shrugged before saying.

“I can only thank the halfling children for this really, they’ve grown into fine adults and to my surprise, have learned how to keep the Dovah in check and prevent them from wiping out one another.” She said, smiling at the mention of the halflings.

“Wow, they came a long way.” I said with a smile as I remembered them when they were young and pulling pranks on me. Now that they are helping Mother with taking care of her home made me smile. “Well, that means you can as we mortals say ‘let loose a bit’.” I added.

“I haven’t felt this free in a very very long time, I intend to enjoy it.” She said before wincing at the sounds of a few bottles smashing.

“Sorry!” Yang yelled from within the room. I shook my head as I looked back at Mavis before I tilted my head as I thought of what she meant by free.

“Are you… naked behind that door?” I asked. She blinked at this question, though a blush formed across her cheeks.

“Is there a problem with that?” She asked with a single brow raised as the blush subsided.

“Oh no, just realized that you were really taking the whole being free part quite far.” I said with a chuckle. “But it’s nice to see you’re having fun.”

“Hey, Mavis! Get your sexy ass in here! I’m going to show you who’s a lightweight!” Yang yelled in the room. For a moment I saw Mavis’ face lit up as if she was going to burst out laughing at this.

“I better stop her before she’ll regret it. The brew is made for Dovahs.” She said before reaching an arm out and giving me a quick hug. “I will see you later, sweetie.” She said before closing the door. I stared at the door before chuckling at myself. I turned and headed back to my room where Ruby and Qo would be waking up.

Author's Note

The power of Freedom, it’s great.

Sorry for a lot of the stories not really meshing well with each other. I just find season one of MLP kinda borning so mostly until later the story is focusing on the group of Forever free :)

Lightening Ball and a new store

I was really happy went I saw that the sun came back and the snow melted away. Qo on the other hand was sad to see it go but that didn’t last long as the flowers started to come up. She now loves to run around in a field of flowers.

Over the months since Forever free was open the Village nearby got bigger over time. It was now almost twice as big than I first came here and more trading happens from nearby towns and villages. This made Zecora happy and, oddly, so did Tak. Speaking of Tak Blake and me convince Weiss to tell him her feeling and… well, their together… after finally getting them out of their rooms.

Right now was after school and both Yang, Ruby, and I were laying out in the sun getting some light. Yang was wearing a yellow bikini top with some back shorts as if she was about to go running. I was wearing wearing the same kind only a red flaming top and some running pants. Ruby had a simple red tank-top and some gray shorts on.

“Why am I here?” Ruby asked.

“Because we’re bonding.” Yang said with a laugh.

“We’re simply laying here.” Ruby countered.

“Yang needed to get away from her other for a bit and she would only go if you came as well.” I told her.

“Ohhh.” was all Ruby said. The three of us laid there before Yang spoke.

“Did you all hear that there’s a talent competition coming up?” Yang said.

“No, why is there a talent competition?” I asked.

“Something about a Gala in a few months. Winner will go with Headmistress Zecora and the professors to it with their friends.” Yang explained. “You think we should ask Weiss?”

“Don’t know… maybe?” I told her. I turned a bit before speaking. “So how goes it with the two of you Yang?”

“Oh fun, very fun.” Yang said with a laugh. “Though I wonder what she would be like as a male?”

“You haven’t seen Sanns yet?” I asked, sitting up. Yang pushed herself up and turned to me.

“Nope, guess it never came up, well mostly him more younger.” Yang put her chin on her hand. “I can kinda imagine it and ohh~, I would be in his arms in a heartbeat.”

“You are kinda jumping into this real well Yang.” Ruby said as she sat up. Yang looked at her sister before her happy smile turned somber.

“Well yeah, sure it’s really fun but…” she blushed a bit more then before. “I’m… really like them.”

Staring at Yang a bit I sensed there was more going on. “You… okay?”

“Yeah… I just… had a really bad nightmare two nights ago.” Yang said as she sat cross legged. “Mavis was there for me and… I slept in her arms after.”

“Yang…” Ruby said before giving her sister a hug. Yang smile before hugging Ruby back.

“Thanks Ruby.” Yang said as I stared.

“You know, the way you talk about them, it sounds like you’re in love.” I told her. Yang took a moment to think about it before nodding.

“If you put it that way… yeah.” Yang chuckled a bit. “I’m in love.”

“Ohh, I’m so proud of you~!” Ruby said as she gave her sister a bigger hug.

“Oh wow, Ruby… kind choking me.” Yang tried to say.

“Sorry.” Ruby said as she pulled away.

“It’s fine.” Yang said as she laid back. She pushed her sunglasses down as she laid there.

“Well I’m happy that you found your one true love.” I said with a snicker.

“You make it sound like a fairytale.” Yang pointed out. From the corner of my eyes I spotted Father, though now he looked younger, almost as if he attended the school. He wore a pair of dress pants and the school uniform top for men. He walked over to Yang before stopping beside her, he smiled down at her.

“Perhaps it is fairy tale, with you being the princess.” He said with a little chuckle. Yang frown a little.

“Who are you calling Princess-” Yang stopped to see Father standing there. “Hello~ sexy.”

“Smooth Yang, smooth.” I said as Ruby giggled. Yang slowly stood up and took off her sunglasses.

“Ah well, yes, hey there… Sanns was it?” Yang asked as she blushed some more. “I-I-I know your name, it's Sanns… yes, that's it.” she muttered the last bit.

“Yes, for now that is the name I go by.” He said, before giving Yang a kiss on the cheek. “Did you miss me?” He asked. Over the past few months he has been coming and going back home, having not gotten used having so much free time. It seems now he's slowly getting accustomed to it.

“I bet she did~” I purred at the two of them. Ruby sniffled a bit.

“Our Yang has gone and fallen in love with a Prince… the land is saved.” Ruby said playfully.

“You guys!” Yang said with a blush on her cheeks. She looked at the two of us as we giggling.

“Not so fun being the one getting teased huh?” Ruby said. Yang looked over at me with a frown.

“Remember that I can still beat you if you-eep!” Yang eeped when she felt Fathers hand on her bare shoulder. She turned back at him smiling warmly.

“They're just playing around, no need for threats.” Father said before looking at both me and Ruby. “Where is little Qo?” He asked.

“Qo is with Indigo and Blake. She wants to see… how does she say it? Indi’s ‘shadow work’ and Blake's ‘make more of herself’.” I told him with a giggle. “She's so cute.”

“She is.” Ruby said before crossing her arms. “But she ate my cookies…”

“Ruby, that was me.” I said.

“You ate my cookies!” Ruby yelled suddenly. I put my hands up in defence.

“Hey hey, I'll buy you some more.” I told her quickly. Ruby glared at me for a bit.

“You better or else no snuggles or pets for you.” Ruby warned. My eyes went wide at this.

“Oh come on Ruby, don't you think that's a little too far…” I said with a nervous voice.

“No, it's not.” she said.

“And that's my friend, is karma.” Yang said with a laugh. Father laughed as well before reaching into the pocket of his pants, pulling out a small wrapped box.

“For Qo, a gift from me.” He said, handing it to me. I looked at him with a curious glance. “I know it's not her birthday but I have been working on the gift for quite some time now and I think she'll love it.” Father said smiling. I smiled before taking the package.

“Thanks, I'll give it to her when I see her. Oh, and she's learning how to speak better!” I said happily. I figured he already knows but it's nice to say it to Father.

“And here I was getting used to speaking within the Dovah’s tongue.” Father said with a small laugh as he wrapped an arm around Yang. Yang smiled and rest her head on his shoulder.

“So… what do you want to do handsome?” Yang purred. Father smirked at this but said nothing before looking back at me.

“When you do find Qo, let me know, I want to be there when she's the gift I got her.” He said with a smile. I smiled and nodded as I looked at the box, wondering what it is.

“What's is it?” Yang asked.

“Don't know, don't have X-ray vision.” I said. I turned the box over a bit to look at it before standing up. “Let's go find Qo.” Yang and Father nodded while Ruby stood up. The four of us when off searching for my daughter, fortunately, we didn't have to look very far as by simply walking into the halls of the school, Qo was spotted atop a miniature Nevermore happily flying through the halls, giving the passing students a sight to see. Luckily after spending time with Sylph and Oni, seeing a small Nevermore isn't the strangest sight.

I gave Qo a wave which had her land in front of us.

“Hi Mommy! Hi Bormahsebormah!” she greeted. [Grandfather!]

“Hi sweetie, having fun?” I asked as the Nevermore started picking at it feathers. At a closer look I saw it was more shadowy than a normal one.

“Yes, I got Mister Indi to make a shadow bird!” Qo said happily. The Nevermore cawed at this, opening its wings and before dissipating. “Aww.”

I chuckled at her before pulling the box out into my hands. Qo saw this and got more interested.

“This is from your Grandfather.” I told her, handing the box over. Qo looked at Father to see if was true, to which she received a nod.

“It is something I made just for you, little Qo.” He said as he smiled down at her. Qo happily started to open the box. Soon a clear orb came out of it. It was the size of a small head as it rolled around.

“A clear...ball?” Yang asked as she stares at the orb. Father chuckled as Qo looked at the orb before grabbing it. As soon as her hands touched it bolts of electricity shot out from within the orb. The bolts of electricity focusing on Qo’s hands as she held the ball.

“With this orb, Qo, you are able to channel your abilities and display an image from within your mind.” Father said this as the electricity within formed into an orb that grew before an image of all of us, sitting together sharing a lovely feast was displayed inside the orb. Indigo and Blake were there with Iilah in between them, they were smiling and laughing happily. Weiss was there as well as Tak, the two smiled as they enjoyed the moment. Father and Yang were there also, sitting next to me while I sat next to Qo, who in turn was sitting next Ruby.

Qo smiled happily as she played around with the image. I smiled happily as the images shifted to different ones. One was the time we played in the snow, another her flying around on the Shadow Nevermore. There was one of her and Ruby reading a book.

“I see you like the gift, little one.” Father said to Qo, bringing her attention away from the orb. Qo smiled as the image changed to that of her holding the orb, playing with it. She set the orb down, going back to it's clear state, before getting up and hugging Father.

“Nox hi.” she said to him. [Thank you.] Father crouched down before hugging back, smiling the whole time before saying.

“Naan fah dii mal lotkiir.” He whispered to her in a comforting manner. [Anything for my little granddaughter]

Qo smiled before pulling away from Father and picked the orb back up, having the electricity come back as she simply stared at it happily. Her tail wagging happily from this making me chuckle. I felt Ruby rest her head on my shoulder before I rest my head on top of hers.

It wasn't long before we were walking down the hallway, after Father handed me and Yang a shirt after a number of other students were staring at us.

“Jeez has nobody here seen a girl in a bikini top before?” Yang grumbled as she put on the shirt.

“I do not think that's the case. Most of the men and some of the women are simply ogling at the both of you.” Father said with a shrug. His current voice will take time for me to get used to, I just never imagined Father or Mother for that matter to act like they are now. He smirked before wrapping an arm around Yang and pulling her close, bringing a giggle from the blonde as a result. “While enjoy staring at the beauty of Yang, I cannot stand them doing so to my daughter.” He said.

“My thoughts the same.” We all turned to Ruby as she said that. “What?”

“Aww, you care about me.” I said as I gave her a hug. Ruby blushed at this as Yang laughed a bit. As we walked we pasted two teachers. Both of them noticed Father and stared for a moment before continuing on as if nothing happened. I looked back and saw the two of them going a little faster than before.

“It seems that you're drawing the other kind attention now.” I whispered to Father.

“Hmm, so it seems.” He said just above a whisper.

“You think that's going to be a problem?” I asked him.

“If it's a problem then they have to deal with me.” Yang said as she butted into our conversation. Father simply smiled before giving a peck on the cheek, appreciating her words. As we were walking we past a few students talking.

“I heard there was a new shop opening in a day or two.”

“Yeah, I seen some neat stuff through the windows. What was it called?”

“ I believe it's 'Mal Kun shop’ isn't there a student with that last name?”

Both me and Father and stopped at that and looked at each other.

“You don't think…” I asked him.

“Sister.” He said, though not as surprised as I thought he would be. “Perhaps we should visit her sometime, it has certainly been a while.” It was then that a question came to mind.

“Have you told her about Yang?” I asked him. He glanced at me with a questioning hum. “Did you tell her about you and Yang?” I asked him. He thought about this before ultimately shaking his head.

“I'm afraid not. I suppose I must've forgotten.” He said, adding the last bit to himself. Yang heard this and looked up at him before saying.

“What about your sister?” She asked, wanting to know what we were talking about.

“My aunt and his sister.” I answered. “It seems that your boyfriend forgot to tell her about you two.”

“Oh…” her confused features slowly to a mischief smirk. “I guess I've been keeping him busy~”

“I will not deny that.” Father said chuckling a little with a smirk of his own. “In all seriousness, perhaps I should introduce her to you.” He suggested. As he was talking to Yang I glanced over to Qo who was still playing with her orb.

“You want to come see your Aunt?” I asked her. She looked up at me and nodded happily. “Alright then, onwards!”

After spending some time looking around we finally found the shop aunt Axycia owns. It was a two story place with dark wood walls and some brick roofing. The most interesting part was that it looked like it grew out of the ground, with roots digging into the ground at the bottom of the place. The door was open but a little sign was hanging out beside the doorway saying ‘Can come look around but no buying until after the store opens. Thanks!’

“Wow… this place is something.” Yang said as she looked at the place.

“It fits into the style of the town.” Father said, tilting his head at the building and crossed his arms. I nodded as I saw Qo walking into the store.

“Qo!” I yelled as I ran in after her. As I came in I saw that… the whole place was bigger, and I mean bigger inside. There was wall to wall bookshelves that seemed to go higher than the building itself. A number of tables of different items and trinkets laid out on them and some stairs leading up to a second floor. The place was lit with floating everburning candles that seemed to float around in the air. There was an air of old forgotten knowledge if you can call it that, as well as something new. As everyone walked in and looked around I saw Qo looking at what I can tell is some sort of Lava lamp.

“Wow… it’s like we stepped into a whole new world…” Ruby said as she looked around.

“Yeah…” Yang said as she looked at the tables. “Half of the things here I don’t even know what they are.”

I nodded as I walked over to pick Qo up. She is still holding on to her orb as we looked around. Soon a man came walking in with a box in hand. He noticed all of us and stopped.

“Um, excuse me but ah, the store isn’t open yet.” said the man… or woman, I couldn’t tell. They had long dirty blonde hair with some braids in it. Their features were both male and female as I saw some fins coming off their arms. I watched them put the box down as everyone else walks up. Yang looked at the Faunus with an odd expression, one that the Faunus noticed. “Is there something wrong?”

“Huh? Oh sorry, it’s just… are you male or female?” Yang asked. The Faunus simply chuckled.

“I understand the confusion, but if you don’t mind to simply think I’m a Genderfluid being.” they explained before adding. “So ‘They, Them, Their’ is most likely be the right pronouns.”

“Pardon us for our intrusion but we were are looking for Axycia Mal Kun.” Father said, stepping up beside Yang.

“Oh it’s fine, there were a few that came in here before. Kinda a mandatory thing for me to say.” the store clerk said with a smile. “I’ll go see if she’s busy.”

With that, they headed up the stairs and disappear into the building. As we waited I saw Yang fidget a bit in nervosity.

“You okay?” I asked her. Yang looked at me and nodded.

“Yeah… just, nervous for some reason.” she answered. Father glanced at her with an arched brow.

“There's no reason to be nervous, love.” He said, grasping Yang’s hand. Yang smiled at him before the sound of a door opening as my Aunt came in out of nowhere. She was wearing a old dark blue and purple robe with gold stars on it. She had her hair done up in some braids with colourful beads in it. She smiled happily as she extends her arms.

“Welcome to my shop!” she greeted everyone as I put Qo down for her to run over to her.

“Aunty!” Qo said happily. Axycia laughed as she gave Qo a hug.

“Hello there little one. How is my favorite niece?” she asked happily. Qo smiled as she tried to start talking but Ruby came over to pick her up.

“I found some cool stuff over here.” she said as she brought Qo over to a table as Axycia looked at the three of us.

“Hello you three.” She said before looking at her brother. “You look younger.” Father nodded at this.

“It is a new look, one I quite enjoy.” He replied with a smile. Aunty arches a brow at him before moving around to the other side of the counter.

“Well… it looks nice. A little odd but nice.” she said before looking at us. “So, what can I do for you?”

“I’m fine here, it’s those two you have to ask.” I said as I nodded to Father and Yang. Yang frowned at me before saying.

“So… do you want to say it or should I?” Yang asked Sanns. Sanns simply gestured Yang to do it as Yang took a deep breath. “Okay… so, the two of us, your brother and I, are dating.”

There was silence between the three of them as Axycia stared at Yang. After a minute or two she started laughing. We all looked at eachother confused before she spoke.

“That’s funny. Good joke.” Axycia said with a smile before chuckling.

“You… don’t believe me.” Yang asked, sounding a little hurt.

“No offence to my brother but he’s a bit of a stick in the mud. I haven’t seen him get together with… well anyone or being since we were born.” Axycia explained before looking at her brother. “Right.”

“Sister, that was not a joke.” Father said to Axycia. Axycia slowly blinks at him before pointing at Father than at Yang.

“You two.” Father nodded. “Together.” Yang and Father nodded. “For real.”

“Yes, why is it so hard to-whoa!” Yang was then pulled over the counter into Axycia arms as she hugged.

“YOU’RE MY MOST FAVORITE BEING EVER!” Axycia giggled happily as she was hugging Yang. She let the blonde go before continuing. “And here I thought he would never go out out dating. But man he has good taste!”

Yang blinked at this before looking at me. I simply shrugged at her.

“You seem awfully happy about this.” Father said curiously with an arched brow. Axycia rolled her eyes at him.

“I was always worried that you would be alone for the longest of times.” she said before smiling. “I’m happy you finally found someone you care about.” Father smiled at this before saying.

“Thank you.” He said with a smile. Both him and Yang stood close together before Yang spoke.

“Yeah, here I thought you would be not happy with us.” Yang said sheepishly.

“Me? Nah, I’m happy with you two.” my aunt said before adding. “Uhh, you do know that Sanns can… you know… change?”

“Huh? Oh yeah it’s fine I can go both ways.” Yang said before smirking at Sanns. “I do have to say that Mavisath is really fun~”

Aunt Axycia looked at her brother before asking. “Fun? What do you mean fun? What did I miss?” With a happy sigh, Father explained to her how he no longer has to focus solely on governing the Dovahs, how the halfling children he helped raise have grown into capable leaders that, to return the favor of taking care of them, had decided to keep the realm in check and to notify Father of any major changes or incidents that may require his presence.

“And now, I have all the time in existence to enjoy myself.” Father finished his long explanation with a bright smile on his face.

“Well that’s great! Happy that you now have the knowledge of ‘Free time’.” she chuckled before looking off into the store. “I somewhat hear wedding bells~”

“What?! Oh nonononono we’re not… I mean… umm…” Yang blushed a bit before Axycia cut her off.

“Dear I’m playing with you, like you I love to tease others with stuff.” she said before smiling warmly at Yang. “Just be happy with him. Okay?”

Yang simply nodded slowly before wrapping her arm around Father’s. She slowly smiled at him as he smiled back. He smiled back before facing me.

“Too be honest, I'm currently thinking on it.” He said. My eyes widened as Yang looked at him.

“Wait what?!” she asked. Axycia looked at us before making a seat appear and a bag of popcorn. She started to munch on this as she watched.

“Did I upset you?” Father asked her with a bit of worry in his tone. Yang quickly shook her before saying.

“No no no, it’s just… what do you mean by ‘thinking on it’?” Yang asked. Hearing this he smiled and shook his head a bit before saying.

“Truly you don't wish for me to spoil the surprise?” He asked her. Yang slowly blinks at him before speaking.

“I… need another one of those bottles from before.” Yang said before pulling Father closer to her. “And some cuddling or something more.”

“That I can do.” Father said in a loving tone. Yang smiled at him before my Aunt chimed in.

“Be careful with what you drink and use protection.” she said before shrugging. “Or don’t, I’m loving being called aunty.”

“Aunty aunty aunty!” Qo said with a giggle, to which Axycia pointed at her.

“See! She understands it!” Axycia laughs as Yang blushed even more.

“Make that two bottles.” she said to Father. He simply laughed at this before bring Yang closer for a passionate kiss to which Yang returned in kind. Axycia smiled at the two of them as she stood up.

“As much as I want to stay and talk I have a lot of work to do.” she said as she the ‘shooing’ gesture. “Shoo shoo.”

In a few minutes we were outside of the store with the door closed. I looked at everyone before asking.

“So… now what?”

“I want to show Iilah my lightning ball!” Qo said happily. I laughed as well as Ruby.

“I’ll take her to the library, I need to go research somethings for some work.” she explained before the two of them headed off towards the school. I simply watched the two of them walk away with a smile on my face.

“What do you wish to now?” Father asked me and Yang. Yang merely shrugged as she leaned onto Father’s shoulder with blissful sigh.

“I don’t know. What do you want to do?” Yang asked with a loving smile. I shook my head as I left the two lovebirds alone. I simply wandered around the town as I wondered what will happen next.

Author's Note

You have to admit that in the Cannon RWBY story Yang is dealing with some PTSD and the Fate of Remnant stuff while this Yang is Dating the God of Everything, plus the PTSD stuff. Things are a little odd huh.

Anyway, Next chapter is going to be interesting, such as it’s going to deal with heat... a lot of heat. >:)

A rock and a hard place... that likes to punch us

It’s been almost an hour since we left to search for Rockmond and his group but it felt weren’t getting anywhere. Me and Ruby were able to find some water that Yang chugged at happily much to Mother’s enjoyment. Mother had given us canteens to store some water for later, which we thanked happily for.

Now we stood atop a cliff that overlooked a dried up riverbed, the dirt cracked from the lack of water. From where we stood we were able to see the jagged rocks from afar, though I couldn’t help but groan at the distance between us and the rocks. My groaning was cut off by loud growl behind us and when we turned to face the source of the growl, Me, Ruby and Yang stared at it in horror while Mother looked up at it. A large and heavily scarred Rex loomed over us, nostrils flaring angrily as it stared us down.

“Ruby… is this your Rex?” Yang asked her sister as Ruby stared up at the T-Rex. The Rex then roared at us before preparing to chomp us only to be bashed to the side by another Rex, this one wearing Tek looking armor. It roared at the scarred Rex before bashing it away once again before shaking his head, the sounds of cocking guns soon followed. From the side of its head, two gun turrets formed and fired plasma balls at the other Rex. Now hurt and outmatched, the scarred Rex ran off in fear.

The Armored rex roared victoriously before turning around to face us while the guns turrets deactivated. It looked at Ruby before bending its head in front of her, a non threatening growl emitted from the armored Rex before nudging Ruby. Ruby smiled happily and hugged the armored Rex.

“This one is!” she said happily as the Rex growled happily. Yang slowly turned to me wide-eyed.

“An armored, T-Rex…” she said. I simply shrugged.

“Ruby likes dinos.” I said to her.

“Right…” Yang said as she pulled Mavis closer to her. “I like Dovahs more.” This earned her an amused giggle from Mother. There was another growl as we all see Ruby on the T-Rex.

“Anyone wants a lift?” Ruby asked us. Seeing this as an excuse to not walk, I hopped on. Yang follows me and climbs on. As she got on she offered a hand to Mother.

“Need a hand?” she asked. Mother smiled before taking the hand and being helped up onto the Rex before sitting behind Yang. She then wrapped her arms around Yang and resting her head on Yang’s shoulder. With everyone on Ruby motions the Rex forward and soon we were making good time through the desert. We made our way towards the jagged rocks, passing by the many Rex’s that dared not to interfere. We finally made to the jagged rocks and saw the large rocky mountain that Lana had told us about before going around it, stopping to fight a giant hostile scorpion that, thanks to the Rex, was taken out with ease.

“Now, the dunes should be… here.” I said, laying my eyes on the seemingly endless ocean of sand. “Oh… That’s not good.”

“Good thing we have these clothe.” Yang said as she looks up at the sun. “We would have a bad case of heat stroke and sunburned…” she looked at Mavis for a moment. “Question; do you get sunburnt? Or a tan at all?”

“Only when I want to.” Was Mother’s answer. I noticed a mound of sand moving in the distance.

“Umm, what was that?” Ruby asked, seeing what I’m seeing.

“Okay, you have to teach me how to do that! The stuff you can do is really cool.” Yang said, making Mother giggle as I looked at the two of them.

“Um, focus please?” I asked them as I nodded to the dunes. “I think there’s something under the sand, moving.” Mother looked over to dunes but saw nothing, the mound of moving sand having disappeared.

“Hmm.” She hummed before we began moving into the dunes, surprising everyone but Mother. The Rex having decided to not stand around much longer and headed into dunes. Not knowing how to react to this, we simply let the Rex do its thing as it carried us along.

Before long I noticed that I can guess is a makeshift camp. I pointed this out to the others which they now see. The Rex stopped beside the campsite and lowered its head, allowing us to hop off safely.

“Allow me, my lady.” Yang said with a smile before offering a hand to Mother. Mother grabbed Yang’s hand before climbing down the Rex, being sure not to harm it as she did.

“Thank you, love.” Mother said, giving Yang kiss on the cheek as a reward. Yang smiled at this.

“Anything for you.” she told her. Ruby and I looked around at the makeshift camp. It didn’t look abandoned,judging by the still burning pot of stew, which was a good sign.

“Was this their camp?” Ruby asked. I shrugged as I looked around the camp, maybe I could find something.

“Hey look what I found!” Ruby exclaimed as she turned to us, revealing a Tek rifle in her hands. It hummed to life upon Ruby’s touch.

“That could be one of theirs, so that’s good.” I said wait a smile. Yang got closer to Ruby and asked for it. Ruby nodded as she handed it to her. Yang got a closer look at the Tek gun.

“This look cool.” she said before showing it to Mavis. “What do you think?”

“I will admit the design intrigues me but a weapon such as this in the wrong hands could be… disastrous.” She said, looking at the weapon with a frown.

“That’s...true.” Yang said as she looked at the gun. She handed the Tek rifle back to Ruby. She looked up at her sister with a odd look. “If your friends are still around they would want this back.”

Ruby nodded as she put the rifle down and went back to look around. I stared at Yang for a second as she was deep in thought. Mother worried that she might have upset her.

“You okay?” I asked Yang. Yang blinked a few times as if she was just snapped out of a trance.

“Huh? Oh, I’m fine, just thinking.” she said as her hand reached to Mother’s own. As Yang took hold of her hand it looked like she was holding her hand for support, Yangs expression softens at this a bit.

“Whatever troubles you, know that I am here for you.” Mother said to her in a loving and comforting tone.

“Thank you…” Yang said softly. I slowly back away from them, feeling like they need a moment alone. I spent the next while looking for tracks of any kind that aren’t ours.

As I looked around I noticed some shadows peering over the dune. I turned and, to my joy, one of the twins. I looked at her before yelling. “Which Twin are you again?!”

“Heaven!” The twin said before running up to me and giving an almost bone-crushing hug. “You’re here! How?” She asked pulling away from the hug.

“I have my ways.” I answered right before Ruby attacked Heaven in a hug.

“Heaven!!!” Ruby said happily as she hugged the twin.

“Ruby!” She exclaimed happily as well, returning the hug happily.

“What’s going on here!?” A familiar voice yelled as they appeared from the other side of the sand hill. It was Rockford sporting a desert cloth shirt and pants, his robotic legs still visible.

“Hey Rockmond!” I called out to him as I waved. Rockmond noticed me and smiled upon seeing me wave at him.

“Viri, Ruby… didn’t expect to see you two in a place like this.” Rockmond said as he slid down the mound of sand.

“I believe I have an odd habit of simply showing up.” I nodded to Ruby as she let Heaven go. “One my girlfriend is slowly getting.” Rockmond raised a brow at this and glanced at Ruby before looking back at me.

“So you’ve finally told her?” He asked with a smirk. I chuckled at this.

“Yeah… yeah I told her and she kissed me.” I explained. He patted my shoulder with a chuckle as he walked by me.

“Congrats, Viri.” He said before noticing Mother and Yang. “Friends of yours?” He asked me.

“Yes, this is Mavisath and Yang.” I introduce them both. Oddly Yang gave him a small bow to him alongside Mother.

“Hey there.” Yang greeted.

“Greetings.” Mother greeted as they both straightened up. Rockmond bowed in return, not wanting to be rude.

“Greeting to you two, what brings you here to this wretched desert?” He asked all of us.

“We came to help Lana and the rest of you with dealing with the beast.” I told him. “She sent us out to find you guys, maybe mostly so we can see each other again.”

“Ah yes, well I’ll be sure thank her when we get back.” He said as put out the fire that heated the pot. “We haven’t been able to find much of anything out here beside centipedes and mantis.” He said.

“I see.” I said to him. I looked around before continuing. “Where are the other two?” Just as I said this, Ed came into view with Navaeh following behind him. They both slid down the hill of sand. I smiled at the two of them until there was a fifth being. This one looked like they were wearing Tek armor but it was...different. They wore some kind hooded short cape that were the same colour of the desert clothing.

“Hey, who’s that?” I asked. Rockmond saw them and said.

“Oh her, she says her name is Rose.” He said just as Ed and Navaeh stood beside us.

“Wow, didn’t think I’d see you two again.” Navaeh said before pulling me and Ruby into a hug. “I’m glad I was wrong.”

“Good to see you Navaeh.” I said as I hugged her back. We pulled away and I reintroduced the rest of them to Yang and Mother. The woman, Rose, stayed up top for a bit as she looked around at the place. Was she keeping watch?

“So not to be rude or anything but are you two a thing?” Ed asked Yang and Mother, gaining an angered look from Yang. Edward quickly raised his hands and said. “No need to get angry! I was just curious, you two seem awfully close to one another.” He quickly said.

“To answer your question, yes we are.” Yang said before glancing to Mavis a bit before stepping back a bit. This made me tilt my head a bit as Yang seemed to get angry much easier than before. Maybe I should ask Mother that later.

“Again, sorry I really didn’t mean to sound rude.” Ed apologized once again before moving away, every so often making sure Yang doesn’t charge at him.

I turned away from them to see Rose still standing over head holding something in her hand. As soon as I saw it it disappeared before looking off somewhere. I stare at her before looking at Mother who now saw me. I nodded for us to talk a little away from the others as I made my way away from the group as Ruby asked the four questions.

I waited until Mother came over to me.

“Is something the matter, dear?” She asked as she walked over to me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you and Yang okay? I couldn’t help but see Yang getting… angry more often.” I asked her concerned over Yang. “Is she going through something Dovahish that I don’t know about?” This made her chuckle a bit.

“No no, there’s no ’Dovahish’ thing she’s going through, though she is acting like a young one… but I believe she’s scared of losing control and everything she worked so hard for.” she explained. As she said that her expression turned to worry and sadness as she glanced back to Yang as she talked to the others.

“I see…” I said. We stood there for a moment until I spoke again. “You think she’ll be alright?” Mother looked at Yang with a concerned gaze before looking back at me.

“It will be in time.” Was her answer as she closed her eyes with a deep sigh.

“Maybe you two need to talk about it, clear it up between yourselves.” I told her, remembering some close calls that could lead to Ruby and I fighting for a long time.

“I will.” Mother said with a nod. The two of us returned and I saw the woman slid down to us.

“Hi hello, sorry that I didn’t come to say hello to you all but old habits, so yeah I’m Rose, not around these parts as you can see, but uh… what are we doing?” Rose asked. From the sound of her she sounds like the same age as me and Yang back home I have this odd feeling about her. So much that it feels like she doesn’t belong here… At all. I looked over at Mother and saw that she has that same feeling.

“You feel it too?” I whisper to her. Mother nodded knowingly, glancing at Rose as she did.

“Yes, she is one of those individuals. The ones they call the displaced.” Mother said in an informative tone.

“Oh.” I said as I saw Rose look at Rockmond.

“If you don’t mind but uh… We should go. Now. There are...what were they called again?” she asked to no one as everyone stared at her. “Right okay, some kind of giant worm thing in the sand. I don’t like worms so I think we should go.” As she said this, a large mound sand moved headed towards us, Mother saw this and waved her hand at it, causing it to turn away and leaving us be.

“Umm, what was that?” Ruby asked as she watched the mound of sand moved away from us.

“Giant Worm… that turned away.” Rose said. She seemed to look around at us as I saw her hand at her side, as if she was going to grab something. Yang had her weapons out but simply watch it go.

“Uhh, yeah! Run away you… sand...worm… Thing!” she said to sound tough. Mother giggled a bit, gaining a blush from Yang as a result.

“I will repel these creatures for the duration of your expedition.” Mother said, looking at Rockmond. The latter nodded, appreciating this.

“So what’s the plan boss?” I asked Rockmond. Ruby stood beside me and stand at attention as Rockmond stared at us.

“On the way back here we spotted some ruins just over this hill, crawling with Mantises. It seems like a good place to find an Artifact, if there is one that is.” Rockmond said with a little shrug before saying. “This place is odd in more ways than I can count, who knows if there even are Artifacts.” He said.

“There could be loot!” Rose said to which we all stared at her. “What, you never know.”

“Anyway… we go to these ruins?” I asked, ignoring what Rose said.

“I’m up for anything as long we got out the sun.” Rockmond said, gaining a few nods of agreement from Ed and the twins.

“Ruins it is, it get us out of the sun and if we need to set up camp it will make it easier.” I said as I looked back at Ruby’s Armored Rex. Everyone went over and climb up on the T-Rex, which didn’t seemed to bothered by it as again Yang helped Mavis up again.

“Are you coming up?” Ruby asked Rose.

“As much I would love to say to a certain someone that I rode on an armored T-Rex I have my own thing to get around.” She said. Mother looked at her with a curious glance as she wrapped her arms around Yang. Yang was still blushing at this but smiling happily.

Ruby soon motioned for the Rex to move forward and headed where Rockmond told her about. After getting out of the camp and rode for a few moments I heard an odd sound behind us. I looked back to see Rose zoom out on some sort of hovering bike. She came up towards us and kept in line with us. We spent the next while riding the armored Rex with Rose nearby until we found the ruins. We also saw the sun slowly started to set towards the horizon.

“We’ll set up camp inside.” Rockmond said, earning a nod from both Navaeh and Edward before they both drew their swords and hopped off the Rex. With smirks on their faces, they sprinted towards the horde of giant Mantises before cutting them down. Heaven pulled out the rifle on her back, a long sniper like Tek Gun before providing cover fire for the other two. As quickly as we came, they had quickly dispatched any and nearby predators.

We entered what appeared to be a gathering hall, half buried underneath all the sand. Rockmond and Heaven were busy making the camp, creating a campfire in case it’ll get cold and somehow making sleeping bags for all of us.

“Hey I found something you might want to check out, boss!” Yelled Edward from across the room, gaining the other man’s attention. I looked at Edward, hopping to see what he found but was unable to from my position.

“Looks like there’s more to this place than we thought.” Said Rockmond after seeing Edward’s discovery. Letting curiosity get the best of me, I walked over to them and soon was able to see a half boarded up doorway down a set sand flooded stairs.

“What do you think is down there?” I asked them.

“Cave.” They both said with smirks, clearly excited to go spelunking.

“So...tomorrow we go spelunking?” I asked with a smile. They both nodded before moving back to the camp with me following behind. As I headed back, I noticed Yang and Mother off to the side by themselves. I watch them talk for a minute before moving a bit away so no one could see them. Arching a brow I went over to find Rose sitting by the fire, poking at it. Before I could say anything I saw her pull her hood off and unclasped her helmet. As she pulled it off I saw that, by far, looks completely different from anyone. Her skin was a pale white colour with a small bluish tinge to it. Her hair a dark blue colour with some green in it while her eye were a glowing blue colour. She glanced at me and tilted her head.

“What?” she asked. “You know it’s rude to stare.”

“Um, sorry, just you look so…”

“Different?” she asked before giving me a once over. “You have fox ears and tail.”

I didn’t say anything as I sat down. The firelight seem to cast a different glow to Roses eyes as she stared at it. Before long Rockmond and Edward came back and saw Rose without her helmet. Rose looked at them before sighing. “This might be something I need to get used to…”

The next few minutes for me were spent letting my mind wander as I saw Ruby make some pillows for us. I looked back at were Yang and Mother went off to. I stood up and walked over where they went in hopes that I could find them.

“Hey, you two around here? Is everything al- oh.” I stopped to see the two of them… having a very intimate moment with each other. I pulled back as they pulled away from each other. I hope they didn’t see me.

“Viri, we know you’re there.” Mother called out. I jumped a bit at this. Of course she would have seen me. I walked back out to face them.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to walk into that.” I said with a little blush. With an arched brow Mother asked.

“Why did you follow us out here for?” She asked, holding Yang close as she did.

“Just seeing if you two were alright.” I said, crossing my arms. “I’m allowed to worry about people.”

“Yes but peeping on them while they’re in a passionate moment with their love one is another thing.” Mother said while crossing her arms. I shrank a bit as I felt like I wasn’t going to win.

“Sorry… I’ll leave the two of you…” I said before turning to leave the two of them alone. I walked back into the room where no one seemed to notice that I left. I headed over to where Ruby is and sat down on the sleeping bag.

“Hey… you okay-ack!” she said as I pulled Ruby into a hug as I laid down. “You… okay?”

“Shut it, I need a Ruby to cuddle.” I told her.

“... Can do!” Ruby said as we laid there for a bit until I had to let her go for food. Who new roasted mantis taste good! Rose was busy telling tales of her own adventures that were very out there.

“You see, then this giant Space turtle came at me and tried to crush me into the wall! Luckily I was nimble enough to simply roll to the side as he crashed into the wall. Brought the whole building on top of him.” Rose said.

“So that killed it?” Ed asked her. Rose thought about it and shook her head.

“No, simply pissed it off before it tried again. How it died is a funny story…” she continued on well after the rest came back. Yang, Mavis, and the other two were surprised by the appearance of Rose, who simply ignored them. As we at we soon went to get some sleep.

Yang had dragged her sleeping bag closer to Mother, much to Mother’s surprise but she didn’t complain and laid there comfortably with Yang. The latter sleeping while Mother simply rested.

I laid in my bag as Ruby… well she was already passed out in hers, muttering about cookies. I glanced over and saw Rose sitting near the now low burning fire.

“You going to sleep?” I asked. She glanced up at me for a moment.

“In a bit. Need to be by myself right now.” she said as she simply stared at the fire. I nodded as I turned myself around in the sleeping bag. It wasn’t long before I fell asleep.

Morning came by really quick, having slept soundly last night. When I woke up with my arms around Ruby as she snored happily in her sleep. I looked around to see that I was the first to get up. I turned to see Mavis and Yang still sleeping, I also saw Yang had her arms around Mavis with dried tears on her face. She must’ve had another nightmare.

Not wanting to wake them just yet I slowly pushed Ruby off me and stood up. I saw the sun beaming in from some holes in the walls and windows that were still in one piece.

Rose was off sitting against the wall. She has her helmet on and not moving. I could only guess that she was asleep. I looked over to check Rockmond and Ed only to see that both sleeping bags were empty and their weapons were gone.

“They went off spelunking… without me!” I said annoyed. Being the adventurous spirit that I am, knowing that two friends have gone out cave exploring without me greatly annoyed me. I marched up to the supposed cave entrance only find them both sitting there with weapons in hand, they didn’t go spelunking… They were just guarding the entrance in case anything goes out.

A part of me sighed in relief upon sight of them, knowing that we can all still go explore together as a group. Another part of me wondered why they set up guard there.

“You two okay there?” I called out at them.

They opened their eyes and aimed their weapons at me before realizing that it was me. With a sigh Rockmond lowered his weapon while Ed looked down the entrance.

“You’re up early.” Rockmond said, placing down his rifle. He yawned a bit before adding. “So what’s up?” He asked.

“Thought you two went off exploring without me.” I told them as I got closer. This got a tired chuckle from him before he said.

“Nah, we go in as a group.” Rockmond said between chuckles before shaking his head and adding. “We heard some noises coming from inside the cave, figured we should keep guard in case something crawls out.” He said.

I nodded as I went over and sat down near them. “What do you two think is down there?”

“We’re not sure, though its safe to say it ain’t going to be nice.” Edward said, finally lowering his rifle. “I have a question for you, regarding your blonde friend. I know I have no right to ask but my weakness is curiosity.” He said before I nodded for him to continue on. “Is something troubling her? Any form of trauma? I noticed her crying in her sleep but thankfully her lover comforted her and calmed her down.” He said. I took a moment to think of a response.

“It’s… sorta of PTSD, it has something to do with her arm. The rest is something personal.” I told him. He nodded, accepting the answer.

“So she’s afraid of losing something.” Rockmond guessed, glancing at me with an arched brow. I nodded at him.

“Yeah, if you ask her she will maybe tell you about her arm. But know she’ll do anything to protect her family and friends.” I told them. They both nodded at this.

“What about the other one, Mavis, what’s her story?” Edward asked, leaning back onto the sandy steps behind him as he spoke. “Blondie seemed a little too clingy.” He said, referring to how Yang went on the defensive yesterday when asked if Mavis and her were an item.

“Well for one, wouldn’t you be if you lost something as close as your own arm?” I asked Ed. Edward glanced at Rockmond, gaining a frown from the prosthetic legged man.

“I’ve dealt with my loss after having gone through a deep depression.” Rockmond said before looking at me and saying. “The day I lost Lana and that monster took her place, that moment in my life was more painful than having my lower half ripped off.” He said, knocking on his metallic thigh.

“Was it really that bad?” I asked him, to which he nodded.

“It was.” He said. The three of us were silent before someone spoke up.

“Hey you three?” Rose greeted without her helmet. “What are we talking about?”

“The lovely sense of lose.” I told her sarcastically. Rose chuckled as she sat beside me.

“Oh fun, that sounds depressing.” she said in a oddly cheery mood. The other two stare at her for a few moments.

“Yeah… it is.” Rockmond said, looking back down at the boarded up cage door. Edward did the same, both of them had their weapons laying next to them. The four of us stared at the door in silence. I could have sworn that I heard something coming from there.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” a voice said which made me jump. I turned to see an oddly shaped eyeball floating beside Rose.

“You say that about everything.” she said before seeing my expression. “Oh yeah, you two never met. This is Beta, Beta this is Viri.”

“Nice to meet you.” Beta said. I simply stared at...him?

“You look like a tiny version of an Overseer.” Edward said, glancing at the floating eye.

“I’m...sorry? What’s an Overseer?” Beta asked.

“It’s a robotic being that controls and monitors places called Arks, which we’re in…” I frown and looked at the other two. “Right?” I asked them. Rockmond nodded before saying.

“Spot on.” He said with a chuckle.

“Well in a sense I am this Overseer but… not really.” Beta said as he floated over Roses head. “I simply help my Guardian with whatever she neede via information of anything to what she has.”

“Thank you, Beta.” Rose said.

“Interesting.” Rockmond said, interested in what Beta had just said.

“I have to ask; what is an Ark?” Beta asked. Rockmond raised a brow at this question.

“Never seen an Ark before?” Rockmond asked them. The two of them looked at each other before at Rockmond.

“That depends on the definition of that word.” Beta told him. Rockmond sighed before grabbing a handful of sand, letting it flow out of his hand out.

“The land we stand upon, all of this, is an Ark. A large enclosed space simulating Earth with a different climate.” Rockmond said in an informative tone. He sighed before saying. “As far as we know, our Ark is the only properly functioning one left. It’s a surprise this one is stable without its Overseer.” Rockmond added.

“Lana said it was nothing short of a miracle that she found this place.” Edward said, adding into the conversation.

“Interesting.” Beta said. As we chatted for a bit I saw Ruby walking over to us.

“Morning…” Ruby yawned a bit, still somewhat sleepy. She stumbles over to us before sitting down beside me… Then lay on me. This brought chuckles from both Edward and Rockmond. “Do we have more roasted bug?” Ruby asked.

“No but I can probably kill another Mantis and cook some up if you’re that hungry.” Edward said, offering to hunt a Mantis outside. Ruby muttered a bit as Rose spoke.

“Want any help?” She asked Edward. Ed simply looked at her, noting her lack of weaponry. Rose tilted her head a bit. “Something the matter?”

“How are you going to help without a weapon?” Ed asked with his arms crossed. Rose arched an eyebrow at this before leaning back.

“Oh? Don’t you mean something like this?” Rose asked as she pulled out a red and white revolver like gun. She showed it off to the two of them before attaching it to her leg. “That’s the tip of the iceberg with what I got.” I heard Beta groaning at Rose’s words. Edward looked at the revolver unimpressed before standing up.

“Alright let’s go.” Ed said, grabbing his rifle as he spoke. The rifle hummed to life, ready for a fight. Rose nodded as she stood up, a helmet formed around her head as the two of them headed off along with Beta. As I watched them go I felt Ruby tug on me.

“Hey, did you see Yang at all?” Ruby asked. I thought about it and nodded.

“You talking about the dried tears?” I asked. She nodded.

“What do you think happened?” Ruby asked, her voice gave way to the fact she’s worried about Yang.

“Maybe she had a nightmare or something.” I said.

“I don’t know… should we go check on her?” Ruby asked. I gave it some thought before answering.

“I think we should.” I told her. With that the two of us left Rockmond alone to go find Yang. We found her sitting alone in the corner, doing something. We started to head over only to be stopped by Mother.

“Please do not disturb Yang. She needs some time alone to her thoughts.” Mother said to the both of us. The two of us looked at each other before Ruby spoke.

“Is… something wrong with Yang?” Ruby asked.

“She has been suffering nightmares for quite some time, it seems that this one was her breaking point.” Mother said, glancing at Yang with worry before saying. “I will keep watch over her, bring her food and water if she asks for it.” Mother said. We both nodded before Ruby stepped forward.

“Yang… listens to you the most so…” She takes Mother’s hands and gives her a saddened look. “Help her please.”

“I will do everything I can to help her.” Mother said, smiling sadly as she spoke. I soon pulled Ruby away as Mother went over to Yang. The two of us went off to do our own things as Ruby now wanted to be alone. I couldn’t blame her from seeing her sister like this.

It wasn’t long before the other two came back with a large Mantis. Rose now holding some kind of rifle with a scope as Ed was simply shaking his head.

“You okay?” I asked him.

“She’s a bit of a show off.” Ed said with a chuckle. His rifle strapped around his back.

“I kinda agree, she reminds me of someone we used to hang out with.” Beta said as he floated past. Edward soon lit the campfire again before beginning to cut pieces off the Mantis and cooking them in the fire. As he did this I saw Beta float around the place before stopping. He looked at the Tek Rifle near Edward and shined a blue light on it, as if he was scanning it. When he finished he floated off again.

When a mantis arm was finished cooking, Ruby was the first to snatch it off Edward’s hands. She happily started munching on it as Edward stared at her.

“Just be happy you weren’t making cookies.” I told him. He looked at me oddly before resuming his cooking. The next half an hour was spent sitting around and eating the Mantis, once again it was tasty despites it being Mantis meat.

Yang didn’t say anything as she was given food. She simply ate it and was left alone to her thoughts. Mother sat nearby, looking at Yang in case she needed anything, worried for her as she sat there.

As we finish eating I saw Rockmond walk over to us. “Hey, what’s up?”

“We’re about to head into the cave in a few minutes, Heaven and Nevaeh will keep guard up here while we’re down there.” Rockmond explained, grabbing his deactivated sword that laid by his sleeping bag. “We’re scouting the cave for anything useful, maybe even an Artifact.” He said.

“Want me to come as well?” Rose asked. “I’ve been in a few caves in the past, this one will be no different.”

“Let’s...hope not.” Beta said, hovering over Rose’s shoulder. Rose looked at him for a moment before nodding.

“Yeah...what he said.” Rose said, pointing a thumb at Beta. Rockmond nodded before looking at me.

“What about you and Ruby?” He asked curiously. I looked over at Ruby as she looked at Rockmond before glancing at her sister.

“I’m...going to stay up here.” she said. I nodded a bit before standing up.

“I’ll come.” I told him. He nodded before heading over to the cave entrance with Edward following behind him. I followed behind with Rose as she put on a new helmet, the other one looked like a odd robot head while this one more hawkish. When we stood in front of the entrance, Rockmond was the first enter after crouching down. Edward followed suit soon after and Rose entered behind him as well. I was the last one to go under the boards and upon straightening up, I saw the rocky tunnel that slowly led down into darkness.

Rockmond took the lead, heading down into the darkness first with us following suit. It eventually gotten so dark I had to place a hand on the rocky wall to help me move forward. Eventually we managed to walk into a lit cavern, a stone ramp leading down and around. We went down the ramp and came face to face with a large stone mural. We all looked up at this mural in silence before Rose spoke.

“That’s...something.” she said as Beta appeared. “Want to go up and scan it?”

“On it.” Beta said before floating up and shined the same blue light on it.

“What do you guys think?” I asked Ed and Rockmond.

“Well judging by the tail and wings on a lion body, my bet is that it’s the Manticore.” Rockmond said, walking up to the mural as Beta shone his light on it. Beta had gotten too close to Rockmond, prompting Rockmond to push him aside.

“Hey!” Beta said before looking at him. “Do you mind?”

“Try not flying so close to me.” Rockmond said simply as he looked back up at the Mural. He looked at it in deep thought before an odd noise echoed from within the cave.

“Uhh, what was that?” I asked them with a bit of fear in my voice.

“Don’t worry, I know that sound, it’s bats.” Edward said, walking deeper into the cave. I looked back at Rockmond in time to see him turn away from the mural and head deeper with Edward. I looked over at Rose as she looked at me.

“Go ahead, I’ll take up the rear.” she said. I nodded as I followed the other two deeper in the cave. When we stopped we stared in awe at the large cavern, seeing ruined buildings and crystals on the walls.

“Hey boss, bats incoming!” Ed suddenly yelled, gaining the attention of me and Rockmond. Quickly turning to look at Ed, I saw a swarm of very large bats flying over to us. Rockmond grabbed his rifle and began firing at the bats with Edward doing the same.

Rose looked at the swarm coming and spoke. “Beta! Coldheart!”

With that something appeared on her back. She grabbed it and pulled an odd-looking rifle from her back and took aim. From her rifle a beam of light blue came out of it. As the beam hits the bats I saw ice form on them, making it hard for them to fly. I pulled my gun out and shot any that got too close.

Seeing the surviving bats flee, we moved on down the cavern. The place was crawling with centipedes, bats and Mantises but fortunately we were able to fight them off. We then came across another path down that led to a large gap. We walked down the path and headed closer to the edge only to stop at the sudden shake of the ground.

“Ark-qack!” Rose yelled As She jumped back a bit. The ground continued to shake violently as a large mound of rubble formed a hand before planting itself on the ground and pushing itself up.

I watched in awe as it revealed itself to be some sort of Golem made out of rubble. It pounded the ground before picking up a large chunk of the ground.

“What the Hell is that!” I yelled as the golem threw the rock at me. I jumped out of the way as it sailed past me, hitting and rolling the ground behind me.

“It’s some kind of Rock monster!” Edward yelled as he blasted the Golem with his Tek rifle. It roared and smashed the ground in front of Edward, surprising him and as a result, dropping his rifle. “No!” Edward yelled, attempted to get his rifle back only to see it fall off the edge.

Rose looked over at Edward before pulling out that red and white revolver. She took aim and shot at the rock monster and each shot seemed to explode on it. It roared as it’s gaze, if it has one, turned to her.

“I think you’re making it mad!” Beta yelled as Rose kept firing.

“What do you think!” She yelled as another gun appeared on her back, the same one from earlier today. “Yo Ed, catch!”

Ed looked over at her just in time to catch the rifle. He looked at it oddly but did not to question it. He took aim and fired at the rock monster. Rockmond saw all this transpire and narrowed his eyes, a hint of a bright blue glow within them as he did. He took an odd stance before breaking into a full sprint towards the Golem. The latter seeing attempted to stop him only to be distracted by both Rose and Edward.

Rockmond then zoomed passed me with incredible speed and just before reaching the Golem, Rockmond jumped into the air and delivered a dropkick that send the Golem back and off the edge. Rockmond landed on his side with a loud clank and thud before groaning.

I ran over and watched as the Golem fall down before disappearing. I looked back to Rockmond as the other two walked up to him.

“You… just drop kicked that Golem off the edge.” Rose exclaimed excitedly as she walked up to Rockmond. “I have to say, that was the most badass thing I have ever seen. And that’s saying a lot.”

“Yeah… thanks.” Rockmond said with a groan as he laid on his back. We waited for a few minutes before helping him up to his feet. Beta floated over the edge looking down where the Golem fell.

“Does anyone think that thing is still alive?” He asked all of us. Rockmond stood up, groaning loudly as he did. Once back on his feet, Rockmond walked up to the edge.

“I don’t it would’ve survived… it’s a pretty long fall.” Rockmond said between pants. I walked up beside him and looked over the edge, my jaw dropped at the sight of a dark abyss. Neither the bottom or the Golem could be seen.

“That’s… a long way down…” I said as Rose came up beside me to look down.

“Do we… are we going down there?” she asked, a little nervous in her voice.

“No, we go across.” Rockmond answered, pointing at the other side of the large gap. There was a stone platform that bridged one end to the other, though we had to jump it.

“What’s the matter, scared of the dark?” Edward asked Rose.

“It’s not the dark I’m afraid of.” Rose answered him before turning away. “It’s what in the dark I’m afraid.” Ed soon looked at me for a moment before we all headed towards the platform.

“Come on, it’s an easy jump.” Rockmond said running up to the edge and jumping to the platform, his metallic feet touching ground on the platform with a loud thud. “Come on!” Rockmond yelled to us before jumping the other gap and landing on the other side. I turned to look at Edward for a moment I spoke.

“You want to go or…” I asked, seeing if he wants to make the jump or I should. He rolled his eyes before following Rockmond’s trail, jumping onto the platform before continuing onto the other side beside Rockmond. Once it was my turn I took a few steps back to get a running start. I bolted forward and jumped to the platform. As I hit the ground I stumbled a bit before continuing on to jump to the others. As I landed I ran into Edward who caught me. I thanked him before looking back at Rose who simply jogged over to the edge and jumped. She must of done this sortof thing before since she made it look easy. As she landed on the other side she looked at us for a moment before speaking.

“Onwards?” she asked. Rockmond once again took the lead with Edward, Rose and I behind him. On the way we encountered several more centipedes and Mantises but they were quickly dispatched.

It wasn’t until we reached another buried building that Rockmond sprinted ahead, seeing something we couldn’t. He ran up a set of sandy steps before stopping just in front of a large doorway. When we caught up to him, we were able see some sort of floating object just at the end of the dead-end hallway.

“The Artifact.” Edward said in awe as we all stared at the rotating object.

“Yeah… It’s the Artifact of the Destroyer.” Rockmond said as he walked up to the Artifact. As he walked closer, the ground began to shake violently, even worse than it did before. The crystal wall at the end of the hall cracked and snapped before a giant crystal hand bursted through and snatched the Artifact. A loud growl echoed through the cavern. Rockmond saw this and stepped back at this before running back as the hall collapsed.

“Fuck!” Rockmond yelled as he threw himself away from the collapsing hall.

“There’s another one?!” I yelled after seeing the giant crystal hand. The whole wall was soon came down as another crystal hand punched through. Dust soon hindered our vision for a minute or two, when the dust cleared a much larger Golem stood there looking down at us with a low growl.

“I think we’re in trouble…” Rose said as she stared up at the Golem. “We don’t have a bottomless pit to kick it in.”

“It’s not the time for jokes!” Rockmond said in a panicking tone. The Golem roared at us, causing us to cover our ears. With us disoriented, The Golem struck the ceiling, causing various rocks to crash down around us. Luckily the rocks missed us by a few inches or so but the Golem decided that wasn’t enough pounded the ground, cracking it the floor once it did.

“Shit!” Edward yelled at this, stumbling about as he did. Rockmond quickly drew his rifle at the rocky beast before firing. Rose did the same but this only angered it more. With another roar, the beast smashed its crystal fist against the wall and embedding it in the process.

As it does this I saw more of those golems starting to form around us. “Oh come on! That’s not fair!”

“Not really!” Rose yelled as she looked at the giant golem. She pulled out her revolver before spinning it around. I watched as it burst into golden flames as she took aim at the Golem. “Let’s see if it like this-”

As she yelled this the ground started to shake and she wobbled a bit before firing. The flaming bullet missed the giant golem as it bounced around and it one smaller one and made it explode, destroying a few more of them.

“... Well, we’re dead.” Rose said as she took aim with her revolver and fired normal shots at the smaller ones. The Golem’s began to slowly surround us, each Golem we brought down another took its place.

From where I’m standing, we were in big trouble. Everyone we bring down another would form again, and we haven’t even scratched the big one yet.

“Does anyone have any ideas?” I asked everyone.

“Does one that may bring everything down around us, maybe buring us under large amounts of rubble and sand count?” Rose asked.

“No!” we all yelled at her.

“Oh, well nope!” she yelled as she shot a few more shots. “Well, if this is our end, it’s been fun.”

Before I could say anything the sound of explosives echoed from where we came from as some of the golems were destroyed and sent flying over us. I turned and a familiar fiery blonde haired bombshell came strolling in. Her eyes were a red colour as, again, her hair seemed to be on fire. She cracked her neck a bit before smirking.

“Miss me?” she asked. Before anyone could say anything one of the Golems brought it’s fists up and tired to slam it down onto Yang. Almost with superhuman strength, she blocked it with her prosthetic arm. She seemed to smirk and pushed the golem back and twist around, punching it and shooting her gauntlet, turning it into ruble.

“Is… that really your friend?” Ed asked me. I smiled and nodded.

“Just as a warning for you; Don’t piss her off.” I said as Yang reloaded and fired herself forward. Like a fiery wrecking ball she destroyed everything in front of her. Rose simply started to laughing at this before speaking.

“Beta, Arc mode.” she said. Almost as her body seemed to shake her armor seemed to look armored monk. She held her arm out and a sword appeared. It let out some electricity off the blade as got ready. “Bring it.”

I watched as, between Yang plowing forward and Rose running forward to join in, it seems that the tides of battle turned to our favor. Rose was something else, moving in between each golem and slashing at them. Even if they tried to hit her Rose simply moved around their fists and got in close. She even punched one of them, letting out a small burst of electricity and made the Golem stumbled back before she brought the final blow. Before long the shock of this wore off and the three of us joined in as well.

After a few minutes it was only a few of them left and the giant one. One that Yang seemed to be taking on by herself. It brought it’s crystal fist up and then down to hit Yang. She sidestepped it before shooting a few rounds towards it’s head, blasting chunks off it. As she got in close she let out a loud scream as she simply went wild on it, punching and shooting round after round into the body. Soon we all watched as the Giant golem was reduced to rubble, only the artifact left. Yang picked it up and held it up for us to see.

“I really~ needed that.” she said with a large smile. Yang turned to face us with a smirk.

“Nice one, Blondie.” Rockmond said to her as he took hold of the Artifact. “You saved all our asses and got the Artifact, all in one go.” Rockmond added.

“Yeah… you’re welcome.” Yang said as she smiled. She turned to the rest of us as Rose spoke.

“You have the destructive force of a Striker Titan.” she said with a chuckle. Yang arched a brow.

“Can this Titan do this amount of damage?” Yang asked. Rose simply looked around us at all the rubble and damage before answering.

“Yes, that’s why it’s great that you’re on our side.” Rose answered. I couldn’t help but chuckle at this as we turned around to head back. Our trek back was spent chattering amongst ourselves and we soon found ourselves back up at the entrance to the cave. We exited how we came in, ducking down to go through the boarded entrance and once I went through I was greeted with Ruby tackling me into a hug.

“You’re okay!” Ruby said with a bit of a sniffle. I smiled at her as I hugged her back.

“Yeah… you have to thank your sister for that, if it wasn’t for her we would’ve been pancakes.” I told her. Ruby didn’t say anything as Mother came over to us along with the Twins.

“We felt the battle from up here, are you alright?” Mother said, walking up to us with a look of worry. I nodded and told her what has happened underground. Yang simply smiled happily as if she was filled with vigor. By the end of my explanation, Mother had been hugging Yang repeating her thanks for saving me. When she pulled away, Mother gave Yang long lasting kiss, yet another reward for having saved me. Yang’s smile grew wider at this.

“Daw, it was nothing.” Yang said. “I’m just happy everyone is alright and I’m out of that funk from before.”

“Yeah well, I think we should…” Ed looked up to see the sun passing over us. “How long have we been down there?”

“Mostly all morning, it’s the afternoon now.” Beta said as we turn and stare at him. “What? I was keeping track of the time.”

“So… now we have this artifact … Beta, would you mind?” Rose asked him. Beta, in turn, went over and gave it a few scans.

“Well this is interesting.” he said as he finished.

“What is it?” Rose asked. “Does it do anything?”

“Well I can say for certain there’s no real external effects that does anything around it or to itself.” Beta explained.

“So… it’s a large glowing rock.” Rose asked.

“More in lines of a large glowing rock key.” Beta corrected. “Oh this is something, I’m picking up faint traces of… one, no two other sources of this kind of key.”

“Hold on, you can find the other two artifacts?!” Rockmond asked Beta.

“Well I can’t simply find them right now but, if say I was near any of them at a given time, I would pick them up for sure.” Beta explained. Rockmond nodded at this before humming a bit.

“Lana would like to hear this…” Rockmond said before turning to all of us. “We’re heading out, let’s get packed up.”

Author's Note

Yay~ The First Artifact is found!

Also, I would like to introduce you all to Rose, a Displaced Awoken Hunter Guardian from Destiny 2. I was going to make a story about her but... kinda went to the trash due to having nothing to write about. So she’s here!

The search starts, and the Half-Dovah

The trek back to the camp was easy since we all rode on Ruby’s Rex, who by the way is named Rex. Ruby thought it made sense to name a T-Rex Rex. Even Rose got to ride on him instead of taking her bike. Like before we didn’t run into any trouble due to Mother and the fact that no one really wants to deal with an armored T-Rex.

Rockmond had the artifact in his back as we headed back, which brought a question to mind. “Hey, where’s the Tek armour you all have?”

“Back at Lana’s camp.” Rockmond said, adjusting the bag on his back as he spoke before adding. “The armor, while useful, kinda hot to use without much element.” He added.

“Is this Element kinda like Dust?” Ruby asked Rockmond. Rockmond gave her an odd look before looking at me.

“Think crystalised element that is used to power stuff up or use as weapons.” I explained to him. He nodded at this, accepting my explanation. “So… is this Element like that?” Rockmond thought about this.

“Element is a strange, highly advanced material that hums with energy. There’s not much else known about it.” Rockmond said, gaining a nod from Edward.

“Our tribe is practically the first to discover Element.” Edward said, adding to Rockmond’s words.

“Huh…” I said as I remembered the time me and Ruby gotten the Tek armor… and remember that we don’t have them here. “Crud… we forgot to bring our armor…”

“Does… that mean we’re going to get… new ones?” Ruby asked, kinda nervous about it.

“Lana actually keeps your armor stored away in her tent.” Navaeh said, walking up beside me before joining up with her sister. Both me and Ruby let out a breath at that.

“What’s this about armor?” Yang asked us. Mother raised a brow at her before Ruby answered.

“Oh… well the last time we were here we got some armor and it was cool and stuff.” Ruby said. Yang smile turned into a frown.

“That’s all?” Yang asked. The two of us nodded quickly.

“Yup, that’s all.” we both said at the same time.

“With side effects.” Rockmond added, gaining Yang’s full interest.

“And these side effects are~” Yang asked. Rockmond looked at her before glancing over to me and Ruby, who are shaking our heads at him.

“We have this thing called the Replicator back at the Island, one of the side effects of getting someone new fitted with armor is that they’ll suffer through either great discomfort or… well the other in short that it turns people on, like a lot.” Rockmond said, giving the both of us a little smirk as he spoke. Yang stared at him before looking at the two of us. It took her a moment before realizing what he ment.

“These two… got the other thing?” she asked. Rockmond didn’t say anything as the massive blush on both faces of Ruby and I answered her. Yang simply started to laugh at us as Mother stared at her then at us.

“Oh dear.” Mother said with a smile as she suppressed a few chuckles. “I do hope they were no trouble during that time.” She said to Rockmond.

“They weren’t trouble at all, though they were very loud.” Rockmond said, gaining the laughter of Edward and both of the twins.

“I can make all of you walk the rest of the way back!” Ruby yelled at them, making them laugh harder. Rose was the only one not laughing.

“Why aren’t you laughing?” I asked her.

“Eh, not my business to laugh at.” she said simply. As the rest of them stopped laughing and finish up the last of what they were doing I had a few moments to talk to Mother.

“Hey, you seem more happy now than before we all went down the cave.” I pointed out to her. Mother looked at me before chuckling.

“Is that a problem?” She asked jokingly. I rolled my eyes at her as I saw Yang drinking some water.

“Whatever you did to cheer Yang up thank you, I prefer not being a Viri pancake thank you.” I said with a chuckle. Mother smiled and wrapped her arms around me in a hug.

“I am truly relieved that you are alright.” She said to me just above a whisper. I smiled as I hugged her back. We were like that for a few moments before pulling away as Yang came up to us.

“Hey hey, can I get a hug?” she asked with a smirk.

“From me? I have to think about it.” I told her with a laugh. Yang simply rolled her eyes at me as she scratched her neck a bit. Mother opened her arms up for Yang, to which the blonde fell into lovingly. I smiled at this before we went back to Rex and climbed up on.

The rest of the ride was smoothed as we got closer and closer to the camp. As the sun was starting to set we came up to the camp. After climbing down we all headed to Lana’s tent to show her what we got.

“Err, is it me or is everyone staring at me?” Rose asked as she looked around. Sure enough everyone we pass was staring at us, mostly her.

“It’s your armor, dear.” Mother said as she walked besides Yang with their hands holding one another. “They are wondering what sort of armor it is.”

“Really? Huh, there’s nothing special about it…” Rose said before looking like she spaced out. “No I’m not taking it off to fit in, I believe I would fit in less if I did.”

I didn’t question why she was talking to herself as we got to Lana’s tent just as she was stepping out. Talk about good timing. “Hey Lana! We’re back!” Lana saw us and smiled.

“Your back and I see you found Rockmond and his group.” Lana said, smiling at Rockmond and the others before noticing Rose. “And who is this?” She asked with an arched brow.

“Ah, I’m Rose.” Rose introduce herself as she offered her hand to Lana. “Nice to meet you.” Lana took her hand and gave it a friendly shake before nodding and saying.

“It’s pleasure to meet new people.” Lana said before noticing Rose’s lack of a gem on her wrist. “Ah so you’re an outsider?” She asked.

“You can say that…” Rose answered.

“She may not have a gem, but she has a mini Overseer.” Ed added as he holds out some water for one of the Twins. Lana raised a questioning brow at Rose after hearing this.

“A mini Overseer?” She asked Rose. Rose shrugged a bit before raising her hand up. Sure enough Beta appeared floating in her hand. He turned towards Ed before speaking.

“I would like to point out that, maybe I look like these Overseers, I prefer Ghost since that’s what I am.” he said before looking at Lana. “Hello.”

“Well aren’t you a cute little thing.” Lana said at the sight of Beta.

“Well, that’s something that I never thought I would hear… at all.” Beta said before floating around Lana. He scanned her for a moment before Rose spoke up.

“Really Beta?” Rose asked.

“What? It’s just a harmless scan, nothing to worry about.” Beta turned to Lana. “Which I have to ask, I’m picking up some odd wavelengths coming off of you, can I ask why?”

“Oh, you must mean the connection to my obelisk.” Lana said with a chuckle before adding. “I’m the Overseer of an Ark known as the Island.” She said.

“Huh, that’s interesting.” Beta said before continuing something. “Oh! We also found something in some ruins out in the desert. I believe Rockmond called it an Artifact.” Lana turned to Rockmond as he took off the bag on his back before taking out the Artifact inside it.

“You… You managed to actually find one.” Lana said in awe at the sight of the Artifact. She then glanced at Rockmond before saying. “How?” She asked.

“We stumbled upon some buried ruins and a cave. The thing was guarded with large rock monsters.” Rockmond said, gaining an odd look from Lana before she said.

“You mean the Rock Elementals?” She asked, gaining a slow and uncertain nod from Rockmond. “You should all count yourselves lucky, those Golems are relentless and will stop at nothing to succeed in their task.” She said.

“Ahh they were nothing.” Yang said as she put her hands behind her head. “They didn’t stand up against me and a few good blows and-” Yang stopped for a moment before scratching her neck some more. “Ugh, hey Mavis mind helping me scratch my back a bit, it’s feels like a large number of ants are crawling up it.” Mother smiled a little before scratching Yang’s back as she was asked, gaining a blissful sigh from the blonde as a result. “Thanks~”

“Err, yeah with Yangs help we cleared the room and got the Artifact.” I finished what Yang has started. Lana nodded before looking back at the Artifact.

“Well now we’re one step closer to defeating this Ark’s Guardian.” Lana said, waving her hand at the Artifact. The Artifact soon began to hover over beside Lana before moving into her tent. “We just need to find the other two somehow.” She said with a slight frown.

“Now I know it might not be much but…” Beta started to say as he got Lana’s attention. “I did do a scan on the artifact and when I did I picked up two more sources of the same kind. Sadly I couldn’t pinpoint where they are but, if we get a certain distance away of one of them I could find them.”

“That would be helpful, thank you.” Lana said, thanking Beta for this information. I glanced back at Mother and Yang, seeing Mother still scratching her back with Yang having the look of absolute bliss.

“I would also like to point out.” Rose said as she stepped into the conversation. “That Beta could do this I would have to come with, but just to make things easier for resources and manpower, that only we go out to find these artifacts location.” Lana looked at Rose oddly. Rockmond stepped up and said.

“I don’t think so, missy. If you’re going Artifact hunting, I’m going with.” Rockmond said with a smirk as he crossed his arms.

“Count me in.” Edward said, raising a hand. Navaeh looked at her sister before saying.

“And us.” Navaeh said. Heaven then frowned before saying.

“We didn’t get to come with last time.” She said while crossing her arms with a pout. Rose looked at all of them for a few moments before shrugging.

“What can I say to stop you all?” she asked with a chuckle. “It’s a bit bigger but we have here a good fireteam.”

“Miss the other two yet?” Beta asked Rose, seemingly to know something that we all don’t. Rose didn’t answer as she turned to Lana.

“Well you got an Artifact finder team ready to go.” Rose said with a happy tone. This made Lana smile once again before saying.

“Fantastic, you can start your expedition tomorrow. For now though, take some time to relax.” She said to all of us.

“Question; do we all get our own tents?” Yang asked, glancing at Mavis. “Say, two per tent?” Lana raised a questioning brow at this. Mother spoke up before Lana could.

“I will make our tent, love, though a little farther away from the rest.” Mother said to Yang somewhat answering her question. She turned to Lana. “You also don’t have to spare any resource for us, I can handle tha-eep!”

We all watched Yang grab Mother and put her over her shoulder with a smile. “Well, see you all tomorrow!” With that she turned and headed off with Mother over her shoulder.

“You couldn’t have waited until I finished speaking?” I heard Mother ask as she was carried away.

“Nope! You’re mine!” Yang answered, making Mother blush hard. We snickered as the two headed off.

“You know, I haven’t heard her Eeep like that.” I said before looking at Lana. “I believe this is going to take a long time Lana. This search for the artifacts and getting geared up to fight the Manticore. It might be even longer since the last time we were here.” Lana turned to look at me before saying.

“I’m sure we won’t take that long.” Lana said with an amused chuckle. “And I highly doubt we’d take a longer time than before.” She said encouragingly. I smiled at her as I looked at Ruby, who was also smiling.

“Well, we’re going to be here for a while, at least we’re going to get a nice tan.” Ruby said.

“And a lot of sunburns.” I added, making Ruby nod sheepishly.

“A lot of sunburns…”

Two weeks later

Two weeks have passed since we all came to Lana’s camp and found the first artifact. Rose and her team, which she calls a larger Fireteam, were off looking for the other artifacts. Rose told me if it was her going out she would’ve simply found the place and record it before coming back but with the rest of the group they may come back with both Artifacts in tow.

During the two weeks Mother and Yang had been spending a lot of the time in each other’s company. Yang hasn’t a nightmare since that time in the ruins, whatever Mother had said must’ve really brought out of her depressive state.

What really was different was Yangs strength and speed. More than she’s more stronger and faster than before. I asked her about it and she simply said Mother’s training is making her like this. I could understand that but the one thing that was bothering me was that it was working fast. Like, I went through Mother’s training as well since my childhood, I still am now she’s been at my school, but it wasn’t this fast with me.

Me and Ruby made ourselves busy by helping out with Lana and the Camp; getting food and water as well as other materials for supplies. It was just like back on the island but in the harsh heat and sun.

When we had nothing to do Ruby and I, sometimes with Mother and Yang, hung out with each other and some of the others in the camp. I sometimes had to drag Lana out of her tent to come hang with us from time to time. Like right now!

“Really Lana, you’ve been working this entire time, you need to take a moment to have a break!” I said, sorta dragging Lana away from her tent.

“But… there’s still a lot of stuff to do!” she said as she tried to pull away. “There’s some maps that need to be updated, stock to do, Dinos to feed, some clothes to repair and-”

“And you have others to do that for you! Literally stop being a mom for everyone and take. A. Break!” I said as I pulled her forward towards a large rideable dino. “There’s a small oasis nearby that we are all going to go rest for a bit, you need this Lana.”

“But what about-” I groaned as Lana starting to say more things as I stopped her, turned her around to face me and said.

“Look, here’s what we’re going to do. We can either get on this dino, ride it to the oasis to relax and what not, then come back and go on with our day. Or I’m going to tie you up like a pig, sling you over and take you over there to force you to relax. Which is it going to be?” I asked her forcefully. Lana stared at me for a few moments before sighing.

“Fine… you win.” she said with a frown. I smiled at her.

“Good, now get on.” I told her as we finally got to the Rex, who was busy eating some food from the large feeding trough me and Ruby made. Lana got on the Rex with a pout and crossing her arms as she sat down. I rolled my eyes as I got on and motion Rex to head on out towards the oasis. It was a short ride over there but once we got there and got off of Rex, who went over to lay down by the pool, we went over to where everyone is at. Ruby smiled up at me and waved.

“Took you two long enough.” Yang said as she looked at us with her sunglasses.

“Well it took some time.” I told Yang as I looked over at Lana, who still had her arms crossed.

“Lana come, you deserve some rest from your work.” Mother called out for the raven haired woman. With a sigh of defeat, she made her way towards the water. We all sat around the water talking and relaxing for the first time since we got here. With Mother’s help she got each of us a swimsuit which Ruby was happy about as she got hers on and went into the water. I got mine on and simply sat at the edge of the water and watched. Mother sat with Yang as she too watched Ruby swim around.

“Hey~ why won’t you guys come in?” Ruby asked as she swam over to us. “Water is fine. Come on!” Mother glanced at Yang before dropping herself into the water holding Yang’s hand, bringer the blonde down with her. Mother laughed at this as Yang surfaced, surprisingly with her sunglasses on.

“Oh is that how you like to play huh?” Yang asked. Mother smiles before the two of them started to play in the water. I laughed as I looked over at Lana.

“You want to come in? We got a swimsuit for you.” I told her as I looked at Mother and Yang. “Yang has one to but it seems she decide to forget it.” Lana though deeply on this before nodding and saying.

“Alright.” Lana said with a little smile. I handed her the swimsuit before she went off to get some privacy to change. After a few minutes Lana came back with her two-piece black swimsuit. I gave her a whistle.

“Well look at you! Don’t you look good.” I said with a smile, earning a slap on my knee from Ruby.

“Hey! I’m right here!” Ruby said with a frown.

“I know, just giving Lana a compliment.” I told her Ruby stared at me before I looked back at the Overseer.

“Thank you, I can’t remember that last I ever did something like this.” She said with a little blush and a smile.

“Well, come on.” I said as I pushed myself into the water. “Waters great!”

With that being said Lana got into the water and the five of us had fun. We did some races in the water as well as some other games.

At one point Lana seemed to get too excited and pushed Yang underwater. After a few minutes her sunglasses came up which Lana grabbed, just in time as Yang came back up.

“Sorry sorry, got too excited there…” Lana said with a laugh as Yang turned to her. “Here’s you Sun...glasses… uhhh.”

“What’s up Lana?” I asked as I saw Lana drop the glasses and stared wide-eyed at Yang. Mother looked over at them.

“Oh dear.” Was alk Mother said as she noticed what Lana was looking at. Yang sighed a bit before scratching the back of her head.

“Not… really how I wanted to tell you all this but…” she turned around and we all saw her eyes, which weren’t her normal purple eyes, they look more like Draconic like, or more specifically Dovah like. “There’s something I was meaning to tell you all.”

We all got out of the water and were drying ourselves off. Yang changed to her swimsuit and had a towel wrapped around her upper half of the body.

“So… mind explaining what’s going on?” I asked Yang, who looked over at Mother.

“Mind helping me hun?” Yang asked. Mother nodded before looking at the rest of us.

“It was back at the ruins when this began, Yang was still in her depressed state and I sat there helplessly watching her. Seeing her like that broke my heart.” Mother said, tearing up as she spoke. She grasped Yang’s hand before adding. “I spoke to her, wanting to know what was truly wrong and…” Mother stopped, closing her eyes before saying. “I love her, truly I do and hearing the things she said reminded me of her mortality. At any moment I could lose her.”

Mother choked back a sob as she tried to continue. Yang squeezed her hand and spoke. “Mavis offered me a way to be with her, make it harder for me to fall.”

“And… what’s that?” Ruby asked them. Yang looked over at Mother before turning around as Mavis answered Ruby.

“I offered her the chance in becoming a half Dovah.” Mother said, tears streaming down her cheeks. Yang remove the towel which showed us the scales around her neck and shoulder blades. They were a golden orange colour as Yang rolled her shoulders a bit. She slowly turned around and pulled Mother in for a hug.

“Hey hey, don’t cry.” Yang whispered to Mother as she sobbed a bit. “I’m not going anywhere.” Mother slowly calmed down, leaning into Yang’s embrace.

“So...you’re now half -Dovah.” I asked Yang. “Does it...feel different?”

“Hmm… not really. Other then feeling stronger and faster than before and now-” she stopped as she looked at me.

“W-What?” I asked her.

“I can… literally count each hair on your head, from where I’m sitting.” Yang explained as she stared. I blinked at her answer and thought about it.

“That explains so many questions I had when I was little.” I said in a surprised tone.

“Hey Lana, you don’t look as shocked or surprised that I thought you would be.” Ruby pointed out to her.

“To be quite honest, I’ve seen a lot in my time this doesn’t top being forced into an Overseer’s Obelisk.” She said in a nonchalant tone. Yang sighed a bit.

“I’m happy that this and one other thing is now behind me.” she said as she gave Mother a kiss on the forehead.

“And what’s the other thing?” Ruby asked.

“I can finally stop wearing shirts or long sleeve shirts!” Yang said loudly. “Like Oum it feels awful when I wear them while my scales are coming in! Like ugh!” This cause all of us to start laughing. When we calmed down enough I spoke.

“So this started two weeks ago, the changes I mean.” I asked Yang.

“Yeah, at first it was the scales, and this morning it was my eyes.” Yang explained.

“Is there any more going to happen?” Ruby asked. Mother, now calmed down enough to talk, explained.

“She will soon grow a pair of horns, a tail and a pair of wings.” Mother said, wiping her eyes as she spoke.

“Wait… I get Wings!?!” Yang asked Mother excitedly.

“Plus horns, and Tail.” I pointed out.

“Still, wings…” Yang said, already fantasizing what will it be like with her own pair of wings.

“I have to say that you look cool sis!” Ruby said with a smile.

“Yeah, I do look cool…” Yang looked at Mother with a loving smile. “What do you think hun?” Yang asked in a soft tone, making Mother blush a bit.

“Beautiful. Half-Dovah or not.” Mother said, smiling a little as she said this. Yang smiled at this before pulling Mother in for a loving kiss.

“Love you Mavis.” Yang whisper to Mother.

“I love you too, dii yolus Dovah.” Mother said to her so lovingly. [My fiery Dovah.] The two of them stared at each other as the rest of us smiled.

“So… can we continue with swimming?” Ruby asked all of us. For the rest of the time we had fun at the oasis, now knowing what Yang is she could have fun without hiding what she is.

Note to self; never challenge Yang to a swimming contest. She will win. Every time.

Author's Note

There’s a lot one will do to keep their loved ones around.

Feral to Mother... wow

Before we knew it, two years past in the harsh desert. Rose’s group came back a few times over the two years but they still don’t have any artifacts. They marked down where one of them is and going to find the second one before moving on to getting them.

The one thing that did become consent was the sunburns. Even with the desert clothes we had many sunburns and tans. I for one kinda enjoyed the tan look I got, Ruby was okay with it but I kinda missed her old look, she looked cuter before. But out of all of us Yang had the most changes.

After the fact she’s now a Half-Dovah, her body changed to suit her needs. Her scales grew out and know cover some of her arms and legs as well as her back and face. She now has sharp fangs and claws that, well, for one arm is a prosthetic and the other has claws, it’s kinda scary. The other changes that Yang now growing some horns on top of her head and has a long Dovah tail.

She had also shown to be quite defensive when others talk to Mavis, especially when they try to flirt with her in a playful manner. Needless to say, many have ended up in the medical tent to mend broken bones. Mother mentioned that during Yang’s change she would go through some mood swings. That was apparent when at one moment she was fine, then get angry for no reason, to say, and back to normal in a time span of ten minutes. Yang also becomes more playful when she’s with Ruby, the two of them were playing more games together as well when Yang wasn’t with Mavis.

It was fine… though there were times when Yang get a little… too crazy. There were times when she would go off and try and fight with one of the Dinos. We stopped her before any real damage could happen but when Yang looked at me there, it was a look that she wasn’t herself. I asked her about it after she calmed down.

“I’m… fine. Just getting used to these changes… also the heat is getting worse now huh?” Yang asked me. I would agree but over the last few days the heat didn’t really change. It also didn’t help that she went down to a little less clothing. But other then that she been fine… err, I hope. I went to Mother to ask for her thoughts about Yangs behavior. I found her with Lana inside the command tent as many call it, they were in the middle of conversing before Mother noticed me.

“Oh, can I help you with anything, dear?” Mother asked, facing me while Lana went to her workbench, continuing on a project she had mentioned would help us in our search. I explained to Mother about Yangs actions and even gotta see her walk around during our talk; she only had some cloth around her chest and some pants on but she looks like she was in some sort of oven. She then saw us and waved at us, I also saw Mother and made a more loving look at her before she went off, a little more quicker than before.

“That, that is what I mean.” I told Mother. “I’m used to her and you being like… you used to be but this is like she going to carry you back to you twos tent to have… fun.” I said, having some difficulty explaining this to her. Mother closed her eyes in thought for a minute or two before opening them.

“You have to bare in mind that Yang, having lived her life as a human, is going through the several stages of life a young female Dovah would normally go through in the span a few thousand years.” Mother explained with a sigh, looking outside of tent to where Yang stood earlier. “In your words, she is taking the crash course.”

“So… in short Yang is going through Dovah puberty…” I said to Mother. She nodded at my shortened explanation. I grimaced a bit at the memory of my own and, from I read and told, a Faunus going through puberty was a lot different then a humans. That also brings up a question. “Just… how bad is a Dovah puberty than either a Humans or Faunus one?”

“For one, Yang will experience her first heat cycle and it is much worse than that of a faunus’.” Mother said, looking back at me. “She will see me as her one true mate and will become increasingly aggressive to those she deems a threat to her mate.” She added.

“Right… that’s… scary.” I said as I thought back on Yang before she was turned into a Half-Dovah. “Really scary.”

“Yes, that we can all agree on.” Lana said, joining into the conversation before looking at Mother and saying. “I’m afraid I need to ask for a favor.”

“What can I assist you with?” Mother asked, facing Lana as she spoke.

“I’ve received word that multiple Wyverns are flying about the Northern region, close to where Rockmond and his group.” Lana said before pointing at the area on the map.

“You want me to convince the Wyverns to hunt elsewhere?” Mother guessed, gaining a nod from Lana. Mother looked at me before nodding. “That can be arranged. I will have it done by the end of the day.” Mother said.

“Thank you, the last thing we need is for them to be Wyvern food.” Lana said with relief in her tone. I let out a nervous breath after hearing that.

“So… you’re going off… alone?” I asked Mother.

“Yes, bringing anyone else along would result in unnecessary violence.” Mother answered with a nod as she walked out of the tent with me in tow. We went to Mother’s and Yang’s tent so Mother could gather some things before departing. We chatted for a bit before we walked out to find Yang there.

“Hey! How are you two doing?” Yang asked in a cheerful tone. She looked at Mother with a bigger smile before giving her a kiss on the cheek. Mother returned this affection with her own kiss for Yang. Yang pulled back before noticing the bag. “Going somewhere?”

“Lana had tasked me to relocate a pack of hunting Wyverns.” Mother said to her while I fidgeted a bit, not knowing how Yang would react.

“Oh cool…” Yang said before seeing Mother fidgeting. Her expression to a sadden one. “You… have to go alone… right?”

“While I would love nothing more than to bring you along with me, I’m afraid I cannot. These Wyverns are very dangerous and I do not want to risk losing you to those savages.” Mother said, giving Yang another long lasting kiss, bringing a blush to blonde’s cheeks as a result. As Mother pulled away I could hear a small whimper from Yang before she nodded.

“O-okay… I will uhh, I will see you when you get back hun.” Yang said as she fidgeted a bit. Mother smiled sadly at this before kissing Yang’s forehead before turning away, beginning her trek to the Wyvern infested area. The two of us watched her head off before I glanced over at Yang.

“You going to be okay?” I asked her.

“Y-Yeah… I’m going to be fine.” she answered with a smile. “It’s going to be a little while, how bad can it be?”

It’s worse. After an hour after Mother left Yang was in her tent crying for what seemed to be forever as she called out for Mother. Then she seemed to have a lot of energy as she did many tasks in the camp at once. Then seemed to have an issue with her emotions as of late. Basically what she was dealing with only cranked up to twelve.

“I’m getting worried about Yang Viri.” Ruby said as we walked through the camp. “I understood what was going on with her at the start but… now she seems to lose it at everything.”

“Yeah, it been only a few hours and she only gotten worse.” I said as I explained to Ruby what Yang is dealing with. It brought a blush to her face but she understood at lease.

“How long till Mavis returns?” Ruby asked.

“I think another few hours, after that Yang should be back to-” I was cut off when we both heard a loud roar coming from somewhere nearby. The two of us ran towards where it came from and saw a group of others backing away from… Yang?

Yang was breathing heavily as most of her outfit seemed to beened clawed at. Her hair was disheveled and wild as she looked at all of us with wild looking eyes. I looked at one of the others and asked him what happened.

“I-I don’t know! Some of us came to feed the dinos and found your friend with her head in the water trove. She pulled out and… attacked us!” one of them answered as I looked at Yang.

“Viri… what’s happening to Yang?” Ruby asked as she got scared. I stared at Yang as she stared at me.

“Yang… went feral.” I said as with a twitch Yang bolted forward. We got out of the way as she tried to attack us which just had a few other campers got hit by Yang’s tail. She plowed through most of the others as she turned to attack me. I pulled out my weapon and blocked it, pushing me back a few feet. “Yang! Calm down! It’s me!”

“RAAAHAHAA!” Yang Roared as she grabbed me and threw me into a tent. Nothing got broken but as I got up I watched Yang run off with Ruby in tow.

“RUBY!” I yelled as I ran after them. I only got a few feet before they disappeared from view. I fell down to my knees as everything seemed to disappear out of my view. Seeing Ruby get taken off like that… it hurts. My heart feels slow as I stared at where they were. I only snapped out of it when Lana came and shook me. I blinked a few time and realized that I was crying.

“Viri what happened?” Lana asked with a look of worry as she knelt down beside me. I sniffled a bit as I looked back where the two went.

“Yang… Yang went feral… she took Ruby and… and I couldn’t…” I felt like I was about to cry again as I shook. I felt so guilty due to not being able to protect Ruby. What kind of girlfriend am I if I couldn’t stop someone from taking her.

“I may not understand fully what’s happening but I truly doubt that Yang would harm Ruby, she’s her sister and best friend.” Lana said, trying to calm me down before adding. “And don’t blame yourself, you couldn’t have anticipated this happening. Just know if there is a next time to this mess, you’ll be ready for it.” She said. I slowly nodded at her before standing up.

“When do you think Mother will come back?” I asked Lana, wiping away my tears. After saying this I was greeted with familiar sound of flapping wings above me. I looked up and saw Mother just in time as she touched ground. Her wings then folded up against her back and vanished with a golden light.

“What happened?” Mother asked, noticing the damage done by Yang.

“Yang went feral!” I told her, more yelling that actually telling her. “Now she ran off with Ruby in tow, and I’m not going to do what happen before because crying makes my eyes sore…” I added at the end.

“Oh dear, I didn’t think this would happen. I’m so sorry, Viri, if I knew this would’ve happened if I left…” Mother said in an apologetic and regretful tone. I shifted a bit before speaking.

“Let’s just… find them.” I said. Mother nodded and the two of us headed off to find Yang and Ruby. After some time running I spoke. “Do you know where they are at?” Mother stopped and closed her eyes, sniffing the air as she did. She soon faced east before opening her eyes, her usual human like irises replaced with Dovah ones.

“Come.” Mother said before taking the lead. I followed her as we headed east.

“You can smell them?” I asked her. Mother answered without looking at me, her Dovah eyes looking forward.

“Not them, her. Yang.” She said before finally glancing at me. “Dovah’s can locate their mates just by their sense of smell and in doing so, can check if they have been unfaithful.” She said, giving me another fact about Dovahs I never knew about.

“Right…” I said as we ran. “Is Yang faithful? I believe she is but… would going Feral change that?” Mother frowned as she looked at me, stopping in her tracks suddenly. I stopped as well before looking at Mother. “Did I say something wrong?” She looked angry, like really angry and looked as if she was about to yell but closed her and took a few deep breaths.

“No… you did not but you shouldn’t ask something like that to a Dovah, they may not react as kindly as I.” Mother said with an ominous tone before resuming her trek forward. It was at that moment that I felt the cold sweat I had when she talked to me.

‘Note to self; never ask those questions to Mother. Ever.’ I thought before running after her. We soon came up to a large cave in the side of some rocks. I glanced over at Mother as she nodded that this is where the two of them are. I gulped as I made my way over to the mouth of the cave before I started to hear noises. I came closer to it before peeking in. The sight in there made me blink.

“Wow…” was all I said. In the cave was the two of them, only Ruby was scratching Yangs back as Yang gave out some blissful sighs and moans of pleasure. I tried to hold back a laugh as I waved for Mother to come up. Ruby looked up at me and smiled.

“I have the power!” she said before Yang noticed me. The blissful expression turned to an angry one as she started to growl.

“Uhh, Mom… you’re up.” I said nervously as I looked at Mother. She soon came into view, having flown up to the mouth of the cave. She touched ground and her wings vanished before dusting off her dress.

“Yang, I heard from a little someone that you missed me oh so dearly.” Mother said in a bit of a playful tone. In a blur Yang ran over and hugged Mother tightly. She didn’t seemed to speak normally but the peppering of kisses on Mother was any indication that Yang really did miss Mother. “I miss you too but what you did back at the camp is something I will not take lightly.” Mother said, her playful tone having been replaced with that of a serious one. Yang whimpered a bit as she drooped down a bit. Her tail wrapping around the both of them as I walked over to Ruby.

“You alright?” I asked her.

“Yeah I’m fine… just a little shaken.” Ruby answered. I looked at her sadly before dropping to my knees.

“I’m… I’m so sorry… I didn’t… I wasn’t able to do anything…” I said, tears streaming down my face as I cried. I felt Ruby’s hands on my face as she lift me up.

“Hey now, no need to cry. I’m alright.” she said with a smile. I sniffled a little bit before pulling her into a hug. The two of us hugged for a bit before we stood up. Ruby helped me wipe away the tears and looked back at the other two. Yang was behind Mother as she gave her some more kisses and a few nibbles as she looked happy to be with her.

“Seems that you missed me more than I thought.” Mother said with a smile as she fixed Yang’s hair, moving a locks of it to reveal the curving horns atop her head. “I promise to never go anywhere without you.” She said with a loving smile. Yang hummed happily at this before giving some more kisses.

“Err, I think she wants something a bit more…” I pointed out to Mother. “You did say this is her first heat cycle…”

“Oh wow…” Ruby said before blushing. With a seductive smile, Mother looked at Yang as the latter stopped and looked up at her.

“Ah I see but the question remains in which form?” She asked the still feral blonde. Yang blinked at her as she tried to understand what she meant. Mother leaned down and whispered something in her ear, whatever it was I couldn’t hear. Yang’s eyes widen before giving Mother a seductive smile, her tail hitting the ground a few times. Mother smiled as she picked Yang up, who was looking at Mother lovingly as she hooked her arms around her neck. Without as much of a warning, Mother was covered head to toe in a heavenly light for a minute or two before it diminished, revealing a half clothed Father in Mother’s place.

“Wow…” Both me and Ruby said. I blinked a few times as this was the first time I saw them change gender in front of me. Yang on the other hand didn’t mind as she was loudly purring at him. Father looked over at me and Ruby with a smile.

“I’m afraid Yang cannot wait until we return, so for now.” He said with a wave of his hand, a bright golden light encompassing me and Ruby before being blinded briefly.

“Ruby, Viri!” We heard Lana’s voice yell in surprise as we slowly regained our sight. We looked around to see we’re back at camp. The two of us looked at Lana before looking at each other.

“Yeah so… Yang is fine…” I told Lana. She tilted her head at this before saying.

“Really, where is she?” Lana asked with a bright smile. The two of us stared at Lana for a good few moments before I spoke.

“She’s… with her mate… dealing with her heat cycle.” I told her with a nervous tone, both me and Ruby blushing like mad. Lana took a moment to realize what I meant before blushing herself.

“Oh-oh dear.” She said at the realization. I simply nodded as my ears twitched a bit. I could’ve sworn I heard- nope!

“Umm, can I retire back to my tent… please?!” I asked with a bigger blush appearing. Lana nodded, going back to whatever she was doing before our arrival while Ruby looked at me curiously.

“You okay?” she asked me.

“Just… be thankful you don’t have my kind of hearing.” I told her before walking out of the tent and went to mine, where I covered my head and plugged my ears.

This went on for almost week, then it suddenly stopped. I didn’t see the two of them for two weeks until I saw Father walking around with a goofy grin on his face.

“Seems you’re back.” I said when I got up to him. He nodded and looked at me, chuckling as he did.

“Yes and you’ll be happy to hear that Yang is back to her usual self.” Father said, smiling as he spoke.

“That’s good.” I said with a sigh. “Though you two been at it for… a really long time… like wow.” He scratched the back of his head with a little laugh before saying.

“Being an immortal god has its perks.” He said in a joking manner. I rolled my eyes at him.

“Where is Yang anyway?” I asked him. He looked off towards the other side of the camp, where the gardens are and said.

“She went off in search for Ruby, last I saw she went through the gardens.” Father said to me, chuckling a little as he did. “How she can still walk is beyond me.”

“Err, too much information.” I told him right before there was a loud, happy scream that came from Ruby. I blinked as I looked where it came from. “What was that!?” This earned a chuckle from Father.

“It’s best if you go check yourself.” Father said, moving ahead me after saying this. I looked at him before I headed off towards Ruby. When I get there I found Ruby happily giving Yang a hug, who was wearing a robe. Ruby saw me and ran up.

“I can’t believe it, can you?! This is amazing!!” Ruby said happily, making me more confused.

“What’s going on?” I asked as Father came around to Yang, who was still blushing.

“Well… I’m going to be an aunt!!!” Ruby said happily. I blinked at her before looking at the two of them.

“...Is that true?” I asked Father and Yang. Yang simply blushed as she moved her tail around Father’s waist, pulling him closer. Father simply nodded happily, smiling as he kissed Yang’s cheek. I blinked at the two of them before looking at Ruby. “Together?”

“Together.” Ruby replied as the two of us let out a happy scream. After that I turned to the two with a smile.

“I can’t believe it! The two of you having a kid! Just… wow!” I said with a smile on my face.

“Yeah… it’s sure was a surprise when I came to and found that out.” Yang said as she puts a hand over her belly. She smiled warmly at this. “I never thought I would have a kid so early in my life.” Father held her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. Yang leaned onto Father’s shoulder with a happy sigh.

“When she came to, she panicked and understandably so but when I gave her the choice she chose to bear my child.” Father said, resting head atop of Yangs. Ruby smiled warmly at this before she went over to give her sister a big hug. Yang smiled before giving Ruby a return hug. I looked at Father as he smiled at Yang lovingly. I went over to give him a hug as well. He returned the hug in kind, thanking as he did.

The next few weeks went by smoothly, Yang didn’t go crazy than before but after Lana found out about this she strictly forced Yang to not do her normal jobs. Saying that if she hurts herself then that would be bad for the child. Yang was upset about this but Father made it up for her with something. Yang agreed to one thing from him.

That thing lead to the small and short wedding between the two of them. I’m not going to lie, for how short it was I cried at it alongside Ruby. They promised to hold another one for the rest of our friends when we’re done here. Rose and her group were there and man Rose was excited at this.

“This is awesome! Can I be a nanny?!” Rose asked.

“NO!” Beta yelled at her. “You would be worse than the Vex!”

“Oh, I’m not that bad…” Rose said, chuckling nervously.

As time went on it seems that a Dovah pregnancies were much different then a normal one. For one it didn’t last long as Yang was two months in and already look like she was five to six months due. I asked Father about this before I asked him for more training. After what happened with Ruby… I didn’t want that to happen again.

He agreed for more vigorous training sessions, similar to when he taught Yang but as he described it, ten times worse. I’ll be honest, the idea of training worse than what Aunt Axycia put me through isn’t something that pleases my mind. After the first day, I simply couldn’t move… at all.

That went on until I asked him about the whole Dovah pregnancies. I even have a book on Dovah since there’s still so much I didn’t know. He told me that unlike Human and Faunus ones, a Dovah spends four months before being due as a Dovah child age is much slower than normal.

“So… they age much slower right at the bat or at a point?” I asked Father.

“At the age of six is when a Dovah child will began to age slowly.” Father answered, sitting comfortably next to Yang. The latter’s hair done into a ponytail, which surprised me and Ruby when she first did it.

“Wait, they do?” Yang asked with a mouth full of food. Father nodded, looking down at his beloved wife… that’s going to take time getting used to still.

“Our youngling will have a long childhood ahead of them.” Father said, rubbing Yang’s pregnant belly as he said this. Ruby couldn’t help but aw at the sight, finding it heartwarming to see her sister so happy. I did the same as I wrote down what Father has told me.

Finally, after another two months Yang’s water broke and was rushed into Father’s and her tent with a few others, even Lana was there to help. Ruby and I sat outside with Hopper and Rex, who was nearby the tent, as we waited. Even the soundproofing couldn’t stop Yang from screaming her head off. This went on for almost three whole days until finally the screaming was done. Lana stumbled out of the tent, exhausted from staying up for almost three days before looking at the two of us.

“Well?” I asked her. Lana looked at me and smiled before saying.

“It’s best to just show you.” She said, opening the tent for us to come in. We walked into the tent, which is like my aunts store back at the village; bigger on the inside. We saw that there were a certain that blocked all view from the bed which Yang was laying in. I saw Father sitting right outside of the curtain with a look of shock and surprise on his face.

“Father? Is everything alright?” I asked him. He looked at me a little startled before saying.

“Yes… yes, everything is fine… better even.” He said, a smile forming as he spoke. “We didn’t have a single child… we had two… twins.” He said. The both of us blinked in surprise at this.

“Twins… Yang had twins.” I said before I heard a weak voice.

“I can… hear you…” Yang panted a bit as she spoke. “Come on… come see them…” When we opened the curtains, we were greeted with the sight of a bedridden Yang holding two little bundles of joy. They looked like human babies with the exception of the tiny horns. Yang shook her left arm before saying. “Boy…” She then did the same with her right arm. “Girl.”

“They’re adorable!” Ruby said happily. Yang gave her sister a smile, even though she looks like she’s about to pass out.

“Did you two pick out names?” I asked the two of them. Yang looked down at baby boy, smiling before saying.

“Strun Xiao Kun.” She said, gaining a smile from Father before he placed a gentle hand on the baby girl.

“Kaida… Kaida Xiao Kun.” Father said, gaining a smile from Yang.

“I… like that.” Yang said before closing her eyes and passing out there, still holding both her newborns. We all looked at each other before chuckling quietly.

“Our odd family continues to grow.” I whispered to Father. Without taking his eyes off of Yang, he nodded with a smile before brushing Yang’s hair.

“Indeed it does.” Father whispered back happily.

Author's Note

I love the Couple of Sanns/Mavis and Yang. They work so well together... also Anyone other than me thinks Yang as a Dragon Faunus would be awesome?

Manticore fight

Three years past since the birth of Strun and Kaida, who now grown into toddlers. Strun was beginning to look a lot like Father, black horns with golden hair as well as dark red scales and tail. His eyes were an electric blue which Yang gave him the nickname ‘Little storm brewer’

Kaida looked more like Yang with a little of Mavis. Her long blonde hair with a little of white streaks going down her hair alongside her eyes. Like Qo, Kaida has one of her eyes purple while the other gold. She also has Yangs energy, she simply wants to keep going and explore. Father told me that Kaida acts a lot like me when I was younger when he raised me.

Ruby was simply ecstatic that she gets to be an aunt for the kids which brought a realization to the two of us: we haven’t seen Qo for over five years. The next few nights left us in a state of depression due to leaving her there, alone and parentless. Even though when we head back no time will pass, the thought still mattered to us.

Yang, now out of bed and able to do stuff again, started to exercise to regain her old figure. In the mornings after she took care of her kids she went out to run a bit. Her body still slowly changed, her horns grew out some more, some spins grew out of her tail and, to her glee, a pair of small wings grew out of her back. This cause her to get excited to be able to fly… only they were still small that they wouldn’t really carry her. This bummed her out but the fact she has wings made her happy.

At the moment both me and Yang jogged around the camp for the tenth time and coming up to the finish.

“So, seems you’ve gotten back into shape.” I said to her as we jog.

“Yeah… looks like it but…” she glanced down at her chest for a moment before looking back. “Seems I got a bit bigger in some other places.”

“Your husband/wife didn’t seem to mind.” I said with a laugh. Yang rolled her eyes as I felt something hit me in the leg, making me stumble a bit. “HA! Not this time!”

Another slap on my other leg made me fall into the sand. I groaned as I watched Yang jog off, her tail behind her. I grumbled a bit before getting up, dusting myself off and went after her. As I got closer I saw Father standing there waiting for us. He saw us and smiled as we approached.

“Hello, Viri.” He greeted me before turning to greet Yang with a kiss. “And hello to you too, love.” He said. Yang smiled as she kissed Father back.

“How’re the kids?” Yang asked with a warm smile on her face. As if on queue, both Strun and Kaida came running out of their tent and toward their parents. Father bent down and picked both up happily and with ease.

“Why not ask them yourself?” Father asked with a chuckle. The kids looked out to Yang and smiled at her.

“Mommy!” Kaida said happily before Father handed her over to Yang who happily took her.

“How’s my little Dragon?” Yang asked Kaida. Kaida smiled at her mother with a toothy grin.

“Good!” she said. Yang smiled before tickling the little half-Dovah girl, making her giggle happily. Father had asked the same to Strun, calling him his little storm brewer. Strun gave Father his own toothy grin.

“Goo-Good.” Strun said, having trouble saying the word. Strun, unlike his sister, had been having difficulty in learning to speak but with Yang and Father’s support, there’s no doubt he’ll be alright. Yang smiled at her son before giving his hair a small ruffle.

“That was great! You’re getting there Strun.” Yang said with a smile. This brought a happy giggle from Strun. Strun and Kaida nuzzled their parents happily which brought a smile to my face and a bit of heartache. I never missed Qo this much than anyone else and I pray to anyone that we finish this task so I could go home and see Qo again. Father must’ve saw my expression as I saw him looking at me.

“You miss her… Qo.” He said in a solemn tone. I nodded a little before walked up to me, hugging me as soon as he was close enough. “So do I, Viri… so do I.” He said. I smiled at Father, a tear ran down my face as I hugged him back. As we parted I saw Ruby quickly running towards us, which Kaida nicknamed her ‘zoom-zoom’. That name didn’t really stick with everyone else but one of the words Strun was able to say right was Red so he calls her ‘Auntie Red.’

“Guys, Lana called us for a meeting.” Ruby told us. “I think she’s about ready to fight the Manticore.” With a nod we all hurried to Lana’s tent which she was waiting for us. Father and Yang told the little ones to wait outside for them, gaining a few whines of disappointment while me and Ruby entered the tent.

“Ah you’re here.” She said, looking up from her map as she did. She usually wore clothing appropriate for the heat, some cloth clothing or such but now she wore her skin tight tek suit. An odd looking sword was attached to her back. “I have good news and bad news.” Lana said.

“What’s the Bad news?” Yang asked Lana. Lana looked at her and said.

“To understand the bad news, I first must tell you of the good news.” She said, waving her hand off to the side and seconds later three Artifacts floated over to her. “Rockmond and the others have finally returned with the two new relics and I can now summon the Manticore.” She said.

“Okay… if that’s the good news… what’s the Bad news?” I asked.

“And what do you mean by ‘I’?” Yang added. Lana let out a sigh at this before saying.

“The Bad news is that I have to do this alone. Defeating the Manticore will allow me to boost my signal and reach the other functioning Ark.” Lana said before looking down at the maps strewn across the table. “Adding more people into the mix with result in a much harder time for me to reach the other Ark. That’s why I must do this myself.” She said.

“Whoa, hold on we can’t simply do that!” I said to Lana. “If this Manticore is as bad as… her, then you would need all of us to fight it off. Isn’t there any other way?” Lana shook her head sadly at this. Seeing this Father stepped and said.

“Actually there is but it is best to explain after we defeat the beast.” Father said to the both of us, gaining a questioning look from me and Lana.

“Okay… So how do we summon this beast?” Yang asked Lana. The latter looked at us, knowing there is nothing she can say to make us back out and waved her hand towards the artifacts before saying.

“We will head to the red Obelisk tomorrow at dawn, once at the center of the obelisk, I will handle the summoning.” She said to us, informing of all us on what to do. With that being said we told Lana that we’ll be ready by dawn.

“Don’t worry Lana, with us this will be a cakewalk.” Yang said with a smile. Lana smiled at this, knowing that as friends we all stick together no matter what.

“Thank you.” Lana said with a smile before adding. “Now go, enjoy the rest of today.” She said shooing us away. We nodded and stepped out of the tent to see the twins with the other twins, Yang Twins with the older twins.

“Mommy!” Kaida yelled happily before running over to her.

“Oh they’re so cute!” Heaven exclaimed while her sister was busy hearing about Strun’s day, not minding his speech problem. Father walked out of the tent and quickly gained Strun’s attention. The little one quickly ran up to Father in happiness. He ran over to him with a smile.

“Yeah, these two are just the cutest.” Yang said with a grin as she held Kaida with one arm. Kaida giggled as she swung on her mother’s arm as Yang smiled at her.

“Indeed.” Father added in agreement as Strun sat between his shoulders. Heaven smiled at them as I soon was able to speak.

“How was the artifact hunting?” I asked the twins. They both groaned at this before answering.

“Long…” Heaven said.

“Hard…” Navaeh added to her sister’s words before finally.

“And full of those Rock golems.” They both said simultaneously. Kadia and Strun giggled at the two as I nodded.

“At least you all came out alright.” I said with a smile. They both nodded at this in agreement. Soon the two older twins headed off to get ready for tomorrow with Rockmond, Edward, and Rose. I haven’t seen Rose ever since she returned but I was told that every time they return to the camp Rose and Beta headed off to do some repairs on their ship.

As we simply stayed together Yang spoke. “So… Are we all going to this place? If so who’s going to look after the twins?”

“I will stay behind for the duration of your battle, when the beast is defeated I will know.” Father said as Kaida looked up at him as he spoke. She must be wondering what we’re talking about. Yang nodded as she smiled at him.

“Thanks, hun…” Yang said as Kaida spoke.

“Mommy, where are you going?” she asked her. Yang looked at her daughter for a moment before answering.

“Mommy is going to go fight a big bad monster that going to hurt a lot of people.” Yang explained. Kaida made a sour face at this.

“Big bad monster is mean, kick his butt!” Kaida said with a huff. Yang laughed at the childish nature of her daughter.

“Will do little dragon, will do.” Yang said with a smile. Kaida did a few punches and kicks in the air before looking up at Father.

“Can I ride now?” she asked. Father chuckled before moving Strun to one shoulder and picking up Kaida, placing her on the other shoulder.

“There we go.” Father said after making sure neither of them would fall. The both of them giggled as they rode their father’s shoulders. Yang smiled as her tail was moving slowly side to side.

“Hey kids, do you two want to spend the night with your aunts Ruby and Viri?” Yang asked them. The two of them smiled brightly and said yes. I looked at Yang in a little confusion.

“What gives?” I asked. Yang shrugged before looking at her husband with a seductive smile.

“I think I would like a night with my lover. It’s been a long time since the twins were born and… well, I have this tich that only he could scratch.” Yang explained.

“Err, I thought your heat cycle ended a month ago?” I asked her.

“It has, but hey, mama wants her favorite lover for a night.” she said with a smirk before continuing. “That reminds me, don’t you go through the same kind of heat cycle?”

“I have ways to lessen it.” I said quickly, remembering the potions that my aunt gave me at times. Yang raised an eyebrow at me but didn’t say anything. She walked over to Father and wrapped her tail around him.

“Well then, if that’s how you want to spend the night.” Father said as he gently placed both Kaida and Strun down, allowing them to run up to me. Father then grabbed Yang and held her up bridal style. Yang laughs at this before giving Father a kiss on the cheek. “Now then, let’s not waste anymore time shall we?” He said Yang before carrying her off back to their tent, Yang giggling like a school girl as she was carried away.

“Auntie Viri, where is daddy taking mommy?” Kaidn asked me.

“Back to their tent to… play games.” I told her.

“What kind of games?” the young half-Dovah asked.

“... Games not meant for little kids.” I told them before I led them to Ruby and we headed to my tent where we’ll play my games: board games!

The next morning Me and Ruby waited for everyone else. Ruby, for the last few years, been implementing the tech from this place into her scythes to maximize their true power.

“Have you picked a name yet?” Ruby asked me.

“Huh?” I replied as she pointed at my weapon.

“Your weapon, did you give her a name?” she asked me again. I blinked before pulling her out. I brushed my thumb over the side of the weapon. I never really thought about a name as of yet but… I tilted my head a bit at it.

“Molten… Fox. Yeah, her name is Molten Fox.” I said. This earned a hum from my weapon as I smiled. Ruby giggled as she gave me a kiss. It wasn’t long before Yang walked towards us. A goofy grin on her face as she wobbled a bit. “You okay?” I asked.

“Never better.” she said before coming to sit beside me. “They do know how to make a girl feel good~.”

“Ew ew, not listening!” Ruby said as she covers her ears. This got Yang laughing at her sister.

“Is everybody ready?” Lana called out to us. Rockmond and his group nodded at Lana. Ruby, Yang and I nodded as Rose came up last.

“Don’t think you’re going to have me miss out.” Rose said with a smirk. Lana nodded before we all headed out of the tent with Lana taking the lead. We began our trek towards the red obelisk, infamous for having Wyverns nearby. As we walked out of the camp turned village, Father had waved us out with both of his younglings at his side as they too waved at us.

“Bye mommy, see you soon!” Kaidn called out as she sniffled a bit, probably upset that her mom is leaving them.

“B-Bye Bye!” Strun said as he waved his hand at his Mother and Aunties. Yang waved at the two of them and Father before we rode off to the red obelisk. After ten minutes Yang started crying.

“I already miss them!!!” she cried.

“We were gone for ten minutes!” Ed yelled back. Both me and Ruby looked at each other before sighing, knowing what Yang is going through right now. Lana was leading the way with Rose beside her, though it was mostly Lana riding on her bike since we took Rex and there was no room for her. So most of the time with them we heard yelling.

“Watch where you put your leg!”

“Watch where you place your elbow!”

“Why is this thing so small!”

“Shut it lady!” the two of them go back and forth as we rode off. We continue on until we stopped to resupply which Lana walked off in a huff. I sighed as I went off to see her.

“You okay?” I asked her.

“No! That woman will be the death of me!” Lana said angrily as she double check her supplies. “I was told that she sometimes does things on her own, doesn’t listen to Rockmond that often and she sure does talk back at me. She’s just… ugh!”

“Seems like she drives you up the wall.” I said to her. Lana looked over at me with a frown.

“That’s not the worse of it, most of the people at the came sometimes call me Mother, but for her she calls me ‘Princess!’ Like, what’s there for me to be called a princess!” Lana yelled. I backed away as she continued. “She also keeps making jokes, not taking anything seriously. She’s a thorn to my side.”

“Well… have you ever tried to talk to her?” I asked. She scoffed at me.

“Did I try to talk to her, I did! But she told me to back off every time I talk.” Lana answered. I arch a brow at her.

“Okay, did you try to talk to her not as a mother?” I asked. She blinked at me.

“What do you mean?” Lana asked. I shrugged.

“From what I was told a lot of people look up at you as a mother, want to be like you to strive as you. You talk to them as a mother would. Rose… well she might not see you in the same light. Maybe talk to her as a friend instead of a mother.”

Lana took a few moments before telling me to give her some time to think. I nodded and did just that. After a bit of a rest stop we all headed off to the destination. The first thing we noticed as we arrived was the sudden rise of temperature to which Lana explained that nearby there is large trench with a river lava that housed nests full of Wyverns.

“Here we are at last.” Lana said as she hopped off the hover bike. Yang hopped off the Rex with all the Artifacts in hand. Lana had motioned for Yang to follow her to the terminal. Once there Yang dropped off the Artifacts before walking back to us. Rockmond and the others watched as Lana worked on the terminal before a big red button revealed itself. The obelisk hummed loudly at whatever Lana did. “Come on!” Lana called out for us. We all headed over to Lana as she yelled this. When all of us stood within the large metallic platform, Lana looked at the Rex before motioning it for it come along. The offer of fighting alongside all of us, the Rex accepted without hesitation before Lana pressed the button.

The Obelisk hummed once again, louder than before as the red light that emitted from the terminal lit up the platform before a large light bubble formed around all of us. Before we knew it, the bubble completed in forming and we were taken somewhere else.

“This is… something.” Yang said. I nodded as I over hear Rose muttering to herself. She seems to be taking stock on what she has. Before long we hear something above us. We looked up and saw the beast in question; a large lion with bat wings and ears and a scorpion tail. It looked down at us before it let out a large roar. It made the ground shake as I fell down onto the ground. Below us I saw sand moving around, meaning there was something below us.

“Here we go!” Lana yelled as the Manticore took to the air. Everyone rushed around to find positions on the platform; Ruby, Ed, and the twins plus Rex were told to take care of any creatures below us as Lana, Rockmond, Rose and I took care of the Manticore. I pulled out Molten Fox and aimed her up at the beast as Rockmond and Lara pulled out rifles. Rose took out a revolver and the four of us shot at it. The manticore roared again before it shot a purple beam down at us. It missed but this went on throughout the fight. One such beam hit Rex, making him roar out in pain before turning his head at the Manticore before shooting out beams at it. Some of them hit the flying beast before flying down low and body slammed the T-Rex into the pit.

“Rex no!” Ruby yelled as she jumped down into the pit along with Yang.

“Are they crazy!?!” Ed yelled out.

“They’re fine!” I yelled back as I moved over to glance behind me. I saw Both Yang and Ruby fight off the Worms down below. With her strength of a Dovah and Ruby using both Scythes along with an armored Rex, I don’t believe they need any help anytime soon as I saw Yang ripped one of the worms apart. Okay, she’s scary.

“Viri look out!” I heard Lana yell. I turned just to see the tail of the beast come at me. I was pushed out of the way by Rockmond who took the blow for me. I pushed myself up to see him groaning but not moving.

“Shit! He has torpor!” I head Ed yell out as he shot the Manticore. I looked down at Rockmond before he slowly pushes himself up.

“I’m… fine… don’t worry about me.” he said as he turned and started shooting at the beast. The fight went on for some time which was getting us nowhere. The Manticore was shooting beams at us or dive bombing us with its tail.

“We need to bring that thing down! It’s going to continue raining hell if we don’t!” Rockmond yelled as he changed his clip. Rose turned to him and at everyone else.

“Hey, other twin girl!” Rose yelled at Heaven. “When I give the signal jump down and switch places with Yang. We need her punches.”

“Are you daft girl? How is blondie going to hit that thing if it’s up in the air?!” Rockmond yelled at her.

“With this, Beta! No Land Beyond!” Rose yelled before going down to one knee. She reached back and out she pulled from somewhere an odd looking sniper rifle. It didn’t have any sights on it but it was as tall as Rockmond and looked old.

“How is that going to help?!” Edward called out as Rose took aim at the Manticore. I watched her do this before pulling the trigger. A loud explosion sound went out as Rose fired her rifle, of from the sound her cannon. I watched as one of the Manticores wings was blown off. It roared out in pain as it fell down onto the platform with a loud thud. I could’ve sworn I heard some bones breaking.

“NOW!” Rose yelled just as I saw Yang appeared from below of her side as Heaven jumped down. Yang saw the Manticore and shot herself forward, slamming into the beast. Every hit on the beast was like a mini explosion as she punched it. Yang continue punching and using her speed and blasts to dodge out of the way of it’s claws and tail. Some of us shot at it but mostly if we had a good opening. Yang simply went to town on it. Her yells turned into roars as she continue to blast at the Manticore until it thrust it’s tail at her. Yang dodged it, grabbed it and turned, bringing the Manticore around before slamming it onto the ground, and then again, and again. Soon the Manticore let out a loud groan as Lana pulled out her sword.

“It’s been a long time coming.” Lana said before her sword activated, revealing that instead of its normal Tek blue glow, it was red. The blade was plunged into the Beat’s forehead, gaining a pained roar as result before Lana embedded the sword deeper until the beat’s struggle stopped. Exhaling its last breath as it admitted defeat, the beast closed its eyes with the sword still embedded into its forehead. The body of the beast soon began to glow and dematerialize into particles of light that soon flew into Lana, causing her eyes to shine white. Lana was now on her knees, the body of the beast completely gone as her eyes still shone white.

With a flash of a golden light, Father appeared quickly and placed a hand on Lana’s shoulders. Her white eyes now shining a multitude of colors. Father had the look of pure concentration as Lana sat there on her knees.

“It is done!” Yelled Lana in an odd voice before gasping for air. “It’s done.” She said while panting.

“Err, you okay there princess?” Rose asked with a groan. I shook my head at her as I looked over to the side where the others are at. My eyes widen as I saw a swarm of Rock elementals roaming around them.

“Hey! They need help! We need to-”

“RRAAAAAHHHHHHHHHAAAA!” Yang Roared before jumping down into the pit, right into the middle of the golems. Father came over to look at what’s going on as Yang when crazy.

“Or not.” I said.

“Let her have her fun.” Father said, helping Lana back up to her feet.

“You okay there Lana?” I asked as Lana looked around. She grasped her head and groaned but nodded after a minute or two.

“The Ark, it’s unstable… I’ve managed to link up with it but…” Lana said with a look of horror.

“But what?” I asked as I head more smashing sounds from the bit. The others, as well as Rex, came up to simply watch the onslaught.

“I saw him… I thought I’d never see him again but that… that was him and he is nothing like the man I remember.” Lana said, tears brimming as she spoke. I looked a bit confused and Rose asked the question.

“Who is him?” She asked. Looking down in sadness, Lana answered simply by uttering the words.

“Rockwell.”

Author's Note

Dun Dun Daaaaaaaaaaaa!

Anyone plays Ark know how he is

Return home again

We all stood there in silence. No one wants to ask her any questions as Lana cried. It wasn’t long before Yang came up from her fight with the Golems… only in a different state. She looked at us with a quick glance before setting her eyes on Father, which she dashed forwards and pounced on him, peppering him with kisses. I only saw her do this when she was in her feral state… wait was she?

“Maybe she got a bit too excited when fighting the Manticore?” Ruby asked me, which I shrugged. Father nevertheless returned the affection, passionately kissing her into submission. When he pulled away, Yang was gasping for her breath happily. When he was finished Yang was sitting beside him as she nuzzled his leg happily, which made Rockmond shake his head.

“So… can anyone tell me who this Rockwell guy is?” Rose asked, looking at Rockmond. “Brother of yours?” Rockmond frowned at this before shook his head before saying.

“No. Rockwell was Lana’s closest friend, they both woke near one another in the island and have been together for a long time.” Rockmond said, informing us this Rockwell guy. “Guy had a passion for exploration and so did Lana.” He said. Rose didn’t say anything before looking at Lana.

“So, she was close friends with this guy. What happened?” Rose asked. Lana had calmed down by this point and looked up at Rose.

“He ascended off onto the next Ark… without me.” Lana said in a solemn tone. “He left me stranded on the Ark by myself.” She said. Rose looked at her before removing her helmet and we all saw that she wasn’t happy.

“Okay, if you have to ask me, that guy did a dick move.” Rose said. Lana looked over at her as Rose continue. “I’ve been with many teams in the past, and there’s one thing I learned over that time: Never, ever leave someone behind. Did he have a good reason for leaving you on this island?”

“He left a note that said someone had to stay behind at the Island.” Lana said angrily, the memory obviously not a good one.

“And… that’s it? Just ‘Hey, we’re going to head off to someplace else and you have to stick around on this island!’ if that was me I would’ve followed him and kicked his ass.” Rose said with her arms crossed.

“Thank you.” Was all Lana said to Rose, a sad smile forming as she spoke. Rose looked at her in surprise.

“Uhh, what? I was dissing this Rockwell guy but you’re thanking me?” Rose said, not sure how to take this. Lana nodded with a chuckle.

“Can’t you just take simply thank you without questioning it?” Lana asked jokingly.

“Uhh, okay… I think.” Rose said with a bit of uncertainty. Lana shook her head as I spoke.

“So...what now?” I asked out loud. Father looked at me and smiled.

“Now we return home but not before picking up the younglings.” Father said and with a snap of his fingers, we were back at the camp safe sound and Rex was next to their feeding trough already. Everyone looked around surprised until we heard the sounds of Kadia and Strun running over to us.

“Mommy!” the both yelled, making Yang happily run over to them and curl around them, giving them some licks that made them laugh.

“Mommy you’re acting weird.” Kaida giggled as Yang nuzzled her. Father chuckled at this as Yang did this.

“Mommy is just happy to see you two.” Father said with a smile before looking at me and saying. “I will you give you time to pack your things and say your goodbyes.”

I nodded and looked over at Rose. “What are you going to do?”

“Hmm.” Rose said as she tilted her head a bit. “My ship is trashed so I can’t really go anywhere so…” she looked over at Father. “Mind if I hitch a ride?” Father chuckled before nodding and saying.

“I don’t see why not.” Father said to her. Rose smiled before looking over at Lana and the others. She tossed them a device that Lana grabbed and looked at.

“It’s a modified communicator.” Rose explained to them before adding. “If you ever need help just give me a shout.” Lana nodded at this with a smile. I went over to her and gave her a hug.

“Hope to see you again.” I told her with a smile. Lana hugged back with a sad smile.

“I’ll miss you all.” She said, pulling away and looking at the rest. I gave her a small squeeze before I pulled away. I gave the twins a hug as well to the others before walking over to Ruby and the others as we headed off to pack.

When we were ready I came out with my pack and saw Yang giving her kids a ride on her back as the others waited. I walked over to them as Yang stopped and looked over at me. I smiled at her as her kids climbed off of her and Yang watched them before blinking a few times.

“Whoa… what happened?” she asked, now coming to her senses. Father heard this and looked at her.

“During your battle you became feral, only this time it was not as bad.” Father said, helping Yang up to her feet.

“Oh…” Yang said as her kids ran up to her.

“You were funny.” Kaida said as Strun nodded. She smiled at the two of them as she looked at all of us.

“So...what now?” Yang asked as she saw all of us ready to leave. “Oh.” Father chuckled at this before saying.

“I’ve made sure to pack up everything of yours, love.” He said to Yang, showing her the bag she came here with. Yang took it with a smile and to say thanks she gave him a kiss on the cheek. Strun and Kaida soon ran up to them, wondering what’s happening. Yang looked down at the two of them before speaking.

“You two want to go see the school I go to?” Yang asked. The two of them smiled happily and nodded at their mother.

“Before we go Yang, I must tell you this. Once we walk through the way home, your age will be as if you never left.” Father said to her before adding. “I ask you this, do you choose to stay at this age or become young again?” He asked. Yang stared at him before speaking.

“Do I stay as a half-Dovah?” she asked Father.

“Yes but you will have to redo the transformation.” Father answered with a nod.

“So… that moment of me going all feral like that lead to… you know what, I have to relive that?” Yang asked. He nodded once again before saying.

“Yes I’m afraid.” He said. Both Strun and Kaida watched them as they conversed, not knowing what was going on. Before long Yang simply nodded.

“Well, I guess I have to live all that…” she then gave Father a stern look. “Just don’t leave me alone like next time. When I go wild, I want you there to help me.”

“Of course, love.” Father said before he looked over at an empty spot before summoning the portal. He then motioned for us to go through though Yang stayed behind with him and the kids.

We all walked through the portal which lead us back into the gathering hall of Forever Free. The odd difference was there was no one around at the moment. Ruby, Rose and I stood around as we waited for the others to come through. Father came through with Strun on his shoulder before Yang walked through carrying Kaida in her arms. Yang now looked at herself, her younger self without the tail, wings, and only a little bit of scales and her eyes were normal. Both kids looked at their mother in shocked as Yang pouted.

“And I just got my wings…” she grumbled. The kids looked at her with confusion and awe at their younger mother I heard footsteps coming from behind me. I turned to see Indigo and Blake walking towards us before noticing us.

“There you all are.” Blake said with a frown. “Where have you all been?”

“Dah, what?” I asked, confused at what she meant.

“You all just suddenly disappeared and not only skipped a few classes…” Indigo said, bringing more confusion to me. “You also missed the talent show.” He said. Ruby, Yang and I stared at Indigo before looking at Father for an explanation, only to see him shrug.

“I suppose I misjudged the time just a bit.” He said simply. We all stared at him before I noticed Strun and Kaida looked up at Indigo and Blake.

“Ca-cat woman!” Strun said.

“This man has one arm like mommy!” Kaida said with a smile. Both Indigo and Blake looked down at the two kids in confusion.

“Uhh, who’re they?” Indigo asked, breaking the silence as he looked up at us. Yang blushed a bit before rubbing her head.

“Well… they’re… my kids…” Yang said sheepishly. Indigo closed his eyes and took a deep breath, gaining an odd look from Blake.

“You know what, I’m too tired for this but I expect to hear about it tomorrow.” Indigo said before turning around and walking off, leaving Blake with us. Blake looked at us then at him, then at us before speaking.

“What?!”

Back at the camp

Back on the Ark with Lana, a week has pass since Viri and her family and friends left, things been kinda smooth lately. With her new found information Lana didn’t have a good time sleeping. She stays up all night thinking on what she saw in her vision. The image of her old friend in such a state, it both angers her and saddens her. It wasn’t until one day that something odd happen.

Lana came out of her tent to see Rockmond help push a large odd rock to Lana.

“What’s this?” Lana asked, looking at the rock that was brought to her.

“Don’t know. It just came down from the sky like that ship Rose had.” Ed said.

“You mean the one we turn into scrap?” one of the twins said.

“Well… she’s not using it…” Ed said badly. Lana shook her head as she looked closer at the rock, seeing a odd pattern on it.

“What’s on it?” Lana asked.

“Help.” Heaven answered.

“Over and over again.” Nevaeh added. “It’s covered with that word, help over and over again. It literally says ‘HelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelp…’ and so on and so forth.”

Lana frowned at this as she looked at the large rock. She then reached out to touched the rock before gasping as her fingers touched it. A feeling washed over her as she did. A scared feeling that wasn’t one of her own. She also knew where this rock came from, the same Ark that she saw Rockwell on.

“Lana! Are you okay?!” Rockmond asked, trying to help her up. She grasped her head once she was up and shook her head. A look of seriousness replacing the pained expression she had.

“We need to get to the other Ark.” Was all She said to them.

Back at Forever Free

A day has passed as we returned to the school… and after getting scolded by the teachers for missing classes. That night me and Ruby ran to find Qo and spent the rest of the night with her, too which she was completely confused about as she only saw us the other day which for us was many many years. Though this morning she was happy that there was two other kids she can play with, which Kaida and Strun where happy to be and was mystified at, and using their words here, so many animal people are around.

That day we explained to Indigo, Weiss, and Blake what happened during out task with Lana. Indigo and Blake slowly nodded at what we were saying before we got to the wedding part of the story.

“So you are actually a thing now, like a married couple?” Indigo asked a little confused. Yang nodded.

“Yup.” She said as she showed off her ring that Father made her. “Got the ring and everything.” Blake looked at the ring and congratulated the two, happy to see Yang having found love.

“You had a wedding… in the desert… Why in the desert?” Indigo asked, bewildered that Yang and Father held their wedding in the Ark.

“More importantly, I missed it!” Weiss cried as she was visibly upset by this.

“You wanted… to see my wedding?” Yang asked.

“Well of course, is that a issue?” Weiss asked with a frown. Yang chuckled before I leaned towards Weiss.

“I got pictures.” I told her as I held up my scroll.

“Really?! Gimme!” she said before snatching my scroll before going through the pictures on it.

“And yes Indigo, we had it in the desert since, I don’t know, there weren’t any real forested area there.” Yang pointed out as Weiss and now Blake looked through the photos.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to sound rude just… your now husband as literal god with the ability to do literally anything.” Indigo said, gaining a raised brow from Father who sat beside Yang in his younger form.

“I understand what you mean Mister Parker but Yang insisted we held the wedding there.” Father said, giving Indigo the reason why it was held out in the desert.

“Oh, my Oum!” Weiss said in shock as well surprising Blake before turning the scroll to Yang. “That’s you!?!”

We all looked and sure enough it was an picture of Yang, in the state of having scales, small horns, and a tale as well having a pregnant belly standing in beside Father smiling happily. Indigo moved a bit to see as Yang nodded.

“Yeah, that’s me…” Yang sighed and slumped down. “It’s going to be a long time before I get my tail and wings back…”

“Question… how?” Blake asked as she looked the image. “You look like a Faunus in this image.” Indigo heard this and looked over to the scroll that Blake now held.

“She’s not kidding… this is you?” Indigo asked, confused as to what he saw in the image.

“Yeah that’s me, albeit a bit older and…” she pulled a her shirt down her shoulder to show some of the scales coming in. “Going to look like.”

“You miss the wings and tail.” I commented.

“I do…” Yang cried a bit at this fact. Father chuckled at this as he pulled Yang closer.

“Perhaps what I am about to say will help. I’ve accelerated your transformation and it will no longer take five years to grow out your tail and wings.” Father said with a little smile. “It will only take a year now, though that means your heat cycle would begin soon.” He added before kissing her just above her right eye.

“Aww, you shouldn’t have…” Yang said before grimacing at the idea of going through her Heat sooner. Blake shuttered a bit.

“Ugh, don’t get me started on heat cycles.” Blake groaned as she put her head on the table. Indigo suppressed a chuckle after seeing this but it wasn’t enough and earned him a glare from Blake. “Don’t you start buster.”

“Sorry.” Indigo quickly said, raising his hands up in defense. Everyone laughed or chuckled as I noticed Weiss was still going through the Wedding photos.

“You know we’re going to have another one here.” Yang told Weiss, who quickly looked up at the blonde at this.

“Really!” Weiss said, a smile forming on her face.

“Yup, you didn’t think I would have you all miss my big day?” Yang asked with a chuckle. Weiss seemed to get really excited at this as she had a huge smile.

“So, changing topics here, who won the talent show?” I asked. Blake rolled her eyes at my question.

“Who do you think?” The cat Faunus asked before pointing at Weiss, who’s happy smile turned into a proud smirk.

“As if there was any doubt otherwise.” Indigo added with a roll of his eyes, smiling as he did this. We turned to the sound of the library doors opening, seeing Tak walk in with a few books in hand. Weiss’ smile came back as she stood up and ran up to him, making us chuckle at the sight of the skipping Ice Queen.

“Tak!” She exclaimed happily, surprising the bat faunus briefly before he smiled recognizing her voice.

“Hey Weiss, sorry I’m late.” He said with an apologetic smile as he gestured at the books in hand. “Some of the professors wanted me to return a few of the books they borrowed.” He said.

“Oh that’s fine, I was talking to some of our friends.” she said happily. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, earning a blush from the young bat faunus before taking hold of some of the books he carried to help. Weiss then guided Tak back to us and placed the books on the table.

“So what did I miss?” Tak asked, pulling the chair out for Weiss. The latter giggled happily like a schoolgirl as she sat down.

“Whoa…” Both Kaida and Strun said when Tak came into sight. This made Tak look in the direction of the twins. “You’re Batman!” Kaida said with enthusiasm.
“What?” Tak said in confusion as he sat down next to Weiss. Yang laughs as she leans over and picked up the young half-Dovah girl. Strun ran over to Father.

“Don’t mind her, Kaida just new to seeing Faunus.” Yang explained. She looked down at Kaida. “Say hello to him, sweetie.”

“Hello!” Kaida greeted happily. Tak waved at the little one, a little confused as to what’s going on.

“The one who called you Batman is Yang’s daughter.” I explained to him.

“Oh… what!?” Tak yelled before covering his mouth, grimacing at the fact that he yelled in a library.

“I have kids.” Yang said with a chuckle. Tak quickly calmed down with the help of Weiss before he faced Yang.

“What? How? When?” He asked all this to Yang, unbeknownst to him that he faced both Yang and Father. Tak then turned to face the rest of us. “What exactly did I miss?” He asked us. The next few minutes was spent bringing Tak up to speed and during that time, we had noticed certain cat faunus child listening in on our conversations. When Indigo and Blake noticed, they invited her to sit with them and to my surprise, Iilah smiled and quickly accepted the offer and squeezing in between them. I smiled at this as I finished explaining. Tak spent a few moments to process everything he just heard.

“Wow that’s… that’s insane.” Tak said mostly to himself before facing Father and Yang. “Congratulations to you both for finding happiness in each other… and congratulations for having children.” Tak said in a formal manner, bowing his after speaking. “Just wish I could’ve been there for the wedding.” Tak added with a quiet chuckle.

“Thanks Tak.” Yang said as she played with Kaida who was giggling as she did. As she did this she looked at Tak and pointed.

“Mister Tak has white eyes.” Kaida said, gaining Yang’s surprised attention. Tak faced the child and smiled a little before saying.

“My eyes are… different, I can’t see like you do.” Tak answered with a smile. Gaining a gasp from Kaida and an interested look from Strun.

“But… how do you see then?” Kaida asked. Strun was also interested in this as well.

“Because of my eyes, I can hear more and smell more than anyone in this room.” He said to the two young ones, touching his bat ears and nose as he spoke.

“Whoa~.” They both said. This made Tak chuckle before looking at me.

“They sound a lot like your kid.” Tak commented with a chuckle. This brought a chuckle from both Yang and Father. The latter facing me and saying.

“Where is young Qo?” Father asked curiously. I didn’t know where Qo was but before I could answer that Iilah spoke.

“She’s two ailes down in here, and these are her words, ‘her fort of books of stuff.’ She been there since this morning.” Iilah said. Father raised a curious brow at this before smirking and saying.

“Then perhaps she doesn’t want the present I’ve brought back for her.” He said with a smirk before chuckling. There was some sounds nearby before Qo came running in.

“Present?!” she asked with a gleeful smile. Iilah blinked before looking back at the bookcases.

“Did all those books fell?!” Iilah asked a bit angry. Qo shook her head before staring at Father. Father chuckled once again before motioning for Qo to come closer. Once she was close, Father had something covered in his hands, whatever it was must’ve been small to fit in his hand.

“Keep a hand out, dear.” Father said to Qo. She did just that and allowed Father to hand her the gift. Staring at Qo was a very tiny blue wyvern, tilting its head at her curiosity. It opened up its wings, stretching as sparks of electricity coursed through its body. When it closed its wings it laid down on Qo’s hand, still looking at her with curious eyes. Qo stared at the wyvern before it flicked it’s tongue at her, licking her nose. Qo giggled at this before looking at Father.

“Thank you Bormahsebormah.” Qo said with a smile. [Grandfather.] Yang smiled at the gift given to Qo by her husband and kissed him in the cheek, prompting Father to do the same before finally sharing a short passionate kiss. Qo saw this and tilted her head in confusion. “Why do you two do that?”

Yang pulled away from Father and look at Qo. “What do you mean?”

“You two, kissing, why are you two doing that?” Qo asked as the little wyvern climbed up onto Qo’s head before nesting into her hair. Yang and Father looked to me and Ruby, both of them with an arched brow.

“Did you tell Qo about Yang and Sanns?” Ruby whisper to me. I frowned as I tried to remember before groaning a bit.

“I forgot…” I whisper back before waving Qo over to me. When she was close I picked her up one put her on my knee. “Qo, you do know that Grandfather and Yang really care about each other right?”

“Yeah…” Qo said, looking at me innocently.

“Well, you see the two of them love each other so much that they went and got married.” I explained. Qo blinked at this before looking at the two of them for a moment.

“Did I miss it?” she asked, earning a chuckle from Father.

“Kinda, but they are going to do a redo with all of us there.” I told her. Qo slowly nodded before tilting her head as she pointed at Yang.

“Does that make her my Monahsemonah?” Qo asked. [Grandmother.] I blinked at this before looking at Yang and Father, which Yang looked kinda confused as she looked at Father.

“It means grandmother.” Father translated the word for Yang. Yang blinked at this before looking at me. The two of us soon came to the same thought and the both of us look like we were going to panic.

“Close friends, right we’re going with that?” Yang asked.

“Yeah, yeah we’re going to say, close friends.” I answered as Qo jumped off of my knee and ran over to Yang.

“Monahsemonah?” Qo asked Yang. Yang chuckled a bit before speaking.

“Let’s… go with Yang, Qo.” she said before giving Qo a hug. Qo accepted the hug with a smile. Father smiled at this before joining in the hug. I smiled at that before realizing something.

“Ah… we have to go tell Axycia about this…” I said.

“Tell me what?” a voice said. We all turned to see my aunt there with two of her kids, though looking a little older now. I believe their names were Divos and Ailis.

“Speak of the devil.” Weiss said, which Axycia looked over at her.

“I’m no devil, but in some eyes I am.” she said with a smirk before seeing Yang and Father. “Well don’t you two look all cozy together.” Father smiled once more at the sight of his sister.

“Ah sister, I was beginning to think you would not show.” Father said to her, knowing that she would’ve shown up eventually. My aunt smiled at him.

“Well I’ve been busy…” she stopped and chuckled. “Looks like you’re the one with more time than me.” she looks down at the two before clearing her throat. “You two think you want to say hi to your uncle?”

“Hi Uncle.” Divos and Ailis greeted at the same time, Ailis frowning and blowing some white hair up from her face before smiling at him.

“Don’t forget to greet your Auntie.” Father said, pulling Yang closer to him much to the latter’s enjoyment. The two kids blinked at this before looking at Axycia who blinked at this as well before noticing the rings on Father’s and Yang’s ring fingers.

“Oh… ohh~.” she said before frowning. “Oh.”

“You okay?” Divos asked his mother.

“No, I missed my siblings wedding.” she answered before looking at Father with a cocked hip. “You didn’t think of sending me an invite?” Father laughed at this a little before finally saying.

“We will be holding a much longer ceremony here upon Yang and Viri’s request.” Father said to her. He then looked as if he remembered something and said. “Oh yes I nearly forgot, there is something I must inform you in private.”

Axycia raised an eyebrow at him before nodding as she glanced at the two older kids. “I’ll be back in a bit so in the meantime…” she reached over and pulled both of their ears, making them wince a bit. “Be nice.”

When she finished she let them go and the both Father and my Aunt walked off together. Divos and Ailis rubbed their ears.

“So… guess that make you two my niece and nephew.” Yang said with a smile.

“Yeah… you can say that.” Divos said as he finished rubbing his ear. I looked at the two of them for a bit and saw the differences than the time I saw them last. Divos seemed more taller then the two but was more slim. His black scales were seen around his neck and arms that were uncovered. His horns grown to curl downwards alongside his head while another pair went upwards. Ailis was more the opposite to her brother, she had white and gray scales and more tone build. She just seemed stronger than her brother as she didn’t have horns but a tail that was a bit slender to her body.

Ailis looked at Yang for a moment but didn’t say anything. Yang frowned at her. “You have a problem with it?”

“Me? No, I don’t really know you so I don’t have anything to say about it.” Ailis answered Yang, earning a frown from Divos.

“Can you be a bit nicer to the family?” He asked her.

“I will when I want to.” Ailis answered him. The two frown at each other for a few moments.

“That’s not nice.” Tak said with a frown, hearing their short conversation.

“Oh honey, if you don’t want to hear not nice you should’ve been there when we had our last fight.” Ailis said sweetly. Tak blinked at this, not knowing what to say.

“Sometimes I can’t believe you’re my sister.” Divos said with a sigh.

“Oh you love me.” Ailis said with a smile. Divos simply rolled his eyes. As they were talking both Kaida and Strun looked at the two of them, gaining the attention of both siblings. Ailis expression to surprise. “Whoa… never thought I would see a half-Dovah kid.”

“Sometimes you can, just look in the mirror.” Divos pointed out, which Ailis ignored him as she kneeled down.

“Hi there. What’re your names?” Ailis asked the twins.

“I’m Kaida.” Kaida introduced herself. “And this is my twin brother Strun.”

“H-hi.” Strun stuttered. Ailis smiled at them as Divos found a chair and sat down. Soon Ailis was playing with the twins happily as Divos… was asleep. Father and Aunty Axycia soon came back from their talk, Aunty looking excited at whatever Father told her. She looked over at Divos before shaking her head. She nudged the chair a bit which cause Divos to snort and awaken.

“I’m up, I’m up!” he yelled, making Iilah groan.

“This is not like a library, where you have to be quiet…” she muttered to herself loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Stayed up all night again?” Axycia asked him. Divos hung his head a bit which made his mother groan. “This is the third night, you need to take better care of yourself.”

“Sorry mom.” Divos said. Axycia raised an eyebrow before saying.

“Well since you need to get some sleep at night I’ll have you go stack the books back at the store…” she lowered her head a bit. “The big books.”

Divos frowned at this but didn’t say anything to his mother. Axycia looked at her brother and smiled happily.

“Thank you… this… this means the world to me.” she said. Father smiled at this before briefly hugging his sister.

“Anything for family.” Was all Father said as he pulled back from the hug. My aunt smiled before turning to the others.

“I thank you all for your time, but we have to get going. My set of Twins are little mommy kids and get really upset when I’m gone for a long time.” she looked at her two kids. “Come on you two.”

“Aww, but I want a few more minutes with these two…” Ailis said as Strun was playing pattycake with her as Kaida was playing with Ailis’ tail. Axycia arched a brow at her.

“You want to clean the beast pit again?” she asked. Ailis stared at her mother before saying.

“Sorry have to go, see you next time.” she said quickly as she stood up.

“Awww…” The twins said in unison. With that the three of them headed out, leaving us to ourselves.

In the silence after Father sat back down beside Yang I spoke. “So… Weiss, what did you win from the talent competition?”

“Huh? Oh, well as it seems that Headmistress Zecora is going off to this place called Canterlot to join this Gala thing that happens at the end of the month.” she explains which Iilah groans a bit.

“I forgot about that~” she groans. Indigo and Blake looked down at the young librarian with raised brows.

“What’s up, don’t like the place?” Indigo asked her curiously.

“No…” Iilah started before crossing her arms. “The full name of this event is the Grand Galloping Gala, an annual event that’s held at Canterlot to, ‘Celebrate the founding of Equestria’ but that’s far from the truth.”

“Mind telling us then?” Blake asked this time. Iilah shrugged.

“It’s really a place that all High End nobles go to to boast about how much money they have or what grand thing they want to talk about or, and this is most of the time, go suck up to the princess to win some favors from her.” Iilah said with a frown. “The nobles there are worse than the Grimm if you ask me.”

“I know that feeling.” Weiss said with a sigh. “But if that’s the case, why did the Princess call on Headmistress Zecora to come?”

“If I know Celestia, which is not a lot since she changed over the many years, is that she used to be very crafty, she finds a way to make that event more… interesting.” Iilah raised an eyebrow. “Bringing a Faunus that runs a Huntsman academy out in the Everfree is one big curve ball in any nobles plans since Faunus are either not allowed to go in or are simply servants.”

“That’s awful.” Ruby said with a sad look. Iilah nodded a bit.

“Well… Zecora asked me if there’s anyone I would like to come I would tell her…” Weiss looked at all of us. “So… anyone wants to come?”

We all sat there in silence as we looked at each other before finally, Yang spoke. “I would.”

“You do?” I asked her, kinda surprised at her answer.

“Honestly, I don’t like the idea of this whole thing, but if I can show up any of these nobles up then I call that as a great night.” Yang said before leaning against Father. “Besides, I have the perfect date.” Father chuckled at that.

“Sure, I’ll go. It’ll give me an excuse to use that new tux I got a few weeks ago.” Indigo said before looking at Blake. The latter sighed before saying.

“Well… I guess I could go…” Blake said as she glanced over at Indigo. “Just make sure you make it up to me.” With a nod, Indigo chuckled and said.

“I will, babe.” Indigo said before both of them looked down at Iilah. “What about you, Iilah?”

“Ha! Heck no. You’ll never get me to go there.” she said with a laugh. “I’m happy here thank you. It’s more interesting than that snore fest.” With a suppressed laugh and a nod, Indigo accepted the answer as well as Blake.

“Alright then, anyone else?” Weiss asked before glancing at Tak. Whether he noticed her staring or not, he nodded after a few moments of thought. “You… want to come?” Weiss asked him with a bit of surprise in her voice.

“Yeah… is- is that bad?” Tak asked a little nervous from the question. Weiss stared at Tak, giving him a warm smile before giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“No… Just happy to hear that.” she said with a smile. Tak blushed at the affection as a smile slowly formed.

“And you two?” Indigo asked both me and Ruby. I looked over at Ruby for a moment before I spoke.

“Do you want to go?” I asked her.

“Well… the last time we went to some kind of party it was the dance and… well look how that turned out…” Ruby then smiled as she nudge me. “But in a sense, you own me a dance.”

I smiled at her before kissing her cheek. “Alright, I need to fix up my dress before then and-”

“Most of us… do.” Weiss said, almost making all of us remember what happened at the dance.

“My husband is a god, I’m simply going to beg him for a dress.” Yang said shamelessly. Father rolled his eyes and chuckled before both of them heard the loud yawns of Kaida and Strun.

“Looks like you two need a nap.” Father said to the two young half dovah’s. Father then stood up and walked up to the two before picking them up without a problem. Yang stood up and went over to him. Yang took one of the kids before looking over at the others, her expression took on a more motherly look.

“See you all tomorrow.” she said softly. Everyone whispered there goodbyes to the couple before they left, leaving us to our own devices. Weiss and Tak went off to talk for a bit while Blake asked Indigo for help on something and insisted that it was a private matter. Ruby needed to finish some homework so she gave me a kiss and left me with Qo, well kinda. I didn’t see Qo at first but I went over and found her in her book fort reading a book. I smiled at her and asked her if I could come and read what she has.

The rest of the day and most of the night was just the two of us in a book fort reading as time drift away.

Author's Note

Man, Rockwell is an ass. Just wanted to say that.

On to the Gala!

A trip to the Gala will fun right... right?

It wasn’t long before the end of the month came around. One the most surprising parts of the month was these odd tests each professor gave us. And what I mean by us I mean only me and Team RWBY. After finishing them and a few days later we were told that these tests were, by both Headmistress Zecora and Indigo say on it, were the final tests we will take and we were to graduate. So the most logical sense of what we do when we heard that was to party. We did and kinda forgot what happened that night. And with how I woke up the next day I really didn’t want to know how… something to do with pickles.

Anyway I was at my room on the night of the Gala seeing if I still fit in the dress Mother gave me. It was ripped up from the dance all those months ago so I tried to do some repairs on it, making it more of a fancy short dress. As I put it on and saw it in the mirror I frowned at how it looked; the bottom half was sewn together by a different colour thread and it was all missmatched as the top part was turned to a odd wrapping look. I simply look like some little girl trying to make a dress with what she had.

“I can reconstruct weapons, robots, and anything tech base to the smallest degree and hack into a high grade computer but I can’t for the life of me fix a simple dress.” I muttered to myself. A chuckle brought my attention back to my bed and was greeted with Father sitting while chuckling.

“You could’ve asked me to fix the dress.” Father said with a raised brow. I looked at him for a moment before sighing, starting to take it off.

“It just… bugs me that I can’t fix it like I could fix other things.” I said as I pulled the dress over my head, leaving me in my underwear. “Like, how is fixing a dress so, flipping, hard!”

“You cannot excel at everything, dear.” Father said with a roll of his eyes as he snapped his fingers. I watched the dress as it slowly seemed to unravel in my hands before reforming in a different look. Instead of the fiery red and orange dress I had, it was a silvery blue dress that felt more silk like. I took it and put it up to my body as I looked at myself in the mirror.

“Wow…” was all I could say. I turned back to Father with a smile. “Thank you.”

“I’ve also taken the liberty to make it harder for the dress to tear.” Father said informing me of what he did to the dress. I smiled at him for this, feeling like at some point I was going to put it into danger.

“Thanks again.” I said as I tried it on. I gave myself a moment to look at myself in the mirror before doing a little spin. “So, how do I look?”

“Beautiful, Viri, absolutely stunning.” Father answered with a brighter smile than before. I smiled at him before I went over and gave him a hug. Father returned the hug in kind before pulling away after a minute or two.

“I guess you went around giving the others their suits and dresses?” I asked him, wondering what they asked for, mostly Yangs.

“Fixing really, though Yang was the only one that requested a new dress.” Father said with a chuckle.

“Oh? Can I ask what she asked for?” I asked him with a smirk. Father looked at me and said.

“The dress is a bit… revealing.” Father said with yet another chuckle. “I’m afraid I’ll leave it at that.”

“Oh boy.” was all I could say. I wanted to say a joke about to be careful with the others that try to hit on Yang but… the memory of the moment in the desert stopped me. The two of us sat there in silence before I sighed. “Hey… I… I’m sorry about… you know, back in the desert with Yang going feral. I didn’t mean for it to sound rude or…” I hung my head a bit, feeling awful of saying such words. Father placed a hand on my shoulder, resulting in me looking up at him and seeing his calming smile.

“It’s alright, Viri. I know you didn’t mean anything bad by it.” Father said to me. I smiled a little at this. I looked away from him before seeing the time.

“Oh shoot, it’s almost time.” I said as I got up and went to find my other clothes. I looked back at Father and continued. “It seems Yang and Weiss agreed that all of us ladys should spend some time at the spa to… freshen up a bit. Yang said that she would talk to you about having help get us ready for the gala or something.” Father nodded before saying.

“Yes, she has requested me to get a professional masseuse for you all and a professional in make-up.” Father informed me, I couldn’t help but stare at him with wide eyes.

“I’m… going to have makeup on…” I said as if it’s a foreign phrase to me. This made Father laugh a bit.

“Oh it’s not as bad as you might think, it’s mere just a simple touch up.” Father said between chuckles. I stared at him as I changed to my normal clothes.

“Thanks for that… I think? By the way how’s Yang?” I asked him. This brought a happy smile to his face.

“Her change is coming along nicely, her scales have reappeared and now her eyes are that of a Dovahs’.” Father said before chuckling and saying. “The kids are ecstatic to have their dragon mommy back.”

I laughed a bit at him. “That’s nice… but is she going through the mood swings again?” I asked.

“Yes but it isn’t as severe as before, Yang has already gone through this before and knows what to expect.” Father said before making a small vial appear in his hand. “And with the help of the Headmistress, Yang has been drinking this elixir that help her through these mood swings.” He said before the vial vanished.

“That’s good… but will happen when her heat week kicks in” I asked as I found my towel. “Is it another elixir like the ones I use?” the elixir was from Zecora as well, it said it should mild out my heat when it comes around. So far I’ve haven’t had any problems of it as of late. Father shook his head before chuckling as he said.

“We’ve been… handling that ourselves while the children are off playing with little Qo.” He said, smirking as he did. I shiverer a bit at this, not wanting to know that.

“Right… well I better get going to meet up with everyone else. See you tonight.” I told Father. With a smile and nod I headed through the door to the spa as I went to take this treatment. For what was two hours that felt like days I went through a refreshing massage and relaxing session by some Dovah and Half-Dovah. After the long sessions I got into the hot water spa to relax some more.

It wasn’t long until I saw Weiss come in with only a towel on. She stopped when she saw me and blushed.

“O-oh geez.” she said before looking away. I rolled my eyes before speaking.

“Haven’t seen a naked woman before?” I asked. She flustered a bit.

“I didn’t know we were all going to be in the same pool…” she said. I shrugged as I offered to move away to which she shook her head. “I’m...fine. I just have to get used to it.” With that she stepped into the water. She slowly went in the water with a sigh as she did. “Oh yeah, this feels good~.”

I chuckled as the two of us relaxed until Ruby and Blake came in. The four of us talked for a bit about school, the gala and other things. It seems that Weiss, as of winning the talent show, is going to sing at the gala as well. I told her that I’ll look forward to it since I haven’t heard her sing as of yet. Weiss smiled at me and continued chatting until we saw Yang coming out. We also saw her changes in full view.

Like Father has said her scales are coming in but it looks like they came more faster than the first time. For instance the scales went down her forearms and sides of her body that went down to her thigh. From what I could see the scales curl around her chest a bit and up her neck towards her face. Which I saw her eyes were the same Dovah look from before as she smiled at us.

“Wow Yang… didn’t think the changes would go this quickly.” Weiss said as the the voluptuous blonde came into the water.

“Yeah, have to say I look good with them.” Yang said with a smirk. As she did I saw fangs. Over all the five of us talked some more and relaxed before Ruby spoke up.

“Hey… do you guys miss home?” Ruby asked mostly to the other three than me. They looked at each other before answering.

“Kinda…” Weiss said while Yang and Blake nodded.

“I miss my family.” Blake said as she lowered herself down into the water.

“Yeah, these memories of home… visions or whatever, does give me some home sickness. Even though we are all still there and… never mind.” Yang said. The four of them went silent after this as I looked at them. I didn’t really have anything to say at this so I simply kept quite. I wished Mother was here to speak like she always do, she knows what to say.

“Now what has gotten you all so down?” A familiar brought attention back to the door, seeing Mother walk with a smile. Most of us blushed at the sight, seeing Mother fully naked without a towel while Yang smirked at the sight. Mother had always projected her form to have the body that women would die for but for Yang, it is the body of a goddess… her goddess. Mother walked up to the water before climbing in, sitting next Yang once she was in the water. “Now, tell Mother what has gotten you all so down.” She said in a motherly manner. Everyone looked at each other for a moment.

“Just… thinking about home.” Blake answered.

“And a little homesick.” Weiss added. Mother looked at them sadly before glancing at Yang.

“And what about you, love?” Mother asked Yang. Yang didn’t say anything at first for the next minute.

“I’m not going to lie… I do feel a little homesick. I miss my dad and uncle...,” Yang started to say before leaning against Mother. “But here? I believe our lives were changed for the better.”” Mother quickly thought on this before saying.

“Perhaps I can make some arrangements.” Mother said to all of them. They all looked at one another in silence.

“Explain.” I said as I raised my head up from the water. The rest of them nodded as they wanted Mother to explain. Mother glanced at me before a brief flash of light blinded everyone in the room. When we regained our sight, I was the first to see that Blake, Weiss, Ruby and Yang wore a necklace with different colored gems. Blake’s was an Onyx, Weiss’s was a sapphire, Ruby’s was well… a ruby, and Yang was an an odd gem, its color was similar to that of a burning sun.

“I’ve design these necklaces to allow you all to return to Remnant without fusing into your other selves.” Mother said, informing everyone of the properties of the necklace. Everyone stared at Mother and at the necklaces.

“These… will send us home?” Blake asked. Mother nodded before smiling and saying.

“Yes and it will also prevent you from fusing with your other selves.” Mother said, answering Blake’s question. Everyone was shocked at this before Yang gave Mother a big hug.

“Sometimes I’m surprised at how amazing you are.” Yang said with a big smile. Mother giggled at this before returning the affection.

“Anything for family and friends.” She said, pulling away from the hug. “And I believe the little ones would like to see their grandfather.” She said. Yang smiled a bit before looking at Ruby with wide eyes.

“Oh man, Dad’s going to flip when he finds out…” Yang said. Ruby gasped at this.

“What would Uncle Qrow think?!” Ruby asked. Yang shrugged.

“Don’t know… maybe the shock will get him to stop drinking.” Yang said, earning a laugh from Ruby. This caused the rest of us to laugh as well. Mother smiled, having improved everyone’s mood before she stood up from the water.

“Hey~ where are you going?” Yang asked, sounding like a little whine when she asked. Mother chuckled before looking back at her.

“It’s nearly time for the Gala and I’d like to see the kids before we leave.” Mother said, walking off up to the door to leave before looking back at Yang. “Care to join me?” She asked. She didn’t need to asked twice as Yang almost sprang out of the water and headed over to her happily. Before we knew it they vanished in a flash of golden light.

The four of us giggled a bit as we relaxed for some time before we had to get out. It was about time we went to go get ready for the Gala. I wasn’t really thrilled with others doing my hair and makeup. The whole makeup thing was kinda off-putting for me. It took them half-an-hour to finish and got me into the dress. I was really happy that I didn’t have to go to the Gala in high heels, only fancy slippers.

When they were done I was left in the room in the dress. The blue eyeshadow and other makeup made me look less dirty than I was used to. It was like I was looking at someone else entirely. I looked at the door as a set of knocks caught my attention. I turned around and opened the door to see Father there. He stepped into view as he wore a long black coat with some gold buckles and a dark red shoulder piece on his right shoulder. He had white gloves and some dark red and brown boots on and a cape behind him.

“Hello dear, I’m just checking to see how things are coming along.” He said before getting a good look at me before smiling. “My, don’t you just look stunning.” He said. I blushed at his words as I smiled.

“Thank you…” I said as I looked back at the mirror. My smile became somber as I spoke. “Can… can I ask you a question?” Father’s smile vanished at this before saying.

“Is something wrong?” He asked me. I shook my head at this.

“No it’s… something I never really asked you before now…” I told him. I looked at the mirror for a moment before asking the question. “When you found me, when I was little, what was going through your mind?” He looked at me for minute or two, making me nervous that I might’ve screwed up until Father let out a sigh.

“When I found you all those years ago, many things went through my mind. Questions without answers such as why would anyone treat a little one so harshly for what she is?” Father said, looking at me as he spoke. He looked off to the mirror, seeing us in the reflection. “When I saw you shivering in the cold, alone and afraid… I made it my mission to bring you happiness, to give you the very thing you truly desired.” He said. I stared at him through the mirror for a few moments as my hands started to shake.

“I’m… sorry, for much of the headache I caused you over those years…” I felt my body started to shake as I was getting more upset. “Sometimes I feel like I’m just a burden on you and… Now that my mom is alive and out there… do I have the right calling you Father?” I took in a shaky breath as I tried not to cry. “I’m...I’m sorry… so…” I stopped when I felt his hand on my shoulder. I looked at him through teary eyes. He wiped away the tears as he smiled down at me.

“You were never a burden to me, Viri, you were a gift… one that gave me joy.” He said to me with a little smile. I sniffled a bit before giving him a hug.

“Thank you… dad.” I said to him. He returned the embrace in kind before whispering to me calmly.

“No Viri, thank you… for everything.” He said in a whisper. The two of us held each other before pulling away… then I had to go through a quick makeup fixup, really I’m okay with no makeup.

The two of us walked out into the school and down the halls until we were outside where everyone is waiting. I saw Indigo and Blake standing together talking. Blake wore the dress she got from Rarity all those months ago, the dark blue and black dress still fit snugly on Blake as her hair was done back. Indigo wore a black tux with a white shirt and pinstripe vest. Some golden buttons held everything together as one of his sleeves was empty with no arm.

Weiss stood beside Tak as she wore her white and blue dress. Her hair was done normally but she had some makeup on and blue lipstick. Tak simply had a black dress long coat and dark brown vest with a gray shirt underneath. Though one thing did stand out, his lack of shoes.

Ruby had her dark red dress on, it looks much like the same but she had some long dark red dress gloves and some ruby earrings. She turned to me and smiled at me.

And finally was Yang, she wore what looks like a custom oriental dress that had some gold dragons wrapping around it. The only thing that also stood out was that it was open on the sides which anyone could see her legs. A transparent cloth was draped over her shoulders and down her arms that didn’t really cover her body as the rest of the dress showed off her curves. Her hair was done in a way that covers Yangs right eye as the makeup gave her a seductive look to her. She saw me and Father walk out and smiled at her husband.

“You two took long enough.” Weiss said with her hands on her hips.

“We had to find someone suitable to look after the kids while we’re out.” Father said, giving Weiss a reason for being late. Yang went over to Father and gave him a kiss.

“You look good in that suit.” she said with a smile. Father smiled before quickly returning the affection, giving Yang a short but passionate kiss. When he pulled away Yang let out a heartfelt sigh before leaning on to Father. I chuckled as Blake spoke.

“So… how do we get there?” Blake asked as Zecora walked up to us. She wore a dark green dress came up as a ‘V’ before being tied behind her head. I saw some tribal symbols on the dress as she nodded to Father. Father nodded at the Headmistress before the familiar roar of a wyvern caught our attention up in the night sky. Pulled by a pair of Wyverns was a large chariot big enough to fit us all and more.

“That’s so cool…” Ruby said in awe as the chariot landed on the ground with… Rose in it? Rose wore a simple black suit and held the reigns of the Wyverns.

“Hey there, want a lift?” she asked with a smile. I blinked as I looked at Father.

“You didn’t think I forgot transportation, did you?” Father asked with a laugh as he walked ahead and opened the chariot door. “Now, ladies first.” He said, motioning for us to enter. I chuckled as everyone entered the chariot. I saw Rose look back at us as we enter with Father coming in last. He closed the door where we sat in a very nice velvet room with dark blue seats and some champagne and wine cooling in some ice too which Yang happily opened one of them.

“We ready back there?” I heard Rose call out to us. Father gave her signal, a simple thumbs up through the window for her to see. “Alright, hang on!”

We felt the chariot lurch forward before we took off. Yang poured us some glasses of wine before passing it around. Weiss took one along with Blake, Zecora, Ruby, and I didn’t take a glass though. Father was soon handed a glass before Yang poured him some wine. We chatted through the trip there before I looked outside and saw we were heading to a mountain. On it was a large city build along side it. At the top was a large palace that was lit up and Ponies on the ground were heading towards it.

“We’re going down!” Rose yelled, which we oddly heard in the chariot. Soon I felt the feeling of going down quickly before the shaky landing as the wheels hit the ground and after a few moments it came to a stop. “We’re here, please exit out of the chariot and bring all bagged foods with you.” Father quietly chuckled at Rose’s behaviour before opening the door and exiting first. He held the door open for the rest of us to come out. One at a time we exited and looked around where we all.

“This is… some place.” Ruby said as she looked up at the palace.

“Yeah…” Weiss said, her eyes looking towards the ponies walking towards the palace. By the look of it they were nobles. “Some place…”

“Whose idea was it to build a city on the side of the mountain?” Indigo asked out loud. His answer was given to him with a simply shrug by Tak as he walked out of the chariot.

“I believe the one who built this place based it off of Fairy Tale castles.” A voice said. We turned to see Ozpin walking towards us wearing a dark brown suit and a cane, not the same one from Beacon but a simple cane. “I think it has a interesting charm to it.”

Zecora chuckled at this. “You are interesting Oz, also how did you get here so quickly?”

“I like to be in places a bit early than normal, keeps others on their toes.” he explained before seeing Father and gave him a simple bow. Father did the same, not wanting to be rude.

“Greeting Ozpin.” Father greeted as he straightened back up.

“Greetings to you, if I’m correct you’re Miss Xiao Long’s husband?” Oz arched a brow and looked at Yang before continuing. “Or is it Xiao Kun?”

“It’s Xiao Kun, yes.” Yang said smiling as she said this. Oz smiled at this as Yang took hold of Father’s arm. “And yes this is my husband.”

“Good to hear. Happy for the both of you.” Oz said as Rose pulled the Chariot away. “Now, if everyone’s ready, let’s cause a stir at this party.”

We followed Oz into the Palace, getting some odd looks from the Ponies we pass. I ignored them as best as I could when we headed to the front doors. Before we could walk in two guards stopped us.

“Excuse me, what do you lot think you’re doing?” one of the Pony guards asked us.

“Going to a party, what do you think?” Yang told him. The guard frowned at her as Zecora spoke.

“We came at the word of Princess Celestia, I have the note with me.” she said before pulled a folded note and handed it over. The guard took it and read it over. As he did I heard some nobles talking.

“Can’t believe some Faunus think they can just come into the Gala at their will, what a laugh.” one mare said in a snotty tone. I frown more as I heard more of them talk. Some call us animals and beasts. I saw Yang clench her jaw as her hands turned to fists.

“Hey.” Rose’s voice said as she came up behind us. “What did I miss?”

“Oh this is interesting, this one looks funny.” Another one said at the sight of Rose. She blinked for a moment before nodding.

“Never mind, I think I got the gist of it.” she said as I saw Yang slowly grew more angry as the guard asked the other to see if the note is true. Father took hold of her fist, caressing her hand to calm her down. Yang gave him a look before Father shook his head as the second guard came back, we now had a few nobles waiting around just to see us get kicked out.

The guard whispered something into the first guard’s ear, making him frown.

“You sure?” the first guard asked, getting a flat look from the second. The first one sighed as he looked at all of us. “Alright, it seems that the note is true, so go on in.”

“What! That can’t be right, check again!” one of the nobles yelled as it started an argument as we entered.

“Are the nobles in your land the same as these ones?” I heard Yang asked Father as we entered the large gathering room.

“No, they know not to anger me and to treat others with respect.” Father said before shaking his head with a dark chuckle. “Otherwise the non-dovah in the valley gets another toy to play with.” This dark humor from Father seemed to make Yang smile as we entered. After a few moments I saw Princess Celestia walk over to us alongside Twilight and… another Twilight? No wait, this one is more stallion like. He had more of a shorter mane with a dark blue tux. Twilight and him were whispering to each other but I could hear them.

“I told you to go get a better tux Dusk.” Twil scolded him.

“I tried, but this was short notice and it was from Shining.” The stallion, Dusk said. I heard Yang chuckle as it seems she heard it too.

“I’m happy to see you all made it safely.” Princess Celestia said as she gave a small bow. “I believe we all met before but just for safety sakes we can go over them again; I’m Princess Celestia and these,” she gestures to the two ponies with her. “Are Twilight Sparkle, my personal student, and her twin brother, Dusk Shine.”

“Hello.” Both of them greeted before looking at each other. Zecora chuckle at this.

“It’s nice to meet you again Princess, as you know I am Zecora, Headmistress of Forever Free Academy.” she then gestures to both Indigo and Ozpin. “These two are Professors there, Indigo Parker and Ozpin.”

“It’s nice to meet you finally.” Ozpin said with a bow. Father soon bowed as well with Yang following suit.

“Greetings your majesties.” Said Father and Yang in unison. Ruby and I giggled at this as Father and Yang straighten.

“Ah, forgive me but I don’t believe we have met…” Celestia said to Father. The latter smiled before saying.

“I am Saanvodkiin Xiao Kun, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Father introduced himself. Yang smiled before speaking.

“And I’m Yang Xiao Kun, his lovely wife.” Yang said with a smile. I think she just likes to say that. Twilight gave Yang an odd look.

“Didn’t you look… different?” The mare asked.

“I grew a bit.” Yang pointed out. Father chuckled at that before kissing her cheek. Yang smiled a bit more at this.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you two.” Celestia said before looking over at Weiss. “Ah, you’re Weiss correct?”

“Yes, your majesty.” Weiss said with a bow as well.

“I was told that you’ll sing tonight, am I wrong?” Celestia asked.

“Ah, yes your majesty. Do I have time for a last minute practice or…” Weiss asked the pony princess.

“You have time, I’ll have one of the guards escort you.” Celestia said, as if on cue a guard came up to her and stood there. Weiss looked at the guard with a nervous glance.

“I’m… Not going to ask.” she said before giving Tak a kiss. “Save me a dance?” Tak nodded with a smile. I smiled at this, having never really seen him this happy before. Weiss walked off with the guard in a hurried fashion, Weiss was hurrying not the guard who was trying to keep up.

“We’re just going trust a guard after what happened out front?” Indigo asked out loud gaining everyone’s attention. A sad look formed on Celestia’s face before she spoke.

“This happened to you at the front?” she asked before rubbing her forehead. “This isn’t how I wanted things to start.”

“You need to inform them that any guest in this palace should be treated with respect.” Father said, adding to the conversation.

“I agree with you and they do… In all the wrong places.” Celestia said. I swore I heard a hint of annoyance in her voice as she said that. “I had hoped they would start treating Faunus with more respect but… It’s agonisingly slow.”

I watched as Celestia talked and moved a bit, seeing hints of anger in her posture. I believe she wanted to put her foot down about this to the others but… Can’t.

“Just be warned that if any of them lay a finger on my wife… I will not be as kind as I am now.” Father said, remembering how the nobles had angered her outside.

“I’ll keep that in mind Mister Xiao Kun.” Celestia said with a sad smile. “I do hope you have an enjoyable time here.”

With that said Celestia walked off, just to have a group of Nobles crowd her. Indigo shook his head as he and Blake went off into the crowd with Zecora and Ozpin doing the same. Tak simply walked off in a random direction, ignoring the remarks from the passing nobles.

“Well that was lovely.” Yang said in an annoyed tone. She soon sighed as she wrapped her arms around Father’s arm, leaning her head onto his shoulder before saying. “I could really go for some of that Dovah wine… the wines here can’t compare to the Dovah ones.” Father merely chuckled at his wife’s words.

“I will be sure to bring more from Skuldafn later, for now these will have to suffice.” Father said to her, kissing the top of her head after speaking. Yang giggled happily at this, her anger and annoyance completely vanishing thanks to Father. I smiled at the two of them as I noticed some servers walking around. Just as Iilah said some of them were Faunus. They looked either drone like or unhappy which upsets me.

I noticed that Rose was looking at a platter of various cheese that one of the servers was holding. By the odd looks the Faunus was showing, they are probably wondering what Rose is. Which reminds me that I need to ask her what she is…

I shook my head a bit as I decided to walk around the floor a bit with Ruby. I saw that Twilight brought her friends and I saw Diana was zooming around in a pink blur. It wasn’t long before I saw Skyler who was looking like she was fangirling over something. Ruby was curious so we walked over to her.

“Hey Sky.” I greeted the bird Faunus. Skyler looked at is in confusion before recognizing us.

“Oh, hey Viri, Ruby. What’s up?” Skyler asked us.

“Trying to enjoy the party…” Ruby said as she looked around. “Though it doesn’t look as much fun as I thought.”

“Oh well… I can agree to that.” Skyler said with a chuckle before looking really excited. “But the Wonderbolts are here!!!”

“Who?” Ruby asked, earning a shocked looked from the Faunus.

“You don’t know who they are!?!” Skyler asked Ruby. Both Ruby and I slowly shook our heads. “Really… well they are the best pegasus Huntsmen group from the Skyloft academy!”

“Skyloft?” I asked as I noticed Indigo and Blake nearby and so was Ozpin. They seemed to have overheard what Skyler was saying before she continued.

“Yeah, there’s three major schools in Equestria and Skyloft Academy is known to be an all pegasus school.” Skyler explained. Ruby seemed interested in this, looking at the bird faunus curiously she asked.

“What are the other two?” Ruby asked. Skyler looked at her for a moment before thinking about it.

“Well one of them is a branch part to Celestia’s school for Gifted Unicorns which trains unicorns to be Huntsmen and the other… Terraforge Academy I believe the name was. That’s for Earth Ponies.” Skyler explained.

‘And now Forever Free is one for Faunus…’ I thought to myself as I looked around while Skyler was praising the Wonderbolts team.

“And don’t forget Forever Free.” Indigo said as he and Blake walked over to us, Blake’s arm was wrapped around his as they held hands.

“Oh uh, yeah. Forever Free too.” Skyler said, surprised to see Indigo there. “Though I think not a lot of others would think that is really a school…”

“Fuck ‘em.” Indigo replied in a very blunt manner. “If they can’t accept it, they’re nothing but bigots.” Blake had suppressed a laugh, having found the sudden bluntness of her lover to be amusing.

This earned a frowned look at every noble that was around us at the time. Indigo didn’t seem to care about them as Ozpin came over.

“Now now, no need to be rude Mister Parker.” Ozpin said. “This is a party and we are supposed have a pleasant time.” Oz then turned to Skyler with a smile. “I believe I heard that you wish to become a Huntress yourself, Miss Skyler.”

“Huh? Oh, uh kinda…” Skyler answered with a little blush. Ozpin smiled as he turned back to Indigo.

“I believe Forever Free is going to start looking for more students in the coming months, am I wrong?” Ozpin asked Indi. The latter nodded before saying.

“Yeah, in about a month or two will be the start of the next school year and we’re always open for newcomers.” Indigo said in an informative manner.

“Well then.” Ozpin turned to Skyler with a smile. “I hope we’ll see you there if you like.”

“Wait… you’re allowing me to attend?” Skyler asked shocked. Ozpin didn’t say anything as he looked over at Indigo with a smile.

“Anyone is allowed to attend.” Indigo said with a chuckle. Skyler looked at him with a shocked expression before looking at me and Ruby. We simply smiled at her before she looked back.

“Thank you… thank you so much!” Skyler said with a bright smile on her face.

“It’s going be nice to see some new faces at the school.” Blake said with a smile. “Kinda exciting to see what the new school year will bring.”

“It kinda is.” Ruby said with a smile. “I wonder if they will look up to us or something, Oooo~ I might be a role model!” Indigo simply looked at her oddly before chuckling.

“Honestly I’m just hoping it to be less of a hassle.” Indigo said just above a whisper. Blake looked up at him with an arched brow.

“You always ask that, does it ever come true?” Blake asked Indigo. The latter sighed before shaking his head.

“No but a man can dream.” Indigo said, smiling after he said this. Blake giggled at this before pulling him closer for a kiss to which he returned in kind.

“Eh, I better get going. Still somethings I need to do.” Skyler said before walking off, leaving us alone.

“So what are your real thoughts on these three schools?” Blake asked out of nowhere. Indigo shrugged at this before giving her an answer.

“I can’t say much having never really heard of them before now.” Indigo said with a sigh.

“If you ask me, I don’t like the idea of schools allowing one set of being in.” Ozpin said with a frown. “And from what I could pick up, their way of thinking of huntsmen are different from ours.” We remained silent for a minute or two, knowing what he meant. Eventually the silence grew awkward. Before long the lights dimmed and Celestia’s voice spoke.

“Hello everyone, I’m glad you’re all having a good time.” She said, making me look at everyone around me. “Here at the Gala we celebrate the founding of Equestria, where the three tribes came together and built this land.”

There was a round of applause at this as Celestia paused. “Yes… but as you all know there are others that live in Equestria as well, mostly a race known as the Faunus.” A lot of murmurs came from the nobles from this. “It’s saddens me to see that, after so long, they aren’t being treated fairly as I would have liked. Even with my sisters return I heard rumors that some have disagreed with this as well.”

The tone of Celestia’s voice made it clear that she was not happy. Her eyes scanned the room as she continued. “I tried to bring peace to all races, give them all an equal footing here in our land. But it seems that some Faunas took it upon themselves to move forward on their own.” Her smile crept up as Zecora stepped out from behind. “I all want you to meet Zecora, the one who runs the new school out in the Everfree called the Forever Free Academy. There, even Faunas are able to go and learn and train to be Huntsmen and Huntresses.”

I heard more murmurs coming from the Nobles, some of them were angry ones. I frowned at this as I continued listening.

“Yes, it’s a bit of a hike to the place but we are open for all wishing to learn.” Zecora said before adding. “But not to just Faunus. We are open to all who wish to learn and… have an open mind.”

“Zecora I wish we can see you more in the coming future.” Celestia said to Zecora.

“I believe you will, but as a gift for you I have one of our newly graduated students come forward and sing a song she has made.” Zecora said with a smile. The princess smiled before the two of them stepped away and Weiss stepped forward. She took a deep breath as the lights was focused on her.

The music slowly started and then she started to sing.

As I listened to Weiss sing, I started to sway a bit along with the music. As this continues my ears flattened on top of my head.

“She… sounds so sad.” I said softly. Indigo nodded at this but didn’t say anything. I saw that all the nobles didn’t seem to say anything, mostly too caught up with Weiss singing.

After some time later Weiss finished and everyone applause at her. She smiled and did a small bow. The light returned to the room as both me and Ruby made our way up to where Weiss was.

“That… was amazing Weiss.” I said when I got up to her. Weiss smiled at me.

“Thanks, I was worried that the song would’ve been a little off or I didn’t get the right notes.” she said with a sheepish chuckle. “I didn’t get the right amount of practice in beforehand.”

“Well if you ask me you sounded amazing.” a voice said. We turned to see Rarity with some Stallion. He had a long blonde mane that looks like it took hours to do, a white coat and an expensive suit. He had this smile about him that I really, really wanted to punch.

“Uhh, thanks?” Weiss said.

“If you don’t mind, this is Prince Blueblood, one of Canterlots most elite members.” Rarity introduce which Blueblood smirked.

“Thank you my dear…” he said in a odd way. It’s official, I don’t like this guy… at all. He turned back to Weiss with a smile. “You have an… air about you, one I seen many times before.”

“Does Weiss smell?” Ruby whispered to me. I simply shrugged at her.

“Thank you Prince Blueblood. That’s really nice of you to say that.” Weiss said with her own smile, must’ve known what he’s talking about.

“Well, if you’re aren’t busy right now I would love it to show you to the food table where only the most elite members have their food.” he said before clearing his throat a bit. “I’m heading that way to… clean my mouth after eating something rotten.”

I saw Rarity’s eye twitch a bit. “I don’t want to be rude but… those pastries were made by my close friend… Handmade if I can add.” Blueblood simply glanced at Rarity with a bored look.

“So? They’re garbage.” he said bluntly. I twitched a bit, holding back the fist that really wanted to meet his muzzle. Weiss simply smiled.

“Blueblood.” Weiss started, getting a disapproving look from Blueblood as she continued. “It’s nice of you to ask me to come but, I have to decline.” This caused Blueblood to look at Weiss oddly.

“I-I’m sorry?” he asked confused. This made me think that this Stallion doesn’t get said no to very much. Weiss simply chuckled.

“Let me break it down for you, you cart me off to show me some expensive dishes that only you and a small few can have, say many things to butter me up to you and have me wrapped around your finger and treat me as your property.” Weiss said before moving forward. Blueblood started to back up nervously. We all watched this happen as Weiss continues more.

“Let me get one thing clear, you think you can get anything you want just because your some noble with high power or something, but I’m Weiss Schnee. I seen that same power and laugh at it for being petty.”

Blueblood was sweating nervously as he fell into a chair as Weiss stood over him with a smile. “I just have one little thing to say to you.” she leaned in a bit closer. “You’re not my type, trash.”

Weiss pulled away and walked back towards us just as Tak came back from somewhere. Weiss smiled and hooked her arm around his. “Tak dear, I think we should go find someone that has some handmade food made for us, I heard they are delicious.”

“Oh, sure.” Tak said before Weiss led him away from the scene. Ruby, Rarity, and I stared at this as Blueblood was trying to say something but look like a goldfish. I heard Indigo chuckle at this.

“Rejected~,” Indigo said jokingly to the stallion with a laugh. I looked over at him as Blake wasn’t with him.

“You can do better.” Ruby said to the purple maned unicorn as she stared at all of us.

“I… umm… what?” she said. I shook my head as the two of us walked away from Indigo and Rarity. The two of us walked around a bit before seeing Yang talking to Celestia. Yang seemed really happy too.

“Hey Yang.” I greeted her. Yang and Celestia turned to us.

“Oh, hey you two.” Yang greeted back.

“What are you two talking about?” I asked them.

“Oh well, I was talking to Miss Xiao Kun-”

“Call me Yang please.” Yang corrected Celestia.

“My apologies, I was just talking to Yang about her and her husband which led to her kids.” Celestia informed us.

“Yes and their just the sweetest, Strun just getting better with speaking but still stutters a bit and Kaida just got some new clothes.” Yang sighed blissfully after finishing. Me and Ruby giggled at this as I my ear twitched as I heard someone talking.

“Ugh, I can’t stand to hear about this. Those Faunus having more children is just annoying. It’s bad enough to have them around but making more trash is just…” I stopped as I saw Yangs expression changed to happy to down right pissed. She turned and marched towards where the voice was.

“Uhh, Yang? Miss Xiao Kun?” Celestia called for her as Yang marched over before grabbing a Stallion and pushed him into a wall. There were gasps of fright at the sight of this.

“Say that again you ass! Say that to my face!” Yang yelled at the Stallion. “Call my children trash again, I dare you! Do it so I can put you into the ground and leave you there!”

“Help! This monster is attacking me!” the noble yelled, causing Yang to slam him into the wall.

“Monster huh?” Yang growled before dropping the noble. He stumbled up before Yang raised her hand up and punched the wall beside his head. The wall cracked from the force of Yang’s punch. She got in close to him before saying. “Take a good look at yourself and ask that question.” she threatened before pulling away and marching off away from everyone, pushing and shoving the nobles that stood in her way. Celestia watched all of this before calling for the guards. Some of the nobles smirked at this, thinking that their Princess is going to send them after Yang.

“Guards, can you take this stallion and throw him out of the Gala.” she asked, shocking everyone.

“B-but Princess, why are you doing this?!” the noble asked as two guards came and hauled him up.

“I wanted to bring peace and trust to all races in Equestria. That includes Faunus, but it seems that you went ahead and insulted not her but her children.” she nodded at the guards, how pulled the Stallion away, kicking and screaming. She then looked at everyone around her. “It seems that I can’t simply think that I could trust others to do something so simple. So for now I demanded all of you to treat Faunus the same way as you do with other Ponies. If not well…” her expression darkened a bit. “I heard the Badlands look nice this time of year.”

The Nobles looked at their Princess in fear as I saw Father coming over to us, looking around as he tried to find Yang before looking at me and Ruby.

“Have any of you seen where she might’ve gone?” He asked with worry. We told him what happened and looked over to where she has gone off, which was out of the main doors. With a nod he ran off to find Yang, leaving us there. The two of us looked at each other before running after him.

We followed him out of the place and into the gardens where Yang was sitting down looking down at the ground. As we got closer we saw tear stains on her face. Father was seen beside her, comforting her as she cried. We stood in silence as we watched this unfold.

“Come here you two, we know your there.” Father called out to us as he held Yang close, her tears now staining his suit. The two of us looked at each other before walking over to them. I looked at Yang as she cried, her transparent cloth now in ripped up and blowing away with the wind. Now looking at her I guessed due to her outburst she didn’t see where she was going and her dress got pretty ripped up. She didn’t seemed to care at that at the moment as we stood there in silence. “It’s alright Yang… your outburst was not unjustified.” Father said to Yang. Yang sniffled and whimper a bit as she buried her head into Father’s suit. “You do not know how much it hurts me seeing her like this.” Father said just above a whisper as he looked at us. “That noble… I will make him wish he was never born.” Father said, his voice taking a very threatening and low tone. His eyes normally golden irises vanishing, leaving nothing but white as he frowned deeply.

Ruby and I looked at each other before Yang spoke. “Please… stay here with me…” she said to Father. “Don’t leave me…” And just like that his eyes returned to normal, his worried look returning before he said.

“I won’t…” He whispered back lovingly as he kept her close. The two of them stayed close as me and Ruby sat down on some grass. Before long Yang calmed down enough to pull away from Father.

“Thank you…” she said before looking down at herself and sighing. “I wanted it to be revealing for you but this is a little much now…” she said as her dress was close to be falling off of her. Father chuckled at this as he wiped away some of the remaining tears.

“Nothing I cannot fix, my dear.” He said before waving his other hand. Within a blink of an eye, Yang’s dress was fully repaired in fact looking more as if it never ripped. Yang smiled at this before pulling Father in for a kiss. The two of them shared a passionate kiss that lasted a little longer than normal before the two of them pulled away.

“What do you want to do now love?” Yang asked Father in a soft voice. Father smiled as he looked at Yang.

“I can think of many things… but most of them require more privacy.” Father said with a small laugh. Yang looked at him for a moment before looking back at the two of us.

“You two, shoo.” she said.

“Right bye.” I said as both Ruby and I left the two of them alone. As we walked off I heard the last few words from them before getting out of earshot.

“Now let’s have some fun, big boy~” I blushed as Yang said that before we got away from them. As the two of us walked away from them we saw everyone else outside. When we got there we were told that there were some crazy stuff happening and they wanted to head out before it comes to a peak. I told them that Father and Yang are going to take their own way back to the school. With that we got into the carriage and flew off back to Forever Free.

After the next few hours, the last to arrive back at the school and Father and Yang were happier. That night I had Qo with me as we slept, thinking what the next day will bring.

Author's Note

Well this is the end... of Season one xD. I’m sorry if this part of the story was really all over the place. For me season one of Mlp was kinda boring and... stuff

Next chapter is a bit of an intermission before... you know who comes

Intermission between stuff

A month or so past since the events of the Gala. I heard some sort of ruckus happened right after we left that made this Gala a night to remember. I wished I was there to take pictures.

The biggest thing happened was the wedding between Yang and Father, this time it was much bigger than the one in the desert. I went to Ponyville to see if I could get Diana and Rarity’s help with the cake and dress. Dinia was more than happy to bake a cake and Rarity was ecstatic about this. The wedding went off without a hitch, Yang was happy about this as both Father and Yang were together. I didn’t see the two of them after a week or so but after they came back I saw Yang had her tail again which she was happy about.

The next big thing for me was the first year anniversary of my relationship with Ruby and as the day slowly came closer the more freaked out I was. At the moment I was going through my training that I agreed to. Already panting and gasping for air after with everything I already did. Father simply stood there, looking down at me as I caught my breath.

“That's it for today, Viri.” Father said, finishing today’s training session. He walked up to me before helping me up.

“Thanks…” I told him as I was hunched over breathing heavily. “Dovah training… puts most training… to shame...ugh.” Father laughed at this as he walked up to the flowing river of the Valley. He waved his hand over the water before raising a medium sized bubble. He then faced me before waving his hand towards me, the bubble of water floated its way over before stopping just in front of me.

“Drink up.” Father said to me. I smiled at him and went to drink the water. As I was drinking the bubble ribbled a bit before all the water there moved forward and I was now soaking wet. I blinked a few times in shock just to hear Father laughing.

“Really?!?” I yelled as he continued to laugh.

“Look on the bright side, you're fully refreshed.” He said with a few chuckles. I rolled my eyes at this as I tried to get the water out of my shirt.

“So, in other news, how was your honeymoon with Yang?” I asked, wanting to know what happened to them over the week, although I don’t know it was a week for them, maybe longer.

“It was fantastic, Yang and I had the time of our lives.” Father said with a big smile on his face.

“That’s good.” I said with a smile as I was trying to dry myself. I raised an eyebrow at Father as well. “Hope that Yang’s heat cycle didn’t come during the honeymoon, that would be...awkward I think?”

“Actually… it did.” Father said with a chuckle before adding. “It was fortunate enough that her cycle came during our time to ourselves.” Father said with a smirk and added. “She couldn't walk for a day or two after her cycle.”

“You make it sound like you're proud…” I commented at him before smirking. “Did you two use protection during the heated honeymoon?” I asked jokingly. Father laughed at this before he answered.

“Don't worry, we won't be having another baby… yet.” He said, walking up to me before waving his hand, a strong wind blow drying my clothes in what felt like an instant.

“Thank you.” I said to him. He smiled at me as I stretched a bit.

“And what of your anniversary with Ruby?” He asked me, still smiling at me as he spoke.

“Oh… yeah, that. I have a great idea for it. Yup, sure do.” I told him. He closed his eyes, suppressing a laugh. He then shook his before looking at me.

“You have no idea what do for your anniversary.” Father said, seeing through my poorly made response.

“Oh lords no, I need help.” I said with a panic look on me. “I've been thinking all month and I got nothing!” I yelled, curling up into a ball on the floor in panic. Father crouched down with a concerned look.

“Truly you must have something in mind?” He asked with a surprised tone as he brushed my tail. “A dinner date, walk in the valley, anything?” He asked. I didn’t say anything at first for the first few moments.

“A dinner date is what everyone would pick, a walk in the valley feels like half to something else and… everything I think of is dropped from my head…” I told him before hugging my tail. “I want it to be special for her…”

“Simply take Ruby out to dinner, someplace nice and romantic for the both of you.” Father said to me, rubbing my back in a calming manner. “If it helps I can choose a good restaurant for the both of you.” I poke my head out at him.

“Please~” I begged him, making him chuckle.

“Consider it done then.” He said between chuckles. I smiled at him before the two of us returned back to my room. Father soon left to get everything ready for tonight as I went to my wardrobe to see what I have to wear. Over the time I’ve picked out some good clothes and got a simple black blouse and brown jeans to wear. I put them on to see how they look on me.

It took me about two hours until I finished trying to look for anything else to add before stepping out of my room. Next month would be when the school starts as the first years move on to the second year but at the moment there wasn’t much to do. So I simply headed down the halls alone to think about anything. As I walked down the hall, I spotted Indigo hurrying down the hall while quickly putting on a jacket.

“Hey, Indigo.” I greeted him as he was walking my way.

“No time gotta go bye!” He quickly said as he sped past me. I blinked at this before looking at where he was going.

“Okay bye?” I said before shaking my head as I continue down the hallway. It wasn’t long before I saw Blake walking towards me. “Hey Blake, do you have something important to do before rushing past me?”

“Huh? Oh sorry, hey Viri. Did you see Indigo coming through here?” Blake asked me.

“Uhh, I saw him rushing down the hallway just a few moments ago, why did something happen?” I asked her.

“I… don’t think so? We were just hanging out until he got a call before bolting.” Blake said before looking a little scared. “Did… did I do something wrong?”

“What? No no, I don’t think that.” I told her. “Maybe he has something to do and was late.”

“Oh… yeah, maybe.” Blake said before smiling a bit. I smiled back at her before saying.

“The man is crazy about you. I don’t think he would do something bad.” I told her. Blake chuckles a bit.

“Yeah… say isn’t today your anniversary with Ruby?” she asked me.

“Yeah… just got over being scared of it…” I said with a sigh. Blake looked at me strangely before the two of us part. After a few minutes, I ran into Ruby and… my stomach did flips. Oh, lords, I’m this nervous!?

“Hey Viri, how are you?” Ruby asked with a smile.

“I’m good! Uh, yeah I’m good…” I said as I went into a cold sweat. She’s just saying hi, stop being nervous! Ruby looked at me oddly.

“Are you okay?” Ruby asked me. I simply stared at Ruby as she stared at me. After the trips to the Arks and the time here in Forever Free, Ruby seemed to have grown more and more stunning by the day. It got to the point that I blush every time I see her.

“Uhh, yeah sure I’m fine…” I answered her. Ruby stared at me before I continued. “Uhh, yeah um… I got to go stuff to do bye!” as I said that I bolted away from Ruby.

“Okay… see you later!” Ruby called out to me. I simply ran back to my room, locked the door and hid under my sheets. I waited there until I calmed down and it was time to go… in a few hours… yay~

A few hours Later

Father transport me right outside of the restaurant that me and Ruby were going to eat at. It was a nice place but I simply stood there waiting for Ruby to show up. After ten minutes later I heard footsteps coming over to me.

I looked over and saw Ruby walking towards me. She wore a dark red blouse with a red coat over it and white pants. She smiled warmly at me as I blush.

“Hey…” I greeted as Ruby got to me.

“Hey.” Ruby replied as she looked up at the place. “This is the place?”

“Yeah, Father brought me here so this must be it.” I said as I went over to the door and opened you. “After you.”

Ruby smiled and walked in before me. I followed as the two of us went into the front foray. It was a large room with a number of tables with candles lit. I didn’t see anyone here as there were no waiters. “Do we sit anywhere?” Ruby asked me.

I shrugged as I noticed a trail of Rose petals that led to a table in the middle of the room. I pointed this out to Ruby. “I guess we follow the Roses?” Ruby giggled at this before nodding. The two of us headed over and sat down. There was a bottle of cider at the table and two glasses. “You want something to drink?”

“Hmm, sure. Why not.” Ruby said. I nodded as I pull to top off it and poured us a glass. Once we sat down we chatted for a little before a sudden appearance from a certain blonde in a waitress outfit.

“Are you two ready to order?” Yang asked, holding a notepad and pen. Her tone sounding sophisticated, indicating that she had practiced this beforehand. I looked at Ruby who simply shrugged. We gave her our orders as well as a dessert order as Yang asked if we wanted some. She wrote it down and went off into the kitchen to give the order.

“So… how's life now as a fully trained Huntress like?” I asked her.

“It’s great really, sure Indigo sometimes brings us to have a sparring match and some training.” Ruby giggles a bit. “We also go out on missions now, sure it’s really scouting missions but it’s something.”

I smiled at her as I drank a bit of cider. I felt a burn as it went down and shook my head. Ruby did the same as she looked at her class. “You okay?”

“Yeah… I don’t drink a lot of alcohol so…” she didn’t finish as took another sip. The same reaction happened that made me laugh a bit. We continued talking for a bit and drank a bit more of the cider. I now kinda feel a little fuzzy at this. Soon Yang came back out pushing a cart out with her, carrying the covered plates of our orders no doubt. She handed Ruby her plate and then mine before hanging my mind. She then lifted them both up as we both saw what we ordered. Ruby got a simple hamburger with fries while I got a shepherds pie and some fries. Yang then pushed the cart off after saying to enjoy our meals.

The two of us ate the food and drink some more. It was odd really, everything was really… fuzzy. And funny.

“Hey… what do I look like?” Ruby asked as she stuck two french fries in her lower lip and growled at me. I started laughing as if it was the funniest thing in the world. It kinda way as I at more of my food. The two of us laughed and ate food as we chatted. When we were finished we were both really tipsy. Yang came back before giving us a look.

“I think I should take this…” Yang said as she pulled the cider away. We both complained at this as we gave her mean looks. Those work right? They do work! Yang is giving us back the cider! She sighed before giving us a plate of chocolate cake. The two of us ate it and finished off the drink… and everything went really fuzzy.

I opened my eyes and found myself in a large bed. The sound of waves crashing outside could be heard as the sun poured in. I groaned as I pushed myself up.

“What… happened?” I muttered to myself. I looked around to see where everything is before seeing two white robes nearby. I blinked at this before realizing that… I was naked. I covered myself up with the covers as I heard a snore beside me. I slowly turned and saw… Ruby there. And she too was naked… oh lords did we just.

I turned bright red as I got out of bed and put the robe on. I left the room quickly and quietly. Before going outside. I saw we were on a beach where there were two suns in the sky. I blinked at how bright it was as I saw some umbrellas nearby and a familiar orange yellowtail. I moved my way over to see Yang and Father laying on a blanket in swimwear. Father looked over at me and pushed his sunglasses up.

“Ah good day, dear.” Father said, smiling at me as he did. “Shouldn't you be inside with your lover?” He asked with a raised brow.

“Umm… what happened last night?” I asked, afraid to ask. Yang simply chuckled a bit as she turned over to her belly.

“Should I tell her or should you?” Yang asked. Father chuckled at this before looking at me.

“To put it simply, Viri, you and Ruby had spent most of the night making love to one another.” He said, shifting in his position a bit to get more comfortable. I didn’t say anything at this but I figured that I must have looked completely red at this.

“R-Really… oh lords…” I said as I stumbled a bit. “I… we just… uh.” I started to breath faster as I felt panicked. Father saw this and shook his head, still smiling as he said.

“Viri it's fine, there's no need to panic.” Father said to me, bringing me out of my panicked thoughts. “You two simply bonded in a much deeper level than before. Now I suggest you head back inside before Ruby has a panic attack herself.” Father said, placing his hands behind his head as he laid back down. I nodded at him slowly before I walked back to the building and went inside. When I entered the room I saw Ruby awake with the covers up over her before she looked over at me. We didn’t say anything as I walked over and sat down on the bed.

“Hey.” I said to her.

“Hey…” Ruby replied. We sat there for a few moments before Ruby spoke. “Uhh, so… did we..?”

“Yeah.” I answered.

“Last night really happen?” Ruby continued, which I nodded. She didn’t say anything after that as I turned over to her. The two of us stared at each other before I crawled over to her and gave her a kiss. This one simply felt… different. Different than all the other ones as I felt my heart flutter a bit as I kissed Ruby… my girlfriend. We pulled away from each other and smiled.

“I love you.” I said before realizing what I just said. Ruby stared at me before smiling back.

“I love you too.” she whispered before she kissed me again. My head felt like fireworks were going off as we kissed. This went on before we parted.

“Do you want to go again? Without the alcohol this time?” I asked her. She laughed at this before looking off to the side.

“I think there’s a do not disturb sign somewhere,” Ruby said with a giggle. I giggled as well as I got up and found said sign. I went out to the front door and put it on before rushing back to Ruby Rose, the love of my life.

I also wanted to add that the next few hours was fun~

Several hours later. Back at school

Father, Ruby, and I sat outside in the sun as I had a huge smile on my face. Qo, Strun, and Kaida were playing a game with a ball. Ruby laid her hand on my shoulder as we three watched the three play.

“Do you two feel closer than ever before?” Father asked right out of the blue as he glanced at the two of us. We looked over at him for a moment.

“Out of left field again dad.” I said to him as Ruby giggled. I turned back to Ruby and smiled. “But to answer your question, yes. I think we’re closer than ever before.”

“Yeah.” Ruby said before giving me a kiss. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” I replied as I kissed her back and nuzzled a bit. Father chuckled at the sight of us.

“You two do really make a cute couple.” Father said with a smile. I smiled at my girlfriend for a before we all heard a loud squealing sound. I looked around at where it came from before I saw Yang Running towards us before stopping in front of us.

“You guys! Something amazing happened, it’s so amazing that I squealed like a little girl but I’m just so happy about it!” Yang said excitedly. We stared at her for a few moments before I spoke.

“Okay… what is it?” I asked. Before Yang could answer Weiss came jogging over before stopping next to Yang.

“Did you… tell them?” Weiss asked the blonde.

“I was just about to!” Yang said happily that she started to hop in place. I looked away with a blush as she did this alongside Ruby. Father chuckled at this before stopping her from hopping in place.

“Dear please, there children nearby.” Father said jokingly though Yang knew what it meant. Yang giggled a bit before saying, quite loudly.

“Indigo proposed to Blake and she said yes!” Yang yelled happily, making both me and Ruby blink.

“Really?!” I asked, to which Yang nodded happily. I smiled brightly at her. “That’s amazing!”

“It also took them long enough.” Weiss said.

“Uhh, technically me and Viri have been together for twelve years…” Ruby pointed out.

“Going to a different world where time is different doesn’t count.” Yang added. Ruby frowned a bit before I started to giggle.

“I think it counts.” I whispered into her ear.

“When did this happen?” Father asked the two.

“Just yesterday, after Indigo came back. He called Blake out and asked her to marry him.” Weiss explained the events that transpired. Yang nodded excitedly.

“Then let's congratulate them shall we?” Father asked as he stood up and stretched a bit. Everyone nodded happily as I saw the kids looking over at us. I smiled warmly at them as I stood up.

“Hey, you three want to go find Iilah and bring her to us? We have to tell her the good news.” I explained to them. The three nodded before running off to the library. The rest of us headed to find the two engaged couple and congratulate them.

It seems today is a great day for all of us. We just didn’t know that the future going to get Chaotic.

Author's Note

Ahhh Viri, you’re relationship is going smoothly... now there lets get crazy shall we?

Don't forget Discord for the wedding... no wait don't

Having a wedding is stressful enough. Having one right before the next school year is something else. Don’t really know why Blake wanted to do the wedding so soon but really no one could say no. Zecora allowed them to use the gathering hall for the wedding and helped with the planning. With her and Weiss planning everything went pretty smoothly. Again Tak was an amazing help with building everything we need for Blake. The man just can do everything.

At the moment I was with Indigo as it was close to the wedding time along with Weiss and Tak, who both are wearing the clothes from the Gala, the same as I was. Hey good clothes shouldn’t be wasted.

“Where is she?!” Weiss growled, pacing back and forth. “Diana should’ve been here hours ago with the cake. Now it’s half a hour till then and still nothing!”

“Chill Weiss.” I told her, getting her attention. “Maybe she’s busy with other orders.”

“But I checked with her beforehand and she had nothing booked!” Weiss countered before crossing her arms. “Some baker she is, being late for the big day.”

“Weiss maybe Viri’s right, Diana could’ve gotten a last minute order.” Tak said, walking up to the stressed Schnee. As Tak said this, I glanced over to Indigo as he leaned against the wall in silence, his expression showing that he was completely nervous as he adjusted his tie every now and again. “She’s not one to miss a wedding.” I heard Tak add. Weiss frowned a bit before sighing.

“I guess… I’ll trust that she’ll get here beforehand.” Weiss said as she looked over at Tak. “I have to ask, has Diana’s friends showed up? Maybe they know what’s going on.” Tak shook his head before saying.

“No, Ruby told me that they haven’t arrived yet.” Tak answered her. Weiss tilted her head a bit.

“Okay… this is getting a little annoying.” Weiss said with a bigger frown. “I thought they would love to come but the fact none of them showed up is just rude.

“It’s odd for them not have shown, they seemed pretty excited when I handed them the invites a few days ago.” Tak mentioned as he crossed his arms, a look of confusion donning on him. We stood there in silence for a few moments before I spoke up.

“Look, as much as it sucks for them not being here, this is a big day and we should go on with it.” I looked over at Indigo with a smile. “Ready for your big day?” He looked at me nervously before closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths. Finally after almost a minute he nodded.

“Y-Yeah.” He said, adjusting the neck of his suit before heading out. We all looked at each other before heading out as well. After some last minutes preparations, we were all ready for the wedding. Yang, Ruby, Weiss and I stood on one side of the altar while Indigo, Tak, Ozpin, and one other fauns man sood on the other. Some music began playing as Zecora looked forward as the doors open to see Blake come in with a beautiful wedding dress. She walked down the alle with Qo, Iilah, Kaida and Strun behind her with flowers. I looked over at Indigo and saw him smiling brightly at this. When Blake came up to him everyone quieted down as Zecora started to speak.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the presence of these witnesses, to join Indigo Parker and Blake Belladonna in matrimony. In the years they have been together, their love and understanding of each other has grown and matured, and now they have decided to live their lives together as husband and wife.” Zecora said with a smile. Blake blushed as she stared at Indigo, who smiled back. Zecora turned to the four of us before saying. “Do you four support your dear friend in her decision?” We all nodded as Zecora looked to the men, asking the same question. To which they nodded before Zecora looked at the bride and groom. “You may now exchanged vows and rings.”

Iilah took this que to walk up to Blake and Indigo. She held up a box where two rings were in. Indigo pick them up and handed one to Blake as he took her hand.

“I, Indigo Parker, take you Blake Belladonna, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.” Indigo them put a ring onto Blakes finger. “I give you this ring as an eternal symbol of my love and commitment to you.”

Blake smiled happily as she spoke. “I, Blake Belladonna, take you, Indigo Parker, to be my friend, my lover, the father of my children and my husband. I will be yours in times of plenty and in times of want, in times of sickness and in times of health, in times of joy and in times of sorrow, in times of failure and in times of triumph. I promise to cherish and respect you, to care and protect you, to comfort and encourage you, and stay with you, for all eternity.” Blake said as it sounded like she got a longer vow for him. Blake then took her ring and put it on Indigo’s finger. “I give you this ring as an eternal symbol of my love and commitment to you.”

With that said, Zecora smiled as she finishes it. “By the power vested in me, I pronounce you… uhhh…”

We all stopped to look up to see a large pink balloon. It was just… floating there over Indigo and Blakes heads. We all stared at it before it went Pop! The whole place was now covered in bubblegum as everyone started to freak out.

“This… was not in the plan.” I said as we all heard crazed laughter echoing around us.

“Ahh~ I love crashing weddings.” A voice said before some of the bubble gum floated up before forming a body. It soon peeled away to see a man that simply looked messed up. His suit was patched up with all different colours and fabrics. His hair was a brown with some patches of white. His eyes didn’t set on one colour, it looks like it changed between blinks. There’s also the fact he had one antler and one dragon horn, one normal hand and one clawed hand, one hoof foot and one bird foot. “Just so much fun.”

“Excuse me!?! What in Oum’s name do think you’re doing?!” Weiss yelled up at him, to which he man looked hurt.

“Well now, no need to be rude little girl.” the man said before appearing right behind Weiss. I did a double take to see he was gone from where he was. “You see, you may call me a… well a chaotic being of nature.”

With a wave of his hand Weiss was gone and in his hand was a snow globe with Weiss in it. She banged on the glass and plainly looked unhappy. Tak noticed the sudden disappearance of his girlfriend and panicked.

“Hey!” Yang yelled before marching over to the man. “Who do you think you-”

“Oh nonononono~” The man said as he made Yang move quickly out of the door and closed said door. “I messed with her kind before, and honestly they would mess my day up.”

Kaida and Strun ran to the door to try to open it, calling out for their mommy. The chaotic figure let out a loud laughter before looking at me. “Huh, you look… familiar…”

“Wait what?” I called to him before seeing him zooming up to me.

“Hmmm, kinda. The mask blocks most of it. Oddly I saw her with the bugs as I did a once around the world but, spoilers.” The man said in an odd tone. “Now I would stay but there’s a town with a number of Huntsponys waiting for me and I really don’t want to be late.”

He then started to float up before a large, shadow fist came rocketing towards him. He simply laughs. “Ha! Paper!” There was a large piece of paper that came out of nowhere and slammed itself into the fist, making it disappear. “Paper beats rock every time!”

With that the man disappeared in purple glittery smoke. Right as Yang broke down the door, away from her kids.

“ALRIGHT, YOU WANT TO- huh?” Yang said before looking around. “Where did he go?”

No one really knew how to answer as I picked up the snowglobe. Weiss was still banging on the glass.

“Is everyone alright?” Zecora asked, covered in bubble gum as she finally pulled some of it off her face. “Curse that chaos spirit! I thought he was locked in stone!?” Indigo wiped most of the gum off him and Blake before claiming saying.

“I’m gonna kill him.” Indigo said though through gritted teeth. Blake nodded as we looked around, seeing the mess that man made before I glanced back at the couple, seeing their sad expressions. It took a while to get most of Gathering Hall cleaned up and we soon changed to some more cleaner clothes on before we finally stood outside. It was then we saw Father fly down towards us after having left earlier to find the mane six.

“I felt the surge of chaos from the town, what happened?” Father asked as his wings vanished in a flash of light. Kaida and Strun quickly ran up to him, scared of the crazy man that locked away their mother. “What happened?” He asked once again after hearing his kids cry a little, his voice taking a more serious tone.

“Some odd looking man came out of nowhere and messed everything up, crashed the whole wedding in just a few seconds.” Yang said with a frown as Tak held up the snow globe. “He even put Weiss into a snow globe!”

Weiss in turn was standing in the globe with her arms crossed, looking very unhappy. Tak looked down at her in sadness as he held the snow globe. Father nodded and simply snapped his fingers, resulting in a bright flash and Weiss being held up by Tak much to the latter’s surprise. The two fell to the ground, Tak not having expected the outcome of Father bringing Weiss out of the snow globe. Though Tak did managed to make sure Weiss landed on top of him… somehow. Weiss on the other hand…

“I’m going to strangle him!” Weiss growled as she got up from Tak, which she helped up.

“Ow.” Tak said with a wince though smiled after being helped up by Weiss. “Thanks.” He said.

“What did you find dad?” I asked him as he hugged his kids. He looked up at me before saying.

“Your friends personalities have been altered, they now represent the opposite of what they were.” Father said, calming the twins down a little enough for Yang to pull them away. “I can undo it but they all need to be next one another to break the hex and…” He stopped looking at Indigo and Blake, both of which were beyond angered for having their big day ruined. “I will apprehend him… I’d rather not have any bloodshed today.” He said straightening back up. Indigo sighed at this before nodding, knowing there was no arguing with Father. Blake stood there in silence as we talked. It was after Father finished as she started to cry. Her big day was ruined by some chaotic being and now she was getting hit by the realization. Indigo was the quickest to react to this, wrapping his arm around Blake and pulling her close, holding her close as she cried.

“You guys go…” Indigo said in sadness. We all looked at them in sadness before we all headed off… only to find an odd sight; Rose upside down covered in bubble gum. She saw us and said something muffled. Father soon wiped the gum off of her face, allowing Rose to gasp for air.

“I was beginning to wonder where you might’ve gone.” Father said before helping Rose down and out of the gum.

“Sorry but some guy came and thought it was funny to hold me in some bubble gum.” Rose said. I saw that she was wearing a blue dress that had a few spots of bubble gum on it. “So… did I miss the wedding?”

“No, this same being ruined the event and from what I am told, covered the hall in the very same substance you call gum.” Father said to her with a frown.

“Ah… man I was hoping to get their wedding present without… getting gummed.” Rose said as she bent down and picked up a small box from the ground. Rose brushed some dust off it. “So… what are you all doing?”

“Going off to beat this chaos being.” I told her with my arms crossed.

“Ah… well I would go with you but…” Rose looked around us. “The bride and groom isn’t here.”

“Yeah…” Yang looked down at the ground. “Blake isn’t very happy about it.”

“Hmm, I’ll go see them and hope this will cheer her up.” Rose said before they headed off back to the school. Father looked back to the direction of the Pony town, a frown donning him before he said.

“We must hurry.” Father said before clasping his hands together, a spark of heavenly light emitted from his hands before separating them, revealing a very bright almost blinding orb that quickly expanded and engulfed us. Before we knew we stood at the edge of town and simply stared at the sight before us.

And wow… it was like chaos in town form. There was pink clouds that rained chocolate milk, the ground looked different colours, a chess board, velvet. Some of the buildings were floating around and some odd animals or mismatch animals.

“Ummm.” What all I could say. Yang and Weiss stared at this in confusion, not really knowing what to say. I heard Tak groan and I glanced to see him grasp his head. “Hey, you okay there Tak?”

“I… uhh.” Tak groaned once more, falling to his knees with a grunt. Weiss looked over at him and was at his side with worry in her face.

“Tak? Are you okay, what’s wrong?” Weiss asked, fear and worry in her voice.

“I don’t- I don’t know.” Tak answered, struggling to speak with whatever is causing him pain. “The ground… it feels tainted...poisoned.” He said. Weiss eyes widen before looking up at Father.

“Please… help him…” Weiss said, almost brought to tears from this. Father looked at Tak before placing a hand onto the young bat faunus’ forehead. Soon Tak was encompassed in the familiar golden light.

“This should help for now, we need to find that accursed Draconequus.” Father said with a bit of a growl as he straightened up and helping Tak up to his feet. The latter groaned, having felt great pain just mere seconds ago. Weiss was by his side helping him.

“It’s okay, I’m right here.” Weiss said to him. Tak nodded, silently thanking her. Father waited for Tak to feel a little better before we headed into the chaotic infused town, we soon separated in search of the being responsible. Father had gone with Yang, Tak had gone with Weiss, Ruby and I stuck together.

As we walked around we saw a number of Ponies and Faunus hiding in houses that were still on the ground. I even saw what look like Pony Huntsman standing in bubblegum casts, bubble cages, and a number of other things. But none of them were dead which was odd.

It wasn’t until we heard some yelling at the both of us looked around a corner just as we saw a small group of Earth ponies rushing towards the Draconequus before getting trapped in bubbles.

“These Huntsman. They aren’t what they are used to.” the Draconequus sighed as he looked around. It wasn’t until I heard some ponies running from building to building as an oddbird carrying a lollipop before it seemed to drop it down towards them. The Draconequus saw this and looked panicked. “Oh nonononono!”

With a flick some lashes of candy polls shot out before wrapping around the lollipop, stopping it before it hits the Ponies. They continued running as the chaotic creature sighs a bit.

“He doesn’t kill.” I muttered a bit as Ruby looked up at me.

“Yeah.” Ruby stared at me for a moment. “You okay?”

“It’s just… he reminds me of some young Dovahs back in the Valley. They used play jokes on anyone, mostly me but they do it in good fun. I think this man is the same way.” I said. I think about it for a moment before walking around the corner.

“Viri!” Ruby loudly whispered as I walked towards the being. He turned to me and slowly smiled chaotically at me.

“Well~ look who came running back to me.” he said as he floated down to me. “Like what I did with the place, it looks nice no?”

“It’s a little… wild.” I said before frowning. “You made my friend cry.”

“Oh really, so?” he said with an arch brow.

“It was her wedding day, you ruined it.” I told him. He simped gave me a half-hearted shrug.

“She’ll get over it, there’s always another day.” he said.

“No, you don’t understand, this was her big day and you came in and ruined it.” I told him with a deeper frown. “Do you know how angry you made the two of them.”

“How mad? Like, a thousand years in stone mad?” he asked in a serious tone. I blinked at him as I feel like he’s been through something like he said.

“Yeah, just like that.” I told him. He blinked at this before looking off someplace.

“Hm, never thought of that.” he said. I stared at him for a minute before speaking.

“What up with you saying that you don’t want to deal with my friend race?” I asked him. He looked at me before shrugging.

“Oh well, I don’t want to deal with Dovahs.” he explained before floating up into a lying position.

“Wait, you know what a Dovah is?” I asked him.

“Well yeah, the shadow version of them are the ones that created my race.” he explained as he pulled out a watch.

“Wait what?!” I asked him, surprised at what he said. Again he shrugged.

“Yeah, I believe it was them that tried to create a Dovah in other means but came up with what you see here.” he said, gesturing to his body as his head popped off and started to float away from it as the body got up and started to walk around for a bit. “As you can see, they were displeased with the result and casted us out into the multiverse.” he said with a little sadness in his voice.

“I’m… sorry.” I told him as I sat down onto the ground. The head floated down.

“No need to say sorry, it happened a long, long time ago and honestly I almost forgotten about it.” he said. “I didn’t like the fact they left us to die but hey, I’m still around.”

“Do you… want to get revenge on them?” I asked the head before looking back at the town. I saw Ruby disappeared, maybe she saw one of the mane six and want to help them.

“No not really.” the chaos being said as the body came back and grabbed his head. “Revenge of leaving us for death would lead to killing and I don’t like killing.”

“You don’t like killing?” I asked him.

“Of course I don’t, I’m Discord! Master of Chaos and Disharmony!” he said as pink lightning shot around him and rainbows shot out as well only they exploded. “I love making chaos and playing jokes but I draw the line with death.”

Discord looked at his watch, looking like he’s waiting for something. “You waiting for something?” I asked.

“Oh well, I know how this is going to go.” Discord said as he crossed his legs. “I have my fun for a bit, the heroes come and save the day, and I get trapped in stone again.”

“Why don’t you run?” I asked him. He simply looked at me in an odd way.

“Why?” he said with a laugh before looking around. “You see all this! This is amazing! If I get turned into statue again I would like to have some fun before hand.”

“Do you know that my dad is the head Dovah of that race and that you’ve made him tinsy bit mad.” I told Discord. He looked at me for a moment, I saw some sweat run down his face before sighing, his sigh sounding more like a deflating balloon.

“I do now, I don’t know how long I will live now.” he said with a smirk. “I’ve had a good run.”

“I… really don’t want to feel sorry for you for what you’ve done.” I told him.

“Then don’t! I don’t care.” he said with a laugh before looking back down at me with a crazed grin. “Child I’ve been around for a long time, not as long as some but there about. I like living my life to the fullest and if I could I’ll keep doing that.”

“Discord!” A familiar voice yelled from down the street. I looked at the source to find a furious Father walking towards us. Discord saw this and let out a breath that he was holding.

“Ah, there’s my executioner.” he said before a pink cloud appeared under me. It floated me up before smiling at me. “I thank you for your time, I haven’t had anyone to talk to for so long.”

I frowned at him as I floated away out of sight as his body moved like a serpent back to his throne as he watched Father walked into the clearing.

“Why hello there! Do you like what I’ve done to the town?” Discord asked Father. “I believe it looks better this way. Though I think I need to change a few things.” He said. Was it from before with the lollipop? Father raised his hand up, gripping something invisible before Discord was forced out of his throne and slammed onto the ground. “Oww~, that… hurts.”

“You’ve caused a great deal of pain today, Discord.” Father said through gritted teeth as his grip tightened. Discord seemed to struggled a bit at this.

“Ah… well, sometimes… a joke causes pain…” Discord said before grunting. “Okay… wrong choice of words… I’ve heard of you and… man, never thought to see you in the flesh.”

“What you do are not jokes.” Father said, angered at the fact that he treated all this as one big joke. “You’ve nearly killed a young bat faunus with your tomfoolery!” Father yelled, regarding the incident with Tak earlier. My eyes widened, having not known it was that severe.

“What?” Discord said, honestly confused at this. “What are you… okay really can you let go… it’s hard to talk with no… breath.”

“Fine then.” Father said, letting go of Discord only for the latter to ensnared by the ground itself. Discord took some deep breaths before looking at his situation.

“Better than not breathing…” he said before looking up at Father. “But really what are you talking about? The land is sure infused to chaos but it shouldn’t hurt anyone, I made sure of that.” Father frowned at this before Discord looked at him wide-eyed. “Honest! I’m a trickster, not a killer!”

“Well then, explain how young boy nearly keeled over just by taking a single step into this… This madness.” Father said, gesturing at the area around them. “The young boy uses the ground to see his surroundings, your chaotic corruption not only blinded the young boy from his only means of sight but it had halted his heart as well.” Father said. I gasped at this, Discord looked at Father in horror.

“What?! No, No! Look, this isn’t me!” he yelled at Father. “My Chaos doesn’t kill! I wouldn’t allow it to, at most it would give him a headache at most but…” Discord started to look like he was going to throw up. “I’m going to be sick.”

“I have half a mind to toss you in the Pit and leave you to rot.” Father said with a deeper frown. Discord looked at him with wide eyes. “But I have better plans for you.” He said, walking up to the bound Draconequus. Standing just in front of him, Father placed a finger on Discord’s forehead. Once his finger made contact with Discord’s forehead, a bright prismatic light shone briefly before Father walked back. The ground soon let Discord go, allowing him to soothe his aching limbs, having been in an uncomfortable position for a while. Discord blinked a bit as he rolled his limbs a bit.

“This… feels different.” I heard him said as he looked at his hand. “You… took my Chaos away?”

“Yes and I expect you to clean up this mess as well.” Father said as he crossed his arms.

“Huh… Ah, do you have my Chaos?” Discord asked Father. “If so do take good care of her, she gets really antsy when she’s ignored.” This earned him a frown from Father. “What? It’s true…” Discord looked around at the ground with a frown. “This is… odd.”

“And what might be?” Father asked.

“You sealed my Chaos away right?” Discord asked Father. Father nodded, keeping quiet to allow Discord to continue. “This should all disappeared… but it’s here.”

As he said this the ground seemed to rise up again, but it tried to attack Discord. Discord pulled back before backpedal away. “Whoa whoa whoa! I’m telling the truth!”

As I watched him dodge the ground I felt something behind me that made me shiver. I turned around to see a large eye staring back at me. It was bloodshot and purple as pure hate stared at me. Something seemed to thrust itself into my head which made me scream in pain before I was engulfed in flames. I clutched my head as the pain seemed to pound into my head over and over as the flames burned around me. I felt hands grab me before pulling me away. I thought it was Father but I heard Discord yelling.

“OWOWOWOWOWOW! COOL DOWN GIRL! I DON’T HAVE MY CHAOS!” He yelled as he pulled me away. Soon the pain dulled as I was breathing heavily. I pulled my hands away and saw blood… was it my blood? I saw the flames was dashed away from me as I stared up at the sky. Some of the floating buildings floated back down.

“Viri, are you alright!?” Father asked with worry as he ran up to me, a look of pure worry and concern on his face. I tried to speak but another throb when through my head. I put my hands back up as I felt more blood came out of my… ears? Oh lords, is my brain dead?!?

“She got hit with Chaos, if she’s left like that she’ll start to lose it.” Discord said as I blinked, the sky started to shift and crack as if it was made out of tin foil. I felt Father’s hands on my ears, feeling a calming warmth radiating from them.

“Everything will be fine, dear.” I heard Father say as the sky slowly but surely returned to normal. I blinked lazily, feeling as if I had gone through some form of drug trip gone horribly wrong.

“What… happen?” I asked.

“That was something else.” I heard Discord said. I turned and saw his hands in a bucket. “That was Pure Chaos I felt, that’s something completely not nice. Scares my Chaos just talking about it.”

“Whoever the one responsible is, I will throw into the Pit for hurting my daughter.” Father said, angered that someone had attempted to break my mind with insanity. I sat only to be held by Father. “Don’t Viri, there is still some blood in your ears.” As he said this I felt him wipe away the blood with a cloth rag. I sat there as Father said this as Discord looked off into the town, the chaotic nature that was slowly reverted back to normal. After pulling his hands out of the bucket, which his hands were extremely burnt as he sat down looking away from us. He shifted uncomfortable as he sat there.

“Now then…” Father said before snapping his fingers and healing Discord’s hands. “It’s about time we fix this mess.” With that said, Father raised his foot before stomping the ground, causing a massive shockwave that nullified all the chaos caused by Discord and even purified the ground.

This caused Discord to fall over from the shaking. “Ow… that smarts.” as he stood up again he looked up just in time to see a rainbow beam blast him. Both Father and I stared as this all happened.

“...Huh.” Was all I could say as the beam dissipated and Discord was still there as if nothing had happened.

“Well… I have no words really.” he said as we all saw the Mane six on the ground a few feet away. Discord took a few steps before, for a moment, seeing Yang in front of him. “Oh hello pain, how’s the wife and kids-urf!” Discord was punched into a brick wall as Yang glared at him.

“Yang, that’ll be enough.” Father said, placing a hand on his wife’s shoulder. Her red dovah eyes returning to her normal lilac ones. “He’s now in charge of cleaning up the gathering hall”

“Wait what?! Why!?” Yang asked as she noticed me “What did he do to Viri?!”Father looked at her before saying.

“He did not do this… That I know.” Father said to the still angry half dovah. I stared at them as the rest of my friends came and Ruby came to my side with a worried look. Father explained what has happened as Ruby held me close, crying a bit. Discord pulled himself out of the wall and rolled his shoulders a bit. It surprises me just how resilient he is. “Now onto the matter at hand, the rainbow beam cast by these so-called elements of harmony.” Father said, turning to face the direction the beam came from. We turned to see the Mane six pushing themselves up from the ground, Twilight wearing some kind of crown while the others had necklaces on. When Twilight saw Discord… sorta not harmed her eyes widen. She said something that I couldn’t hear… wait I can’t really hear anything. Am I deft?! No wait I can hear everyone around me so I guess my hearing is limited.

“Ugh… this is annoying…” I groaned a bit, catching Father’s attention. “This what it’s like to hear less, kinda miss my normal hearing.”

“What do you mean?” Ruby asked in more worried tone.

“I think… my hearing is a little shot.” I told her and Father as he looked down at me. Father got down and placed his hands back onto my ears, the familiar warmth washing over them as he did. Whatever he did took immediate effect, my hearing soon returned to its fullest.

“How is that?” Father asked, removing his hands.

“Better…” I said as I slumped into Ruby’s arms.

“Now, what is it you said Miss Sparkle?” Father asked the purple unicorn as he turned to face them.

“I… why… why is Discord not in stone?” I heard Twilight said to Father. He glanced at Discord before looking back at the group.

“And why would he?” He asked back in a patient tone.

“The elements… they should’ve banished all evil and disharmony. The last time it was used on him he turned to stone…” Twilight said, her eyes darting around as she tried to come up with an answer that makes sense. I saw one of them, Fluttershy I believe, went over to Discord to see how he was doing.

“Encasing your problems in stone will only make so much worse in your future.” Father said before looking at Discord and said. “I have decided to punish Discord for his reckless behaviour and ruining the wedding of a dear friend of mine.” He said before a brom appeared in Discord’s hand. “He can start by cleaning up all the gum from the gathering hall of Forever Free.”

“But… but…” Twilight seemed to be a bit transfixed that this was all happening. “What gives you the right to do this! Discord was going to turn all of Equestria into a land of chaos, he should get a punishment then simply cleaning!”

“And with what source chaos will he use to accomplish that?” Father asked before raising a finger, a tiny prismatic ball of energy forming at his finger tip. “I have every right to do as I see fit to this mischief maker… because no one makes my children cry and walks away.” Father said, narrowing his eyes at Discord. Discord blinked at him before looking up to the sky for a moment. He then hung his head as Fluttershy seemed to look at him and Father.

The little ball seemed to sputter a bit before floating around Father for a bit. It wasn’t until it went on Father’s shoulder and grew… into a cat? The little prismatic cat seemed to be perched on Father’s shoulder and licked its paw before looking around. Father chuckled and petted the cat, earning a loud purr as a result.

“Nevertheless, your attempt to turn him back into stone has yielded no effect.” Father said to Twilight, as he continued to pet the little prismatic cat. “And it will continue to do so until I say otherwise.” Twilight looked at him with disbelief. “But if you don’t believe, feel free to try again.” He said, stepping out of the way for them to fire another beam at Discord. It took a moment but they did… only to receive the same result; Discord standing there with a broom. Just for fun Discord even posed this time. Twilight stared in disbelief when Discord stood there, holding the broom af it were a rapier.

“Twi just give up.” Skyler said with a groan, sounding exhausted after having fired two rainbow beams with the Elements of Harmony. “He got hit twice and nothing happened.” She added before flopping onto the ground with a thud, her groan muffled by the dirt.

“Now then, any questions?” Father asked with a smile. The cat nuzzled its head onto his cheek, earning another chuckle from him. Discord walked over to us which drew the attention of the cat. Discord smiled at it as he used the end of the broom to play with the cat.

“How… how is this possible!” Twilight yelled as some strands of her mane popped out of place.

“Oh boy here we go.” Jacqueline said with a sigh. We watched as Twilight ramble on on the impossibility about this whole thing, mostly that the chaos from Discord was removed and turned into a cat. Weiss continually glared at Discord as the once chaos being shrugged.

“Well, if you know who he-” he didn’t finished as a large, shadow hand, punched him in the face. Everyone other than Father jumped at this as Indigo walked over to us.

“Rock beats paper.” Indigo said angrily as the fist dissipated. He walked over to us, his shadow hand already formed and the scythe forming in his hand. “Buddy, you and I are going to have a little talk.” He said, dragging the scythe behind him. The cat on Father’s shoulder jumped down in front of Indigo and started to hiss ah him.

“That won’t be necessary, Mister Parker.” Father said, turning to look at Indigo. The latter’s left eye twitched and after a minute of silence, his scythe vanished. He looked at Discord with an angered look and said.

“Don’t EVER let me or Blake see you again.” Indigo said, turning around and walking back the way he came before vanishing into the shadows. Discord frowned at this before the cat looked at him.

“No, I deserved that.” Discord said as he petted the Chaos cat. The latter purred happily as he did this.

I turned back to the others and saw Twilight was getting carted away by her friends which was having a mini meltdown as Rarity looked back at us.

“Thank you for your help.” Rarity said with a bow before running off to her friends. I sighed as I laid against Ruby, too tired to do anything now.

“Can we… go back now. I want to lay down now.” I said out loud. Father nodded before walking back to me, picking me up off my feet and placing me onto his left shoulder after having grown larger in size. He then did the same with Ruby before he brought everyone, including Discord and the cat, back to the Academy gates. He looked at Yang and said.

“I will take these to their room, keep an eye on the draconequus and make sure he doesn’t sweep anything under the velvet carpet.” He said, gesturing to Discord as he spoke. Yang nodded though with a frown but it didn’t last long as Father quickly pulled her close and bent down for a quick kiss. “I will find a way to make it up for not being there soon to you and the kids.” He said after pulling back. She smiled at him as Father took me and Ruby off into the school. We soon found ourselves in bed together, exhausted beyond belief. Father had left after setting us down.

I thanked him as I pulled Ruby closer. She smiled as the two of us slowly drifted off to sleep.

Near the mountain where Canterlot is at, there was some odd weather that no Pony understood why. Lightning flashed down to the ground as thunder rumbled the sky. It wasn’t long until there was a flash of light in the middle of the field. As it dims there stood a woman wearing a cloak of black and red. A mask that looks oddly like a raven with white slits for eyes. She looked around as the wind blew past her.

“Where… am I?”

Author's Note

If you think about it, Discord really isn’t much of a bad guy. He’s just want to have some fun but take it to the extreams.

Also, NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES!

A Dark Discovery

After the events of Discord, things were… slow. I was still recovering from what happened to me and for all it was worth I wasn’t happy. Not at everyone that took time out of their day to help me no, more like me not being able to do anything. I was left in bed for the rest of the month past. Qo and the kids, other than Iilah, now goes to school in the Faunus town. Qo always comes to my room to get help with her homework. Yang, finally, has her wings which she was happy about for the entire day when she got them. Sure she needs help with flying but after a few crashes, she was still smiling.

Now I was sitting in my room with the covers on as I was tinkering with some parts I had at the time. I was focused on building a little clockwork mouse as Sylph slept at the foot of my bed when I heard a knock at the door. I grumbled a little having to stop my favorite pastime before standing up and heading to the door. I opened it and was greeted with the sight of a smiling Mother looking down at me, Strun and Kaida on side.

“Hello, dear.” Mother greeted. I smiled back at her.

“Hi mom.” I greeted back as I looked at the twins. “Hey you two, how was school?” They both answered with big smiles and saying that it was fun. I invited them in. Kaida and Strun happily ran in first before setting up a spot next to my bed and pulling out a few of their notebooks.

“I hope you don’t mind me bringing them along, they’ve absolutely begged me to take them to see you.” Mother said to me as she entered as well, sitting on my bed. This caused Sylph to stir in her sleep before finally waking up, taking notice of Kaida and Strun first before seeing Mother. “How have you been?” Mother asked, looking back at me.

“I’ve been… alright.” I said as I got back into bed. “Bored out of my head really but I’m alright.” Mother looked at me sympathetically before wrapping an arm around me and pulling me close.

“I’m so sorry dear but this was for your own good, I wanted to be sure you fully recovered.” She said before kissing the top of my head, between my ears.

“I understand mom, just… really boring sitting here doing nothing.” I said as I looked at a stack of books that I already read… four times over. “I even missed the grueling training you would put me through.” I admitted with a sigh. Mother hummed at this before she smiled.

“Would it make you feel better if I allowed you to leave your room now?” She asked, earning a confused look from me as I glanced up at her. “The past month you’ve spent bedridden in recovery. I see no damage left and it seems you recovered your aura as well.” She said, brushing my tail as she spoke. I instinctively purred at the sensation of my tail being brushed by Mother. “It’s actually why I wanted to stop by. To tell you that you no longer have to be trapped in your room and that your training can continue tomorrow at dawn.” She added. I smiled a bit more at this as I gave Mother a big hug.

“Thank you~” I said with a smile at the idea that I can get out of my room. Mother chuckled as she returned the hug. Sylph got up onto the bed and squeezed in between us, wanting to join in the affection. Sylph has been with me for the long month, normally she would’ve wandered down the halls but she stayed by my side as I recovered. I was happy she did this so I had someone with me as I recovered. I smiled and gave the Fox Grimm a hug as she gave me a lick.

“Now then, where is your lover, Ruby?” Mother asked me, making blush as a result before she added. “Normally she would be here by now, no?” She said.

“Yes but she and the other three went out on a mission.” I told her. After the Gala there was a few people sending missions, even Celestia posted some for us to do. With Team RWBY one of a few that can go out they’ve been busy. “She been gone for about a week and…” I pulled Sylph into a tight hug. “I miss her~!” I cried out with a waterfall of tears. Mother held back a chuckle, finding me amusing.

“I don’t doubt that you’ll tackle her the first chance you get.” Mother said, holding me close. I sniffled a bit as I nodded. “And don’t worry, I just happen to know that they’ll be returning within the hour.” She added. I looked over at her with tearful eyes and sniffled.

“R-Really?” I asked her.

“Have I ever lied to you, dear?” Mother asked back with a smile and an arched brow. I shook my head as I silently squealed at seeing Ruby again. A week or so past but it felt like half a year had past. I wiped my tears away as I went to sit beside Mother. Kaida and Strun were working on their homework and, after getting some help, were finished with it.

“You can’t wait to see Yang again?” I asked Mother with a smirk. She smiled and nodded.

“But of course, you are not the only one excited for their returning lover.” She said, chuckling as she helped the two pack up. I chuckled as well as I heard a knock at the door. Looking at Mother for a moment as I went over to the door. I opened it and saw Rose there.

“Hey, you have a moment? This is important.” Rose said with some serious in her voice. I looked at her before I nodded and moved out of the way. Rose walked in and saw Mother there as well. “Good, I didn’t miss you. Now Team RWBY is back much earlier than everyone thought but… something happened.”

“Was someone hurt?” Mother said worryingly. Rose shook her head.

“No, they’re fine and all but they came across something odd at the last bit of the mission from what I’ve been told.” Rose said, crossing her arms before adding. “They were supposed to take out some Grimm but, when they got there found there was no Grimm... Just some wounded guards that were close to the brink of casting off.”

“What..?” I said, listening to Rose explain. Rose simply shook her head.

“I know what you’re thinking; who could’ve done this. Well Team RWBY had the same idea when they helped the guards out. It seems a woman the looked a lot like a red and black raven going at high speeds slaughtered the Grimm and attack the guards. I believe the last part was that the guards were thinking this woman was a Grimm but found that out the hard way.” Rose explained to me and Mother. Kaida and Strun didn’t understand what was going on but they knew it wasn’t for them.

“Let’s go.” Mother said before looking at Sylph and saying. “Please keep an eye on the kids while we’re gone.” Sylph nodded before headed to go meet up with Team RWBY. After searching for a bit, we ended finding them in Indigo’s classroom. It was quiet as everyone was sitting in different desks. The most was Yang who stared out of the window deep in thought. I saw Ruby and went over to her and sat beside her.

“Hey.” I greeted, earning a smile from Ruby.

“Hey.” she greeted back as I pulled her into a hug and kissed her head. I had briefly glanced at Mother and saw her in a brief makeout session with Yang, the two were obviously excited about seeing each other after a week apart. I looked over to Blake and saw her sitting on Indigo’s lap, arms wrapped around his neck. Finally, there was Weiss, who was happily kissing Tak. The latter blushing madly at the affection.

“Well uhh, I know reunions are great and all but… can we move onto the important stuff that’s not going be on love?” Rose asked as she had her arms crossed.

“While I would normally ask you to kindly shut it, you’re right.” Indigo said as he adjusted himself in his seat with Blake across his lap. “Would you care to inform us on what you’ve learned during your last mission?” Indigo said a serious tone. Blake looked up at him before saying.

“We were finishing up the last bit on the last mission, exterminate some Grimm that was nearby. But when we got there all the Grimm were wiped out. Sure we could’ve left but the fact there was injured Pony guards as well meant we had to help them.” Blake explained with a little frown. “When we asked what happened they said some woman in red and black attire came and took them out. When they approached her, she turned and attacked them.”

“Without reason?” Mother asked with a curious glance as she now sat on Yang’s lap. The latter wrapping her arms around Mother before moving her head to the side to see us. Blake frowned even more.

“One of them said it was out of no reason but others said other things and then there’s the one Yang got.” Blake said.

“I asked him one question and it seems that the big blonde dragon lady scared the crap out of him.” Yang said before looking at Mother. “I’m not scary am I?” Mother shifted on Yang’s lap before wrapping her arms around her.

“No, you’re beautiful.” Was all Mother said to Yang. Yang smiled as she gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Anyway, it seems their captain was, and sorry for my language Tak, an ass.” Weiss said with a slight blush. Tak simply suppressed a chuckle, having rarely heard Weiss swear.

“It okay to swear every now and again, Weiss.” Tak said just above a whisper but luckily I was able to hear him. Mother soon stood up, eliciting a whine from Yang as she did, she then looked at us and said.

“This has certainly caught my interest and will indeed look into it, for now though let us enjoy today.” Mother said, grabbing Yang’s hand and helping up before whispering something into her ear. I was unable to hear what she said but it elicited a small blush from Yang before she picked Mother up bridal style and hurried out the room with a giggling Mother in her arms. Everyone left the room in sorta a same fashion. I walked Ruby down to my room with my hand in hers. As soon as we got there and opened the door I saw that the kids were gone along with Sylph. I didn’t really know what happened but my attention was pulled when Ruby turned me around, pushed me to the bed and got on top of me. She gave me a passionate kiss which I was eager to give back. We were like this before Ruby pulled me away to speak.

“I missed you.” Ruby said with a blushing smile. I smiled back the same way before I spoke.

“I missed you too.” I said as I gave her another kiss. The two of us had a makeout session before we heard the door open.

“Mommy?” Qo said before she came in and looked around. Ruby rolled over to sit up just as Qo saw her and smiled. “Mommies!” She laughed as she ran over to give Ruby a hug, earning a laugh from her.

“I missed you so much Qo!” Ruby said as she hugged Qo. The little Fox Faunus giggled at this as I smiled at this. The three of us sat there for some time before Qo asked if we could play a game. This led to the three of us playing some board games for hours. While it did interrupt me and Ruby’s moment, we were happy nonetheless.

“Mommy Viri, do you think I’ll get a brother or sister in the future?” Qo asked which through both of us for a loop.

“What brought this one?” I asked as I had to move some pieces on the game of Risk which Qo asked to play… and beating both me and Ruby. The kid is really smart.

“I was just wondering.” Qo said with a shrug. “I was talking to auntie Yang about it and it led to babies and then it got stopped when Monahsemonah came around.” Qo explained. [Grandmother] I looked at Ruby for a moment before I started to speak but Ruby cut me off.

“I don’t know honey, maybe.” Ruby said, which surprised me and Qo smiled.

“I could be an older sister!” Qo giggled as I gave Ruby an odd look. She simply shrugged at me as she took her turn. I looked over at Qo and spoke.

“What did your Monahsemonah say about this?” I asked Qo.

“She said that I have to ask my parents where babies come from…” she looked between the two of us for a moment. “And I think I’ll find out later…”

“Oh honey…” Ruby pulled Qo into a hug for a moment. “Yeah.”

The rest of the night went on just the three of us playing board games, too which Qo beat both of us.

~Two days later~

After two days of enjoyment I got a message that Princess Celestia wants us to come see her. I woke up early to do my jog to stay in shape around the area of the school. After a few hours of that I saw Father sitting down at the stairs up into the school reading a book. I jogged over to him and spoke.

“Hey.” I greeted him. Father looked up at me and smiled.

“Good morning, dear.” Father greeted with a bright smile before adding. “You’re up early.” He said.

“Yeah, after a month of being stuck in bed I felt like I should run a bit to stay in shape.” I said with a smile. “What about you, you’re also up early.”

“Ah yes…” He said, looking off into the distance with a chuckle. “Yang and I had a little talk after she spoke with Qo and as a result… we’re having another child.” Father announced, looking back at me.

“Oh my lords really!” I said with a huge smile on my face before thinking about it. “You know, after all that time with you together, I believe you were going to have another.” I added with a laugh. He laughed as well before closing the book he had.

“Yes well, you can thank little Qo for that.” He said with a chuckle. I smiled before I asked.

“I wonder, why did Qo ask Yang about that?” I asked out loud. “I’m still wondering about it.” He chuckled at the memory before saying.
“Perhaps she would like to have siblings of her own.” Was his answer as he placed the book down before looking at me. “But what about you?” He asked. I rubbed the back of my head as I sat down.

“I… don’t really know for sure.” I said. “I love Qo and Ruby to death and the three of us as a family…” I stopped there as I thought about it. I saw the other two as part of my family and I would do anything to keep it that way. Would it be bad if there was one or two more in the mix? I heard Father chuckling which brought me out of my thoughts.

“You don’t seem opposed to the idea.” Father said between chuckles. I looked over at him and stared for a moment before slightly nodding.

“I’m… not opposed to it. Truth be told that, I would love to have a family with Ruby but… no, there’s no buts.” I said as I shook my head. “Yeah… I’ll talk to her about it later.” Father smiled at this before wrapping an arm around me.

“Look at you, all grown up and thinking about a family.” Father said as he pulled me close. I blushed at this as I gave him a hug back. It wasn’t long before the rest of the others came, Yang a massive smile on her face as she saw Father. “Hello, love.” Father greeted her before standing up giving her a quick kiss.

“Hello.” Yang said after the kiss. I saw Ruby smile at me as I walked over to her. It was then we saw a few chariot came down with some mechanized horses pulling it. The Pony on it said this was our ride to Canterlot to see the Princesses. Some of us got on one of them and the other before they were pulled away into the sky. I saw Father and Yang sharing a moment with each other as they flew in the sky as I held Ruby’s hand. The two of us smiled before I decided to ask her the question.

“So… remember Qo’s question two days ago?” I asked her. Ruby looked over at me.

“Yeah.” Ruby answered with an odd look.

“Well… I gave it some thought and…” I stopped for a moment before shaking my head. “Never mind, I’ll tell you later.”

“Hey… don’t be like that. What do you mean?” Ruby whined. I chuckled as I saw we were getting closer.

“I will tell you later.” I said. She frowned at me before we landed near the castle. We were escorted to the throne room where both Celestia and Luna sat waiting for us. As we got in we all bowed to them.

“Thank you all for coming.” Celestia said before looking over at Father. “I also have to say thanks again for dealing with Discord, how is he doing if you don’t mind me asking.”

“He’s serving his punishment as the janitor of Forever Free.” Father answered the white alicorn mare.

“And all he asks for is to have that colourful cat around.” Yang added. I remembered him around with the cat around him. Sure it’s his chaotic power near him is a bad idea but from the looks of it, they seemed to be good friends. Father nodded at this before looking back at the two.

“That’s nice to hear, but that’s not what we called you here for.” Celestia said as her horn shined with a yellow light an image appeared. She wore a cloak that looked like black and red feathers and a raven like black mask. Her feet were clawed like boots that she wore. “As you can see here, this being came out of nowhere and attacked a group of guards some time ago and again with a few trained groups of huntsman.”

“Not really well trained.” Luna added which earned a looked from Celestia.

“Sister, we talked about this.” Celestia warned. Luna rolled her eyes at this as Celestia looked over at us.

“Again I sent some huntsman to capture her but, the results are the same.” Celestia sighed. “I’m worried that this woman would cause more damage if she’s free.”

“So… you want us to go and capture her?” Blake asked Celestia.

“Maybe she’s doing this out of self-defense.” Indigo suggested as he stood beside Blake.

“Whatever it is I would like you to go find her and bring her in.” Celestia said to us. “I want to hear what’s her side of the story.” Yang looked at the image and got a closer look at it. She frowned a bit before saying.

“It’s not her.” she said loud enough to say. Father heard this and placed a hand on her shoulder, Yang’s frown vanishing within an instant.

“Where was she last sighted?” Indigo asked the two princesses.

“Her last sighting was near the outskirts of Baltimare.” Luna answered Indigo. With that Indigo looked at us and before saying.

“Alright, we have an objective and a location. Let’s get this done quickly.” Indigo said to us. We all nodded as we said goodbye to the Princesses and left the room. As we walked Yang stopped for a moment as she started to look green.

“One… second.” she said before going over to some planter and started to throw up. We all looked at this as Ruby helped her with her hair.

“Morning sickness... That’s not going to be fun.” Blake said. Weiss looked like she was going to throw up from this. Father stood by Yang as she did this.

“Will you be alright, love?” Father asked after Yang stopped puking. “Do you want to go back to the dorm?” He asked.

“I’m… fine…” Yang said as she shakingly stood up. “Forgot about that part.” Father helped her back up and comforted her before cleaning the planter with a snap of his fingers.

“If at any moment you need anything, let me know.” Father said to Yang as she too was affected by the cleaning, she looked as if she never threw up.

“Thank you…” Yang said with a smile.

“Do you think having Yang with us like this is a good idea?” Weiss asked us in a whisper. “She has a third kid and, we don’t know if this lady is going to put up a fight.”

“Father is here and do you think he’s going to let Yang get hurt?” I told her. Weiss looked at Blake and Indigo, only for them to shrug back at her. When Yang came to us we went out of the castle and used the chariots to where the woman was last sighted.

The trip was short but we as we flew around I saw a black and red spot down in the field. We flew down and landed near the figure and saw that it was the same being. We all got off as she was sitting on a large rock looking up to the sky. We all looked at each other before Indigo stepped forward. Yang… sadly had another round of throwing up so Father and Yang weren’t around as Indigo spoke.

“That wasn’t nearly as hard as I expected it to be.” Indigo said, noting that it was indeed an easy and quick search. The woman simply stared at him in silence for a bit before speaking.

“Who… are you?” she asked, her voice was distorted behind her mask.

“My name’s Indigo Parker and I’d like to know the name of the person I’m speaking to.” Indigo said, trying to get the woman to say her name.

“... No.” she answered as she shifted a bit. “You’re not Indigo Parker.”

She moved her arm out of her cloak, her pale skin was as her wrist bands transformed into clawed gauntlets. We all took a step back as she spoke.

“I saw Indigo Parker die at the Fall of Beacon.” she said before disappearing into black and red pedals before there was a gunshot as she reappeared punching Indigo in the stomach. “You’re a fake.” Indigo was launched backward towards us before stopping in front of us, holding his stomach.

“Indigo!” Blake yelled as she ran at his side to make sure he was okay.

“Look at that, the black cat is here. How long will it be until you turned tail and run away.” The woman said to Blake.

“Hey! What’s wrong with you!?!” Weiss yelled at her, making the woman laugh.

“What’s wrong with me? That’s rich from a Schnee.” she tilted her head a bit. “Did daddy tell you to come out and play? No free will at all.”

Weiss was taken aback at this woman’s words. I pulled Molten Fox out and turned her into a sword. Ruby walked up beside me with her scythe.

“We’re here to talk to you, not to fight.” I told her as Indigo gasped a bit. I don’t know how this woman knows much of us but it didn’t matter as she attacked Indigo.

“Sorry.” she said as her other arm moved out with the same clawed gauntlet as she took a fighting stance. “I’m done talking.”

With that she bolted forward by shooting behind her, just like Yang would as she came up to me. I slashed at her but she blocked it with her arm. She grabbed me and threw me away as she turned to the others. I rolled a bit before stopping. I pushed myself up as I saw the others putting up a fight with the mysterious woman, all their moves and combos that they practice seemed to be for not as the woman blocked, dodged, and counter each of them. It was almost like she knew how they work. She grabbed Weiss and spun around and hit Blake away as if they were nothing. She turned to Ruby as she used her semblance to dash forward to tackle her. The woman effortlessly grabbed her scythe and looked at her. She said something to Ruby before breaking Crescent Rose. Ruby eyes widen as she was kicked away from the woman. I watched as she hit the rock with enough force to break her arua and knock her out.

Something in me snapped as I saw Ruby hurt before I gripped down on Molten Fox. I screamed as I blasted forward with a torrent of flames behind me. The woman turned as she blocked my blade but grunted from it.

“YOU DON’T TOUCH HER!” I screamed as the flames poured into Molten and I was welding a flame sword. I brought it down on her but missed her by an inch as I came around and punched her. “DON’T EVER LAY A FINGER ON RUBY! I’LL KILL YOU IF YOU DO!”

“Funny you should-” I cut her off with a flaming fist. She dodged it. “She’s just a child, not ready to be a true huntress.”

“SAYS WHO!?!” I yelled as I slashed upwards and a torrent of flames burst up at her, knocking the mask off. I panted in anger as the flames died down and my anger was replaced with shock as I saw who it was. “No…”

“It… can’t be…” Weiss said as she saw who it was.

“Ruby...Rose…” Blake said as Ruby, a little older and longer hair stood in front of us with a frown.

“Actually, it’s Ruby Branwen.”

Author's Note

Well... that’s something...

The proposed and the bet

We all stared at the woman who calls herself Ruby Branwen. Without her mask and cloak I saw that she wore some dark gray and red armor that shows off her mid-draft and word red shorts with black leggings. Around her neck was a cross that was tilted slightly to the left. Her eyes stared at all of us with anger which scared me as she looked like Ruby. Indigo came up and was shocked to see this as well.

“Unexpected… ow.” Indigo managed to say before groaning. His stomach having been hit with extreme force rendering him out of the fight.

“You and your shadows would’ve caused me problems. Had to take you out first.” the other Ruby said.

“I… I don’t understand… why?” Blake asked her.

“Ruby… what happened to you?” Weiss asked.

“What happened?” the other Ruby asked before looking like she was getting more angry. “Do you know what I’ve been through ever since Beacon fell!? I had to live through heartache after heartache that tore me apart Weiss.” she yelled with venom in her voice. Weiss flinched at this as the Other Ruby turned to Blake. “First it’s you, at the start of the fall you simply disappeared. Without a trace. Did you not think about how many people you left to die? How many friends you made over the years are dead that you Left us there!?!”

“I… I didn’t run away…” Blake said with her eyes widen and tears were forming in her eyes.

“Bullshit! You left us there you Faunus bitch!” she yelled, the first time I heard Ruby’s voice swear. “You left Indigo to die at Adams' hands along with… Along with my sister!”

We were all shocked at this as the other Ruby let out a small sob before continuing. “I was left alone. To deal with the mess at the end of it all! The maidens, the Grimm, Adam and Cinder, EVERYTHING!” she then chuckled a bit as she continues. “You know what’s funny, I have an aunt named Raven Branwen, the sister to Qrow. She found me and took me in and taught me how to fight, to kill, and to live through the harsh world.”

As we watched her I dropped my sword and stepped forward. “Ruby… I’m sorry…” I said which seemed to make her madder.

“DON’T SAY SORRY TO ME!” She screamed at me, her eyes seemed to let out a small burst of flame. She bent her knees before launching herself at me. I watch the fist coming at me before a hand caught it.

“That is enough!” Father yelled, his voice sounding louder and echoed through the area. The woman growled as she tried to pull back.

“Ahhh, let me go!” She yelled as she tried to pull herself free. Father looked down at this Ruby with a frown before I noticed Yang beside me as she whispered low enough for only Father to hear.

“Wahl zey frolok med dii wuth meyar fah vogaan getiid shir.” Yang asked in Dovah. [Make me look like my old self for a few moments dear.] Father looked at Yang before back at the older Ruby before nodding. Yang was soon encompassed in bright heavenly light when it diminished, gone were scales l, tail and wings. She looked exactly as she did before her change. Father then moved out of the way to where the older Ruby saw Yang. Her face changed from anger to shock.

“What… Yang…” The older Ruby said as Yang stood there.

“Hey sis.” Yang said in a sad tone. “You look… different.” The older Ruby shook her head as she backed away.

“No… no you’re not real… I saw you. You were dead. There was no life in you.” she started to panic as she held her head. “Those horses, they used some kind of magic or something. This is fake, all fake! You’re dead! You’re not- glak!” The older Ruby said before Yang pulled her into a choke hold and held her in that hold as the older Ruby tried to break free. It wasn’t long before this Ruby passed out of lack of oxygen. She slumped forward just as the illusion seemed to dissipated and Yang was back to her Half-Dovah form. She kneeled down to the woman's side and brushed some hair out of her face.

“Is this… what would've happened if I wasn’t there for her?” Yang asked out loud for everyone to hear. Father sighed sadly.

“There are an infinite number of parallel universes, all of which differ slightly than the other.” Father said kneeling down beside Yang and saying. “This Ruby has lived in a world were you bled out after that fight the Bull faunus.” He said. Yang looked at him sadly before at the other Ruby. She bent over her sister and let out some sobs as she cried. It was then Ruby, our Ruby, came over to which I went over to her to see if she was alright.

“I’m fine… really just got the air knocked out of me.” Ruby said with a forced laugh before stumbling forward. “Sorry.”

“Ruby, I was scared you were hurt!” I told her as she looked at me. “What if you broke your back, or got knocked out? I-” I was cut off when Ruby kissed me.

“Hey, stop worrying about me, I’m right here.” she laughed at me. I simply stared at her as I looked back at the others. They took the other Ruby to the chariots to get ready to head to the school. Father looked at me with an arch brow before I looked at Ruby.

“Yeah… you’re right here…” I said before taking a deep breath. “Ruby, I told you something on the way to Canterlot right?”

“Yeah… you stopped halfway through.” Ruby said. I nodded as I looked down at her fingers and played with them a bit.

“Well… I gave it some thought and… I do want Qo to have a brother or sister, maybe a few… but I held off on telling you because I didn’t have the guts saying this. But after seeing you got knocked out and… the other you-”

“That’s going to get really annoying in the future if there’s two Ruby’s.” Ruby pointed out with a giggle. I smiled as I continued.

“Anyway, after hearing what the other Ruby said about being alone… I don’t want that to happen, ever.” I said in a somber tone.

“Viri… what are you saying?” Ruby asked as I put my hand and felt around for something. It wasn’t the greatest but it had to do.

“Ruby Rose.” I went down to one knee and showed her the… smoothed out metal nut that I’ve been working on. Ruby gasped at me. “Would you marry me?”

There was silence in the air as Ruby stared at me in shock. I swallowed what I had in my throat as my head screamed ‘Say yes, say yes, say yes, say yes, say yes!’ as I saw Ruby started to cry a bit before nodding.

“Yes… yes I will.” she said, making me smiled and laugh as I put the improve ring on Ruby’s finger and picked her up with a cheer. She laughed as I brought her down and kissed her.

“I was beginning to wonder if you'd do it.” Father said jokingly while chuckling. He shook his head a bit before looking at me with a smile. “I'm happy for you two.” He said. I smiled at him as I looked over at Ruby just as Yang came over.

“I’m sorry, I was carrying a darker version of my sister who is knocked out now and there’s laughing over here. What did I miss?” Yang asked us as she stared at Father. The latter looked at us and motioned for us to tell her. It was Ruby who told her with a big smile.

“I’m getting married!” Ruby said as she showed off her improve ring. Yang stared at her before looking at me, then back at Ruby, pointing at me which made Ruby nod, then Yang looked up at Father.

“Is this true?” Yang asked.

“Yes, it's true.” Father answered with a smile. Yang looked at Ruby before getting teary eyed.

“My little sister is getting married… why did you grow up so fast~!” she cried before giving ruby a hug as she cried.

“Ah, Yang don’t ~! Stop hugging me and crying!” Ruby said as she pushed her sister away. This made us laugh as I stood in front of Father.

“I'm proud of you, Viri.” Father said as he watched Yang holding Ruby close as she cried happily. I smiled at this as I looked around.

“It...feels not real…” I said with a laugh as I looked at my hand. I looked back up at Father as he smiled at me. He took hold of my hand gently before saying.

“It's real and don't ever think otherwise.” Father said to me with a smile. I got teary-eyed as well as I gave him a hug. He returned the hug as a I sniffled a little. “After we're done with our task, we'll celebrate.” Father said as he pulled away. I nodded as we got on the chariot and we flew off towards the school. Father said he’ll send a message to Celestia and Luna that we have her. I nodded as I sat next to my girl- no, my fiancée, as Indigo stared at the other Ruby.

“She must've really gone through hell if she's like this.” Indigo said just above a whisper. Blake looked over at him but didn’t say anything. “Hopefully she'll talk this time…” As he said this he was rubbing his stomach before sighing. “It's going to hurt like an absolute bitch in the morning.”

“She hit you that hard?” Ruby asked, sounding a little skeptical. “The five of us fought you and you took some hits but not enough to be like this.”

“She got a lucky hit.” Indigo said, grumbling a little as he said this before adding. “And don't think that counted.” He quickly added, looking at the three of us.

“From what it sounds and looks like, that one lucky hit felt like a truck hit you.” I pointed out.

“No, I've been hit by a truck before and it was not…” He stopped and groaned before saying. “... This.” Indigo then glanced at Blake, seeing her blank stare gazing onto the floor of the chariot. Gently grabbing a hold of her right hand, Indigo looked at her with worry. “Hey, are you alright?” He asked with concern in his voice. Blake blinked and looked over at him.

“I’m… no, I’m not alright.” Blake looked down at the other Ruby with a sad look. “What she said before… it struck really close to home.”

“How so?” Indigo asked, curious to know what troubled her.

“The idea of running away back then… it did cross my mind and…” Blake stopped talking as she started to cry. “I’m a horrible person even thinking of abandoning my friends…” Indigo frowned and shook his head.

“No, No your not. Not to me, not to Viri, not to Yang and even Ruby.” He said before glancing at the other Ruby. “This Ruby lived in a world were certain things that didn't happened in ours, could've happened in hers and her Blake chose to run away from her problems… but not you, you've proven to everyone that you're willing to put your own life at risk for your friends and that's what I love about you, your loyal till the very end.” Indigo said. Blake blushed at this before looking up at Indigo. She slowly smiled as she gave him a kiss.

“I married a great man.” Blake whispered to him. He smiled at her. As the two of them stared at each other they were interrupted when the other Ruby started to wake up.

“Ugh… where am-” she stopped when she saw all of us staring at her. “Ah, balls.”

“Better get comfortable, it's a long flight back to the academy.” Indigo said, leaning back onto his seat. The other Ruby frowned before slowly getting up.

“I don’t have to listen to you, I can leave whenever I waaaaAAhHHHHHH!” The other Ruby screamed as she saw that we were high up in the sky. “Never mind, I’m staying here!” This brought a laugh out from all of us.

“Not a fan of heights?” I asked her. The other Ruby frowned before looking over the side.

“I prefer not falling.” she said before seeing Ruby. the two of them looked at each other for a few moments before she spoke. “Wow… I used to look like that.”

“You…” Ruby started to say before getting closer. “Look so cool.” This caused all of us to blink.

“Eh, she looks a little too edgy.” Indigo said to Ruby, our Ruby. The other Ruby looked over at Indigo with a frown.

“It’s not edgy! This is a good huntress suit that I made myself!” the other Ruby said as she crossed her arms. “Also you’re one to talk about edgy mister doom and gloom and shadows.”

“Doom and Gloom?” Indigo asked with a curious look. The other Ruby, which I’m going to call her RB for short since it'll be easier to tell the difference between the two, rolled her eyes at him as she pulled a flask out.

“You wear all black, you always look grumpy, and you drink… a lot.” RB said as she opened the flask and took a drink.

“I'll have you know that I've cleaned up my act over the past two years and stopped drinking.” Indigo said, still laying on his chair without a care. Blake smiled at this.

“It’s nice that I don’t smell alcohol on your breath as well.” She said before giving Indigo a kiss. RB stared at them for a bit.

“Wait… you two… are dating?” she asked in surprise. Indigo quickly raised his hand to reveal the ring on his finger. Blake did the same.

“Married now.” Indigo said, lowering his hand back down. RB eyes widen as she stared at them.

“Married…” she said before taking another drink from her flask.

“I...can not see you being an alcoholic.” I whisper to Ruby. She shook her head at this as Indigo frowned. With the speed to rival RB’s, Indigo took the flask out of her hand before tossing it through the window, shattering it in the process before it repaired itself seconds after.

“Hey! That was mine!” RB yelled as she went to the window… before slowly backing away as she was whiter than a ghost. “Too… high…”

“I'm doing the Indigo of your world a favor.” He said before laying back down on his chair. RB looked at him for a few moments before sitting down on the ground with her knees up to her. “I can tell you first hand that drowning your sorrows won't fix anything, you're not only hurting yourself but other around you… Oum above, I was such an ass.” Indigo said, planting his hand above his eyes.

“You weren’t an ass…” Blake said to Indigo. RB simply sat there in silence before speaking.

“That flask belonged to my Indigo. Kinda held it to remind me of him.” RB said with a sad frown.

“Keeping things like that will only bring more sadness.” Indigo said with a frown. RB looked at him with an angry frown.

“Oh, now you’re going to ask me to cut my hair and get rid of these.” RB said as she showed off her bracers. “Yeah, you have to kill me to do that.”

“Actually I was more referring to alcoholic based items.” Indigo said, sitting back up. “It's like, really bad for the liver. Learnt that the hard way.” Indigo said. Father sighed at this before shaking his, the silver flask appearing in his hand as he looked at RB.

“Here you are, though I'm afraid I had to discard the Rum. The Academy prohibits the consumption of Alcohol.” Father said to her, showing RB the flask she had just lost. “Do try to keep your drinking to a minimum.” He said. RB looked at the flask before taking it.

“Thanks… errr…” RB stared at Father for a few moments, never having been introduced to him as of yet.

“I am Saanvodkiin Xiao Kun, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss Branwen.” Father said, introducing himself and greeting her formally. RB nodded at this before saying.

“Xiao Kun...huh…” RB said, a little confused at the name. Father nodded before moving back a bit to reveal a sleeping Yang, snoring a little loudly. So that's what where the snoring was coming! RB blinked at Yang and was completely confused. “What… happened to her… she didn’t have scales before.” Father grasped the hand of the sleeping blonde before smiling.

“During our time together, I feared that I would lose her at any moment. Her mortality was my one nightmare… so one day, I offered her the chance to become a Half-dovah.” Father said before smiling just as Yang let out another snore. “And she said yes.” With that said, he leaned over to Yang and gave her a kiss on the cheek, which made the blonde smile in her sleep. RB simply blinked at this as she went for her flask and took a sip before frowning.

“Couldn’t take a chance to fill it with something?” RB asked Father. With a roll of his eyes, Father snapped his fingers and RB almost let the flask drop from the sudden weight. RB blinked at this and took a drink before shrugging. It was at this moment we heard the sound of thunder coming our way, but it sounded like it was going off at different times.

“Thundermores!” Ruby squealed excitedly as she looked over the edge of the chariot. Indigo did this as well with Blake following suit. They watched as the Thundermores flew by from under the chariot.

“What luck.” Indigo said with a smile, seeing the Thundermores emit electricity with each flap of their wings. Their thunderous caws echoed like… well, thunder. RB watched all this with… Confusion.

“They’re Grimm…” she said as she watched as a few bolts of lightning coursing from one wing to the next as they past by. “That’s… new as well.”

“They are not your typical creatures of Grimm.” Father said as a young Thundermore flew up next his side of the chariot. “Thundermores are but one of many different Dust Grimm.” He said as he raised his hand up to the Thundermore before waving at it with a smile. The Thundermore let out another thunderous caw before speeding away to catch up with the rest. RB saw all this all as the Thundermores flew off.

“I want my rum back please.” She said before slowly lower herself back down to the floor of the chariot. Indigo rolled his eyes as he leaned back onto his chair again, Blake doing the same next to him. The rest of the flight was spent in relative silence, Yang every now and again let out a snore that shattered the silence. During the entire flight RB had continuously stared at Yang.

When we touched ground, RB yelped thinking something was wrong only to see the chariot door open thanks to Tak with Weiss beside him. Tak held the door open as we walked out of the chariot, Yang groggily walked off the chariot before nearly tripping before Father caught mid-fall. With a little shaking, Yang was fully awake and briefly confused as to where we were until her sight landed on Father.

“Oh… sorry.” she said with a little blush on her face and a smile. Father simply kissed her briefly before saying.

“It's not a problem, my dear.” Father said lovingly before helping her straighten up. RB stepped off and looked around, seeing the area around her. She seemed… nervous.

“You okay?” I asked her. She looked over at me for a moment before speaking.

“I’m… fine. It's just I've never been here before.” she answered. Indigo looked at her at her questioningly before shaking his head and saying.

“Welcome to Forever Free Academy.” Indigo said with a chuckle. Blake smiled at him after he said this. “Here we give the faunus of the land a chance to become Huntsmen and Huntresses.” Indigo added before taking a hold of cat faunus wife’s hand.

“You make it sound like they never had a choice in the matter.” RB said in a sarcastic manner, only to see us looking at each other.

“Actually… before the construction of this Academy, us faunus never had the chance to prove ourselves as worthy Huntsmen to be.” Tak said, stepping into the conversation before taking a step back once RB glared at him. “S-sorry.” He stuttered as he stepped back, earning RB a glare from Weiss as she took hold of Tak’s hand. RB didn’t really say anything after that before speaking after a few minutes.

“So… what? You all going to throw me into a cell or something?” she asked, sounding like she has done this before. Father heard this and crossed his arms.

“You've attacked and attempted to harm my daughter, a simple cell wouldn't do.” He said before clapping his hand, a small orb forming between his hands before it expanded and revealed the hellish inferno known as The Pit. “I can simply toss you into the Pit and leave you there without a single care.” The image inside the orb soon changed to the hatred filled glare of the Non Dovah that roams the Valley. “I could allow the Non Dovah to use you as its toy.” The image then revealed the familiar trees of Emerald forest. “Or I could simply send you back to pain filled world you came from.” Father said as the orb vanished. RB simply stared at Father, trying to not show any fear but I saw some beads of sweat running down her face.

“No!” Ruby yelled as she stepped in front of RB, surprising her. “You're not throwing her into any of those places!” Father watched as Ruby did this before simply saying.

“Alright.” He said, his threatening tone from before having completely vanished. Ruby blinked at this before saying.

“What?” she asked, now confused. She looked back at RB for anything.

“Don’t look at me, I just watched myself defend myself, that was the weirdest thing I have ever saw.” she said before Yang elbowed Father.

“You and your jokes.” Yang said with a giggle. Father chuckled at this before shaking his head.

“And Axycia says I don't know how to have fun.” Father said between chuckles. Yang rolled her eyes at Fathers joke.

“I think you’re more fun than your sister.” Yang said with a smile. With a smile, Father kissed Yang.

“Thank you love.” Father said after pulling away. Yang giggled as RB looked at them oddly.

“Right… so what are you all going to do with me?” She asked as she looked over at Indigo. The latter shrugged before saying.

“That up to you to decide later, for now you need to speak to the two princesses of the land.” Indigo said to RB with a one-armed shrug. RB shifted a bit until she sighed.

“Alright…” she said before looking around. “So… do I wait for something or… what?”

It was then when there was a bright flash that we all have to cover our eyes. When it dimmed I saw the Princesses standing there.

“Sorry for the sudden appearance but we were told that you got the woman who-” Celestia stopped when she saw RB. “Oh… now this is something.”

“You be surprised at how many times I was told that.” RB whispered. She stepped forward and crossed her arms. I tilted my head as Father gave the two a bow.

“Greeting, your majesties.” Father greeted as he straightened up. The princesses smiled at him before looking at RB.

“What’s your name?” Luna asked her.

“Ruby Branwen.” RB introduce herself. Celestia stared at her and looked over at Ruby.

“Uhh, maybe RB would be better?” I offered. RB looked over at me for a moment before shrugging.

“Yeah, sure, I guess that works.” RB said as she looked back at the two.

“I have to ask you, did you attack some huntsman that came for you?” Celestia asked RB.

“Yes, but they attacked first.” RB said before frowning. “Also they weren’t that tough, to begin with.”

“Thank you.” Luna said loud enough for everyone to hear before looking at her sister. “Even she agree that the Huntsman so far are lackluster.” Indigo let out a laugh at this before being quieted down by Blake. The latter the hitting the man with her elbow.

“Sister, please. This isn’t the time.” Celestia said to her sister calmly but firmly.

“No, you said that every time, and continue saying that but right now the Huntsman of all three schools are, by my own view, not up for any missions.” Luna pointed out. The two sisters looked at each other before Luna continue. “While the other two schools show a bit of promise, the unicorn Huntsman are honestly a joke.”

“Luna it’s not your place to say that about them.” Celestia said with a frown.

“Not my place? Sister that school is filled with snobby noble kids with Blueblood as their so-called ‘Best Huntsman’ in that school and all he does from what I saw is complain! I never once saw him training.” Luna said.

“And what do you want me to do? I have a whole land to look after, at least you can do is not bug me about this over and over again.” Celestia snapped at her sister.

“Please, if the Celestia I knew was still around, she would've brought the hammer down on them faster like the time at Yakyakistan.” Luna said with her arms crossed.

“Oh don’t you start that with that, we promised to never talk about it.” Celestia said. All of us watched as the two princesses bickered at one another, back and forth and so forth. It wasn't Indigo loudly coughed into his hand that their attention was brought back.

“Can we continue on the subject at hand?” Indigo asked the two in an annoyed tone. Celestia cleared her throat a bit with a little blush.

“Yes, we should do that…” she said before whispering something to Luna’s ear that I picked up. “We’ll talk about this later.” Luna rolled her eyes at this as Celestia continues. “By far… due to the attacks on the Huntsman that they claimed that you have done, I have no choice to bring you in for questioning and imprisonment.”

“You’re throwing me in jail.” RB snorted a bit to which Celestia nodded.

“It’s maximized imprisonment or banishment but…” Celestia glanced at her sister. “Sometimes that won’t really work all that well.”

RB scowled at this as Ruby tugged on Father’s sleeve. “You can’t let them do this, please help her.” With a nod, Father soon looked at the royal siblings before speaking.

“I'm afraid I can't let you do that.” Father said, catching their attention after saying this. RB looked at him oddly but stayed silent. “She is in my custody.” Father said. The two sisters looked at one another before Celestia spoke.

“We know that you have helped with dealing with Discord, and we thank you for that, I can’t say for sure that… I could truly trust you to have Miss Branwen in your custody.” Celestia said.

“I don’t know sister…” Luna spoke up a bit. “With him able to beat the Trickster with ease while it that took us many months to do, having a young girl under his watch isn’t that of a big deal.”

“Umm, I’m twenty-two so… not really a young girl.” RB said with her arms crossed.

“That’s my age…” Yang whisper to herself. Father glanced at her before gently grabbing her hand. We all waited for the final decision in silence as Celestia thought on her sister’s words.

“Still, if we simply let her off to someone else, all of those Huntsman will be viable with their complaints.” Celestia pointed out before looking at Father. “I’m sorry, but I can’t agree to you-”

“If you’re worried about some pissy Huntsman complaining then there’s something really wrong with you.” RB said, cutting Celestia’s words off before continuing. “I bet that I’ll bet this so-called ‘Best Huntsman’ from you’re school.”

“Are you… challenging Blueblood?” Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow. RB smirked at this.

“Here are the stakes; If Blueblood Wins, I’ll go with you to be imprisoned in whatever dungeon you have or whatever. But if I win, I’m stuck with these guys.” RB said as she pointed at us. Father raised a brow at her as she said this but said nothing, most likely curious as to how this'll go. Indigo looked at the alternate Ruby before laughing a bit.

“Oh boy, this gonna be good.” He said.

“You’re all going to settle this… by a bet?” Weiss said, frowning at the very idea of this. RB chuckled at this.

“Back at the camp I was in and trained, most things are settled by bets or beating each other up.” RB explained before frowning. “Sometimes both at the same time.”

I looked over at Celestia and saw her standing there with the presence of a Princess should have before others, but from a glint in her eyes and a small smile gave off the feeling of a mischievous side of her. One that really wants to come out and play.

“Okay… I’ll take that bet.” Celestia said, making Luna laugh.

“How about we… double the stakes here.” Luna proposed with a mischievous smile. “If RB here does bet Blueblood, you have to redo the Unicorn Huntsman Academy structure. Like, maybe allowing other unicorn or maybe other races go in to learn that aren’t nobles.”

“Hmmm, and if Blueblood wins?” Celestia asked. Luna thought about it before Celestia chuckled. “I know, you have to clean the entire castle, for half a year… with only a toothbrush.”

“That’s Childish sister!” Luna snapped at Celestia, only for the Soler princess to smirk.

“That’s why it’s a good bet option.” Celestia said. Father shook his head before speaking up.

“I will offer the winner one free wish of anything they desire if within reason.” Father said, catching everyone’s attention and surprising me. The two princesses stared at him before looking at each other.

“Alright… I guess that’s fine.” Celestia said before looking at RB. “I’ll send word when the duel will begin.” With that, the two of them disappeared. Father soon chuckled after a few moments spent in silence. He shook his head and said.

“The disbelief in their tone… I find it amusing.” Father said. RB turned to him before speaking.

“You… really can grant the winner a wish? Any wish?” she asked him. Father nodded at her question, giving her a silent answer. There was a moment where RB almost broke down a bit before steeling herself and looking at Indigo.

“Want to get back at me from getting that one hit in by putting me through the worst training you can think of?” RB asked with a small smile. With a chuckle, Indigo nodded and said.

“Girl, you're in for a treat.” Was all Indigo said as he then motioned for RB to follow him after giving a Blake a quick kiss goodbye. RB smiled at this before following him off.

“Do you think she’ll survive until the match?” Weiss asked.

“I have no idea.” Ruby said before looking at me. “So… celebration?”

“Yes.” I said with a huge smile before adding. “But no booze.”

“No booze.” Ruby said before kissing my cheek. It was this point that everyone got excited about the fact that I proposed to Ruby and she said yes.

All in all, today has been a good day.

Author's Note

Now here’s a cool idea that I thought off working on a chapter before this one: Ruby Branwen.

The idea is this: During the fall of Beacon Yang loses her life to Adam, Blakes runs off and Weiss get’s taken by her father. Leaving Ruby alone there. Instead of Qrow finding her, it’s Raven. She takes Ruby back and brings her in as part of her tribe. Now Ruby is as old as Yang, Fights with her fists instead of a scythe since her’s broke, and have long hair. Much colder than the normal Ruby and more brutal.

Tell me that doesn’t sound cool

A fight, and a Wish later

It has been almost a month since the bet was made and the majority was spent watching Indigo train RB, though it always ended the same way: with a giant shadow fist sending the alternate Ruby sky high. It was hilarious seeing this happen to someone else and didn't matter how many times it happened, it was always funny. Another thing to note was Yang’s second pregnancy, it honestly surprised RB but she didn't say much about it. Luckily, Yang had experienced the rapid mood swings before and it allowed her to know when her mood would suddenly shift.

Today was no different than the others. I sat with Ruby on my lap as we watched the sparring match between Indigo and RB rage on. They traded blows, one after the other, that is until Indigo decided to use his trump card. When RB had jumped away from him, Indigo had summoned the giant shadow fist from below her, but unlike the other times, she was just able to dodge out of the way.

When she landed, Indigo let go of his scythe and said, “And match over.”

RB looked at him in confusion as she panted, out of breath from the gruesome sparring match.

“But… I can… keep going…” RB said as she panted. Indigo chuckled as he walked up to her.

“No need, you're the first to ever dodge the Fist,” Indigo said encouragingly. “With that speed you'll be sure to win.”

RB smiled at this as she sat back down. Her gauntlets turned back to their standby mode as she did this. Over the month of training I noticed that RB’s fighting was very much the same as Yangs, albeit with some differences.

“And I do expect you to win, just so you know.” He said.

“From what I heard from this Blueblood guy, I don’t think I’m going to have problems.” RB said but she didn’t seem to smile at this. I soon noticed Yang and Father walking over to us, hand in hand.

“Hello you two.” Father greeted me and Ruby as he helped Yang sit down.

“Thank you…” Yang said as she sat down. After the first month she had already had the belly for having a kid on the way. Father smiled as he sat beside her.

“How’s the third kid?” I asked, which made Yang groan a bit.

“I forgot how difficult it was to do things with a kid in me.” Yang said with a sigh.

“But you enjoy me treating you with absolute care.” Father said a chuckle. Yang looked over to him before smiling.

“Yeah I do.” she said as she leaned onto him. Father chuckled as he wrapped his arm around her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. At this moment RB came over with a water bottle in hand. She was going to say something but stopped when she saw Yang, mostly at her belly. Father looked as if he remembered something and looked over at RB.

“If you don't mind me asking Miss Branwen, how exactly did you managed to end up in this world?” Father asked. RB blinked as this drew her attention away from Yang.

“Uh, well, it was mostly something me and some of the tribe members stole from an Atlus train that was getting sent to the east. Some kind of dust powered teleporter that could send you anywhere in the world of Remnute.” RB explained.

“Okay… that didn’t really answer the question, though.” Yang pointed out. RB blushed a bit and laughed nervously.

“Well... once it was finished and ready for a demonstration for the following day, and… there was a big red button… and…” she didn’t finish as Yang started to laugh.

“Oh my Oum! You saw the button and you had to press it!” Yang laughed at this, making RB blush more.

“S-shut up!” RB retorted, earning a laugh from everyone else.

“It seems even with your maturity, the child in you still lives on.” Father said to the blushing RB. RB didn’t say anything before we heard some footsteps coming towards us.

“Mommy!” Both Kaida and Strun yelled as they ran over to their parents. Yang laughed as she gave them a hug.

“Hey you two, how was your day?” Yang asked as she hugged them.

“Good! Look! Strun aced his test today!” Kaida said as Strun showed it off to the both of them. Father hugged the young boy, proud of his accomplishment. As all this happened, RB watched in silence. She looked at the two kids and then at Yang as the realization started to set in to her. She started to tremble before quickly walking away from us.

“Hey… Hey RB!” Yang called out for her only for RB to start running. Father looked at the fleeing RB in sadness. Father soon stood up and looked at Yang before saying.

“I will go talk to her.” Father said before running off to catch up with RB. We all watched him run off and as he disappeared around a corner.

Strun spoke.

“W-Who was t-that mommy?” Strun asked, talking about RB. Yang sighed a bit before looking at her son.

“That woman is your aunt. She’s… dealing with some issues.” She explained. Yang looked over at Indigo. “How goes her training for the match?”

“She finally dodged the Fist, she's ready.” Was Indigo's immediate answer, earning a wide-eyed stare from Yang.

“Really!?” Yang said before frowning. “I’m… Happy about that.” she said through a forced smile.

“Yang, are you having one of your mood swings?” Ruby asked her.

“No… I’m fine.” Yang said before pushing herself up. “If you excuse me I’m going to go eat a tub of ice cream and maybe cry about it for no reason.”

Yang and her kids headed off as I could’ve sworn I saw steam coming out of her ears. Indigo watched her leave with an arched brow before finally looking at us.

“Was it something I said?” He asked.

“No, I think it’s more that the idea that RB was the first of us that could dodge you’re shadow fist kinda made her upset, and with some mood swings, made her really mad.” I explained as I had my arms wrapped around Ruby. Indigo hummed before shrugging and saying.

“Not my fault.” Was all he said before walking off into the school. “I'll see you two at lunch!” Indigo called out as he walked away.

“Okay!” We both yell out to him before looking at each other and giggle a little. The two of us sat there as we enjoyed each other’s company before hearing some talking nearby. Being a little curious, we got up and went over to see who it was. As it seems it was both Tak and Skyler talking, as Skyler had a number of books and pages around her. Tak seemed to be a little frustrated.

“Okay… and what about the Creep Grimm?” Skyler asked Tak, only for him to groan.

“We've been over this five times already.” Tak said in an annoyed tone before sighing and saying. “Creeps are lizard-like creatures of Grimm that rely on their claws and tails for their attacks.” He said.

“I thought that was a Death Stalker?” Skyler asked.

“No, a Deathstalker is a large Scorpion type Grimm that uses sharp pinchers and a stinger like tail!” Tak corrected. Skyler seemed to be more confused as we came over.

“Hey Tak.” I greeted him as he noticed our presence when Skyler looked up at us.

“Hey Viri.” He greeted before facing Ruby’s direction. “Is Ruby with you?” He asked, tilting his head slightly.

“Hi Tak.” Ruby said in a cheerful tone. He bowed his head before greeting her as well.

“So what's up?” Tak asked.

“Nothing much, just wondering what you two are doing… also where’s Weiss?” I asked him, looking around if I saw the young Schnee around.

“She went to the library to pick up some books.” Tak said, answering my question. “We're tutoring Skyler.”

“I don’t see why I need tutoring. I’m great at the combat training.” Skyler explained as she crossed her arms.

“You got a D on your first written exam.” Tak immediately replied with bemused look. Skyler grumbled at this but said nothing to deny Tak’s words.

“Ahh, guess you’re a doing the physical stuff easier than the written stuff?” I asked Skyler, who frowned more.

“I don’t see why we need to do written stuff. Huntsman are going out there fighting Grimm, why is there so much writing involved?!” Skyler said as she complained about this.

“Because there's a lot more to it than fighting Grimm.” Tak answered, annoyed by Skyler’s complaining. Skyler groaned at this.

“Everyone keeps saying that! What do you mean?!” Skyler said, earning a confused look from both me and Ruby.

“Skyler, with what you know, what are Huntsman and Huntresses?” I asked her.

“Huntsman and Huntresses are supposed to be great fighters and hunters of the land. They go out to fight Grimm. That’s why most nobles in Canterlot have their kids go to the Huntsman Academy there, as well at Cloudsdale. If you have enough bits for it, you can go to school there.” Skyler explained with a sigh.

“You make is sound like it’s a title.” Ruby said which Tak frowned at.

“For the Ponies, that's what it is.” Tak said with a sigh. He shook his head at his own words before saying. “Then they wonder why they aren't capable enough Huntsmen to fight a simple pack of Beowolves.” Tak added.

That's right, about a day or two after RB’s arrival Tak had been sent out to exterminate a pack of Beowolves that, not surprisingly enough, a group of unicorn Huntsmen were incapable of doing. It was then were RB and Father came over. RB looking like she was crying a bit as she was wiping her face with a cloth.

“Hey…” she said before looking at Skyler. “Uhh, who are you?”

“Skyler… who are you?” Skyler asked back before looking at Ruby and then back at her. “Are you two… twins?”

“Umm, not really…” Ruby answered with a nervous laugh. Father shook his head before saying.

“Her name is Ruby Branwen, she is an alternate version of Miss Rose here.” Father said, speeding up the introduction. Skyler looked at him oddly before looking at RB, seeing the latter nod at Father’s words. RB also looked down at all the paper and books.

“What are you guys doing?” She asked as she picked up a book on Grimm.

“Me and Weiss are tutoring Skyler so she doesn't fail in the first few months of her school year.” Tak said before glancing at the bird faunus in question. “And it's proving to be quite the chore.” He added.

“Ah, how bad is it?” RB asked.

“She confused a Creep with a Deathstalker.” Tak answered with a groan. RB made a painful look at Skyler.

“How can you get those two mixed up?” RB asked with a frown. Skyler groaned as she fell backwards. Father chuckled at this before shaking his head.

“I suppose I'll leave you all to it.” Father said before smiling at me and turning to leave. As he walked away, he passed Weiss by as he entered the school. Weiss held a few more books as she came over to us, and once she was here, she placed the books down next to Skyler.

“Okay! Here’s every book I could get that details every Grimm to the tiniest detail. After this I want to see you getting an A out of this test coming up.” Weiss said as she sat down and passing her three books. Skyler saw the books that Weiss brought with her and laughed nervously.

“Seriously, if you fail we'll be stuck tutoring you.” Tak said, not happy with the thought of tutoring Skyler again. “So please, at least get a B.” Tak almost begged.

Skyler grumbled a bit as she picked up a book and opened it. Weiss gave me a worried smile at the two of us before Tak and Weiss started helping Skyler study. RB put the book down and said that she was going on for a walk before heading off. We also walked off away from the three to run into Qo, who was sitting by a tree with Slyph around her and her pet wyvern on her head. She seemed to be reading something as she was doing her homework.

“Hey there Qo, what are you working on?” I asked her as we came over. Qo looked up and showed us that she was working on math. “Ahh, do you need help?”

“Yes, mommy.” She said before turning the book around and looking like she was having a hard time at it. The two of us sat beside her and started to help her with her math homework. While we were helping her, I noticed Father walking towards us. He was smiling at the sight of us.

“I just came by to tell you that the duel is tomorrow.” Father said, making himself known to Ruby and Qo as well, as the pet Wyvern, which she named Sparky, looked at him with curious eyes.

“Ah, well, RB went out for a walk so if we see her we’ll let her know.” I said as I looked down at the page and help Qo with a multiplying question. They’re really throwing the hard questions at them quickly. Father’s attention was briefly to the direction of the Academy. With a smile and a shake of his head, he turned to us and said.

“Do not worry, I've already informed her.” Father said as he turned to leave. “I will be seeing you three later. Yang had just requested my presence and I am not one to disappoint.” He said before giving a little wave to Qo. With that done, he vanished in a flash of light. I chuckled at this as I turned back to Qo who finished a math problem, and got it right, on her own.

“Good job, sweetie.” I praised her as I kissed the top of her head. She giggled at this as she continue working. You know, moments like this I really enjoy.

The next day

When the day came we all woke up a bit earlier, excited to see the match today. We went outside and waited for Father to come out as well. When he did, he was alone.

With a concerned look, I asked him. “Where's Yang?” He merely smiled and said.

“She's a little ill, nothing to major. But she won't be coming along, I'm afraid.” He answered, though I know he was sad that Yang couldn't come with.

“I hope she feels better.” Ruby said in a sadden tone. It wasn’t long before a chariot came down and landed in front of us. We got in it before flying off towards the place. As we did I saw RB sitting across of me and Father with a frown on her face.

“Are you alright?” Father asked with concern. RB frown deepened as she spoke.

“Blueblood is going to cheat.” she said simply. Father raised a brow at this before saying.

“And this has you concerned?” Father asked.

“No, it upsets me.” RB answered. “Yesterday I went to Ponyville and had four different Ponies come up to me and bribe me to throw the match. This Blueblood is going to try and cheat his way to win which makes the whole ‘Best Huntsman’ a fucking lie.”

“Language!” Weiss yelled at RB, earning her a glare.

“That noble knows nothing of what is to be a Huntsman and it's about time someone showed him.” Father said to RB. Indigo nodded in agreement with Blake sitting next to him.

“It's about time someone kicked his ass for what he tried to do to with Weiss.” Indigo said, causing the Schnee in question to frown as she sat atop Tak’s lap. The latter frowned at the mention of Blueblood but said nothing. RB nodded at this before smirking.

“Mind keeping Blueblood’s cheating habits underwraps as I beat the sh-” she stopped when Weiss glared at her. RB sighed. “The stuffing out of him?” Weiss sighed but said nothing, earning a laugh from Indigo and a chuckle from Father.

“I think we can handle that.” Ruby said as she looked at all of us. The rest of the flight was spent chatting amongst ourselves. We soon touched ground at courtyard of the palace.

“Ah, here we are.” Father said, opening the door. We all got up and went out of the door. We were greeted by the two Princesses, and Blueblood, who was simply smiling smugly.

“Ah, it’s good to see all of you came.” Celestia said as the chariot went off. RB looked at them but didn’t say anything.

“Wouldn't miss it for the world.” Indigo said with a chuckle. Blueblood stepped forward with a bottle of wine with him.

“Mind a little drink before the match?” he asked as he poured two glasses. One of them floated over to RB as she stared at it. She took it and gave it a look in it. Blueblood seemed to drink it, making sure that everyone saw ‘oddly’ before RB looked at him and dumped it onto the ground.

“I have my own thanks.” she said before taking a swig from her flask. Blueblood’s right eye twitch as he kept his smile.

“Alright, don’t say I wasn’t nice.” he said as he cleared his throat. “I’ll lead us to the area where we will have the match.”

With that he turned and walked forward, with everyone following behind him. All but the princesses were glaring at RB as she finished her drink.

“Didn't I tell you not to drink?” Indigo asked RB with a frown. “That was literally the only condition for me to train you.” He said.

“Relax, it’s not alcohol.” RB said as she showed the flask to Indigo. “It’s Cranberry juice. One hundred percent Vitamin C in it!”

I laughed at this before we all arrived at the place, and… it was an arena. There were people sitting in the stands as Blueblood stood in the middle of the ring with only a solid gold gem-encrusted rapier, this made both Weiss and RB groan.

“This is just stupid.” RB said as she looked at all of us. “Please tell me you can deal with all of his bullshit?”

We all nodded as she walked forward into the arena as I looked at everyone. I saw Tak with a deep frown.

“He really doesn't want you to win.” Tak said before facing RB. “There are traps littered across the arena floor, some of his lackies hidden in the walls, and I can sense some of them in the crowd as well.” Tak said in an informative tone. Ruby looked around before looking up.

“I see… odd birds up there.” she informed us as I looked up. Squinting my eyes I saw those birds are Pegasi with bags.

“Those are Pegasi. I think they’re going to drop things on RB.” I said to everyone. RB let out a loud breath out of her nose before speaking.

“That bastard is going get his teeth punched in so far that he’s going to eat mashed potatoes out of a straw!” RB said angrily. Indigo put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

“Don’t worry, we’ll handle them.” he said before looking at Blake. “Me, Tak, and Blake will deal with the ones in the walls while Viri, Ruby, and Weiss deal with the ones in the crowd.”

“What about the ones in the air and the ground traps?” Blake asked. No one answered as Father stamped the ground as his eyes glowed.

“Done with the traps. I’ll go up and convince the ones up there to come clean.” He said as there was a light flash as his wings appeared. He turned to RB. “Just focus on the match and you’ll be fine.”

With a nod, RB looked forward before taking a breath. She let it out before walking towards Blueblood. As she walked over, she looked back at us, which I gave her a thumbs up. She smiled before looking back.

“Alright, let's get this done so we can watch RB kick his ass.” Indigo said as he and Blake went off together. Father took flight up into the sky. I looked at Tak and Ruby before nodding.

“Let's go.” I said as we headed to the stands.

I walked over to the smug bastard in front of me before stopping almost a few feet away from him.

“You know, you have every chance to simply give up and thrown in the towel, or do you even know what a towel is?” He laughed. I frowned as I flicked my wrists and both gauntlets extended out. I didn't think I really need them but can't be too overconfident. I brought them close to my face and whispered to them.

“Just wait a little longer, then I'll see you again.” I said as I moved them away. I went into a combat stance as I waited for the word ‘go’. Blueblood didn't seem to move as Princess Celestial stood up.

“Everypony, we are here today to watch as the number one Huntsman from the Arcana Arts Academy, Sir Blueblood.” This earned a round of cheers from the crowd as Blueblood waved at them. “Duels against RB from Forever Free Academy.”

There were some boos, and some yelled at me to beat it. I ignored them as Celestia continued. “It's going to be a one on one duel with no time limit. Then winner will be the one who forces the other into submission. Are both combatants ready?!”

“More than ever.” Blueblood said with a yawn. I simply nodded as I was ready.

“Well then, begin!” The princess announced which made me bolt forward at the Unicorn. I knew he has magic with him so I was ready to hit a force field or dodge a blast from his horn. As I got close I moved for throw a right jab to test his defences. But instead of what I thought was going to happen, Blueblood’s smirk disappeared and dodge out of the way with a yelp. This surprised me as I looked over at him and saw a surprised and scared look on him.

“Wha… Wait, hold on!” He yelled as I blinked at him. “No, it can't be…”

I watched him grit his teeth before charging at me with his rapier and tried to use it as a sword. I simply dodge it just by ducking, which made him stumble a bit.

This stallion… has no combat skill whatsoever. I wanted to facepalm so hard as he tried to slash at me. I blocked it with one arm as I looked at the blade. It was a gold colour, and it was made to be able to thrust and slice… if it didn't have a flat edge.

“Are… are you using a decorative sword to fight me! This is worthless!” I said as I pushed him back. He sneered at me as I noticed a stallion, with what looks like a blowgun at the ready, pointed at me just as he got thunder clapped by Tak and helped down. I shook my head as I sidestepped out of the way. “Did you train for this or did you sit around doing nothing for a month?!”

He didn't say anything as he tried to hit me again. I simply ducked under it before kicking his legs from out under him. “This… is simply embarrassing. A child could beat you with ease.” Blueblood didn't say anything as the cheering he once had is now gone. I kneeled next to him before adding. “What did you say before? You can throw in the towel now and leave.”

It was then he put his hand up and a blue cloud of mist spread into my face. I stepped back as I started to cough. My vision started to blur a bit as the feeling of going stiff was overcoming me.

“Like that? It's a special spray that makes you paralyzed for a good week or two, but that's plenty for me to give you a good beating.” Blueblood laughed as he got up and walked over to me. “I don't know how you did it but I'm not going to have some low life from a school for animals come in and beat me-” it was then I shot backward to give me the momentum to headbutted him in the face, stopping his monologuing and knocking some teeth out. I fell to the ground as his weapon hit the floor and broke apart as he was knocked out. I tried to push myself up but couldn't due to the last minute bullshit.

It was then I felt someone help me up. I turned and saw Ruby there with a big smile. I smiled back before saying. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Ruby said as she walked me over to the stands.

Viri

As Ruby carried RB up to us I went to help her.

“What happened?” I asked as the others arrived with Father being the last one.

“Blueblood… had a trick up his sleeve… paralyzed me for a long time just to win.” RB said with a frown. “Guy had no real skill, must of bribed or cheated his way to the top.” We all frowned at this, angered to hear that someone could be so low. Father helped RB onto a bench before laying her down.

“I will heal you of your paralysis.” Father said as he placed his hands atop RB’s head. RB’s body was briefly encompassed in Father’s heavenly light before she bawled her hand into a fist a few times. She then groaned, feeling the discomfort of suddenly regaining her limbs, but was nonetheless thankful.

“Thanks…” RB said as she moved around a bit. Father nodded before helping her sit up.

“I can't believe your headbutt won you the match.” Indigo said with a small chuckle before erupting into a full blown laughter. “That was the funniest thing I've ever seen!”

“Well, I heard something from Rose about that.” RB said with a chuckle before adding. “When you run out of bullets, you still have your helmet and head.” Father chuckled at this as well.

“Nevertheless, congratulations for your win.” Father said, giving her a pat on the shoulder. “Shall we go see what the two princesses have to say?” He then asked.

We all got up to see the two princesses. As we got there, we saw a large group of ponies that, some of them, looked beat up.

“Didn't go gently, did you…” I whispered to Indigo. He shrugged nonchalantly as we walked by the group, some of them saw Indigo and backed away in fear.

“You may leave.” Celestia said with a wave of her hand. The group of ponies walked or limped away from us as Celestia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

“It seems your nephew went out of his way to make sure he won.” Father said with a frown, as his gaze landed on the stallion in question. The latter groaned as he opened his eyes and looked around confused.

“Blueblood.” Celestia said in a low tone. “I'm stripping you from the rank of Huntsman and nobility that you cherished so much.” Blueblood eyes widen at this.

“You… you can't do that!” He yelled as he got up, wobbling a bit. “This is some mistake!”

“Mistake?” Celestia said. “Blueblood, I was told that, for as long as you started my school, you lied, cheated and bought out everyone and things to get to the top. This is the most disrespectful thing I have ever seen one pony do in a long time.” Blueblood was trembling with anger.

“How… how can you say that!? They are lie-” he was cut off when one of the guards grabbed his arm and lift it up. “Unhand me right now!”

The guard didn't listen as he pulled his sleeve down and showed the device that sprayed RB. Blueblood looked around as he tried to come up with something.

“Get out of my sight.” Celestia said in an angry tone.

“But auntie-”

“NOW!” Celestia yelled that almost knocked most of us off of our feet. Blueblood scrambled before running away as Celestia groaned a bit as she closed her eyes. I glanced at Tak and noticed a little smirk on his face as he and Weiss held hands. Celestia looked over at RB with a sad expression. “Miss Branwen, I'm so sorry for this… embarrassment of a duel.”

“On the downside, I had to face a cheater.” RB before shrugging. “But I headbutted him so it came up good in the end.” This got another, quieter laugh from Indigo and chuckle from Tak.

“Well, I would say I won the bet, but…” Luna said before Celestia cut in.

“Yes, yes, I'll go and start restructuring the system of my school. After what I saw and heard today, it's worse than I could ever imagine it to be.” Celestia said with a sigh.

Luna pumped a fist into the air while silently celebrating her victory. It wasn't until Father chuckled that she remembered us being there before she lowered her hand with a blush.

“I'll have a chariot come to take you back to Forever Free Academy.” Celestia informed us.

Father thanked them for this before they turned to leave, though as they walked away I could see Luna doing a happy dance for having won her side of the bet. When we exited the arena, the chariots were already there waiting for us and we all got on except for RB and Father.

“We will meet you back at the Academy.” Father said and before I could ask why, the chariot took off. I watched as Father was left behind, growing smaller and smaller as we flew farther away.

“I wonder what that was about?” Ruby asked.

“Ruby, you dolt, he and RB are going over the wish that she won.” Weiss explained to her. Weiss once again sat across Tak’s lap, though I don't think the bat faunus minded. Ruby soon looked back at the direction of Canterlot before saying.

“Oh… I wonder what she wishes for?” Ruby asked.

I watched as the chariot flew off with the others and I was left with Father, who I don't call due to sounding weird. I turned to him as he stared at me.

“So… this is the part you ask me what kind of wish I want, Sanns?” I asked. He turned to look at me and nodded.

“Yes, and I will do whatever I can to make it so.” He said with both his hands behind him as he awaited patiently.

I stood there staring at him, I could wish for anything! I could get whatever I want. I could go home, or go to a world that all of what happened to me never happened. I could be happy with nothing wrong. But no, this isn’t what I wanted, there was only one thing I wanted and Sanns knows it. I took in a shaky breath as I tried to look strong in front of him.

“Please…” I said as I felt tears welling up. “I want my sister back… give her back to me.” It was then he sighed and shook his head.

“I should've known…” He said as he closed his eyes. With another shake of his head he said. “I'm afraid what you ask for is something I cannot do.”

“No…” I said as I felt my one chance to have my sister back slipping away. “NO! I will not accept this!” I grabbed his shirt and pulled him to me. “GIMME MY SISTER! PLEASE!!”

I felt tears run down my faces as I cried before I fell to my knees. “I’ll… I’ll do anything for you. Just please… give me back my sister back… I miss her… so much.” He blinked at this before helping me backup my feet and wiping away the tears as he did.

“My dear Branwen, it is considered rude to interrupt someone when they're not done speaking.” He said, dusting my clothes off the dirt it had picked up. I stared at him in confusion as he continued. “What you ask for is resurrection, doing so will only bring her pain. What I can do however is reincarnation, give her a new body for her soul to inhabit.”

“You… you can still bring her back?” I asked him. He nodded and was going to say something but I gave him a hug. “Thank you~!”

He was surprised by the hug but soon returned it. He pulled away, saying that he'll take us back to the Academy to do it. I suggested my room, knowing that I don't have a roommate. So, with a nod and a flash of light, I found myself in my room which was kinda bare, other than the number of drawings on the walls. Sanns looked around and saw the drawings that covered the one wall. He simply stared at wall in silence, making me a little nervous.

“Now then, what I am about to do will only be once. If at any moment you earn another wish, you are no longer allowed to reincarnate a fallen friend.” He said, turning to face me with a look of seriousness. “I hope you understand this.”

“I understand that…” I said. I don’t know why he said I would get another wish in the future; I don’t believe I will.

With that, he nodded and looked at the center of the room before sitting down, legs crossed, and with his eyes closed. He soon began to hum, his humming sounding ethereal. When he opened his eyes, gone were his golden irises as they shone a bright heavenly light. He raised his hands, allowing two orbs of pure light to come out from his palms. The orbs hovered in place for a minute or two before they flew a few feet away from him and lowering themselves to the floor. The orbs soon emitted different colors before they began hovering upwards.

As they did, they formed what looked to be a pair of feet before forming the legs. Soon enough the orbs separated further apart as a pair of hand as well a torso formed. When the arms were done and the orbs closed in on each other, forming the shoulders, they fused into one orb, forming the head. Suddenly, the bright female form was surrounded by a ring of golden light, the ring then hovered up and down the female body, causing the light to diminish, revealing a pale white skinned female form. Another pass of the ring of light added more detail to the body, until it stopped above the head before slowly traveling downwards, giving the body a familiar head of fiery blonde hair. When the ring passed over the head, it revealed the face of a sleeping Yang. The body was soon gently laid onto the ground as I watched in silence, many emotions swelling up inside me. Then I heard it, a groan from the unconscious form.

“There.” Sanns said as he closed his eyes only to open them again, his golden irises having returned. “I have brought her soul into the vessel.” He added as he stood up. I stared at the unconscious form of my sister.

“She’s here… she’s alive… she’s really back! Shes’...” I then realized something before blushing. “Completely naked!” I exclaimed in embarrassment just before Sanns covered her with a blanket.

“Why is she naked!?” I asked loudly.

“You never mentioned anything about clothing, so it's your mistake.” He said with a chuckle. I frowned at him before I heard my sister groan a bit.

“Ugh, why do I feel like I’ve been through a microwave?” she said before pushing herself up. Seeing her do this made me start crying before tackling her into a hug.

“YANG!” I cried as I hugged her. She blinked at me in complete confusion.

“Huh? Ruby? What are you… wait, why do you look older?” Yang asked as she looked around. “Where are we? What happened?” she turned to Sanns. “And who are you?”

Sanns chuckled as he sat on the bed.

“I am Saanvodkiin Xiao Kun. I know you have many questions to ask and I will be happy to answer them; but for now, let your sister have this moment.” Sanns said to her, earning another confused look from her.

She's… she's really back, I looked up at her as she looked down at me.

“You… grew your hair out.” she said, holding some of it in her hands. I wiped away some tears before nodding. “Looks good on you.” she added with a smile as I looked at Sanns.

“Thank you.” I said to him before my sister started asking him questions. He simply smiled at us and nodded as Yang started to ask her questions, so many questions.

The last thing I got in was if he could get Yang some clothes which she found out she was now naked under a blanket.

“Sanns? Are you in here?” I heard a voice before the door open and Yang, the other Yang, was in the room. The two Yangs stared at each other. “Well… this is awkward.”

Author's Note

You have to admit, her wish was seen by from a mile away

Meeting the family, part 1

We finally landed at the front of the Academy and watched as the chariot flew off. We watched it go as we turned back to the school.

“I wonder what RB wished for?” Ruby asked out loud.

Indigo looked over before saying. “I mean, the guy said she could wish for anything, right? So chances are she wished for her Yang back.”

“If so, wouldn’t that mean there would be two Yangs?” Ruby asked.

“I don’t know, the Yang we know is Half-Dova, has twins, another kid on the way, and is married to Father. In truth, we don’t know how RB’s Yang is going to be like.” I explained. Weiss, Indigo, and Blake thought on this for a moment.

“I guess we can only wait and see.” Weiss said as she held onto Tak’s hand. I shrugged as we entered the school. We walked towards the library before seeing Father turning the corner.

“Hey!” I greeted him as Father saw us.

“Ah, it's good to see you made it back just fine.” He said as he walked up to me before briefly hugging me as a greeting. I returned the hug before he pulled away.

“Hey, where’s RB at?” Ruby asked as she looked around him. With a smile, Father motioned for us to follow him, and we did.

He lead us to RB’s room, the door slightly ajar, and I could hear RB talking to someone inside. There was some laughing as well as we listened.

“She sounds… happy.” Weiss said. We all nodded as Blake looked at Indigo.

“Do you think…” she didn't finish as Indigo nodded with a smirk before saying.

“Called it.” Was all he said. I smiled as we went to the door and knocked. After a few moments it open to… Yang. But not normal Yang. In front of us was a younger Yang, about seventeen years old.

“Yang… you're … so young.” Blake said with a look of surprise.

“And you have your arm back!” Weiss added.

“Err, why is your hair so short?” Ruby asked.
This Yang frowned at what Ruby said. It was true; Yang’s usual long blonde hair is now short. This Yang’s frown was kept before another Yang’s voice called out in the room.

“She has short hair because she just lost an arm wrestling match!” Yang called out with a laugh. Father chuckled at this as he walked in before closing the door behind him.

Everyone simply looked at the sight of the two Yang's. Though it was obvious who was who, the sight of two Yangs was something we definitely didn't think we'd see.

“Wow… It actually doesn't look half bad on you.” Indigo said, breaking the silence in the room. The other Yang scratched the back of her head as he said that.

“I guess it's alright…” she said before looking around. “My head feels lighter than before so… that's good?”

RB came up to her and gave her sister a big hug, making her Yang smile a bit. Father and I smiled, seeing the normally cold-hearted RB like this.

“So, Miss Xiao Long, are you accustoming well?” Father asked the younger Yang.

“I think so…” she said as she looked at all of us. “Kinda shaky still.”

“If it's too much to ask, but, you look younger than us…” Blake pointed out which the younger Yang groaned.

“Not this again.” She said as RB grins.

“Now I'm the older one!” She proclaimed, making the younger Yang roll her eyes. Father chuckled and shook his head.

“Well, just know, if you feel any discomfort or have any question at all, to let me know.” Father said before sitting next to his wife, kissing her as he sat down before speaking.

“Now how are you holding, my dear?” He asked, rubbing the large belly of his wife. This brought the Half Dovah Yang to giggle at her husband's affection.

“I'm fine, love, just a bit of the morning sickness that got me.” She said, revealing that it was morning sickness that prevented her from going to the duel. Ruby, my Ruby, went over to her sister and gave a hug after hearing that she wasn't severely ill.

“I'm really glad you’re okay.” Ruby said with relief in her tone. Yang smiled as she gave her sister a hug. I smiled at this and looked over at the other two to see.

“I'll beat you this time, Yang!” RB said with determination.

“Bring it!” Younger Yang proclaimed as the two of them were arm wrestling. We all smiled at this, seeing the two siblings reunited happily.

Father soon looked back at the two, his gaze finally landing on RB.

“Miss Branwen, I'm sorry to interrupt your game but there is still an important question left unanswered.” Father said, catching RB’s attention, which ultimately made her lose in her arm wrestling. The younger Yang cheered, making RB glare at her before looking at Father.

“And what's that?” RB asked.

“Now with your sister back, will you return to your world or will you remain here?” Father asked her. Everyone soon looked at RB in silence, waiting for an answer.

“O-Oh man… I don't know…” RB said.

“Is there a problem back home?” Younger Yang asked. “If it was me I would stay here since… well, I'm dead.”

“Not to see dad again?” RB asked. Her version of Yang frowned at this before RB continued. “But… if I go back, it's not in a good state to be in.”

“How bad is it?” Blake asked.

“Well, I'm wanted in two kingdoms, the rest of my team hates me and both Raven and Qrow are… well, they're not around. And Dad… he will miss me, but understands if I disappear. But the biggest thing is that the Grimm are running rampant there so…” RB looked around us. “In some places it's a living hell and… I don't want to leave dad there…” Father looked at her, closing his eyes before humming in thought.

“What are you thinking of, hun?” Our Yang asked as she looked at her husband with a raised brow. Soon enough he opened his eyes and looked at the two siblings.

“Do you two care for your father deeply?” Father asked the two of them.

I looked at Father questioningly. His wife kept silent as if she knew what he was going to do. My ears twitched and I quickly glanced at the door behind me, seeing Qo, Kaida and Strun poking their heads into the room.

“Is that some kind of joke?” Younger Yang asked. RB frowned at her before speaking.

“Of course we care for our father. He's our dad.” RB said.

Father nodded before smirking.

“Then I don't see why I can't simply bring him here.” Father said, looking at the two. RB and her sister looked at one another before Yang spoke.

“Sis, you said it yourself that back home is like hell. Maybe coming here is a fresh start for all of us.” the short-haired Yang said, suggesting that their own father should be brought here.

“Would he… like that?” RB asked. The younger Yang rolled her eyes at this.

“Having a fresh start with his two daughters... I bet he will. “ she explained. RB frowned a bit.

“I thought I was the older one…” RB grumbled, earning a laugh from all of us.

“So it is decided, then?” Father asked the two of them. The two of them looked at each other before nodding.

“Seems we're starting a new life here.” The short-haired Yang said.

Father nodded with a smile before his eyes shone brightly, blinding everyone in the room and earning a few startled yells from the children as they pulled their heads back out the door in time.

As the light dimmed we all saw a man sitting in a chair asleep. He had short blonde hair that’s graying out a bit and tanned skin. His clothes were a bit ripped up while his left arm was bandaged. He wore a brown vest with some cargo pants and boots. At closer inspection, we saw a number of scars and cuts on his arms and face. Don't know why, but at the moment, he was snoring while he slept.

“So that's where you got your snoring.” Father said to his wife with a chuckle. She frowned at him before hitting his shoulder, making the former laugh.

RB moved closer to her father and gave him a bit of a shake.

“Dad? Hey dad.” RB said trying to wake her father up. We watched as the man tossed and turned, indicating that he was having a nightmare, before suddenly waking up in a gasp. His eyes turned to RB as she kneeled by him.

“Ruby…? What are you… how did you...I-I can't believe you're here-” his gaze moved to the younger Yang as she sat where she was. His eyes widen at the sight. “Yang? But… if you're here… oh Oum did one of the Grimm find me and-”

“No, no, no, no! That's not what's going on.” RB explained. The man frowned at this before looking around and seeing the rest of us.

“Umm, what's going on?” He asked.

Indigo gave the man a friendly wave while Blake did the same. Tak gave him a bow as his greeting with Weiss following suit. Father and Yang, our Yang, simply smiled at him as he slowly scanned the room.

“Greeting Mister Xiao Long.” Greeted Father, breaking the silence in the room. The man looked at him, looked at Yang, looked at the other Yang, then did a double take before blinking.

“I… I must be dreaming still… There are two Yangs, and one of them has scales.” he said.

“Hey!” Yang, our Yang, yelled before frowning. “I like my scales…” She said with a pout. Father gently pulled her close before kissing her cheek.

“And so do I…” Father said in a loving whisper.

She smiled at this as RB and the younger Yang explained to their father what’s going on. He listened to them talk and nodded slowly.

“So… I’m not dead?” he asked.

“No, completely alive.” RB answered.

He nodded again and looked back at the younger Yang. He stood up, seeing his full height as he stood in front of the blonde. He pulled her into a hug and held her there. Yang slowly hugged her father as he then pulled RB in, as well. We all smiled as we moved out of the room, letting them have their moment.

“Well… things are going to be a little odd.” Weiss said as we closed the door. “There are now two Yangs wandering around.”

“Hey, I’m the better one of the two.” Yang snapped as she rubbed her belly and her tail moved around a bit. This made Father chuckle a little as he placed a hand over hers.

“Do not boast just yet, love.” Father said. Yang rolled her eyes at that but smiled anyway. “But know that to me you are better.”

It was then that Kaida and Strun made themselves known by running up to the two of them. Qo was too quick for me to react before she jumped on me, tackling me into a hug. I stumbled slightly before laughing a bit.

“Hey there, what you’ve been up to?” I asked my daughter as she hugged me.

She soon began telling me about her day with Ruby joining in later in the conversation. As Qo spoke, I had noticed Lilah talking with Blake and Indigo, making me wonder when she got there. Whatever Lilah said elicited a nod from both Indigo and Blake before they headed off with Lilah in tow. Weiss and Tak left saying they had to tutor Skyler again and said their goodbyes before leaving. It wasn't until Kaida and Strun let out a cute yawn simultaneously that we noticed how late it was getting. Father and Yang both left to take their kids to bed after wishing us a good night.

The three of us left headed back to my room to put Qo down to sleep as she was falling asleep in my arms. When we got there, we changed into our sleeping wear and climbed into bed. The two of us soon fell asleep and happily went into dreamland.

The next day came around and I was told that RB, Yang, and their father were going off somewhere to build a place for them to be. There was a lot of room for them at the school and they were going use them, but Taiyang, their dad, said it’s better to have a place of their own. Plus, it gives him something to do. This took RB and Yang away from hanging out a lot, but they were happy with what time they had.

As this happened, I saw Ruby stare at Tai as he’s passing by, making her look sad as he continued on. I asked her about it and I was told that she misses her own father. This seemed to be the same mood everyone other than Weiss was in, they all missed their families back in Remnant.

This literally came to a head when Yang, our Yang, literally said. “Why don’t we go see our families back in Remnant?”

Everyone was quick to look at her in confusion. Yang rolled her eyes and tapped the necklace around her neck.

“We have these to transport us over there with no issue. We will go there, say hi, ask how everything is and come back.” She soon turned to her right before smiling, seeing Kaida there before pulling her up to her lap. Strun did the same with Father.

“That’s… true, but it’s more the fact we’re going to see our parents which we only had visions about. Showing up married, about to be and have kids, and have some drastic changes would throw them for a loop.” Blake explained.

Sitting beside her was Indigo, focusing his attention on a book he was recommended to read. Father chuckled at Blake’s explanation before speaking.

“Nothing a little explaining can't overcome.” Father said, looking over to Blake and seeing Lilah sitting on her lap. It's so odd seeing Lilah like this, but it wasn't bad… just odd. Blake didn't seem to mind Lilah. I looked over at Ruby before saying.

“Do you want to go see your dad and tell him what’s up?” I asked, gesturing to the ring on her finger and Qo on her lap. Ruby simply smile at this.

“Yeah, I do. “ Ruby looked over at Yang. “Though, trying to explain her will be an issue.”

“Excuse me? What’s wrong with me that’s in need to explain?” Yang asked, thumping her tail behind her on the ground. Father smiled at her, wrapping his own tail around Yang's to prevent her from thumping it onto the ground.

“Your sister has a point, my dear.” He said as Yang blushed from having her tail ensnared by her husband’s. “Your father has only ever seen you as a human.”

“Okay, explaining that part might be...hard.” She said with a blush.

I soon heard the library doors open, signifying someone's entry. It was soon revealed to be Tak returning a few of the books he and Weiss borrowed for their tutoring session with Skyler.

“Hey, Tak.” I said, gaining his attention. He faced us and smiled before walking over to us.

“Hey, Viri.” He greeted with a little smile before asking. “Is anyone else here as well?”

His answer came from all of them speaking up, where Weiss reached out and took his hand.

“O-Oh, hey, Weiss.” He said, a little surprised. Weiss helped him find a chair, it just so happened to be the empty seat beside her.

“So it is settled?” Father asked, regarding our decision to go back to Remnant for visit.

Everyone looked at each other before nodding.

“It would be nice seeing my parents again for real.” Blake said before adding. “But wouldn’t they question that’s there’s another me that seems different?”

“When they ask, I will telepathically inform them of the events that led to your current situation.” Father said, earning Blake’s attention. “To put it simply, let me do the explaining and enjoy your time there.”

Tak looked confused as to what we were talking about but said nothing, thinking it'd be rude if he spoke up now.

“Okay… so are we all going to be together or splitting up to see our families?” Blake asked. Father looked at all of us, thinking to himself as he did.

“It is best to go as a group.” Father suggested to us. Yang nodded in agreement.

“Strength in numbers, right guys?” Yang asked everyone with a smirk.

They all laughed. I smiled as I reached down and held Ruby’s hand. She smiled as Weiss asked where they're going first.

“I say it would be our place first, I think.” Yang said as she hugged Fathers arm. “Do you mind that?”

“Not at all, my dear.” Father said with a shake of his head. This made Yang sigh in relief before smiling.

“Now, is this is the final decision?” He asked and was met with nods from everyone else.

Indigo looked up from his book in confusion just before the gems in the necklaces around Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang’s neck shone their respective colors and blinded everyone briefly. When I blinked to regain my sight, only opened me eyes to see the border of a gray forest. I looked behind me to see a small town just a short walk away.

“Hey! I know where we are!” Ruby said as she looked around. “This is Patch!”

“Yeah… we’re just a short walk away from home.” Yang said, earning a smile from Father.

Weiss and Blake looked at our surroundings, unfamiliar with the land. Indigo looked at the town with a curious glance.

“I've been here once or twice. If I remember correctly, it was for some Beowolf hunting.” Indigo said before chuckling to himself. “Nice place to raise a family or so I've heard.”

This earned him a questioning look from Blake.

“Come on! Let’s go!” Ruby said before heading out towards her home.

“Hey! You know I can’t run!” Yang yelled out, annoyed that she couldn’t really run. She grumbled a bit at this, envious of her sister's ability to run, but that all soon was changed when Father took hold of her hand as Kaida and Strun looked up at their mother.

“Let's go meet your grandfather, kids.” Father told them before they walked ahead of us.

I smiled before I looked back, seeing a dazed Tak shaking his head. Weiss looked at him and was about to ask but Tak was quick to say.

“I'm fine, just… not used to being… well, out like this.” Tak said before taking a deep breath just as Weiss walked up to him. “I just need help walking for now, I need to get used to this place.”

Weiss smiled at him as she brought him closer, hugging his arm.

“Does this help?” she asked him. Tak nodded, smiling with a blush on his face.

We all walked towards where Ruby ran off to, which she had to stop and wait for us to come. The trees started to brighten a bit as we walked. Soon, we came up to a two-story wooden house.

It gave me a good sense of home as we walked towards the place. As we did, the door opened and a small black and white dog hopped out of the house and barked a few times. It looked over at us before running over to Ruby.

“Zwei!” Ruby said happily as she kneeled down to pet the dog in question.

Zwei barked happily as a man walked out. He looked like Taiyang from before but without the scars and graying hair. He looked over at us and then at Ruby.

“Ruby? Is that you?” The man asked. Ruby smiled as she straightens.

“Hi dad!” Ruby greeted as she ran over to give him a hug. The man laughed as he hugged her back.

“Ruby, it’s so good to see you again! And you look… older. Odd, but still…” he stopped when he saw Yang walking up to him.

“Uhh… hey, dad…” she said with a smile as Tai stared at her. He was silent for a good minute before speaking.

“You left just… just a couple months ago… wh-what happened?” he asked her.

Yang was silent as she smiled nervously, her tail moving back and forth. Tai saw her tail move before looking right at Yang then at her belly.

“Did you eat a lot of junk food or…”

“Uhh, no, no junk food.” Yang answered with a blush as Taiyang stared at his daughter. He took one long look at Yang’s pregnant belly.

“Can someone explained to me why my oldest daughter is having a kid and never sent me something about that?!” He questioned with a freaked out expression.

No doubt a thousand questions running through his mind. Father stepped up and gave him a bow before saying.

“Greeting Mister Xiao Long. I know you may have many questions and I will be happy to answer them, but before we start, may we please enter.” Father said to the blonde man.
He looked at him then at Yang, unaware of the three kids behind Father. He soon nodded before stepping aside and letting us in. Me, Ruby, and Yang entered. Father soon went in with the kids behind him. Qo quickly ran up to me and Ruby, while Kaida and Strun made their way to their mother while looking at the many different photos around the living room. Weiss, Tak, Indigo, and Blake did the same, as Tai sat down on the couch and was about to say something before seeing the three kids. His look simply spoke that he had more questions now.

Seeing the expression on her father's face had made Yang even more nervous, she even wrapped her tail around Father and surprising him.

“Now then, we can begin your hailstorm of questions.” Father said before glancing at Yang, giving her a comforting smile.

“I have so many to ask but the big one is; Yang you’re pregnant. How, when, why?” Tai asked as he started at both Father and Yang.

“So… it’s not on the scales and tail?” Yang asked.

“I’m your dad. This takes precedence over that.” Taiyang explained.

Father looked at Yang, silently asking her if he should tell him or she would like to. Yang closed her eyes and took a deep breath, fidgeting with the ring in her finger.

“Dad… to keep things short… and well…” Yang open her eyes at Tai as she let her breath out. “The man beside me is my husband and we already have two kids and a third on the way and I came here to tell you and show my kids their grandpa.”

When she finished Tai stared at her as she said all that quickly.

“Umm, come again?” Tai asked. Father chuckled at Yang's quickness.

“Her words speak the truth. Your daughter and I are happily married with two children and a third one on its way.” Father said, placing a hand on Yang’s belly.

The latter blushed at this, earning ‘awws’ from Blake and Weiss at the loving sight. Taiyang simply stared at Yang before glancing over at Kaida and Strun.

“Two kids… plus one more… in four months… the times don’t line up.” Tai said as he scratches his head as he tried to figure it out. Father closed his eyes as he hummed, this brought Taiyang to a standstill as his eyes widened and his pupils dilated. After a few moments, Taiyang shook his head a bit before speaking. “Right… I think… I think I get the gist of it.”

“Grandpa!” both Kaida and Strun yelled happily as they ran over to him and gave him a hug. He simply smiled at them and laughed.

“So… you're okay?” Yang asked. Taiyang looked at his daughter and smiled.

“Yang, I just got called grandpa by two kids that are my grandchildren. I’m far than okay.” He said with a big smile.

Father smiled, seeing his two children excited about having met their grandfather on their mother's side. Weiss and Blake smiled, too. Indigo did, as well, but was barely noticeable.

“Alright, then, introduce yourselves to your grandfather.” Father said to both Kaida and Strun.

“Hi, I’m Kaida!” Kaida greeted.

“And I-I’m Strun.” Strun greeted after with a slight frown for his stutter. Tai smiled at the two and leaned forward.

“Hey, you two, I’m Taiyang, but Grandpa will do.” He greeted with a smile.

Qo looked at them before looking at me and Ruby.

“Go on, say hello.” I told her. She nodded as she stepped forward to Taiyang.

“H-Hello.” She greeted nervously, petting her own tail as she did.

“Hello there, what's your name?” Tai asked her.

Qo didn't say anything, maybe being too shy to speak. Father glanced at the two of us, motioning for us to help her.

“Umm, dad, this is Qo.” Ruby told him.

He chuckles before speaking.

“Let me guess, she's your daughter?” He said, surprising both me and Ruby. “I know you Ruby, and I can see some traits in Qo here that belongs to you.”

Ruby smiled at this before looking at me. Tai saw this before arching a brow. Tai looked at Qo before looking back at the both of us, then he repeated this twice before finally realization donned him.

“You two? How… how did that work?” Tai asked. Both me and Ruby stared at him before Ruby spoke.

“It's… complicated…” she answered.

Father looked at Taiyang and nodded, silently agreeing with Ruby. Qo tugged on Tai’s pant leg, gaining his attention.

“Umm, can I call you Grandpa?” Qo asked. Tai smiled at her before rubbing the top of her head.

“Of course you can.” He said with a smile.

Qo smiled brightly and joined the other two kids sitting in front of him. Father smiled at the sight and Yang’s tail wagged back forth happily.

“They've been excited to meet you for quite some time.” Father said to Taiyang as Father held onto Yang’s hand. The man looked at him and then at the three smiling kids.

“I bet they did.” Tai said with a smile.

It took a few minutes to introduce everyone to Ruby and Yang's father. For Tak, Tai looked down at his feet.

“Did you wipe your feet before coming in?” Tak nodded almost immediately before shifting in his seat a little nervous.

“Sorry if I made a mess.” Tak said apologetically.

Taiyang laughed a bit before saying, “It's fine. I'm just playing around.”

Tak smiled a bit as the rest of us chattered. We spent almost three hours sitting around, letting Yang and Ruby catch up with their father. Though, when he finally noticed Indigo, he revealed to us something that Yang would rather have left unknown to all of us.

It seems that during her time in Signal, Yang had acquired a magazine featuring a very shirtless and much younger Indigo posing with words ‘Top Ten Hottest Huntsmen’. Indigo laughed at this, saying that he did that having been promised five hundred lien per photo. Blake blushed while Lilah, who sat on her lap, covered her eyes with a blush and Blake simply couldn't look away from the photo, but glanced at Indigo beside her, before passing the magazine to the rest of us. Yang let out an embarrassed whine as she covered her blushing face. Father chuckled at his wife’s behavior before pulling her closer to him. Taiyang saw this and watched as Father whispered lovingly into Yang’s ears, making the latter giggle a little before wrapping her tail around Father’s.

“Just in case you're wondering, Yang, your room is still the same as when you left. “ Tai leaned back on the couch before adding. “Exactly the same way.”

With a blush, Yang rolled her eyes, muttering something about torching her room later. Father laughed a little before looking at Taiyang.

“It's been a pleasure finally meeting you, Taiyang, but I'm afraid we have to go. You see, they're here to visit their families, having been away for two years have given them a sense of homesickness.” Father explained as he gestured to Weiss and Blake, standing up from his seat before helping Yang up.

This elicited a whine from the kids, including Qo after hearing what Father said. Taiyang turned to them, a sad expression donning him as a thought came to mind.

“Will I ever get to see them again?” Tai asked us, mostly to Father. The latter smiled and nodded, bringing hope to Taiyang.

“W-wait, really? How?” He asked him.

Father smirked before raising his hand, revealing an odd key. The key had turning gears and decorative wings, the design of the key seemed a little steam punkish.

“If at any point you wish to visit, use this key on any door.” Father said and to demonstrate, he walked up to front door and opened it, revealing the scenery outside before closing it. He then used the key on the lock, causing it to shine dimly before he opened the door, revealing the library back at Forever Free. A few of the passing students stopped at the sight of Father before shaking their heads and moving on. Father soon closed the door.

“To return back, simply to do the same.” He said before opening the door, once again showing the outside scenery just as Zwei ran into the house barking happily before jumping onto the empty space beside Yang.

Tai stared at the door before looking at the key and shaking his head.

“Not going to question it.” he said as she pocket the key.

At this point Ruby gasped.

“I almost forgot!” she said before zooming off through the doorway. We all stared at where she went before I spoke.

“Where did she go off to?” I asked.

Yang and her father looked at each other before Tai answered. “Something personal.”

I looked back at the door as I saw the pedals disappear into the trees.

“So… we wait then?” I asked.

Taiyang nodded in silence, his happy mood having been replaced with one of sadness. Qo looked panicked, having just seen Ruby run out the door with blurring speed. I went over and picked her up.

“Ruby is busy with something, we’ll wait for her to come back.” I said with a little smile.

Qo looked at me before looking back outside and, after a minute or two, she nodded. And we did, we waited for Ruby to return and it felt like hours had gone by. During our wait, Blake and Indigo took Lilah to see the town while Tak and Weiss sat outside. The latter imitating Tak’s position as he meditated. Strun and Kaida had fallen asleep on their parent's laps. Kaida on Father's lap and Strun on Yang’s lap. Qo had eventually warmed up Zwei and the little dog had gotten Qo out of sadness. Sooner or later, Ruby did come back, smiling like normal.

“Sorry about that! I just… needed to do something important.” Ruby explained.

I looked up at her and noticed that she had red eyes. “You okay?” I asked her.

“Huh? Okay, yeah… just… it was emotional, but I’m done now.” she said with a smile.

I looked at her a bit worried but nodded. Father soon stood up with Kaida in his arms before taking Strun as well, allowing Yang to stand up as a result.

“Shall we get going then?” Father asked the two of us, the question mostly aiming towards Ruby.

Ruby nodded at him as I spoke. “Yeah, we’re ready.”

With a nod and a flash, Indigo and Blake were back with wide eyes and a frightened Lilah. They shook their heads when they saw us, while Tak and Weiss came back into the house.

“Now, then, where to next?” Father asked as both Blake and Weiss’s gems shone.

Blake was soon nervous beyond belief before looking at Weiss.

“We'll go visit my sister.” Weiss soon said, eliciting a sigh of relief from Blake as her gem stopped glowing.

Tak looked at her with a curious brow before saying with a low voice. “I didn't know you had a sister.”

“A sister and brother, but… we’re going to see my sister.” Weiss frowned before adding. “If things go well, we’ll never see any more of my family.”

Tak looked as if he wanted to question why, but knew that it wasn't a topic she was willing to share with him just yet. Indigo frowned at the mention of Winter but simply sighed and shook his head.

“Then it is settled. To Atlas we go.” Father said as he opened front door slammed shut, waking up both children in his arms as a result.

The door opened again to reveal a drastic change in scenery. From where we stood we could see some sort of office through the door. Father, after placing Kaida and Strun down, was the first to walk through before Yang followed suit with her kids in tow. Blake and Indigo soon went through, as well, with Lilah following behind them. Tak was about to go through but stopped and faced Weiss. The latter took a deep breath before walking up to Tak and stepping through to the other side. With Qo’s hand in mine, me and Ruby headed through, as well, while Taiyang gave his final goodbye.

When we walked through, we were immediately greeted by two armed soldiers. I blinked at this before speaking up.

“This… isn’t the warm welcome I was thinking.”

Author's Note

Yay for random stuff~... :P

Exploring the camp and a large bad rock

After the such an eventful night, I had doubted I'd even get up the next day but to my surprise I opened my eyes to the peeking sunlight coming from outside. The first thing that greeted my senses was how stiff I felt and the urge to simply close my eyes to let sleep take me again was hard to resist. I looked to my right to see Ruby sleeping comfortably close to me and it was then I remembered where we were. I sat up quietly to not disturb Ruby and looked around, seeing the others asleep as well, even Aunt Axycia and I've rarely ever seen her sleep. I felt the shift and heard Ruby mumbling something incoherent. I turned back see her rubbing her eyes awake. I smiled as I booped her nose.

“Morning.” I said softly, making her smile.

“Morning…” Ruby replied before sitting up. She looked at me before speaking. “You okay?”

“Yeah… just really stiff for some reason.” I said as I stretched my arms and legs a bit, my tail unwrapping itself from my waist as I did this. “Maybe I need to do more exercising or something…” I looked over and saw Ruby giving me a deadpan look.

“You’ve been going through your Dad’s training thing that Yang went through and from what Yang told me it’s worse than Indigo’s hardest training course.” She stated with an arched brow.

“It’s…” I stopped as I had nothing else to say to defend myself.

“Maybe you need some time off to relax.” Ruby suggested as she stretched her arms a bit.

“I do relax.” I replied to her with a frown. This made Ruby arch the brow some more.

“When?” she asked me. I blinked at her as I tried to remember the last time I relaxed. I smiled a bit as I remembered.

“Before Blake’s wedding.” I answered her.

“That was almost four months ago.” Ruby countered. My frown returned as I stared at Ruby before I was hit in the head with a pillow from behind.

“Can you two keep it down? We’re trying to sleep~.” Weiss groaned at us as she snuggled up to Tak. The latter was still sound asleep with an arm draping over Weiss. The sight of the snuggling was cute, I even wanted to take a picture with my scroll but I was smart enough to avoid having to get a new scroll. Though the sight didn't last long as Tak soon awoke, most likely from the movement Weiss caused when she threw the pillow. He lazily opened his eyes and blinked before facing Weiss with a smile.

“Morning.” He said to her. Weiss opened an eye to look at him before smiling and raising her head up before closing the gap between the two for a good morning kiss. Tak looked as if he wasn't expecting the kiss but melted into it just seconds later. It was odd seeing Tak so surprised with the affection Weiss gives him, even after them being together for a few months now. When she pulled back, Weiss rested her head against Tak’s chest. It wasn’t long before the rest of them started to wake up and stretch a bit, oddly I was the only one that was really stiff when waking up.

It was then we heard a set of knocks coming from the door before it opened, revealing the familiar face of our Overseer friend Lana. She wore simple leather clothing and had her raven black hair tied to a ponytail.

“Hey Lana!” I called out to her, earning a groan from Iilah who was still somewhat sleeping. With a smile, Lana spoke up.

“When I heard Rockmond tell you were here I found it hard to believe but… here you are.” She said happily and excited to see us again. I smiled at this as I stood up to walk over to her.

“Good to see you again Lana.” I said as I gave her a hug. She returned it in kind before Ruby joined in.

“It's always great to see familiar faces.” Lana said as she pulled away. She then looked out the door before signaling someone to come in. Moments later a rather large man walked in with a cart of well cooked food and much to our surprise, some roasted mantis legs. “I've asked our master cook to whip up something good for you all to enjoy.” Lana said before nodding at the large man. The latter nodded back before leaving without uttering a word. Indigo looked at the cart of carrying food questioningly before standing up and picking up a plate of cooked prime meat before taking bite of it, then another and another. It wasn't long before he noticed the plates of cooked salmon before grabbing one and heading over to Blake to give it to her. Like Indigo, Blake took a test bite before beginning to devour the food. With a chuckle Indigo brought another plate over Iilah, offering her the salmon. Iilah, while hesitant, took a small bite of the large cooked salmon before taking the plate off of Indigo’s hand.

Weiss stood up and walked over to the cart, looking over the selection of food. She finally picked up two plates of simple cooked meat and some berried to go along with it. She then walked back to Tak and handed him a plate, earning thank you from the bat faunus.

I went over and grabbed some cooked meat, mantis legs, and some other foods, as well as some plates for Ruby and Qo, the two of them, had some cookies on them as well. As I carried them back both their smiles grew as I handed them the plates.

“Come see me when you are well and fed.” Lana said as she waved and closed the door behind her. We all happily ate, even Theodore did as well after waking from the ruckus we caused during our feeding frenzy. After countless minutes of us eating, the cart was soon left emptied of all it had carried just minutes ago.

Once we cleaned ourselves up, we headed out the door and was greeted with the village residents at work. Not too far from us was an open smithy with a muscled woman working the forge. At the center were a few residents welding together the framework of what will eventually be a Replicator. I blushed at the memory and it looked like Ruby did to.

“You two okay?” Iilah asked us, making us jump a bit.

“Yup! All fine!” I said quickly as we kept walking. Qo looked at the two of us confused.

“Really?” She asked.

“Yup, really.” Ruby answered. The others looked at each other oddly, other than Axycia who simply chuckled. We continued on until we found a larger house, no doubt Lana’s, closer to the edge and it gave her a great view of the bottom.

“There you all are.” Lana’s voice spoke up behind us. I turned to see her walking up to us. “I hope you enjoyed your meal.” She added with a smile. Everyone nodded and some even thanked her for the food. “Well I'm glad to hear that but I'm afraid I cannot stay and chat, I must return to my duties and such.” She said, turning around but stopping mid way and glancing back before saying. “Feel free to look around the Village, get your bearings to where is what and how to get there.” She said before heading off inside the large house. Rose watched as she headed inside.

“Huh, she didn't yell at me. I call that as a win.” Rose said with a smile. Both me and Ruby simply stared at her as Weiss and Blake looked confused.

“Did the two of you forget to add something during your explanations?” Weiss asked the two of us. Blake simply looked at us in silence, waiting for an answer.

“During our last run with Yang both Lana and Rose were always bickering or fighting with one another.” I explained to them.

“The two of us have different points of view.” Rose added.

“By the way Viri explained, you and her sound like a bickering couple.” Indigo said jokingly with a chuckle. Everyone looked at each other for a moment as Rose didn't seemed fazed by it as she simply shrugs but I did notice a small glare at Indigo as he slowly stopped chuckling. “I have no regrets.” Indigo was quick to say once he noticed the glare from Rose. The latter shook her head before walking off away from the group.

“Where are you going?” I called out at her.

“Exploring, later!” Rose answered. As she left I looked back at the others, seeing that most of them have already left to do their own thing, even Aunt Axycia and Theodore were gone which of course left me with Ruby and Qo.

“So what do we do now?” I asked them. Qo smiled brightly before immediately suggesting to explore the area in hopes to see more friendly Dinos. I knew there was no way to get her to back out of the idea, so with a sigh and a nod we all headed towards the main gates, seeing them open already. Once through the gates, the cold metal floor was replaced with dirt, grass and stone. We headed down the dirt path, the very same we took last night only this time we could see where we were going. It wasn't long until we came by a wandering Dodo bird, gaining Qo’s attention and was ecstatic at the sight though it is unknown as to why but I didn't want to bother her. The Dodo stared at Qo with unfocused eyes before fluttering its small wings. Qo tried to pet it but it quickly ran off, eliciting a disappointed whine from her. I chuckled as I walked up to her.

“I just wanted to pet it…” Qo said sadly. I smiled as I ruffled her hair a bit.

“It just didn’t know you Qo, give it time.” I said to her as we heard the Dodo making a sound as we saw Sparky chasing after the Dodo with some hops.

“Sparky no! Don’t scare the birdy!” Qo yelled as she chased after the wyvern. Both me and Ruby watched Qo and sparky run around chasing the Dodo, which was adorable.

“Hey, have you ever thought of having more kids?” Ruby asked me, catching me off guard. I looked at her for a moment before speaking.

“Somewhat, why?” I asked, arching a brow. “Why?”

“Just… something I’ve been thinking about lately.” Ruby answered with a small smile.

“You want to go through nine months of having a kid in you?” I asked. This made Ruby look at me with her own arch brow.

“What if it’s you with the kid?” she asked. I frowned at this.

“I thought it was the other way around…” the two of us stood there in silence before I continued. “We didn’t talk about this have we?”

“No, no we didn’t.” Ruby answered as we watched Qo continue chasing after Sparky. As we awkwardly talked, our attention was brought back to Qo after hearing her bump into something. When we looked at her we immediately froze up at the sight of a Triceratops. Qo looked up at the large dinosaur in awe.

“Whoa…” was all Qo said as she stared at the dino. Both Ruby and I stared at them. The Triceratops looked down at Qo, breathing down on her causing Qo to wave the air away in front of her. “Blag, you have bad breath.”

“Qo…” I called out to her, getting her attention. “Come this way, very slowly please.”

“Okay.” Qo said before looking back. “Bye bye Mister Dino.” As she walked towards us the Triceratops simply watched as she tiptoed her way back, gaining an odd look from the Triceratops. As she was close enough I picked her up into my arms.

“Oh Qo, that was scary.” I said as I let out a sigh.

“How was it scary?” Qo asked. I simply chuckled.

“That dino’s leg is bigger than you.” I answered with a small smile, earning a giggle from Qo as I put her down. I looked at the Triceratops as it stared at us before starting to wander off. Sparky came up and climbed up to Qo’s head as the dino was a bit further away now. We walked around a bit until we came up to what looks like a walking fish dog with a light coming out of it’s head.

“Doggy!” Qo and Ruby said happily as she went over to it. The dog seemed friendly enough to be petted by them. The dog-like creature rolled onto its back as it made a purr like sound and wagged its tiny tail. They petted its belly happily and the dog lolled out its tongue, which now hung up to its nose. The bulb on its antenna lit up in a bright blue light, similar to the lizard that Iilah had on her shoulder. Qo giggled happily at this as I smiled at the two of them, imagining what it would be like after me and Ruby are fully married. My smile grew a bit as my mind wandered until I was brought out of it by Ruby’s voice.

“Huh? What?” I said as I looked at the two.

“You spaced out again.” Ruby said with a smile, making Qo laugh a bit. I blushed a bit at this. “You got to be careful about that.”

“Yeah yeah.” I said, rolling my eyes. It was then we felt the ground shake violently, which was soon followed by falling rocks and gemstones. Both Ruby and Qo looked up at this with scared looks as I saw some falling above us. “Move!” I yelled. The two of them scrambled up as the dogfish turned over and bolted away as we all ran back to the camp. As we did I saw a large rock falling down in front of us, right on where Ruby and Qo was running. As fast as I could I ran over and pushed them away.

Just as the rock fell on top of my leg and breaking it. I let out a pained full scream as the pain made me started to tear up.

“Oh my Oum! Viri!” Ruby said as she ran over to me and tried to push the rock off my leg.

“Go…” I said as the pain was still spiking through my body.

“Not… leaving… you!” Ruby said as she tried to push the rock off of my leg, Qo trying the same thing as hard as she could. I closed my eyes as the pain continued, feeling like I was about to lose my leg by a rock. The pain grew to unbearable heights, it was so bad that I had not noticed the large rock being lifted off my leg. I soon opened my eyes in surprise as I felt someone lift me up and was happy to see that it was Rockmond in a… Ghillie suit? I didn't dare question it with the pain I felt.

“We'll get you patched up, don't worry.” His voice echoed as I felt myself getting woozier by the second. My eyes grew heavy and the last thing I heard was Qo crying out for me before I lost consciousness.

A Few Hours Later

I soon awoke from my sleep, I blinked a few times before looking around at where I was. I saw I was in some kind of bed. I saw Tak sitting nearby as he was… meditating? Sleeping? I don’t know his eyes are closed. I continue looking around and saw there were hospital equipment around, making me think I was in the camp's hospital.

“Ah you are awake.” I heard someone say and quickly saw that it was Rockmond “Feeling any better?” He asked as he walked into the room with a pouch in hand.

“I got beaten by a rock, rocks are now evil.” I said jokingly before adding. “You’re the exception though.” He rolled his eyes before tossing me the pouch. I quickly caught and saw that it was filled to the brim with white berries.

“In case you get any aches or pain, these will help.” Rockmond said, gesturing at the pouch in my hands. I nodded as I set the pouch down before sighing.

“So… what’s the damage?” I asked him

“Well the good news is that we didn't have to amputate your leg, you thank your friend over there. That kid is an odd one, he somehow saved your leg and after that he's been like this ever since.” Rockmond said as he gestured towards Tak, who exhaled loudly before taking a deep breath. “Your Aunt also came by to be sure, she was stunned and even grateful for the kid.” I let out a little higher tone laugh.

“As much as I don’t what a stump for a leg or a prosthetic leg, I’ll keep my legs thank you.” I said as I swallowed, scared to think of what would happen if I did lose a leg. Rockmond chuckled and shook his head.

“Eh don't worry, you'll be back up in no time.” Rockmond said with a chuckle before adding. “I got to tell your friends you're up.” He said as he headed off out the door, leaving me alone with a meditating Tak. I looked over at Tak as he did this, waiting a few moments before speaking.

“Hey…can you hear me?” I said to the bat Faunus. He hummed as he slowly opened his eyes before blinking a bit.

“Hu-huh, what?” He said in confusion before facing me and saying. “Viri, you're awake?” He asked.

“Yes, I’m awake…” I said as I looked at myself laying in the bed. “And bedridden for a while.” He sighed in relief at this before speaking up.

“Then it worked, good… the whole ordeal left me drained.” He said, sighing out the last bit. I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah… what did you do to me?” I asked as I adjusted myself in the bed, seeing I was wearing a white medical gown instead of my normal outfit. I frowned at the fact that someone disrobed me when I was out. “Another question, where are my clothes?” Tak was quick to react to this question and simply revealed my clothes neatly folded beside him.

“S-sorry.” Was all he said as a blush spread across his cheeks. I raised an eyebrow at him.

“You took my clothes off and put me into a medical gown?” I asked him. He quickly shook his head at this before answering.

“N-No, Ruby was the one that did it, she didn't want anyone else to do it.” He said to me with his hands raised up defensively. I chuckled a bit as I laid back down.

“I figured as much.” I said simply as I sighed a bit. Tak shifted a bit on the chair he sat on before saying.

“Your leg will be back to full health soon enough, so you don't have to worry about being bedridden for so long.” Tak said after lowering his hands back down. I smiled at him before speaking.

“Thought it’ll take some time…” I said in a soft tone. Tak gives me a sorry smile as the door slammed open.

“VIRI/MOM!” Ruby and Qo yelled as they rushed in, making me jump a bit.

“Ah!” I yelped as they rushed to my sides and give me a hug.

“Ohh, I was worried that you’ll never wake up!” Ruby cried as Qo hugged my arm as tightly as she could. I smiled at them as I leaned into their hugs, nuzzling Ruby a bit.

“Well I’m awake so that’s good.” I whispered as I gave her a kiss. She smiled as she kissed me back before backing away and pulling a chair up. She got Qo to come around and sit on her lap, which I saw Qo had tear marks on her meaning she must've been crying. “Hey, I’m fine Qo. Just a little banged up a bit.” Qo didn’t say anything at this. I reached over so she could hold my hand in hers. Indigo and Blake then entered the room with Iilah in tow.

“How ya feeling, Viri?” Indigo asked before Weiss ran passed them and hugged Tak. I gave him a look before answering Indigo.

“I feel like I got my butt kicked by a rock.” I said in a joking tone, earning me a frown from Ruby. I sighed before adding. “But I’m fine right now.”

“That's good to hear.” Blake said with relief in her tone. Indigo visibly relaxed at this before shaking his head.

“You had us all worried you know.” He said with a chuckle before sitting down. He then picked Iilah up and placing her on the chair beside him. The lizard from before made itself known by simply shaking its head a bit before resting it against Iilah head. I gave them a sheepish smile at them.

“Sorry.” I said as I looked over at Qo, giving her hand a squeeze. She smiles a bit as I did this. I looked over at Tak. “Now, back to what did you do to me?” After Weiss pulled away from the long-lasting hug, Tak nodded and began to explain.

“I did what I thought was best, I used one Zecora’s teachings of healing to lift some of the damage from you and transfer for it to me.” He said as he faced and blinked. He took a deep breath before continuing. “After transferring, I used most of my aura to heal before using the rest to heal you, so not only was I able to save your leg but mend it as well, your leg should be fully healed by the end of the week.” He said. Weiss frowned at this, must’ve been against Tak doing this. She didn’t say anything as I nodded.

“Thank you Tak.” I thanked him with a smile. Tak weakly smiled back, it must've really exhausted him.

“I've heard what happened, are you alright?!” Came Lana bashing through the door, a look of worry on her face as she did, some of her hair was even in disarray. It surprised everyone how easily Lana busted the door open, considering that it was reinforced wood. I blinked at this before speaking.

“Um, I’m fine Lana… really.” I told her, earning a look from Lana. “An evil rock fell on me.” She let out a sigh of relief at this before looking at the door. She simply shrugged and muttered to make better doors.

“I'm glad to hear that… I just wish I was notified sooner.” She said with yet another sigh. She straightened up and fixed her hair before saying. “Well if you need anything, anything at all just let me know.” She said before turning to leave with the busted door under her shoulder.

“Hey, is the sleepy head awa- WHAT THE HELL!?!” Rose’s voice could be heard from outside the room. I saw her peek her head in and looked at the door frame. “Who… oh.” Rose said, looking at Lana and gesturing at the door. “What did the door do to you?”

“Be in the way.” Was Lana’s response. Rose blinked at Lana before shaking her head.

“Right, not going to question it.” Rose said before backing out of the room. With a roll of her eyes, Lana exited the room as well with the door in hand but not before yelling out for someone to replace the door, which happened soon after she yelled it. We all stared at the door before we could hear some yelling from outside.

“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!” Lana yelled. Blake got up and went to a window that looks out to the camp.

“Lana is chasing Rose around with the door in hand… I think Rose is laughing.” Blake informed us. Indigo got up and looked out the window before stifling a laugh.

“She's got the door ready above her head to smash it against Rose.” Indigo said, describing what he saw. There’s a loud crashing sound before Indigo started laughing some more, guessing Lana smashed it over Rose’s head. It was then I noticed Tak being helped up to his feet by Weiss.

“I’m taking Tak to the beds.” Weiss informed us as she hand Tak’s arm draped over her. Tak smiled at this before saying.

“Thank you.” He said to her tiredly with a small smile. Weiss, after giving him a quick peck on the cheek, guided Tak to the door before Iilah helped in opening it. I let out a sigh as I put my head on the pillow, feeling more tired than I thought.

“As much as I want to talk, I feel really tired now.” I told everyone. Indigo and Blake nodded at this before Indigo picked up Iilah.

“I can walk!” Iilah said with a frown, earning a chuckle from Indigo.

“Yeah but I know you enjoy it.” Indigo said with a smirk. Iilah blushed a bit and was silent after he said this. The two of them left and only Ruby and Qo was with me. Ruby gave me a smile before saying.

“I’ll… leave you to-” I stopped her as I gave her a pleading look.

“No no, I want you here… please.” I said to her. Her smile grew as she carefully got into bed with me, not making me move a lot in case of my leg. She pulled Qo up so she was between the two of us as we laid there. I gave her a peck on the nose before smiling at her.

She smiled at me and before long the two of us fell asleep with Qo between us. Sometimes I can’t believe how lucky I am.

The lost Overseer

It’s been a month since my leg was broken. After the first week I was allowed to walk again but Ruby wouldn’t have it and I spent a half week off my feet still. It took some time to train myself to walk again without stumbling forward and being a burden. During that time Ruby never left my side, which made me happy that I spend more time with her than normal.

I was at the smithy place in camp hammering away on some iron for Ruby’s weapon. Since the two of us forgot our own weapons back home we spent most of the time building a new set and to make things go a bit quicker we both worked on each of them together. I stopped hammering to wipe away some sweat that was gathering on my forehead as I looked at the curved blade. It was a good sized blade as I turned it over to work on the bevel on the other side.

“Need to make sticky notes… keep forgetting our weapons… maybe some string.” I muttered to myself as I worked. It was frustrating having been constantly reminded of our lack of weaponry and it didn't make us feel better when we knew that it was us to blame for our forgetfulness. I picked the blade up with some large tongues and put it into the forge so it could get heated. As I did I looked up to see a group of three people coming by wearing hazmat suits. The stood in the center of town before a few others came by with hoses to spray them down. Whatever was on them was a bright purple residue of something most likely hazardous.

I watched them do this until I had to pull the blade out. The glowing hot blade was moved to the anvil to be beveled some more. The ringing of the hammer hitting the blade filled the air as I worked.

“And that's it!” Said one of the men with a hose as he closed his off. He nodded off to someone at his side, another person in a hazmat suit holding an odd device. The person walked up to the three before hovering the device over one of them before doing the same with the others. When that was done the person holding the device gave everyone a thumbs up before walking away and taking their helmet off, revealing it to be Lana.

“You three a cleared.” She said to the three. Immediately one of the three people sagged their shoulders and groaned loudly.

“You have no idea how long we've wanted to take these things off!” They or rather, he said with an exasperated tone. The man was quick to take off his foggy mask, revealing the familiar face of an older Edward. “Finally, clean air.” He said before taking an exaggerated deep breath. The other two hazmat wearing people took off their masks and revealed that it was the twins, Heaven and Nevaeh. They looked a little older as well, like if they were in their thirties. Seeing the three of them again puts a smile on my face as I worked on the scythe blade. I put the blade back into the forge to reheat as I looked back at the other three. When one of the twins looked over at me I gave her a wave and a smile. She blinked a few times, processing the fact that I'm there before smiling and telling her sister. Soon enough both were quick to change out of their hazard suits and into some leather clothing before making their way to me, leaving Edward to himself as he drank water straight from the pump.

“Hey you two.” I greeted them as they got close.

“It's so great to see you.” Nevaeh said with a bright smile. Her sister was no different.

“We didn't know you'd be here if we did we'd be back sooner.” Heaven said before she looked down at the blade I hammered over and over again. “What's the occasion?” She asked, most likely referring to me being here in the Ark.

“Oh, you know. My Aunt got a feeling that Lana is in need of help and we traveled over.” I explained as I looked at the blade. “Also the bad habit of forgetting our weapons…” I mumbled the last part as I looked back at the other two. “Also I’ve been here for close to a month already, spent most of it in a bed though.”

“Well it's news to us, we've been out for nearly a month in a half mostly lost in an irradiated cavern.” Nevaeh said as she crossed her arms with a slight frown.

“Because you read the map upside down…” Heaven muttered but it was not low enough and was swatted in the back of her head by her sister's hand.

“That's your guy's fault for leaving me in charge of navigation!” Nevaeh yelled angrily at her sister. The latter chuckled sheepishly at this as she rubbed the back of her head. “So…” Nevaeh said now a little less angry as she looked back at me. “Is it just you this time or have you brought some friends?” She asked.

“I came with my friends, a few more than last time.” I said to Nevaeh before frowning. “Two of them were… add-ons at the last second.”

“Oh?” Heaven said intrigued with what I said. As if she sensed it, I saw Qo come up behind them.

“Hello!” Qo greeted them, making the twins jump. Spooked by the sudden appearance, the twins simply watched as Qo ran up behind me, staying a fair distance away having been told of the dangers working the smithy.

“Is that…” Nevaeh said only for her sister to speak up to finish her sentence alongside her. “Qo?” They both asked in surprise. I simply smiled at the two.

“Yes, that’s Qo.” I answered them as I ruffled Qo’s hair a bit, making her giggle a bit.

“She's definitely grown an inch or two.” Heaven said, looking down at Qo before Nevaeh spoke up.

“She's still so adorable~” Nevaeh cooed at the sight of Qo. Qo smiled at what Nevaeh said.

“I am adorable.” Qo said, earning a laugh from me.

“Yes Qo, you are.” I said while rolling my eyes. The twins laughed at this right as Ruby came in. She long discarded her normal clothes after getting them really dirty and had now begun to wear leather clothing like everyone else except she made hers different, with no sleeves on either arms and her leggings cut shorter. It was definitely an eye catcher though people knew not to mess with her.

“Hey viri, oh hey Nevaeh and Heaven.” Ruby greeted the two. Ruby for once wasn't quick enough to react and was squished between the two in a group hug.

“It's so great to see you guys again.” They both said simultaneously, they're voices indistinguishable from one another. Soon enough the let her go, giving Ruby the breathing she struggled for.

“You okay?” I asked with an amused look on my face.

“I thought I was going pass out there…” Ruby said while panting. I chuckled before Ruby asked how the blade was coming along.

“Almost done with the forging, just need to heat treat it and do some grinding.” I told her.

“Alright, just get it done soon so we can put it together.” she said before adding. “Also how's your leg?”

“It’s fine Ruby, you don't need to pester me about it.” I said with a sigh. Ruby arched a brow at me and crossed her arms.

“Do I need to get the straps again?” She asked in a serious tone.

“No! Really I’m good!” I said in a panicked tone. Ruby laughed at this before give me a kiss on the cheek.

“Well then, see you soon.” Ruby said as she and Qo went off together. I watched as they left, letting out a happy sigh before being brought back to reality from a question brought up by Nevaeh.

“So are you two still together?” Nevaeh asked only to elbowed by her sister. “Ow, I was just curious!” She exclaimed while rubbing her sore arm.

“Yes, we’re still together.” I answered, arching a brow at her question.

“Don't mind her…” said Heaven with a small frown before looking back at me. “We're actually very happy to hear that but the real question is-”

“Yes.” I said, knowing where she was going with that. Heaven blinked and Nevaeh simply raised a brow at this before I added. “I asked her and she said yes.” I told them. I continued to work on the blade as they stood there in silence, blinking not once not twice but five times before smiles formed on their faces and letting out happy squeals. I chuckled as I put the blade in a tank for tempering. I looked back and saw the two of them smiling at me. “You know… that’s kinda creepy with the two of you smiling at me like that.” They chuckled sheepishly as they back away slightly.

“Sorry, we're just… Ohhh, we're just so happy for you two!” They both said simultaneously, giddy over the fact that I had asked Ruby to marry me. “How can we not be this excited!?” They asked once again in synch. I chuckled some more at their response.

“I can understand that…” I paused with a smile on my face. “Sometimes I don’t believe it’s real though, thinking it’s all a fantasy dream.” They both smiled at this and I remembered what Father had told me the day I asked her. I turned to the two and added. “But it’s not a dream, it’s real. I even have the ring to prove it.” They looked as if they were about to burst from happiness and luckily, they were called to elsewhere, stopping their inevitable burst for now and leaving me to finish up.

After the next few hours I finished up the blade for Ruby. I put it up for later as I walked out of the smithy. I walked off for a bit before seeing some commotion at Lana’s place. Curious I went over to see what’s up. I saw Ed, Rockmond, and the twins in the building as well as Lana, who was sitting in front of some odd looking piece. I knocked on the door way to get their attention.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked them. Rockmond was the first to look at me while the others simply talked amongst themselves.

“We found… We found the Overseer or what's left of it…” He said as he stepped aside, allowing me to see a large chunk of what indeed used to be an Overseer. “With what little we know of this place, this was the last thing we needed.” He added with a sigh. I frowned sadly as I looked over at Lana, who looked heartbroken. It was then when there we heard another knock.

“Hey, what’s with everyone here?” Rose asked as Beta floated over her shoulder. “Are we having a party?” This made Rockmond frowned at her as Beta floated into the place.

“Don’t mind her, we’re here because I picked up something here. And- oh hello.” Beta said as he floated over to the piece of the Overseer.

“What’s that?” Rose asked, pointing at the piece. Lana placed a hand on what was no doubt a shattered core, her sadness evident to everyone in the room. Rose saw Lana in a saddened state and frowned. She went over and kneeled down to her. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“This is- was the Overseer of this Ark… to see it in such a state…” Lana said teary-eyed as she kept looking down at the piece. “How could anyone do this…” She said. Rose simply rubbed her back soothingly.

“It’s alright princess, things are still going… I think?” Rose said. Lana simply looked at her as Beta floated around the piece.

“This is fascinating, I can understand why some others call me a mini Overseer, even though I was made by the Traveler and there’s- wait, what’s-” as Beta scanned the piece there was a bolt shot out and hit him,making him fly backwards into the wall then fall down to the floor. We all turned to look at where he landed.

“Beta?!” Rose yelled as she stood up. “You okay?!” There was no answer for the next few moments until Beta flew upwards… and into the ceiling. I noticed that instead of the blue light Beta had it was purple.

“W-w-where am I?!?!” A female voice said as she looked at all of us. “W-Who are you all!? AH! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BODY!” the voice said as she flew over to the piece that was the Overseer… well, she flew into it. “Ow…” The voice said before falling into Lana’s hands.

“Uh, what?” was all I said as Rose face palmed.

“Oh lords not this again!” she groans as she looked at Beta… I think.

“What’s… wrong with Beta?” I asked Rose. With a frown Rose looked at me.

“That’s not Beta… it’s whatever was inside this piece.” Rose explained as she looked at the Overseer’s piece. “I’m guessing after Beta got too close the being in it transfer over to his shell.” As Rose explained this Lana looked at the purple light Beta in her hands.

“You're alive?” She questioned the entity in Beta’s shell. “That's… How?” She asked, having no words to describe her confusion and relief. Lana quickly shook her head before speaking up. “Nevermind that… what happened to the Ark? Where is your platform?” Lana asked it. The Overseer, I guess, soon floated up a bit before looking around.

“Wow… this is… new…” she said before looking at Lana. “Huh? My Ark? Oh yeah, well…” the being continue looking around and floating a bit, letting out a small giggle as she seemed to be having fun flying.

“Oi.” Rose said, snapping her fingers in front of the Overseer. “My friend asked you a question and you jacked my partner's body, you owe us some answers.” The Overseer stopped only to bump into another wall again before shaking itself.

“I don't know… One moment I was going through my daily routine and the next… there was an explosion and it destabilized my platform, causing it to crash somewhere in the surface…” The Oversee began as she floated over back the table before resting atop it. She emitted sound similar to a sigh and said. “Then these… Pirates scrapped most of my body for parts before the shields fell… Without the platform there could be no atmospheric shield and that's when it happened… the first rays of the actual sun set everything ablaze above… I was left up there before I was once again by a madman that claims himself to be an intellectual man…” Lana gripped the table, causing cracks to form as a result. “He was nothing more than a savage that hungered for power… time went on and on, the state of the Ark deteriorating by the day and he couldn't care less… He even subjected innocent creatures to his experiment with liquid element.” At this point, Lana had snapped a bit of the table off before getting up and walking out through the door, slamming it hard behind her. The Overseer saw this and spoke up. “Jeez, what's her problem?” The Overseer said. No one really answered that, Rockmond, Ed and the twins looked away from the Overseer as Rose grabbed the shell.

“I think the man you were talking about is one that she knows very well.” Rose said to her.

“That's enough for now.” Rockmond said, breaking the silence within the room. “We've heard enough.” He added, looking down at the damage done to the table. He then looked out the door with a look of sympathy before shaking his head. Rose looked where Lana went and started to head that way, right before grabbing the Overseer.

“Hey!” she yelled as Rose dragged her along. Rose didn’t say anything as she walked by me. I looked at the rest of them before speaking.

“I’m… going to go find Lana.” I said before walking out of the house. I saw Rose did the same thing and we both went to look for Lana. We asked if anyone has seen her walk by, most of which were answered with simple no’s and shrugs. I stopped to catch my breath but saw Rose frantically looking around.

“We should… slow down…” I panted as I spoke.

“No, I have a bad feeling about leaving Lana alone.” Rose said firmly. I sighed before the two of us continue looking. Eventually, I grew too exhausted and leaned onto the large metal structure beside me while Rose didn't seem at all tired, or at least if she was she isn't showing it.

“Jeez… what’s… driving you?... You’re… not….even… winded…” I asked her.

“I spent a long time running during my adventures.” Rose said with a smirk. The Overseer floated over her shoulder as she didn’t seem to say anything. I took some breaths before saying.

“Why are you doing this? You two are always at each other throats.” I asked her. Rose simply shrugs.

“She’s my friend, and the friends I have… mostly yell at me for good reason.” Rose answered me, though I could tell there was another reason but I was too exhausted to say anything.

“Your Friends yell at you? That makes no sense.” The Overseer said to Rose.

“Shut it you.” Rose snapped at her as she looked around. When the silence settled between us, my ears twitched at the faint sounds of sobbing. I looked over at the direction it was coming from and looked around the large metallic pillar and saw Lana sitting at the edge, sobbing to herself. I tapped Rose’s shoulder and pointed over where Lana is. She nodded and the two of us headed over to her. Lana continued crying and didn’t seem to notice us until Rose came over and sat down. “Have to say princess, you know a good place to be alone… well not anymore but you get what I mean.” Lana didn't say anything, ignoring Rose’s words as she sobbed quietly. It was hard seeing Lana like this, I've never once seen her cry before. It was heart wrenching really.

Rose sighed a bit and did something I never thought I would see her do; she reached over and pulled Lana over to give her a hug. Lana was surprised at this as well but gladly accepted the hug and a shoulder to cry on. I watched in silence, not knowing what to do or if there was anything I could do. I went over to the other side of Lana and sat down. Rose rubbed Lana’s back as she whispered soothing words to Lana, which again was odd but it seemed to be working. Eventually she stopped crying and was back to sobbing quietly before finally stopping completely, sniffling a bit every now and again. I expected Lana to pull away at any moment but was surprised to see Lana resting her head on Rose’s shoulder.

“So, feel better?” Rose asked Lana. The latter nodded on Rose’s shoulder before sniffling again. “I’m guessing that man the now floating Overseer was Rockwell huh?” She didn't nod, she didn't speak and her breathing ragged before finally.

“...Y-yes.” She spoke with a choked sob. Rose nodded as she pulled Lana closer, giving her another hug.

“From what all I’ve been told of him, he’s a dick.” Rose said bluntly. “If I see him I’m going to show him what No Land Beyond can do to someone's head.”

“I don’t get it, what can no land do to someone?” the Overseer asked. Rose frowned at her before speaking.

“Again, shut it.” Rose said. Lana soon wrapped her arms around Rose, whispering the simple words of thank you over and over again. With each time she said it, she sounded more and more ready to burst into tears again. Rose sighed as she hugged Lana. “If you need to cry some more, go ahead Princess.” As she said that Rose made a painful face as Lana tightened her hug on Rose. Rose simply laughs a bit at this as she simply allowed it to happen.

“You ruined the moment…” Lana said, finally pulling away with a little smile on her lips. Rose simply grins at her.

“Still a worthy moment, besides I like that nickname.” Rose said with a laugh. Lana continues to smile as she punches Roses arm who continue to laugh before rubbing her arm. “...ow.”

The three of us sat there until Lana stood up to leave. Rose and I stood up next to her before I spoke up. “You going to be okay?” Lana nodded slowly but surely.

“Yes, I will.” Lana answered as her lips formed a smile once again. She wiped her cheeks of the dried tears before glancing at Rose and saying. “And thank you, Rose…” This earned the guardian’s full attention before Lana walked up to her before doing the one thing I'd never thought I'd see her do, even less with Rose; Lana gave a simple kiss on Rose’s cheek before pulling back with a smile. “Thank you.” She whispered to Rose. Rose simply blinked at this as a blushed formed on her face.

“Umm, uhh, you’re… umm…” Rose stuttered, not sure what to say. With a chuckle, Lana walked off back to the village but not before thanking us again. It was just me and Rose now though it seemed that Rose’s mind was out there. I had to help Rose back to the village and once she got there she spoke. “She kissed me!” She exclaimed still in shock

“Yes, yes she did.” I said to her. Rose stared at me before looking forward.

“I’m… I’m going to go for a walk… to think…yes…” Rose said before she started to walk off into the village. I shook my head before I headed off to do my own thing. I still have to do the engraving on the Scythe blade for Ruby. I smiled at this as I had the perfect idea for that.

Rose’s PoV, a few days later.

“I don’t know why, but I’m still hung up on this!” I said to Theodore. It was just a few days after dealing with Lana, and after her giving me a kiss on the cheek. For the whole time I couldn't wrap my head around what that meant. Was it simply a thank you or something more… I’m so confused. Theodore sat in front of me, donned in his metallic flak armor leggings and boots with a simply cloth shirt. We were sitting outside on some benches around a table, most likely for picnics or eating out.

“Besides the confusion, how does it make you feel?” He asked me with an arched brow. I blinked at him as I thought about it.

“Well… I’m happy. But that was mostly due to helping Lana out with her moment.” I told him. I opened my mouth to speak but closed it and simply thought on the moment of the kiss. “The kiss… I don’t really know what I felt at the moment, I guess happier?”

“You sound unsure.” Theodore said with a raised brow and a chuckle. “I can't help anyone who's unsure.” He added.

“Of course I’m unsure! This never happened to me before.” I said to him as I thought more about it.

“And what if I were to say that it was simply a way to show her thanks, how would that make you feel?” He asked me, leaning a bit away from the table before he straightened up.

“Well… I would still feel happy that I helped a friend out at a low point but… I don’t know, I just have a feeling that there’s more going on…” I said as I put my head on the table. “Like, I get why she would do it to others since everyone thinks of her as a motherly person, I just… don’t see her like that, I see her as Lana a friendly woman that one can be great friends with and able to rip a reinforced door as if it was nothing. I bet you put her in a middle with other Titans and she’ll fit right in.” I chuckled as I shook my head, rambling on about Lana some more. It wasn't until I let out a happy sigh at the thoughts in my head that I realized what I was doing and blushed brightly. Theodore looked at me and looked as if he was holding back a laugh.

“It sounds to me that you're head over heels for her.” Theodore said after recomposing himself.

“Yeah… I sound like I am.” I said as I thought some more. “I don't know if I could say the same about Lana. Sure she's great but what would she see in me?” Theodore nodded at this and said.

“I see, so you fear rejection… but you are curious… curious to know of Lana’s feelings of you.” He said to me, most likely guessing but I couldn't tell. I simply stared at him and nodded.

“Yes, that. I can get why she wouldn't like me since I drive her up the wall and honestly, who would want to be with a pale blue immortal that fought against twisted shadow monsters and space turtles?” I asked him. Theodore simply shrugged at this before speaking up.

“If you want my advice; You would never know unless you try.” He said to me with a serious tone. “But whether you do or you don't, that is up to you to decide but just know I'm rooting for you.” He said, pulling out a small flag with the word Go Rose! writtenin the flag. I chuckled at this before thinking about it.

“Ah hell, this is going to bug the hell out of me.” I said as I stood up and headed off to find Lana. Theodore waved the flag around and gave me a thumbs up before he was out of view. I walked through the camp until I was at Lanas door. I knock on it and waited for it to open. As I waited I started to fidget and get nervous. I heard footsteps coming from the other side before the door opened, low and behold Lana was there.

Though, not in an outfit, I would’ve ever thought to see her in; she wore some cloth pants and a piece of cloth wrapped around her chest and to put it lightly, well she had the body of a titan. I stared at her wide-eyed before my brain started to work again.

“Is there something you need?” Lana asked with an arched brow.

“Yes… yes umm…” I shifted a bit before adding. “Can we...talk?” She gave it some thought before moving aside while holding the door open for me to walk in.

“Alright, come in.” She said, motioning for me to come in. I walked into the building and heard the door close.

“Well first off, how are you feeling after… you know asshat.” I asked, getting a small chuckle from her. Nearby there was a training dummy, similar to the ones near the smithy only this had a face drawn onto it and several bullet-sized holes littering the sketch. “Never mind, I see you're doing well.”

“I've decided to vent out some frustration, a little pass time I develop a few days ago.” Lana said with a giggle. Hearing her giggle, I couldn't help but blush a bit.

“Well just don't point your gun at me princess, being reformed isn't pleasant.” I said with a grin. This earned me a smile from her as a result.

“Now, what is it you wanted to talk about?” Lana asked me as she crossed her arms.

“Well… it was about that… kiss on the cheek from a few days ago…” I blushed a bit as I scratched my cheek a bit. “Was it just you saying thank you or… what?” She tilted her head at this as if in thought, the silence that followed was unbearable.

“Well… a part of me wants me to say that it was just a way of thanks and leave it that.” She said. I stared at her when she said that, it hurt to hear her say that.

“And… what about the other part?” I asked, wondering what she would say. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before finally saying.

“This.” With that she walked up to me and pulled me close before bringing her lips onto mine, giving a long and passionate kiss. My eyes widen at this before simply kissed her back and I felt like I was on cloud nine. Soon enough we pulled away out of breath and simply stared at one another. “... I love you.” She said a bit out of breath.

“I… have many question about that but…” I leaned in and kissed her again before pulling away. “That...answers them.” We stood there in each others embrace, simply enjoying it. I still couldn't believe this was happening. I put my forehead on hers. “I love you to, princess.” I expected her to attempt to break my back again like she did last time but she simply said.

“You get a free pass… for now.” She said with a smile and laugh. Our finger intertwined with each other's as we stood there.

“So… what do you want to now?” I whispered. She just shrugged at this before saying.

“I'm not sure, I wasn't planning on doing much today.” She said, earning an arched brow from me before she said. “It's my day off.” She said with a chuckle.

“Well… I'm also free.” I told her with a smirk. To put it simply, we've had a relaxing day that we were happy to spend it with one another. I soon find myself lying in large bed with Lana in my arms, simply snuggling in silence.

Author's Note

If anyone played the DLC for Destiny 2, something like that... also AWWWW~

Just as a note for you all the next chapter is going to be long~

Blowing off some steam and the Nameless

Some parts of this are M rating so... you’ve been warned.

“I think Lana is with someone,” Ruby said as she ate a sandwich she had with me as we sat at a bench with Indigo, while everyone else was busy and would come later.

“I believe so, too. Do you think it's Ed? Rockmond?” I asked openly to the two.

Indigo had just swallowed the bit of meat he chewed off his lunch before shrugging.

“I mean, we can't just assume she's into guys… maybe it's a woman,” Indigo guessed with yet another shrug of his arm. The two of us looked at each other before Ruby spoke.

“One of the twins?” she guessed.

“Or one of the other women, but maybe one of the twins,” I also guessed.

Ruby nodded as we ate some more. I noticed Indigo’s focus was somewhere else, his gaze was on Lana’s home before he shook his head and taking another large bite off the slab of prime meat. In doing so, it left small stains of grease on his cloth shirt, having ditched his normal dress shirt after the first week. He even decided to wear a pair of riot pants, which oddly looked fitting for him.

“Something up, Indigo?” I asked him, getting his attention.

“You two got me thinking and… when was the last time you've seen Rose?” he asked with suspicion in his tone before taking a quick swig of his canteen of water to wash down the food. Ruby looked at him for a moment.

“I… don’t know. What about you Viri?” Ruby asked, looking over to me as she spoke.

“I was with her when we saw that Overseer piece then the whole thing with Beta, then some time with Lana… oh… Ohhhh,” I looked over at Indigo. “You think Rose and Lana?”

“It's a complete guess, and a pretty odd one at that, but it's still a possibility,” Indigo was quick to say after my realization. He then shrugged and added, “Those two are always at each other's throat… it wouldn't be a surprise really if they were a couple by now, opposites attract and all that.”

He said with a wave of his hand. Ruby and I looked at each other before the both of us spoke.

“Be right back!” we both said as we got up and headed over to Lana’s place. When we got there I knocked on the door as we waited for someone to answer. The two of us looked at each other before looking back at the door. Soon enough Lana opened the door. We saw her wearing a cloth pants and a cloth wrapped around her chest. She smiled at the two of us.

“What can I help you two with?” she asked with her usual friendly smile.

“Hi, Lana, we were just nearby and were thought that we could just stop by and say hi and ask how you were today?” I asked her.

Ruby looked at me oddly, as well as Lana, but her smile didn’t go away. Lana blinked at this before giving me an odd look.

“I'm fine, I'm just enjoying my day off,” Lana answered my question with an arched brow as she leaned onto her open doorway.

“Is that all?” she asked. Before I spoke Ruby cut me off.

“I thought we were going to talk about her and Rose?” Ruby asked me loud enough for Lana to hear.

“I’m getting to that Ruby,” I told her. Just before I could say anything another person came up behind Lana.

“Hey, you two, what’s up?” Rose asked as she wore her armored pants but with the same cloth wrapping around her chest.

This was also the first time we saw her with less clothing, her pale blue skin made her stand out as she adjusted the wrapping.

“You know, this is oddly comfortable Princess,” Lana smiled at her before elbowing Rose.

“Why do you think I wear them?” Lana asked her with a chuckle. Rose chuckled at this before looking at the two of us.

“So… you two… together?” Ruby asked. Rose and Lana looked at each other for a few moments.

“I thought you said you told them,” Lana said to Rose with an arched brow and her arms crossed.

“I did with Ruby, but at the time we were working on something. I left a note for her.”

As Rose explained this, Ruby went wide eyed before blushing a bit.

“As for the others, they were busy. I tried again for the past two days but never had the time,” Rose looked at Lana sadly as she shook her head. “Sorry.”

“To answer your question; yes, we're together,” Lana said as she looked over to both me and Ruby, smiling as she did.

Ruby smiled at this before she pulled the two of them a hug. After she did she backed up to my side and took my hand in hers.

“So… you guys been like this for a while now, or…” I asked, wondering if they been a thing for longer than that. Rose looked over at Lana before speaking.

“Been a few days and so far we’re going slow,” she said with an odd look to Lana, as if she was mentally asking Lana if this was alright to say. Lana smiled at her and nodded, easing her worries a little.

“So far, I'm enjoying our time together. It feels… right,” Lana said to us with a brighter smile.

“What about you Rose?” I asked Rose. Rose smiled at me and pulled Lana closer.

“To be honest, I’m surprised Lana here would be with me. A pale blue immortal alien that laughs at face of danger. I sometimes thinks she’s insane,” Rose said with a smile. Lana laughed at the mention of insanity.

“Oh, please, I'm far from it,” she said, still chuckling as she spoke. Rose laughed at this.

“You just make me love you more, princess,” Rose said before adding. “And you can do anything you want to me, I’m still going to call you that.”

With a curious brow and mischievous smirk, Lana asked, “So you wouldn't mind if I asked Beta to dump your weapons into the lake?”

Rose’s eyes twitched a bit at the mention of her weapons, her smile was still there.

“That’s… debatable… but I can’t really talk to him…” Rose’s smile turned to a frown. “That Overseer is still in control of his shell and, knowing Beta, he’ll be pissed about this.”

Lana’s mischievous smirked was replaced with concern over Beta.

“I have an idea to bring Beta back that may or may not work… I just need some time,” Lana said to us, mostly to Rose. Rose smiled at Lana.

“Thank you, Princess,” she said before giving her a kiss on the cheek before adding. “Not the weapons or armor. Anything else but them.”

Lana smiled at this before looking back at me and Ruby.

“So is there anything else you two needed?” Lana asked the both of us. I looked over at Ruby for a moment.

“No… I don’t think there’s…” I thought came to mind before I continue. “Well, there’s something but we still need to talk about it.”

Ruby looked at me for a moment before eyes widen as she got what I meant.

“Yeah, also do you want us to tell the others about you two?” Ruby asked them.

Rose looked at Lana but didn’t say anything. Lana shrugged before saying.

“It'll help us save time,” Lana said before nodding at us and pushing herself off the doorway.

“We'll, see you later, I want to get back to my free time,” she said as she walked back to close door before smiling at us and finally closing the door, leaving me and Ruby smiling at one another. The two of us looked at each other before heading off.

“I’m happy for them,” Ruby said.

“Yeah, same here,” I replied to her as I brought Ruby close to kiss her. “So… about what I said about Lana helping us… you think you’re alright with it?”

Ruby looked at me before smiling.

“I think so. We need to talk to your father… or mother, whatever form they’re in, and your aunt to figure that oot. Just need to figure out who’s going to be carrying it,” Ruby said with a smirk.

“Oh, you think I’m going to do it?” I asked, brushing my tail up her leg, making her giggle.

“I’m just saying~,” With that, the two of us laughed and talked as we went back to the bench, where we enjoyed our day.

Six Years later

Six years have passed in the camp for everyone. Blake and Weiss were a little off-putting of being gone for so long but Ruby and I told that everything will be alright. The relationship between Rose and Lana spread throughout the camp and, sure there was talk about it, no one did say anything about it. Mostly not to incur the wrath of the leader of the camp or the pale blue woman that can make a rocket launcher appear out of nowhere. Some of them said maybe Rose was the second of command of the Camp which was quickly dashed by the word of Lana and a laugh from Rose, saying that she’s no leader of a camp.

The biggest thing for me was the when I watched Qo grow from a young girl to a beautiful woman. Now sixteen, she looked like she was a bit of a cross between me and Ruby; as tall as Ruby with long hair of reddish colour that turns silver at the end. She had her own set of leather clothing of her own, died red and gray. I was both happy and sad, seeing that my baby girl was now grown up. Ruby and I cried a bit one night about it.

Both Qo and Lilah asked the two of us, as well as Indigo and Blake, about training to become Huntresses. So for the next few months, the four of us helped train the two of them, mostly Indigo and Blake since Ruby and I don’t really know how, though we did help them forge weapons, that was fun. Qo wanted two kusarigamas, handheld sickle like weapons that turn into revolvers, and Lilah wanted two large longswords that turn into one dual bladed staff. I kinda wonder what she was thinking about this, but I didn’t judge her.

Lilah, now seventeen, is a little taller than Qo but looks a bit like a younger Blake but with some silver streaks in her hair, and her dark blue eyes had a bit of indigo in them. It was odd that she looks a lot like a mix between Indigo and Blake, but I didn’t say anything. Lilah wore some black short shorts and a leather tank top that showed off her mid-draft and a dark blue scarf.

At the moment I watched Qo and Lilah train with Indigo, working with their weapons. Even though they are young, Indigo put them through their paces. Even with age going against him, Indigo was still as fit as he was when we got here, now being in his thirties. He blocked a flurry of attacks from Qo and Lilah with ease before using his shadow hand to push them back before delivering attacks of his own. Qo was fast and was able to dodge out of the way but Lilah had quick reflexes and was able to block and even parry Indigo, which was no easy feat for anyone he has taught before.

“How can you be this tough!?” Lilah asked with a yell at Indigo.

The latter laughed at this question before hooking Lilah’s twin blade with his scythe and tossing her aside just before hooking Qo, who had attempted to surprise him with a powerful kick, around her legs and tossing her onto Lilah, earning groans from both girls.

“Training… lots and lots of training?” Indigo finally said before laughing a little at the sight of Qo and Lilah dazed and confused.

Qo was quick to stand up, but Lilah laid herself back down on the ground with a groan before saying.

“This is the fifteenth time you beat the both of us…” Lilah complained with a pout on her face.

Indigo walked up to her before sitting beside her, a small smile on his face as he did this before speaking up.

“You can't rush progress, dear. It takes time to improve. You just have to be patient,” he said to her in a wise tone. Liliah frowned a bit as he said that.

“That’s what you said that last forty-five times, dad…” Lilah grumbled.

During the last three years, Lilah started calling Indigo and Blake mom and dad, since for the longest time they been taking care of her. I was also reminded that when we get back I should give Yang, the short haired Yang, fifty gold pieces having lost a bet we made. Though, the first time she said it, it was slip of the tongue and, oh boy, was she embarrassed. The reaction she gained from Indigo and Blake weren't the ones she said she expected. She once said if she had ever called them by mom and dad, or mother and father, that they'd laugh at her, but… they didn't. Indigo said that he felt honored to be the man she could call dad, and Blake was too. She was very happy to have been called mom.

Indigo chuckled at Lilah’s response before helping her sit up. Lilah smiled at this and was soon helped up. Qo still laid on the ground for a bit before pushing up to be sitting.

“Did we get better?” she asked Indigo.

He nodded with a smile before explaining how she and Qo have definitely been improving in both combat and coordination. Lilah smiled proudly at this before Indigo ruffled her hair.

“Proud of you, kiddo,” Indigo said to her before giving her a one-armed hug. Lilah smiled at this as she gave Indigo a hug, as well.

“What about me?! I did good too!” Qo said with a bit of a pout.

Before anyone could say something, I tossed a cookie over at Qo, who caught it without looking.

“Thank you!” she called out as she happily started eating the cookie. The two of us laughed until I blinked a few times before sniffing the air a bit.

“What’s wrong?” Ruby asked.

“Don’t know… just smells a bit…” I was cut off when I saw both Qo and Lilah doing the same thing before seeing our answer.

“Oh, Indigo~,” Blake’s voice rang out in a seductive tone.

Indigo blinked at this before looking towards where she spoke, seeing Blake looking at Indigo with bedroom eyes. Indigo looked at her with an arched brow before asking.

“Yes, hun?” he asked her as he stood up before helping Lilah up, as well.

Qo walked up to the two of them confused on what’s going on. Blake went over to them, mostly at Indigo, swaying her hips as she did before standing in front of him. I could see her slightly shake as she stood there. Lilah’s eyes widen as she took Qo away from the two, as Blake talked to Indigo… and getting a bit more closer to him to whisper something in his ear. She pulled away as she gave him a pleading look and biting her lower lip.

Indigo blinked and looked at Qo and Lilah before saying.

“U-um… c-class dismissed,” he said as his shadowy arm formed before he picked up Blake bridal style, surprising her a little before he said. “And... uhh, don't come looking for us for next few hours.”

With that he hurried towards their home, a medium sized house built by Indigo with the help of Tak and Theodore. Blake was simply giggling between kisses that she was giving Indigo.

“I believe I’m getting a brother or sister…” Lilah said simply as Qo nodded.

“Yeah…” Qo said. The two of them walked over to the two of us before sitting down.

“What was all that about?” Ruby asked, truly confused with Blake’s behaviour.

“Remember the whole suit thing? Something like that,” I answered her, making Ruby blush at this.

“Oh my… looks like Blake finally broke down after so long of holding back,” Axycia said as she came up near us with Theodore next to her… with a young half-Dovah girl riding on Theodore’s shoulders.

The little girl’s name was Nyvu, Theodore and Axycia’s little girl. She was currently five years old, about to turn six soon, and by the sound of her giggles, she couldn't be any happier.

“Perhaps you should proof the house?” Theodore suggested to Axycia.

Axycia laughs at this as she had one of her hand on her large belly, the second child of Axycia and Theodore.

“In truth, I would’ve loved to see their face after they found out that the whole camp could hear them, but… I’m not that mean,” she said before sighing. “I already did a week ago.

Theodore chuckled before giving her short but passionate kiss which Axycia was all too happy to return.

“What would the other four kids that you have to think when they find out they have two more siblings?” Ruby asked, to which Axycia simply shrugged.

“I believe that they’ll be happy with me and enjoy having a bigger family. Though, I wonder when they will meet them since they are old enough to go off on their own. The two little ones are at my siblings homeworld looking around and…” we watch Axycia started to tear up out of nowhere. “They are growing up so fast!”

She cried before burying her head into Theodores shoulder.

“Dad, mom’s crying out of nowhere… again.” Nyvu said as she watched this.

Theodore whispered at Axycia sweetly, wrapping an arm around her while keeping Nyvu safely on his shoulders. Before long Axycia stopped crying, simply sniffling here and there.

“I’m okay… I’m okay,” my aunt said with a small smile.

Nyvu cheered at this, happy to see her mother smiling. Theodore smiled at Axycia as she straightened up to recompose herself.

“Mommy's fine,” Theo finally said to Nyvu. Nyvu smiled at this as she looks around.

“Is Blake going to be okay?” Ruby asked Axycia.

“I think she’s going to be more than okay,” Lilah commented as she drank some water. This made Axycia laugh a bit.

“Yeah, she will me alright,” she said before looking at Theodore. “Holding back her heat cycles for so long was incredibly taxing on her.”

Theodore nodded in acknowledgement before looking at me.

“Just ask Viri,” he said with a little smirk.

Ruby, Qo, and Lilah turned to look at me. I looked at the three of them before sighing.

“Yeah, I’ve been repressing my urges,” I said before drinking some water. “I become really needy when I’m on my cycle, so I’ve been repressing them.”

“For a long time…” Axycia added. Ruby looked at me worriedly.

“Isn’t that...bad?” Ruby asked me. I simply smiled at her.

“It’s fine, I’m fine. I been doing this so I don’t simply… well, jump you out of nowhere,” I told her with a loving smile. Ruby smiled at this but didn’t say anything.

“Alright. Hey, Theodore, Axycia, can I talk to you for a moment?” Ruby asked the two of them.

The two nodded and Theodore gently put Nyvu down before Ruby stood up and headed a fair distance away from us with Theodore and Axycia in tow. I watched the three of them talk but was too far to hear them.

“I wonder what their talking about?” I asked myself though Lilah was able to hear me.

“Don’t know,” Lilah said as she laid down on the ground.

Whatever Ruby was talking to them about had her blushing. Her cheeks were almost the same shade of red as her cape. Theodore and Axycia looked at her seriously, explaining something to her, and whatever it was, Ruby listened. After a while, Ruby skipped her way back me with a big smile on her face while Axycia and Theodore walked behind her. Nyvu was quick to ask her father to pick her back up and Theodore wasn't one to deny his little girl.

“Is… everything okay?” I asked Ruby worriedly. Ruby sat next with her smile on her face.

“Yup, everything is great,” Ruby answered, which Axycia giggled a bit. Ruby looked at her then at Qo.

“Honey, do you want to spend time with your aunt? Your parents need some time alone to… talk.”

“Okay!” Qo said happily as she got up and went over to the two of them, waving at the little girl on Theodore. I looked at this before looking at Ruby as she spoke.

“We need to talk… now,” Ruby said as she grabbed me and pulled me away.

“Have fun~,” Axycia called at us as I looked back at them.

Ruby quickly pulled me to our home, a two-story building like Indigo’s and Blakes. Ruby pulled me inside and up to our room. She let me go in first as I was frowning.

“Okay, Ruby, what’s going-” I stopped when I heard the sound of the door locking. I turned and saw Ruby look at me with bedroom eyes. “Ruby?”

“How long have you been repressing your urges?” Ruby asked as she pulled her cloak off and hung it up. I stared at her and felt like I couldn’t talk myself out.

“Umm, a bit over twenty years, give or take,” I said as I looked at her.

She walked up to me and gave me a passionate kiss. I kissed her back as she pushed me down to the bed before backing away.

“This isn’t healthy for you Viri. You’re hurting yourself if you continue,” Ruby explained as she blushed. “So… I’m going to help you relieve you of that pressure.”

“Ruby… I’m fine really. You don’t have to-” I stopped as I watched Ruby move back and forth a bit, blushing a bit as she unhooked something which made her pants fall down.

I saw her wearing a dark red pair of panties that showed… wow. My whole body felt warm at this. “R-Ruby.”

“Shhh, Just… let it happen.” Ruby said as she continued her strip tease.

She slowly pulled the leather shirt over her head and walked over to me. I stared at her as I felt the same urges long ago, ones that I repressed.

“B-b-b-b-but… I’ll be… would… hurt you,” I panted as Ruby sat on my lap.

Feeling her body close to me made me whimper a bit. She smiled and gave me some kisses.

“You’ll never hurt me. I’m your mate, after all,” Ruby said slowly.

I was close, already it took my willpower to hold it back, but it was crumbling. The room felt warm… really warm...was it me or Ruby… she smells so good, though… like roses, funny enough. She pulled away and smiled at me, seeing me so close to breaking.

“Let it go, Viri. I want you to be happy. I want to be your wife and be happy with you.”

“A-Always?” I asked her needingly. Ruby smiled as she kissed me again.

“Always,” was the last thing I heard before something within me snapped and I blacked out.

The next morning.

I awoke in my bed naked and exhausted. I blinked a few times as I tried to get my bearings a bit more, I saw Ruby was behind me with her arms wrapped around me as she continue to sleep. I smiled at this as I looked at the state of our room. Lots of things were knocked over and thrown about. The odd part was there were burn marks on the walls and ceiling.

I also notice I felt… better, better than I have even been before. I turned to face Ruby and notice some scratch and bite marks on her, making me look at her scared. She soon awoke from her sleep and saw me. She smiled before she spoke.

“Morning…” she greeted softly.

“Oh my… Ruby, are-are you okay? What have I…” I started to tear up a bit. “I didn’t… I didn’t mean to… oh, Ruby, I’m-I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, Viri,” Ruby said, sitting up and letting me see that she too was naked. “I knew you were going to go wild and… well, I took the risk.”

“I-I didn’t hurt you, did-did I?” I asked her, looking at her some more to make sure. Ruby chuckled at this.

“I’m fine. The fire was something I didn’t think would happen, but over all, last night was… wow,” Ruby said as she moved closer to cuddle.

This calmed my nerves a bit as I laid back down. We laid there until a question came to mind.

“So… that… part I saw on you…” I asked her which made her blush.

“That was temporary, but you’re aunt said it would help and… I guess it did,” she said with a giggle. “Also, she asked me to tell you that you need to see her after you relaxed for a bit.”

I nodded at this before the two of us laid there. After an hour I got up as Ruby fell back to sleep. I put on a leather shirt and pants and headed out to find Axycia. I found the place she was staying and knocked on the door. It opened thanks to Theodore before he smiled at me.

“Ah, good morning, Viri. What can I help you with?” he said with a bright smile.

It was odd seeing that it was early in the morning and almost everyone here really aren't morning people.

“Hey, uhh, ai was told I should come over to talk to my aunt after I woke up. Is she here?” I asked him.

Theodore nodded as soon I finished my sentence. He stepped out of the way and let me in. I found her sitting on the couch resting until she saw me walk in and smiled.

“Morning, dear,” she greeted with a tired tone, having woken up from her rest.

“Morning. How are you?” I asked her, earning an arched brow from her as she looked at the large belly she had. “Right, right, never mind.”

“So how was it?” she soon asked me with a teasing smirk. I gave her a look before I sat down beside her.

“Well, I’m guessing wild, but I don’t really know. I blacked out when we started,” I told her a little ashamed over the fact that I had blacked out. “But… I feel lighter then I have ever did before.”

“You see, that's why you should never hold back your urges for so long,” Axycia said with a matter of factly tone.

“You black out before you even start,” she said, crossing her arms over her belly. I chuckled at this as I stared off into space.

“Ruby is going to be my wife…” I said out loud. “She’s the most amazing woman I have ever met and would go so far just to make me happy. I would do anything for her… I love her so much.”

Axycia smiled at this before sitting up and bringing closer for a hug.

“I'm happy to hear that, Viri,” my aunt said as she hugged me closer.

“I still can't believe you're getting married, my little niece is all grown up,” she said teary eyed. I smiled at her as I gave her another hug.

“Love you, Axycia.” I said to her, nearing a smile from her.

We sat there for a few moments before I spoke. “One question… did you have anything to do with why Ruby had a… male part on her?”

This made my aunt giggle a bit.

“Maybe~,” she said with a giggle as she wiped her eyes from the tears.

“Didn't seem like you were against it, judging by all the screaming and loud moans, she added. My eyes widen.

“Oh-oh, my lords my house wasn’t sound proofed,” I said as I went from happy to freaked out in a second. Axycia laughed at my reaction before shaking her head and saying.

“No no, it was. Though, I had to listen in… in case things would've gotten out of hand,” she said to me. I let out a breath after hearing that.

“That’s good. If anyone had heard, I would’ve locked myself in my room for the rest of this trip,” I said with look of relief accompanied by a sigh. Axycia chuckled before saying.

“You're welcome. Oh, and before I forget, Lana was looking for you yesterday,” she said, remembering this just now.

“Oh, well I better go find her then,” I said as I stood up. “Also, thanks for everything.”

“Oh, you have no idea~,” Axycia said with a chuckle.

I looked at her oddly before I headed out. I made my way around the camp just to find Lana at her home… with her door off. I looked at this oddly before I walked in and found Lana and Rose standing by the table thinking.

“Well… the reinforced steel door was turned into tissue paper by your strength. What if we find something to reinforce the hinges?” Rose asked Lana.

The latter had one of the door’s hinges in hand. The hinge was made of pure metal and reinforced, too. Lana squeezed it in her hand and saw that it had bent horribly. Just how strong was she?

Rose stared at this before saying, “Damn~ that’s scary… and oddly arousing.”

“Maybe you're right… perhaps maybe we should make Tek doors, Lana said with a little frown after discarding the bent hinge.

“Hmm… I think I know how to design it,” she added with a snap of her fingers.

“Well, if you need to test if they can take a beating, I have a few rocket launchers we can shoot at one,” Rose offered before adding. “Plus, it gives us an excuse to shoot rockets at something.”

“Do you by any chance have some sort of man cannon?” Lana was quick to ask Rose after the mention of rocket launchers. Rose thought about it for a few moments.

“I have a few dosen hand cannons, but a cannon that shoots someone. I could do that with a Sparrow going at high speeds, or I could build one,” Rose said with a head tilt as Lana stared at her.

“We need to build one,” Lana decided with an excited smile.

“Way ahead of you, just need the stuff,” Rose said with the same smile.

I let out a loud cough to get their attention, they jumped a bit and blushed before they looked towards me.

“Um, hi… you asked for me?” I asked Lana. She blinked and shook her head to be rid of the blush before answering.

“Yes, yes, I have a task to offer for you and some of your friends. Rockmond had picked up the distinct signature of an intact Artifact, he'll need help retrieving it,” Lana said to me an informative tone.

“Oh, okay,” I said before adding. “So… we all head off to find this Artifact?”

“I'm afraid I can't go, someone needs to look after the village,” Lana said sadly but it was true. Without her, the whole village could simply collapse.

“Rose will go with you all for extra fire support,” she said, glancing at Rose.

“Daww, I love it when you say that,” Rose said happily before looking at me. “But she’s right, I have a lot of fire power.”

I nodded as Rose looked at me some more. “You know… you look like you’re glowing a bit.”

I blushed a little.

“Oh, well, me and Ruby… had some fun yesterday,” I said with a sheepish smile. The two of them blinked at me.

“Wow…” was all Rose said.

“And like that, I lose a Railgun.” Lana said, grabbing a hold said weapon before handing it to a grinning Rose. Rose looked at the gun before looking at me.

“Hope you two used protection,” Rose said. I simply gave her an odd look.

“Rose, don’t be silly that’s…” I stopped as I thought about it. My eyes widen before I spoke.

“I’ll be right back,” was what I said before I bolted out of the door. I soon ran up to my aunt's house and banged on the door loudly.

The door opened but I saw no one there until I heard a child clearing their throat. I looked down to see Nyvu in her pajamas holding a plushie Shinehorn. It was extremely adorable but I was close to freaking out.

“Hi, Nyvu, is your mommy here?”

Nyvu looked up at me and nodded as she pointed at the living room. I thanked her as I made my way to the living room, where I found my aunt in her own pajamas eating something from a small tub. Ice cream? She looked over and smiled.

“Viri, back so soon?” she said questioningly. I looked at her in a panicked looked before walking over to her.

“I need you to check me,” I asked her as I sat down on the couch.

She blinked at me and was about to say something but I cut her off. “Please! Rose said something and I really need to know, so just check me!”

She blinked at me oddly before looking at her tub of ice cream and grumbled a bit. She waved her hand around as it emitted an ominous dark aura that soon made its way over to me and encompassed me in it. I simply sat there, shifting ever so slightly as this happened before suddenly hearing a ding.

“Yup… just as I thought,” Aunty said with a look of seriousness, but not towards me. No, she was looking down at her half emptied tub of ice cream.

“Theo, can you bring me some more Ice cream?” Axycia asked out loud.

“In a moment, dear!” Came Theodore’s reply from the adjacent room. I looked at her with a shocked looked as she looked back at me.

“Well? What did you find or was that some kind of odd magic show?” I asked her before frowning. “Because this tension is killing me.”

Axycia blinked before taking another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.

“You got a bun in the oven,” she simply said before taking yet another spoonful.

The news hit me hard as I stared at her. I tried to speak but couldn’t for a few moments before putting my hand to my stomach.

“I’m… pregnant?” I asked out loud. My aunt simply nodded with another spoonful.

“Yup. Oh, this is so good.” Axycia said with a goofy grin.

I looked away from her as I thought on what was going to happen. I was going to have a baby, going to be a mom to a child that… before I knew it, I felt tears running down my face.

“Oh sweetie, what's the matter?” Axycia said before sitting up and placing the tub aside, now giving me her full attention.

“I’m… having a child… a baby…” I said as I looked over at her. “I… I don’t know what to think about this…”

She helped sat me down beside her before wrapping a comforting arm around me.

“I don't understand… isn't that what you've wanted?” Axycia asked me, confused over my confliction. I shook my head that she was wrong.

“No, no, I…” I stopped to look down at myself. “Just the shock of it is still going. Like… oh my lords I'm having a baby!”

Axycia smiled at this before pulling me closer to her as I said those words over and over again, excitement overwhelming my entire being. After a few minutes I pulled away from her.

“I… I have to tell Ruby and Qo. This is amazing!”

“Well, then don't let me stop you. Go, go,” Axycia said while she shooed me away.

As she did that, I got up and ran out of the door with a smile on my face. I ran until I got back to my house and went inside.

“Ruby!!” I yelled for her. “Where are you?!”

“Don’t need to yell,” Ruby said, walking out of a doorway. “What’s going-”

“I’m pregnant.” I told her, cutting her off. She stared at me in shock.

“You’re… it worked?” she asked me.

I nodded. We stared at each other before Ruby squealed in happiness as she ran up to give me a hug. I laughed as I hugged her back and kissed her.

“I can’t believe this is happening.”

“I know, big shock to me but… I love you Ruby,” I told her.

“And I love you, Viri,” Ruby said as we kissed again. The two of us pulled away and smiled in silence before I spoke up.

“A round for happiness?” I asked.

“Yup,” she said as we both went upstairs for our fun.

Later

After going off and telling everyone else about the big news, we all had a group lunch together before we had to head out for a mission. I had Ruby next to me and smiling as if this was the most happiest day of my life.

“Look, I was just kidding around about the protection bit,” Rose said before looking at Lana. “Really, I was just joking.”

Lana rolled her eyes as she and Rose finished packing hazmat suits into large backpacks.

“Next time think before you joke around, please,” Lana said before giving the awoken huntress a peck on the lips, thanking for helping her pack the suits.

Rose stared off for a moment before nodding as she continue helping. I chuckled at this as I saw Blake leaning against Indigo happily.

“I guess I’m not the only one who’s becoming a mother,” I said with a smile.

“Hey!” Both Qo and Lilah said as the same time, frowning at me.

“Not what I meant. I meant giving birth to a baby,” I told the two.

Qo and Lilah looked at each other before Qo simply shrugs. When the bags were packed, everyone was free to pick theirs bags up, which included Qo and Lilah. I wasn't fond of the idea of Qo coming with us to what is very much likely a dangerous place but… I couldn't resist the begging eyes she had perfected over the years. Blake had initially refused to allow Lilah to come with, but Indigo assured many times that if push comes to shove, he won't let anything put even a single scratch on Lilah. It was a shame that Weiss and Tak couldn't come with… well, technically it was only Tak that couldn't come with us on account that if he were to out on the boots, it would blind him completely. Weiss on the other hand refused to come with, saying that if Tak couldn't go she wouldn't go.

“So… you never really explained why we need these suits,” Indigo spoke up, gesturing the bag in his hands before strapping over his shoulder. Lana nodded before clearing her throat.

“The Artifact is located deep within what is believed to an old vault containing Element. I've requested you all specifically for your skills and prowess in fighting, as the Vault entrance is near one of the most deadliest territories in within the irradiated zone.

“The Hall of the Reaper, pray to whatever god you believe in, to never encounter such beasts,” Lana said before taking a deep breath and adding. “If we get this Artifact, we can finally end that wretched man’s reign,” she said with a look that could strike fear in a brave man's heart.

“That’s sounds… lovely,” I said as I swallowed. Lana looked at me before saying.

“Rockmond will meet you by the gates, and when you see him, give him this,” Lana said as she handed me what looked like a battery, emitting a purple light.

It was an Element Battery, no doubt for Rockmond’s legs. I nodded and took the battery and marveled on how such a small thing can power the legs of a badass.

“Don’t worry, princess, we’ll be in and out in no time,” Rose said with a grin as some sort of laser rifle appeared in her hands. “If something does come, well… it’s going to have a bad time.”

Lana smiled at this before bringing Rose close for a goodbye hug, but when she pulled back, Lana whispered into Rose’s ear and I was able to catch it… did my hearing get better?

“Make it back without a scratch and I'll reward you with real good time,” Lana whispered before caressing the blue skinned guardian's cheek as she stepped back.

“I’ll take that bet, princess,” she said as she reached up and held Lana’s hand for a moment before pulling away.

The Purple glow of the Overseer appeared over Rose’s shoulder before saying, “I’m getting used to this form, I can make a map of the place if that will help.”

Rose smiled at her.

“Thanks, Overy.” she said, earning a look from the Overseer.

“That’s not my name,” she said, making the Guardian chuckle as she rolled her eyes. Lana chuckled as well.

“We're still going through the list, you're bound to pick one you like,” Lana said with yet another chuckle.

“The list is long,” Rose said with a laugh as she turned to the rest of us. “Alright, everyone’s ready?”

Everyone nodded and it was clear that we were all ready to go at any moment. With that Rose led the way to the village gates, which wasn't much of a walk there just a few twists and turns around the many buildings. When we arrived at the gates, Rose yelled up at the gatekeeper to open the doors. She received a loud and annoyed groan as response before the doors opened, revealing the long pathway down. We stepped outside the gates and looked for any sign of Rockmond.

“Psst, down here,” came Rockmond’s voice nearby.

We looked at the direction we heard him from, only to see a bush.

“Mind handing me the battery?” he asked me, reaching a hand out for said item.

I didn't question why he was in a bush and simply gave him the battery, his hand retracted into the bush before the sound of a tek device activating emitted from within the bush before it stood up… Wait, what?

As it turned out, Rockmond wasn't in a bush, he literally was the bush. He was completely decked out in camouflage ghillie suit, it was a lot more effective than the standard suits that's for sure.

“Ugh, finally. I've been like that for almost an hour,” Rockmond said as he stretched his arms a bit.

Rose handed him a bag containing his hazmat suit, to which he nodded his thanks.

“Woah...” Both Ruby and Qo said as I simply stared at him in silence. Rose chuckled at this before saying.

“Well, come on, Rock man, we have an artifact to find,” Rose said in a happy tone.

While Rose was happy to take charge and lead us to our destination, she didn't rightfully know how to get there which is where Rockmond came in. He mentioned how we scale a few walls to avoid the riverside. It wasn't something to look forward to, but if it kept far away from the Karkinos, I would gladly scale a mountain. It was a long walk down the dirt train to the bottom and, before we began our journey, we stopped by the lake to fill up our canteens for the road. As we did this, Blake took some time to check to see how Lilah is doing.

“I’m fine, mom,” Lilah said with a frown.

Blake frowned a little but didn’t say anything before Lilah spoke again.

“Sorry… didn’t mean to snap.”

“It’s fine, I’m still sorta getting use to being a mom,” she said before her eyes widen. “Oh Oum, I have to deal with another kid only younger and stuff.”

This made Lilah laugh. Indigo wrapped his arm around his loving wife before saying.

“WE have to deal with another kid,” Indigo said to Blake with a smile.

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Lilah said before walking away from them. I chuckled at this before looking over at Ruby.

“So, you were saying about Weiss and her husband?” I asked.

Ruby smiled as she continued. after a year being here, both Weiss and Tak decided to get married. Almost like Yang’s, it was a small gathering to watch this happen. Weiss seemed to be on cloud nine all the time if she’s with Tak. We continued to talk until we had to get going. We traveled for a few hours until Rockmond told us to stop. It was then we saw some Karkinos wandering about the area, meaning we were close to the river.

Like Rockmond said, we had to climb some walls to get up to higher ground and avoid the annoying spider crabs. It wasn't all that bad, reaching the top we had a good view over most of the fungal forest which was a pretty neat sight.

“Wish I could take a picture,” I said as we all got up to the top.

And as we got there I was questioning how Indigo got up there before us. Without questioning it, Rockmond continued on and eventually led us back to the busted bridge. It looked the same as the day we got here; rusted, old ,and ready to collapse at any moment. Rockmond said how the rings inside the overgrown building are some sort of ancient device built by the survivors that had caused the destruction of the Overseer’s platform. I frowned a bit as I looked back at the others.

“Hey, didn’t we see some sort of rings when we first came here?”

“Yeah, they were colored, as well,” Indigo said with a frown.

He too didn't like hearing that the people that caused such a catastrophic event have also built a device that does Father knows what. Qo and Lilah were a little confused, having never been told of the Ark's past. Rockmond shook his head, muttering how he questioned the survivors actions.

We continued our trek, following behind Rockmond before finally stopping by a cliff edge. I looked over the edge and felt my stomach do flips, seeing the very long way down. I took a step away from the edge before finally noticing a campsite nearby.

“Someone else is up here?” I asked, nodding to the campsite.

Rockmond walked up and tossed some junk aside, said junk were consisted of depleted batteries and torn hazmat suits. I also found a busted up crossbow.

“Honestly, I'd think you of all people would know who would live here,” Rockmond said as he picked up an odd looking and large device before strapping onto his back.

It was the same device he had on him when he rescued us from the ravagers, I never did ask what it was. Rockmond’s words made me think before the realization struck me, Rockmond was never one to stay in the village for the night.

“This is your camp?” Blake asked as she looked around, seeing the tent, a smithy and even a stone refining forge. Rockmond nodded at Blake.

“I've been living out here for a good seven, six and a half years.” Rockmond said before walking up a large bush and pushing it aside, revealing a zipline down to the dark below.

Rockmond then place his bag down and opened it before proceeding to take out and put on the hazmat suit.

“You should all be doing the same, we're heading into a dangerously irradiated zone. The water is pink and not even water, it's liquid element so don't even think of drinking it or touching it. Your mask stays on for as long as we are down there, so drink up cause you won't be doing that for a while,” he said as he finished putting on the boots, hiding away his tek legs.

The rest of us did the same, drinking up and putting on hazmat suits, even Rose was.

“I thought your armor did the same thing?” I asked her.

“No, that’s a different kind…” she said before frowning. “It got blown up… damn space turtles…”

As we finished up, I noticed her looking at herself, as if she was making sure she didn’t get a scratch on her. I rolled my eyes as I looked over at the others and waited. Indigo noted how his didn't have the right sleeve like the rest of us.

“How nice,” he said mostly to himself.

I noticed a smile on his face as he said this. Soon enough everyone was geared up, and to be honest, we looked like a group of scientist entering a Quarantine zone from a movie.

“Alright, this ziplane will take us all the way to the bottom…” he said, pointing down at the purple river.

“That river will lead us down to the Hall of the Reapers which in turn will be where the vault is located,” Rockmond explained before hooking up to the zipline.

I looked down at my bag, seeing a hook for the zipline.

“I'll go down to first and clear the area of any danger. See all down in hell!” Rockmond yelled before ziplining down, laughing maniacally as he did.

Everyone watched as Rockmond became distant by the second. We all stood there waiting for close to five minutes before starting to hook up the zipline. One by one we ziplined down until we made it to the bottom. Everyone got down safely enough but Lilah.

“Ugh… never again…” she said as she looks a little green. “Hurp! Not throwing up, not throwing up!!”

Indigo looked at her worryingly along with Blake. Lilah took a moment, breathing steadily and composing herself. Soon enough the green faded away, giving her back her normal pale skin tone.

“I’m okay… I’m okay.”

“Yeah, throwing up inside a suit is not fun…” Rose said in a way she knew what that was like.

“Anyway, lead on Rockman,” she said as she turned to look at Rockmond, who in turn was as still as a statue.

“Uhh, Rockmond?” Blake called out to him questioningly. Rockmond raised a finger, before shushing us as he stared off onto the upper wall.

“Yeah, you know I see you…” Rockmond said in a hushed tone. “You lot can't hide from me.”

I was about to question what he was talking about but a hiss grabbed my attention. The hiss was followed by a growl and a snap of something’s jaws before finally… my eyes widen at the sight of dirt being kicked up at the sound of whoosh, and soon after hearing that, we all heard the roar of an angered beast.

“I win again,” declared Rockmond as he finally straightened up.

“Cool,” Rose said.

“What was that?” she paused before making a sort of jumping motion, as if she got spooked. “Ah! Too much talking, Sybil…” she paused again before adding. “No, not that one?”

“Did you lose your marbles already?” Indigo asked Rose an arched brow under his hazard mask.

Lilah stifled a giggle and Blake let out a chuckle. Rose looked at him before saying.

“How about getting an in depth definition and knowledge of what a Rock Drake is, what can it do, and some other things in less time then you can say ‘Bob's your uncle’ right inside your head,” Rose said with a straight face. Indigo blinked at this before shaking his head.

“Right, you got that thing in your head,” Indigo muttered under his breath before looking at Rockmond, who was looking down the purple river with narrowed eyes. He blinked and noticed us staring at him.

“Just making a mental route,” Rockmond was quick to say before leading onwards with the large device in hand. As we followed him Blake spoke up.

“I never asked. How or why do you have Beta in the first place?” Blake asked. Rose turned her head a bit.

“What? Beta? Oh, uhh well, he’s my ghost,” Rose explained. Blake looked at Indigo confusedly before speaking.

“That… doesn’t answer my question,” Blake said. Rose chuckled at this.

“Well, for a shorter explanation: I am a Guardian, a being that fights off the creatures of Darkness with anything I can get my hands on. A Guardian’s Ghost, what Beta is, is something that was made from a being known as the Traveler. With the Ghost and the light of the Traveler we are Immortal beings that, well, fights monsters.”

“Wait, immortal?” Lilah asked, looking at Rose.

“Yup, I’ve died so many times from getting shot, to getting blown up… to falling in some Vex brain goo,” Rose said, earning an ‘Eww’ from Qo and Ruby. “As long as a Guardian has his or her Ghost and the Light, we’ll come right back.”

“So was there a time where you didn't have the power?” Indigo asked Rose as we walked by a jagged purple crystal and up a hill.

Rose stopped walking as we went past her. We turned and saw a look of fear wash over her for a moment before shaking her head.

“That’s… don’t ask me that just yet…” she said softly before quickly walking forward.

Indigo blinked and was quick to look guilty for reminding Rose of a memory she would be glad to forget about. Rose didn't get far ahead, being stopped by Rockmond as he held the large device ready.

“Don't,” Rockmond said, stopping Rose in her tracks.

Rockmond proceeded to grab a large rock and toss a few feet away. As soon as the rock fell onto the ground the ground erupted and creatures started attacking the spot where the rock fell. I took a few steps back as I saw Rockmond had his arm out, lowing a gun that Rose made appear.

“Allow me,” Rockmond said as he flipped a few switched on the device in his hands. It hummed to life, loud enough for the goblin like creatures to hear. They hissed and got on all fours before breaking a full sprint towards him. Before they could get close, however, the device shone a bright green light that made them stop in their tracks as they screeched in pain and attempted to block the light with their clawed hands. Their hides began to glow a bright orange color. The light must've been burning them.

“Come on, you don't want this to get ugly,” Rockmond growled as the device went into overdrive and shot out continuous bolts of green lightning that struck the creatures.

This made them screech again before struggling to enter back into the holes they came from, and once they did, they whimpered before no doubt digging away.

“Listen, Rose, I'm sorry if brought out bad memories… I didn't mean to be an ass,” Indigo said, finding it to be a perfect opportunity to apologize to Rose.

The latter didn't say anything and it didn't help to make Indigo feel better, he simply muttered how he felt like an ass again. Rockmond then deactivated his weapon before looking at Rose.

“Those things don't like charged light and are very resistant to any means of attack,” Rockmond informed her.

Rose looked at the large device and back at Rockmond.

“What?” he finally asked.

“That thing looks like a bigger version of a Prometheus Lens,” Rose said. Rockmond nodded slowly though confused.

“Right,” was all he said.

Rose simply stared at him before looking over at where the monsters were.

“Those things look like Thralls,” Rose muttered with a shiver. “The Hive are creepy…”

After Rose said this we continued forward but weary of the holes in the ground. With every moment we spend down here, the more I begin to regret letting Qo coming along. This place is a complete nightmare with danger in every corner.

After almost an hour of carefully manoeuvring around the many dangers this place had to offer, we finally arrived at our destination, or at least I think we did. Rockmond had halted the group in front of a large cave opening.

“This should lead us into the Vault,” Rockmond said before looking back at us and gesturing at the cave.

“One step closer to sweet victory,” he said with a chuckle and entering the cave.

We followed behind him and immediately noted how dark it was the deeper we went. It got to the point where it was nearly pitch black save for the faint purple glow.

When we got to the other side, we were greeted with the sight of many purple crystals both on the walls and ceiling. The pathway we needed to walk down had dangerous drop on either side, both of them leading down to pools of liquid element. Various creatures scurried about the walls of the cave, some of them looking at us questiongly.

“Well… aren’t they lovely,” Rose said as she looked up.

Rockmond chuckled at Rose’s remark. Lilah and Qo were intrigued by the creature’s appearance.

“What are they?” Blake asked as she looked up to the creatures.

Indigo watched as more and more of them scurried up the walls with growls and hisses, some were even salivating.

“I don't think I want to find out,” Indigo said as we hurried along the narrowing pathway.

“So, Rockman, what are we looking for?” Rose asked as we continue walking. Rockmond took a deep breath, annoyed over the name Rose gave him before sighing.

“An Artifact… like the ones we found before,” Rockmond said, informing Rose of our goal.

“Cool… so…” Rose looked around at the place before continuing. “Where would that be?”

“My guess…” Rockmond said pointing over to ominous dark purple light, which seemed to guarded with more of the tentacle mouthed creatures. “Over there.”

“Lovely,” Rose said with a little annoyance.

Her eyes twitched at the sight of a sleeping megalosaurus and some giant centipedes crawling about. Her right eye twitched at the added danger before noticing a Featherlight, a small bird with the ability to emit charged light. The Featherlight ruffled its feathers and emitted the green light. As soon as the light began to shine, the winged creatures that crawled up the walls let out horrid screeches that echoed throughout the cave before leaping off the walls and swarming the Featherlight.

“W-what's happening?” Qo asked with fear in her tone as she backed up a bit.

Her answer came in the form of the swarming creatures attacked the Featherlight, tearing it apart and devouring whatever they could get. The swarm blocked off the carnage but when the light vanished. We knew what was going on.

“Dear Oum…” Indigo said with wide eyes at the scene. Qo simply stared at the sight.

“That poor bird…” Qo said sadly. Rose simply stared at this before speaking.

“Okay… these things don’t like light… lovely,” she said.

“They were calm just before the light…” Rockmond noted before looking at the device strapped to his back.

He dropped the device down before saying, “This won't do us any good here.”

The feasting creatures, dubbed the Seekers by Lilah, flew up back to the walls no doubt to rest after their feast.

“Keep away from the Megalosaurus, and if a centipede gets too close, rip it to shreds. I don't want things to get ugly so let's try to do this smart.”

“So… stay away from the giant lizard, and kill the large bugs. Got it,” Lilah said quickly.

Indigo glanced at Lilah but said nothing and shook his head. We walked as close as we could get before seeing that the area in which Megalosaurus’ were sleeping were on a different stone platform separated by crevice that had more liquid element at the bottom. Rockmond scanned the area before seeing a pathway up to ledge that led to another opening. Rockmond took point and shimmied his way over to opening. We waited for the a sign that it was okay to proceed. Rockmond’s arm poked out from the opening and gave us a thumbs up. Going one by one we sneaked over to where Rockmond was at and followed him on.

We traversed the cave with relative ease, it was unlike the time in the desert and I wouldn't have it any other way. The thought of fighting in these conditions were… quite terrifying, and it didn't help that these suits could be torn open. I shivered as we climbed a few natural steps, gaining both Ruby’s and Qo’s attention.

“You okay?” Ruby asked with a worried tone.

“Kinda…” I said as I looked around. “Just… don’t like being here.”

“We’ll be fine, mom,” Qo said with a smile.

I smiled back but the thought lingered in the back of my mind before I shook my head and cleared my mind. I felt a hand move into mine and saw Ruby smiling at me. I smiled back as we both followed the others.

When we exited the tunnel, we found the Artifact hovering above a few skeletal remains. The way they were positioned made them look like as if they were reaching for it. Their old and torn attire were an outdated version of our current Hazmat suits and a few feet away from them were two rusted Tek rifles. Rose frowned at this before speaking.

“So the expression ‘This is too easy’ is now an understatement from this point of view,” Rose said in a sarcastic tone.

Rockmond nodded at this before kicking a rock over to the Artifact, the rock rolled and landed on its side like normal, only for the rock begin sizzling and glowing a hot magma orange as it melted.

“Alright, we found it but how are we going to take it?” Lilah asked.

Indigo gave her the answer in the form of a shadowy hand raising up from the ground beneath the Artifact.

“Oh…” she added as the hand lifted up the Artifact from its original position, but as soon as he did this, the hand shadowy hand soon glowed purple and Indigo yelled in pain before the hand dissipated.

“Gah!” Indigi yelled, collapsing onto his knees and panting. Both Lilah and Blake were at his side.

“What happened?!” Lilah yelled as she looked at her dad.

“If I’m getting this right, whatever is protecting the artifact is too much for Indi’s shadow hand to carry over. The pain is the feedback from it,” Rose explained. I looked over at it for a few moments before speaking.

“Then what do we do?” I asked.

Rose looked over at the artifact for a few moments before speaking.

“I… may know a way… but…” Rose stopped talking as she looked down the floor.

“But… what?” Ruby asked.

“But if I do l, I’ll lose the bet!” Rose whined and crossed her arms.

Rockmond simply stared at her for a moment before Rose looked at him.

“Ugh, fine, hold this,” she handed him her backpack before walking a bit forward.

“What are you-” Blake started before Rose bolted forward toward the artifact. “Rose!”

We watched her run over to the pedestal, turning and kicking the two Rusted Tek rifles over to us and grab the artifact.

“OW OW OW OW OW!” Rose yelled as she started to glow purple. “NOVA, DO THAT THING WE’VE BEEN TRYING TO DO!! I DON’T CARE IF THAT’S NOT IT, JUST DO IT!”

As she ran back to us she was now glowing purple, but there was another glow inside the suit. Soon as she came over to us she started to dim down a bit and Rose was panting a bit.

“One… artifact… ready to go.”

We all stared at her for a few moments in silence. Rockmond looked as if he wanted to say something but his attention was brought back to the area in which the Artifact was. The ground started to rumble as the rocks scattered around rose up and form a large golem like creature with glowing crystals and glowed purple.

“Oh come on!” Rose yelled as the rock creature looked over at us.

It clashed its rocky fists together at the sight of the Artifact before roaring and smashed the ground, causing it to shake violently and for our only way out to close up.

“Yeah… I was going to say,” Rockmond said as he looked at the angered Golem.

Rockmond was quick to pick a rusted Tek rifle before shaking it violently, and as a result, causing it light up and hum to life. The Golem rocketed it fist towards Rockmond was too slow to react, sending him back flying onto the cave wall. Though Rockmond may have been sent flying back, he held onto the rifle with dear life and fired at the golem once he landed on the floor. The Golem blocked each shot with its arm and Qo was quick to wrap one of her kusarigamas around its other arm only for her to be flung around and smacked back onto the ground, the Golem unwrapping the kusarigama from its arm.

“What made you think that would work!?” Lilah yelled at the groaning Qo.

Ruby quickly ran over to Qo as I pulled out a rifle of my own and fired at the large golem, same with Blake.

Rose panted a bit as she fell to one knee near me.

“You okay?!” I yelled as I fired.

“Somewhat… just need… a few moments,” she said in deep breaths.

Rockmond hopped back to his feet before firing the rifle again a few times before it shut off, no doubt due to rusted parts. He discarded the weapon and ran at the Golem with a battlecry before jumping up onto the arm of the golem as it swung to strike Blake. Indigo had pulled Blake away from the Golems reach with a shadowy hand from the ground. When the arm was swung, Rockmond leaped onto it before moving it onto the golem’s back. The Golem was attempting to get Rockmond off its back and regain its arm, it even tried bashing Rockmond against the cave wall only for Lilah to striking it away from the wall with her twinblade.

Qo got up and shook her head before turning her weapons to revolvers and aimed at the Golem, but didn’t fire as she saw Rockmond on the golem. Looking down at the rock golems feet, she turned them back to the weapon form and ran forward.

“Lilah!” she yelled as she shot the rope part out near Iilah. Seeing this she caught it and looked at it.

“What am I supposed to- oh wait,” she said as she saw Qo running around the golem.

Quickly dodging the stomps of the feet of the golem she tied it to one of her twin blades and plunged it into the leg. I saw Qo ran around and around the golem, wrapping the legs up before it was tight around the golems legs. The Golem tripped thanks to the rope and fell onto the ground with a monstrous grunt. It growled and turned its head all the way around and glared at Rockmond before it did the same with its free arm and hand before grabbing a firm hold of Rockmond's legs before he could react. Rockmond yelled as it forcefully ripped him off of its back by the legs before smashing not once but twice on either side before tossing him back to us like a rag doll.

“Fucking… ow,” he said before struggling to stand up.

The golem, now rid of Rockmond, turned its gaze towards Lilah as it stood up after snapping the rope off its legs and standing up. Lilah was frozen in fear as the Golem stood up.

“Lilah move!” Blake yelled to Lilah.

She didn't move a muscle and shook in fear at the larger beast as it raised its fist up to smash her. Indigo, with scythe in hand, dashed over to the Golem before slicing off its legs and making it fall back onto the ground. Indigo looked back at the Golem, his usual indigo colored eyes were now pitch black. He dashed back towards the golem before slicing of its left arm and then its right arm. Indigo let out an animalistic roar before planting his Scythe onto the Golem’s stony head before dragging the scythe downward, effectively cutting the golem in half as it were made of paper. Both parts of the Golem fell dead on ground, bleeding what was most likely element. When everything was settled Qo ran over to Lilah and shook her a bit to see if she’s okay.

“I’m okay… I’m okay…” Lilah said as she looked at the golem, as Qo looked like she was so worried about her friend she was close to tears.

I looked over to Indigo as he picked up his scythe only cut the Golem more with guttural roar of rage. It was until Blake came over and grabbed him that stopped him.

“Indigo! Stop!” Blake yelled at him as she held him close.

He was breathing hard through his mask, his eyes still pitch black. He slowly calmed down, his eyes returning back to their indigo colored selves.

“No one… fucks with… my little girl,” Indigo said through ragged breaths.

Lilah looked over at the two of them for a moment before looking down at the ground. Rose slowly sat up as she was still taking breaths.

“Ugh… sorry for not helping,” she panted as she was still catching her breath. I didn’t say anything to her as I went over to Rockmond to see how he’s doing.

“I'm fine…” he said with a groan as he sat up. I saw his legs were still somewhat in one piece but there was some sort of liquid leaking out of them.

“Rockmond, your legs,” I told him with a scared look. He saw this and taking a deep breath and standing up, the whirring of his legs catching Rose’s attention as well.

“I'm fine, it's nothing,” he said, dismissing the leaking.

He took the Artifact before taking his bag, which I noticed to be larger than everyone else's, and putting the Artifact inside it. He closed the bag before looking onto everyone else.

“Is everyone alright? Check for tears,” he said in an exhausted tone. We all did and saw that we didn’t have any rips or tears in our suits.

“I’m also fine… just a little warm…” Rose said as I saw her eyes glowing… a bit more than what they use to

She cleared her throat before adding, “Now let’s get out of here, I'm really excited to breath without this suit on me.”

“I bet you're just excited to get back to Lana,” Qo said with smirk.

Indigo let out a weak chuckle at that as Blake held to him while he recomposed himself. Lilah, after hearing Indigo chuckle, hugged the man that saved her. The two of them stayed like that until Rockmond said we had to get going. With the door opened we followed it back through in hopes we can get out of here.

While we ran through the tunnel, an earthquake began to violently shake the ground just as we exited the tunnel. The Earthquake was unlike any other and it was getting worse by the second. We quickly shimmied back to where Rockmond left the large device, but we all ignored it, wanting to leave the cave before things get worse. At the narrow pathway, Rockmond began to slow down for some reason and it as if he couldn't move.

“Rockmond?! What’s wrong?!” Ruby yelled as she slowed down to run back.

“My legs! I can't move!” he yelled back just as a large chunk of the ceiling came crashing down on the ground behind him, breaking the connection between the stone platform. Cracks began to form over the pathway and quickly. Both Ruby and I ran over to help him move but it was like moving a solid box of metal.

“Come on guys!” Rose yelled as she stopped as well.

Qo turned as was going to run back after us before some more chunks fell in front of her. She screamed as she took a few steps back. Seeing no possible way to move, Rockmond handed me his bag.

“Take it, you two. Go!” he yelled at the both of us.

I looked at him if he was nuts. I heard yelling from the others as I looked back at them and then back at Rockmond.

“W-we’re not leaving you!” Ruby said as she was trying to pull.

“And I don't want you two to kill yourselves over me, now go!” he yelled before looking up and suddenly shoving us back right before a chunk of the ceiling crashing down onto him, taking him and a large portion of the pathway with it.

“Rockmond!” Both Ruby and I screamed as we watched got up and looked down. We watched the pathway and rubble fell into a large lake of element down below as the two of us stared.

“Hey! This place is coming down! We have to-” Rose stopped as she got to us and looked down at the hole.

Looking around for a few moments she yelled as she grabbed us and pulled us back. We didn’t say anything as we turned and ran after the others. We ran out through the cave, faster than we could ever think of being and exited the cave just as it collapsed. We all panted as we looked back at the cave as Ruby fell down to her knees crying.

“We can't grieve… not yet,” Indigo said with ragged breaths, breaking the silence between the group. “We have to get out of here… fast.”

We all looked at each other before I helped Ruby up and followed the others. Keeping silent we made our way back where we came from. I noticed that Rose was completely quiet as she walked, she even looked like she was angry.

The creatures we encountered earlier, the very same that feared the green light, popped up from beneath the ground only to be gunned down by Rose in a fit of anger. None of us dared to utter a word even when she was done. After she took a few deep breaths, we arrived back at the zipline and Indigo was quick to make an entire motorized lift with simply his shadows, a feat he has only done once before when he saved Lilah from a cave in when she was twelve. We all stood on it before he willed the lift to take us back up and on the way, I could tell everyone was still shocked and saddened at the sudden loss.

When we all got up to the surface, Rose was the first one off as she walked away from us and looked around for a bit. We stood there before she spoke up.

“You all think you can find your way back to the camp?” We were all too busy taking off our suits and breathing the fresh air.

“Yeah, I know the way,” Indigo was the first to speak up. Ruby was silent as Qo stood by here.

“Good,” Rose said as she ripped the hazmat suit off and we saw her armor appear on her, as well as her helmet. Soon her Sparrow appeared as well near her.

“Rose… what are you doing?” I asked her.

“There’s one person here that caused this Ark to go completely unstable and he was the one that also caused Rockmonds death. So what I’m doing is pretty clear,” Rose truened to us with the same hawkish helmet from before. “I’m going to hunt down and kill Rockwell.”

With that she got on her Sparrow and she took off away from us. We all stood there as Rose slowly became smaller and smaller before disappearing. I looked at everyone but from the sight of it, we didn’t want to talk about it.

We simply turned and headed back to the Camp… to tell Lana the news.

Author's Note

Well... that was something

(Edit: This is now edited)

Return and more Tek armor

More M-rating stuff

We made our way back to the camp in mostly silence, the lack of heavy footsteps was painful to hear. When we got to the gate the doors open and was ushered to get hosed down. There were murmurs regarding our finding… his finding. I didn’t listen to them as we got to the place and got hosed down. After that was done Blake took Qo and Iliah back to her place as Indigo, Ruby, and I went to Lana’s place. We didn’t say anything as we walked up to the door and knocked.

Soon enough Lana opened the door wearing a set of riot clothing. She looked at us and the bag in my hands before finally speaking up.

“Is that?” She asked in shock and I nodded in silence, it took so much to hold back the tears. She then looked at us again, as if she had expected another person in our group. “Where are Rose and Rockmond?” She asked us. Indigo looked at us before sighing. Indigo let out a sigh as our gazes were cast down in sadness.

“You two stay here… I'll tell her.” Indigo said to us before looking at Lana. The latter let him through the door without a word but no doubt questioning what was going on. Lana left the door slightly ajar before going up to Indigo. We pushed the door open enough for us to see. We saw the two of them talking. Lana’s eyes widen as Indigo was telling her about what happened to Rockmond. She seemed to stumble back a bit at this before she looked to Indigo to ask another thing. Her expression went from sorrow to anger as she looked over at the door, where we backed away from it. It wasn’t long that Lana slammed the door open and looked at the two of us.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU STOP HER!?!” she screamed at us which we figured she meant Rose.

“What did you think we could do to stop her?! She’s a literally a walking gun armory!” I told her as Lana glared at me. She was struggling to stay as composed as she is now, tears were already streaming down her cheeks. She stepped back and shook her head, choking back a sob. The two of us looked at each other before Indigo walked out and helped Lana back inside. When that was done he came out and, with some help with the shadows, moved the door back in place. He looked at the two of us when he was done before shaking his head and walking off, probably towards his house. Both Ruby and I headed back to our place and stayed there until… well something happens.

Lana PoV

‘Why?’ Was the one word that echoed through my mind as I sat by the edge of the metallic platform overlooking the lake below. I couldn't cry anymore, there were no more tears left shed. ‘Why didn't I go with them?’ Because I needed to stay and watch over the village. It filled me with anger, the duties of leadership having held me back from preventing the death my dear friend. ‘Why am I the leader?’ No one else knows how to lead a tribe to prosperity no one except…

“Grahh!” I yelled as I ripped a small chunk off the platform before tossing it onto the lake below. He was my friend before and after the incident, losing him like this… the thought simply enrages me more.

And then there’s Rose… I sighed as I heard someone coming up behind me. I frowned as I didn’t want anyone to see me. I turned to tell whoever to leave but I stopped when I saw Rose walking over to me, looking defeated. A part of me wanted to tackle her down and never let her go while the the other part simply told to scold her for attempting search for Rockwell by herself. Soon enough more tears began to fall and I choked back a sob. Rose soon stood in front of me as her armor deformed off her, showing that her clothes look like there were almost burned completely off but were still sorta intact.

“... Hey…” Rose said in a hollow tone. I didn't say anything, fearing that if I were to speak, she to would be taken away from me. “I’m… I’m sorry… for doing what I did…” she said as I saw her trembling. “I just… I was so angry… when… Oh lords Lana I’m sorry I couldn’t… I didn’t have time to…” I slowly stood up as I saw her slowly break down in front of me. I went over and wrapped my arms around her, feeling myself break as well. I felt her wrap her arms around me as she started to cry into my shoulder.

“If I didn't… if I wasn't the tribe leader I could've been there to help… And-and he could've still been with us.” I said through sobs. The two of us cried as we held each other. Soon we calmed down enough to be simple sniffling messes. I looked at Rose and saw her glowing blue eyes gave off a small reddish glow now, kinda like she was bloodshot.

“Lana… I’m so, so sorry for just doing what I did.” Rose started to say before sniffling a bit. “I was so angry at… him that I went after him… then I was mad at myself and… and… Lana… I’m sorry.” My embrace quickly tightened though not enough to hurt her in any way.

“Just… don't leave me… please…” I told her as I kept her close. I heard her snort a little.

“Kinda hard to do that…” Rose said before she looked at me with a small smile. “I can’t seem to live without your smile princess…” Through teary eyes, I smiled at her before bringing her close for a passionate kiss, happy to have her back with me but too scared to let her go. We parted a bit as we stared at each other. “I would… let you go but… I have a small voice saying that if I do you’ll turn to dust.” she said as I felt her grip tighten a bit. I smiled at her before pulling her into another kiss.

“I’m not going to turn into dust.” I whispered to her. She smiled as we soon walked back to my place hand in hand. When we got there I opened the door, which was still broken, making the two of us chuckle a bit before we walking in and I put the door back.

“Uhh, can I… have some clothes?” Rose asked me as she picked at her own clothes. “I think these are about to… fall off.” I couldn't help but smirk at this.

“I don't see anything wrong with that.” I said jokingly with a smirk. Rose gave me an odd smile as she spoke.

“Right…” Rose said before sitting down on the couch and smiled at me. “So… what do you want to do?” Upon hearing this, I began to unbutton my riot top and this gained an arched brow from Rose. “Uhh, Lana… what are you-” I stopped her by speaking.

“Please Rose… help me dull the pain…” I told her with a pleading look as the riot top fell to the floor, revealing the rag around my chest. “Please Rose.” I begged once again, straddling her lap as I spoke. Rose stared at me for a few moments before sighing.

“Lana I… oh hell come here.” she said before pulling me into a kiss and wrapping her arms around me before trying to unwrap the cloth rag. Moaning into the kiss, I helped Rose unwrap the cloth rag.

A few hours later, nighttime

I panted a bit as I laid in bed with Rose close to me. She held me close and on occasion she kisses my forehead. “So… feeling better princess?” I nodded as I held her light blue body against my own. She smiled as she nuzzled me a bit. “You’re amazing Lana.”

“Thank you…” I whispered to her, a smile forming on my lips. With that we laid there together until Rose spoke.

“Hey… when this is over and I have to… you know… how about you come with me?” she asked me. I looked at her with a puzzled expression.

“But who will lead this tribe?” I asked her, making her blink.

“Ahh… I forgot about that… nevermind.” Rose said as she shook her head. I took the question into thought, the idea of letting Rose go is one I wouldn't want to have in my mind nor do I want to experience it. As I thought about it I ran my hand over her arm, feeling a lot of old scars she gotten from her own battles. She let out a sigh at this before speaking. “I’m still here princess, me and the pale blue skin of mine.” I snorted a bit at the little humor she has. Just another reason for me never want to let her go. I closed my eyes for a moment with a decision in mind, one that I hope would be the right one for me.

“... I'll go.” I said simply. Her eyes open and slowly she pushed herself up to face me.

“Wait… what?” she asked, confused at what I just said. I sat up as well, letting the blanket down before telling her.

“I'll go… with you.” I said to her again. The two of us stared at each other before Rose started to laugh a bit.

“Oh man… you’re just… too good for me.” Rose said as she came closer and kissed me. I kissed her back which turned into a makeout session. The loss of Rockmond still plagued my mind but with Rose with me, I was able to hold back the tears and make my sadness into anger that will fuel during my confrontation with that bastard. I heard Rose grunted a bit before pulling away… with her tongue still my mouth.

“Ow ow ow…” she said as I realized I was biting her.

“O-oh, sorrysorry!” I said to her with a bit of embarrassment. Rose seemed to back away and roll her tongue in her mouth.

“Angry about something?” she asked me before sticking her tongue out. Giggling at the sight of that I pushed her down on the bed and straddled her again.

“No~ I just like to play a little… rough.” I giggled at her as I gave her more kisses. “Why? Is the big strong Guardian not so tough?” Rose smirked at me as I said this.

“Well, let's find out~?” she said as she kissed me again. This time I kept my thoughts away from Rockwell and focused at the task at hand; making Rose beg for more.

In the end, I got her to beg.

Viri PoV

After a few days later Lana called us to her home to discuss something important. Me, Ruby, Indigo, and Nevaeh came to the building. I saw both Lana and Rose was there which made me smile a bit.

“Where are the others?” Rose asked. I looked at Indigo and Ruby before speaking.

“They were… busy at the moment.” I told her.

“My sister is still a little… upset. Ed is keeping himself busy with taking stock of everything.” Nevaeh said with a sad smile, she too was affected by the loss but she kept strong. Rose nodded as she pulled out an orb and tossed it in front of her. It let out a light and a 3-D map appeared in front of us.

“Alright, right now we are… here.” she pointed and a small dot appeared. “And the Monster is somewhere…” Rose then turned to Lana. “Who I have to call monster instead of ‘Giant asshat of asses’.”

“Be professional, dear.” Lana said with a little smile. Rose rolls her eyes before continuing.

“Well from what I can get out of the Overseer and Lana, plus the last time we done something like this was with the Manticore we have to find the right place to use the Artifacts to transport us to the Monster…” Rose then turned to Lana. “That’s right, right?” Lana in turn gave her answer with a kiss on the cheek, making Rose smile proudly to herself.

“I’m sorry but I’m still not really used to… this.” Ed said, looking at Lana and Rose. Rose raised an eyebrow at him.

“Got a problem with that?” She asked him. Ed simply shook his head as I spoke up.

“So… do we know where this place is?” I asked, which Rose looked over at Lana. She pointed over to an area all too familiar to me, it was below what was Rockmond's campsite.

“The terminal is securely placed on a platform guarded by Rock Drakes and Nameless. It won't be an easy feat getting there… which is why I've decided the authorization of new armor to be given to you and your friends by the Replicator.” Lana explained, making me tense up at the mention of the replicator. “Oh and Viri, don't worry you're already registered into Replicator database so you won't and Ruby aren't going go through the same experience as last time.” Lana said and hearing her say this made me blush. She knew!?

“Th-Thank you.” Ruby said with her own blush. Rose looked at the two of us oddly before adding.

“Well I don’t know about you but I’m going my own suit as well.” Rose said before looking at Lana. “I saw this Tek tech and think it’s cool.” Lana smiled at this before looking back at me and Ruby.

“You should go inform your friends and instruct them on how to gain their armor.” Lana said to the both of us before glancing at Rose and adding. “I'm going to get ready, don't be long love.” Lana said to Rose before heading up the wooden steps, leaving a confused Rose behind.

“What did she mean?” Rose asked us. I looked at Ruby and then at Ed and Nevaeh.

“You’ll find out.” We all said together. After a few minutes of getting everyone together and taking them to the Replicator, we stood ready for everyone to get suited up.

“Whoa…” Both Qo and Iilah said, looking up at the Replicator. It's orb within letting out sparks that impacted the containment field.

“You… sure it’s wise to bring Qo and Iilah with us?” I asked Indigo.

“We're just getting armor, what's the worst that could happen?” He asked me with genuine curiosity.

“I wish I could come help but…” Weiss looked over at her husband which she was holding his hand. “Again, if he doesn’t go I don’t go. Sorry.”

“It’s fine Weiss.” Ruby said with a smile.

“So how does this thing work?” Indigo said, taking a good look at the Replicator as it hummed continuously.

“Well, when it gets set up you put your hands on it and wait.” I answered him, earning an odd look from Indigo. “Trust me… this isn’t as bad as it sounds.” It’s what happen next that’s bad.

Indigo looked at Blake, seeing her shrug before placing her hand onto the Replicator. Indigo followed suit and placed his hand on the replicator as well. Qo giggled a bit as she put her hands on the replicator with Iilah, who was a little more hesitant. I looked over at Ruby worryingly at the sight of both Qo and Iilah, mostly Qo.

“You two worry too much.” Rose said as she walked over and put her hands on the replicator. Both twins, Ed, Weiss, Tak, Ruby and I stood by as we watch the others wait.

“Oh boy…” I said as I shifted on my feet. Similarly to how it happened to me and Ruby, a wave of blue light traversed down their hands while forming the armor as it traveled down and soon enough everyone had their entire arm within a tek armor sleeve. The light then traversed across everyone’s chest and formed the upper chest piece with jetpack added to the back as well. Now this part was odd on Indigo’s end. The light traversed their other arms but Indigo’s stum shone red which worried the absolute hell out of us having never seen that before but our worries were put to rest as we stared at the red light as it traced what could've Indigo’s arm, making us think that something was wrong with the replicator until we were shocked at the sight of a Tek arm slowly forming before finishing up with the hand just in time as everyone else’s. Indigo looked at this in pure shock and confusion but said nothing as a pair of tek boots form on his feet along with everyone else's. Soon enough the tek leggings formed on everyone before finally the helmet. When the helmet was done forming, the visors activated and hid their faces from view. Everyone took a step back from the Replicator and marveled at their armor.

“Holy shit… and an arm?” Indigo questioned as he moved said arm around. “Feels so weird.” He said.

“Where’s my tail!?” Qo asked, looking behind her and going around in circles as Iilah stared at her. As they all looked at their new armor Weiss leaned over to me.

“What were you all worried about? Their fine.” she said.

“Wait for it.” I said as I saw some signs from Blake and Rose. Blake started to shift a bit, rubbing her legs together as Rose slowly looked over at me.

“I… now know what Lana means…” Rose said as she started to walk towards Lana’s house, increasing her pace with each step.

“What’s wrong with- oh.” Iilah stopped as she seemed to look over at me. Blake stumbled over to Indigo, almost falling onto him.

“What's going on?” Indigo said, looking over to me as he did. He caught Blake before she could fall over.

“Well… when someone get’s their armor for the first time… there’s a low chance of feeling extreme discomfort… while there’s a high chance of… getting extremely turned on.” I told him. He stared at me as Blake seemed to try to claw at him.

“Home… now…” Blake ordered before adding. “And keep the robot arm…” He was silent for a second or two before picking her up and speeding towards their home without uttering a single word. Weiss watched this happen and blinked before glancing at Tak.

“Don't even think about making me put that armor on.” Tak was quick to say to Weiss. Weiss stared at him before going really red.

“I’m not…” she said. Tak stood there still holding her hand before saying.

“You were thinking about it.” Tak said, making Weiss hang her head.

“... A little.” she answered sadly. Hearing her saddened, Tak decided to cheer her up by saying.

“Will it help if I pick you up and carry you back home for some time to ourselves?” Tak asked her, facing her as he did. Weiss looked at him and smiled.

“Yes please.” Weiss said sweetly. Tak smiled and was quick to sweep her off her feet, making the Ice Queen giggle happily as the two loving couple headed off to their own home for some quality alone time.

“Mom…” I heard Qo say, making me worried for what I’m going to see. I turned to her and saw her… hopping? “I’m going for a run. Like a really long run. Around the Village like a few dozen times… maybe on my hands… or do stuff, like all the stuff.”

“Umm, Qo? Are you okay?” I asked her. Qo looked over at me as she hopped.

“I’m feeling great, like I’m full of energy, like lots and lots of energy… bye!” she said before bolting at high speeds. We all watched her run off until we all looked at Iilah, who looked fine.

“If you all think I’m going to become horny you’re sadly mistaken.” she informed us before adding. “I’m going to take a cat nap.” She said before walking off. I looked over at the others before at Ruby.

“So… we have the day to ourselves.” I told Ruby. “What do you want to do?”

“If you two don’t have anything to do I have something for you to do.” Heaven said to us. “You see when I went out to deal with some… emotional stuff, I felt the ground rumble and saw a golem nearby. I wouldn’t ask you this if it wasn’t an issue but there’s the fact that it could cause problems for the Village.”

“You want us to go deal with it?” Ruby asked her. Heaven simply nodded at Ruby’s question before saying.

“It'd save everyone the trouble of a future Golem attack.” She said while crossing her arms at the thought of the golem attacking. I looked over at Ruby before the two of us nodded.

“Okay… also if you don’t mind but… if you find our daughter crashing from her… hyper high, can you please cart her to our house please?” I asked her. Heaven nodded at my request. With that said both be and Ruby headed off to grab our weapons and armor before heading out. We headed towards the direction of where this golem is as we got out of the Village.

It wasn't a long trek, the Karkinos and Spinos that usually littered the riverside were now corpses that the Ravagers fed on. Each corpse had a similar theme to it, they were stabbed to death by a tek sword. When we saw the distinct cuts that only a Tek sword could cause, we knew this was Heaven’s work.

“Heaven… took this very hard…” Ruby muttered at the sight of this. I simply nodded as we continued on. We were able to walk by the river while ignoring the corpses and soon found ourselves back on the shore of the lake that had the broken bridge over it. We were back at the Ancient Device once again. Once we got there, we took our time to search around the area with our weapons in hand. If what Heaven said was true, then the Golem had somehow survived the hellish beaten Indigo gave it.

“How did the Golem survive?” Ruby asked me as we search around the lakes perimeter.

“I don’t know…” I answered with a frown, that Golem messed up Rockmond’s legs, now it seems to be alive while Rockmond is dead. The thought of the Golem alone being alive filled me with anger, adding Rockmond's end at the fault of the Golem simply enraged me more. My grip around my costume Tek gun blade tightened at the thought as we continued our search.

It wasn't until we heard the sound of a fight that we quickened our pace into the fungal forest. We ran as fast as we could, our thoughts on the possibility of the source being the Golem. We exited the fungal forest, we ended up near a cliff side, overlooking the Elemental Region below.

We heard a roar coming from behind us as a Rock Drake was tossed out from within the fungal forest and onto the edge. The beast was quick to grip the ground with its claws and roar at its assailant before charging back towards the forest only be smacked aside by a large stone hand. It impacted several fungal trees and knocking them down before the Drake, though dazed, stood back up before disappearing, having activated its camouflage. The owner of the stone arm was none other that the Golem itself, it let out a few hums and groans before suddenly swinging its arm to left, gaining a pain roar from the invisible Rock Drake as its camouflage faded off. Without giving a change the Golem grabbed the Rock Drake by its neck and brought its head up to face it directly. The Golem groaned loudly as the Rock Drake struggled to break free. The grip tightened around its neck before an audible snap emitted from the Rock Drake’s neck and its head hanging limply to the side. With its foe defeated and dead, the Golem tossed the corpse off the edge and back onto the area below.

The Golem imitated a roll of its shoulders with a groan before walking up to the edge, having yet to have seen us, and sat down with another groan. This groan echoed loudly through the cavern below. Both Ruby and I watched the golem did this before looking at each other.

“Okay… I think I have a plan.” I told her as I was… barely thinking up a plan to use.

“I don’t know Viri… something is off about this golem.” Ruby informed me.

“What do you mean?” I asked her. Ruby shrugs a bit before adding.

“It’s just… a feeling. I don’t know.” Ruby looked back at the golem before back at me. I frowned a bit as I looked back at it as it just… sat there. The Golem’s gaze was focused on the abyss below, it was as if he was keeping guard but from what. It wasn’t until Ruby stood up and started to walk over to it.

“Ruby.” I called out for nervously. Ruby didn’t seem to hear me as she walked up to the golem and stared at it. It wasn't until Ruby had walked onto a twig and snapped that the Golem’s gaze went over to her. The Golem’s eyes, which I noted had an odd blue light emitting from them, turned a crimson red as it casted its gaze onto Ruby with an angered groan. I was about to act but was soon shocked at the Golem’s next action; the red light its eyes were soon replaced with its original blue color as it groaned softly.

“I think it’s friendly.” Ruby called out at me. I was a little hesitant to say that this golem was friendly. It also didn’t help that the golem looked up and saw me. He groaned softly once again at the sight of me before shaking its head and looking back down at the abyss below. I walked over to Ruby as we stared at the golem who simply looked down at the abyss. “Can you… understand us?” It gave her a side glance before nodding its head and making an echoing sound that resembled as a faint yes. “Are you the same golem that was protecting the Artifact?” I gave Ruby an odd look when she asked that before the Golem slowly but surely shook its head. It then stood up with loud stomps as it planted it feet back onto the ground, revealing them to be oddly made out of tek metal instead of the other golem’s crystal legs. Standing at full height, the Golem casted its gaze back down to us.

“Okay… so it wasn’t the same one.” I said, kinda letting out a sigh. “What do we do Ruby? Heaven asked us to deal with the golem.”

“But it’s not bad.” Ruby pointed out. I looked at her then at the golem.

“Well… maybe. But still I don’t know what to do…” I looked down at the ground sadly, my ears flatten on top of my head. “I wish Rockmond was here… he would know something.” The Golem let out an echoing groan at the mention of Rockmond's name. Without giving us time to react, the Golem walked over us and headed off towards the direction of the zipline and Rockmond's camp. I glanced at Ruby before we followed behind it as walked, smashing rocks and pushing trees down. As we followed it, I was able to note that its tek like legs emitted a purple light with each step it took, the whirring sound of its legs greeting our ears with each step before it stopped. I looked away from the Golem and saw that we were back at Rockmond's camp.

“Okay…” I said, confused on what’s going on with the golem. Ruby looked at the golem then at the camp. The golem groaned before casting its gaze to a discarded hazard suit, torn and ripped open. I shook my head as this was the one Rose tore off when… wait, was that here or someplace else? As if hearing my thoughts, the Golem's spotlight like gaze landed another set of hazard suit, this one having not only been torn, but the mask was shattered and it was covered with splashes of liquid Element. What was more confusing was the giant tear of the back of the suit. Ruby looked around at everything then at the golem.

“Oh… Oooh!” Ruby said wide eyes. I looked at her confused.

“What?” I asked her. She looked over at me then at the golem.

“... Rockman.” Ruby said at the golem. The Golem then cashed a yellow light gaze down at Ruby with a threatening groan. Ruby smiled at this and looked over at me. “Who do we know that hates that nickname.”

“Ruby I still don’t get- wait…” My eyes widen as I looked at the Golem. “Rockmond?! Is that you!?” The Golem’s gaze was switched to the dirt before drawing something onto the floor, actually he was writing and it simply reads. ‘Yes’ The both of us looked at it then looked up at the Golem.

“Rockmond!” Ruby yelled as she ran over to give him a hug… it didn’t turn out as well as she thought as she banged her head on his rocky and metallic leg. “Ow ow ow ow~.” I went over to comfort her as she nursed her head a bit as I looked up at Rockmond.

“But how? We saw you fall into the pit of element.” I told… Rockman? Golemond? Him. I told him. I shook my head with thought of figuring out the name later. My answer was given with a grown and a point of his stony digit over to the horrifically torn hazmat suit. “The element, it turned you into a golem?” Ruby stood next to me as she looked up at him.

“Rockmond… we missed you.” Ruby said with a sad look on her. His response was a moan of sadness, he must've felt horrible for making us think he was truly dead. “Why didn't you come back?” Ruby asked him. Rockmond simply gestured at himself, his stony hand impacting his chest. A few bits of his hand and chest crumbled off from the impact before reforming with a purple glow.

“If you came back, you would’ve been mistaken as just a normal golem.” I said to him. He nodded at this with a quiet groan before lowering himself onto the ground with a loud thump that shook the ground. He shook his head in defeat, he must have given up on ever returning… but I couldn't stand seeing him like this, Golem or not he is my friend. Frowning I looked at Rockmond. “Come on; there’s one person that needs to see you.” Rockmond was quick to give me a groan and a shake of his head. I looked at him in confusion before asking him. “Don't you want to come back? Everyone there misses you. The twins, Edward… and even Lana… they deserve to know so please, come with us… come back home.” I begged him at the brink of tears. Ruby looked up at him at him with pleading eyes. Rockmond let out a quiet moan as his eyes slowly stopped glowing and sat perfectly still for the next few minutes. With each minute that passed by, my mind began to panic but fortunately the panic lasted a measly second before his eyes shone a bright blue light before standing up. When he was at full height again, he looked down at us and lowered his large hand for me and Ruby. We looked up at him in silence, seeing his eyes shining brighter than before. We carefully stood on his hand before he raised it back up and placed on his large shoulders.

With us safely on his shoulder, he groaned loudly before beginning his journey back to the village. Unlike before with his sluggish movements, his movement speed has increased drastically with his renewed vigor. There was nothing in the forest that could halt the large behemoth that is Rockmond, pushing trees aside and smashing large boulders. Soon enough we were back at the lake of the Ancient Device. It took a moment for Rockmond to realize where we were and follow the river down, hopping down the waterfalls and crushing an unsuspecting Karkinos, Rockmond continued down the river before taking a sudden left. From up where we were we could see the Nexus and the village a fair distance away before Rockmond continued forward.

It wasn't long until we reached the gates and as soon as we did, several rifles, rocket launchers and handguns were immediately drawn from the top of the walls, it was as if the whole village was up there.

“It cool! This one is fine!” I yelled down to them as I stood on Rockmonds shoulder. It was Nevaeh that spotted me and heard my shouts before calling everyone off before anything else could happen. As they lowered their weapons, Rockmond had lowered us down safely to the ground with an echoing groan. “We’ll be right back!” I told Rockmond as I turned to the others. “Don’t shoot him!”

Before they could answer both me and Ruby ran off towards Lana’s house. When we got there the door was still slightly off to the side which the two of us passed as we enter the house.

“Lana! We have news that you will- oh my…” I stopped as I saw both Rose and Lana woking on something… with a very much lack of clothing both me and Ruby stared at them as they stared back with wides and obvious blushes.

“Wow… you’re really are pale blue.” Ruby said to Rose. Lana, having been surprised by our sudden intrusion, had twitched her left eye before saying.

“Get out! Out out!” She yelled at us and we were quick to exit the large home, the both of embarrassed to have seen them like that but also curious as to why they hadn't any clothing on. After a few minutes and some odd sounds both Lana and Rose walked out with some clothing on. Lana was blushing and angry at the two of us.

“Lana… sorry for barging in like that, we should’ve knocked.” I told her as Ruby spoke right after me.

“But… why weren’t you wearing any clothes one?” Ruby asked, making me blush a bit as I was thinking the same thing. Lana’s frown deepened at Ruby's question before crossing her arms and looking off to the side with a blush forming.

“Reasons.” Was all she said before Rose spoke up, though her blush has yet to fade.

“We didn’t think anyone would come barging in…” Rose cleared her throat a bit as Lana glared at her. “What do you two want?”

“We have something to show you.” Ruby said quickly to Lana. “It’s about Rockmond.” Rose frowned at this before looking over at Lana. The latter’s mood drastically shifted to one of pure sadness, nearly at the brink with tears.

“Ruby, Viri.” Rose said as her mood turned to one of anger. “Don’t. We all had issues with… what happened and-”

“He’s alive!” I cut Rose off by yelling that. The two of them stared at me for a few moments before I continued. “I’m telling the truth! We found him… though he looks much different.”

Rose didn’t say anything to us as she looked over at Lana. “What do you think princess?” Lana closed her eyes before sighing.

“W-where?” She managed to say. Rose wrapped her arms around Lana before pulling her close and whispered calming words to soothe her.

“Out at the front gates…” Ruby answered Lana. Rose stared at her for a moment before pulling away from Lana and stood beside her with her hand in hers.

“We have time, Beta is still grumpy about what the Overseer did to his stuff.” Rose said with a bit of humor in her voice. Lana chuckled quietly at this before walking ahead with Rose. The latter followed quickly without question, both of them wanting to know if our words rang true. We all traveled to the gates were everyone was out and looking at the large Golem simply standing there. Both Lana and Rose were shocked to see the metallic tek legs that were infused together with the stone of his body. Scar like cracks littered his entire being and each of them emitted a purple hue. Finally his stony head, his eyes were no longer glowing as he stood perfectly still.

“Wow… this is one big Golem.” Rose said as she stared up at it. Ruby and I looked at one another before back at Lana who was simply staring at it.

“We found him like this, fighting off a Rock Drake and staring down at the abyss. It took a bit but… Lana, this is Rockmond.” I told her. Both Rose and Lana looked at me, Rose’s one look that of confusion. Upon the mention of his name, his eyes shone a bright blue once again before casting his gaze down at us with an echoing groan. Lana simply stared up at him, not believing a single word and Rockmond saw this before lowering his left arm down and planted onto the ground gently, revealing an enlarged gem on his wrist. It looked exactly the same as it did before only instead of glowing blue, it shone a bright purple color. Seeing the gem made Lana gasp and placed a hand over her mouth, tears brimming and she choked out a few sobs.

“It… it really is you…” Lana said, placing a hand on the purple gem which earned her a gentle groan from Rockmond. Rose simply stared at Rockmond in shock as her mouth dropped open.

“Uhh…” was all she could say at this. Rockmond used his other large hand to wave at Rose. Lana smiled with tears streaming down her cheeks before she closed her eyes. We let the two get accustomed with Rockmond's new look for the next few minutes while we simply smiled at the sight. Rockmond acted like a gentle giant as Lana held onto one of his stony digits while Rose couldn't utter a single coherent word.

“Wow… Rose is speechless.” I said to Ruby. She giggled before looking at Rose.

“So Rose, not going to call him Rockman anymore?” Ruby called out. Rose blinked at this as Rockmond looked at Rose after this.

“Before it was due to Rock in his name, but now I can’t!” She explained with a raised tone. “Rockman is way too on the nose!” A red light was soon casted over Rose by Rockmond, bringing her attention up to the behemoth. Rockmond groaned before making a hand gesture everyone nearby is familiar with. He just flipped Rose the bird with his large stone hand. Rose blinked at this. “Yeah that’s him alright.”

Soon enough everyone that came see Rockmond headed off back to do whatever they were doing prior to his arrival, it was also getting dark but that didn't stop Lana. She held onto Rockmond's pointer finger for dear life, afraid that she'll lose him again if she were to let him go. It has gotten to the point where even Rose grew a little jealous of Rockmond for hogging Lana’s attention. I saw her open her mouth a bit but stopped before simply letting Lana do her thing. She soon stood by us as Lana talked to Rockmond.

“You okay?” I asked her. Rose stared at the two of them before answering me.

“How could I not? My girlfriend is with an old friend that we all thought was dead.” Rose said before shifting a bit. “How could I be not okay?” Ruby and I gave a curious glance before seeing Lana finally let go no doubt after much mental debate. Her cheeks were stained with dried tears and her eyes were red from crying, she let out a quiet sniffle and attracted Rose’s attention again. She was quick to get back to Lana and once she did, Lana grabbed Rose and pulled her into a kiss. Rockmond let a groan at the sight of two lovers before scooping them and us off the ground and dropping us onto the other side of the closed gates. When he placed us back down, he gave us a nod before walking a few yards away and simply lowering himself down and leaning back onto a large stone wall. It was at this moment that the last bit of sunlight vanished and the night settled in. Rose looked over at Lana and smiled as she started to clean her face a bit. Lana gave her an odd look as she does this.

“Stop stop.” Lana said with wipe of Rose’s thumb. Despite her pleas Rose did not relent her wiping of Lana’s cheeks.

“Hey, let me do this.” Rose said with a smile before finishing up. “There we go, that’s the leader Lana I remember.” Rose said with a proud smile. Lana grumbled a bit at Rose’s words before surprising Rose by sweeping her off her feet and picking her up bridal style. Rose yelped at this before looking at Lana with a blush. “Umm, what’s all this?”

“Do you really want to question it?” Lana said, giving the awoken huntress in her arms a raised brow. Rose blinked at this before giving Lana a giggle as she wrapped her arms around her neck.

“I may still have a little of that suits effects on me~.” she said with a kiss on Lana’s cheek.

“I somehow doubt that.” Lana said before carrying Rose back to their home. I saw Rose roll her eyes as they left. Both Ruby and I stood there alone before Ruby looked over at me.

“So… what now?” she asked me. I thought about it before I swept her off her feet and carried her the same way as Lana did with Rose. Ruby blushed at this but smiling at me. I smiled at her as I carried her back to our place where we found Qo sleeping on the couch with the suit on still. Don’t know if she passed out normally or out of the effects wearing off.

We left her there to sleep as I carried Ruby upstairs to spend the night together. I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be rough.

Author's Note

ROCKMOND’S BACK!... and the armor... oh lord the armor.

Funny the Iilah isn’t affected by it xD

Rockwell Monster

Morning came around fast, after what happened last night it was no doubt we'd be left too tired to stay awake and fall asleep as soon our eyes closed. I opened my eyes expecting to see Ruby there with me only to find the spot next to me empty, to which I let out a tired whine. It was a rarity that I would wake in bed alone, so my tired reaction was understandable. I let out another whine as I felt alone on the bed though eventually, I knew I had to get up if I wanted some Ruby snuggles. Groaning, I got out of bed and went off to find Ruby. I realised I was wearing an oversized shirt that I don't remember wearing.

I walked downstairs while tiredly calling out for Ruby, wanting to get my morning snuggles with her. When I reached downstairs and entered the living room, I heard someone going through the fridge in the kitchen and made way there while rubbing my eyes with a yawn. I blinked a few times until I found Ruby in her Tek armor with a lot of food in her arms.

“Here I thought I'm the one that supposed to be really hungry.” I said to her, getting her attention with a cookie in her mouth. I went over to the coffee maker and turned it on. “Hey, why are you in your armor already?” I asked her.

“Did you really forget about today?” Ruby asked me in a tone of disbelief. I blinked at her and arched a brow which earned me a groan from her. “Today we're putting an end to Rockwell once and for all. We've only got a few minutes to get ready.” She said.

“Oh… dang.” I said as my ears flattened on top of my head. “Here I thought I get some Ruby snuggles.” I pouted a bit. Ruby rolled her eyes before saying.

“You'll get them later, right now you have to get ready.” Ruby said, giving me a poke on the shoulder, eliciting a tired whine from me once she did that. She arched a brow at me before I went off to put on the armor. After a few minutes, we were walking to the meeting place with me munching on an odd sandwich; peanut butter and pickles.

Everyone had their tek armor on, even Rose which was surprising enough but the odd one out was Lana having shown up only in her skin tight tek suit. There was something off about it though and I couldn't really put my finger on it but I also could focus on the thought as I took another bite out of my sandwich.

“Is everyone ready?” Lana asked everyone. We all looked at one another, no doubt wondering the same thing. Rose was the only one not weirded out by Lana’s suit, judging by how she glances at Lana every now and again. We all looked at each other before nodding at Lana. “Before we begin… does anyone have any questions?” She asked wanting to get that out of the way. We looked at each other again and shook our heads. A few nos were heard as well while Rose looked at Lana in silence. Lana nodded and tapped the center of her chest, causing her suit to light blue before armor plating began to form around her. Soon enough after a brief moment, Lana was decked out in armor as well, hers being distinct than ours. Her armor even had wings, giving her a Valkyrie look. Rose simply stared at Lana’s armor and didn’t say anything for a few moments.

“Why the wings? And why didn’t I get any?!” Rose asked, even though her armor looks different from the others. Lana’s visor opened up, revealing a smirking Lana.

“Our Overseer friend suggested these additions to me.” Lana said before looking at Rose with a suggestive smile. “I'll work on your armor when we get back.” Lana said, tracing a finger over Rose’s chest plate.

“Oh yeah, that’s fun… more changes to a new set of armor…” Beta said in an annoyed tone. Rose looked up as he floated over her shoulder.

“Beta, chill.” Rose said to him. Beta looked at her before saying.

“This has been the second time some being took control of my shell and all my stuff has been moved around! It’s so annoying to re-organized everything.” Beta said before adding. “I even found out that our distress beacon been on for a long time, can’t believe no one came to find us.” Rose stared at him before looking at all of us.

“He’s just annoyed, don’t mind him.” Rose explained. Beta floated over everyone, seeing how everyone has changed over the years until floating over Lana, whose eyes were closed with an angered expression. As soon as he came into range, Lana swiped Beta off the air and simply held him in place. Rose opened her mouth to speak up but stopped when Lana opened her eyes, revealing that they're currently shining an electric blue color. She looked down at Beta with a blank expression, her anger vanishing within an instant. She stayed like that for almost a minute before finally letting Beta go and blinking. Her eyes returning back to their normal blue color. Beta shook himself before saying.

“Just to let you know that’s really… really disturbing.” Beta pointed out to her before disappearing. Rose gave Lana a questioning look once Beta vanished.

“That is your only warning, Beta, so don't test me.” Lana said with an annoyed tone. Rose simply stared at Lana but didn’t say anything.

“So… Are we going?” I asked, getting everyone's attention.

“Yeah, we’re going.” Rose said in a more flat tone voice, making Lana look at her. The latter looked at her lover before saying.

“Don't worry, that's the last time I'll ever do that to him… he was just getting on my nerves. He's been complaining non-stop since he returned…” Lana said, apologizing for having done whatever it was to Beta. Rose didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Come on, we need to get going.” Rose said before walking away from everyone. Lana watched her go with a confused look as we walked over to her.

“You… okay Lana?” Blake asked her. Lana’s shoulders sag with guilt before nodding at Blake's question.

“Do you need to talk to her before we go?” Ed asked her. I looked at him oddly which he saw. “What?”

“No… we're burning daylight as is, we need to move now.” Lana said before looking back at Rose and adding. “I'll talk to her after we're done killing Rockwell.” With that said we walked up to the sleeping form of the Golem Rockmond before his eyes shone bright and looked down at us. He needed no words to know what was going on, so with groan he scooped us all up and placed half of the group on one shoulder and the other half on his other shoulder. When everyone was firmly planted onto Rockmond's shoulders, he began to taxi us over to our destination.

“This is the first time we took Golem to where we’re going.” Ruby commented to me as we rode on Rockmond shoulder. I nodded as I looked at the rest of them.

“Hey Indigo, you’re keeping the arm?” I called out to him, seeing that the arm was still there. Indigo looked down at it, moved it around as one would move their arm before turning his hand in a three hundred and sixty degree spin.

“Yeah… Yeah I think I'm going to keep it.” Indigo said, just as his hand vibrated furiously surprising him and Blake. Though Blake soon blushed at a thought she soon had.

“Okay…” I said as I saw everyone else. Even though we’re a big group Weiss, Tak, Theodore, and Axycia weren’t here, mostly my aunt ask for those two to stay behind with them. I looked over and saw Rose and Lana standing beside each other and look like their talking. What they’re talking about I don’t know with the wind rushing past me. By the way Lana was moving, she was desperately trying to apologize to Rose for earlier. Rose lowered her head a bit before looking at Lana and give her an one arm hug.

Before I knew we had stopped and I quickly noticed why. Just a few feet ahead of us was the cliff edge that overlooked the abyss below. Edwards and the twins weren't looking forward of going down there, knowing all about what lies beneath.

“How do we go about getting down there?” Heaven asked out to everyone. Her answer was given in the form of a groan, which in turned reminded me of Rockmond's zipline.

“The Zipline.” I told them. Rockmond took a few minutes to put us down to the ground so we all could find the zipline down. Rockmond was the one that ultimately led us to his old camp, revealing the state of disarray he had left it in when he… changed. The torn hazmat suit was there as proof. Lana saw this and simply stared at it as Beta reformed and floated over to the suit and scanned it.

“I’m picking up high levels of this Element from this suit.” he informed us. Rockmond was quick to groan out a response, pointing at the suit before at himself. We all stared at him before Rose spoke.

“That… had to be rough.” she said before looking towards the ledge. Rockmond let out moan as if to tell that it was rough, or perhaps worse. It wasn't until Indigo called out for us that he found zipline that we were able to continue. When we got there I looked up to Rockmond before asking.

“So… how are you going to come down?” I asked him. Rockmond groaned before lowering himself onto the edge and pushing himself off but before quickly flipping himself over and grabbing the ledge with one hand and burying his other fist into the stoney cliff side. He then pounded his other fist onto cliff side and proceeding to scale down to the abyss.

“Okay… that was cool.” Ruby said as she looked over the edge, watching Rockmond climb down the wall. The rest of us took turns using the zipline to go down into the abyss. It took awhile but we all got down to the bottom without issue. We all waited until the large form of Rockmond climbed down to the bottom and joined us with a groan that echoed loudly through the area. Our helmets were on by the time we got down here and my visor showed the lethality of the air in this area, making me glad that no one tore their hazmat suits when we came down here. Rose looks around a bit as Beta floated over to her.

“You know where the place is?” Rose asked him.

“Yes, making a waypoint now.” he said as I heard a ding sound and saw a little map appear with a marking on it. I saw Beta look over at Lana. “You’re not the only one who can get into stuff Lana.” Lana flinched at this.

“Oi, be nice Beta.” Rose warned him.

“Sorry, that was rude.” he said before disappearing. Rose looked over at Lana before saying.

“Sorry…” she said before she gave Lana another hug. “He didn’t mean it.”

“It's fine, I deserved it.” Lana said before we all turned to see Rockmond leading the way. We followed him as well as keep an eye on the mini-maps we had as we walked down the tunnels. As we walked I overheard Rose and Lana talking.

“Hey, you okay Princess?” Rose asked Lana as they were a little away from the group. Lana seemed a little out of it and I was able to catch a glimpse of her normally blue eyes shining purple as the river beside us before shaking her head.

“I'm… fine.” Lana said with a sigh. Rose looked at her worryingly, sensing something wrong but kept quiet for now and kept a close eye on Lana. Rockmond was ahead of all us, and judging by the marker in my visor, he was heading the right way which made me wonder if this was a coincidence or did he knew were to go.

We continue on until we started to see exposed purple crystals around us, and the cave getting brighter as we continue on.

“I think we’re going on the right track.” Ruby said as both Qo and Iilah looked at the purple crystals. They were too distracted by the crystals that they were too slow to react when several Nameless jumped out from the ground around them. Both girls let screams of terror at the sudden appearance of the Nameless. Everyone turned to look back with weapons ready but it was Rockmond that gained the attention of the rabbid group of Nameless. Rockmond shone his light onto them, quickly changing it to red before suddenly… green? Upon being shined by the green light, the Nameless let out screeches of pain as their skins began to burn. Iilah was quick to recompose herself and rid the Nameless of their heads with a single swing.

“Ugh, how close are we?” Iilah asked, disgusted at blood of the Nameless that got onto her armor. Rockmond soon pointed over to the other side of the river, at the an area that contained many purple crystals and many Rock Drakes. Thanks to the tek visor, I was able to see through their camouflage.

“So… what’s the plan to deal with the Rock Drakes?” I asked Lana. I looked over at her who looks like she’s spacing out. “Lana?” Rose looked over to her and shook her.

“Lana!” Rose said loud enough to gain her attention. Lana quickly looked at Rose, looking spooked by the sudden raise of tone.

“Sorry… The Rock Drakes-” Lana was unable to begin her explanation when Rockmond let out a roar and charged towards the nest. He quickly got down on his knees and grabbed the nearest Rock Drake before pummeling into submission.

“Okay… that will work.” Rose said as a gun appeared in her hands and she ran over as well. The rest of us looked at eachother before doing the same. After a few minutes we either killed or scared off the Rock Drakes.

“... I have a feeling that there was a better way of handling that…” Rose said, making Lana stare at her. Rockmond groaned before pointing at the end of the Rock Drake nest. There was a ramp that led up to platform with a terminal at the center. We all headed towards it but I stopped and looked at Rockmond, seeing how he had to be on his knees to look into the now empty nest.

“You okay Rockmond?” I asked him as I walked over to him. Without a groan or a moan, Rockmond's eyes stopped shining their blue light. I looked at him in confusion before yelping in surprise when his arm fell apart which was soon followed by rest of his body. Everyone was quick to turn to look back, surprised by the sudden noise. I backed away as Rockmond continue to fall apart as Lana ran over to see what’s wrong. “I didn’t do it!” I yelled with my hands up.

“What happened!?” Lana yelled as Ruby ran up to me to see if I was fine.

“I don’t know, I just came over to see what’s wrong with Rockmond as he stared into a nest!” I yelled back to her. It just then that a few pieces of what was Rockmond rolled out from the large pile and began to smashed into one another, creating human like form but it wasn't quite there yet. Arms were then formed and then legs, some of the tek metal having been ripped apart and bend to create smaller legs. Finally the head was formed and it was like Rockmond's face carved into a rock. The eyes shone blue and the smaller Golem Rockwell stood up with a groan, the groan sounding almost human like and it was one of discomfort.

“He shrunk?” Indigo said in confusion at the sight. Ruby and I stared in silence and Lana looked as if she had countless questions. With another groan, Rockmond stood up to his full height, revealing him to be taller still by a few feet. Iilah and Qo were silent throughout all this, not knowing what to say.

“I don't think he was expecting that either.” Edward pointed out, noticing that Rockmond was looking down at his new body on confusion before looking up at the terminal. Seeing this, Lana nodded and motioned for Edward and the twins to go ahead as they were the ones with the Artifacts. When we all got onto the platform, the terminal shone and seemingly absorbed the Artifacts before a big red button appeared atop the terminal. Lana looked at all of us, silently asking if we were ready. Everyone nodded and grabbed their weapons or Indigo’s case summoned before Lana pressed the button, causing the platform to hum to life as it began the teleportation process. We watched as a dome started to form up around us before sealing and we were momentary blinded by a light. We I could see again I saw we were in some sort of arena place with a large pool of Element. Looking behind us we saw a forcefield blocking us off from the outside.

“So… this is it?” Qo asked, looking around. “Where’s this Rockwell guy?” No one answered as she looked at Lana who was staring at the pool with what looks like a dock or path way to the middle of the pool. It soon started to bubble before something large burst out of it and all I saw was what looked like a twisted up titan of a man with tentacles coming out of him. He glowed a pinkish purple colour as he seemed to look around a bit. Lana backed away from this, right into Rose.

“Lana?” Rose said to her in a worried tone.

“It's worse than I thought.” Lana said just loud enough for me to hear. This for some reason gained the attention of the monster as he turned to face us. As he stared I got the feeling he wasn’t looking at us, he was looking at Lana. His face twisted itself to look like a messed up grin as he made what sounds like a chuckle. “You know why we're here.” Lana said through gritted teeth at the abomination that is Rockwell. The hideous beast merely howled in laughter.

“You truly haven't changed one bit, my dear… sweet Lana.” The Abomination spoke, its voice deep and distorted. The way it spoke to Lana ticked Rose off. He looked at the rest of us before growling. “You're all foolish enough to challenge a god!”

“You know the last guy that I meet proclaimed that he's a god as well, guess what happened to him.” Rose said as a rocket launcher appeared and she fired it at Rockwell. It exploded on the warped face of it and Rockwell roared not out of pain, but out of annoyance.

“You insolent worms! You will all die like the rest!” Yelled the Abomination that is Rockwell before several tentacles rose up from the pool of Element.

“Move!” Rose yelled at all of us before sprinting off. Some of us did the same while the others ran off. I was with Ed, the twins, Lana, and Rockmond as the others were with Rose. We all opened fired at the monster but it seemed to have no real effect on him for some reason. I heard Rose curse in my helmet.

“Beta just got a scan off on this asshole-”

“Rose, language!” I heard Blake snapped at her.

“Not a good time!! Anyway it's skin is made out of hard stuff, nothing can get through it.” Rose explained as I heard Qo scream.

“Qo!” Both me and Ruby yelled.

“Ewewewewew~ one of its tentacles tried to touch me!” Qo whined as I saw said tentacle was pulled into the pool as the others were slamming down into the ground, making small shockwaves.

“Let's deal with them first then.” one of the twins said. We all started to fire into Rockwells tentacles, having a few of them pull back into the pool. Soon orbs of pinkish purple colour or red came at us slowly.

“Shoot the orbs, SHOOT THE ORBS!” Rose yelled which we did, making the orbs explode. Rockwell looked around before looking at Lana who's beside me.

“I've spent years gaining perfection, all I need is you… my love!” The monster yelled before slamming down another tentacle near Rose. “We can be finally be together… like you've always wanted!”

“Uhh, ewww.” Iilah said in disgust. “That's messed up.” She added.

Just as she said that Rockmond grabbed one of the tentacles and started to pull. There was a loud cracking sound and Rockwell roared before slumping over so we all can see the glowing heart of him.

“Weak point!” Rose yelled as I saw her run over to fire at it. I looked over at Lana who's staring at Rockwell.

“Please tell me you're not listening to him?” I asked her. Lana was quick to shake her head though from within her visor I could see her eyes briefly shining purple.

“No.” Was all Lana could say. There was a few explosions before Rockwell let out a roar.

“Oh come on! That was seven grenades! This guy’s tough.” We heard Rose say before adding. “Next time, Rocket launcher!” I tilted my head at how odd that sounded as I heard Lana snorted a bit from a laugh. It made me smile a bit before Rockwell seemed to notice.

“It seems that she’s the one you seem care the most about, I might have to change that…” Rockwell said as from where Rose is the ground started to shake as Nameless started to come up and some lights appeared, forming some large scally dinos that I haven’t seen before. Rockmond made what I could guess is a panicked groan as they all diverged on Rose.

“Whoa whoa whoa! Too much, too much!” she yelled as they all jumped her. “AHHHH!”

“Get away from her!” Lana yelled as she dashed over to Rose with incredible speed. The gauntlets of her armor formed Tek blades that she used to cut through the many Nameless and Dinos that attempted to harm Rose. As she made her way over a sigh was heard over the coms.

“Rose you always get into trouble.” A female voice said in an annoyed tone. I was going to ask who she is until a new voice came.

“HAMMER DROP!!!” a males voice yelled as I saw a bright blue sparking thing came down from… somewhere before a explosion sent the Nameless and Dinos flying off. I looked over and saw a man in green armor with a horned helmet and what looks like wolf like shoulder pads on. He had blue bolts of electricity coming off of him before he turned to rush after the other Nameless, bashing through them as if they were nothing.

“No… way… Hound? Ashe?” Rose’s voice said weakly as I saw another armored person came down, this one wearing dark blue robes and a visor like helmet. As soon she touched down a field formed around them.

“Yes, we picked up your distress signal. Have to say you’ve been having that going for quite a long time.” the woman explained before adding. “Have to save you again, as always.”

“Shut up.” Rose said as I saw Lana finally got over to them. Rose and the woman talked for a brief moment before the two ran in different directions as Rose was with Lana. “Okay so quick introductions; the one in the robes is Ashe.”

“Greetings.” The woman said as she fired at some Nameless.

“And Hound-04.”

“Yo!” the man said, slamming into a Dino.

“Those two are going to take care of the adds, we deal with the big guy.” Rose explained to us as I ran over to them. We all started to fire at Rockwell’s tentacles, knocking them down before he let out another roar and he slumped over again. We fired at his heart, I think, for some time before he came back up again. This time his tentacles started to shoot out lightning and electrocute the ground. At one point Qo was caught in the middle of one, but all she did was giggle.

“That tickles!” she yelled as she was now hyped up with power… oh great. Rockmond helped Hound and Ashe out as he took out some Nameless and Dinos who I was told to be Reapers. Rockwell growled as he looked over at Lana again.

“You know it to be true, we can finally spend our lives together… just like you've said!” Rockwell yelled as more and more Reapers crawled out from the element pool. Lana stared at Rockwell in silence. “Yes… I can see it in you, you want this happen… join me.” He said. Lana slowly began to walk towards him, each step was a struggle for her.

“Lana!” Rose’s voice yelled out. “Don’t listen to him! Remember what he did!” There was more shots coming out from her end before she continued. “He left you on that island for so long, he killed so many, he destroyed this Ark! Remember the Overseer we found? She was terrified of him. Don’t do this!” Rose’s voice sounded like pleas from her to Lana.

“I can't…” Lana’s body was enveloped in a purple aura, Rockwell smirked at this as it happened.

“Yes… there is no need to fight, my dear… let it take hold of you…” Rockwell said, pleased at the sight of Lana succumbing to his words. Rose yelled for Lana, who still struggled through whatever bonds Rockwell put her in. Rose tried to run to her but was stopped when a tentacle slammed down in her path. “You cannot stop this, creature. She will become my Queen and we will soon rule this Ark!” Lana was then lifted off the ground and brought closer to Rockwell’s gaze. The latter smirked at the submissive Lana in his grasp.

“Hey Vex breath!” a voice shouted. Rockwell turned just to see Hound coming at him and punched him in the face. I looked over to see Rockmond looking like he just threw someone. Hound somehow held on as he started to punch Rockwell’s face. Rockwell growled at this before something black and purple was launched at his back, exploding on him. Rockwell simply grabbed Hound and threw him at Ashe.

“You cannot harm me no matter how hard you try!” Rockwell yelled before smashing the ground where Ashe and Hound were only for them to dodge out of the way. I was starting to lose hope that we would win before Beta spoke.

“I’m sorry about this Lana.” Beta said as there was now a little blue in the purple aura around Lana. Rockwell started to look like he was in pain.

“What is the meaning of this!?” Rockwell yelled before looking down at all of us before several more tentacles rose up from the pool before slamming themselves onto the ground. “You will not stop me from getting what I desire!”

“Sorry pal, but sometimes we don’t get what we want.” Beta said as Rockwell roared. “Now, let’s see if you like this!”

Behind Lana Beta appeared and he shot out a blinding light at Rockwell, making him roar out in pain and Lana gasp.

“What is he doing?!” I yelled out.

“Beta… that’s the light of the Traveler…” Ashe said in awe. “You’re friend Lana and this… thing, is seeing the light of the Traveler!”

“And it looks like this thing doesn’t like it.” Hound added in. Before long the light dissipated and Beta disappeared.

“Okay… back to what I was doing.” Beta said as Rockwell looked to be blinded and in pain. Lana’s head hung limp for a second or two before she groaned. Lana soon realized she held up by Rockwell's hand and I could tell she was not happy, not one bit. Raising both her arms up, she brought them down and pounded them onto Rockwell's hand. They slammed hard, the noise echoed around while Rockwell slowly recomposed himself. She brought her fist up again before slamming them down harder and it loosened Rockwell’s grip enough for her to push his hand open much to Rockwell’s dismay.

“No!” Rockwell yelled before slamming his other hand down onto Lana. “You will be mine! Whether you do it yourself or not, you and I will be together once more.” He growled. A few more explosions went off as Rose fired round after round of rockets at her.

“GET OFF OF HER YOU ASSHOLE!” she screamed as she fired another rocket at Rockwell. The Abomination laughed at Rose’s attempts before looking at his hands in shock as they forced apart. Lana lifted up his hand, despite the pressure Rockwell was giving it.

“What is-”

“Shut it, you backstabbing piece of absolute shit!” Lana yelled angrily before the wings of her armor spread open before activating their small thrusters. To everyone's surprise, Lana lifted Rockwell's hand up before flying up behind him with his hand still in her grasp. A loud snap was heard and Rockwell roared in agony before his arm hung limp and Lana flew back over to us quickly, slicing and cutting every tentacle in her way. “Grah!” She yelled in anger before stabbing Rockwell's other hand. The blades detached before Rockwell slammed another tentacle onto his hand, causing the detached blades to sink deeper into his corrupted flesh. Lana soon landed beside us before grunting and quickly getting on her knees in exhaustion.

Rose ran over to her to check is she's alright as I sliced through a Reaper.

“Hold on.” She said before the same field formed around them. Lana let out a sigh as the wounds slowly closed.

“You deny your ascension!? Have you not wanted this for so long!? My dear Lana, why do you deny to be my Queen?!” Rockwell yelled through gritted teeth. Lana and Rose glared up at the monster. Rockwell saw their glares of hate and stayed silent for a moment. His frown deepened greatly before growling. “Repulsive… I would have never thought of my dear sweet Lana to be such a… such a whore!” Rockwell yelled, seemingly disgusted at the sight of Lana and Rose being so close. No one said anything after that before Rose stood up. Her helmet changed to her hawk shaped helmet before a blazing golden gun appeared in her hand. She turned and aimed her gun at Rockwell.

“Don't ever call Lana that.” Rose said as she fired one flaming bullet. The shot pierced through the corrupted flesh that guarded his beating heart, Rockwell held the wound, no doubt feeling the pain. He began to roar and curse out at Rose as his chest bursted into flames. We all watched as the struggled to put the flames out as his veins began to glow a bright orange color. His eyes began to pour out a blazing inferno of hot fire, every wound made by our attacks were soon pouring fire and spurts of elemental blood. Rockwell let out a final roar of pain before bursting into a cloud of corrupted organs and flesh, elemental blood splattered onto our armor and visors. Everyone reacted in disgust at the blood, Rose simply stood there still with the Golden Gun still in her hand. She was breathing heavily out of anger.

Soon the gun turned back to it's normal colour as Rose stared at the now dead Rockwell sink down into the pool. After a minute of staring she turned back to Lana and keeled down to her. Her helmet deformed around her head as she smiled.

“That guy was a bit of an ass.” She said with a half hearted laugh. Rockmond let a groan that caught everyone’s attention. We turned look at him, seeing the cracks around his body no doubt from the fight. He walked up to the center pool, where Rockwell was moments prior to his demise. I was going to question what was wrong but stared in shock and surprise when Rockmond jumped into the pool of Element.

“Rockmond!” Lana yelled in shock. We all rushed over to the pool and looked in it.

“Why did he jump in!?!” Iilah asked loudly as we all stared. Soon after Iilah asked this, Rockmond's hand grasped the platform before pulling himself up with something else in hand. It was the other half of the Overseer’s Obelisk, Rockmond placed it onto the metallic floor before pulling himself off the element pool with a groan.

“Uhh, what's that?” Hound asked as he and Ashe walked up to us. Rose looked at him for a moment before sighing.

“It's the core of the Overseer.” Lana said, walking up to Rose. No one dared to get closer, the liquid element still dripped from the piece.

“Neat!” Qo said before looking around. “So… how do we get out of here?”

Before anyone could say anything there was a bright light which blinded everyone. After a few moments I fell onto the ground that wasn't the arena. I saw we were in some kind of building with some beds in it. I looked around just to see Axycia in one of the beds holding something in her arms. She looks exhausted as she saw us and smiled.

“Hello…” she said tiredly. Everyone groaned a bit as we pushed ourselves up and looked around. Theodore walked in with Nyvu in hand before seeing us.

“Do be quiet and… wash up.” He said with a hushed tone. Nyvu looked at her mother excitedly but managed to keep herself calm and quiet. “I want none of you near her until you're washed up.” Theodore said before pointing out the door with a look that said that he wasn't kidding. I wanted to know why my aunt looked tired and what was in her hands but Theodore made it clear that we should probably get cleaned up. We all nodded and quietly made our way out the room before going our separate ways to get changed.

After everyone one their own way, no doubt to get cleaned up. Me, Ruby and Qo all headed home to shower. When we all felt squeaky clean, we redressed ourselves and while me and Ruby planned to head back to check on my aunt but Qo had collapsed on her bed and fell asleep without uttering a word.

By the time we got back to the medical building, it had gotten dark and most of the village was already asleep. We passed by the home of Weiss and Tak and saw them simply meditation on their porch. Me and Ruby noted Weiss lack of her usual clothing, she was simply meditation out there with Tak, only wearing the cloth rags that acted as her undergarments. The two of us looked at each other and shrugged as we continued on. When we arrived at the hospital and headed to my aunt's room. When we got there I saw Lana and Rose in their normal dress right outside of her door. They seemed to be talking about something before Lana noticed me.

“Ah you're here, I'd thought you two would be asleep in your home.” Lana said with Rose’s arm around her.

“No, just got here after cleaning up. How are you two?” I asked the two of them.

“Well I'm fine. Lana said she's fine but I don't don't believe her.” Rose said, earning a glare from Lana. “The guy got into your head Lana! I'm worried he did other stuff to you.” Rose explained in a worried tone. Lana rolled her eyes before saying.

“I'm fine, Rose… I'm fine.” Lana said before leaning her head forward, resting her forehead on Rose’s. “But thank you for asking.” She said with a smile that easily warmed Rose's heart. Rose smiled at this before giving Lana a kiss. Lana giggled into the kiss before pulling away and looking back at me and Ruby.

“I am to guess you're here to check on the new addition to your family?” Lana asked me, leaning onto Rose as she did. Rose hummed quietly at this, feeling Lana so close to her was bringing her to a state of bliss.

I smiled at this as the four of us quietly walked into the room. I saw Theodore sitting in a chair sleeping with Nyvu on his lap fast asleep. In the bed I saw my aunt still awake rocking a small bundle in her arms. She looked up at us with a smile and nodded us over. We walked quietly over and pulled some chairs over to sit next to the bed.

“Before anyone asks, it’s a boy.” Axycia whispered as she looked down at the child in her arms. She moved the bundle so we could see him; his hair was a jet black colour with a bit of indigo scales around his eyes. We all smiled at this as my aunt pulled him in.

“He's adorable.” Lana cooed at the little baby boy. Axycia smiled at this before looking at Lana.

“Want to name him?” Axycia asked, making Lana blink a few times in surprise. Lana opened her mouth a few times, shocked to have been offered such a task. She gave it some thought however, and smiled before uttering the words.

“Alder…” Lana said in a hushed tone, though it was enough for Axycia and the rest of us to hear. Axycia smiled at this as she looked down at the boy.

“My little Alder…” she said softly to him, which caused Alder to snuggle up to his mother. She sighed as she looked over to us. “So… one hell of a fight?” Lana and Rose winced at the mention of the fight but nodded anyway.

“Rockwell… isn’t like any other fight we’ve been through.” Rose said quietly. Axycia nodded at this.

“Mortals think creatures as monsters of their nature, but the true monsters are ones that we look in a mirror.” She said as she looked a little sad about this. She looked up at Lana before continuing. “It must’ve been hard for you my dear. To face once that you called friend.”

“The last time I ever considered him as a friend was before he left me behind… I'm glad to be rid of him once and for all.” Lana said with a frown as she crossed her arms looked off to the side. “And I have you and your friends to be thankful for helping me through all this.” Lana said, looked back to both me and Ruby before resting her head on Rose’s shoulder. “Thank you.” She said again, this time in a much quieter tone most likely directed to Rose. Rose smiled at this.

“Anything for you Princess.” Rose whispered to her. We all smiled at this before Axycia sighed.

“Well, don’t mind us sticking around a little longer, because of this one I’m a little out of it for almost a month…” Axycia said as she leaned back a bit. “Yay~...” We all chuckled at Axycia’s sarcasm before she yawned and shooed us out, wanting to get some sleep in finally. With one last look at the newborn boy, Ruby and I headed out the infirmary with Rose and Lana in tow.

“So… question.” Rose started as she looks over at Lana. “If you’re coming… who’s going to be the Overseer of here and this Island place?” Lana smiled at Rose’s question.

“I've had a long talk with our Overseer friend about that… she's taking my place as the new Overseer of the Island and will soon begin the reconstruction of her old platform to reactivate the atmospheric shield.” Lana answered before wrapping her arms around Rose’s neck with a loving smile. “As of now, you have me all to yourself.” Lana said. Rose smiled at this before she thought of something.

“So… if you’re not the Overseer… does that mean you can’t… come back? Like what happen to this body if something life threatening happens?” Rose asked, her smile disappearing with a worried one. Both Ruby and I looked at each other as she said that.

“While the thought isn't pleasing, I have already solved that problem once before.” Lana was quick to answer but this only brought confusion onto Rose.

“Don’t you mean the cloning?” Ruby asked her, making Rose look at her with surprise.

“Wait, cloning? What?” she asked Ruby in total confusion. Lana gave her sheepish smile, not saying anything to deny Ruby said.

“It's a long story which I will proceed to tell you in the morning.” Lana said before finally yawning. “I'm absolutely exhausted after the whole ordeal, it's a miracle I haven't collapsed.” Lana said with a tired chuckle. Rose smiled at this before picking Lana up and put her over her shoulder.

“Come on sleepy head, time to head home.” Rose said with a smile. Lana let out a tired giggle as both her and Rose headed off to their house. I smiled at them as I looked over at Ruby.

“You still owe me snuggles.” I told her with a smile. Ruby giggled at me before saying.

“Mind waiting a little longer?” Ruby asked, making me pout a little.

“Why tomorrow~” I whined. Ruby rolled her eyes at me before answering.

“Because you’ll get double the snuggles in the morning.” Ruby said before she started to walk away, leaving me dumbfounded.

“You planned this!” I said to her.

“Yup!” she said before she started running off as I chased her.

Author's Note

All I want to say is that Rockwell is an ass.

Also met Rose’s Fireteam!

Some time before home

PoV Rose

I opened my eyes to see I was in bed. I let out a sigh as I felt two arms wrapped around me. I smiled as Rose snuggled up behind me. She was still asleep with a goofy smile on her face as she pulled closer. I didn't protest, wanting nothing more than to stay like this a while longer. It was calming the way we were, snuggled up against one another, hearing the sound of the morning outside but alas such a feeling had to come to an end eventually when she woke up with tired whine.

“You awake?” I heard her say as she woke up. “If so then don’t answer… we can snuggle some more…” She said in a tired tone. I rolled my eyes before saying.

“You know we have to get up.” I told her in a hushed tone. Rose groaned in response though she refused to let go.

“You can’t leave, I have you in my arms…” she said as I felt her lips kiss my back. I couldn't but chuckle at her behaviour. It was then I felt my stomach rumble and I soon tried to free myself from Rose’s arms.

“Come on Rose, I'm getting hungry~.” I whine as I continued. Rose grumbled a bit as I felt her arms leave me.

“Fine… damn you hunger.” Rose complained as the two of us got out of bed. I stretched a bit until I felt a shirt cover my head. “Here, it’s that big shirt you like.”

“Didn't think you'd wanted me to wear any.” I said teasingly at the stretching Rose.

“That’s true, but do you want what Viri and Ruby did happen again?” Rose asked me as she wrapped some cloth around her chest. I rolled my eyes at the memory before putting the shirt on, letting it cover most of my nudity before heading downstairs to eat. Rose followed behind and we soon enjoyed a lovely breakfast together which soon led to some kissing, that led to makeout session before found ourselves back on the bed. Rose and I laid there before Rose giggles. “Odd to see we’re back in bed again.”

“You started it.” I said as we laid there under the covers once again. She grins at me as she shifted over and wrapped her arms around me again and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

“It’s worth it.” She said with a smile. I smiled at her before it turned into a smirk when I straddled her.

“Round two?” I asked her with arched brow and mischievous smirk. She smiled at this.

“For you? Always.” she said before we continuing our early morning fun.

-PoV Viri-

I sat with Ruby and Qo as we ate a late breakfast as everyone else seemed to be enjoying their day off. As we ate and chatted I noticed Lana walking over to us alone. It was an odd sight to see her without Rose with her.

“Hey Lana, where's Rose?” I asked her.

“She's with the other two that helped out.” Lana explained as she sat down with the three of us. “They arrived not long ago on Rockmond's shoulder, they were quick to ask many question about the Ark and Rose was kind enough to get them to refrain from asking any more.” Lana said with a smile as she looked over to the gates. Following her gaze, me and Ruby saw Rose speaking to the other two people that helped us during the big fight. “She was very happy to see them.”

The three of us smiled at her before Qo spoke. “Hey what was that light thing that came out of Beta?” Lana smiled a little at the question before answering.

“I asked the same to Rose after… breakfast.” Lana had stopped mid sentence and blushed before shaking her head and continuing. “With what Rose explained to me, I am to believe that the light was the Traveler's power. The Traveler being the entity that granted Rose her powers and abilities.” Lana said. Ruby, Qo and I gave her an odd look from the sudden stop but said nothing.

“So how are you holding up now that… he's gone?” Ruby asked Lana, refusing to utter the name. Lana smiled and nodded before glancing back at Rose, sighing lovingly as she did.

“After the fight Rose has done nothing but care for me… she never once wanted to leave my side, even more so when we went to bed.” Lana said, simply staring at the conversing awoken huntress. “Because of her, I've nearly forgotten about the ordeal with Rockwell and… his attempted to take me.” She added with a faltering smile. Though her smile strengthened when Rose glanced at her.

“What do you mean?” Qo asked Lana, getting her attention. Lana let out a sigh at this before answering.

“He was delusional… he believed that deep down I still had feelings for him.” Lana said, gaining surprised looks from the three of us.

“You had a thing for him?” Ruby asked in disbelief. Lana rolled her eyes but nodded anyway.

“It was more of a crush than anything and at the time, he seemed like a caring man… but it turned out that it was a elaborate facade for me to aid him in his research.” Lana said, growling out the last word before shaking her head. “I was young and new to the Ark at the time, I was naive… and stupid, I couldn't see him for what he truly was.” Lana said, resting her head against the table. Both Ruby and I looked at each other before Qo spoke.

“And Look where that crush left you.” Qo started to say to get everyone's attention. “You are now with a loving, be it very physical, relationship with a pale blue immortal gunslinger and Rockwell’s… well a pile of glowing goo.” Qo listed off to her. Lana lifted her head up and smiled at Qo, being reminded of her relationship with Rose.

“Thank you, Qo, I really needed that.” Lana said, thanking Qo for lifting her spirits again. Qo smiled and nodded at Lana, happy to have helped. I smiled at my daughter before taking a drink of water.

“So… are you and Rose going to have a kid?” Qo asked. I spat the water out of my mouth after she said that. Ruby nearly choked on her food before taking a swig of her canteen of water.

“Qo!” I yelled as both Ruby and I stared at her.

“What? I'm curious.” Qo replied. Ruby and I quickly looked at Lana, seeing her cheeks redder than a tintoberry. She just sat there in silence with wide eyes, opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish.

“I-I don't know… I've never really thought of it and I'm sure Rose hasn't either but now… now that mention it, the idea of having a family with Rose is… heartwarming, pleasing and…” Lana trailed off into her own thoughts, Qo having effectively broken the village’s titan. I gave a side glare at Qo, receiving a sheepish smile from the teen. Lana was deep in thought, her blush never leaving. Whatever she was thinking off had made had made her fidget in her seat. Ruby and I took this moment to finish our meal, as well as scold Qo for asking such an invasive question.

“Heyoo!” Rose greeted with a large smile as she walked up to us. “How goes it?”

Both Ruby and I gave her a glance as Qo gave her the same sheepish smile. Rose looked at us oddly before looking at Lana. “Lana? Are you okay? You're really red.” Rose asked in a worried tone as she put her and on Lana’ s forehead to check if she's warm. Without uttering a word, Lana placed her hand over Rose’s before standing up and looking at her.

“I need to talk to you… in private.” Lana said to the pale blue huntress. Rose gave her a questioning look but that quickly vanished when Lana looked at her with a determined look.

“Uhh, sure… I can spare a minute.” Rose said to Lana. With Rose is hand in hers, Lana guided Rose away into a more private area.

Rose

I didn't know what'l was going on as Lana dragged me away from the others to talk to me. I didn't ask her why she was doing this but that was slowly running thin. It wasn't until we were at the edge of the platform behind Lana’s home that we stopped, Lana’s cheeks were as red as they could possibly be.

“Uhh is something wrong?” I asked her before asking. “Did something happen? Are you alright?” Lana nodded, still holding my hand.

“Everything's fine… nothing happened but…” It was obvious that whatever Lana wanted to say, she was having trouble saying. “I've been thinking…” She was able to say. My eyes widen at this, was she having second thoughts of coming back with me? Well it was a big decision for her and right before we dealt with him… it made sense.

“Hey, I understand Lana.” I said to her with a warm smile. “If this is your choice then I'll stay here with you, always.” Lana looked up at me with a look of confusion before saying.

“What? No no, that's not what this is about.” Lana said, suppressing a laugh after realizing what I was talking about. “I'm going with you, I've already made up my mind about that.” She said with a blushing smile. I couldn't help but smile at her, she just looks so… I can't find the word.

“So… what are you going to ask me?” I asked her, now more confused than ever. Lana took a deep breath before answering.

“Do you… want to have a family… with me?” She asked, looking at me with hopeful eyes. I stared at her when she said that as my head tried to figure out what she meant. We were already a couple… for a good while…

“Uhh…” Was all I said to her as I didn't really get what she meant. My attention was drawn back to her as she started to laugh.

“You're making a lot of funny faces.” Lana said, her laughter dying down into simple chuckles. I gave her a sheepish smile before speaking.

“Sorry Princess, but can you explained what said.” I said sheepishly. Lana rolled her eyes at me, blushing a bit after I called her princess.

“We've been together for almost over six years and they've been the best years of my life. What I ask is, if you would want to take our relationship to the next step.” She explained while looking down at our hands as she spoke with a smile.

“Wait… do you mean you want to… marry me?” I asked her, feeling my own blush form on my face.

“Well when you put it like that… yes.” She said, gazing back up at me with her beautiful smile. I stared at her as she said that.

“We just fought a giant monster that was once a guy with a god complex that I almost lost you to and now you're asking me to marry you.” I said to her. She gave me an odd look as she smiled before chuckling.

“Yeah, pretty much.” She said as if it were normal thing. I didn't say anything from that for a few moments.

“I… need some time to think…” I told her as I saw her smiled turned to a worry frown. “Hmmm, okay done thinking; yes I'll marry you.” Her smile returned before she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me in a passionate kiss, one that lasted for quite a while. It didn’t matter to me as this kiss felt like fireworks were going off. Soon we parted and stared into eachothers eyes with big, goofy, smiles. As we did this I realized something. “Uhh, who’s last name are we using?” Lana looked at me with an arch brow and thought on the question for a moment or two.

“Umm, perhap yours.” Lana said looking at me, waiting for my answer. I opened my mouth to say something but… wait, what was my last name?

“Umm…” Was all I could say as I started to search the dark deeps of my memory. It was very dusty. Lana gave me an odd look as I tried to remember… something. A name came to mind as I thought about it for… four minutes. “Beleguard.” I don’t know where the name came from but… sure, it works. Lana hummed after hearing this before saying.

“Lana Beleguard, how does that sound?” Lana asked before looking back at me with a smile. I thought about it, Rose Beleguard, Lana Beleguard.

“It works.” I said with a smile before continuing. “Now if I remember this right… and go with me on this.” I got down to one knee and looked up at Lana with her hand in mine. “Lana, would you marry me?” Lana’s smile grew as tears began to form in her eyes, she must've not been expecting me to do this, especially after she had asked me already. Don’t blame me, I was in the moment!

“Yes… yes I will marry you.” Lana said, tears streaming down as she spoke. I smiled as I got up and gave her a big hug and spun her around… a little away from the ledge. I put her back down and smiled at the tear streaked face of Lana, I smiled as I used my thumb to wipe them away. She didn't protest and leaded into my hand.

“Just think… when we first met we hated each other.” I told Lana with a smile.

“It's hard to believe that we ended up loving and caring for one another.” Lana said in agreement before kissing my bottom lip. I greeted her lips once again, sharing yet another kiss with my beloved Lana. As we parted she gave me an odd expression. “Just so you can answer an odd question; why were you being a pain when we first met?”

“Oh you know… I saw you were being all motherly and stuff to other people and I wanted to bug you.” I said with a big smile on my face. Lana blinked at this before giggling, finding my answer amusing despite it being true. “Okay, my turn for questions: Where did this all come from? I mean you asking me which lead to me asking you to marry me… Just wondering.” Lana blushed a bit as she smiled.

“Well, again we’ve been together for six years and… I’ve been thinking about ever since you asked me to come with you… I guess Qo gave me a push to ask you.” Lana explained.

“Okay… what did Qo say or do?” I asked, more curious at what she did or say. Lana’s blush grew more red before answering me.

“She… asked if we ever thought… having our own kids…” She said, her blush as red as it was before. I blinked at this, surprised that Qo asked this.

“Do you?” I asked her, making her looked at me surprised. “Do you want kids?”

“I'm not opposed to the idea.” Lana admitted with a cute blushing smile. I smiled at this as I pulled her into a kiss.

“When we get all of this sorted, and married. We’ll start thinking of names.” I said as I gave her a wink. She smiled and rested her head on my shoulder, letting out a blissful sigh.

“I love you Rose.” Lana whispered lovingly into my ear.

“I love you Lana.” I whispered back as we stayed like that for sometime.

Viri, one month later

We all stood near the ancient device that we came from at the start of this adventure. The night before we held a large party with everyone to say goodbye and celebrate both Rose and Lana were now getting married. Qo seemed to be happy about that until I told her she was grounded for a little over a month for what she did. Everyone stood by their partner hand in hand or something like that. Lana was giving her last goodbyes to Ed, the Twins, and Rockmond which Rose, me, and Ashe help make a device to tell what Rockmond is saying. The Twins were crying that their oldest friend is leaving them, which made both Lana and Rose cry, though I don’t get why Rose is also crying.

“We’ll miss you Lana.” Ed said with a little sniffle from him. As her last job as Leader of the Tribe, Lana had appointed Ed and the Twins as the new leaders of the tribe with Rockmond as advisor to them. I had a feeling she did that so Rockmond keeps an eye on the three of them. They didn't seem to mind the fact that a Golem had to look after them, though that Golem was Rockmond so I guess there's that. The Twins simply gave her a big hug, at the same time, as they hugged her. They were still crying at this. Lana had been telling them over and over how much she'll miss them all and how she'll never forget either of them.

“While as I don't want to be the ass that asks, shouldn't we be getting a move on?” Indigo asked out to everyone. Rose shot him a glare but didn’t say anything as Axycia spoke.

“As much as I would love to sit here to hear you all say goodbye, Mr. Belladonna is right, we need to get going.” she said before looking at Indigo, smirking a bit. Indigo rolled his eyes at this and refused to give Axycia the satisfaction of annoying him. She chuckled as Theodore holds Alder in his arms as he sleeps and Nyvu was standing by him. I saw Rose walked over to see her two teammates as they stood nearby.

“What are you two going to do?” she asked them. “Coming with?”

“Don’t know, but you’ll see us soon.” Ashe said with a nod.

“Mostly because we’ll be getting you a new ship.” Hound added in a cheerful tone, making Rose chuckle nervously. “I believe you still have the old one after the Tower fell…”

“Oh you don’t mean the Wanderwing…” Rose said with some disappointment.

“Yup~ don’t know why you still have it.” Hound pointed out to her. Rose sighed as she turned and walked back to us. We all waved goodbye to Rockmond and his group as Hound and Ashe simply disappeared, odd that we didn’t see their faces.

“I wonder why they refused to show their faces.” Lana whispered to herself as Rose stopped beside her. Lana wrapped her arm around Rose’s, bringing Rose out of her stump. Rose smiled at this as she gave her a kiss.

“To make others ask questions.” Rose answered with a cocky grin. Lana rolled her eyes while asked if everyone was ready. As soon as everyone nodded at this, my aunt told us to stand near each other so she can get all of us.

“Well I’m going to get really tired after this…” Axycia said as she saw the large number of people that she’s taking. Her mood changed as she saw Theodore was next to her with their two kids. Soon the same symbols appeared and then the bright light came back, blinding us again.

When I could see again, I saw that… we were in the training room… with Father, Divos, Ailis, Yang and her kids there. Everything looked as if we had just left. I looked at Ruby, seeing that she had once again deaged back to the moment we left.

“Wait… didn’t you all just left?” Ailis asked as she looked at all of us. I shrugged as I looked for Qo and… wait.

“Hey! I’m still old!” Qo said, seeing that she was still sixteen and Iilah was still seventeen. I looked over and saw my aunt, who was leaning onto Theodore as she was again really tired, winked at me. I smiled a little bit as I felt something. It was… odd.

“Well, looks like you two are still teenagers.” Rose said with a laugh as she turned to Lana. “So this is the part that…. Uhhh…. Wow.”

We all turned to see Lana… younger. Like, almost the same age as us, give or take. Lana looked over to Rose with an arched brow before asking.

“What?” She asked before blinking at the sound of her voice, hearing the obvious change. “What happened to me?” She asked in a panicked tone.

“Lana you look younger!” Ruby said as Lana saw her, then the rest of us, seeing that we two are younger, other than Qo and Iilah who were older. Rose continued to stare at Lana, a blush forming on her cheeks. She tried to say something but she couldn't.

“I don't think Rose minds.” Tak said with a laugh, he no doubt knew from the silence that Rose was stunned at Lana’s new look. Just as he said that Rose blinked a few times before grabbing Lana’s hands and started to drag her off out of the room. “And she's off.” Tak joked. I chuckled at this as that feeling started to get worse. I put my hand on my stomach as Weiss chuckled at Tak’s joke. Father smiled at the sight of all of us before saying.

“I'm sure you've all got quite the tale to tell.” He said to all of us. He looked over to me and noticed my hand over my abdomen, raising a curious brow as he did.

“Hey… you okay?” Ruby asked me.

“Yeah I’m…” Before I could say anything I felt like something in me wanted out. “No, I’m not fine!” I yelled as I ran to the nearest thing I could throw up in. I found a convenut trash bucket and threw up in that. After a solid few minutes I finished up before sliding onto the floor as a mess. “Forgot about that…” Father was quick to run over to me, worried for my well being.

“What's wrong?” He asked worrying as he hovered his hand above me before it shone a golden light. I knew what this was and put my hand on his to stop him with a smile. “What?” He said in confusion.

“That, I think, was a months worth of morning sickness.” I said to him, gaining an even more confused look from. “Dad, I’m pregnant.” He lowered his hand and looked at me in silence. This went on for more than a few minutes before he closed his eyes and hummed. Soon enough a smile formed and he carefully enveloped me in a hug.

“Now I know you all have an even more interesting tale to tell.” Father said as he helped me up after cleaning me a little. Ruby was behind him, peeking over his shoulder to look at me and he noticed. Ruby yelped when Father brought to join the hug. I chuckled at the sight of this.

“He knows about this.” I said as I put one hand over my belly.

“Ohh.” Ruby said as the two of us got hugged. I smiled at this before releasing something.

“And I have to deal with being pregnant for almost a year…” I said. Ruby made a pity face at me.

“I’ll be here for you.” she said with the same pity smile. I simply gave her a look before laughing.

“Now then, this news is cause for celebration.” Father said with a big smile. Yang walked over to us, curious to know what was happening.

“What’s going on?” Yang asked, hand on her belly with her twins behind her.

“You’re going to become an aunt Yang.” I told her as I smiled at her. She blinked as she saw me where my hand was.

“Oh my Oum!” she yelled with a big smile on her face before looking at her sister. “How?!”

“Ahhh, not going to say.” Ruby said with a little blush on her. “And think about…”

“She helped me with my… heat problem.” I told her with my own blush. Yang looked at me and Ruby before finally at Father, wanting to know how he feels about this.

“As long as Viri is happy, then there isn't any reason for me to oppose of them being together.” Father said before glancing back at me and saying. “If there is anything you ever need to help through your pregnancy, anything at all just let me know and I will make it happen.” Father told me before standing beside Yang.

“Yes, help… for the next nine months of this.” I said with a smile alongside Ruby. Yang looked at the two of us before saying.

“You two are scared out of your minds, aren’t you.” she guessed.

“Very much so.” I said with a painted smile. Father chuckled before we heard the excited squeals of Ailis, bringing our attention back to my aunt and her hubby. “She must’ve found out about Nyvu and Alder.”

“Well, this must be a really good trip you all had.” Yang said with a smile. Father smiled as well when he noticed his new nephew and niece. Axycia was struggling to stay awake and Theodore could only do so much with Alder in his arms. Ailis and Divos were quick to help their mother. Nyvu was worried for her mother, having never seen her this exhausted.

“Alright then, time to enroll you two into this school.” Indigo said to both Iilah and Qo. The latter grinned in excitement, always wanting to become a huntress like me and Ruby. I smiled at her as I went over and gave Qo a hug, only for her to back away.

“You smell bad.” she said quickly.

“... Good point.” I said as Ruby came over to give her a big hug.

“It’s going to be exactly like training on the Ark.” Iilah said with a shrug.

“No.” the whole team of RWBY and I said at the same time, getting a confused look from Iilah.

“Once I get you two in, I have free reign to teach you without having to hold back.” Indigo said with a smirk as he balled his robotic fist. “And with this, I highly doubt it'd be easy.” He said.

“Wait… you were holding back?” Qo asked, making Iilah facepalm.

Yeah, this is going to be interesting as most of us chuckled at Qo.

Author's Note

They are back home!, Yeah~

Grimmdigo, King of Grimm

It’s been six months since we all returned to Forever Free and things have been… odd to say the least. Qo and Iilah enrolled into the academy, which made most teachers and students weirded out since they were ten year olds that turned sixteen. It’s funny that they got put in Indigo’s class for that. Yang gave birth to an adorable baby girl with yellow hair and gold scales, which for all of us looks a lot like a little Yang. She named her Hotaru or in Yang’s case her little firefly as sometimes Hotaru’s tale glows a bit.

With Yang’s pregnancy coming to an end, it just left Blake and I to deal with ours. The biggest thing was that I was getting bigger than Blake which gave me some alarm until Father told me that I wasn’t having one kid but two. Twins. Yang made a joke that I was following in her footsteps but I basically passed out after hearing that. We also got some word that the other teachers weren’t very thrilled that we were living in the school and having families. Father and Axycia’s answer to that was to make small homes for us that were much, much bigger inside. We also have spas in there, it was glorious.

At the moment Both me and Blake were sitting down on a blanket with Ruby and Indigo nearby as Qo were sparring with RB. So far, RB was winning against Qo. The Other Yang was nearby as well, sleeping as this went on.

“So… how’s things?” I asked Indigo and Blake as the latter was eating a fish sandwich that was more fish than bread.

“Challenging for the most part, I have to keep up with her cravings.” Indigo said, answering my question with a chuckle as she had his arm around his beloved Blake. “If she want something and I can't make, she ain't gonna happy.”

“If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.” Iilah said as she laid in front of Indigo and Blake.

“That’s my girl.” Blake said with a mouthful of food, earning a look from Iilah and Indigo. “What?”

“You think that’s bad, Viri’s worse.” Ruby said, making me frown.

“Hey, I’m not that bad.” I whined at her. Ruby looked at me and then down at what I had.

“Who has a tub of pudding with chocolate and marshmallows in it?” Ruby asked. I didn’t say anything as I shifted away from her. Ruby chuckled at this as I put another spoonful in my mouth.

“So good~” I said happily as I ate. It’s every way bad for me but I didn’t care. Just then I heard a yell as Qo landed near us after getting kicked over here.

“I'm okay!” Qo announced as she gave us a thumbs up. RB chuckled at this before looking at Iilah.

“What to go around?” she asked, cracking her knuckles.

“No, I'm good.” Iilah quickly said, not wanting to face RB after seeing what she did with Qo. RB gave her a look but shrugged as she walked over and sat down beside her sleeping sister. I watched the two of them before putting another spoonful of pudding into my mouth. As we all sat there and chatted I noticed some ways away a man in purple. Looking over I saw the man was Drake with Skyler talking. From the looks of it, he had the same look Tak had when he helped Skyler study. It was then Skyler noticed us and waved, coming over with the Dragon Faunus in tow.

“Hey!” Skyler greeted us. I said hello with the spoon in my mouth. Ruby gave me an unamused look before taking the spoon out of my mouth. I was quick to swipe the spoon away from Ruby, sticking out my tongue to taunt her.

“Fine then, no more morning snuggles for you.” Ruby declared and hearing those words shattered my whole world. No more snuggles!? I gave her back the spoon in hopes she would reconsider. I also gave her a pouty face at her. “Alright, you get snuggles!” Ruby exclaimed, pulling me closer to her. Skyler saw all of this and chuckled while Drake caught up to her with a book in hand.

“Skyler come on, you can't just walk out on me like that.” Drake said with a frown. Skyler simply smiled at him.

“Sorry.” She said before looking at me. “Wow… you're… uhh…”

“Big? I know.” I finished as I grumbled a little. Ruby rubbed my belly and petted me behind the ears as soon as she heard me grumble. I sighed happily as I leaned into her hand. She smiled at this as Drake chucked a little. Blake was in a similar position, being soothed by her loving husband’s gentle caresses.

“Where's the others?” Skyler asked.

“Weiss and Tak are out on a mission with Yang… other Yang.” Ruby corrected herself as Skyler looked over at Short haired Yang. Blake purred loudly, the gentle caressing of Indigo’s hand had brought her up to cloud nine. Iilah chuckled at her mother's loud purrs before purring herself when Indigo gently scratched her behind her cute cat ears. She was quick to regain her composer before swiping his hand away, bringing a laugh out from Indigo when Iilah blushed.

“You can't deny it, you were enjoying it.” Indigo said, pulling his Tek arm away with a teasing smirk. Iilah flattened her ears atop her head. “There's nothing wrong with enjoying a little behind the ear affection, sweetie.” He said, lightly ruffling his daughter’s hair. Iilah didn't protest, she merely leaned her head onto his tek hand. It was odd seeing Indigo with arms again, even odder still was the fact that it was Tek that didn't need to use element to function as long as its attached to him which brought relief to Blake and Iilah.

I didn't think much of it as I was getting my own relief from Ruby as she scratched behind my ears. Skyler looked at Ruby and I and then at RB and her sister.

“You know, I’m still not used to seeing two of you.” Skyler said.

“Eh, it’s normal to me.” Drake said with a shrug.

“Really? How so?” Skyler asked. The Dragon Faunus simply deadpanned her.

“I live with a unicorn that has OCD with everything.” He explained with his arms crossed. Skyler nodded silently, knowing that what he said was true. Drake suddenly hurked and burped out a puff of green embers that quickly formed into a neatly rolled and sealed scroll.

“Uhhh, neat trick kid.” Indigo said as he looked at Drake with an odd look. Drake ignored him as he grabbed the scroll and opened it. Skyler peeked around and started to read it aloud.

“To my most Faithful student, I send this message in dire need of aid. As of right now there’s a monstrous being in Equestria that’s destroying and killing everything in its path as well leading the Grimm. I ask you to go to Forever Free academy and give this note to Headmistress Zecora. From Princess Celestia.” Skyler read outloud, loud enough for everyone to hear. This brought Blake out from her blissful state and gained Indigo’s full attention as well as Iilah’s. RB sat up at the mention of a being who leads the Grimm.

“I’m sorry what?” RB asked, looking a little more serious now. “A Being that leads the Grimm?” Drake nodded at this.

“Yeah… that’s what it says.” he said as she slowly turned to leave. “I’m going to do what the Princess said and give this to Zecora.” Drake ran off towards the Academy and as he did, a familiar beowolf ran by him and stopped near Indigo.

“Oni?” Indigo said in confusion at the sudden appearance of his longtime friend. Oni let out a few whines before sitting down a few feet ahead of Indigo, Blake and Iilah. The latter looked at the Beowolf in confusion, never seeing Oni act like this before. “I think whatever Celestia mentioned in that letter, Oni can sense it.” Indigo said, getting up and walking up to Oni. The latter whined before shaking his head. Indigo placed his normal hand on the beowolf’s head. “He's trying to guard us.”

“From what?” Iilah asked. Indigo rolled his eyes and responded with.

“Do you honestly expect me to know everything Grimm related?” Indigo asked sarcastically. Iilah kept silent after that and Indigo walked back to Blake before helping her back up to her feet. “I got to take you two back to the academy.” Indigo said before pulling Iilah up to her feet.

“Hey! I can help!” Iilah said with a frowned on her face as Ruby helped me up to my feet, which already started to complain due to how much weight they were holding up.

“And I know you can but I'm afraid that you'll end up getting hurt or worse.” Indigo said to Iilah, his fatherly side taking over as he spoke. Iilah frowned at this as she spoke.

“Oh, so you allow me and Qo go fight some Monster that’s five times bigger than us but not some Grimm?” Iilah said.

“Hey~ don’t drag me into this!” Qo said, hiding behind Ruby and I. Indigo opened his mouth but closed it several times before RB spoke.

“And from what I heard, you all were wearing some sort of high tech armor and had there was over ten of you.” RB pointed out to all of us. “Which two of them are heavily pregnant, some of them aren’t here, and the armor is low on power.” Iilah glared at RB as she continued. “Sit this one out kid.”

“I’m not a kid!” Iilah yelled. Indigo looked Iilah after she yelled this before sighing and saying.

“... You're right, you're not a kid… not any more.” Indigo said though saddened to admit it. Iilah looked over at him right before Blake pulled her into a hug.

“You’re still my baby girl!” she said with tears running down her face.

“Ah! Mom, no~ I’m trying to prove a point here!” Iilah said, squirming in her mother's grasp. Soon enough Blake let her go and wiped her tears away, finally letting Iilah look back at Indigo before he continued.

“You can come but only if you follow my every word.” Indigo said to her, giving her a small smile as he said this. She had a large smile as she nodded happily.

“Umm, can I sit this one out… please…” Qo said in a nervous voice as she hid. Both Ruby and I looked at her then at each other before I spoke.

“If you don’t want to go, then you won’t go.” I told her. I heard a sigh of relief from Qo at this.

“Wait… Viri, you can’t go either.” Ruby said to me. I arched a brow as I faced her.

“Who says I was going?” I asked her as I rubbed my large belly. “I have two kids in me and can barely walk five feet before my feet start complaining.” Skyler chuckled at my words before I glared at her, silently telling her that I wasn't kidding. Skyler raised her hands defensively before Drake ran up to us with a message from Zecora. He handed it over to Indigo who read it silently before looking back up and saying.

“She wants us to go and deal with whatever this is, a chariot will come pick us up in a few minutes.” He said with the message still in his hands. He looked over at RB and asked. “You coming with?”

“Yes.” RB said in a serious tone.

“And what about your sister?” Indigo asked, gesturing to the still sleeping Yang. RB looked down at her sister before lightly kicking her. Yang woke up with a snort before yawning.

“What’s up sis?” She asked after she yawned.

“Mission, might be dangerous, want to come?” RB asked.

“... Does dad know?” Yang asked. RB simply shook her head. “Then I’m in.” Indigo watched this with confusion but simply shook his head and said.

“Alright then, everyone has a few minutes to get their weapons and get ready, we'll meet back at front gates.” Indigo said to everyone that will come with. He looked back at Blake and said. “Come on, allow me to escort you back to premises, milady.” He said, offering so Blake could wrap her arm around his. She did and the couple walked away with Iilah in tow. The latter was excited to be able to go on her first official mission. I smiled at this as I looked over at RB and Yang, who seem to walk away to talk.

“Come on, let’s go back to our home.” Ruby said to me with a smile.

“Why our home? We could hang out at the academy.” I said to her as Qo stood by me. Ruby arched a brow and smirked.

“If we do then we can snuggle~” she teased, making my ears perk up at this.

“Home away!” I said happily as both Ruby and Qo laughed at this.

I stood where we were supposed to wait for the chariot listening to my music. I was the first one there as I waited for the others. The source of the music was my new scroll, one Sanns had given me to stay in contact with the others, also he said something about this being almost indestructible. I asked him why and he just chuckled. As I waited I saw Indigo and Iilah walking towards me, with a large man in armour with a helmet with horns attached to it. I believe his name is Hound something. If I remember correctly, Hound and another named Ashe were visiting Rose for the week.

“First one here?” Indigo asked me. I nodded silently as I paused the music and put away the earplugs. “What about your sister?”

“Looking for her new weapons.” I told him. “She was cleaning them one day and forgot where she put them.”

“That sucks.” Hound said as he crossed his arms.

“How can she forget her weapon like that?” Iilah asked baffled at the thought of anyone, let alone a huntress would forget their weapon.

“Well she was cleaning them, then fell asleep, then woke up and wandered off.” I said in the order that I remember Yang say. Indigo sighed and muttered how she would fail right off the bat if this were a test. We waited for Yang to arrive and soon enough the chariot landed near the front gates. We gave Yang five more minutes before Indigo spoke up.

“Let's just go, another minute we waste is another pony dead for Sunbutt.” Indigo said, walking past me and towards the chariot. Iilah started laughing when Indigo said Sunbutt which made me confuse.

“Right… well I’ve better get going or I’ll get in trouble.” Hound said with a sigh before looking at Indigo. “Just to let you know it’ll take time before they are done. I would say I’ll work a bit faster but I won’t.” he shrugged. “Can’t rush a good craft.” Indigo nodded in understanding, gaining a confused look from me and Iilah. We all boarded the chariot and before Indigo could tell the robotic equines to send us off, we could hear Yang yelling in the distance.

“WAIT! DON’T LEAVE ME!” Yang yelled as she ran and dove into the chariot right as it started to move. Indigo blinked before informing the robotic equines that we were ready to go.

“What took you so long?” Iilah asked the short haired blonde.

“Sorry, just had to find these.” she said, showing off two short rods attached to her belt. Indigo looked at them with a curious brow.

“Tonfas?” He said in confusion as he looked up at Yang. Yang nodded as she took one of them and with a flick the rod turned into one of her tonfas.

“Since I need to have new weapons I had help making these…” she as she smiled at the tonfa. “They… well, they were inspired by our version of Indigo.” Her smile faltered at the mention of their Indigo. Our Indigo kept quiet, knowing this to be a sensitive topic. Soon enough the silence became awkward and he spoke up.

“So what do you girls think we're up against?” He asked everyone, wanting to make idle chatter.

“Something strong?” Iilah said but not so sure of herself.

“Something smart.” I said with a frown. Iilah and Yang looked over at me as I continued. “If I remember, Grimm aren’t like wild creatures, if they survive longer the smarter they are. The fact this one has Grimm following it means it’s really strong and smart.”

“That's what most worries me.” Indigo said with his arms crossed. It's odd seeing him with two arms even after the six months he had it. “Hopefully I can them down out of violence, if that doesn't work we'll just beat them to submission.” Indigo said. I frowned at this as the others talked, feeling that this is something familiar. I closed my eyes as I thought back when I was back home, when I was with Raven and always on the move with the tribe. Grimm were always after us, or more importantly, me since Salem wanted me dead. Large bands of Grimm of every kind were hunting me down, sleepless nights of worry and pain. So much pain. I was pulled out of my thoughts as I was getting shaken by Yang.

“Huh? What?” I asked, looking at everyone as they were staring at me.

“You zoned out there, kiddo.” Indigo told me with a curious look. Beside him was a sleeping Iilah, she must've gotten sleepy at some point.

“Oh… right.” I said as I looked out of the chariot. I stayed silent for a few minutes before speaking. “So… how’s the robot arm?” Indigo looked down at his mechanical hand.

“Well… it's still an odd sight even for me but it does has its uses.” Indigo said before closing his hand and added. “Blake likes it as well though I'm sure she likes one feature the most.” He said with a chuckle. I stared at him as I looked at his arm before giving him a look.

“Right~...” I said to him. Indigo simply chuckled at me as I looked away from him. I looked out of the window for a bit before asking. “So, kinda weird seeing two of us for so long… even though the other is more… cheerful.”

“Too be honest, it stopped being weird after a day and when the pain numbed my lower body.” He said with a shrug. He soon added. “Taking account that there are an infinite number of our world with different variables, sometimes minor and sometimes major.” He said in the tone he usually takes when he teaches class. I stared at him for a minute before speaking.

“Okay, I guess I don’t need to feel like an outsider.” I said before adding. “Didn’t realized one version of me was into girls.” Indigo shrugged and said.

“It wasn't much of a surprise, I kinda saw it coming especially with Viri.” Indigo said, unfurling his arms as he spoke.

“Yeah…” I said as I stared at Indigo. “Those two were meant for eachother.” As soon as I said that the whole chariot was hit from the side that sent all of us falling over and waking Iilah up. Yang seemed to get up first and head to the window.

“Nevermore!” she yelled.

“Great, just what we needed.” Indigo grumbled as he got up. Iilah groaned a bit as she too got up. Another hit shook the chariot, this time we were ready. We heard the screech of the Nevermore before a pair of sharp talons pierced the rook of the chariot before ripping it off, revealing a strange looking Nevermore. Indigo looked at in shock as if he's seen something like before. “That's not… possible.” He said before shaking his head and raising his metallic hand up. The arm hummed as the palm of his metal opened and fired a beam that struck the odd looking Nevermore and turned it to… Shadows? The shadows were quickly drawn to Indigo and he yelled in pain as he absorbed the shadows. “Hang on!” He yelled and we quickly grabbed onto something before another odd Nevermore struck the chariot and sent it plummeting down to the ground, resulting us landing with a crash.

We groaned as we picked ourselves up. I helped Iilah up and pulled her out of the crashed chariot. Soon the second Nevermore flew down to us and beat it wings as it looked at us.

“Okay… that’s no Nevermore!” Iilah yelled as we saw what looked like shadows coming off of it as it looked right at me. As I looked at them all I saw was hate in them. We all prepared to fight it… right as a large claw grabbed it’s head and slammed it into the ground.

We all watched as a Giant black and dark purple Grimm creature holds the Nevermore in it’s claw. Large antlers attached to it’s Grimm mask as purple crystals protrude out of it’s body. The ghoulish creature stared at it before let it go. The Nevermore flew up into the sky as the creature did a downward motion, making the crystals glow. The odd looking Grimm soon rocketed to the ground. With another quick motion, the creature killed it, turning the Nevermore into shadow. Indigo winced as the shadows came to him. It was bringing pain but why?

“Ah good, a Gravity Ghoul.” Indigo said, rubbing his head as he spoke. Iilah looked at him with worry. The Gravity Ghoul looked at us before away. With an odd sound coming from it the Ghoul started to leave, brushing past the trees before disappearing.

“Aren’t those like… rare to see?” Yang asked.

“Yeah… count yourselves lucky.” Indigo answered before looking down at a shadow feather that was left behind. He picked it up and examined it. “This by any means can't be possible.” He said out loud to himself.

“What? What’s can’t be possible?” Iilah asked him. Indigo glanced at Iilah before looking back at the feather before crushing it in his hands, absorbing the shadow.

“They weren't Nevermores, they were Shadowmores and they shouldn't even exist.” Indigo said, somewhat answering Iilah’s question. “These things aren't born, they're made and I'm the only one capable of doing that… At a smaller scale.” To prove his point, a much smaller version of the Shadowmores was formed on his hand and cawed.

“Well then, why did we got attacked by a much bigger Shadowmore? Two even.” Yang asked before looking at the rest of us as we stared at her. “No, really I really want to know.” Indigo shrugged as the tiny shadowmore dissipated.

“I'm afraid of finding out.” He finally said as he and Iilah looked up in case there were more. “Whoever we're dealing with has the ability to manipulate shadows like me albeit to a much greater extent.” He said looking back down at me and Yang.

“Well… I think whoever controls those ShadowGrimm knows we’re here… odd that the Staubgrimm didn’t look like they're a part of this.” I said as I looked at where the Gravity Ghoul went. Everyone nodded in agreement at this before Indigo spoke up.

“Yeah, I doubt the Staubgrimm will ever aid the Grimm. They're nothing alike, Grimm are mindless and crave destruction while the Staubgrimm rather steer clear from danger than to start it.” Indigo said adding to my point.

“Yeah… I feels like that Ghoul looked like that Shadowmore was invading it’s area.” Yang said. Iilah looked at her then at her feet.

“I… don’t like it.” she said. Indigo sensed Iilah’s fear and glanced at her with worry. He said nothing for a solid minute or two before finally saying.

“Let's find whoever's doing this.” Indigo said, summoning his scythe as he said this. Yang looked to direction opposite to the crash site and said.

“I don't think that's going to be necessary.” Yang said, grabbing everyone’s attention. When we looked at her, she simply pointed at the masked being walking up to us with a two Ursa Majors following beside them like obedient pets.

“Well… made things a bit easier for us huh.” I said as my gauntlets form around my arms and hands. The armored being simply pointed over to us and both Ursas charge towards us with killing intent. One of the Ursa Majors was quickly cut down to size by Iilah and Indigo with incredible speed. The other one was crushed by me and Yang with a single punch from both of us. The armored figure simply stood there, watching us.

“Hey! Is that all you got?!” Yang yelled with a smirk on her face. The armored being chuckled as several more Ursa Majors formed from the shadows. Yang's smirk immediately vanished.

“You had to say it, didn't you.” Indigo said with a frown at Yang.

“Sorry…” Yang said before the Ursa’s charged at us. Each of us fought them to a standstill as the man simply stood there, watching as more and more Ursa’s formed and attacked.

“That's it, I've had enough!” Indigo yelled as his scythe doubled in size and his speed increased. He was quick to mow down the Shadow Ursa and brought us closer to the armored being before finally they stopped coming and the armored being simply clapped as if having enjoyed our struggle to stay alive.

“Good for you, you've managed to beat a bunch of overgrown bears.” Said the armored being, though their voice distorted I could tell that it was man. Indigo frowned at the armored person before pointing his scythe at him. Though Indigo was caught off guard when the armored man grabbed the blade of his scythe, pulled Indigo close before kicking him away causing him to let go of his scythe.

“Dad!” Iilah yelled as she ran up to Indigo. The latter groaned, having kicked by an armored foot. Normally Indigo’s scythe would've dissipated by now but it the man still held it in his armored grasp before snapping it in two. Both halves quickly dissipating before they could touch the ground. Yang and I stared at this in shock.

“But… how…” Yang said as I simply stared. I shook my head as I got ready.

“All right you ass, you want to go a few rounds.” I said as I got into a fighting stance. The armored man chuckled as two shadowy blades formed in his hands.

“This'll be over quick.” Was all he said as he too went into a fighting stance. Though he then looked down at his shadow with a curious hum before being skyrocketed into the air by The Fist.

“Fuck you too, asshole.” Indigo growled as he stood up. The armored man fell down with a thud and groan. I groaned a bit at this as well.

“The Fist? Really?” I said to him with a frown. I sighed as I saw the the guy pushing himself up. With a flick of my wrist I shot out leaf shaped knives out of my gauntlets which only seemed to dent his armor. “Ah hell.”

“An interesting concept, mind if I use it?” He asked as several large hand rose up from the ground, each one bearing resemblance to that of beowolf’s claw.

“Oh great, a copycat.” Indigo said with groan as his scythe reappeared. One of the clawed hands swiped at Iilah but was cut away by Indigo. Iilah was quick to dash towards another clawed hand before cutting it down with a fury swipes from her twin blade.

Yang charged up to one of the clawed hands and with a shotgun blast, hit it with her tonfa. She spun the other one until it was backwards and fired a few more at another one. I grabbed one of them fingers and pulled it back before it broke it off before grabbing it and throwing it into another. With a push I rocketed forward and tore the two apparte. I saw the armored figure and changed directions so I was rocketing towards him. He blocked my attack with his swords.

“You know, you and your shadows are pissing me off.” I said with a growl. He simply chuckled before kicking me back, he then charged at me and swung with intent to kill. I was able to dodge and block all of them but he was getting too fast. Once I blocked his swords but both blades were directed towards me and he forced them closer and closer. It was then that Yang struck him with her tonfa, and from the sound of it she was coming at him at full force. He was sent flying away as Yang stood over me.

“You okay sis?” she asked me with a smile. I smiled back as she helped me up.

“Yeah, thanks.” I said as I stood up. The groan or growl that came from the armored man was obscured by the constant static his voice distorter was emitted thanks to Yang. He grabbed his helmet and angrily tossed it to the side.

“I was planning on only killing the silver eyed girl.” The man said turning to face us with a look of rage. “What's three more going to do?”

My eyes widen as I saw the mans face, the sickly pale face with black veins that go up to his cheeks. His eyes were pitch black as they had a blood red iris les looking right at me. I felt like this was some sort of sick joke… that I was living a nightmare.

“Indi… go?”

Author's Note

Everyone, meet Evil Indigo or as Uncle Death likes to call him: Grimmdigo

Gol Parker

“Uhh, wait… why are there two dads?” Iilah asked looking back from Indigo and… the other Indigo.

“Beats me.” Our Indigo said, looking over to his Grimm like counterpart. “I look good in that good armour. Gives a sort of dark knight vibe to it.” He added jokingly. The other Indigo with Grimm like features simply growled as he dashed towards me with both blades in hand, Yang stood between me and him but a swift spin quick changed.

“I'll have your heads!” He yelled angrily. As Yang was knocked away his blade was coming at my head. I blocked it with my gauntlet and kicked him away. I looked at the dark...shadow… nega… the other Indigo with a sadden look.

“What happened to you?” I asked softly. He roared angrily and his blade grew to the size of greatswords before dashing swinging at me, only for our Indigo to hook both swords out of his hands while Iilah swept him off the ground. The Other Indigo was quick to land back on his feet before grabbing Iilah with her shadow and smacking against a tree. Iilah, despite the pain, freed herself from the clawed hand by cutting it open. While the other Indigo was distracted I ran over to Yang, seeing her in a daze.

“I'm… okay…” She said as she shook her head. Indigo battled his enraged counterpart, reminding me much of the mirror matches in Beacon Academy only this time it was for real. Our Indigo the incoming swipes of his counterpart’s clawed gauntlets and it wasn't until our Indigo let out a pained yell that he shoved back his counterpart and fired a beam from his mechanical arm. The Beam was strong enough to send the Grimmlike Indigo back a few feet.

“How can a welp like you possibly beat me?” The Other Indigo growled and elicited a chuckle from our Indigo.

“Easy, I'm you pal.” With that, the Fist rose up from the ground and grabbed evil Indigo before slamming him back and forth before dropping him. The other Indigo’s armour started to fall apart, revealing more of his body. As this went on I watched our Indigo fight his counterpart. It was that point that I saw the other Indigos arm… it was black and clawed.

“It looks just like… Cinders…” I whispered before I gritted my teeth as my rage started to boil over. Seeing him like this, I didn't know how to react. “Why…” I whispered, feeling tears brimming my eyes. I was too slow to realize that the other Indigo had the upper hand and regained his blade before making a mad dash towards me, his eyes had nothing but rage and hate. He readied to strike and I closed my eyes awaiting my end. I opened my eyes to see him holding his blade tight and noticed how he stopped mid strike. His red irises looking at me again but not with rage, it was… confliction. He took a step back, confused at what he was going to do and dropped his blades before grasping his head in agony. He fell to his knees with a clunk of his armor.

“Indigo…” I said to him. “This isn't you…” as he keeled in front of me I slowly got closer dispute the protests of the others. Dark clouds started to gather overhead. “Please… don't do this.” He growled threateningly but did nothing as a surge of pain elicited another yell of agony from him. He grabbed his blade shakingly and looked at me with glare but it softened and he closed his eyes and said.

“I can't… sense her anymore.” He struggled to say. He soon let out a ghostly sigh before fluttering his eyes open and looked at me. He slowly shook his head and looked down in guilt. “I'm sorry.” He dropped his blade and let his hand fall back beside him. Everyone stood ready in case it was a ruse but I knew it wasn't and I showed my belief when I wrapped my arms around his armoured body and hugged him. I felt him wrap his arms around me in return.

“I'm… a little confused.” Iilah said. Indigo didn't say anything as my sister sighed.

“Back in our version of Remnant, both me and RB knew Indigo quite well, a friend of the family. And like Blake, RB… well, she started to have feelings for our Indigo…” Yang explained as I pulled away and took Indigo’s face into my face. We could feel the breathing of another, his was that of exhaustion.

“Indigo… what happened to you… what did she do to you?” I asked him in both shock and sadness. He lifted his hand up and placed on my cheek, not believing this to be true. He soon shook his head and said.

“Please… don't make me remember.” Was all he could say to me. I placed a hand on his as he caressed my cheek.

“I… I should've been there...I could've done something…” I said to him. I stared at Indigo with tears in my eyes. “Indigo… I'm sorry…” Nothing was said as I cried, hugging the man I thought long dead close to me. Iilah and Yang watched us in silence, weapons ready just in case. Indigo, Iilah’s father, simply looked at the two of us curiously.

“For the longest time, I truly thought I was left to die…” Whispered the Indigo in my arms. I sobbed a bit as he said this, holding him close as he spoke. “Days turned to weeks and week turned to months. I was a hollow shell of my former self, wandering the halls of beacon… then she came, offering a chance of freedom from the ruins of Beacon and in the broken state I was in… I took it.” He said. I didn't say anything to him. I wanted to be angry, pissed at that bitch for what she’s done. But… I couldn't.

“E-everything is going to be alright now…” I choked out to him. He looked at as I held him close and said.

“If only that were true… she'll find a way to regain control over me and… and when that happens I'm not sure if I'll ever be free.” He said to me as he pulled away before grabbing one of his swords. “This our only chance…” He said, handing me the blade. I stared at the blade for a few moments before shaking my head.

“No… no I just got you back!” I cried, looking at him with tears. “I can't lose you again…”

“As long as I live you'll be in danger… Please, I don't want to hurt you.” He said, stilling holding the blade out for me. I shook my head before grabbing the sword and tossing it away, an action that spoke louder than words. “Why… why risk your own life for me?” He asked me.

“I… I can't… I can't…” I sobbed as my vision became blurry. “I lost too much… I don't want to lose even more…” as I said that I heard a noise coming from the trees. The same one that the Ghoul from before made.

“The Ghoul comeths once more.” The Grimm like Indigo said though he just sat there on his knees before looking at me. “Go… before the Ghoul thinks you are my accomplice.” He said to me. Everyone looked at the trees, looking for the Ghoul while I looked him. I shook my head as tears ran down my face. Before long I felt the others grab me and pull.

“No...NO! Let me go!” I yelled as I tried to pull away. I saw The Grimm Indigo smile sadly at me as I was pulled away. “Indigo, please! I don't want to be alone!”

As I yelled the Ghoul came out of the woods and towered over him. I screamed for it to stop as it reached down to grab Indigo. He simply smiled at me before closing his eyes, accepting his fate.

“INDIGO!!!” I screamed as I heard the Ghoul crushed him in its claw. I stared at this as the Ghoul carried the body away. I felt my heart shatter at the sight as I started to cry loudly. As I cried I didn't notice that it started to rain. I didn't care, the one that I love was killed in front of me again, I earned my time to cry. Through my tear filled vision, I could see a bright light engulfed us all and I soon found myself at the gates of Forever Free.

Before anyone could say anything I got up and ran away from them. I wanted to be alone.

I was sitting on my bed as I cradle the flask that was once belonged to Indigo, filled with apple flavoured rum. I’ve been pretty good at holding off my need to drink alcohol. But at the moment I didn’t care as I already refilled it with my stash of Rum and sat down on the bed in my underwear and an oversized shirt. I sniffled a bit as I hold the flask close to me.

“Oh~ flask, you’re my only friend!” I said sadly and drunkenly. Indigo once said that drowning out my sorrows wouldn't do me any good and by all means he's right but it sure as hell dulling the pain. I looked over to the one side of my room and saw the same blades that Indigo used to attack us, Iilah came by and said she grabbed them before we got teleported. I looked at them sadly before taking another swig of my flask. The burn went down my throat as I sighed at this. Again, one hell of a way to dull pain. I soon heard someone knocking on my door. “What~!”

“It's me, I merely wish to talk.” It was the voice of Mavisath that spoke through the door. Her tone was one of concern. I really wanted her to fuck off. It would be funny, it will be funny. Just thinking about it made me giggle at how funny it was.

“Ahhh… err, ah, sure it’s open.” I said before quickly degrading an incoherent mumble as I took another drink. The door opened and in came Mavisath in her white long dress. She walked into the room and noticed the mess I've made with flipped furniture and cracked mirrors, she saw it all but spoke nothing of it and looked at me, seeing my current state. I stared at her for a moment before saying. “I get why Yang married you… you’re hot!” She raised a curious brow before saying.

“How much have you been drinking?” She asked me. I shrugged and was about to take another swig but Mavis was quick to swipe it off my hands.

“Hey! That’s mine!” I said angrily as I tried to reach for it, only to fall forward. “Hey… why is the floor here?” Mavis sighed and waved her hand down at me, which soon caused me to be gently lifted of the floor and back onto the bed.

“You can't keep doing this to yourself, Ruby.” Mavisath told me, placing the flask on the stand next to my bed. “The pain you feel now is greater than anything else, I understand, but resorting to drinking will only bring more damage.” She said with another wave of her hand and as a result, the furniture of my room was flipped back, the shattered pieces of glass reformed onto the mirror as if it never shattered. I frowned at her as I stared at her.

“What I do is none of your business! I just saw the one that I loved die a second time!” I yelled angrily as I leaned back before my back touched the wall. “And I couldn't do anything about it! You gave me the wish to bring one person back and I used it on Yang. I love her too but again, I can’t do anything!” I glared at Mavis as I continued some more. “So don’t go telling me what I should do, I’m a mess right now and allow me to be a mess right now!” As I said this my anger turned to sadness I started to cry again. Mavisath was in deep thought after my outburst, she eventually hummed before asking.

“Will it be alright if you describe this person to me?” Mavis asked me out of the blue. I frowned at her as I wiped my face of tears and held my hand out.

“I want my flask back.” I said to her as I stared at her. “Also stop moving like that.”

“I only want to help any way I can.” Mavis said to me. I stared at her before putting my hand down. I gave her a sigh of defeat, knowing she won't give up.

“This person is a guy.” I blinked a few times before adding. “I wonder what it'd be like if he was a girl… still would be nice… wait focus, focus… he looks like Indigo since he was my version of Indigo but now he was all… Grimmy and…” I stopped as I started to tear up a bit at the memory of Grimm Indigo… Grimmdigo? Mavisath nodded and sat up without a word before snapping her fingers and with a flash I was fully dressed again and slightly less drunk.

“Follow me please.” Mavisath said as she headed out the door. I blinked in confusion not knowing what the hell was going on. “I will drag you if I have to.” Mavisath said, poking her head out from the doorway and looking at me. Not wanting to be dragged out of my room, I got up from my bed and followed Mavis but not before shutting the dorm room door behind me. The hall was fairly empty with the exception of a few passers by, some of them even gave Mavisath some looks which slightly annoyed the Dovah goddess. I simply walked behind her without saying anything. We finally stopped and entered the infirmary, a few of the beds were occupied by injured students but there was one blocked away from view. We headed over to the obscured bed and I really didn't know what to expect at this point, I just wanted to go back to my room. “Here we are.” Mavisath said before pulling the curtains open, revealing the person laying there on the bed. I frowned at Mavis as I gave the person a look. My eye’s widened at my sight.

“Indigo!” I said as I saw him lying there unconscious there, breathing. I was at his side as I looked at him. “But… I saw him… what?”

“It's quite difficult to explain, simply know that you have Tak, Weiss and my dear Yang to thank.” She said to me as I looked at the pale skin of Indigo, his chest rhythmically raising and lowering peacefully. “They happened upon him during their return to the Academy, he was found badly bleeding and near death.” She informed me. I looked at her for a moment before reaching for his hand and took it into my own.

“How… how is he alive?” I asked her as I stared at him. Mavis walked up to me with a little smile and said.

“Perhaps it was his lucky day.” She said with a quiet chuckle.

“Yes! A very lucky day!” Another voice said. We both looked and saw Axycia opening the curtains as she stepped in. She wore a doctors uniform and some glasses. “You have to thank the two of us, my sister was able to pull him back from Deaths door… Not the crazy one or that Mother wannabe.” Mavis chuckled at this and she was joined by her sister as well. I felt his hand lightly squeeze mine as if he was conscious enough to feel my hand holding his.

“What did you do?” I asked her.

“Well, as I was giving him a checkup, I found that there was some connection to whoever turned him into the half grimm being.” Axycia explained to me before looking at her sister. “I don’t know what happened when I cut it, either gave it a headache or simply blew up her head. But I don’t think we should care.” I looked at Mavisath, hoping to know that what Axycia said meant what I think it meant.

“She is longer in control, as of now he is a free man once more.” Mavis told me with a nod. I slowly smiled at her as tears started to well up in my eyes again.

“Yes well, there’s still the Grimm part of him to deal with.” Axycia said with a bit of a frown. “This woman integrated the Grimm into this man's DNA, taking it all out would be simply destroy his body alone.” I gave her a scared look at what she said.

“You can’t!” I yelled, fearing that I would lose him a third time. Mavis shook her head and quickly said.

“We never said we would.” Mavis said to me, calming my nerves a bit before she added. “But we can't leave him like this either, he'll be prone to a rage-induced outburst that will inevitably trigger a feral side of your Indigo.” She explained before a syringe with glowing yellow liquid in it.

“So… why not introduce some Dust and some Staubgrimm DNA to him.” Axycia said in a matter of fact tone. “It would change his looks a bit, but I’ll be overseeing that part.” Axycia then smirked a bit. “So… if you want him to look a bit different, or do some- Ow!” Axycia yelped as Mavis stomped on her foot.

“If Miss Branwen truly cares for the man, she wouldn't need to alter his appearance.” Mavisath said to her with a frown. I frowned at Axycia as well as she spoke.

“I was kidding! Jeez.” she said with a slight frown. Mavis soon turned to look at me and said.

“Anywho, the dust chosen to be infused with his blood is yellow dust and the DNA to allow his body to accept the dust is that of a Thundermore, now keep in mind there might be some side effects to this.” She explained with the syringe in hand.

“What side effects?” I asked them. The two of them looked at each other for a few moments.

“We… don't exactly know for sure.” Mavisath was the one that said this and Axycia nodded as her sister said this.

“For now, I would like him to stick in a room where I could keep an eye on.” Axycia said. I frowned at her.

“You mean him lock up?” I asked, only to see her shake her head.

“No, he can come and go whenever he wants when he has the wellbeing to do so but again, just want to keep an eye on him.” Axycia explained. I looked at Indigo as he muttered something incoherent, feeling his thumb caress my hand.

“I want to be with him.” I told them. I turned to them with a serious face. “I will fight both of you on this, I’m not leaving him.”

“Ha! I like you!” Axycia said with a laugh. Mavis laughed alongside her sister before walking up to the other side of Indigo.

“It is best to give him the injection now, doing so while he is conscious will bring only discomfort.” She said readying the syringe. She looked at me, waiting for me to give her the go ahead. I looked at the man lying in bed. I held his hand in mine as I looked back and nodded. With that Mavis stuck the needle into one of Indigo’s visible veins before proceeding to inject the contents of the syringe into his veins, eliciting a groan of discomfort from the unconscious Indigo. The glow of the yellow liquid traversed his veins before he was encompassed in an electric aura. The aura slowly vanished and the glow in his veins dimmed. Mavis retracted the needle and healed him soon after, she looked at me and nodded before looking at her sister. “I must get going, it is my turn to pick up the children today and I don't want to be late.” She said before vanishing with a flash. Axycia shook her head before melting into shadows, leaving me holding Indigo’s hand. I turned back to him and simply stayed there.

It has been two days since Mavisath brought me to Indigo, my Indigo and throughout this time he has been in a comatose-like state. I never left his side even for a second, even to go and eat so it was brought to me thanks to Mavis. Now, like the past two days, I simply sat beside the unconscious Indigo waiting for him to wake up but the lack of sleep was slowly getting to me, my eyelids slowly but surely gotten heavier by the minute. A yawn escaped out before I shook my head, trying to wake up a bit more. I still held his hand, something to ground me so I knew this isn't a dream.

Suddenly and to my surprise, a groan escaped from Indigo’s lips. This was enough to awaken me fully for sure. Another came from Indigo and I felt him tighten his grasp of my hand slightly, it didn't hurt but it did surprise me. Then it happened, slowly but surely his opened and the first thing I noticed was his irises. No longer were they red with hatred, they were an electric yellow similar to that of a Thundermore.

“Wha…” Was all he could utter, no doubt suffering from a dry throat. I sat there as tears well up in my eyes again, feeling I've cried more these past few days the I have in months. His gaze then noticed me and even if he could speak, he’d just be left speechless. I was a mess, there was no arguing about that but I don't think he was looking at how messy I was. He let go of my hand but I refused to let go as he raised it up to cheeks before wiping away the tears. “I can't stand watching you cry.” He managed to say with a dry throat. I let out a shaky sob as I smiled a bit. I reached up and held his hand next to my cheek as I stared at him.

“It something new, being a little more emotional…” I said with a sad smile. I don't know how long we stayed like this but I didn't care much to know either, just seeing him awake was enough to bring me to tears, tears that lasted for quite some time. Indigo just kept silent and let me have this moment as he wiped the tears away. After some time I helped him sit up in the bed and handed him some water which he drank all of in one go. “I've missed you.” I whispered to him.

“I've… I've missed you too.” He said to me, smiling at me as he did before finally taking notice of his surroundings. “How did I… I thought…” He muttered confusingly.

“You were brought here and patched up.” I told him with a smile. “You're not going to die.”

“But Salem-”

“Isn't going to take you again.” I said, cutting him off. I pulled his hand closer and kissed it. “I'm not losing you again, twice is enough and I'll kill anyone who tries.” He was silent at this, a look of doubt on him as he closed his eyes for a moment.

“I can't feel her presence… not even a trace, its as if she was never there.” He said opening his eyes again. “I'm… free?” He said this in a way that the concept of freedom was a foreign thing for him.

“Yes… you're free…” I said as I leaned forward to kiss him. He was surprised at this and it made me worry that I might've jumped the gun a little too early but he was quick to relieve me of my worry when he pulled me closer, returning the kiss in full. When I pulled back I stared at him with a blush on my face, not sure what to say next. He didn't utter a word, only giving me a loving smile.

“I recommend to not jump him right away… and maybe go on a few dates.” a voice said. We both turned to see Axycia there with a clipboard in hand. I blushed even more at the thought as I sat back down. Indigo blinked with a blush of his own, though his was more noticeable through his pale white cheeks. “I see you awake, and a bit younger as it seems… your welcome by the way.” She said as I looked at Indigo and saw he was a little younger but not as much. Axycia stood by the bed as she started to run tests. Indigo looked at me oddly as she this before saying. “Looks like the injection did its work, the Grimm was replaced and slowly healing up to a healthy state.”

“What?” Indigo managed to say through his confusion. Axycia gave him a look before explaining.

“Whoever did this to you gave you the power of the Grimm, it doesn't control you anymore but you had a high chance to go feral and start attacking anyone you can see. But we administered something to replace the Grimm in you with something sorta like it.” Axycia explained. Indigo nodded at the explanation, understand most of it but at the mention of having injected him with something similar to Grimm DNA but different with yellow dust added to the mixture.

“So… I won't turn into a grotesque Grimm?” He asked Axycia, gaining a confused look from the both of us. He rubbed his grimm like arm as he added. “It's complicated.” He said. Axycia then shook her head and spoke to him in an informative tone.

“No, no grotesque transformation.” Axycia said as she looked down at her clipboard. “From now on you're no longer half Grimm, you're now a half StaubGrimm man or a staubgrimm Faunus.” She informed him. Indigo wasn't sure how to react to this, on one hand, he is no longer a Grimm but to him being a staubgrimm is no better, no doubt due to his lack of knowledge of the peaceful creatures. I placed my hand onto his Grimm like clawed hand, reassuring him that it was fine. He looked a little surprised that I held his grimm hand but he soon grasped my hand as well. “Unfortunately, we couldn't do anything to heal your skin but we did make sure you wouldn't suffer the effects of being ghoulishly pale.” Indigo nodded at this in understanding, being grateful that at the very least he has his freedom.

“Thank you, ma'am… for everything.” He said, giving her a bow of his head. In doing this, I was able to notice the streaks of yellow on his hair, they shone as if they had electrical currents running through the streaks.

“No need to thank me, I still have to keep an eye on you just in case so be mindful.” She said before turning to leave. “I'll be back a few minutes, need to check on something.”

With that she left us alone. I looked at Indigo and saw him looking at his Grimm arm with a frown. I reached over and placed my hand on top of his, giving him a smile as he looked over at me. Slowly but surely he grasped my hand with Grimm-like claw hand, being careful to not hurt with his sharp claws. I moved closer to him and brought my lips onto his, giving him another kiss that he returned in kind. When we pulled away, we both let out happy sighs.

“You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that.” I whispered to him with a smile. I placed my forehead on his, keeping our faces close to one another. He raised his arm pale white hand to brush a lock of hair away from my left eye, making sure it doesn't obscure my eye again. His saw the scar that ran down to my cheek and simply caressed it lovingly.

“You have no idea how lucky I feel right now…” He whispered to me. His smile soon faltered before saying. “But why love a monster such as me?” He asked me. I smiled at him as I held his clawed hand in mine.

“I've seen monsters after the Fall… you are no monster.” I said before blushing a bit. “You were also one of the few that didn't think of me as a kid that got all they wanted.” He smiled a little at my words before pecking my lips with his. I stifled a giggle before kissing him for the third time. He held me closer, eliciting a blissful moan from me as a result. I pulled away and smiled at him. “What about me? I've been through a lot since the Fall.”

“Well for one, your smile… it makes you shine brighter than any dust crystals and it gives me a reason to make you smile more.” He said with a smile of his own, caressing my cheek as he spoke. “You brought out the good in me back in Beacon. You helped me out of a dark place, one I never thought I'd ever escape.” He said. I smiled at him as I pulled myself onto his bed and laid next to him. “So I guess we're a couple now, huh.” He said, draping an arm around me. I hummed in response, my head resting on his chest, feeling it go up and down rhythmically with each breath he took. “I kinda hate myself for making you wait for you so long…” He muttered under his breath. As I laid there with him, he soon began to gently brush my hair with his fingers though it was then he noticed my grown out hair. He didn't say anything about it, simply brushing it silently much to my delight.

“Like my hair?” I asked him as he did this.

“It looks good on you.” He said with a quiet chuckle and another brush of my hair. I smiled at him before snuggling up to him. “This feels nice.” He said with a blissful sigh.

“Yeah… it does.” I whispered as I laid there in his arms. It was at this moment when Axycia came back.

“Don’t get up, I’m only here for a few moments.” she said before glancing at us. “In a few hours you can leave this bed, I want to see you once a week to see how you are faring and if something happens that’s out of the ordinary, come find me. I have a shop in the town nearby.” she then turned to us with a frown. “And do change your name. Having two Indigos with the same name will give me a headache.” With that she left, leaving us to ourselves and Indigo to think on what she said of the name change.

“There's another me?” He suddenly asked. I looked up at him oddly.

“Don’t you remember what happened two days ago?” I asked him. He thought on this for a minute or two before finally saying.

“Hazily, bits and pieces are there but not a whole lot.” He answered, looking down at me as he did. I sighed as I spent the next hour or so explaining where we are and everything. Things got interesting when it came to the second Indigo, the second Ruby, and Anthro Ponies. He listened intently at my explanation, intrigued by it all but was confused at the mention of anthropomorphic ponies, even more so when I mentioned that there were three subraces. Pegasi, Unicorns and Earth Ponies.

“Oh yeah and then there's Celestia and Luna, both of them rule over the land. Celestia is what's known as an Alicorn, another subrace of Pony with her being the only one to my knowledge.” I told him in an informative tone. Indigo blinked once, then twice before finally sighing with a smile.

“Such a strange place this is.” He said, smiling at me as he spoke. “So you've mentioned that this place is an Academy?” He asked me with a curious tone. I nodded at his question, refusing to lift my head up from the comfortable position, I was able to hear his heart beating. “Well, won't the students… you know… attack me?” He asked me, gesturing at his appearance. Before I could say anything I heard a tapping sound from outside the certun. We both look until a hand holding a mug was seen.

“I would like give you two a heads up that I’m right here.” A voice said that I was all too familiar with. Ozpin stepped in with a green jacket and pants that matched his scales. He took a sip from his drink before saying. “Sorry for the interruption but from what I heard I had to see for myself.”

“Ozpin? You're alive… and a faunus?” Indigo asked with surprise, he truly wasn't expecting Ozpin’s appearance nor knew of his reincarnation. Ozpin simply chuckles at this.

“Never gets old.” he said with a smile before walking over to us. “Yes I’m Ozpin, but not the same Ozpin that you may know… and yes, I’m a Faunus.” Indigo nodded at this, though a little confused still.

“What… What brings you here?” Indigo asked him.

“Well, other than miss Branwen here, I believe you would want to see a friendly face.” Ozpin explained, gaining a nod from the pale Indigo.

“It helps, thanks.” Indigo said with a nod. With that said I saw some movement from the curtains and saw Sylph put her front paws up onto the bed too look at the two of us.

“What are you doing here Sylph?” I asked the Dust Grimm. She made a sound as her ears flicked a few times.

“Aww, aren't you just a little cutey.” Indigo cooed at the sight of Sylph. Sylph looked at pale Indigo for a moment before sniffing him and then she sneezed out a puff of frosty air. “Huh, is she allergic to me?” He asked though I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. Ozpin chuckled, finding his question amusing despite not knowing if Indigo was joking or not.

“Anyway, I'd hate to suddenly leave but I'm having lunch with Zecora today and I'd rather not be late.” Ozpin said before giving us a wave and headed over to the door. At the mention of lunch, Indigo’s stomach let out an audible growl. He placed a hand onto his stomach and said.

“Food sounds good right about now.” He said with a sheepish smile. Ozpin chuckled again before leaving me with Indigo and Sylph. I got out of the bed and helped Indigo to his feet. Sylph sat by and watched us do this.

“You think you’ll be alright?” I asked him. Though when I got a good look at him, I couldn't help but blush at the sight his topless form. I heard a snort from Sylph as she stared at me. “Oh come on, what’s wrong with me staring?”

Sylph tilted her head before leaving the two of us alone. Indigo looked over to his discarded armor on the floor next to the bed before frowning and shaking his head. He soon looked at me and smiled.

“Lead the way, beautiful.” He said in a flirtatious tone before chuckling soon after he said it. I smiled at him before helping him out of the infirmary.

“Are you going to take her idea? The whole name thing?” I asked him as we both walked out through the infirmary door. He thought about it for a moment.

“Yeah… I think it'd be best if I did.” He said before crossing his arms with a look of thought. With his arms crossed he was able to see his ghoulishly pale arm with a few noticeable yellow veins running up it. “Gol.” He suddenly said.

“Gol?” I asked him. He nodded and said.

“Yeah, it used to be the name of my best friend. He was the G in INDG.” He said smiling fondly at the mention of his old friend before frowning a little. “I want to use his name in memory of him.” He said, looking at me as he did. His eyes showed determination, he wanted to do this. I smiled as I leaned up and kissed him again.

“Alright… Gol.” I said with a smile. We headed down the long hall that led to the cafeteria, on the way we passed by a few onlookers that stared at Gol as we walked by. It was until one of them, a female with dog ears came up to us.

“Hey… are you okay?” she asked Gol in a worried tone. “You look a little pale.” Gol nodded at her, signifying that he was fine. She gave him an odd look before nodding as she ran off to see to her other classmates. I looked up to see Gol looking back.

“Hey, I’m over here.” I said with a small chuckle. This got a chuckle from Gol before we continued on and finally making it to the cafeteria. It was full of students chatting and eating their given meals. The line was fairly short, we were lucky to be spared from the initial rush and were given our meals. The big thing about our meals were the sizeable Ursa steaks. We were quick to find a seat to finally have our eats. Gol was quick to begin his devouring of the steak and I could help but laugh at the sight though I did notice, through my laughter, that Gol had some sharp fangs no doubt from the Grimm infusion that was forced upon him.

I pushed that thought to the back of my mind as I ate, believing that for today, today was a good day.

Author's Note

A Thundermore Faunus... Sure why not xD

Meeting Gol and the Birth

After Ind- Gol woke up from his two-day-long coma, I've been showing him around the Academy and getting him accustomed to his new environment. He mentioned how it reminded him so much of Beacon, the castle aesthetic was no doubt the cause of this. I giggled at him as he thought that as we continue walking. I've been explaining to him that even though the Ponies are close by I've only seen a few that came over. This lead to my duel with Blueblood, which I groaned as I remembered it. He had burst out in laughter at how I won the duel, mentioning how he wish he could've seen Blueblood’s face when I headbutted him. We finally arrived at my room, which I haven't been into for the passed two days and it was quite messy, reeking of rum as well. Mavis must've missed a few things when she restored my room.

“Huh, little messy here isn't it?” He jokingly asked. I blushed a bit at the sight and Gol pointing that out. “You look cute when you blush, you know that?” He asked me, smiling at me as he did, caressing my hand with his.

“I would've punched you if you were anyone else.” I pointed out, making him laugh. He entered the room and picked up a few of the scattered book laying around, placing them down on top of a tilted shelf before correctly lining the shelf. I watched him do this and remembered his state of clothing. I blushed a bit more before adding. “Umm, do you want a shirt or something?” He chuckled before jokingly flexing.

“Didn't think you wanted to cover this up.” He said teasingly with another flex of his arms. I let out a shaky sigh as I saw this but shook my head.

“I don't know, maybe?” I asked as I looked over to my wall of pictures.

“I'm fine without a shirt for now, I don't know why but I don't like the idea of wearing a shirt right now.” He said to me before he scratched his back. I looked back at him with the blush still. I didn't say anything as I picked up one of my books. With his help I was able to get the rest of my room cleaned and when I put away the last of my books, I noticed Gol looking at the open flask by the bedside table.

“That was yours… had it with me all this time.” I told him, looking down at the floor after that. He picked it up before shaking his head and putting back down.

“I rather not have to vomit out my own liver again.” Gol muttered as he placed the flask back down. I gave him an odd disgusted look but didn't push that subject due to reasons. I walked over behind him and wrapped my arms around him as i placed my head on his ghoulishly pale back. He chuckled at this but said nothing, simply letting me have this moment. He somehow managed to turn himself around in my arms despite the tight embrace. He planted a kiss on the top of my head, eliciting an appreciative hum from me as a result. I yelped in surprise when I felt him pull me down to my bed. We both let out a laugh soon after we flopped down to the bed, holding each other close in a loving embrace. Every now and again, Gol planted more kisses atop my head. I smiled at this as the two of us laid that, my head on his chest hearing his heart. “It's like I've died and gone to heaven.” He whispered, though it was a little muffled by my hair. I laughed at this before nodding.

“Yeah…” I whispered back. We stayed like this for what felt like hours and each moment was absolute bliss, a feeling I'd never thought I'd ever feel in such a way.

“Not that I don't like laying here with you… but you want to go do something?” Gol asked me, once again brushing my hair. “I've been out for two days, I've got a lot of energy to spend in me.” I heard him say.

“If you want, what do you want to do?” I asked him as I looked up at him. He shrugged at this before suggesting.

“You could introduce me to your friends.” He suggested to me. I hummed, nuzzling into his chest as I thought about it.

“Yeah, we can do that… but are you going to be shirtless when we meet them?” I asked him. He thought about it before finally speaking up.

“You have a jacket my size?” He asked me. Much to my disappointment I had to get up away from Gol to go look through my closet. I found a large black jacket that I gotten some time ago that is was way too big for me, maybe even for him. I pulled it out and showed it to him.

“Does this work?” I asked him. He nodded with a smile before I handed it over to him, allowing him to put it on. It fit perfectly on him, making me think that maybe it was a gift for him. With each sleeve he put on, I let out a whine as he covered himself up which earned a chuckle from him. He zipped the jacket up and nodded at me. I walked back up to him and he was quick to wrap me with his arms. I giggled happily, still finding it weird hearing myself like this after being trained to be cold-hearted Huntress by Raven.

“Shall we go?” I asked him with a smile.

“Whenever you are, babe.” He said, planting another kiss on the top of my head. I smiled at this as the two of us left my room and down the halls. We walked down the halls hand in hand, though the jacket concealed most of his pale skin, it did nothing to hide his pale face and pitch black eyes from passers by. Some even reach for their weapons instinctively, only for me to growl at them threateningly. Luckily I was known to be quite the fighter and when I threatened those that raised their weapons, they immediately lowered them and hurried along. Gol didn't mind the stares, though he has mentioned that he'll need to get used to it. We soon found ourselves by the library, a place I rarely hang around but Gol looked at in interest. As we entered we heard yelling.

“No! The bookshelves aren’t places you can nap you damn pigeon!” the voice of Iilah yelled up at someone. I wonder who?

“I’m no damn pigeon!” another voice that I knew yelled back. Oh, it’s Skyler. Both Gol and I saw Skyler was up on one of the bookshelves with Iilah on the ground yelling at her about sleeping on top of the bookshelf.

“Wow, this place is big.” Gol awed at the seemingly endless lines of bookshelves. Iilah took notice at the both of us, eyeing Gol as he pulled out random book and looked at cover before putting it back. “These books seem ancient yet they look absolutely new.” He marveled at the books.

“Thank you.” Iilah said with a smile on her face. “It’s nice to see someone that cares about books like I do.”

“Egghead~” Skyler said on top of the bookshelf. Iilah’s smile disappeared as she pointed at the bird Faunus.

“I swear, I’ll come up there and pluck every feather from your wings and make a cloak out it of it if you don’t come down!” Iilah threatened. We all heard a snort coming from nearby as Qo seemed to wake up from a nap.

“Huh? What?” she asked as she looked around sleepily before yawning. When Gol looked over to Qo, he was quick to do a double take. He looked at me then at Qo before back at me.

“Umm, am I missing something here?” He asked me, confused as to how and why Qo resembled me so much. Talking about Qo I noticed her laying her head back down on the table and sleeping again.

“Remember I was saying there was two of me? A second Ruby?” I asked him. Gol nodded as I continued. “That’s Qo, Ruby’s daughter… kinda.”

“Judging by the kinda, I'm going to take a guess that it's a complicated story.” He said, focusing his gaze solely on me before adding. “I'll figure out the story behind her in my own time.” He said with a smile. Iilah gave Gol curious glances, having never gotten a good look of him during our initial encounter. I gave her an odd look which made her look away.

“If you’re wondering that’s Iilah, the oldest being in this castle.” I said to Gol, earning a frown from the woman in question.

“Huh… I wouldn't have guessed.” Gol said with an arched brow. He walked over Qo with a slight frown before gently raising her head up, revealing that she was using an open book to rest her head and the page that it was open on was covered in drool. “Really…” He said in slight disgust. As he did this Qo opened her eyes again.

“Hmm? Five more minutes…” she said with a yawn.

“Library's aren't for napping.” Gol said to the groaning Qo, he held the book in a way that allowed the pages to dry.

“Oh Qo, come on!” Iilah said as she took the book Gol had and carried it away.

“Sorry~” Qo said before looking at Gol. “Your eyes are cool~”

“Uhh, thanks I guess?” He said questioningly. He soon walked back to me before Qo could mutter something else in her tired state. Qo blinked a few times before passing out for a third time, muttering something about sheep. As we stared we saw some small bolts of electricity course through her hair.

“That’s her semblance by the way, she can store and control electricity.” I informed Gol. He nodded at this before saying.

“Shall we continue the tour, love?” He asked, holding his arm out for me to wrap mind around. I smiled at this as we left the library and continued on. Again there were more stares but none tried to pull their blades, seems word spread about Gol as we walked past. Along the way, we passed by many classrooms that most of which were occupied.

Our walk was somewhat uneventful, we did get to see Sylph walk out from a hidden passageway. Gol and I watched as the fox Dust grimm walked away as if nothing happened. I knew there were passageways hidden in the Academy but seeing them in use is still an odd sight, even odder still when it’s Sylph using them. After our moment of confusion, we stopped by the training hall used for sparring matches and judging by the sounds that were muffled through the door, there was a match in progress. We entered and saw Tak sparring against my sister.

“Yang actually cut her hair?” Gol asked baffled at the sight of the short-haired Yang.

“Yes, like there’s two of me, there’s two of Yang as well but… well both of us have very big differences.” I told Gol. He nodded as he watched Tak effortlessly dodge Yang's attacks, eliciting cheers from Weiss. Tak had his weapon with him, the old handmade cleaver, but he seemed to be doing well without using it. Tak surprised Yang when he ducked under her powerful swing, the very same that cracked through Gol’s helmet during the fight, and swept Yang off her feet. With a surprised yelp she fell onto the floor with a thud, giving the match to Tak. The latter raised his hands up in victory. Yang grumbled as she got up to a sitting position and looked at Tak.

“Good fight.” she said simply.

“Don't be sour, you're the one that wanted to fight me.” Tak said to her as he crossed his arms. Yang only grumbled out something incoherent. Weiss was quick to run to Tak and congratulate him with a kiss that Tak was eager to return. I smiled a little as I squeezed Gol’s hand a bit. When the two lovers pulled away, Tak smiled at Weiss and said. “Thanks, hun.” He said to her in a loving tone. Weiss smiled at her husband before seeing the two of us.

“Oh, didn’t see you two here.” she said, gaining the attention of Yang. She turned and saw the two of us and stared at Gol. The latter gave everyone a wave of his pale hand. “Who are you?” Weiss asked Gol.

“Gol… Gol Parker.” He answered, introducing himself to all. Everyone looked at each other.

“Parker? The same as Indigo and Blake Parker?” Weiss asked.

“Maybe.” Yang said as she got up. She dusted herself off a bit before looking at me. “What’s up sis?” she asked with a smile.

“Nothing really.” I said with my own smile. Yang seemed to react oddly.

“Oh Oum! She’s smiling! It’s the end of the times!” she joked, only to annoy me. I frowned and grumbled at her about this. Gol nudged a bit to gain my attention and when I looked over to him he was simply smiling at me. I smiled back at him, seeing him smile made me happy.

“You're the one we found.” Tak said to him, gaining everyone's attention. “Two days ago me, Weiss and the other Yang were returning from a simple mission and came across you.” He said, facing towards Gol and allowing Gol to see his dull grey eyes.

“Yes! Now I recognised you… odd you look different.” Weiss said as she looked at Gol. “You feeling alright? It’s been two days since we found you.” Gol nodded at this before saying.

“Thanks for that, I'd most likely be dead by now if it weren't for you.” Gol said to Weiss and Tak, giving them both a nod of his head. The two of them smiled at this as Weiss had Tak’s hand in hers.

“So you two are just wondering or what?” Yang asked the two of us. Gol looked at me, waiting for me to answer my sister's question.

“We been walking around the school, showing Gol around and stopped by here.” I told Yang before looking at Gol. “Which I have to ask, you want to head off or stay?” Gol merely shrugged and smiled before simply answering with.

“Plenty of places to go, not a lot of daylight left. Onwards, love!” Gol exclaimed in a chivalrous tone, no doubt just joking around. I laughed at this as the two of us left, leaving the other three alone.

“Wait… what?” was the last thing I heard from my sister as we left, the sound of confusion in her voice made me giggle. On the way down the halls we ran into Ruby as she had her nose in a notebook and muttering something. She ran into Gol and was knocked over.

“Ahh!” she yelped as she fell back onto the ground. Gol was spooked as well but nevertheless helped her up.

“You really should pay more attention to where you're going.” Gol said before handing Ruby her notebook.

“Sorry! Sorry, I really should…” she said as she got her notebook back. “Ah! It’s upside down and- oh wait that fixes my problem… Thanks!” Ruby said with a bright smile. I cleared my throat to get her attention.

“Ruby, this is Gol, Gol my cheerful kid twin from another version of Remnant.” I explained to him. Ruby smiled at him in the same cheerful way.

“Big difference between the you two, didn't think it be this big.” Gol said with a quiet chuckle as he held me close. Ruby looked at the two of us oddly.

“Is it the hair?” Ruby asked, looking at her bangs as she asked that.

“... sure, it’s your hair.” I said to her. Ruby stared at me before shrugging.

“So what are you two up to?” she asked the two of us. This time I looked at Gol and waited for him to answer this. He rolled his eyes at me before saying.

“She's showing me around the Academy and introducing me to her friends, we'll probably end up outside laying on the grass during the sunset.” He said, explaining to Ruby what we're doing. I looked at him oddly at the mention of laying in the grass. “It's been a long time since I've felt the grass without being… you know, a Grimm.” I gave him a sadden look while Ruby made a confused one.

“What? What about being a Grimm?” She asked.

“It’s a long story.” I told her. She stared at the two of us before saying.

“Yeah, okay… now if you excuse me I have to go get the the forge to do some tune ups.” she said before walking around us and headed down the halls. I turned to looked at Gol before speaking.

“You want to go outside?” I asked him.

“That sounds nice.” He answered with another smile, which in turn made me smile. Hand in hand the two of us headed outside. We crossed the grounds until we saw someone sitting under a tree. From where we stood I saw it was Viri, which Gol saw where I was looking and looked over as well. Wanting to introduce him to the fox faunus, I dragged Gol over to where she sat.

“Viri? Hey Viri.” I said to her, trying to wake her up. Her eyes flutter open as she yawned. She looked around at where she was before at the two of us.

“Hey… what’s up?” she asked as she put her hands on top of her large belly.

“You could've warned me you were going to do that.” Gol said with a little frown as he rolled the shoulder of the arm I had dragged him with.

“I could, but didn’t.” I said before looking at the pregnant Faunus. “Viri, this is Gol, and vise versa.”

“Hi Gol, I would stand up but…” she looked down at herself and back up. “Kinda hard to stand up as is.” Gol nodded and said.

“It fine.” He said before asking. “When are you do?” He asked her.

“In two months…” she said before looking down. “Though with these two acting up, I think sooner.”

“Really?” I asked her. Viri chuckled at this as she rubbed her belly lovingly.

“Yeah, just a feeling I have.” I told them. She looked over at Gol and added. “How’s your tour Gol?” He smiled and looked at me before saying.

“Couldn't be any better.” He answered her. He suddenly scratched his back, something obviously bothering him.

“You okay?” I asked him, worried that’s something’s wrong.

“I'm-I'm not sure.” He said before quickly taking off the jacket I gave him. He reached onto his back, wanting to feel any abnormalities. “Um, that's not right.” He said, feeling something behind his shoulders. I moved around to look where he’s been scratching and saw something was definitely not right. It looked like something was growing and pushing out of his back.

“I think we need to go see Axycia right now.” I told him as I ran some fingers over whatever is under his skin. I felt him tense up at the initial touch, though another feel of the abnormalities had relaxed him.

“That… that feels nice.” He said with sigh. I gave him an odd look but didn’t say anything for a few moments.

“Viri do you have a way to contract your aunt?” I asked her.

“I do…” she said. I waited a few moments before speaking.

“You mind calling her?” I asked.

“In a moment, I have a very nice view right now.” she said. I leaned over and saw her staring at Gol.

“Hey! That’s my boyfriend you’re staring.” I snapped at her, making Gol look a me.

“And you have good taste…” she said before picking up her scroll and started to tap on it.

“You alright?” Gol asked me, no doubt worried from my outburst.

“I’m fine… just wanted to point out to a married woman that it’s not right to look at other people’s partner or close lover.” I said with a frown.

“Ruby and I aren’t married yet, and I’m not here to steal Gol away. I see eye candy so I had to look.” she said without looking up. I frowned at her as I looked at Gol’s back some more.

“How bad does it look?” He asked me, referring to the protrusions on his back.

“I don’t know, from what I felt it seems like something is pushing its way out of you.” I said as I looked at his back some more. I placed a hand on one of them, gently rubbing when I did. Gol immediately let out a blissful sigh. “This doesn’t hurt?” I asked him. He hummed at the touch of my fingers, whatever I was doing was sending him to cloud nine.

“No… it doesn't hurt, it feels…” He stopped before humming appreciatively at my touch. “Nice.” He said. I looked at him oddly before I felt someone nearby. I turned just to see Axycia there.

“Hello~” she greeted us, making me jump a little. “I heard something is up?” In the surprise I had stopped caressing Gol’s back, gaining a groan of disappointment. Axycia looked over at him with an arched brow. “Oh? It’s more what’s up with him.”

“Is he alright?” I asked her. Axycia didn’t say anything as she walked over to him. Getting a closer look she started tapping where the protrusions are at.

“Easy there!” Gol exclaimed suddenly, arching his back from Axycia’s taps.

“Well then, this is happening faster than I thought.” she said as she leaned back. I looked at her, waiting to see if she was going to add something to that but sadly she didn’t.

“What’s happening to him?” I asked her.

“Nothing much, just growing wings.” she said in a nonchalant way. Gol’s eyes widen at mention of this.

“What!?” He exclaimed in shock.

“Wings, you’re growing wings.” Axycia said again with a little frown for having to repeat herself. “Must be due to the Thundermore injection that’s causing this.” She added. Gol was still confused and he shifted his shoulders, moving the protrusions as a result.

“How long will they take to grow out?” I asked her. Axycia tilted her head a bit to think.

“Oh well, a few weeks at most, maybe a month. That’ll also be with the constant pain as the wings slowly push themselves out and stretches the skin in the process.” She said to him. “Or there’s plan B.”

“Plan B?” Gol asked, intrigued to know more of the alternative.

“Plan B is that I can make it that they come right now… but it’s like a bandage.” she explained.

“That… doesn’t sound so bad…” I said to her.

“Yeah, a bandage that feels like he got hit by a freight train going top speeds with rockets and about to hit the sound barrier. So yeah, a bandage.” Axycia said with a smile. Gol’s left eye twitched while his right pupil dilated, he must've been contemplating between slow and agonizing pain or pure unadulterated pain brought to him in instant.

“Plan B sounds better than feeling my skin slowly stretch out day by day.” He said in a low tone. Axycia raised a brow at this before speaking.

“So you want the quick way?” She asked him. He nodded hesitantly at this, giving Axycia his answer. “Alright then.” Axycia said with a shrug before turning Gol around with a snap of her fingers. She soon placed both hands on the protrusions on Gol’s back before they shone a greyish red light. “This might sting.” With that said and no warning given, she gripped the protrusion and yanked back. The sickening sound of flesh tearing open was drowned by Gol’s scream of agony. The wound created by the growth was soon healed, his new appendages rapidly developing with each shine of the greyish red light. The light vanished when his wings were fully matured and feathered with both black and yellow feathers that bore striking resemblance to the wings of a Thundermore. Even when it was done, Gol was still screaming and it was taking all of his willpower to not collapse from the pain. His newly grown wings twitched and spasmed, sometimes even flapping. I quickly kneeled down to him as Axycia pulled away, her hands still glowing with the grayish red light. His wings soon stopped with its erratic movement before setting themselves down onto the ground.

“Regrets!” Was all Gol could say through gritted teeth. At the sight of his wings, I couldn't help but feel them. Upon feeling the feathers on my fingertips, the wing twitched but calmed soon after it did.

“Well you chose plan B, nothing can help you with it know.” Axycia said with a shrug.

“You could be a little helpful…” Viri pointed out, earning a frown from her aunt. Gol, after being quiet for almost a minute, let a groan that brought my attention back to him.

“I prefer… this than slow… agony.” He said as he panted, out of breath. I was by his side as I put one of my hands on top of his, worried he might pass out. “I'm fine… I'm alright, just a sore back and…” He said before his wings moved up and down, though with obvious struggle. “Yeah… that.” He said. His wings, to his surprise, folded up against his back before his right wing draped over me. “I have… no idea how I did that.” He admitted.

“I don’t know either…” I said as I felt his feathers on my body and how soft they are. “Though I’m not complaining.” I added with a smile. He chuckled at this before grasping my hand, gently caressing it as he did. I smiled at this until I heard some movement from Viri. I looked over and saw Axycia helping her up.

“You sure you don’t want me to speed this up for you?” Axycia asked her niece. Viri stared at her and then looked at the two of us then back at her.

“After what I saw, I’ll wait.” she said. Axycia shook her head before looking at the two of us.

“You should go rest some more Gol, after what you just went through you’ll need it.” Axycia said to him. He nodded at this suggestion, the mention of rest sounding pleasing for him right now.

“Yeah, sounds good.” He said, trying to get up only fall down on his knees again. “I'll just… rest here.” He said before laying back onto the grass, the feathers of his wings caressed me as it flopped onto the ground. I chuckled at this as Axycia helped Viri back to the school, probably to her bed. I looked down at Gol before laying myself down beside him. I didn't want to close my eyes, I just wanted to enjoy being with him. I rested my head atop his chest once again like I did in the infirmary. It was unknown to me how long we were out here but it the sun began to set and it meant that I had to get up. I grumbled a bit at the idea of getting up and it took a lot of convincing for me to do so. I then shook Gol awake, earning a groan and a soft slap of his wing.

“Sun’s setting Gol.” I told him as he slowly woke back up.

“Hmm.” He hummed tiredly as he sat up and groaned, rolling his shoulder and his wings spread open before flopping down beside him. He looked at his wings with a frown, trying to make them fold back. Instead of folding, they flapped mightily which sent him back a tumbling a few feet away. “Hurt!” Gol yelled before groaning.

“Careful!” I yelled at him, running over to his side.

“Ow…” He said with a groan as he sat up. As soon as he did his wings folded up against his back. “Seriously?” He asked in annoyance before standing up. I stood up as well and wrapped my arm around his, stopping him from rambling angrily about his new wings. “Sorry.” He apologized to me with a sheepish smile.

“It’s fine Gol.” I said as I looked at his wings. “I like your new wings.” Saying this, his right wing draped over me once again, giving me warmth with its soft feathers.

“Okay that time it was me.” He then admitted. I smiled as I leaned up against him, feeling his wing on me as I did.

“I love it.” I whispered to him. We headed back into the academy while the sun set over the horizon, once we entered it was alright dark out. The halls had little or no students walking around, either in the library or at their rooms or homes. The only sounds that echoed were our footsteps. Gol’s wing was still wrapped around me which I smiled about as we made our way to my room. “Hey, are you still hurting?” I asked Gol after a few minutes of walking.

“No, I'm just a little sore now which is nothing compared to what I felt earlier.” He answered a smile and a chuckle. He took gentle grasp of my hand as we walked. “Other than that I'm fine, I had fun today… I'm genuinely happy, even more so knowing this wasn't some elaborate illusion.” He said, giving me a smile.

“Thank Oum for that.” I agreed as we came up to my room. “So… want to sleep in the inferminy or in my room?” I asked. He raised a brow at my question but for what was unknown to me.

“Sure, a proper bed sounds nice.” He answered with his smile never faltering before muttering under his breath. “But for some reason, I get the feeling we might be using it for more than just sleeping.” He said though I was able to hear his every word, he no doubt intended for me hear. I gave him a glance before opening the door to my room, the way I left it.

“Here we are.” I told him as I went to my closet. As I did this, he noticed the drawing covered wall. He tilted his head at every drawing I've made throughout my time here but he didn't react to it negatively so that's a plus I suppose.

“You're pretty good at drawing.” Gol said to me, still looking at the wall of drawings.

“Thanks… it’s something I’ve been working on for a long time.” I said as I pulled down some clothes and grabbed the hem of my shirt. “Also don’t look this way.” He let out a whine but looked away before I pulled up my shirt. “Don’t whine at me for this.”

“I didn't tell you to look away when I was shirtless.” He said jokingly. I rolled my eyes as I pulled up my sweat pants.

“Yeah yeah, alright you can look.” I told him. I saw him turn around and saw me wearing only a piece of cloth wrapped around my chest and some loose sweatpants. Viri’s friend Lana said this was really comfortable and I agree. Gol blushed at the sight of my attire and without as much of a warning, his wings suddenly spread open and stiff as well. The two of us stared at this for a few moments. “Umm, you okay there?” He blinked at this and shook his head.

“I-I don't know.” He said with a blush on his cheeks and a stutter in his voice. I looked at him worriedly before walking over if there’s anything I can help with after letting him sit down on the bed.

“Maybe calm down?” I said to him unsure. “Take deep breaths or something.” He did this a few times, his blush subsiding and his wings folded back against his back after a minute of taking deep breaths. “Feel better?” I asked. He nodded before glancing at me, blushing a little bit again. I smiled as I leaned against him.

“I'm fine… I don't know what caused my wings to do that.” He said to me with a quiet chuckle. I smiled at him as he said that.

“Don’t know either.” I said to him as I looked up at him. “You want the bed? I can sleep on the floor if you still need to get used to sleeping with the wings.”

“You are not going to sleep on the floor.” He stated with a frown. He crossed his arms before saying. “I don't want to be the ass that takes your bed so either I sleep on the floor or we snuggle up together.” He said, offering two other choices. I chuckled a bit at this.

“You’re not going to be an ass, besides… I rarely sleep in the bed anyway.” I told him. He arch a brow at me. “Hey, living in a tribe for most of my life, I’m used to sleeping on something other than a bed. It’s oddly comfy… other than rocks.” This got a chuckle from Gol before he and I laid onto the bed. Like I've done multiple times today, I laid my onto his chest to use him as my pillow.

“You're going to use me as your own personal pillow from now on, aren't you?” He asked me with an arched brow. I chuckled at this as I snuggled up to him.

“Don’t hear you complaining about it.” I said to him.

“Never said I was.” He quickly said, draping an arm over me. I hummed appreciatively at this before sleep took the both of us. I felt his wings wrapped around me like a blanket. For the first time in a long time I’ve slept soundly.

One month later

I walked through the forest with Gol behind me as we finished up the mission I was given; look into a new sighting of a new Dust Grimm. As it seems it was Death Stalker type grim with wind like powers. It also was hostile but I believe it was like that due to us coming into it’s territory, so more territorial. I wore my normal outfit when I came here; the clawed gauntlets and hooked boots that were shaped like talons and black and red cloak that, for some, looked like raven feathers.

“You okay back there?” I asked Gol as we walked. I glanced back, seeing Gol flexing his wings. He has mentioned how keeping them folded for so long makes them ache so he had taught himself to flex and stretch his wings. The first few times he had done this, he struggled to even move a single wing but now he did it effortlessly.

“Good, just stretching my wings.” He said before keeping his wings mildly folded back. Glancing back again, I could see Gol’s attire. He had asked Mavis of she could get him a wardrobe that wouldn't stuff his wings into the shirt. What he got was more than satisfactory, beside my own closet a new one had appeared with a variety of clothing for Gol. His attire for today was somewhat similar to Indigo’s old getup, some dress pants, shirt and fancy looking shoes. Mavis mentioned how she had enchanted that set of clothing to have the equivalent properties as the toughest armor known the Academy. The back even had openings for his wings to easily fit through. “That Stalker did a number on me though, I think I felt a rib break.” He added. I chuckled as I climbed up over a fallen tree.

“Just a broken rib? I thought the mighty Gol can overcome small injuries?” I said teasingly. He vaulted over the tree and rolled his eyes at me.

“It caught me off guard, these Staubgrimm aren't what I'm used to fighting.” He said with a frown. I shrugged as I waited for him to be near me before giving him a kiss.

“That’s all I can do for now, feel better?” I asked with a giggle. He thought on it with an audible hum before surprising me a little with another kiss, this one lasted a few seconds longer before he pulled back and said.

“Now I feel better.” He said with a smirk. I fluttered my eyes a bit before letting out a girlish giggle. I blinked as I did that.

“Oh wow, that’s new.” I said with a blush.

“Wow, didn't think you'd be any cuter.” Gol said before walking ahead slightly. I blushed even more at that as I pulled down my mask. I saw Gol looked back at me as I caught up at him. “You alright there, slowpoke?” He asked teasingly.

“I’m fine.” I said without looking at him, the blush was still there after what he said before. He soon draped a wing over me before pulling me closer to him.

“If you say so.” He said shrugging before wrapping an arm around me as we walked. We soon found ourselves on the dirt path back to the faunus town near the Academy. Even though we didn’t talk we walked close to each other with Gol’s wing around me. This made me smile under my mask. We walked through the Faunus town and saw the town’s folk going on with their lives. I saw a group of children run past us playing. The sound of laughter made me feel warm inside. “I still don't believe this place was a village before, a town can't be formed just like that.” Gol said to me.

“Yeah, I believe ever since Forever Free opened up many Faunus over Equestria came here to become Huntsman.” I said as we walked down the street. “Makes you think that, if this place grows bigger, would it clash with Ponyville that’s nearby?” He snorted at the name Ponyville, it's one of the many names he find amusing in this word.

“Maybe, maybe even surpass it. All we can do is wait and see.” Gol said after recomposing himself. A few of townsfolk that walk by us gave us friendly hellos and hi’s. We soon came up on the farm Tak grew up on, seeing the crops growing nicely and a few farmhands tending to the farms every need. I even saw Tak and Weiss helping out around the place. It was still odd seeing Weiss working like she is now for Gol it was even odder. Weiss noticed us and we waved at her, gaining a wave back from Weiss before getting Tak to wave back. Speaking of the blind bat faunus, Gol had many questions about the kid and how could do the things he does despite being blind and while I answered the best I could, most of his question were left unanswered. “That kid amazes me every day.” Gol said, no doubt referring to Tak.

“Yeah, I’m still getting over the fact that Weiss, someone from a high-end family like the Schnees, fell in love with a blind Bat Faunus farmer like Tak.” I said as I saw Weiss with a basket under her arm while picking the crops.

“But she's happy with him, which is really all that matters.” Gol said before we continued on back to the Academy.

“Yeah…” I said before reaching over and taking his hand into mine. “It really does.” He glanced down at me with a loving smile.

“So now that we've done you're mission, we report it to the headmistress?” He soon asked me, his gaze setting back onto the path ahead. The dirt road soon changed to that of cobblestone, signifying that we've nearly arrived.

“Yes, we do.” I told him as we walked off. As we walked I saw a number of students running down the hallway in a rush. It was quite odd.

“What's the rush?” Gol asked out loud. One of the students heard him and slowed down a bit.

“Two people broke water, they both were carried to the infirmary since it’s closer. I think their names are Blake Parker and Viri Mal Kun.” one of the students said before running off. Both Gol and I looked at one another.

“Oh Oum, their giving birth today!” I said surprised. Without giving him any warning and after I asked where the two were, I dragged Gol behind and passed the many students in the way. Gol struggled to keep up, not being able to match my speed. As we got closer I started to hear screaming from both Blake and Viri, the scary part that out of one of the two rooms that they were in flames were coming out. Teachers were there to keep the students out of the way and out of harm's way as Viri cried. I soon saw Ruby standing nearby with a look of worry across her face. “You think they’ll be okay?” I asked Gol.

“They'll be fine… I hope.” He said, adding the last bit with a tone of worry. Time passed as this went on, the students that once crowed the halls left and only me, Gol, Yang, Ruby and Indigo stood by the two doors. The worried look on Ruby’s face as she waited next to Viri’s door. Indigo didn't fare any better, he had to keep himself distracted and even that wasn't working, the well being of his wife mattered most to him and hearing her screams of agony wasn't something he'd ever want to hear again. “I don't what I'd do if I were in his shoes.” Gol said to himself. I put my hand on top of his and squeezed. As we sat I saw Weiss and Tak running over to us.

“Sorry that we’re late, what did we miss?” Weiss asked as both Blake and Viri screamed. “Ah, never mind.”

Looking over at Ruby I saw her a nervous wreck after each scream from Viri passed. She started to shake as she was close to tears after a jet of flame came out. Qo, who came a little bit before Weiss and Tak with Iilah, sat beside her mother with a worried look.

It was another five hours before a new sound was heard, this one from Blakes room, the sound of a baby crying. Indigo couldn't believe his ears even as he was ushered in by Axycia. Iilah waited out here with the rest of us, wanting to wait until everything was calm again but I could tell that she was excited to have a younger sibling.

It was after an hour when the cries of two babies from Viri’s room signaled that the two of them were done, and no more flames coming out of Viri’s room. We waited for the call that we can all come in to one or both rooms. Soon enough Indigo came walking out the room with a big smile on his face. Iilah was the first to speak up.

“So?” She asked as she stepped forward.

“It's a boy… I have a son.” He said as he couldn't even believe his own words. He sat down before repeating. “I have a son.” He said, tears forming in his eyes which was a first for me having never seen him tear up once. Iilah sat down beside him, shocked at the news.

“I have a little brother…” she said. I looked over at Gol to see what’s his reaction is. He smiled at his counterpart’s happiness and watched as Mavis called Ruby into the room next door. Ruby looked at all of us before getting up and walking into the room. We waited until Qo stood up and enter the room as well, wanting to see what’s going on.

After a few moments we all heard a few squeals from Viri’s room.

“Guess everyone's happy.” I said loud enough for everyone to hear. Everyone nodded at this before Weiss looked over at Indigo.

“Did the two of you come up with a name?” she asked him. Indigo nodded and we waited for his answer.

“Brans… Brans Belladonna Parker.” He said, the joy he felt was unlike any other. He had a son, he no doubt repeated his own mind. Iilah had walked up him wrapped her arms around him for a hug, sharing her happiness with the man she could call a father. I smiled at the two of them as Mavis walked out of Viri’s room smiling… and a little burnt. Not very much but it was noticeable.

“It's safe now for everyone to come see Viri. I will go check on Blake to see if she wants any visitors.” Mavis said, snapping her fingers to clean her doctor’s outfit. She must've dressed for the occasion or maybe she didn't want to dirty her dress. Either way, she entered Blake's room. All of us, with the exception of Indigo and Iilah, got up and went into Viri’s room to see her, Ruby, and Qo. The place… was in shambles. Other than the bed and people the rest was smoking and burning from the delivery. Viri laid in bed exhausted, her hair out kept and a few flames were near her. She saw us enter and smiled weakly. She waved at all of us as I saw Ruby and Qo beside each side of the bed holding something.

“Are those…” Weiss started only to stop when Viri nodded.

“Twin… girls…” She barely said as she was close to passing out. I smiled at this as I went over to see the one Qo was holding. She had silver hair with a strip of reddish black and coiled around her head. While only still really young I saw that the baby was healthy. I smiled at this as I looked to see the others coming over to see her as well as some others along with Gol went to see the one in Ruby’s arms. Gol smiled at the sight of the newborn baby girl, he glanced at me with a loving smile before chuckling to himself.

“She's adorable,” Gol whispered to Ruby, not wanting to spook the baby in her arms. Ruby nodded at this as she brought the baby close to her, overwhelming with joy at all this.

“Did you came up with names?” Yang asked the two of them. Viri looked over at her before moving her arm to the one in Qo’ s arms.

“That one is Miho… and her sister is Karen.” Viri said with a tired smile. Ruby smiled at this as she walked over with Karen and handed her to Viri, which she pulled her close with a smile.

“Hi there~” Qo said to Miho with a big smile. “I'm your older sister, we're going to have a lot of fun together.” We all watched as Ruby, Qo and Viri basked in the joy for their new additions to their family. I held Gol as this happened, imagining myself in the scenario with Gol. I quickly shook my head as the blush formed. It was too early to have these thoughts but… a part of me hopes for it to come true some day.

After a few moments, Mavis walked in clean and smiling as Qo looked at her then at her mother. Viri nodded as Qo turned and walked over to Mavis. “Hey, time to meet your Monahsemonah.” Qo said to her sister. [Grandmother]

Qo carefully handed her newborn sister to Mavis. The latter gently took her into her arms, Miho let a few adorable sounds as she looked at Mavis while she looked down at her with a smile. Yang walked up to Mavis and simply watched as she held Miho in her arms.

“I'm so happy for you, Viri.” Mavis said to Viri as she walked up with Miho in her arms. Viri smiled up at Mavis as she held Karen. From where I stood I saw Karen looked almost like her sister, only the hair colour was reverse; reddish black hair with a silver stripe.

“Yeah…” Viri said as she looked down at her child. “I wish my mom was her to see them… and Qo.”

“Wait, I thought Monahsemonah is your mother?” Qo asked, earning a look from Ruby and Viri.

“No Qo it’s… ugh, I’m too tired to explain.” Viri said with a grumble.

“Rest now, dear.” Mavis said, waving her hand a bit with Miho still in her arms. Viri was soon cleaned up of all the sweat and her room was finally restored. “Ruby and Qo will look after your newborns while you rest.” Mavis said, carefully handing Miho back to Qo. As she did this, two cribs for the twins appeared beside Viri’s bed. Within the crib was numerous blankets and pillows for the little ones. When that’s done Qo put Miho down in one of the cribs while Ruby reached for Karen. At first Viri didn’t seem to want to give her up but she soon did as Ruby put her into the second crib.

“Their… so… beautiful…” she said before closing her eyes and passing out. Mavis smiled at this before covering her up a little more with her blanket, letting Viri rest in comfort.

“Ruby and Qo, you may stay for as long as you'd like but as for the rest of you…” Mavis then proceeded to shoo us out the room, even Yang much to everyone's surprise. Mavis was the last to walk out before shutting the door behind her. “With her aura, she will be back up by tomorrow.” She said.

“Those three look happy with the two newborns.” Weiss said with a smile. She held onto Tak’s hand as she said this. Tak smiled as well at his wife’s words and nodded in agreement.

“What about Blake?” Yang asked, looking into the other room. At the mention of Blake, we all turned to where we last saw Indigo and Iilah only to find the spot empty. The door to the room was slightly ajar. “I guess she’ll be alright… right?”

“If you wish to see her, go ahead but be quiet as to not disturb the child.” Mavis said to Yang and the rest. Mavis’ doctor attire was soon replaced with her dress within a flash of light. Slowly we all opened the door and peered inside. We were quick to see Indigo standing beside Blake’s bed, who held their baby boy. Iilah was watching them from afar, giving them the moment. Blake was in tears, crying happily as she held the newborn and Indigo was in the same state as well with tears of joy streaming down his face. I smiled as I stood back as the rest of them went in to see the baby boy. I held Gol’s hand as we watched.

“How do you feel Gol?” I asked him in a whisper.

“It's a little weird seeing another version of myself like this but… I feel happy for him and Blake.” He answered with a whisper as well. I smiled at him before letting go of him. I walked around him until I could take his Grimm hand into my hand.

“Given time, that could be you.” I said with a slight blush on my face. This got a blush on Gol’s pale cheeks but he smiled and chuckled quietly.

“Yeah… given time.” He said with a nod. The two of us smiled as we stood out in the hallway, hearing some talking before Yang peeked her head out to look at us.

“Hey, you two staying out here or coming in?” she asked us. The two of us looked at each other before nodding as we followed her in to see the baby boy.

Author's Note

Meet the twins! It seems everyone is getting kids xD

The Wedding

I counted to a hundred and fifty as I was doing pushups, after a mont. since the birth of the twins I wanted to get back to shape. Luckily Mother was there for the help… unluckily was her training as she sat on my back cross-legged as she held Miho in her arms feeding her.

“You know… that’s my job.” I told her as I did a hundred and fifty one.

“Yes but you also requested to get back into shape immediately after you could walk.” Mother said as Miho continued to suckle. I grumbled a bit as I did a few more until I was a hundred and sixty-three.

“Ugh, how many more do I have to do?” I asked her as I went back down.

“Eight Hundred and forty eight more.” Was Mother’s answer, her tone suggested that she really wasn't kidding. I closed my eyes at this as I pushed myself back up, only eight hundred and forty seven left. “Who's a little cutey? You are, yes you are.” Mother cooed at Miho, eliciting a giggle from the baby girl before Mother helped her burp.

“Did she have it all?” I asked her as I pushed up. Mother showed me the emptied bottle, shaking it just inches away from my face before pulling it away. I smiled a little as beads of sweat ran down my face. “Just wish… Karen finish her food… been waking up late from her crying for more food…” I said as I breathed.

“I'm sure she's fine, it's common for the little ones to act that way.” Mother said to me as I pushed up once again. Miho giggled happily in Mother’s arms. I smiled at Miho giggling as I continued working out. I already lost the weight I gained when I had the two in me and now starting to show some muscle, with some other noticeable changes.

“The extra weight… is somewhat killing me!” I said as I continued doing push-ups.

“I'm afraid you'll have to get used to it, dear. You'll need to feed your young ones somehow.” Mother said, rubbing my back comfortingly. “And I'm sure Ruby doesn't mind the change.” She added jokingly. The first part was, somewhat, alright. Due to being pregnant with twins I went up a few cup sizes which made me a little self conscious about them. The second part of what Mother said made me blush.

“Remind me to go someplace to get some new bras in the future…” I said as I continued.

“No need to worry, I'll have your old bras replaced with your current size.” Mother was quick to say. “All you needed to do was simply ask.” She said before snapping her fingers. I sighed a bit as I continued my workout. It took me almost an hour and a half but I was almost done.

“Nine hundred and ninety eight… nine hundred and ninety nine… one thousand…” I said before flopping onto the floor. “...can’t...feel...arms…” Mother looked down at me with an arched brow before saying.

“I think Miho wants you to hold her now.” She said to me, followed by a giggle from the baby in question. My ears perked up at this as I felt Mother get off of me. I slowly rolled myself to a sitting position and looked up at mother. “She wants mommy to hold her now, isn't that right sweety?” Mother asked Miho while the baby looked at me and reached her tiny arms over to me. With a smile I raised my arms up to take her into my arms. My arms protested with soreness but I ignored it and was given Miho. I smiled down at her as she started laughing and giggling, making me giggle as well. “How are you and Yang?” I asked Mother as I looked up at her.

“Good, great even and with the addition of Hotaru Yang and I couldn't be happier.” She said to me with a smile before cooing at baby Miho as she giggled in my arms.

“Yeah… Ruby said that Yang seemed more happier than ever.” I said as I held Miho in one hand and started wiggling my fingers with my other. Her tail wagged happily as she reached out for my fingers. Mother smiled at me as we heard a knock on the door. We turned to see one of the other students there.

“Hey, the Headmistress wants to see the two of you up in her office.” the student said to us. I nodded before looking over at mother as she nodded at the young faunus man to leave.

“Wonder what she wants?” I asked her. Mother simply shrugged, a gesture I have yet to grown used to seeing her do. She helped me up to my feet and cured me of my exhaustion with a snap of her fingers.

“There is only one way to find out, let's go.” She said, heading out the open door. I followed behind with Miho in my arms as we headed to the Headmistresses room. Once we got there I saw a number of trible items hanging up on the walls as well as a bookcase. There was two couches where Ruby with Karen bouncing on her knee with Yang with her twins and Hotaru in her arms sat where Indigo and Blake sat on the other couch with their kid, a indigo haired cat Faunus boy that had yellow eyes as he was being held in Indigo’s arms. Weiss, Tak, Qo, and Iilah stoodd as Zecora sat at her desk.

“Ah, nice to see the two of you making it.” she said with a smile on her face. Mother bowed her head at Zecora. I waved my hand at the headmistress, using my other arm to keep Miho up. The two of us soon went over to the one couch where Ruby and Yang sat, Kaida and Strun went over to their mothers happily as I sat Miho on my lap. “Now, I wish to inform you all that in a few days a wedding will be happening and-”

“Is it Rose and Lana’s wedding?!” Qo asked happily. “Or is it my parents?!” Zecora chuckled at the sound of that before continuing.

“As much as I want to say that would be true, but no it isn’t.” Zecora informed her, making Qo slouch a bit, before looking over at us. “As it seems I got a message from Princess Luna, saying that the Wedding of…” she looked down at what looks like a royal note on her desk before speaking. “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor, will be happening in a few days and she ask me and the top Huntsman or Huntresses would come and witness this event.”

Zecora leaned back as she continues. “It seems most of the other schools have heard of us and some… events that are tied to this school, like the time RB challenged Blueblood to a duel and won, and the time the chaos spirit Discord turned into a janitor to our school.”

“I believe I’ve done a good job at it.” a voice said. We all turned and saw the Chaos spirit leaning up against a wall with his cat wrapped around his neck sleeping.

“Mommy mommy! It’s the mismatch man!” Kaida said pointing at Discord which he simple smiled at her. Indigo frowned at him, not having forgiven him for what he did.

“Yes you have indeed.” Mother said, giving Discord some credit for keeping up with his janitorial duties. I watched as the chaos cat seemed to look up as it hopped down onto the ground. Kaida and Strun giggled as they ran after it, playing around. The sight made me smile as I looked back at Zecora. “Back to the matter at hand, so wish for us to go to this wedding?” Mother asked Zecora.

“Yes, I believe out of everyone you all would be the ones.” she said before adding. “I also talked to your other friends, these Guardians, Miss Rose and Lana wish to come as well as the other two are mixed on that idea. As for RB, her sister and Gol… well… They won’t be coming due to either ‘not really into Weddings’ or ‘Punching Blueblood again if I see him’ quotes.” Mother and Yang chuckled at this while Indigo and Blake had to hold back a laugh after being reminded of Blueblood's defeat.

“When is the wedding?” Tak asked Zecora with a bow of his head.

“Again, in a few days, I was also told that her student and her friends are also going to be going as well so I asked if you all, if you want to go, to go with them as they board the train.” Zecora said. We all nodded at this and thought on our decision. Indigo and Blake agreed to go along, to our surprise so did Iilah despite her claim of hating the city full of nobles she wanted to come along. Tak and Weiss agreed to go as well. Mother and Yang nodded as well, deciding to come along as well. I looked over at Ruby as she smiled as the two of us also would go, as well as Qo who seemed to also come.

“What about your kids?” Weiss asked, mostly to me, Ruby, Yang, Mother, Indigo and Blake.

“I'll ask my sister if she and Theodore could look after them while we're away.” Mother said, gaining excited responses from her Kaida and Strun, excited to see their Aunt and Uncle. Again I looked at Ruby and saw a forced smile on her. I felt the same way as the idea of leaving the twins was… well, we wouldn’t really like the idea. In the end we agreed to have my Aunt look after them as we went off to attend the wedding, it didn’t mean that I had to like it.

At the end Zecora told all of us to go and get ready to leave in the morning. Ruby and I carried the Twins as we followed Mother and Yang as we all headed home to get ready.

The Next Day

“And they both have to be in bed by seven thirty or they'll be cranky in the morning… and if Miho can't fall asleep she has a plush Nevermore she'll sleep with… and make sure Karen is fed fully or she'll be hungry later… and-”

“Viri!” Axycia yelled, making me stop talking. “I know your nervous but honestly everything is going to be fine.”

I gave her a worried smile as I was ready to go to the wedding in Canterlot. I knew it was going to be fine but… they were a month old! And I was going to be fine for a few days and- I felt my aunt's hand on my shoulder and smiled at me. “Go have fun, and when you get back they'll be here.”

I nodded as I gave her a hug as I turned to see the twins looking over at me. I walked over and have them a kiss on their forehead. “Mommy’s going to be back in a few days. Mommy will miss you two…” as I pulled away I heard a few whimpers from the two that made my heart heavy. Maybe there was a few thing I need to- oh wait Axycia is glaring at me. I soon gave them a goodbye as I quickly left. I found everyone waiting outside of the school.

Theodore was currently talking to Indigo and Blake, the latter explaining her baby boy’s likes and dislikes as well as when to feed him and put him to bed. Indigo was worried as well, the well being for his son taking priority, he even threatened his own grandfather that if he were to see a single scratch on Brans, not even Axycia could save him. Theodore only nodded, knowing his words spoke truth he knew he could stand against Indigo. Brans, in Theodore’s arms, was reaching out for him mommy and daddy which made it much more difficult for the two to leave him with Theodore.

Weiss and Tak were making sure their attires were neat and fixed. Weiss had to adjust Tak’s tie a bit before giving him a kiss, saying how handsome he looked even without the shoes the suit supposedly came with. Mother and Yang had already left their children under the care of Axycia, Mother trusted her sister to keep them safe from any harm. Mother wore a much fancier dress than her normal one, this one had golden trimmings on the end of her long skirt and on her wrists were decorative golden bracers which with the necklace she wore, added to her regal look. She looked more like a goddess than she usually does and Yang was quite happy with the sight, seeing her wife dressed up so well. Yang wore the same dress she wore to the Gala, albeit a few adjustments here and there such as the ends of her skirt flickering like fire and the colors being that of the sun.

Indigo wore a suit fit for a character in one of those mafia movies I've seen. Blake was in the dress Indigo had bought her, finding it a good moment to use it seeing as it hasn't been used in almost a year, more so counting our time in the Ark. Speaking of the Ark, Lana and Rose were there waiting as well, they didn't want to stand out so they wore simple dresses, similar to what usually wears but it was more fitting for an even like this. Rose admired Lana’s beauty with the dress, no doubt mentally thanking the countless stars above for the gift that is Lana. The latter wasn't comfortable wearing a dress, having stated that she prefers wearing heat inducing armor than to wear a dress but she swallowed her pride and put it on, knowing that eventually she had to wear another one, the other one making her center of attention for her big day which I've heard that they are planning. As I got closer to them I heard them talking.

“You look amazing Lana.” Rose said with a smile. Lana shifted slightly and smiled.

“Thanks Rose…” she paused as she looked away. “The answer is still no.”

“Oh come on! I feel so… open without them.” Rose complained to her. I chuckled a bit until I ran into someone.

“I'm sorry I didn't- oh.” I said as I realised who I ran into.

“No worries Viri.” Ashe said with her armor and helmet on. I saw beside her was Hound and he too was wearing his armor. I smiled at the two of them as both Lana and Rose came over.

“Why am I the only one without guns and armor?” Rose asked with a frown. Lana rolled her eyes at her fiance’s words before crossing her arms and saying.

“Cause then you wouldn't get any of this tonight.” Lana said, gesturing at herself as she walked ahead of Rose.

“Really? I thought it was more of no one wants to see my Robot face.” Hound said with a shrug to which Ashe sighed. Rose stared at Lana for a few moments before quickly walking after her with a slowly forming giddy smile on her face. I shook my head as I looked at the other two.

“You two coming with us on the train?” I asked.

“No, we have another way there.” Ashe said.

“Yup, spaceship.” Hound said before the two of them headed off as Rose came back with Lana in tow, holding hands and smiling.

After some time I saw Ruby came out wearing a red dress that sparkles a bit. I blushed at the sight of it as she came up to me.

“Hey.” I said to her with a smile.

“Hey.” Ruby said in return.. Seeing that everyone was present, Mother’s hand shone a bright golden light before snapping her fingers, creating two large wormholes. From within the wormholes, two large chariots flew out, each one driven by an armored Dovah, no doubt from Mother's escorts from Skuldafn, the realm Mother rules over. The Wyverns that dragged the chariots behind them, flew down towards us, landing gently with a growl like noise emitting from each of them.

As they landed I same a little spark coming from the left as Sparky came hopping over to the two Wyverns. Qo and Iilah close behind.

“Whoa…” Qo said as she saw the two Wyverns. Mother smiled at this and gave a gentle pat on the Wyverns head, earning what no doubt was a purr. The doors on the chariots opened up to reveal the luxurious seating inside.

“Please enter in an orderly fashion.” Mother said, letting everyone enter first with Yang waiting beside her. Me, Ruby and Qo entered one chariot with Blake, Indigo and Iilah. Weis and Tak entered the second chariot with Rose and Lana along with the other two guardians. The first thing we all did was marvel at how big it was from the inside, it was big enough to live in.

Indigo sat down before Blake sat comfortably on his lap, turning to kiss him soon after she sat down. Iilah sat comfortably beside them before finding out that she can recline her seat and sighing happily when she did. Ruby and I sat down next to each other as Qo sat beside me with Sparky jumping up onto her lap and curling up into a ball. It was a minute of squirming a bit that Sparky was laying on the floor at Qo’s feet, which at this moment Iilah’s pet, the Glowtail from the Ark, came in and doing the same at Iilah’s feet. Iilah had named it Tos though it was unknown as to why she chose that name. Both Qo and Iilah leaned back in their seats as we waited to head off.

Mother soon brought a bell that she soon rung, no doubt signaling our driver for take off. We felt the floor rumble and shake before it stopped, with a look at a nearby window, I could see that we had already taken off. Iilah and Qo both let out simultaneous snores, having fallen fast asleep just seconds after takeoff. Ruby and I chuckled at this as we sit back and waited until we landed at Canterlot. Mother and Yang sat next to each other hand in hand smiling as we flew. I was surprised to feel the ground shake again so soon, it even woke up Iilah and Qo. I looked out window, confused as to why we had landed.

“Why did we land? We can’t be there already.” I said as I looked out of the window and saw a few buildings. Mother chuckled at this before answering.

“We're not, we're just picking up the others.” Mother said before opened the chariot door with a wave of her hand, outside the door were Twilight Sparkle and her friends staring at the chariot in shock and confusion. Mother saw this and stood up from her seat, which gained a whine from Yang as a result before Mother walked up to the open door before gesturing for them to enter. One by one they all entered and even with six more beings in the chariot there was still enough space. Did it grow?

“What’s all this?” Jacqueline asked as she was the last one that came in.

“This is our ride to Canterlot Palace.” Mother answered before she sat back down next to Yang. The latter quickly wrapped her tail around Mother’s and leaned her onto her shoulder. As the six sat down, Skyler and Diana busy checking out there seats, the door closed and we took off again.

“Thank you for doing this Miss… that is, if you don’t mind…” Fluttershy said in a small voice.

“Miss Fluttershy, there is no need to be shy around us.” Mother said the light pink haired Pegasus. Mother then smiled at her and said. “We're all friends, are we not?” She asked her with her calming smile. Fluttershy smiled and nodded before seeing Tos and started to talk with Iilah.

“Well, it needs to be said that I absolutely love your dress!” Rarity said with a huge smile, making her other friends roll their eyes at her as she continued. “Who made it for you?” Mother smiled at this before answering.

“I did as a matter of fact.” Mother answered with a little pride in her tone. Rarity was quick to notice Yang’s dress as well, even more so when the bottom of her skirt flickered like fire and how the colours were of the sun, a fiery yellow with a tint of orange. “And yes, I did that one as well for my loving Yang.” Mother said before giving Yang a loving peck on the cheek. Rarity’s eyes widen as her jaw dropped as she made a notebook appear and started writing or drawing something down. Yang rolled her eyes as she gave Mother a peck on the cheek as well. As the others talked with each other I saw Twilight looking out of the window with a frown on her face.

“Is something the matter Miss Sparkle?” Mother asked the frowning unicorn mare. Twilight didn’t say anything as she stared out of the window, making Mother frown a bit.

“Don’t mind her, she’s upset that her brother is getting married and didn’t get told about it.” Skyler said as she leaned back in her seat.

“Ah believe the two are close.” the Apple farmer added. Mother arched brow and nodded at this with a hum. The rest of the flight we left Twilight alone to her thoughts, even Drake decided to keep his distance from her. After almost an hour later, we finally touched ground and judging by what I saw out the window, many guards and nobles surrounding our chariot in curiosity.

“Looks like we’re here… wonder why there are so many guards?” Jacqueline asked out loud. We all saw the door to the chariot open, revealing the armoured Dovah that drove the chariot just moments ago had opened it. It spotted Mother and simply nodded. Mother nodded back before standing up first.

“Well, what are you all waiting for?” Mother asked us as Blake and Indigo were standing up. Iilah was quick to rise up to her feet with Tos on her shoulder. The rest of us did the same, Sparky climbed up so he was on Qo’s back and looking out at her head. Qo didn’t seem to mind as we Exited the chariot. The six girls looked at the armoured Dova as they stepped out. This made me chuckle a little.

“Whoa…” Ruby said as she looked up at the Dova. As we all stared at the guard Twilight seemed to be on a beeline towards something as she marched off somewhere. I wonder where she was off to but after hearing that she had an issue with the Groom so I didn’t really question it. We heard the snapping of the Wyvern’s mouth, someone must've gotten too close for comfort.

“There you guys are!” We all heard the familiar voice of Weiss as she appeared from the crowd with Tak and the others in tow. At the sight of Weiss, some nobles murmured and whispered, referring to her as the one who rejected Blueblood's advances. Whether Tak heard them or not, he didn't seem to show it. I smiled at the two of them as Lana and Rose stepped out, earning some more muttering and whispers. Lana looked at them all in some confusion as Rose stared with a frown on her face.

“Been here for two minutes and already hate it.” she said to herself. Lana, while confused as to Rose’s dislike of the place, held her hand in hers and gave a loving peck on the cheek. The affection given to her perked her up, her sour mood vanishing.

“Cheer up, ignore what those pesky ponies say about you. I for one find your light blue skin to be quite the eye candy.” Lana said to Rose. Rose blushed at this before pulling Lana in so she can wrap an arm around her. The other two stepped out, many of the Ponies gasped at the sight of them. The two simply ignored them until one of them made a slight comment to Hound, which caused the Titan to raise up and flipped him the bird as he walked past. This made a lot of the nobles to mutter and whisper angrily.

“I never was one for nobility, prefer being alone or with friends.” Hound said as Ashe nodded.

“Same, mostly in a library to read or meditating.” Ashe added. The armoured Dovahs from both chariots have managed to disperse the crowd and even make the guards back off with just a point of their spears. Even without the spears, they had the guards quivering in fear with their intimidating height. From the dispersing crowd, Celestia and Luna walked over to us, not far behind them was Twilight yelling at a white-furred stallion with a blue mane. From where I stood, I saw that the stallion was tired.

“It’s good to see you all here.” Celestia said as Luna stifled a yawn before smiling again.

“Good day your majesties, I thank for inviting us for the wedding of your dearest niece.” Mother said giving them both a formal bow. Yang followed suit and so did Tak and Weiss. Celestia and Luna smiled at their formality.

“Yes, I believe the Headmistress of Forever Free is with you?” Celestia asked, looking around.

“Ah, well, as it seems something came up at the school and she sends her apologies for missing this.” Weiss informed her. Tak nodded at this, confirming this to be somewhat true. In actuality, Zecora had forgotten that she and Ozpin had plans for today and couldn't come with. Now I wonder, are they a thing or simply friends?

“Well I do understand when somethings do… come up.” Celestia said before looking around. “I have to ask, where’s Discords?”

“He’s not coming.” Qo said without missing a beat. “Says that he’s not one to be a wedding crasher, or anymore.” she tilted her head at Indigo and Blake when she said that. Indigo mumbled something to himself but Blake was quick to calm him down, she had somewhat forgiven Discord but entirely. Unlike Blake, Indigo grew mad at the sight of the former mischief maker.

“It is best if he didn't, I'm sorry to say.” Mother said to them while Indigo was calming down with Blake’s whispers. Celestia nodded at this.

“Well, I do hope the next few days will be…” she stops and glances around to see the large number of guards. “Pleasant.”

“Is something wrong?” Iilah asked, making herself known to the royal sisters. Celestia shook her head at this before smiling.

“It’s nothing.” she said before Luna yawned again.

“As much as I wanted to stick around and chat, I have something to be doing now.” Luna said as she turned around and headed off, followed by two guards. Celestia sighed at her sister before looking at us, then at the large Dovah standing above us.

“Guessing you don’t need any guards to escort you anywhere.” Celestia said as she stared at the large Dovah guard.

“We’re Huntsman, do we need guards?” Iilah asked as Tos looked up and snatched up a flying bug. The Dovah let out a low growl when Celestia looked up at it. Mother caught the Dovah guard’s attention with a snap of her fingers. The guard turned to face her and knelt to one knee, his head bowed down.

“Hi aal kos sahvol fah nu nuz dein hin dein vok, Zu'u fraan vul fus lov.” Mother said to the large armored guard before giving him a pat on the side of the head. [You may be excused for now but keep your guard up, I feel a dark force near.] The Armored Dovah bowed his head deeply before speaking.

“Geh shir Monah.” He said before standing at full height. [Yes dear Mother.] He turned to the other guard and repeated what Mother said to the other guard, who I now noticed was female. I raised an eyebrow at this as Celestia looked at Mother a little confused at what she has said. Qo seemed to look around at the buildings and beings around us with a big smile on her face.

“What's got you so excited?” Iilah asked the excited Qo as her Wyvern stood beside her.

“This place looks so cool! And shiny!” Qo said happily. Iilah rolled her eyes before walking up beside her parents, which gained another curious look from Celestia.

“Now then, shall we meet the bride and groom?” Mother asked her, wanting to be polite and ask for permission to see the soon to be weds. Celestia nodded as Twilight came over with the White stallion with a blue mane, which now seeing up close is two tone. His armor was a mixture of gold armor and purple cloth with a shield at his side.

“He’s the captain of the guard?” Indigo asked mockingly in a low tone, holding back a laugh much to Blake’s annoyance. Iilah stifled a giggle. I had a feeling that the groom should have frowned at that but he simply shifted a bit sleepily.

“Yes, I’m the Captain of the Guard.” the Stallion said. “Names Shining Armor, and you all are?” We all took turns introducing ourselves but when Tak uttered his name, Shining immediately recognized his name much everyone's surprise.

“Wait, you’re Tak?” Shining asked him. Weiss frowned at him as she stood next to Tak.

“Um, yeah.” Tak said, tilting his head a bit at him. Weiss quickly wrapped her arms around one of his before saying.

“He’s also my husband.” she said with a frown. Tak smiled a little bit at this, grasping Weiss’s hand as he did.

“Err, right.” Shining said, not so sure how to take this. Twilight stepped up to speak.

“Also Shining is my big brother.” she said with a smile on her face which Shining Armor smiled at as he looked at all of us.

“And where is the bride to be?” Mother asked the two of them with a smile.

“In the castle, just about to show my little sister her now.” Shining said as he looked at Twilight. Mother nodded and asked.

“Mind if we tag along?” She asked as Yang wrapped her arm around Mother. Shining looked at her before shrugging.

“Don’t see why not.” he asked before taking account of everyone. “Err, do you mean all of you?” I looked around to see Qo and Iilah were already gone, seeing Qo dragging Iilah to explore the place. I chuckled at the sight, her curious mind is always wandering.

“You all go on ahead, me and Ashe are going to explore a bit.” Hound said before looking at Ash. “Or I’m exploring and you’re off to see the library?”

“My, you know me so well.” Ashe said in a sarcastic tone. Hound shook his head.

“You Warlocks, always in libraries.” he said.

“And you Titans on your walls and smashing things.” Ashe added as the two head off. Indigo and Blake watched as the left before facing us and Indigo spoke up.

“Me and Blake are going to make sure Qo and Iilah don't get into trouble.” Indigo said, gaining a nod of agreement from Blake before the two said turned to the direction Qo and Iilah had gone to and walking off. Tak and Weiss said they were also going to go exploring as the rest of Twilight’s friends were escorted off somewhere, leaving just Ruby, Mother, Yang, Rose, Lana, and myself.

“Guess it’s just us eight.” I said to which everyone nodded before following Celestia into the palace. Upon entering the palace, we were greeted with patrolling guards and the decorated halls. We all marveled at the decorations that we passed as we followed the two Ponies.

“This looks… pretty…” Rose said, looking up at the decorations before looking back at Lana with a little discomfort as she walked. Lana held the Awoken’s hand as they walked beside each other. I turned around just to see a Faunus woman with long pink hair and some Ram horns coming out of her head. As we approached she glanced over at us and I got a shiver up my spine.

“Everyone, this is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.” Shining introduced to us.

“Hello there.” She greeted us. I shifted a bit as I stared, something felt… wrong. I saw Rose frown as well as her eyes shone a bit. Mother arched a brow, no doubt sensing whatever I felt.

“Good day, Mi Amore.” Mother greeted and bowed with Yang doing the same. The Ram Faunus raised a brow at this before bowing a little.

“Sorry if I don't know any of your names, it's been a long time planning for this wedding.” She said in a tone that wasn't rude but neither nice. It sounded more that she didn't really care. Mother didn't like her tone but said nothing about it, Yang noticed Mother’s frown.

“Well then we wouldn't want to bother you now, we simply wanted to meet the bride and groom.” Mother said, putting up a smile that I knew wasn't genuine. Lana was a little distracted comforting Rose in her discomfort of being here in a dress and without her weapons. Cadenza simply nodded before turning away and walking off, followed by Shining Armor and Twilight, the latter which looked a little confused as she talked. My smile dropped as I watch her disappear down the hallway.

“Viri… you okay?” Ruby asked me. I looked over at her then at the others before answering.

“Yeah… just peachy.” I answered her half the truth. I knew I shouldn't do that but after talking to the Ram Faunus and the general feel of everything I believed that telling her the truth would make things difficult.

“I'm sorry about her behaviour, she doesn't usually act like this but her big day is coming in a few days and she's in charge of planning it, the stress of doing so along is unbearable.” Celestia said, defending the ram Faunus’s behaviour. Mother and I nodded at this though still a little suspicious.

“Yeah, some of us understand how that is…” Ruby said as she looked over at the rest of us. “The planning is… well….”

“The planning is hell.” Yang finished her sisters sentence. Mother hummed in agreement to Yang and Ruby’s words. Rose looked where the Cadenza went off with a frown. She didn’t say anything but I believe she had the same thoughts about her as both Mother and I. Celestia chuckled at this before saying.

“Well, I do hope your stay here is pleasent, if you want I can have a few rooms set up so you can sleep in until the wedding which will take place in two days.” Celestia offered. I smiled at this, nice to see that we can have a place with some privacy and relaxation.

“That sounds lovely.” Mother said, her faux smile replaced with a real one.

“Well, I better send word to have some rooms made for you all to stay in, if you will excuse me.” Celestia said as she headed off in a different direction. As she walked farther away, we noticed a few guards eyeing us suspiciously before following their princess. Mother noticed one of the glass murals, seeing them depicting what looked like Twilight and her friends defeating what used to be Nightmare Moon. Another mural next to it depicted Discord's defeat and imprisonment in stone by… Twilight and her friends.

“Hey… why does there murals say Twilight and her friends doing all this stuff? Didn’t we do that… kinda?” Ruby asked us.

“I believe it’s pride,” Rose said as she looked at the murals. “From what we seen, the Ponies are, by far, very prideful. The idea of a Faunus or other creature other than a Pony would wound said pride.”

“Hmm, pride will get them nowhere.” Mother said, placing a finger on the mural and causing it to crack. This earned a frown from Mother. “A Mural should be made to last, this will shatter by the smallest gust of wind.” She said.

“If Hound was here, he would agreed.” Rose said with a nod.

“How so?” I asked her, to which Rose gave me a look that what she will say is going to be funny.

“He’s a Titan, and Titans love their walls. Built to stand against anything and to last.” the last part made her look down, as if this made her remember something. Lana stood by her and hooked her arms around hers, pulling Rose out of her train of thought. “Anyway, Celestia seems nice and would’ve put what really happens up but, I doubt it.” Mother waved her hand over the crack, fixing it as if it were never touched.

“Perhaps she will eventually, all we can do is wait and see.” Mother said before looking back at us and adding. “So shall we wander the halls?”

Author's Note

Pony nobles man, and they say Griffons are prideful?

The Wedding Clash

It's the day of the wedding, and things were getting heated a bit. News of Twilight believing the Ram Faunus princess isn’t who she says to be and getting scolded by her own brother for this, also the fact there's a large dome of magic surrounding the city for protections which were staring him and making him sleepy and oddly more drone like. This got a laugh from the three Guardians when they heard it.

Speaking of Guardians Mother and I were sitting in the grand library with Tak and Weiss along with Ashe, somewhat, she was meditating as part of her study which wasn’t knew to me since she does the same position like Weiss and Tak when they meditate, only difference was she was floating off the ground.

“So what do you make of all of this?” Mother asked me, bringing me out of my thoughts. I looked at her oddly before she said. “You mumble to yourself when you're in deep thought.” She said.

“Oh, sorry.” I said before continuing. “It’s about Twilight’s outburst, all of her closest friends turned her back at her and said she was being crazy. They all been through so much why would they do that?” I asked her, gaining everyone's attention. Mother shook her head at this before saying.

“Clearly they haven't been through enough, friends do not turn against one simply because of an outburst.” Mother said, gaining Tak's full attention. Tak had been the most suspicious of the bride to be out of all of us, he mentioned that he could sense the wrong within her. I stared at Mother for a few moments before looking at the Warlock Guardian floating near us. After a day since we arrived in Canterlot we finally got to see what she looks like; like Rose, she too was also an Awoken only her skin was a dark purple, her hair was made to look like a fiery mohawk and her eyes was a bright orange colour.

“What about you Ashe? What are your thoughts on this?” I asked her.

“I believe the young unicorn is like a child and her friends are that of the same, simple children.” she said simply. I frowned at her answer.

“Do you see your other friends like that? Rose and Hound I mean.” I asked her.

“Rose is a goofball that loves to tease and joke while Hound is headstrong and blunt with little humour to say at least.” Ashe replied in the same was from her last reply.

“Then, you would turn your back on them?” Weiss asked her, making the Awoken Warlock turn her head to stare at her.

“Of course not, why would I?” she asked before turning back. “Again Rose is a goofball but she has the guts to stay with the group until the end, even if it kills her over and over again. Hound is blunt but his heart is big and large, thinks everyone is his friend.” Mother smiled at this while Tak was still in deep thought, his eyes closed and his mind elsewhere.

“Rose is very lucky to have you as her friend.” Mother said to Ashe. Ashe shrugges at this before saying.

“I feel like we can all speak about what’s important, like how this Ram woman isn’t who she says she is.” Ashe said to all of us. Tak opened his eyes at the mention of today's bride.

“Twilight has mentioned how she is kind and caring about others. I felt none of those things within her, not a trace only malice and hate.” Tak said before shivering at the two words. Ashe nodded.

“Not only that, there’s a large number of others that share that same trait as her, all connected to one another.” Ashe informed us before adding. “This isn’t some small thing, this is all planned.”

“How… do you know all this?” Weiss asked. “From what I heard and saw, you never even talked to the bride or the guards.” this caused a chuckle from the Guardian.

“I don’t need to talk to them, I can simply sense the truth if I shut what’s around me and look into the Void’s Light.” Ashe explained before adding. “Your husband has sorta the same thing as I, which I’m impressed by it.” Tak bowed his head at this while Weiss wrapped her arm around his

“Really? You could simply sense that from the guards?” I asked her.

“Of course, but if you ask Rose she says that I’m paranoid which… she has a point.” Ashe admitted as she floated down to the ground and landed on her feet. “From the first time we set foot here, I didn’t trust anyone that I saw, not even the giant guards your mom has…” Ashe stopped and looked at Mother, expecting her to speak up about this. Mother arched a questioning brow at this before shaking her head with a sigh.

“Your paranoia is unhealthy.” Mother simply said to the Warlock.

“Don’t take it the wrong way, the last time I dealt with something larger than me and out of this world it was trying to kill me.” Ashe pointed out. “My paranoia is unhealthy, but I prefer that than having a spear through the back.” Mother rolled her eyes at this but accepted her answer.

“So what do we do?” Weiss asked all of us, including Tak who had his head on her shoulder. Weiss, after having asked her question, hummed as Tak lightly nuzzled his head on her neck, a gesture Weiss has come to love from Tak.

“Right now, we can only wait to see if they act out today.” Mother said, her eyes shining brightly before she closed them. “Your weapons will be given to you at the time of action.” Mother added, opening her eyes once more. I groaned and grumbled at this, feeling the idea that I forgot Molten Fox back home. I shifted a bit before we all got ready to head where the wedding will be held. When we got there I saw the rest of us were seated other than Hound who wasn't present at the time and Mother was nowhere to be seen.

“Have any of you seen Mavis?” Yang asked me upon sight of me, me and Ruby both shook our heads, making Yang worry more about her beloved. Tak and Weiss stood by, Tak had his eyes closed and deep in thought. As we waited the wedding music started and saw Princess Cadenza walking down the aisle in a beautiful wedding dress that flowed behind her. The sight of her made me picture Ruby in the same kind of dress as I stood waiting on our wedding day. I put my hand in top of hers and squeezed while Cadence made her way to Shining Armor who looks a little out of it… like he was in some sort of trance. Soon enough she arrived at the altar and stood in front of Shining Armor with the latter blinking lazily.

“Mares and gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to witness the union of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor.” Celestia began, her words echoing through the large Gathering hall. I would've pair more attention if it weren't for the ruckus being caused outside. I was seated farther away from the door, so getting up isn't an option right now. Cadence was rushing Celestia, skipping the vows much to everyone’s confusion. Celestia, although confused at Cadence’s rushing, skipped the speaking of the vows. “Anywho, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you-” The doors were blasted of its hinges and tossed aside by an invisible force. Through the cloud of dust Mother walked out with an angered expression, her large sword in hand and its blade shining brightly.

“Enough!” Mother yelled angrily.

“What are you doing!?” Cadence yelled in shock, her husband to be blinking lazily once again. Everyone’s attention shifted to Mother as she raised her sword at Cadence.

“This wedding is not yours!” Mother said through gritted teeth. Cadence, hearing Mother's words, scoffed at her before crossing her arms and saying.

“Then who's is it then?” She asked, finding Mother's words amusing.

“It's mine!” Yelled someone else through the smoke as it cleared, revealing a dishevelled Cadence and a bruised Twilight. Everyone here looked at the three before looking at Cadence in the wedding dress, then back again. No one seemed to talk and the only thing was heard was the heavy breathing of Twilight and dishevelled Cadence. That is before the one in the wedding dress started to laughed.

“Oh? Are you so sure about that? How can anyone here really believe that’s the real one?” the Cadence in the wedding dress asked with a smug look on her face.

“Tak, cover your ears.” Ashe said as she made a purple light appear in her hand and tossed it into the air. Tak covered his ears as everyone looked up at it.

“Now what in Equestria is th- AHHH!” the Cadence in the wedding dress screamed as well as a number of guards did the same. I saw her form shimmer from the Ram Faunus to a darkly skinned being. My ears flattened on top of my head as there was a loud ringing sound. It feels like I’m having a headache.

“What… are you doing?” I asked her painfully.

“Sorry, didn’t think this would affect you or any other Faunus here other than Tak.” Ashe said before the orb of light purple light was destroyed by something. We turned and saw that instead of the Ram Faunus in a wedding dress, there was some sort of black skinned bug lady in a wedding dress, and she didn’t look happy.

“And everything was going so well.” The bug lady grumbled as I noticed that the same bug like race replaced the guards around us. “Just didn’t plan on you lot.”

“See that’s the funny part, the bad guys never expect the group with the blue lady in it.” Rose whispered with a chuckle. Lana shook her head at Rose after hearing this. Mother’s frowned deepend at the sight of the bug like woman, her grip tightening around her blade. The bug lady slowly turned to the solar Princess before speaking.

“Surprised? Never once you saw anything odd about your guards, or the Princess of Love~, you Ponies think your all mighty, so prideful.” she said in a smug tone. “You’re up there with Griffons for being prideful.”

“Why are you doing this? Why go this far?” Celestia asked the bug lady, who simply stared at her.

“Really? That’s what you ask first. Have to say that’s the most cliche thing I have ever heard of.” The bug lady said before turning away. “Now then, since plan A ran a foul, time to go with plan B, all of you are going to stay where you are and simply let everything just go as-” before she finishes, all the nobles that were sitting started to panic and run towards the only open door out of this room, which where Mother, Twilight, and the Real Ram Faunus is at. “... planned…”

Mother was quick to have the three of them float over the stampede of nobles rushing out of the room, leaving us and Twilight's friends with the bug lady while she seemed to be angrily muttering to herself. Celestia stood up straight and clearing her throat.

“If I have an suggestion, maybe we won’t do what you consider ‘Plan B’ maybe we could talk and-”

“I’m done talking.” the lady said as bolts of green lightning shot out of her hand and blasted Celestia back. “Time is short for my people to pointless talking.”

“Princess!” Twilight yelled before hopping down and running over to her teacher. The rest of us stood up as the bug lady laughs.

“Now let's get started!” she yelled as there was a loud shattering sound from outside. Looking out I saw the dome of magic that protected the city was breaking down, making way to a swarm of black… something that came into the city. A bright light shone from Mother sword, a barrier shielding all of us from the incoming bug like soldiers. The woman saw this and shot a bolt at Mother, only for her to block it with her sword. The woman fired several more times in rapid succession and with quick speed Mother blocked them all, standing there with a frown. “My, you’re good, maybe better than smoky over there.” the bug lady said as she gestured to Celestia, who groaned as marks of burnt fur were seen.

“You truly have no idea who you are dealing with, Chrysalis.” Mother said before pointing the tip of her blade towards the woman, who Mother claimed to be Chrysalis.

“Hm, seems that you know who I am but no matter, I have bigger things to do.” She said as two bug soldiers appear behind Cadence and grabbed her. She was pulled into the air by them, kicking and screaming as Chrysalis raised her hand. “I’ll have my personal slave deal with you.”

I didn’t understand until I heard her snap her fingers. Every hair on my body stood on end as I felt something coming. “Look out!” I yelled as a torrent of flames came up from the roof of the place, turning anything and everything it touches into ash. With a shine of her sword, a layer of ice formed over the blade before Mother pointed upwards, firing a torrent of frost up into the flames. The two clashed with one another which caused the room to fill up with hot steam.

Before long we could see again and stand in front of us was a Fox Faunus woman with silver hair wearing black clothing that didn’t cover her midriff and legs. She wore what looks like a Grimm mask but with green glowing marks. Her arms were wrapped up with chains that connected to molten axes she had in her hands. I stared at her and got a feeling that I saw her before, just don’t know where. She and Mother faced off one another.

“You wish to face off against me, so be it.” Mother said to the masked fox faunus. Said Faunus raised one of her axes at Mother before speaking.

“Peidiwch â sefyll yn y ffordd y Feistres.” she said, making everyone tilt their heads.

“Hmm, something must’ve gone wrong with the translation spell, no matter,” Chrysalis said before crossing her arms. “Deal with her.” As soon as those words left her lips, the masked faunus woman dashed towards Mother with blinding speed and swung her axes only for them to be blocked by Mother’s large sword. With a deeper frown, Mother pushed the woman back with a flick of her wrist before swinging sword, clashing blades with the woman’s axes.

The two of them blocked each blow the other threw, Mother’s ice sword clashing with the womans fire axes. At points Mother disarmed the Faunus woman but due to the chair attached to the axes she simply flicked her wrist and the axe came back with a strike. For the first time I saw her, Mother met her match in a fight.

Each blow seemed to shake the ground as they went on, sparks coming off of their weapons before jumping back and started to float above the ground. The Faunus woman simply looked up before letting her axes go along with some chains. Grabbing hold of them the woman swung her weapons as they ignited, turning the axes and chains into flaming blades coming right at Mother. She was able to pairy one of them and barely dodged the other before the Faunus woman changed directions and got a hit in before mother could do anything, sending her to the ground. I watched in horror as I saw Mother taking damage from this woman. Said Faunus woman held her weapons by the chains and started to swing them around as if they were flaming whips. As she started her onslaught Mother dashed forward, getting between the woman and her weapons and started to strike her. It happened at blinding speeds but soon the woman stumbled back with large gashes and blood coming out of her.

“I will not go down so easily!” Mother yelled as she swung her blade upwards, slamming the Faunus woman back. I took a breath at the sight that Mother was winning this fight only to hear the bug woman chuckle as the Faunus woman came stumbling forward. Every step seemed painful but we all watched in shock that her wounds that she took were slowlying closing up as steam came out of her. Soon she seemed like she didn’t take any hits from Mother.

Before she could react, the Faunus woman bolted forwards in blinding speed and got a sucker punch in, punching Mother in the stomach before sending her into the wall. The Faunus woman, in another flash, was at the wall and pulled Mother out, throwing her to the other side of the room. I watched Mother getting beat up by some woman that made my stomach sick until Mother was in a badly bloodied as the woman picked up her large sword. The Faunus woman looked at the blade before tossing it up and destroying it with her axe.

“Get up!” Yang screamed at Mother, tears in her eyes as she watched her wife getting beaten. The Faunus woman looked down and grabbed Mother by the hair and pulled her up. Mother opened a bruised eye as the Faunus woman brought an axe up to strike her, only to miss as Mother pulled away, but her long hair was cut short by the burning blade. With an annoyed grunt the Faunus woman grabbed Mother’s leg and with strength the could rivle Lana’s she threw Mother out of the window, shattering the mural. Yang screamed as she bolted after Mother, out of the broken mural and off running. We all took this as the chance to run as we bolted out of the door. The last thing I saw was the Faunus woman looking at me as I ran. With tears in my eyes, I ran out of the room.

It took a while but when we found where Mother was the place turned into a battlefield. Guards and Huntsman fighting against the Bug creatures, along with Twilight and her friends. I saw Yang pulled a broken Mother towards us as we went to her and helped her drag Mother into the Palace and closing the door.

“Lay her down…” Ashe said as she kneeled down beside Mother, who was badly bloodied and bruised. Seeing her like this seemed unreal to me, a being like Mother who I couldn’t lay a finger on, being defeated by someone. Yang sobbed at this as she held Mother’s hand.

“Please… say something… anything…” Yang cried as she spoke. Mother let a pained groan, no doubt feeling the injuries of her current form. Slowly but sure she opened her eyes but she struggled to keep them open as she placed her hand atop of Yang’s. Ashe started to use her powers to make that field that I've seen before, something that made for healing.

“Guys…” Weiss said as she looked out of the door. “I see more of those bugs soldiers coming this way… and there’s a lot of them.” Yang sniffled a bit before standing up. She flicked her wrists and both gauntlets formed around her hands as she walked towards the door. Weiss turned and looked scared. “Yang…”

“Don’t.” Yang said in an angry tone. She pushed open the door before saying. “I’ll give you time to heal Mavis Ashe so don’t waste it.” she said before walking out of the door and closing it behind her. It was a few moments later that the sound of blasts could be heard from outside. Waiting there I frowned as I stood up and turned looked at where we came from.

“Viri?” Ruby said to me as I ripped my dress a bit, showing that I had pants on underneath. I opened my hand and Molten Fox appeared in my hand.

“I’ll be back.” I said as I started to run down the hallway. The shouts of everyone else yelling at me echoed through the halls as I ran, ignoring them until I came to the place where Mother and the woman fought. I kicked open the door just to see the place was now covered in some odd green goop. The Queen bug turned at me as she put Cadence in said goop with her head exposed.

“Oh? What do you want? I’m busy with-” she stopped as she saw my weapon at my side. “Oh, you know that this is foolish.” As she said that the Faunus woman came out with her arms crossed. As I saw her I pointed my weapon at her and fired a few rounds at her. Her aura blocked and absorb the shots. The Queen shook her head as she turned away. “Deal with her will, you slave.”

With a growl the woman dashed towards me, giving me a split second to put up my arms as she knocked me back a few feet. I felt the throb of pain as she did that before I pushed forward, bringing Molten Fox up to a strike. The woman blocked that with one of her axes as she brought her other one to slash at me. I open my hand and made a flame sword to block it, surprising the woman.

“Beth yw hyn?” the woman asked, I think, at me before I pushed her back. The two of us dashed around, clashing blade to blade as sparks and flames burst out. I fell like the training from Mother allowed me to keep up with her but every attack I got on her she simply healed. How is she doing this!?!

Before long I saw something so scary that I never thought I would ever see, it was so bad that I would have nightmares of this for weeks; the woman raised her hand up and a FLAMING FIST APPEARED!!!

“OH COME ON!!!” I yelled angrily as the fist came down at me. I was able to dodge it only to scrambled a bit away as it kept coming at me. With a twist, I was able to cut the flaming fist in half. It turned into embers as the woman kicked me back until I was on the ground with her foot on my chest.

“Ydych chi'n dymuno merch farw?” the woman said. I was breathing heavily as I watched her raised her axe up. “Teithio i Valhalla.”

I watched as the axe came down at me, about to embedded into my head until a voice rang out.

“VIRI! The voice of Ruby yelled out. I turned to see her in the door wide eyed, I turned back to see the axe a few inches away from me.

“V-Viri?” The woman said as I saw her take a few steps back, dropping her axes. “No… nonononono!” The Queen looked over at her oddly.

“What’s wrong with you? Deal with-” she was cut off by a very angry roar. This made everyone stare at one another in silence and I was able to catch a glimpse of a very… VERY large blade before the edge embedded itself into the ceiling. After a second or two it retracted only to embed itself deeper and retracting itself once more before claws embedded themselves through the ceiling before ripping the top of the palace’s gathering hall off, revealing a full Dovah Mother and a very angry one at that. Her scales were a crimson a dark shade of red, one that made the menacing form she took even more menacing. Her eyes, usually having golden irises, were pure white and seething with anger. This a form of Mother I have never witnessed before in my life and I couldn't help but stare in both awe and fear as her white gaze was casted down to the gathering hall. Everyone watched in pure terror as Mother swatted a swarm of the flying soldiers with ease.

“This… made things difficult.” The Bug Queen said in fear as she glanced at the Faunus woman, who seemed to be going through her own issues. “Slave! Do something!”

The woman screamed as she started to claw at her head, mostly at her mask that glowed more green by the moment. Mother saw this and growled at the bug queen, her hand shone a menacing red light and several dark tendrils wrapped around the limbs of the Bug Queen before being dragged against the wall, crashing through many pillars and decorations before being slammed onto the floor. With an angered roar, Mother willed the tendrils to converged into one before slamming against Chrysalis, who was still on the floor. With each slam, more cracks began to form and the bigger the dent in the floor was. As this happens The tendril stopped at the sight of a few of the bug soldiers standing in front of their queen, shaking in fear as Chrysalis groans in pain.

“Submit!” Mother’s voice boomed like a clap of thunder. As this happened those soldiers that stood in front of Chrysalis looked at each other before two of them dropped their weapons and ran off leaving one of them standing in front of it’s queen. Chrysalis groaned as she stood up, one of her arms broken as she looked up.

“No… I won’t… submit…” she panted as she put her hand on the one soldier’s shoulder, now seeing it was a female bug. Mother’s face twisted into an angry face as she was going to do something when the Fox Faunus woman let out a bloody scream as she let out a torrent of flames. I watched as one of the bugs soldiers got clipped in the wing from the flames and quickly disintegrated into nothing, not even ash was made. The screaming kept going which caused Mother’s attention to shift from the Queen to the flames. Said flames seemed to burn the stone and marble as it went by. Mother soon formed a barrier for me and Ruby, the dark tendrils quickly ensnared both Chrysalis and the female soldier that held her up before the tendril vanished, taking them with it. Some of the flames landed on the barrier and I watched as the flames burning through it! Soon it fell down and landed on my leg, only to watch a burst of golden flame shoot out off of me. I looked up at this before a thought came to mind.

Wihtin an instant I got up and ran straight for the screaming piller. “THIS IS A BAD IDEA!!!” I yelled as I jammed a fist into the torrent of flames of doom! The flames turned into a golden colour before dissipating, letting the woman go before falling down onto the ground. The mask seemed to have a crack in it and the green light was gone. I also saw that the flames burned away the clothes of the woman. Blushing a little I saw a curtain that fell onto the ground before grabbing it and covering the woman.

“Yeah, I know that feeling lady…” I whispered at her. The sound of the blowing wind brought my attention back up to Mother as her entire form was slowly covered in her bright golden light. Within a flash she was gone and besides me on her knees, out of breath and fully healed. “You… okay?” I asked Mother. She nodded a bit before saying.

“Don't worry about me, dear, I'll be fine.” She said with an exhausted smile. I smiled at her as I looked out of the broken murals and saw wave after wave of bug soldiers flying off. Before long the last of the bugs left and the others walked into the room. I saw Rose in a more tarred dress with a number of guns on her, as well as Lana.

“Babe, you look good in that dress… but now you look so hot like this.” Rose said with a toothy smile. Lana rolled her eyes at this but smirked nonetheless. Tak and Weiss walked into the room as well, Tak walked with a bit of a limp in his steps with Weiss helping him walk. Indigo, Blake and Iilah walked in as well with their weapons in hand and their attire in ruins. Qo zoomed past them and tackled me into a hug, I felt her shaking and crying. I smiled a bit as I hugged her back, whispering to her soothingly.

Soon Hound came in with Ashe, in his arms was Yang, bloodied and had her arm in a sling… she was also frowning a bit as Mother saw her. Mother was quick to up and run up to them as Hound gently placed Yang down. The latter was encompassed by Mother’s golden light and healed of all her wounds within an instant. Indigo and Blake noticed Twilight, her friends along with Princess Celestia and Cadence were still trapped within the weird goo and proceeded to help them out.

“What… are you?” Twilight asked, staring at Mavis as she finished healing Yang.

“She’s a flipping Dragon, Twi!” Skyler said with a huge grin on her face. “And that’s awesome!” Celestia looked at the bird Faunus before looking at Mother.

“I don’t think Dragon is the right word.” she said. Mother turned to look at them all with a slight frown.

“I am no dragon.” Mother said, her tattered dress changing into her suit of armour, the same one used when she sparred against me. “I am Mavisath, the All Mother, ruler of the Dovah race.” She said, planting her sword into the marble floor. Everyone stared at her in silence before Skyler spoke.

“I have no idea what a Dovah is but still, so cool!!” she said as her wings started to flap a bit faster in excitement. The apple farmer simply facepalmed at this. The others soon started asking questions to Mother as one of them was where the bug Queen and the one solder is. Upon hearing this, Mother snapped her fingers and the familiar dark red tendril appeared with both of them in its grasp. They were shaking in fear, whatever they saw no doubt scarred them.

“What… did you do?” I asked Mother. She chuckled at that and answered with a smile.

“I showed them their new homes in the Pit if they didn't surrender, speaking of which…” Mother said, looking at the two trembling bug women glaring mostly at Chrysalis. She looked up at Mother for a moment.

“I…” she turned and saw the Faunus woman lying under the curtain as the mask broke off. Her face turned to one of horror. “NOOOO! NONONONO! KEEP HER AWAY FROM ME!”

We watched her scrambling back away from the woman, surprising Mother as Chrysalis spoke again. “I surrender! Just keep her away from me!”

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked her. Chrysalis looked at me as if I was crazy.

“Do you know what she is?! She’s some sort of Godling!” she said as she started to panic more. “I saw her lay waste of anything in the fire! That piller would’ve destroyed everything if it kept going.” Mother frowned at this, no doubt considering leaving Chrysalis to the fox faunus but she shook her head and said.

“Alright, fine but that does not mean you're getting off lightly.” Mother said, crossing her armoured arms at the bug Queen. Chrysalis looked at Mother before looking over out into the city.

“I don’t feel them… they think I’m dead.” she whispered as the female bug soldier regained her wits and slowly pulling a sword to her for defence for her Queen. “I’m no one now…” with a sighed she pushed herself up, her broken arm hanging limply on her side. She looked at it before grabbing it and with a grunt she relocated back.

“Okay… that was badass.” Iilah said as the ex-queen spoke.

“I surrender to you, I’m yours to do whatever you desire.” the Bug woman said as the soldier stood next to her with the sword in hand. Mother shook her head at this and faced the fox faunus woman as she groaned. I saw Chrysalis glance at the Faunus woman every once awhile in fear.

“I will see to her recovery, perhaps I may learn the identity of this woman.” Mother said, waving her hand and encompassing the woman in her golden light. The woman groaned at this, making Chrysalis look at her and Mother with a worried look. “Are you alright, ma'am?” Mother asked the groaning fox faunus.

“Uuugh… what hit me?” the woman asked as she opened her eyes. “Where… am I? Who are you?” She asked, setting her sights on Mother.

“I am Mavisath, you're currently in the ruins of the Canterlot Palace Gathering Hall.” Mother answered her. The fox faunus groaned once again, placing a hand onto her head. “Your headaches will fade shortly.” Mother said.

“Right…” the woman said as she looked around at us, seeing Twilight and her friends with an odd look as she saw Celestia. She then saw Chrysalis and stared. “You’re… odd looking… bug lady.” she said before continuing to look at all of us until she saw me. Her eyes widen as she slowly pushed herself up to stand with the curtain wrapped around herself. “I… I can’t believe it…”

I looked around before looking back at her a bit confused as she stepped forward as I saw her closer I saw her eyes were that of a bright green colour with a bit of orange as well. She stared at me as I stared back.

“Umm, hi?” I said to her, not sure what she was talking about. She reached forward and caressed my cheek a little. It felt warm and… familiar to me.

“Its been so long… I thought I lost you…” she said as she looked at me. I took a moment to glanced at her chained axes that sat nearby and something clicked. I stared back at the woman in front of me as tears started to fall from my eyes.

“M-Mom…”

Author's Note

Well... that happened. Also meet Sara Warren, Viri’s Mom

Bonding time

The day went by smoothly as the wedding went off again, this time without Chrysalis there, saying that she’ll wait for us outside of the city. I didn’t go as well since I was with Sara… my mother.

There were so many questions I had to ask, ones that she tried to answer the best as she could… after I asked Rarity to make some quick clothes for her, which she was happy to do… and quickly to do as well. It was a day later which everyone headed out of the city where, after some walking, we all found the Ex-Queen and the soldier waiting. They turned at us as Chrysalis turned and saw us approach and stood up.

“Now then, is everyone ready?” Mother asked all of us, bringing me out of my thoughts. I looked at the others, seeing them ready. I looked at Mother and nodded at her. With that she snapped her fingers and we all found ourselves back at the Academy grounds, though with a bit of an upset stomach. The two Changelings, as they told me who they were, stumbled a bit.

“As much as I want to talk, I want to go find the little ones.” Yang said before looking over at Mother. “See you soon.” Mother gave her a smile before Yang headed off to find Axycia. Sara, mom, that’s going to be a pain, looked around at where she was.

“Wow… this is something.” she said. As she said that the others headed off to get redressed, leaving her, Ruby, Qo, Mother, and the two Changelings.

“So… what now?” I asked them. Mother looked at Chrysalis with a small glare, no doubt forgave her for ordering my own birth mother to kill me.

“Hey, I didn’t know!” Chrysalis said, glancing over at my birth mother with some worry. “Now that they are related, I believe they are worse!” Mother rolled her eyes at this before saying.

“I will hand you your punishment in due time, for now, however…” With another snap of her fingers, Chrysalis’ ankle shone and golden bracelet formed around her ankle. “If you at any point attempt to flee, that bracelet will send you back to the Pit.” Mother warned her. Chrysalis stiffen a bit before looking down at the female Changeling soldier beside her.

“What are you doing here?” Chrysalis asked her.

“You are my Queen, I’ll stay by your side until I die.” She said firmly. Chrysalis rolled her eyes before looking at Mother.

“What about this soldier drone?” She asked, making the Female soldier brighten a little. Mother thought on this briefly before finally saying.

“She may accompany you throughout your punishment.” Mother said to her. Chrysalis stared at her before simply nodding at her before looking at the female.

“Looks like your stuck with me.” she said simply.

“Yes my Queen.” the Changeling said, making Chrysalis frown a bit.

“I’m no Queen anymore,” Chrysalis informed her.

“To me you are.” the Changeling said with a frown. Chrysalis sighed and shook her head at her.

“Now then, what will you do now that you free Miss Warren?” Mother asked my own birth mother. She thought about of it for a bit and shook her head.

“I… don’t know.” she said as she looked up at Mother.

“What are you going to do Mom?” Qo asked me, making my birth mother looked at me wide eyed.

“Wait, mom?!? You have kids!” she yelled at me, surprising me as I nodded. She turned blinked and looked at Qo.

“My highlord… you look just like here… and I’m a grandma!” she said happily. I smiled at her as I remembered the Twins.

“Right! Ruby!” I said before I bolted out away from the others, followed by Ruby… then I was following her… and lost her… dang, she’s fast.

I soon got to my Aunts shop and went inside it. I soon found the room where Miho and Karen in a crib gumming on something, they turned to us as we came close, slowly brightening up as I leaned down and picked up Miho.

“Oh, I missed you~!” I said as I gave her some kisses. “Mommy missed you~,” I said to little Miho, earning giggles delight from the month old baby girl. Ruby had Karen in her arms, peppering the little one with kisses of her own.

“Here we are, they're just through here.” Mother’s voice ran from outside the room and the door soon opened, revealing it to be Sara, my birth mother. She walked in first before Mother went in, closing the door behind her gently. “I never expected you to be so quick, dear.” Mother said to me. I smiled as Sara came over to see the twins, who they both looked at her.

“I just… need this.” I told her as Miho reached a hand to Sara, who simply raised a hand up so she could hold her finger. Miho soon started to giggle at this as she started to bring the finger to her mouth to start gumming it, making Sara smile a bit more. Mother walked up to me, gaining a happy giggle from Miho.

“I will leave you three to it, I feel Hotaru calling for me.” Mother said before quickly vanishing with a flash, no doubt to see her own children. I didn't how long we all stayed like this, my birth mother couldn't take her eyes off of Miho and when she did, it was only to look at Karen. I could see the sadness in her eyes when she switched between the two.

“Do you… want to hold her?” I asked her, offering Miho to her. She stared at me and nodded a bit as I handed Miho over to her. Sara held my little girl before taking a shaky breath as she gave her a sad smile. The five of us stayed in that room for a long while but it was worth it in the end.

“Oh I'm sorry, I was never introduced to you…” Sara said to Ruby as the two sat on the ground with the twins on their laps.

“Oh yeah, well I'm Ruby Rose.” Ruby introduces herself, making my birth mother smile.

“Seeing you act so close to Viri, I'm guessing you two really close friends?” Sara asked, making Ruby blush.

“We're not really best friends, a little more than that…” I said as I sat near Ruby and put my hand on top of hers. “Ruby is my fiance.” this caused Sara to stare at the two of us before saying.

“I… missed so much! I didn't realise my little girl is… ugh!” Sara said, rubbing her forehead. “This is making me have a headache.” Both me and Ruby chuckled at this as we sat there. Our attention was brought back to the door of the room as it opened and Theodore walked in with warm bottles of milk. He stopped when he noticed all of us.

“Ah you're back, I wasn't you'd be back so soon.” Theodore said to me and Ruby before facing Sara, my mother, and narrowing his eyes at her. Sara stared back at him, narrowing her eyes.

“Do I know you?” Sara asked Theodore. The latter chuckled at this before answering.

“Dear Oum, how you've grown.” Theodore said. “The last time I saw you, I gave you some good advice on how to knock some sense into you team leader.” Theodore said with a quiet laugh. Sara’s eyes widened at this.

“No way… I thought… last time I saw you it was when I was in school… and you were older… much older.” she said. Theodore smiled at this and chuckled before saying.

“Indeed I was and it's quite complicated to explain how you see me now.” He said before looking at Miho, who was giggling and reaching out for her Uncle. “So I apologize if I leave you more questions than answers.” He added, glancing at Sara as he wiggled his fingers above Miho. She giggles at this as she reached up to try and grab his fingers.

“Yeah… you can say that…” Sara said with a chuckle. I smiled at her as Theodore handed out the bottles to feed Miho and Karan. The two little ones were quick to begin, much to my surprise Karen was the one that finished first. As she finished, I picked her up to help her burp.

“So, what do you want to do?” I asked Sara as I patted Karen’s back.

“Well, I would like to explore a bit, maybe see your friends.” Sara said with a smile as she held Miho and her bottle so she can feed. Theodore was currently folding Miho and Karen’s favorite blankets and placed their baby toys in the bag I handed to him and Aunty Axycia.

“There, everything is packed and ready to go.” Theodore said, handing the bag over to Ruby who gladly took it. “I will be seeing you all soon, I have my own children to take care of.” At the mention of this we all heard Nyvu calling out for him and with a roll of his eyes, he left the room to see what was wrong. I smiled at this as I handed Miho back my birth mother and grabbed the bag.

“Well then, how about we go see what everyone is up to.” I said with a smile. Ruby and Sara both nodded at this before we exited the shop and headed back to Forever Free. When we made it back to the academy, we saw the two Dovah guards from before. Their armour was merely scratched but it was very noticeable. A group of students have gathered to simply see the two though I could see some of the boys ogling at the female guard. They stood tall at an impressive nine feet.

It wasn't until Mother appeared in front of then that they bowed on one knee. Mother had Hotaru in her arms as she spoke to the two guards, unfortunately, I was too far to hear her but whatever she said gained the nods of both guards before they shrunk down even more and stopping when they were just above the average height of the faunus students. I was curious to know what was going on, having never seen a Dovah at this size before, not counting Mother of course.

“Got to say, not the first time seeing something like that.” Sara said before looking over at the ogling boys. “Though I question the armour selection…” Mother heard this and faced Sara before saying.

“It is meant to make my guards faster and deadlier, the mortals here however see this as another thing.” Mother said with a frown as she glanced back at the boys before shaking her head. “Inhon.” She said under her breath. [Perverts.]

I snicker at this as Sara looked confused a bit. She glanced over at the woman Dovah before saying. “What are your thoughts on this?” The Dovah woman looked at her confused before finally understanding her question. Her answer was given in the form of an action, an action brought upon by her partner who cast a bolt of lightning from his spear by the ogling boys feet, scaring the crap out of them as a result. Sara frowned at this before looking at the other Dovah. “That was rude.”

“They were staring at his sister.” Mother said, defending the Dovah’s action. The Dovah in question growled lightly as the students scattered about, not wanting to anger the armoured Dovah male anymore. Sara didn’t say anything about this but simply nodded. “Anywho, they will be staying here to watch over Chrysalis, to act as wardens of sorts.” The two Dovah guards nodded at Mother’s words.

“Speaking of her, where is Chrysalis?” I asked, looking around to see if I could see the Changeling Ex-Queen. Mother smiled at this before looking off to the side and I soon followed her gaze, seeing Chrysalis wearing a similar dress as Mother’s only a very dark shade of green.

“During my brief moments in my true form, several demons from the Pit have escaped into this world and as punishment, Chrysalis has captured them all and send them back.” Mother explained to me, though this gained a confused look from Sara, no doubt due to Chrysalis’ lack of armour despite her punishment. “These demons are rather small and annoying, the most damage they can do is ruin one's attire.” Mother said. The three of us made a look at Mother as she said that.

“Right…” Sara said, shifting a bit as she looked around, no doubt keeping an eye out for small demons. Mother chuckled before nodding at Chrysalis and the female drone beside her, no doubt silently telling them to begin their search.

“Now Miss Warren, if you don't mind me asking, would you mind telling me about yourself?” Mother asked before looking down at the giggling Hotaru in her arms. Mother smiled at this before hovering her finger above Hotaru, who reached for it and grabbed it before pulling her hand down.

“Well, what’s there to say?” Sara said as she thought about it. “I was a well know Huntress in Remnant, spent most of my teenage life there and… well got married, had a kid and…” she stopped as she frowned. I looked over and saw that the next part of that was painful for her to say.

“You don't have to say more.” Mother said, seeing the pained look on Sara’s face. Sara nodded though tearing up a bit. She whipped some tears away before saying.

“I… I want to thank you Mavis.” Sara said with a smile as she looked over at me. “For taking care of Viri for so long… I thought I lost her after…” she stopped as she shook her head. Mother looked as if she wanted to say that no thanks were necessary but she knew that Sara wouldn't accept it. So she nodded with a little smile, glancing at me as she did. I smiled at Sara as she continues talking. “Other than that there’s my time here but… well, I don’t know if you really care about it.”

“Nonsense, there's nothing you can say that I won't care about, you're a part of the family.” Mother said just as Hotaru brought Mother's finger into her mouth, gumming on it. Sara chuckled at this before speaking.

“Well, I simply spent my time in Hauksstaoir.” She said with a shrug, earning a laugh from the Bug Ex-Queen. We all turned and frowned at her.

“Do not start.” Mother said with a frown, a beep emitting from the bracelet of her ankle.

“What? What she says isn’t true.” Chrysalis pointed out to us, making Sara frown at her.

“And what makes you say that?” Mother asked Chrysalis.

“Because Hauksstaoir is a myth, where one of the greatest Faunus city’s in this world is supposedly found in, beating Canterlot by a landslide.” Chrysalis said before looking down at a large rock then shook her head a bit. “Another name is the Birthplace of the Dragons, where the first dragon came to be.”

“It’s real, I was born there.” Sara said with her arms crossed. Chrysalis scoffed at this but said nothing as another beep emitted from the bracelet.

“Do not mind her, my dear, I believe you.” Mother said to Sara with a little smile. Sara stared at Chrysalis before moving her sleeve up.

“Okay, what can you say about this?” she asked before raising her arm up before speaking. “Datgelu.” with the word spoken glowing markings and runes appeared on Sara’s arm that extended up said arm to the side of her face. We all stared at her as Sara pulled her sleeve down.

“Ah, now I remember.” Mother said, seeing the markings. “I have visited the city once long ago.” She said with a smile. She pulled her finger out of Hotaru’s mouth with a pop, gaining a giggle from the girl.

“Oh? You been there?” Sara asked, looking over to Mother. Mother nodded and said.

“Yes and if I remember correctly, the leader and I were in a brief relationship.” Mother said, remembering her encounters in said city… Wait what?!

“You were in a relationship with someone else?!” I asked in a surprised tone. This earned a chuckle from Mother as Sara shifted a bit, blushing as well.

“Yes but it wasn't meant to be, we parted ways a decade later.” Mother said, holding Hotaru closer. Mother cooed at Hotaru happily, rocking her gently in her arms.

“You mean Dokris?” Sara asked, earning a look from both Ruby and I. “He’s the leader of the city, also known as the Highlord. Some say that he is wise beyond anything and a great fighter, also said to greet the dead of Valhalla.” she explained. Mother nodded before saying.

“Yes, that's him alright.” Mother said with a smile. Sara smiled before looking over at me.

“I wish I could show you the place, when the sun rises up to bathed the building, you would’ve loved it.” Sara said with a smile. Mother nodded at this in agreement.

“Well after how highly to said it is, maybe I would like to come see.” I said with a grin. Mother chuckled once again though I didn't know if it was because Hotaru had managed to grab her hand again or chuckling at my words. Nevertheless, she smiled and looked at me while the two Dovah guards left with Chrysalis and the drone.

“Perhaps I should plan a trip for a future visit.” Mother suggested, gaining a surprised look from my birth mother. I arched a brow at this before smiling.

“I think it would be fun.” I said to her. Mother smiled and gestured to towards the academy gates before saying.

“Shall we head on inside? Everyone is waiting to meet your real mother.” Mother said to me with a smile. I turned to look at Sara and smiled.

“Come on… mom.” I said, making her brighten up as I said that. With a nod and a forming smile, Mother led us inside the Academy and we soon found ourselves in the library. Despite the sign stating that it was closed for the day, we entered and saw the rest of the gang talking amongst themselves. Blake and Indigo were cooing at their little bundle of joy. Yang was with her twins, simply playing a game with them and enjoying her time as she played with them. I saw Rose and Lana talking to RB and Gol, no doubt telling them about the events that transpired yesterday.

“Where's Tak and Weiss?” Ruby asked, noticing that both of them were nowhere to be seen.

“Well, it turned out Viri and Tak have one thing in common. Being a faunus, young Tak has to go through his own heat cycle and he has explained to me that he has held those urges back with extensive meditation but with Weiss, it has gotten increasingly difficult for him to hold back.” Mother said with a whisper, low enough for the little ones not to hear. It took me a moment to process her words and when it clicked, I blushed at the thought before shaking my head.

“So… they are out for the day?” I whispered back. Mother nodded before saying.

“He's such a sweet boy, he told Weiss that he held the urges back afraid that she'd leave him.” Mother said with a little smile before walking over to Yang, who was currently carrying Kaida on her back and Strun on her tail. The latter laugh as he bounced on her tail. I nodded as I looked at the rest of them.

“Kinda wished everyone was here to hear this but, I understand the need.” I said, blushing a little along with Ruby. My birth mother looked at me with a curious glance. It wasn't difficult to grab everyone’s attention, especially when Mother handed me an air horn before forming a barrier around the little ones for when I used the horn. Everyone jumped at this and looked at me as I handed the airhorn back. After getting an earful about using an air horn I moved on telling them about Sara being my real mother… still not used to it. This earned some surprise from everyone and started looking at Sara and at myself.

Iilah and Qo were shocked at the similarities between me and my mother. Blake and Indigo were quick to accept this, happy for me being reunited with my own mother. Lana and Rose were a little confused but were quick to be happy for me and my mother. RB and Gol were on the sidelines with Gol leaning onto a bookshelf and RB leaning onto him. My mom's reaction to Gol’s appearance was… interesting. She frowned at him but didn’t really say anything at first.

“What has happened to you?” She asked Gol. “Looks like the Grimm tried to take you over.” Gol didn't miss a beat in answering before RB could even frown.

“They did, for a few years I was one of them.” He said, wrapping his arms around RB before she could do anything. Sara’s ears flattened on top of her head but didn’t say anything. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking but she turned away from Gol.

“Anywho, I would like to address that what you've all seen me do yesterday was something I don't pride myself on doing.” Mother said, regarding her going berserk yesterday. We all looked at each other in silence before Qo spoke.

“You mean… when you went really big?” Qo asked her. Mother nodded at Qo’s question.

“I let my temper get the best of me and released a larger fraction of my power which in turn forced my form to adapt and change into the colossal Dovah you all saw.” Mother explained with a nod to Qo. Yang frowned at this as she had her little girl on her shoulders as Mother spoke.

“So… when Sara fought you before, that wasn’t even half of your power?” Blake asked Mother, making Sara looked at her and Mother oddly.

“The form you see before you cannot handle all of my power, in comparison my powers are currently on par with Celestia’s and Luna’s combined.” Mother said to Blake.

“Then… how were you defeated by Sara?” Yang asked Mother. All of our heads turned to Sara who was sitting near me.

“I… rather not say, it’ll just lead to a history lesson.” Sara said, confusing everyone else. I crossed my arms a bit.

“That and she has The Fist.” I said annoyed, making Blake, Iilah, Qo, and Yang groan at this.

“Errr what?” Sara asked, now confused at this. Indigo laughed at this, the mention of the fist being used was something he found amusing.

“The Fist is something we've come to know and despise over the years.” Blake said, gaining nods of agreement from everyone in the room with the exception of Lana, Rose, Mother and Gol. Indigo calmed down from his laughter. “He's the one that created it.” Blake said, gesturing towards her husband while she cradled Brans in her arms. Sara tilted her head as she thought about it.

“Fire fist? Do you mean the Fist of Surtr?” Sara asked.

“Uh, what?” Iilah asked, confused on what she meant by the name.

“Fist of Surtr, a giant fist of fire. The name came from the idea of Surtr, the ruler of Muspelheim, or the realm of fire.” Sara said with a smile on her face. Mother nodded at this as she rocked Hotaru gently, gaining a cute yawn from her.

“Wait, there’s a realm of fire?” Qo asked with a frown. “Had to suck for anyone that wants air conditioning.” this earned a chuckle from Sara.

“Yeah well, there’s more than just a realm of fire.” Sara explained with a wave of her hand. Mother nodded at Sara’s words before standing up, gaining everyone’s attention.

“Apologies but it's nearly nappy time and I rather not have a cranky baby in my arms.” She said jokingly before she and Yang got up and left with Kaida and Strun following behind. As they left Kaida and Strun both waved over to my mother before exiting the library. We were soon left ourselves and RB and Gol were quick to take the now empty seats.

I smiled at this as there were some questions for my birth mother, which she was happy to answer. I felt Ruby’s hand grasped mine as she smiled at me. I leaned over and gave her a kiss as we listen to one of Sara’s stories that Qo asked her about.

Author's Note

If you can’t tell, I Really like Norse Mythology... also I may have taken a lot from the new God of War game... it’s good!

Also, the land of Hauksstaoir... new place to go?

Trip into town and the Ashen One

After a month since the events of the wedding things returned to normal, more so for my mom. For the first few weeks, I’ve been at her side, talking to her and asking her questions. I learned that there are a few things that it was hard to ask questions about; like things about her leaving me and my father. These topics upsetted both me and her.

Another major thing, Weiss is pregnant with Tak’s child. Poor Tak was terrified about the news, he kept muttering on about how he was unfit to be a father and he feared that the child would be born blind as well and Tak didn't want their child to be brought into the world without sight. To put things simply, he was an absolute mess. It took awhile to calm him down, even with the help of Weiss and Mother. Even now he's still afraid but also excited, he going to be a father though that same thought terrified him as well. Tak’s dad couldn't be any happier, he was proud of Tak for finding not only someone that will love him for who is but he was proud that he was going to be a father.

Weiss was also the same way, she was worried that she wouldn’t be a good mother due to her own upbringing from her own parents. I reassured her that she wouldn’t be like that but still, she worries. Currently, the two were back at Remnant, visiting Winter to bring her the news.

Iilah and Qo also spent time with my mom, wanting to know a bit more about her home and what she knows. I asked Mother what was the mythology she was talking about and was told it was somewhat Norse mythology. Blake and Indigo were enjoying every moment they had with Brans, the little bundle of joy brought them nothing but happiness in whatever he did. The little guy even found his way into Iilah’s heart with a simply puppy like stare.

Father and Yang were no different, treating their children as the most important things in their lives, which by far they really are. Hotaru was finally beginning to grow out her scales and forming teeth, which meant that they had to be sure she didn't grab anything to teeth on. It also meant I have yo keep my tail away from her so she doesn't teeth on it. Babies bite hurt!

Miho and Karen made me happy every time I see them, the childish smiles as they saw either me or Ruby warmed my heart. Also the fact that my mom spent a lot of time with them and Qo, happy to be a grandma.

At the moment I was sparring with my mom, she asked me if she can see first hand what I could do after all this time. I agreed which led us to the to of us in one of the sparring halls clashing blades. It was tough since she was using her axes both long range and up close.

“Is that all you got!” she yelled as she brought a flaming axe down. I dodged out of the way as it crashed down where I once was. I rolled up to my knees and turned Molten Fox and fired a few shots, only for her to spin the second one around to block them like a flaming shield. Turning back into a sword I charged after her and dodging swipes of a flaming blade. I was able to catch one of her axes and move it in a way for her to drop it and tried to kick her away only for her to grab hold and throw me to the side. “I’ve been told that you’ve been training for a long time, this can’t be it has it?”

I frowned as I slashed forward, sending a wave of flames at her which she stumbled back a bit. When she could see I was already charging at her with showed in hand, just to be knocked to the side and have two axe blades at my neck. I panted at this as I felt that I lost, frowned at this. Slowly the two axes pulled away as I stared at my mom.

“Going to say that I still have a lot to learn?” I asked her with a frown as I walked over to get something to drink.

“Look Viri, it’s not-” she started but I cut her off.

“No I get it, I need to train more…” I said before heading off. I heard a sigh from her as I left, leaving me to my thoughts. I scolded myself for being sloppy, I’ve trained for a long time but I don’t believe I’ve been improving as of late. I wandered the halls of the Academy before somehow ending up outside on the courtyard, seeing groups of students either studying in the grass or simply lounging with friends. I sighed, taking a seat by the large tree at the centre of the large courtyard.

“Is everything alright, dear?” Father’s voice brought my attention back up from Molten Fox. I saw him walking over to me, wearing some casual clothing given to him by Rarity. I simply shook my head as I looked down at Molten Fox.

“I feel out of practice.” I said simply to him. I frowned at I continue. “All my work and training I did over the years and I feel like I’m back to square one.” As I said this, Father sat beside me and listened to my troubles, something he has done many times before and am always grateful for.

“You were out of action for almost a year because of your pregnancy, it should've been expected that your fighting skills were to have rusted.” Father said to me as I looked down at Molten Fox. I sighed and soon felt Father wrap an arm around me comfortingly. “Your body simply needs to be reminded that it's the body of a huntress.” He said. I stared up at him for a moment then back down at Molten Fox.

“That… makes sense… it just feels so... lopsided.” I told him. He looked at me with an arched brow before saying.

“What makes you say that?” He asked me. I shifted a bit as I thought about it.

“I just feel… unbalance.” I explained to him as I held my weapon out. “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with Molten Fox, I just feel like I stumble a bit after I take a swing. I try to make a flame sword to help counter that but… it wouldn’t last forever.” I told him. He nodded at this and simply hummed, raising his hand and grasping Molten Fox. I let go of the hilt, allowing him to take a firm hold of it. He gave it a few test swings before humming again and handing Molten Fox back to me.

“Have you considered using a shield?” He asked me, gaining a curious look from me. I looked up at him and arch a brow.

“A shield?” I asked before thinking about it. “I… never thought of that.” Father chuckled at this before saying.

“Perhaps that the solution to your troubles, a shield.” He said, smiling down at me before adding. “But if you are going to have a shield, it must be reliable and nigh on impossible to break.” He said to me, earning a little laugh from me with the way he spoke. He smiled upon hearing my laugh.

“I’ll think about it.” I told him just as I heard my mom running over to us.

“Hey! You know how hard it is to find someone here!” she said, panting a bit. “I’m getting too old for this.”

“You don't even look like you're in your forties.” I pointed out, earning a frown from her.

“I’m going to ignore that for now.” she warned before adding. “Look, I don’t know if it’s what I said but… I'm sorry about earlier. I just wanted to see what you can do.” Father arched a brow at this, unaware of what occurred earlier.

“It’s fine mom, just realized that I’m out of practice and a bit lopsided.” I told her before adding. “Father said that maybe if I use a shield it might help me.” she stared at me before looking over at Father.

“I’ll never get used to that, you know?” she asked him. Father chuckled at mom's words before saying.

“I'm sure you'll get used to it given enough time.” Father told her with a smile, unwrapping his arm from me as he spoke. Mom smiled before looking at me.

“So, you’re going to get a shield?” she asked me. I nodded before speaking.

“Yeah, see how that’ll works for me.” I told her. She hummed for a minute after that.

“I’ll be right back.” she said before heading off. I looked at Father who simply shrugs. After almost an hour Mom can back only holding something in her hand. It was a bronze device that has a few straps on it. She came up to me and handed it to me. “Here, put it on.”

I looked at her for a moment before standing up. I took the object and felt how heavy it was. I soon started to strap it on my left arm and gave it a look.

“What’s this?” I asked her. She smiled before moving my arm out a bit and asked me to do something with my hand that the object was on. I gave her a look but did it anyway, resulting that the object extended and rounded out to form a shield. “Whoa!”

The shield was large but oddly light for me, bronze and gold colouring that shined in the light as I saw some runes in the inside of the shield. It was also cold to the touch. “This is amazing.”

“The name is Vinterskölden or Winters Protection… it was also your father's shield.” Mom explained, adding the last part in a solemn tone.

“This was…” I said as I looked closely at the shield, seeing small dents and chips on it.

“I made that shield when his old one broke, saying that his wall of ice will protect my fire.” Mom said with a sad chuckle. “I just figure that you should have it.”

I stared at my dad’s shield, feeling the cold feel from it as it was attached to my arm. It soon retracting into itself before I looked over at my mom and gave her a hug. Father smiled at the sight of this as I hugged my mother close. I pulled away as I smiled at my mom. “Thank you mom.” she smiled happily at me.

“No problem…” she looked over at Father before arching a brow. “Mind putting my daughter in some shield training for me, Sanns?”

“You need not ask, I've already have many ideas for her next training session.” He said with a chuckle, earning a worried chuckle from me.

“You may now regret thanking me.” Mom said as she pulled away. I looked over at her before looking at Father as he crossed his arms and smirked. I chuckled worriedly at this.

“Is it going to be like the last training course?” I asked him, earning a chuckle from him.

“I don't think you'll the my answer.” Father told me with another chuckle. I gulped at this, feeling that I’m going to be sore and hurting for a long while. Father stood up and dusted himself off before giving me a pat on the shoulder. “You'll do fine, dear, you've always excelled in your training.” He told me. Mom smiled at me, confident that I'll do good. I chuckled nervously at what’s going to happen.

The Next Day

“Ugh…” was all I could say after twenty four hours of training. I asked Father that I wanted to be back to my old fighting shape or better. Boy did I walk into that one. I sat in my favorite hot spring as I looked over all the little scrapes and scars I gotten over training. “It was worth it…” I keep saying to myself as I sat there. I sighed as I went a little deeper into the water as I relaxed.

I nearly closed my eyes, feeling very relaxed by the soothing warm water. I suddenly yelped in surprise, feeling something moving by my leg. I jumped back just to see a familiar black and red coloured head come out of the water with a laugh. “Ruby!”

“Hi!” she greeted me with a smile. “Just thought I should come and see you after your day-long training.” she said with the same smile.

“Yeah… but did you have to be sneaky about it?” I asked her. She simply tilted her head to the side, like a little puppy.

“But this was funnier.” she explained, making me roll my eyes. I leaned back a bit as Ruby came by and started to give me a massage, I hummed happily as she did that.

“Hey, if you’re here… where’s the twins?” I asked her a little worried about where they are. Ruby chuckled a little at my worry, she must've anticipated it.

“I left them under the care of your mom, she was all too happy to look after them.” Ruby told me, wrapping her arms around me. I sighed at this as I leaned into her embrace. The sounds of footsteps brought my attention out from the pool and saw both Mother and Yang, both of them wore nothing but a towel.

“I see that you liked the surprise, Ruby insisted on me taking her here for a visit.” Mother said with a laugh, earning a smile and a blush from Ruby. Mother and Yang walked closer to the pool, their tails intertwined with another before they unwrapped their towels and entered the water, both of them letting out blissful sighs.

“This feels so good~” she sighed as she lowered herself into the water a bit and started making bubbles. This made both Ruby and I laugh a bit. Mother held back a laugh, amused her beloved’s action before pulling her closer, gaining yet another blissful sigh from the blonde half Dovah.

“Perhaps I should add a spa like this to our home.” Mother suggested to Yang, gaining a nod as a response with her head still submerged. Ruby and I smiled at this before I spoke.

“Is anyone else coming or is it just you two?” I asked Mother.

“It's just us for now, later Blake and Indigo want to try the springs for themselves after hearing how you three enjoy it so much.” Mother said, referring to me, Ruby and even Yang. The latter came back up for her and rested her head against Mother’s chest, which made Mother roll her eyes but said nothing of it. I smiled at this as I leaned against Ruby.

“I haven’t seen Weiss around, do anyone think she’s okay?” Ruby asked the three of us. I believed she was still not over the idea she’s having a kid with Tak, she was excited and afraid the last time I saw her.

“She is with Tak currently in Atlas, Weiss wanted to break the news to her sister and brought Tak along.” Mother answered, brushing Yang’s hair with her fingers. The latter hummed a little as she smiled at her lover.

“I wonder how that will go?” Ruby asked, not sure what Weiss’ sister Winter would say.

“I don’t know, but I hope Tak stop worrying over this.” Yang added with a shrug. “He’ll be a great dad to his kid.”

“His fears are understandable. He fear that his lack of sight may hinder in his parenting or the child will be born blind like their father.” Mother said, gaining Yang’s full attention. The latter looked up as Mother continued. “But I agree with you, love, Tak will make a wonderful father for his child.” Mother said, wrapping her arms around Yang, pulling her closer and resting her head atop Yang’s.

“I agree, with how much dedication he puts into… well everything, he’ll do the same to be a father.” I said with a smile. Ruby nodded as she rested her head on top of my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around her and gave her a kiss.

“Here’s a question, when will you two do the wedding?” Yang asked, getting our attention. “You two been engaged for so long but haven’t did the wedding yet.” I didn’t say anything as I looked over at Ruby. She was like me and didn’t say anything about it.

“I… don’t know really. We’ve been talking about it but we haven’t decided yet.” I answered Yang. Mother gave the two of us a worried look before saying.

“Perhaps… Perhaps we can plan the event. We know how stressful it is and how difficult it can get and… I just don't the two of you to go through all that stress.” Mother said, suggesting she and Yang plan for me and Ruby’s big day. I looked over at Ruby for a moment before saying.

“What do you think?” I asked her.

“Well… it would be useful if we did have help.” Ruby replied at this. I gave her a small smile and looked back.

“I think that would be amazing, thank you.” I said to the two of them with a smile. Mother smiled brightly, excited to be able to help plan the big event. Yang smiled at Mother's excitement and nuzzled into her embrace and letting her head rest between Mother's ample bosom, muttering something only Mother could hear, earning a chuckle from Mother before she said.

“Maybe but only if you're good.” Mother whispered to Yang, earning a muffled victorious yes. Both Ruby and I looked at one another, wondering what they were talking about. I decided not to ask, thinking it’s between them as I saw the two of them looking at each other lovingly.

“Do you two need some alone time?” I asked them. They both looked at me before looking at each other. They both nodded, blushes forming on their cheeks as they smiled at each other. With that said both me and Ruby got out of the water and grabbed our towels, Ruby’s next to mind for some reason which the idea made me roll my eyes before the two of us left. “Use protection!” I yelled back as a joke for the two of them, only to hear Yang laugh as the doors to the hot spring closed.

Two Hours Later

I sat by the tree the day before with the twins and my mom near me. My mom was playing with Miho as she giggled happily at her grandmother. Ruby was feeding Karan as Silph came around and was beside me sleeping. My mom at first was weirded out with her but over time came to enjoy her company. It was this point when I saw RB and Gol walking over at us.

“Hey.” I called out to them as they got near.

“Hey Viri.” RB greeted before looking at my mom. “Miss Warren.”

“Please call me Sara.” Mom said with a smile as she put Miho on her lap before looking over at Gol. “And your name is Gol? Sorry I don’t believe we seen each other much over the month.”

“Yeah, Gol Parker.” Gol said to my mom with a nod. Mom smiled at him before looking over at RB.

“Guessing you got quite a catch?” Mom asked the two of them with a smirk. RB looked at her with rosy cheeks, Gol chuckling sheepishly but held her hand.

“Mom!” I said, shocked at what she just said.

“What? I’m just telling the truth.” She said plainly before looking back at the two odd couple.

“Y-Yeah, she's great and… I'm just very lucky to be with her.” Gol said, regarding his time with RB. The latter smiled up at him before planting a kiss on his cheeks, earning an obvious blush from the Thundermore faunus.

“And I’m lucky to be with him…” RB be said, leaning up against Gol. The Dust Grimm Faunus smiled at her as he wrapped a wing around RB, smiling down at her.

“So, how have you been you two?” I asked the two of them.

“Eh, been alright. Hound and Gol did a sparring match that ended a little while ago.” RB said, earning a groan from Gol. The latter rubbing his shoulder before saying.

“He dislocated and relocated my shoulder within a second.” Gol said with a small frown.

“I’m sorry, who’s this Hound?” My mom asked.

“He’s part of a team that Rose is in, the woman who’s with Lana.” I explained. “Supposedly Titans are tanky soldiers of some kind.”

“Yeah, and his plan of attack is to rush forward at their opponent.” RB added before looking at Gol and rubbed his shoulder a bit. This earned her smile from Gol before he pulled her closer with his wing.

“You two look adorable.” My mom said with a smile. I smiled at this until I heard the sound of flapping. I looked up and saw Skyler flying down. She looks like she was in a hurry.

“There you guys are!” she said before landing down near us. “We have a problem!” Gol was the first to speak up after Skyler said this.

“What's going on?” He asked with an arched brow, earnings confused look from Skyler. She must've not seen Gol before.

“Skyler this is Gol, Gol this is Skyler.” RB quickly introduce the two of them to move things along.

“Right… look we have something going on in Ponyville. Some big armoured knight appeared in town with a large sword.” Skyler explained, earning everyone's attention.

“Okay… what is it doing?” My mother asked her.

“Well it was wondering around town for a bit until the Huntsman showed to deal with it… in a violent way.” Skyler said, frowning a bit. “Only for this being to knock them aside as if they were nothing.” I frowned at this before asking.

“Why did the Huntsman attack this being? Did it do anything?” I asked. Skyler simply shook her head.

“No, and that’s the thing… the being is wearing dark armour and carrying around a large sword and it’s just walking around. That alone would give off warning bells to everyone.” Skyler explained. From the tone of her voice, it sounds like she didn’t agree with this outlook.

“Think we should check it out?” Gol asked the rest of us. I looked at him before looking at the rest of us.

“I think so… but not as a large group.” I said to them. “Maybe three or four of us go and see what’s going on.” I looked back at RB and Gol. “You two want to come along?”

“What do you say, babe?” Gol asked RB, folding up the wing that draped over her. RB snorted at him with a smirk.

“Do you have to ask?” She asked him, earning a smile from Gol.

“I’m going to.” Mom said, getting everyone's attention. “I believe I could help out in someway.” I nodded at her before looking at Ruby. I didn’t know what to say but she smiled at me.

“I’ll keep an eye on the twins.” she said before leaning over and giving me a quick kiss. I smiled at her and we all took some time to get ready. When that was done the four of us headed off to Ponyville with Skyler leading the way. It didn't take long to get to Ponyville especially with an actual dirt road that, if what Zecora tells me is correct, will be replaced with cobblestone and will connect to Ponyville. When we got there we found a groaning group of pegasi Huntsmen. My mom stopped to stare at them.

“Oh… wow.” she said before walking over to check on them. “They looked fine, so far…”

“That’s just the start when I left there were a few groups fighting this guy.” Skyler said before heading off. On the way, I notice more and more groups on the ground groaning and defeated. The ground nearby these groups only had one slash mark that cut through the cobblestone road.

“Either this guy is really good or they're just bad in general.” Gol said, earning a chuckle from RB.

“Yeah…” RB said before mom spoke.

“Don’t get cocky.” She said in a stern tone. RB frowned but didn’t say anything about it. We continued onto the town square in time to find the armored individual fighting off a group of Earth ponies. The latter group weren't even making a dent on the armor before being shove away by an invisible force. Briefly dazed, one of the Earth ponies ran up to the armored person only to be grabbed and held up their neck and tossed aside. The others looked at one another before charging at the armored being. In one large motion the being simply battered the Earth ponies aside as if they were nothing. It was surprising how being as heavily armored as they could wield such a sword with the speed such as that. This time the earth ponies were down for the count, groaning after landing onto the floor with large thuds. I gulped as I saw this happen, feeling that our chances to do this right is slowly slipping.

“So… any plans?” I asked the others. The four of them looked at one another for a few moments.

“Maybe a less aggressive approach to this.” Mom offered. I gave her a nod as I turned. I took a deep breath as I made my way over to the armoured being. As I got close the being seemed to notice me as it turned it’s head to me.

“Hello… can you understand me?” I asked them. I could hear angered breathing from the helmet of the person before speaking.

“Thou art here to face me like the others?” The voice of the person was muffled by the helmet, I couldn't tell if they were a man or woman. The Armored person readied themselves for another fight. I put my hands up to show him or her that I had no weapons.

“Look, I’m not here to fight you…” I said as I looked at the bodies on the ground. “I’m sorry for the others to come and tried to fight you, they believe anyone walking around in dark armour with a large sword is evil.” Hearing this, they lowered their sword and straightened up.

“Foolish beliefs.” Scoffed the armored person. They glanced at the groaning earth ponies and shook their head. “It has been nothing but attack after attack and grow tired of them.” They said before sighing, reaching up at the helmet before pulling it off and revealing a long head of dirty grey hair. The Armored individual was in fact a woman that appeared to be in her late twenties. Several scars adorned her face, even one running across her left eye. “I had hoped one of these groups would be kind enough to speak before attacking, sadly you’re the only one that tried.” She said to me.

“Well, that’s… something…” I said as there were more groaning around. “So… where did you come from?” She looked at me oddly before answering.

“I come from the land of Lothric, I was meant to have awakened in my casket in the cemetery of Ash but… I find myself here.” She said, confused as to where she is. I looked at her oddly before speaking.

“I don’t know any land named Lothric… but maybe I know someone who does. If you don’t mind following me.” I asked the armoured woman. She looked at me with a suspicious glance but let out a sigh before nodding.

“I suppose there is no harm in that… very well.” She said, sheathing the large blade on her back and holding the helmet under her arm.

With a smile, I lead the armoured being back to the others. “By the way, I'm Viri, what's yours” She stopped in her tracks and I looked back to her look of confusion. I arched a brow at this, not knowing what was wrong. “Is something wrong?” I asked. She looked back at me before shaking her head lightly.

“Apologies, it's just… it has been very long since any has asked for my name.” She said to me before taking a deep breath and exhaling soon after. “Amelia… that is my name or at least… I think it is.” She said unsure of herself. I smiled at her.

“Nice to meet you, Amelia.” I said with a smile. She said nothing afterward, making the moment a little awkward before we made it back to the others.

“These are your companions, I assume?” She guessed while looking over at Skyler, Gol, RB and Mom. They looked at her curiously though Skyler was shocked to have found out the identity of the tanky individual that has bested multiple groups of Pony Huntsmen and Huntresses. I nodded at her and said.

“Yeah, these three are my friends…” I said gesturing at RB, Gol and Skyler before looking at mom and saying. “And that's my mom.”

“Hello there.” Mom said with a warm smile. “I'm Sara Warre, nice to meet you.” Amelia bowed her head to mom but said nothing, her face showing exhaustion no doubt from the long fights she had to go through earlier.

“Hey, you alright?” Gol asked, noticing her expression.

“I'm… fine… just a little-worn out.” Amelia said through ragged breaths. She stumbled back a bit before falling one knee, gaining worried looks from all of us. Before I could help her back up, she stood up herself though she struggled to do so but did it nonetheless.

“Let's get you someplace comfortable.” Mom said as she went over to the woman and helped her move forward. Mom was surprised by the weight of the armour, even just by putting Amelia’s arm around her shoulder to keep her up, she looked like to question Amelia for her choice of armour but said nothing. Gol and RB glanced at the still downed group of earth ponies while Skyler stared at Amelia with mouth agape.

“Are you alright there?” I asked her. Skyler blinked and shook her head.

“I'm uhh fine… I'm going to see if everyone is alright…” Skyler said before taking flight. As she went off the rest of us headed back to the school, mom carrying Amelia all the way even though it was heavy. I never realized my mom was really strong. Mom still showed signs of strain, the weight of the armor and sword being too much to carry and Gol was quick to help out, gaining a thankful nod from mom before we headed off. As we entered the forest again, on the dirt road back the town of Forever Free, I got curious of Amelia and her of the place she called Lothric. Not to mention her armor, it looked like it weighs a ton and seeing that Mom needed help, there was no doubt it did. And the sword, being a weapon fanatic, seeing a sword such a size and the style I just couldn't keep my mind off the many questions I hoped to ask.

“How did you end up here?” My mom asked as she and Gol carried Amelia.

“I have yet to figure that myself… I was meant to awaken back in my casket like I have many times before… what made this time so different?” She said, asking herself the last part. Her answer simply brought more questions. At this point we made our way to the school. I told them that they can use my old room for Amelia since no one hasn’t taken it just yet as I went to find Mother. I went off and found the place where Mother and Yang been living and knocked on the door.

“Yes, hello?” The voice of Mother was heard before the door opened, revealing her in the white dress Yang has come to know and love. “Ah, Viri, what brings you here?” She asked me.

“Hi, I uhh, hope I’m not keeping you from anything…” I said to her, earning a chuckle from her.

“It's alright my dear.” Mother said with a chuckle before asking. “So is there something you need?” She asked, smiling at me as she did. I took some time to explained to her what happened and about Amelia. This was also enough time to see Yang coming up behind Mother in a yellow gold dress. She gave Mother a kiss on the cheek before listening in on the rest of what I was saying.

“Man, from the sounds of it her armour and sword alone is heavy.” Yang commented as she wrapped an arm around her wife. Mother thought on all that I said, she had raised a brow when I had mentioned Lothric.

“Lothric… that is a name I have not heard in a very long time.” Mother said, gaining a curious look from me and Yang. “Yes I remember now, the dying kingdom. The waning flame… she is the Ashen One but… how is she here?” Mother said, thinking out loud.

“I don’t know… she said that she should’ve appeared in some cemetery but ended up in Ponyville.” I explained to her. She nodded at this and hummed while Yang rested her head on Mother’s shoulder.

“Well, I think we should go meet up with Amelia.” Mother said, earning a whine from Yang.

“But what about all our plans??” Yang asked with a frown. “I spent a good while cooking…”

“Wait, you can cook?” I asked Yang.

“Of course I can cook.” Yang said with a deeper frown. Mother smiled at Yang before moving her turning to her, greeting Yang’s lips with her own. When Mother pulled back, Yang let a blissful sigh.

“Do not worry, my love, when we get back it'll be as if you had just finished cooking.” Mother said, promising the blonde that her time cooking wouldn't be for not. Yang smiled a bit before giving Mother a little nuzzle.

“Can’t say no to you.” Yang said happily. Mother looked at me and said.

“Give us a moment to get ready.” Mother said, gaining a nod from me before she closed the door. It didn't take long for Mother and Yang to return in their outing attire. To save time, Mother had snapped her fingers and brought us to the doorstep of my old room. “This is the room, is it not?” Mother asked, wanting to be sure.

“Yes, it’s my old room.” I said before giving it a knock and entered the room. RB and Gol weren’t around at the time but my mom was and so was Amelia. The armour she wore was discarded to the side with her sword so I saw her in a very worn brown tunic and cloth pants. Mom looked over at us and smiled.

“Hey there, RB and Gol went out to see if they can find some clean clothes for Amelia.” Mom explained. Mother walked up to the discarded armour, seeing the many scratches that littered each piece. Amelia let out a sigh as she twiddled the rings in her the fingers of her left hand.

“Ashen One…” Mother said and Amelia stood up to face Mother as soon as she uttered those words. “Do not fret, Ashen One, I simply wish to speak with you.” Mother told her. Amelia was silent for the longest time before nodding finally and allowing Mother to walk up to her. Mom walked towards me and Yang, letting Mother speak to Amelia on her own.

“Hey, what’s this Ashen One?” I asked Yang.

“I don’t know, maybe Mavis knows.” Yang replied as my mom shush us. Mother sat beside Amelia, the latter having sat back down on the bed.

“You are from Lothric, dear Ashen One.” Mother said with an arched brow. Amelia looked at Mother, waiting to see where she is going with this. “I can see it within you, the many lives you have lived during your endless quest. You've succumbed to the repetition as many other before you but… something awry and you awoke here in this world, one free of the curse and the waning flame.” Mother said. Mom stared at Mother mouth agape, knowing so much with just a glance. Amelia looked up her confused.

“But why? I've linked the flame so many times before, why now does this happen?” She asked Mother, hoping to get an answer. Mother looked at her and said.

“I'm afraid that is something I have yet find out but I will look into it rest assured.” Mother told her reassuringly, gaining a slow nod from Amelia. “I understand that you may feel lost but we are here to help you if ever need it.” This earned another nod from the scarred woman.

“Yeah, if you have questions just ask.” Yang said with a grin. Both Mom and I smiled and nodded at Amelia.

“Thank you… your kindness… it has been so long since I've met anyone such as yourselves.” Amelia said, giving a little smile of appreciation. Mother gave her a nod before standing up and walking back to us.

“We will give you time to settle down, we'll come back to check on you in an hour.” Mother told her, gaining yet another nod from Amelia. When Amelia turned her back to us, Mother's smile vanished into a worried look as she glanced at the silent woman. “Come, there's much to discuss.” She said to us as she ushered us out of the room. We all followed her out of the room and closed the door behind us.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked Mother as we moved away from the door.

“Yes but not in the way you may think.” She said, quickly assuring us that it isn't something world ending or life-threatening. “You see, she is no mere knight… she is an Unkindled one, a being cursed with undeath and branded by the darksign. She has lived many lives before now, all of it the same. She awakens in her casket and she ends by rekindling the waning flame, which begins the cycle a new.” Mother stopped, letting all this sink in. I thought of this for a few moments, this sounded like what Rose and her team has to deal with, but had to do the whole thing over and over again.

“That sounds… awful.” I said to everyone. “Sure she able to live for a long time but, to do everything over and over again is just…” I didn’t finish what I was about to say.

“What do you mean by Undeath?” Yang asked, picking up where I have left off.

“It is a form of immortality, if she were to die right now, her body will turn to ash and reform just moments later. She is incapable of truly dying but she feels the pain of every killing blow she suffers.” Mother said, glancing back at the door with a solemn look. “And with her darksign, her body turns hollow and begins to rot.” She added just above a whisper.

“So she’ll soon look like a walking talking corpse.” Mom asked bluntly. Mother turned to her and simply said.

“She is a walking corpse.” She replied soon after mom spoke, gaining confused looks from all of us.

“Really? She looks fine to me.” Yang said as she looked at the door.

“She wears an enchanted ring that make it so she looks human.” Mother said before looking back at Yang. “I may have a solution to that however but I just need time to make it so.” Mother said. Yang stared at her for a few moments before speaking.

“Will it take long?” she asked Mother. The latter shook her head and answered.

“No, it'll be done within the hour.” Mother said before bringing Yang close for a quick kiss which the blonde dovah gladly returned. When Mother pulled away she said. “Until then, love.” With that she vanished within a flash of light, leaving the three of us standing in the middle of the empty hall. Both me and Mom looked at one another before Yang turned around on the balls of her feet.

“Well! I better be getting back to cooking. See you two around.” Yang said before she started heading off down that hall, humming to herself happily. I looked back at mom as she stared at me.

“So… want to spar again? See how your shield training went?” Mom asked me. I stared at her before nodding.

“Yeah sure, got nothing better to do now.”

Author's Note

Well... this doesn’t lead to some adventures

Tasks for Love and Bloodsucker

The sparring match when for about an hour with some good results with the shield training. I still lost but not horribly. After finishing up and getting some food the two of us headed off to see Mother and find out what happened. We walked down the halls just as we came up to my old room as Mother came out of it. She sighed before noticing us approach.

“Hey, everything went alright?” I asked her as we got close. She smiled and nodded, though she looked a little tired but I didn't want to question it.

“Yes, everything is alright.” Mother said to me, glancing back at the door before adding. “I have removed her darksign and relieved of her curse, she no longer must go through the same cycle of life and undeath.” Mother informed us. I let out a sigh after that as my mom smiled.

“Guess everything went alright then. That's good to hear.” Mom said. I smiled as I looked at the door.

“Is she resting?” I asked, wondering what has happened. Mother shook her head at this and stepped aside.

“No no, she isn't resting yet. She's… still in shock that I had removed the very things that plagued her neverending life.” Mother said before gesturing towards the door. “You may see her if you like.” She said to us. I looked over to my mom wondering if we should go see the woman.

“Do you think that's a good idea?” I wondered out loud.

“I don't see why not.” My mom said before looking at Mother. “I believe someone earned herself a home cooked meal by one's wife.” for a moment I saw Mother swell up and smiled happily before vanishing in a flash of light. I let out a quiet laugh, seeing Mother liked that always brought a smile to me. “Reminds me when I was with your father…” I watched Mom make a sad smile before looking at the door and gave it a knock. I didn't say anything as we waited. When the door opened, we have greeted with the sight of Amelia in casual clothing no doubt from the clothes given to her by RB and Gol.

“Yes?” She answered as she opened the door. Upon seeing her, the first thing I noticed was the pack of scars that previously adorned her face, a face that belonged to a woman that looked in her early twenties now than she did before. “Oh, Viri. What can… what can I help you with?” She asked.

“Nothing really, we're just… seeing if you're alright.” I told her. She smiled a little at this but it was too brief for me to process through my head.

“I am… I'm just…” She let out a sigh, something was indeed troubling her and it was easy to tell. I arched a brow at her before she let out a sigh. “Truly, I am not sure… a major part of me wishes to rejoice over my newfound freedom but… the other part reminds me that without the darksign or the curse, what will become of me?” She said, questioning herself over her given freedom and chance at a relatively normal life for once. “My purpose, as bleak as it may be, was to simply reignite the waning flame… or was it…” She winced and grasped her head.

“Whoa! Hey, you okay?” I asked worriedly. She groaned lightly before leaning herself onto the doorway. With another wince, tears began to form in her eyes before she was able to answer. Mom was quick to help her inside, clearly seeing that Amelia wasn't alright. I watched Mom sat down beside her as Amelia sniffled and tears ran down her face. I looked down the hallway and closed the door for some privacy.

“it's alright to cry, your safe here.” My mom said to her as she rubbed Amelia's back. Amelia let out a few quiet sobs, whatever had caused her pain no doubt brought this sadness.

“L-Loren… my dearest Loren…” Amelia sobbed into her hands. Mom and I looked at each other oddly.

“I'm sorry to ask this but… who’s Loren?” Mom asked Amelia before quickly adding. “If you don't want to that's fine too.” Amelia sniffled, wiping the tears from her eyes and cheeks.
“Loren… she was… sh-she was my e-everything.” Amelia was able to say through her hiccups. It took a few moments before it clicked in. Mom slowly pulled Amelia into a hug as she cried.

“There there.” Mom said softly. Amelia let loose another wave of tears, crying out for the woman named Loren. Mom held her close as she cried into her shoulder. My ears flatten on top of my head as I listened to her cries.

“She- She did nothing wrong… and they took her…” Amelia’s voice was muffled by Mom's shoulder her words were understandable. Mom looked at me as she held the crying woman. She couldn't say anything for the fact she could make it worse, so she continued to comfort her. “They took her… and-and… Oh lords.” Amelia struggled to say through her sobbing. I felt like I didn't want to know what happened to Loren. “T-They b-burnt her alive… they nailed to a crucifix and burnt her alive!” She yelled this at the top of her lungs, the memory haunting her beyond comprehension. I put my hand over my mouth, feeling like I was going to be sick. My mom didn't say anything as Amelia cried. Amelia devolved into incoherent sobbings, occasionally mentioning Loren’s name and this lasted for quite some time and during that time I had sat down to comfort her as well. We stayed like this, me and my mom wanting nothing more than to help Amelia calm down and she did eventually. Her eyes were red from crying and her cheeks were stained with dried tears. Without a word my mom grabbed a rag and helped clean up her face a bit. “Thank you…” Amelia said as I gently wiped the dried tears off her cheeks.

“No worries Amelia, I too know the pain of losing one so close to my heart.” Mom said with a sombre smile. I gave her a sad smile as I knew that she was talking about dad. Amelia nodded, thanking her once again.

“I'm sorry you had to see me like that… without the curse, the memories of the life I have lived before becoming unkindled are slowly coming back to me and… I remembered her, my beloved Loren.” Amelia said, smiling sadly at the mention of Loren again. I smiled a bit at her, not sure what to say at this moment.

“Do you remember what she looked like?” Mom asked Amelia, earning both of our attention. Amelia shifted a bit in silence for a few moments before speaking.

“Well… she was a little younger than me when I first met my beloved, I was training to be a knight and during my training I would notice her watching, her dark red hair and fair skin were standouts to me when I did see her.” Amelia started to say. “Sooner or later I took some time to talk to her and found out she was a priestess. The more we talked the more I got to know her.” I saw a smile for on her lips as she continue to describe Loren. “The more we talked the more I found out that she was… interested in Sorceries and Dark miracles and other odd and weird things. Any normal sane person would just tell her off or ignore or be shocked at what she spoke of and leave her there but… the way she talked and the smile she wore… I couldn’t help but be drawn into these discussions.” Amelia blushed at the memory of these talks.

“Well, I think the two of you are just the sweetest.” My mom said with a smile on her face. Amelia’s smile faltered with a sad sigh escaping her lips.

“I couldn't protect her when they took her away… they branded her a demon, a dark priestess… a whore.” Amelia said, her voice becoming lower and lower with each word. I didn’t say anything about this as I felt like Amelia was dwelling on the negative parts of her past. My mom simply put her hand on top of Amelia and gave her hand a squeeze. “I wanted to protect her, to keep them away from her… Loren… my dearest Loren, how I've missed you so.” She said, closing her eyes as they were brimming with fresh tears. Mom saw the state that Amelia was in, a solemn look on her. I looked at Amelia for a few moments before sighing.

“Yang is going to hate me…” I mumbled before standing up. “I’ll be right back.” I said before I exit out of the room and headed back to Mother’s home. After taking some shortcuts I got to the place, as I got close I notice the door was slightly ajar as I walked closer. As I got close I stopped when I heard some echoes… and moaning… oh lords. I blushed at the sounds as I thought on maybe giving them a few minutes to finish but thought that they would be going much longer… so I knocked on the door.

“Oh come on!” I heard Yang yell from inside the house. There was some whispering inside as I took some steps back from the door, in case I needed to run. Soon Mother stuck her head out of the ajar door, she was blushing as her reddish scales were offset by the blush.

“Is there something you need, dear?” She asked me, her voice sounding a tiny bit irritated. I felt bad about this as I was, again, ruining the two’s alone time.

“Sorry for knocking on the door but… it’s about Amelia…” I said before doing a quick recap of what Amelia told me and mom. When I finished I added. “Look, I just thought maybe that you can help… after your time here…”

“Please!” Yang’s voice rang out as she stuck her head out of the door, not hiding her anger. Her angered expression was replaced with one of surprise before biting her bottom lip, Mother must've done something to come her down from her anger.

“We will speak about that later, me and Yang have something to get back to.” Mother said before snapping her fingers and within a blink of my eyes, I found myself by the academy doors. A few students walking in and out of the building. After realizing that Mother had desperately wanted to get back to her session with Yang and simply sent me back to the Academy gates. Blushing still I turned and headed back to my old room and knocked on it. Soon the door opened and mom was standing there.

“Well?” she asked before adding. “Why are you blushing?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I said as I stepped into the room and sat down on the floor and waited. Mom had asked me why I sat on the floor only to receive no answer from me. After an hour or two, I couldn't tell since I was too busy erasing the sounds from my head like I did before, Mother appeared dressed in her usual long dress. Amelia noticed Mother’s arrival but didn't acknowledge it, simply reciting the same words over and over again.

“Now then, may I have a moment with Amelia?” Mother asked us me and mom. I didn’t say anything as the two of us left the room and waited a little bit away. I didn’t say anything as I kept on erasing.

“Did something happen?” My mom asked me.

“No!” I said too quickly before adding. “I mean, no… nothing happens there, mhmm nope, nothing.” Mom arches a brow but didn’t say anything about this. We were there waiting for almost half an hour we both soon saw Iilah and Qo walking over towards our direction. From the looks of it, they were on their way to their next class.

“Hey, mom! Hey grandma!” Qo greeted happily, making my mom smiled at them.

“Hey girls, hope you two are keeping up with your school work.” Mom said, earning a nod from Qo and an eye roll from Iilah. The three of them chatted for a bit, me talking as well when they asked me before the two of them headed off so they wouldn’t be late for class.

“Those two spend a lot of their time together.” Mom said with a smile.

“Yup, they're really close friends. Best friends even.” I said with a smile.

“You don’t think… they are going to be…” Mom started to say before I cut her off.

“What? Oh no no, I don’t believe Iilah swings that way… I think. And Qo… well maybe she does but so far they’re just friends…” I stopped as I thought about it some more. Were they best friends or…

The door to the room soon opened, revealing Mother with a calming smile. This eased my worries a bit, mom, however, was a little confused.

“So… what was that about?” Mom asked her, gaining a little chuckle from Mother before answering.

“Amelia has told me that she'd do anything to bring her dearest Loren back… I'd like to test that myself, I will send her to do three tasks that most find impossible, including yourselves and if she completes all three, her beloved will no longer be just a memory anymore.” Mother said, smiling brightly as she did. Both Mom and I smiled at this before mom spoke.

“Well I’ll wish her luck…” she said with a smile. As I looked at her I notice that her smile seemed a little… forced. She looked at the two of us and added. “Sorry but… I have to go do something. Have a great day.” was the last thing she said before she headed off quickly. I looked at where she’s heading off to before looking away sadly. From the time Amelia told her story about Loren, I notice mom making some sad expressions, probably thinking about dad. Mother's smile vanished upon her departure.

“She still misses your father.” Mother told me, shaking her head sadly as she did. “She envies Amelia for the chance I've given her. She to can have this chance and all she needs to do is ask for it but… she is afraid.” Mother said.

“Do you think… she has that chance?” I asked Mother, looking up at her with a sadden look. “From what she says about him, he’s the world to her and… I believe she would want him back.”

“Your mother has the chance, yes… she just needs to take it.” Mother told me.

“I hear a but somewhere,” I said as Mother continued.

“But she believes that this would be selfish and I don't blame her for that belief.” Mother was quick to add. I sighed a bit as I shook her head.

“I just… wish she would be happy…” I said as I looked at the shield she gave me that was on my arm. “I wish I could help…” Mother walked up to me and wrapped an arm around me comfortingly before saying.

“But you are, you may not see it but whenever your mother lays her eyes upon you… she feels nothing but happiness, you bring her joy… you and your children.” Mother said to me as she held me close to her. I felt like a little kid again like this. I smiled at this as I gave her a hug.

“Thank you…” I whispered as I pulled away. She smiled and nodded.

“Now then, about Amelia…” With that, she began to explain to me what she has in store for the former cursed woman. Each task sounding more undoable than the last. Somewhere in my head, I had begun to form doubts about Amelia being able to complete these tasks or even mom could either. Mother was quick to clear my head from any doubts. After she had finished explaining, Mother quickly hurried back to her home, no doubt where Yang was wanting for her. I shivered as I resumed the erasing of the memory from my thoughts.

Mavis PoV

I quickly made it back home and I opened the door and closed it behind me. I turned to lock the door as my head was someplace else. The tasks I sent the once cursed woman would be impossible for any other if they would take it, even for Viri herself. I had a good feeling though… rehearing her story I had no doubts that she would complete these tasks.

And there’s Sara, Viri’s true mother. I could sense her heartache every time I passed her in the halls, the longing for her husband again. Her beliefs though keep her from asking me, that Ray Warren is in the afterlife. I respect her choice of the matter on this as she puts on a smile every day for her child and grandchildren.

Lastly, there’s Viri… she’s a bit of an odd one but I can’t help but love her for it. Her way to change those around her to the better is something that I had to say is amazing. Even today I see her do things that I never thought to be possible. I smiled a bit as I wonder what the future will hold.

As I thought this I felt two arms wrap around my body and a take wrapping itself my own. I familiar kiss to the neck made me hum happily as Yang pressed herself up to me.

“I missed you.” She purred into my ear, making me giggle a little.

“And I too, my love,” I replied, reaching an arm over to her and pulling her head closer before greeting her lips with mine. It started out slow and passionate but soon turned into lust and need. This time, I had made sure we wouldn't get interrupted. I soon felt my love pick me up in her arms and held me there as she smiled.

“So… want to continue where we felt off?” Yang asked me with a loving smile before giving me a few more kisses.

“I thought you'd never ask.” I was quick to answer her, purring at being carried like this. We soon entered our bedroom as we were kissing before falling back into bed, laughing and giggling a bit before the two of us stared at each other. Yang soon reached up and slowly placed her hand on my cheek.

“Mavis… you’re my everything.” Yang whispered before kissing me on the lips. I felt a spark from this kiss that made me shudder a bit.

“And you are mine,” I said before pulling her closer and resuming where we had left off.

RB PoV, two days later

I rubbed my face a bit as I sat under a tree. My mouth and throat felt dry for some reason as I waited for Gol to get back with our drinks. I asked him if he wanted to hang out for a time since today was a great day to do that. Of course, it started off great until I started to get thirsty all of a sudden. At first, it was nothing but now… it felt like I haven’t drank anything in a week.

“I'm back!” Gol exclaimed, gaining a surprised yelp and getting out of my thoughts. I looked at with narrowed eyes before seeing him with two bottles of water and handing me one. He was chuckled from the me yelping before he sat beside me. I gave him a playful punch on the arm as I opened the bottle and started to drink the water… and drink… and drink… and drink before I realised that I drank the whole bottle whole already before I could released it. I stared at the empty bottle the same way as Gol was. “That was insanely quick, I just gave you that.” He told me with surprise in his tone.

“Yeah… but I’m still thirsty…” I said to myself as I swallowed the dry taste in my mouth. What was going on?! This never happened to me before- my train of thought was stopped as I felt the worst pain I have ever had in my life in my stomach as I curled into a ball and fell over. The pain was so bad that I felt tears forming in my eyes. Gol was quick to react and tried the best he could to soothe the pain but it was too great, I started to cry as it felt like my insides were eating themselves. I reached out and grabbed Gol’s hand and looked at him with tears. “Help… me…” was all I could say before I was knocked out.

I soon open my eyes and I was in the infirmary. I knew it was it because I’ve been in here before. I groaned a bit as I looked around a bit until I saw Gol sitting nearby reading something.

“Hey…” I said which got his attention. “Sorry about our date… I’ll make it up to you.”

“Don't worry about the date… what happened?” He asked me with worry in his tone as he grasped my hand. “You scared the ever living shit out of me you know that? I thought I was going to lose you or something.” He said, caressing my hand as he spoke. I smiled at him as I squeezed his hand with mine.

“Your answer is as good as mine… I was fine, then I got thirsty… then really thirsty… then pain.” I told him as I looked around. “How long was I out?”

“You were out for half the day. Are still in pain? Thirsty?” Gol asked me worryingly, I must've really spooked him if he's like this. I thought for a moment before nodding a little.

“A bit thirsty,” I said as the dry taste returned. “Why am I so thirsty all of a sudden?” Gol handed me a large bottle of water which I quickly took the cap off and chugged it down like there was no tomorrow. Gol looked at me oddly but I had doubts that it was because of how I was drinking.

“Babe… are you alright? You look a little… paler than normal.” He said, placing a hand on my forehead only to frown. I blinked at him as I looked over to the small mirror nearby. It was true, I was paler than normal. I dropped the bottle as I started to get freaked out.

“W-what’s happening to me?!” I asked scared. Gol held my hand as I yelled, he even pulled me into a loving hug, one that helped me calm down. With Gol being so close to me, I couldn't help but let out a shaky blissful sigh. As we held each other I could hear his heartbeat, it was… soothing. It made me forget about the unbearably dry mouth.

“Ah, here you are.” Mavis’s voice brought me out of my dream like state and, to my disappointment, I had to pull away before seeing Mavis standing by the curtains. She wore the very same doctor's outfit she wore when Viri and Blake went into labour. “I'm sorry for taking so long, I needed to put little Hotaru to sleep after feeding her.” She said to Gol, gaining a nod from the Thundermore man.

“It's fine, just woke up…” I looked over at the empty large bottle. “and had water.” Mavis chuckled at this before walking up to me, giving me the usual checkups the regular nurses would give me before asking me to open my mouth up wide. I did so, hoping that she didn't mind dry mouth breath. With a rubber glove on, she started to feel my bottom teeth around before feeling the top and arching a brow and chuckling.

“Ah, they're finally growing out.” She said with a smile, gaining an odd look from me. Gol was looking at her oddly as well but kept quiet.

“Wha is growing owt?” I asked with my mouth open. Mavis retracted her gloved hand away from my mouth, allowing me to close my mouth finally. She took off the glove and tossed into the trash bin.

“Your fangs, dear, they're finally growing out.” She said, facing me with a smile. This got surprised look from me and I went to feel my teeth feeling the small but sharp fangs poking out.

“W-what’s going on?!” I asked, scared of what's happening. Gol was quick to try to calm me down, grasping my hand in his grimm hand. Mavisath chuckled a little at my panicked reaction but was quick to quiet down.

“Oh it's nothing to be afraid, Miss Branwen, it's your heritage.” She said to me but this didn't really help, only leaving me with more questions. While still confused, I wasn't as panicked thanks to Gol.

“I'm sorry but...what?!” I yelled, confused when she meant heritage. With a roll of her eyes, Mavis answered.

“You're vampire… well, half-vampire to be precise.” Mavis said informatively before giving me a curious glance before asking. “Has Taiyang never informed you of this?” She asked.

“Wait, Vampire?” Gol asked in disbelief. “That can't be right, vampires are just fairy tales… Right?” He said, looking at Mavis only for her to shake her head.

“Vampires are very much real but they're not as horrid as you may think.” Mavis said before looking at me and saying. “And because of your growing fangs, your body requires sustenance to help your body get accustomed to the changes.” Mavis informed me. I stared at her as the information settled.

“I'm… I'm a Vampire!?!” I yelled, mostly for me to hear me say it.

“Half-vampire.” Mavis corrected me. I turned to her wide-eyed.

“The word Vampire is still there!” I pointed out as I put my face in my hands. “How? How can this happen? My dad isn't a Vampire, if so than Yang or Ying or whatever would be too…” I looked back up at Mavis before asking. “Was my mom a Vampire?” Mavis shook her head before answering.

“Not when she had you.” Was her answer. I still couldn't wrap my head around this, how am I a vampire or half or whatever!? I felt Gol lightly squeeze my hand and I looked at him as he gave me a little smile.

“Vampire or not, you're still my girl.” He said before gently kissing the back of my hand. This made me smile a little as I looked back at Mavis.

“Alright… I'll go along with this…” I took a deep breath as I thought about it.

“Now then, for your dry mouth dilemma… you need to drink blood.” Mavis said, informing of a way to be rid of the dry mouth. I made a face when she said the word ‘blood’. I didn't know how I should feel about that. “But that creates yet another dilemma on who will allow you to drink their-”

“I'll do it.” Gol quickly said, cutting Mavis off from her explanation. Mavis looked at him with an arched brow. “I'll do anything for Ruby.” Was all Gol said as he glanced at me.

“Alright, then that handles that, I'll check up on you in a moment. I need to pick up the kids from school.” Mavis said before vanishing in a flash of light, leaving me with Gol, who had offered to let me drink his blood without hesitation. I looked over at him.

“You're… going to let me...you know…” I asked Gol. He looked at me with a smile and nodded.

“I'd do anything for you, Ruby.” He said, still holding my hand in his grimm hand. I stared at him before blushing a bit.

“A-alright…” I said as I felt nervous. I shifted a bit as I glanced back at Gol. “So… what now?” I asked as I swallowed nervously. He thought about it briefly before suddenly biting into his lip, earning a surprise look from me. Without as much as a word, he closed the gap between the two of us for a passionate kiss and I could taste the blood and it tasted… sweet. It was the sweetest thing I've ever tasted and… I kinda liked it. I was lost in the taste of his blood and the kiss, feeling like time had no meaning anymore. This feeling was cut short when I felt Gol move away from me. I leaned towards him but soon felt like I was about to fall forwards. I opened my eyes open and saw Gol staring at me. “U-Uhhmm.”

“You looked like you enjoyed it.” He said with a chuckle as the bite on his lip was being healed by his aura. I licked my lips as I blushed a bit, I also noticed that the dry taste was gone… heck, I felt great!

“Whoa… this feels… wow.” I said as I blinked a few times, picking up details that I didn’t realize before. I could even count every feather of Gol’s wings!

“So how was it?” Gol asked me, have no doubt noticed my perked up mood and staring at his wings.

“Huh? Oh! Uh…” I started to say before smiling. “It was… sweet.” He arched a brow at this and tilted his head at the mention of sweet.

“Sweet?” He asked me in a curious tone. I nodded at him.

“Yeah… it was sweet.” I gave him a look for a moment. “Were you eating a lot of sweets lately?” He shook his head at this and answered.

“No, I rarely eat any sweets… the occasional milkshake and cake for desert but not frequently.” He answered me. I tilted my head a bit but decided to not dwell on it as I laid back down. “You seemed to enjoy though.” He said with a smirk.

“Yeah, I did.” I said as I gave him a toothy grin. He chuckled at this before saying.

“The fangs make you look cuter if you ask me.” He said, having seen my fangs when I gave him a happy grin. I blushed a bit but still smiled at him as we waited for Mavis. Luckily we didn't have to wait too long before Mavis returned with another flash of light. Upon seeing me, noticing the better state I am in than before, she hummed and said.

“I suppose you too have already solved the blood problem?” She asked us, gaining nods from me and Gol. She nodded back at this before saying. “Alright then, just keep in mind you'll need to drink blood at least once a day or twice a day, go any longer and you'll suffer the same effects of dry mouth and sudden pain.” She said informatively at me before adding. “You're free to go.” She said, allowing me to leave the infirmary finally. I smiled as I got up from the bed, seeing that I was in the same clothes as before.

“Thanks, Mavis.” I told her as Gol stood up.

“If there's you should thank it's Gol, he's the one notified me of your sudden pain.” Mavis said with a chuckle before we left the infirmary. I still couldn't believe it, I'm half-vampire… this thought plagued me as we walked down the hall from the infirmary and it wasn't until I heard Gol’s voice that I was thought out from my thoughts.

“Are you alright, babe?” Gol asked me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder as he spoke.

“Yeah, just thinking…” I said as I looked down the hallway. “Come on, I need to talk to someone.” With that I sped up with a destination in mind with Gol keeping up behind me.

Author's Note

... well... RB is a Half-Vampire... Neat

RB's True Family

It didn’t take long to get to the place we were going; my home. As we got there I notice that I wasn’t bursting into flames, which was good in my case oddly enough. Gol has been here many times before, mostly to help around and spend time with me though dad always kept a close eye on him.

As we got closer I saw dad walking up to the door, must’ve finished up the day at school. “Dad!” I called out to him, getting his attention.

“Ah, Ruby. Good to see you. How was-” He stopped as I cut him off.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” I asked/Yelled at him, making him jump a bit.

“What? What are you talking about?” he asked me. I frowned before showing him my teeth, my fangs. He blinked at this before realizing what I was talking about. “Oh… that’s what your talking about.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked Dad. He stared at me before glancing over at Gol then back at me. He unlocked the door and opened it.

“Come on, seems we need to talk.” He told me, allowing me and Gol to enter first. We soon sat at the living room seats before dad came up. “So what you want to know?” He asked me with a serious tone.

“Who else knew about… well this.” I asked, pointing at my fangs. Dad sighed as he sat down.

“Well I did, also your mother, aunt and uncle.” Dad answered me.

“Uncle Qrow and Aunt Raven… they knew?” I asked him, earning a nod from him.

“Raven… she sent me a message to ask if she should tell you about your haradige but I told her not to until you were older.” Dad told me. I frowned at him before asking.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, earning an arch brow from dad.

“What? Tell a young girl of the age of ten or younger that her mother side of the family was vampires or when your were saved from Beacon… I didn’t think it was right for you to let you know…” Dad groaned a bit. “And I feel like I’m being a bad parent…” I frowned at this before thinking about it, if mom wasn’t really a vampire… then that ment.

“Who’s… who’s my dad then?” I asked dad, making him looked at me. “I was told that mom wasn’t a vampire at the time but… I don’t know…” I said, feeling like I lost my train of thought.

“You're right, Summer wasn't a vampire… and I'm not even your real dad.” He answered sadly before looking back at me and saying. “The man you want, your birth father, goes by the name of Aurel Van Stoker… he's a vampire, a full on one that is.” He said to me. I blinked at dad as I thought about it.

“Stoker… I heard that name before…” I said before scratching my head a bit. “But where…”

“Stoker, Stoker… the only Stoker I know of was the infamously known General Benedict Stoker, he ruthlessly commanded the ancient army of a power hungry lord.” Gol mentioned and to our surprise dad nodded at Gol's words.

“Yeah, that was him…” Was all he said. The two of us stared at him.

“Mom fell in love with some power hungry army general?” I asked Dad bluntly, almost making him laugh from this.

“No no, he wasn't power hungry… he was just loyal to his lord.” Dad said, rubbing the back of his head and added. “You're mother fell in love with a man, who at first wanted nothing to do with her but… you know your mom, stubborn to get her way. Eventually she had managed to get him to warm up to her and your mother saw something in him, fell in love with him.” He said with a little chuckle.

“Like Mother like daughter.” Gol said, holding back a chuckle of his own. I gave him a look before looking back at dad.

“So… he’s really my father… and is a vampire.” I said out loud. He nodded but said.

“He's not just a vampire… he's THE vampire, he was reborn a true vampire… or at least that's he told me.” Dad said with a shrug. So all this time, I was living some sort of lie…

“Why keep this from me? Why didn’t he, I don’t know, show up and see me?” I asked my dad. He sighed at this before answering.

“He and Summer handed you to me, entrusting me to raise you because if they couldn't provide the happy life they knew you deserved.” Dad answered but it didn't help the pain. I frowned more at this as Gol spoke.

“Hold one, you say they…” Gol turned to me for a moment before looking back at dad and adding. “From what I was told Summer died, yet you’re saying it as if she was still alive…” This made me perk up a bit, staring at my dad with wide eyes as he scratched the back of his head.

“Yeah… she is but as vampire sired by Aurel. He bit her and turned her into a vampire to prevent her from dying by any normal means.” He said informatively. I stared at him with my mouth open, shocked to hear that my mom was still… sorta alive. It got to the point that Gol poked me to see if I was alright.

“Ruby… Ruby!” Gol called out my name loudly. I blinked a few times before looking around.

“Huh? Where am I? Did we leave?” I asked before realizing that we were still in the house.

“You alright? You were out of it for a while.” Gol told me, wrapping an arm around me before asking. “How are you feeling?” He asked with concern.

“I’m… shocked… surprised and… happy that my mom is alive…” I paused for a moment as I thought about it. “... kinda? Still wrapping my head around vampire being in between.” Dad looked me sadly, no doubt feeling the guilt for having withheld this information for so long and keeping up the act that he was my real dad. I stared at him before I stood up and went over to give him a hug. “Doesn’t mean I won’t stop calling you dad.” I whispered into his ear. He smiled and wrapped his arms around to return the hug.

“So now what?” Gol asked as I pulled away from the hug. I looked at him for a moment as I thought about it.

“I… don’t know…” I said as I sat beside my dad. I looked over at dad before speaking. “What do you think I should do?” Dad shrugged before saying.

“Well the way I see it, you can meet your biological father and maybe even learn about being a vampire.” He said to me, giving the suggestions. There was that and there was mom, the thought of her being alive gave me hope of seeing her again. I stood up with a smile as I looked at Gol.

“Hey, want to go on a roadtrip?” I asked him with a smile.

“Couldn't say no even if I wanted to.” Gol answered with his own smile. Dad looked at us as we stood up. I smiled at him before giving him a hug.

“Thank you… for everything.” I said as I felt tears form in my eyes. He returned the hug without hesitation before he spoke.

“Anything for my little Rose.” He whispered to me, planting a kiss atop my head. I smiled at him as I pulled away. “Now… don’t take this the wrong way but I have to ask you two to leave. I have a lot of tests to grade.” I giggled before both Gol and I walked out of the house.

“So you really want to meet this guy?” Gol asked me as he shut the door behind him. I gave it some thought before turning to him.

“Well, kinda.” I said before looking back at the house. “Sure this guy is my real dad, but I know little of him, mostly I want to see my mom again.” I said sadly as I looked down at the ground. Gol grasped my hand in his and brought my gaze back up to him, seeing his comforting smile.

“Let's head to town, we'll see if Mavis or Axycia can take us back to our Remnant.” Gol said to me before we headed back to the town of Forever Free. We walked up to the home of Mavis and Yang and I gave it a few knocks. As we waited I looked over at Gol and take hold of his hand.

“So… I have a Grimm Faunus Boyfriend, and you have a Vampire girlfriend…” I paused as I thought about it. “A really… exotic couple huh?”

“Exotic is the new norm for us, don't you think?” He asked jokingly at me. I gave him a playful grin at my boyfriend as we waited. Soon enough the door opened but it wasn't Yang nor Mavis, it was little Strun that opened the door. He looked up at us and asked.

“Um, h-hello.” He greeted shyly with a wave of his hand. I smiled as I waved back.

“Hi there, is your mommy here?” I asked him as sweetly as I could… don’t know if it works on a pale woman with long black and red hair with fangs. He didn’t run screaming so that’s good. Strun nodded shakingly before running off inside, leaving the door ajar. I was able hear him calling for his mommies the farther he got. Soon enough, Mavis opened up the door with Strun her arms. The later smiling in his mother's embrace.

“Yes, is there something you need?” Mavis asked us. Between the two of us, we explained what’s going on and the question I wanted to ask. Mavis arched a brow at this as we finished. “You two wish to visit your world?” Mavis asked us with an arched brow. Strun listened and watched as we spoke, not knowing what was going on and Mavis kept him like that giving him the occasional kisses.

“Yes, I want to see my mom again… and punch my birth father… and maybe eat a sandwich…” I thought for a moment before looking at Gol. “I’ve spent way too much time with Rose.” With a curious look, she simply sighed and shrugged before snapping her fingers. Within a flash of light, a necklace had formed around my neck with a large gemstone hanging from it. It bore similarities to an actual Ruby but it was darker in color.

“This will take you to Remnant and back, as for Gol all he needs to do is simply place a hand on your shoulder or hold hands, as long as you’re making physical contact with one another you will both brought along to Remnant.” Mavis explained to me and Gol, the gemstone shining a dark red as she spoke before it stopped. I toyed with it for a moment before smiling at Mavis.

“Thank you so much Mavis.” I said to her. Mavis smiled before closing the door, seeing that her assistance is no longer required. The two of us walked away from her home until I stopped and looked at Gol. “So… you ready or… want to do something else?” I asked him. His answer was a simply nod and holding my gently with his Grimm hand. With a smile I looked down and saw the darken ruby started to glow and the two of us teleported from where we were. I blinked a few times before I notice the bright glow fading and saw that we stood in front of a gate which lead to a large manor. Looking around I noticed we were somewhere in the Emerald Forest but how? Surely Atlas drones would be able to pick this place up in their scans. I was taken out of my thoughts when a buzzer sounded. Gol had pressed the intercom to reveal our presence to whoever was in the manor.

“Who is this? How did you find this place?” A male voice asked out from the intercom. Gol looked at me with a shrug. I waked over to the intercom to speak.

“Hello? Where is this place?” I asked the man through the intercom.

“You stand in front of the gates to the Manor of Aurel Von Stoker and I'll ask you again, state your name and your business here?” The male voice asked, though, despite words meaning to be threatening, his tone sounded calm. I couldn’t help but thought this was funny.

“Well then, found the place. Here’s the business part first,” I said with a smirk on my face. “I want to meet the lord and lady of this place. It’s important.” The voice sighed before speaking.

“And what pray tell is this important matter that you'd wish to disturb Lord Aurel with?” The voice asked me. Gol looked at me oddly, not knowing what I was trying to do.

“Well… tell him that a woman named Ruby Rose wants to talk to him.” I said to the man, smiling that I was using my real name for once. There was soon silence after I uttered my real name, it was like this nearly three minutes before the gates began to open up, allowing us entry into the property. “I think that went well,” I said to Gol with a smile. He rolled his eyes before he and I began our short trek towards the large manor. I looked up at the large building as we grew close, now realizing that I was completely nervous at all this. I soon felt Gol’s hand on my shoulder as he smiled at me.

“It'll be fine.” He said to me as we walked up to the doors as it opened, revealing a platinum blonde haired man in his mid-twenties wearing black dress pants, a white dress shirt with a purple tie, and a purple vest. It gave him a butler vibe. Upon sight of me, he was ready to bow but saw Gol and frowned lightly, having not been informed of his presence. I frowned at him before walking in front of Gol.

“He’s with me… got a problem with that?” I asked as tighten my fist. He shook his head at this before bowing, his frown vanishing as he straightened up.

“Follow me.” Was all the butler looking man said before heading inside with me and Gol following behind. The inside was huge, even it was just the entry hall. The walls were decorated with mounted Grimm trophies but one of them looked more human than Grimm.

“Those look…” I didn’t finished as I looked over at Gol as he stared at the trophies. He frowned and shook his head before we moved on. There were many large portraits of the same man, no doubt this Aurel guy though there was one portrait, larger than the others that had him, mom and… me? I stopped in front of it and looked at the portrait. I stared at it for a few moments before I turned off to follow the others.

We soon came to a large set of doors, it even had a plaque on the doors reading Study. The platinum blonde haired man walked up to the door and knocked a few times. And with each knock, I felt myself shake. A feeling of fear washed over me as each knock happened. I reached out and grabbed Gol’s Grimm hand and squeezed it. Soon the doors open and I saw a woman step out of the room. She was taller than be but by a simple glance I knew who she was… she was the woman from the portrait… she was my mom.

She was a spitting image of me, though in a sense more Ruby with her short hair. She looked over and saw the butler as I moved behind Gol, thanking that his wings were large.

“Klaus, it's nice to see you… what can I help you with?” the woman said softly. The butler man, who's name turned out to be Klaus, bowed at the sight of my mother before gesturing towards me and Gol.

“There is someone here claiming to be Ruby Rose.” Klaus said calmly and informatively. Mom looked my way and saw only Gol and his wings. The latter noticed me hiding behind him and stepped aside, revealing me. I froze as our eyes locked on each other. She stared at me before slowly walking over to me as she spoke.

“R-Ruby?” She asked as she got closer. “Is that… you?” I didn’t say anything as I nodded as she soon stood in front of me and took my head into her hands as she stared at me.

“Uh… h-hi mom.” I said with a smile as she took a shaky breath and smiled.

“My little girl… all grown up…” she said before pulling me into a hug. I hugged her back as I let my tears fall as I hugged my mom. I felt her own tears fell onto me as my mom hugged me before pulling back and wiped away her tears. “You look so different than I thought.”

“It’s the hair isn’t it.” I said jokingly, making her chuckle a bit. I glanced at Gol, seeing him smiling at the sight reuniting with my mom. “Oh, mom this is Gol Parker.” I introduce him to her.

“Ahh, yes…” Mom gave him a look before saying. “Did we… meet before?” Gol titled his head at this before shaking his head.

“Not to my knowledge.” Gol said to my mom with a shake of his head. Mom looked at him then glanced at me then back at him and arch a brow.

“Well, I do have to say you two look cute together.” she said with a smile, which made me blush. She knows! Gol was the first to speak after that.

“Was it that obvious?” Gol asked mom as he walked up to me, holding me close with a wing. I hid my blush behind the wing.

“Nope, compleat guess.” she said with a smile before turning to the doors with the two of us staring at her in shock.

“Can’t believe she just did that…” I said before seeing mom walk into the study which reminded me the next part. “Well… time to see him…” Klaus had left already, no doubt during the heartfelt reunion. Gol nodded in time for mom to motion for us to follow her inside. Stepping into the room, I marveled at the sight of many bookcases lining up the walls, many of these books looked ancient. At the far side of the room was a single desk with a pale man reading a book that laid there on his desk. He was focused on his reading that he didn't notice us enter.
“So dear, what did Klaus want?” The man asked mom no doubt as he turned a page.

“He said that we have… someone important that wanted to see us.” Mom said, looking at me with a smile. The man hummed at this before looking up from his book and looked at mom just before she stepped aside, allowing him to see me. He stood up from his chair, revealing his intimidating height before making his way towards me. Every step he took echoed through the study, I couldn't help but feel nervous once again. Now closer to me than before, he gave me a good look over, his narrowed gaze softening before he nodded silently.

“It is you… dear little Rose.” He said to me. I smiled up at him as he stood near me… right before I punched him in the side. The one thing I didn’t expect was that it felt like punching a brick wall.

“Ow!... the heck are you made out of?!” I said as I held my hand and frowned. “Here I was with a good one liner of not sending me or checking up on me but… ow!” I heard Gol facepalmed at this as mom simply sighed. I looked back up at him, seeing that it didn't even leave a bruise.

“Can't say I don't deserve it.” He said, feeling the spot where my fist made contact. “I suppose Taiyang has filled you on who I am and what I am.” He guessed, looking at me as he did.

“Yeah, right after I found out about these.” I said as I opened my mouth so he could see the fangs. Mom got closer and got a closer look at them.

“Oh my, your fangs came in!” She said with a smile. “And they look good to!” Aurel or dad or whatever, chuckled at mom’s words before speaking himself.

“So you have questions then.” He guessed, gaining a nod from me as soon as he said this. “Alright then, I'll answer them.” He then noticed Gol and arched a brow upon seeing him. I felt nervous as he stared at Gol like that.

“This is Gol… he’s my boyfriend.” I said to him as I stepped closer to Gol. The latter draping a wing over me, bringing me comfort. Feeling the warmth he brought to me, I couldn't help but hum appreciatively and lean my head onto his shoulder.

“Aww, that's so sweet.” Mom said with a smile on her face. I blushed at this and used Gol's wing to hide the blush like I did before. My father looked at Gol with an arched brow still, though I was unsure if it was because of his Grimm traits or something else.

“I do hope you're treating her nice, like she is the most important thing in your life.” My father said, gaining a nod from Gol. The latter glanced at me, giving me a warm smile before speaking up.

“She is the most important thing in my life… and I'll cherish every moment with her.” Gol said to him. My father simply stared him down, his red-eyed gaze simply looking at Gol as if to see if he was lying or not. He then smiled with a chuckle.

“Very well then, just know that if you ever do anything to hurt emotionally or physically…” He warned Gol, not even finishing his sentence.

“Trust me, I'd never hurt Ruby.”Gol said, accepting the warning of my vampiric father. Huh, still need to get used to that.

“Of course you don't hurt me.” I said to him as I rested my head on his shoulder. “If you did I'll hurt you back.” My father let a snort, having not expected that response from me. He quickly recomposed himself before Gol said.

“Yeah, that too.” Gol said, crossing his arms at me but still had the wing draped over me. It was then I remembered of another reason of why we're here.

“So… what's going to happen to me?” I asked both mom and my father. “I don't think paler skin and fangs are going to be it.” My father arched a brow before answering.

“Along with some minor physical changes, you'll be faster, stronger and your reflexes will be inhuman.” My father explained and to be honest, those sounded pretty cool and thought of being faster was even better. Then i thought of a dumb question.

“Dumb question; is the sun bad for me?” I asked, feeling dumb asking that. At first, he simply looked at me as if questioning why I would ask such a thing and before I knew he busted out laughing, his laugh echoed loudly in the large room.

“I can't…” He wasn't able to finish his sentence as another round of laughter was brought out from him. This went on for a while, Mom was chuckling at my father’s laughter while I fidgeted nervously in place not knowing what he'll say. Before long he managed to calm down and compose himself before finally answering. “Sorry, sorry… it gets funnier every time I hear it.” He said to me before clearing his thought. “No, it's not bad for you in the sense you'll die setting foot outside but it is still an inconvenience. At most, you'll just feel weak in the sun but only if you haven't had any blood.” He said to me.

“Right…” I said, now feeling a little stupid for asking that question.

“Oh don't feel too bad, your mother asked me the same thing when she became a vampire.” He informed me with a little laugh. Mom blushed a bit before looking to the side.

“It's an honest question.” She muttered to herself. I gave her a sympathetic look as I stood under Gols wing.

“And I just so happen to find it hilarious.” My father replied with a smirk, hearing mom’s muttering. She simply rolled her eyes as she smiled at me. I smiled back at the two of them as I finally met my father and my mother again.

“So… what now?” I asked. Gol looked down at me with an arched brow and asked.

“What do you mean?” He asked me, while my parents talked to one another. Their conversation mostly involved me, mom mentioned how proud she was to see me all grown up and with someone that cares about me.

“Well… I don't know what to do next… never thought this far ahead.” I said to Gol. He chuckled at this before pulling me a little closer to him with his wing, gaining a little giggle from.

“You always need to think ahead of times, babe.” He whispered to me, planting a loving kiss on my cheek after he spoke. I smiled at this as I kissed him back.

“Yeah, but I do love to enjoy the moment.” I whispered back to him. Gol smiled at this as we stayed like that until we turned back to my parents. “Hey… this might be another dumb question but… aren't you two worried about the Grimm overrun?” Both my mom and father looked at me curiously after hearing my question.

“Quite worried, yes.” My father answered me before asking. “Why do you ask?” Mom was curious about this as well. I frowned sadly at this, the idea that the two of them out here in the middle of the Emerald Forest waiting for a horde of Grimm to stampede through. Even if they were vampires, I don't think they could survive.

“Maybe they can come back with us.” Gol suggested to me, earning curious looks from both mom and father.

“Back with you where exactly?” My Father asked the both of us. Mom was hoping for an answer as well.

“Well… it's kinda hard to believe.” I said to them.

“Honey, we're vampires.” Mom said simply while crossing her arms. Both Gol and I looked at one another.

“Don't say that I didn't warn you…” I started before both me and Gol started to explain where we came from. We didn't leave anything out which was why it took almost two hours to explain. My parents listened to every word, both of then found it hard to believe that a race of anthropomorphic magic ponies ruled over a kingdom and then I told them about my duel against Blueblood which brought a laugh out from both Gol and my father though the latter was brought to tears when mentioned how I won. “Hey, I can't believe he was knocked out by that… wimp.”

“Though I don't think it's a good idea to laugh at one's pain… but I think this… stallion deserved it.” Mom said, earning a chuckle from father.

“So… do you two want to come?” I ask the two of them. “It’s not like here but… it's would be better than worrying if a horde of Grimm is coming…” Mom smiled at me, appreciating my concern over them. My father glanced at mom as if silently asking if she wanted to go to what is most definitely a better place. Mom looked at me and simply smiled before answering with a nod.

“Alright, we'll go but where will we be staying?” My father asked me with an arched brow. I gave it some thought about that.

“You think Mavis or Axycia would help with that?” I asked Gol. He looked at me before shrugging.

“Mavis has been pretty helpful so far, maybe she can whip them up a new home.” Gol suggested, gaining curious looks from mom and father. I nodded and looked at the two of them.

“We'll have something.” I told them.

“Alright then, how do we leave?” Mom then asked me.

“I got a way but… what about your butler?” I asked the two of them. Mom and father looked at one another before a knock grabbed our attention. Mom was quick to make her way over to answer the door. When she opened it, she was greeted by the butler in question holding two bags of luggage no doubt belonging to my parents.

“I've taken the liberty to pack for such an occasion.” He said, handing mom her bag before walking into the room and stopping in front of my father before handing his bag and saying. “Here you are, milord.” He said. He was now bagless save for a duffel bag he carried. “I am to believe that I will be joining the master and mistress?” He said, to which both mom and father nodded.

“I uhh, guess that solves that thought.” I said as I looked at everyone. “We… might not see this place for a long time… ever even. Are you three sure you want to do this?” This merely brought a chuckle from my father.

“I've lived here for centuries, literally nothing adorning this home matters to me… except for the seventy inch plasma screen television.” My father said, gaining confused looks from me and Gol. Mom sighed at our confusion before she spoke.

“Honey, your television is very outdated.” Mom told him before crossing her arms and adding. “And you haven't you used in the past decade.”

“To be fair, milady, the services for his… relic television had been dropped, most likely to provide the services for the scrolls.” Klaus said informatively, earning the roll of my father's eyes. I didn’t say anything about this, not really sure what to say.

“We should get going.” Gol whispered to me. I looked over at him before looking at the other three to see if they’re ready.

“I do believe we're all set, madam.” Klaus told me in his calm tone of voice. I nodded at him before taking hold of Gol.

“Okay, so just to let you know that you all have to be in contact to me for this to work so…” I lifted my hand up for them to have them take hold. Mom placed her hand atop of mine which was followed by my father's and finally Klaus. Gol held my other hand with a smile before the gem on my necklace shone brightly before finally blinding me once again.

After a few moments I was able to see and saw that we were back to the Everfree, I saw the town nearby and the school as well.

“Ohh, it's like that acid trip I had gone I devoured that magic man.” My father said, looking at our new surroundings. Mom sighed at this, a little annoyed at him for mentioning… wait devour!? I gave father an odd look as he chuckled a bit.

“He had magic cards.” Mom clarified, revealing the man my father was talking about wasn't magic. My father chuckled and smirked before saying.

“And magic hands.” He said in a suggestive tone that… just ew, no.

“Moving on… We need to find either Mavis or Axycia, they’ll help us with making a place for you three.” I said as I started look around, wondering who should be better to find first. Gol thought on this for a moment before saying.

“Mavis is much closer and I really don't want to go to Ponyville, don't a repeat of last time.” He said me, reminding me of the mass panic a trio of mares had caused upon sight of Gol. My parents arched a curious brow at this while Klaus waited patiently.

“Yeah… let’s go find Mavis. Hope she’s not busy.” I said before leading everyone to Yang and Mavis’ place. As we walked I saw some Faunus walking around either student or someone from the town near here. Funny enough when they see father and mother as well as Klaus they didn’t see it as weird. Guess out of all the weird stuff that happened over the time they just got used to it. When we arrived at the residence of Mavisath and Yang, we saw them outside watching over their twins as they played around with their new playground, no doubt made by Mavis’s magic. Yang had little Hotaru in her arms and Mavis held both of them close to her. Mavis was quick to notice us walking up to her home and raised a curious brow at the sight of my parents. She looked at Yang and said something to her that I was unable to hear before Mavis stood up and walked over to us.

“I knew you went your parents but I'd have never guessed you could convince them to come with.” Mavis told me. I gave her a shrug as I looked to my parents.

“Mom, Dad, this is Mavis.” I greeted them. Both of them gave Mavis a courtly bow, no doubt mom learned that from my father.

“A pleasure to met such a beautiful woman as yourself.” Greeted my father only to be quickly elbowed in the stomach by mom. Unlike my attempt to hit him, mom had actually got him to groan and hold his stomach. “You're the one for me, Summer.” He groaned.

“Got that right.” Mom said with a bit of a huff. I chuckled a bit before I saw someone came over to us. Yang leaned in and looked at mom, making her eyes widen. “Y-Yang?”

Yang didn’t say anything for a few moments before looking at me. “Yours?” I simply nodded as her expression softened and nods. She turned and smiled at my mother. “Hi there.” Mom looked like she was confused.

“Umm.” was all she could say, looking for Mavis for help.

“Yes, she is Yang but not the one you of, she is from a different version of your world and my beloved wife.” Mavis said, adding the last part with a smile as she glanced back at Yang. “Now then, what is it you require of me?” Mavis asked me, smiling as she did. My father lets out another groan as he straightened up. Yang smiled at this before looking back at her kids.

“Hey hey hey! Don’t touch that!” she said before running off to deal with something. This got a chuckle from Mavis and me as I looked up at her.

“So… sorry to bother you for another thing but…” I stopped as I didn’t know how to word it.

“We wanted to ask if you could make these three a new home.” Gol helped finish my sentence after seeing my struggle.

“Is that so?” Mavis asked me, wanting to be sure that what he said was true.

“Yes, again I hope this isn’t too much trouble.” Mom said with a little smile. “My daughter said that you or this Axycia would help us.” With a smile, Mavis answered with a chuckle.

“Oh it's no trouble at all but I do however ever require an idea of what you want your new home to be, so if you two would follow me.” Mavis said, walking past us and glancing back. “I'll be taking you an open plot of land, do not worry about payment, I'll handle that.” After hearing this, Mom glanced at my father before they followed Mavis. Klaus was left to look after their luggage but didn't seem to mind. Every now and again, he would readjust his gloves though I'm unsure if it was because they were uncomfortable or simply because he could.

“So… you been with my family for a long time?” I asked the butler. Klaus looked at me with an arched brow before answering.

“I have worked under your father's employ for around fifty years.” Klaus said without nonchalantly. Both me and Gol looked surprised at the mention of how long he had been working.

“Fifty years!?” Both me and Gol exclaimed in shock, gaining a nod from Klaus before I shook my head and spoke.

“How? You don't look a day over twenty four.” I said, baffled at this revelation.

“You may thank your father for that, he cursed me stay this age he longer requires my service.” He said calmly, yet adding more questions than answers.

“So… you’re also a vampire?” I asked him. He shook his head at this as soon as the question left my mouth.

“No, simply cursed.” He said, rolling up his right sleeve to reveal what could only be demonic markings running up his arm. Both Gol and I looked at them as he lowered his sleeve.

“They kinda look like the markings on Viri’s mom.” I said getting a nod from Gol.

“Yeah, only less demonic.” Gol added. “Also they look more like tattoos.” I nodded a bit before looking at Klaus.

“Why were you cursed though?” I asked him. Klaus chuckled a little at this before answering.

“I was previously part of an organization of Vampire Hunters, a large group along myself were tasked with the elimination of your father. He butchered and devoured most of my colleagues and kept a few of us alive, out them all he chose me to me his servant for as long as he sees fit.” Klaus explained calmly and nonchalantly. This… was something I can’t wrap my head around.

“Did he explain why?” I asked Klaus.

“Yes, he was deciding between devouring us or take one of us as his servant, he flipped a coin and chose me as his servant.” Was Klaus’s answer as he glanced at me and Gol.

“He… flipped a coin…” I said, feeling that it was a dumb decision maker for the situation. Klaus nodded, leaving me and Gol dumbstruck at this.

“Your father is a peculiar individual.” Klaus said with a quiet chuckle. Gol looked at me, seeing my twitching left eye.

“I feel like I’m going to get a headache when I talk to him…” I groaned a bit as I said that. Gol couldn't help but chuckle at this, knowing what I meant and simply draped a wing over me. This affection alleviated me of my coming headache and Klaus smiled at the sight of us.

“You and your mother have peculiar interests in men.” Klaus said jokingly though it was hard to tell at first as he spoke in his calm tone. I groaned mentally at this before seeing Mavis walking back with my parents in tow, they must've finished with the creation of their new home.

“Hey, is it finished?” I asked the three of them. Mavis nodded with a smile before answering.

“Yes it is, though your mother was the one who offered a design.” Mavis said before glancing at my parents as they conversed with one another. “It's fully furnished and is ready for them to move in.” Mavis said before looking back at me, smiling as she did. I smiled at her before speaking.

“Thank you Mavis, this… this means a lot.” I told her. Mavis smiled at me before saying.

“It's a pleasure to help a friend in need, my dear.” She said with a quiet chuckle. Gol and I smiled at her before she went back to her dearest Yang, leaving me and Gol to deal with my parents.

“Now that you have your home sorted out, let me be the first to welcome you three to Equestria.” Gol said, gaining my parents and Klaus’s attentions. My mom smiled, no doubt happy to live close by to me. Klaus had a hint of a smile on his face, most likely relieved to not have to worry over a Grimm overrun anymore. I looked over at my father to see him look around at the place some more, deep in thought.

“It'd be interesting to see how life differs from Remnant.” He muttered to himself quietly, though with my heightened hearing I was able to listen. I smiled at this before looking away.

“I believe it’ll be interesting.”

Prologue

Far in the northern part of Remnant was Atlas, an icy cold land that was tough to survive and live due to the harsh climate and great mountain ranges. Population there was low, such as a small town that held a smaller population. One of them was a young Faunus girl sitting in an alleyway in tattered robes that she found one day a few years back yet it did little to bring her warmth. Her silver white fox ears twitched a bit as the sound of people went on their lives, the Faunus didn’t dare to go out there since here in this small town the humans treated Faunus poorly, her especially for being a fox Faunus.

The girl rubbed her hands over a barrel, which was lit aflame. Her hands were numb from the cold. She watched the fire as it flickered a bit as she brought her hands close together, breathing hot air into her hands as a cold wind blowed, snuffing out the fire. The girl whimpered a bit as she looked around, seeing if there’s anything she can use to start the fire again, or at least find something to trade with for matches from those that tolerate her. She walked down the alleyway, searching until she overheard someone speak near by.

“Well, this place is… cold. Really cold.” one of them said, a female voice. The woman sounded close, frightening the young girl before she hid behind a pile of rubbish.

“It gets colder during the winter.” Spoke another woman, earning a scoff from the other.

“Oh wow, I didn’t know that.” the first woman said in a sarcastic tone. The young Faunus peeked out of her alleyway to see the two women talking. They wore robes that hid their features but the girl did see that the first one had a shiny dagger on her belt. The girl's eyes widen, she has seen weapons before but nothing like the dagger. If she were to swipe the dagger unnoticed, she would be able to sell at a fine price.

She looked around to see if there’s anyone else around, when the coast was clear she slowly made her way towards the one that had the dagger, making sure that she was out of sight of the other woman. As she got close she reached out for the dagger. Just inches away from the dagger, a red scaled tail wrapped around her arm and stopped her from reaching it.

“Is something the matter, child?” The Woman spoke, turning to face the child in question. The child looked up at her, fear of what would happen next simply froze her than the cold winds.

“Hmm?” the other woman said, leaning over to see what’s going on. She saw the child staring at the First in fear. “Well, I’ve seen a lot in my time but a child trying to steal? That’s just screams desperate.”

The child looked at the two women as they stared down at her. The woman she had previously attempted to steal from had a motherly look to her, despite the dragon-like horns that protruded from the top of her head, the horns brought attention the woman's well kept platinum blonde hair. She looked young, possibly amidst her late twenties or so.

“What would a young one like you want a weapon such as mine?” She asked, her voice giving the girl a sense of calm as the tail unwrapped from her arm.

“Given in her state of being, maybe try to pawn it off or try to mug someone.” the other woman said. This one was almost the opposite of the first woman, while the first had a white complexion the second had a dark tanned one, the same dragon-like horns protruded from the top of her head but were a different shade of colour, more darker. Her crimson red eyes mirrored the child's own as a faint black marking was seen around her left eye. The darker woman leaned forwards, seeming to study the child. She at first had a hard sharp look about her that gave away to a more softer one. “You had a rough life to this point, haven’t you.”

The child looked at the two, not sure what to do as the cold shook her to the core. Her ears flatten on top of her head.

“Come, let us get you out of the cold and get you something to eat.” The motherly looking woman said, offering the child her hand. The child looked at the hand and back to the woman, she was still nervous about her but the offer of warmth and food was too good to pass up. She took the woman's hand, too which the woman felt the child's much colder one. “I saw a small dinner not too far from here.” The woman said before walking towards the direction she spoke of while leading the child in hand. The latter noticed her previously frozen hand had quickly warmed up as they walked.

The three traveled to the dinner and enter it, the child sighed as the warm air brushed her cold skin. She also noticed that the people that once showed distanced towards her didn’t this time. She frowned as the woman that held her hand lead her to an open booth. The child sat beside the motherly woman while the darker one sat across from them as a waiter came and offered them some menus.

“Out of all the places, why is it that this one town hates Faunus?” the Second woman said out loud as she looked through the menu. “There are Huntsman and Huntresses that are Faunus, even from before I could never understand.”

“Humanity has grown too… complicated to say the least.” The motherly one said, putting down her given menu. The child watched the two talk for a bit as the darker one looked at her. The child shrank a bit under her gaze as the woman studied the young Faunus.

“I’ve done many dark deeds in my time, but leaving a child out in the cold…” the dark woman leaned back and looked away, a saddened look on her face. The other glanced at the child, placing a hand on the child’s shoulder.

“There's no need for fear, child.” She said in her calming tone of voice. The woman noticed the menu in the child's grasp. “Order whatever you wish, money is not an issue compared to your well being.” She said.

“T-thank you… miss.” the child said in a small voice. The three ordered their food and once they got it the child wasted no time and started to wolf the food down. As she ate she couldn’t help but cry at this, at the fact someone was showing her kindness.

“Is something wrong?” The mother woman asked. The poor girl stopped at this question.

“No one… has ever shown me kindness before.” the child said, wiping away her tears as the best as she can. The woman sighed sadly at this.

“The world can be cruel place but a child doesn't deserve a life of poverty and hunger.” She said, comforting the crying child by gently caressing her dirty hair. The child in turn leaned into the woman, sniffling a bit.

“I wonder…” the dark woman said, looking at the child. “Is this fate, or a random chance?”

“What do you mean?” The motherly woman asked back. The dark woman shrugged.

“Call it a hunch, but I believe fate led us here… or fate is messing with me again.” this drawn a giggled from the child who thought it was a joke. The motherly woman smiled before chuckling.

“Fate… it's such a fickle thing.” The woman said. The child looked up at her, wondering what she was talking about.

“A fickle thing huh.” the dark woman crossed her arms and frowned. “It also caused me a whole deal of problems in the past.” The other sighed at the mention of this.

“Let us deal with the past another time.” The other said sadly but not halting her comforting for the child. It took them a while to finish eating. As the motherly woman paid, somehow, the three left. The child was now holding her hand, almost clinging to it.

“So, what are we going to do with her?” the dark woman asked the other. “I don’t believe she would want to return to the streets again.”

As she said that the child’s eyes widen, squeezing the other woman's hand tightly, not wanting to let go. The woman whose hand she held tightly pondered at this before looking down at the child.

“Ultimately, that is up to her.” The woman said looking at her darker counterpart before kneeling down to look at the child. “I've no doubt in my mind that all you desire is a home and family that would care for you deeply. To be treated as the living, breathing being you truly are and not as an animal or an outcast.” Each words she spoke brought more said sadness to the child and brought her to the brink of tears as she nodded in response. Her hand trembled, truly not wanting to let go of the woman that showed her true kindness. The Dark woman looked at this and have pity to the child, living alone in the streets in a place such as this, just the thought itself made the woman angry but not at the girl, nor her counterpart but at herself. The motherly woman gently wiped the tears from the crying girl, a gentle smile greeting the child’s eyes. “What if I could give you all that? What if I could give you what your heart truly desires?” She asked the teary eyed child, seeing her shiver from the cold before draping a large wing over her, bringing warmth to the child once more. “The choice is yours to make, little one.”

The motherly one felt the child's arms wrapped around her in a hug, trembling and crying in joy that someone was going to give her a home. The motherly woman returned the hug, making the child feel safe within the woman’s arms.

“It's alright… let it all out, my child.” The woman said, comforting the crying child in her arms. The child cried in the woman's arms while the other woman watched on and looked around to see if there's any onlookers. After a while the two pulled away, the child whipped away anymore tears.

“So… Are we off now or…” the dark woman asked. Standing up, the motherly looking woman looked at her counterpart before speaking.

“I suppose we should.” She said, dusting the dirt off her dress before offering her hand to the child. “Are you ready to see your new home?” She asked the teary-eyed girl. The girl nodded, taking her new parent’s hand. Giving the girl a motherly smile, she turned to looked straight ahead before raising her free hand, to which it began shone a bright golden light. This action resulted in a portal appearing in front of them, shining in a bright heavenly light.

The child's eyes widen at this, thinking that the two were simply odd Faunus.

“Oh child, you seen nothing yet.” the darker one said. The three soon walked into the portal as it closed behind them.

Many Years Later

“WHY DO YOU ALWAYS PUT ME THROUGH THIS!!!” the fox Faunus yelled, now older, as she ran from something her aunt summoned from the void. The black screaming blob crashed into a wall.

“To keep you on your toes!” the woman yelled, standing beside her sibling. The latter watched, ready to act if anything were to happen.

“While I understand your intentions, I don't it's healthy for her to be running at such a panicked state.” She said, turning to face her sister.

“We did agree on training her, and I said that my part of it isn't going to be easy…” the woman looked at her sibling. “And isn't the whole changing gender my shtick?”

The other shrugged as there was a large explosion. The three to see Viri panting as the void beast was sent back to the void.

“Well done! Always knew you-” she was cut off when a large rock hit her in the head. “Ow!”

“You deserved it!” the Faunus yelled back. The motherly woman shook her head at the faunus’ action.

“Be that is it may, that's still no way to treat your aunt.” She said, walking up to the fox-eared girl.

“Sorry…” the Faunus said. The motherly woman raised an eyebrow at her “...and sorry to you too aunty.”

“I'm fine!” she yelled, rubbing her head. This caused the motherly woman to roll her eyes at her sister’s words but said nothing. The field repaired itself as the clouds above floated overhead. Viri looked at her weapon, Molten coil, for any damages before having it collapsed onto itself.

“So… what now?” Viri asked her mother. She knew all too well that the two could change forms and gender at will, so she calls them whatever form they're in. Her mother took a moment to ponder before looking down at her daughter.

“Now, I give you this.” Her mother said, a large book appearing in hand. “Seeing as your birthday is just around the corner, I thought it would be fitting to hand you this early.” The cover of the book read; ‘The Traveler’ By a Harrison Clockwork.

Viri’s eyes widen as took the book. She smiled at this as one of her favorite pastimes was reading. “Thank you mom!” she said, giving her mother a hug.

“Anything for my little girl.” Her mother replied, returning the affection before Viri pulled away.

“Just don’t burn it.” the aunt said with a smirk. Viri frowned at her.

“I won’t, just don’t take it.” Viri replied.

“Why would I take it?” she asked. Viri gave her aunt a deadpan looked, making the woman roll her eyes. “Whatever, since we’re giving out presents…” she then tossed Viri an object. Once grabbed the object turned out to be a custom made scroll.

“Wow.” Viri said, looking at the black and red scroll in her hands before looking at the dark woman. “Is this for breaking my old one?”

“It didn’t break.” the aunt grumbled. Viri laughed before giving her a hug.

“Thank you, aunty.” Viri said.

“No problem V.” the woman said happily. Leaving the young girl to her own the two siblings watch her tap on her scroll. “So… do you think she's old enough?” Her sister looked at her curiously. “I mean to travel to other worlds and go on missions.”

The sister looked at the Faunus for a moment. “I know others that fought ageist void beasts before, even gods but they still seem to shake. Viri by far can fight a number of them on her own with ease.”

“I suppose… though we shouldn't send her to fight something of greater power than her, at least not until she's properly trained. Scouting missions and extermination would suffice.” The mother said, glancing at her daughter as she did.

“I agree with you there, I also know of a world that's full of light yet the Grimm still roam through the lands, I'm not saying we, or you, should send her there, but it's a place to think about.” the aunt said, making an orb appear and tossing it in the air before grabbing it.

“I will look into it.” The mother said, walking away and leaving her daughter to enjoy her gifts. She glanced back at her sister before saying. “She can start after her birthday, until then she should train. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to deal with an aggravated Non-Dovah flying about.” She said before walking off and opening a large marble door, exiting the room. The sister simply nodded as she looked back at her niece before looking at the glowing orb.

“Any power in the multiverse and he went with time and creation?” she chuckled before throwing the orb into a portal that leads to a vault. “Young gods, always picking the normal stuff.”

Many Days Later

Viri laid on the grassy fields looking up at the sky as she listened to her music on her scroll. Her birthday came and went and now she was twenty one. She saw some young half-breeds fly by playing as her one song ended and a new one started. Her foot started following the beat to Thunderstruck being played on two cellos. As she listen a shadow came over to her and as she opened her eyes she saw that it was her parent, though which form their taking.

“Hello.” she greeted as she sat up. Landing in front of her, Viri noted that her parent was still half-breed form. “Mother.” Her mother nodded with a smile.

“Your Aunt and I have been discussing something of great importance regarding your training.” She said in her usual gentle tone. Turning the music off, Viri stood up and faced her mother.

“Oh? And what’s that?” she asked before quickly look around. “She’s not going to sneak up on me isn’t she?” Her mother repressed a chuckle and shook her head.

“No no, it's not that at all.” Her mother said, clearing her throat afterwards before saying. “We've noted your improvement in your latest session and thought… That perhaps you're well trained enough for missions given to you by my sister.” She said, waiting for her daughter to respond. Viri smiled with pride from what she heard. It took a lot of her willpower to not dance around like a little girl. Though compared to her mother and aunt by age, she was.

“I’ll make you proud!” she said, a little louder then she hope. She covered her mouth. “Sorry, didn’t mean to yell...”

“It's alright, you're simply just excited.” Her mother said with her signature smile. “Your first few missions are simple scoutings and exterminations, you'll gain higher ranking ones the more you do and the better you do. Your Aunt will be in charge of giving you your missions but you will report to me when you've completed them.”

“Alright.” Viri said with a nod. Just as she did a dark portal opened up and her aunt walked through casually even though her clothes are smoking and on fire. The other two simply stared at her.

“Hello~! What did I miss?” she asked happily. Viri sighed as she used her semblance to remove the fire.

“I've simply informed Viri on our decision.” Viri’s mother informed. As she was explaining Viri sends the flames she was holding into her weapon which was strapped horizontally on her back.

“Ah! Yes.” her aunt said, looking at Viri. “She probably informed you of this but I’ll be giving you the missions and you’ll give in your report to my sister in person or via your scroll.”

Viri nodded as she heard a beep from her scroll. She smiled at the two of them. “So… got anything for me to do?”

The older two looked at each other for a moment before the aunt looks back. “In fact I do, you see you’re not going to stay here. As my sister does with her own people or what not, don’t look at me like that I’ve met the first chaos.” she said quickly to her sister before continuing. “So your first mission is to go to a new world which I’ll provide transport and get to know the beings there. Once done wait for your next mission.”

Viri nodded at her aunt before looking at her mother. The dark woman looked at the two before turning away. “I’ll give you two a few minutes so I can get the portal open.” with that she leaves the two of them. Viri looks at her mother, not sure what to think about leaving her home.

“It must feel unsettling to leave home for the first time.” Her mother said, her smile not faltering as she felt proud for Viri. “But in truth, home won't be too far.” She said, materializing a small refined blue oval shaped gemstone. “Use this if you ever wish to speak to me at a moment's notice, so please take good care of it.” She said, making the gemstone float over to Viri. The gemstone in question was a dark blue oval shaped gem that the colours seemed to shift slowly.

“Is this…” Viri asked her mother.

“It is a pure and refined magic imbued tanzanite gem.” Her mother said as the gem landed on Viri’s open hand. It glowed for a moment before the dimming down as it rested on Viri’s hand.

“Is it like, a teleport or gatestone?” she asked. Viri has seen a number of stones and gems like this but never really asked what they do.

“Think of it as if it were your scroll, only that it is directly linked to me. The Gem can also bring you back only in dire need, to do so you simply squeeze the gem in your hand.” Her mother explained before opening her arms. “Now how about a goodbye hug for your mother?” She asked. Viri quickly walked over and gave her mother a hug. The warm and familiar hug brought happy memories to Viri as her mother hugged her back. The two soon separated and walked together to the other woman as a dark portal was open.

“When you’re ready to walk on in, just mind the step.” the aunt said. Viri looked at her mother with a smile.

“Guess I’m off, I’ll send you a message with… whatever I find over there.” she said with confidence. This earned her a chuckle from her mother.

“Do behave while you're out there and don't get into too much trouble.” Her mother said in a joking manner. Viri rolled her eyes at this before giving her mom one last hug before walking into the dark portal. The portal closes, leaving to two there alone.

“You already miss her?” The Dark woman asked in a joking manner.

“Being a parent does that.” Her sister replied with chuckle before unfurling her wings. “I'll be taking a short flight around the city to calm my nerves.” She said before taking off with single flap of her wings. The Dark woman watched her sister flew off while shaking her head before brushing her hair back. Her form turned from a hybrid female to that of a male black scaled Dragonborn. He now wore a dark blue suit with a cane with a dark stone dragon head on it.

“You do that, I have other matters to deal with.” with a snap of his fingers he teleported back to his realm.

Author's Note

This is my RWBY Fic, it will work, Hope you enjoy

big thanks to Uncle_Death for helping me

Don’t be so Grimm!... wait.

Going through a portal was always a surreal feeling, it also was different when it’s my aunts way instead of my mothers. While her’s was more warm and gentle my aunts is cold and creepy. Like going through a tunnel that you can’t see into and hear the sounds of the dead whispering to you.

It also didn’t help the fact that seeing what’s coming in front of me was close to impossible. To prove my point I was face down on the ground after stepping out of the dark portal.

“Ugh, I hate when that happens…” I muttered to myself as I pushed myself to a sitting position and rubbed my face, seeing if anything is broken. When that’s done I looked around to my surroundings; I was sitting in the middle of a forest, tall green trees stood tall and proud where they were as the sun was somewhat blocked out by them. “Why the forest? Why is it always in a forest that someone pops up?”

After questioning that I stood up and stretched a bit, feeling some pops coming from my back. I checked if I had everything I brought was still with me. The scroll was still in my pocket, Molten Coil was still on my back and the cartridges of ammo for her were latched to my belt. The cartridges in question were simply a hand size cylinder that glowed a reddish orange.

Looking up at the canopy I saw that sun was hanging in the middle of the sky, meaning it was around noon in the land. I pulled out my scroll and opened it up, taping a record button I saw an image of myself as the video recorder started.

“Alright, log number one; first day of being in the new world and the time is… I believe noon, counting on the position of the sun. I made it to the new world and ended up in a forest, kinda questioning why is it always a forest.” I stopped to pull some twigs out of my hair before continuing. “Going to go look around, find a place to set up camp and see what creatures that live here.” I said to the recording before pausing it. I closed the scroll and used one of the twigs to pick my direction I was going to go. I tossed it in the air and watch it lands pointing to the left of me. “Alright, left it is then.”

There was no paths here, so I had to climb over some roots and logs as I traveled left, I hummed to myself as I observed the area. It was pretty calm so far, I even saw some brightly coloured birds fly by.

I smiled at the surrounding nature, with the colour of the trees I guessed it was spring, or summer for the heat. I continued on until I came across a small mountain with a small cave in the side. Curious I made my way towards the cave, taking one of my canisters out and turning the latch on top, opening the sides. I used it as a light source as I enter the cave and looked around. I saw what look like gems and crystals of different colours.

“Dust? There’s Dust here?” I asked myself as I got closer to them, seeing them as unrefined raw Dust crystals. This made me smile as I remembered the lessons my mom gave me about Dust. “I wonder if there’s life here, and what they do with the Dust here?”

As I thought of this I heard growling for behind. I turned and saw a massive black bear with a white mask on. He didn’t look happy. “Oh… there’s Grimm… oh dear.”

I was upside down in a bush after slamming into some trees when Ursa hit me with its claw… ow. I groaned as I sat up to see the Ursa came out of the cave, it looked like an alpha Ursa but it’s spines on its back were… off. They were red or yellow colours, matching the colours of the Dust.

“Did it… eat the Dust?!” I asked loudly before pulling my scroll out and taking pictures. “Mom would want to see this.”

The Ursa roared as it charged at me, it’s claws lighting up with… well lightning. I yelped and rolled away before it slammed into the ground. I got up to my feet and pulled out Molten Coil, she went into her gun for, a sorta hand mini-gun grenade launcher and aimed at the Grimm. I fired balls of fire at the Grimm, exploding on impact and knocking it back.

“Ha! Eat that!” I yelled, blowing smoke the smoking barrel. I looked back to see the Alpha getting… not hurt at all. “Oh come on! What are you made out of? Rocks?!”

To answer her question the Alpha knocked her into the mountain, hard. “Yeah… made out of rocks…” I groaned as I fell back down and got back up, spitting out some blood that was in my mouth. “Alright you, time to turn up the heat.”

With that Molten Coil turn into a sword that glowed with heat. She thought on what she just said and frowned at how cheesy it was. The Grimm roared as it charged at her, she slashed upwards, making a flaming slash burst forth at the beast. It roared as flames shot out of its mouth.

“Oh come on!” I yelled before dodging its attacks and blocked one of them, feeling like my legs were going to be crushed by the weight. I pushed it off of me and slashed at it, making small explosions on it that sent it back. It roared at me, it’s fur now burning and it curled into a ball and rolled at me… and started to cover itself in electricity. I yelped as I jumped to the side. It rolled into the forest and crashed into some trees. I groaned as I faced it. “Okay, come on Smoky!”

As I yelled it the core of my weapon started to turn rapidly, glowing an orange colour. As the Ursa climbed out of the pile of trees, Molten Coil was glowing red-hot as I draw it back before slashing forward. A burning blade of fire shot forward towards the Ursa and sliced through it… and then it exploded. I had to take shelter from the raining trees that got caught in it. After some time the crashing sounds stopped she looked out to see a small crater where the alpha was.

“Okay~, note to self; they explode…” I sat down in the cave, which I could make into a temp home now I think about it, as I tapped away on my scroll for the info.

“First Grimm I met… alpha… unusual due that it had Dust base powers...use fire and lightning attacks...explodes when killed by Molten Coil…” I muttered as I sent my message to mother. With a sigh and seeing that I had a few hours of time before the sun went down I got up and went on looking for some wood for a fire. Maybe some food on the way.

After a few hours of searching and getting some berries and mushrooms that weren’t poisonous, I was sitting by my fire eating some soups out of the mushrooms. While I ate, my scroll buzzed within my pocket. Setting the bowl down, I then reached into my pocket and pulled out my scroll. Once the screen appeared, it displayed a notification of a message I had received from mother and I tapped it, causing the scroll to project an image of mother as her voice was heard.

“Grimm with the ability to use dust by simply consuming them… peculiar. Nevertheless, they are simply Grimm, deal with them as you would any other but do be careful, the thought of losing you isn’t quite pleasing.” Was all the recorded message said before the image of mother was replaced with the home screen.

I nodded and set the scroll back into my pocket and continued eating. I’ll have to look more into this. But like my mom said, I have to be careful. I like my life as is, alive.

After finishing my bowl of soup I stared at the fire for a few minutes until my eyes started to droop. I soon fell asleep there until morning came.

When I awoke the fire I had going was low and only embers were left. Taking one of my empty canisters I opened it and used my semblance to draw the fire out and into the canister. Oh yeah, my semblance is that of controlling fire and heat. It’s really useful in some cases that I don’t have any fire. After I was done I went out of the cave and began exploring the forest some more. I used my scroll to map where I went through the forest.

I continued on into the forest until I heard a twig snap that made me jump. My hand went to Molten Coil as I looked towards where I heard the sound. Getting closer I moved some branches away to see.

There was a woman, a Faunus, she had brown skin with white tribal markings on her body with a Mohawk that was black and white with ears and a tail like a zebra. Her clothes were sorta like tribal clothing, a brown top with a loin cloth for a bottom. She seemed to be gathering some berries.

She straightens up and turned slightly, “I know you’re there child.”

This made me jump, how did she… I sighed and moved out of the brush in front of the woman.

“Uh, hi.” I greeted. The woman stared at me for a few minutes before speaking.

“Hello, forgive me if I’m rude but I haven’t seen you in the settlement before. Are you new?” she asked. Settlement?

“Uh… yeah, sure let’s go with that.” I answered. She hummed at me.

“Well, if you want to know I’m Zecora, local shaman of the Everfree,” she told me.

“Again, hi I’m Viri.” I said. She smiled at me before looking down.

“I have to say, I never expected to see a Faunus with a weapon before.” she said.

“What about it?” I asked her. She gave me an odd look.

“You don’t know? Only those in the army or as Huntsmen can use that sort of weapon.” she explained. That made me frown, mostly I don’t see anyone in the army using a weapon like mine.

“Well, maybe I am a Huntress.” I pointed out. She gave me a sad smile.

“Oh my dear, you really don’t know?” she asked me. I frowned at this since… that’s kinda true.

“Well… maybe, I’m not from around here okay.” I said with my arms crossed. Zecora smiled at me.

“Then come, we have a lot to talk about.” she said before walking into the forest. I looked around before following her into the forest. After what felt like twenty minutes of walking we came up to a settlement. The buildings were made out of wood and stone with other Faunus’ wandering around. I smiled at the children running around playing with some traders calling out their wares.

“It’s… peaceful here.” I said as we continued on. Zecora nodded.

“Yes it is, we Faunus live in these settlements all over Equestria or live with the ponies in other cities.”

“Ponies? You mean small horses?” I asked, which made her laugh.

“Not exactly, You’ll see what I mean soon enough.” she said as we went through the settlement. I noticed that some other Faunus were staring at me, whispering to each other. I felt a little self-conscious about this as I saw one of the Faunus walking from the forest. He looks that of fifteen years old with black hair and bat-like ears on top of his head. He wore an open pale white vest the allowed me to see his tanned skin. He wore baggy pants of the same colour with a red sash around his waist. His feet were bare other than some kind of cloth that covered the top of his foot. As he walked he was carrying a long pole that had two wolves and three hares on it.

“Seems to be that you still have hunters.” I commented.

“Yes, well we have to find food somehow.” Zecora said with a laugh. Following her to a tribal hut she let me inside. The place smelled that of different herbs and other scents that I can’t recognise. There were tribal masks that look odd, even ones that look like Grimm masks. Zecora stirred something in a large cauldron before looking at me. “I’m guessing you have questions?”

“Yeah, for one where am I?” I asked her.

“You are in the forest called the Everfree, a large forest that holds spirits of the dead and other creatures.” she informed me.

‘Also Grimm that eat Dust.’ I said mentally. “Okay, so I’m in this Everfree but where am I? Like this land or place is it like an island or-”

“Eques is what the planet’s name while the land is called Equestria. Does that answer your question?” she asked me, to which I nodded.

“Yeah, so are you… I mean are all Faunus outcast by others?” I asked.

“No.” she answered without missing a beat. I blinked at this. “Faunus can come and go as please, sure there are those who don’t like it, thinking we’re no more than simple beasts, but we can walk into a pony town and walk out in with no harm done. I, on the other hand scare a lot of them.”

“Why is that?” I asked. She just shrugged.

“Ponies are a superstitious and skittish race, they get scared of anything that they don’t understand.”

‘Humans, Ponies, any race really…’ I said in my head. “So if this settlement does trade with any towns nearby?”

“Yes, one is named Ponyville but… we try not to go there all the time. Call us hypocrites but that town seem to draw the wrong attention.” she explained.

“Oh? What kind?” I asked. She simply stared at me.

“There’s a list… a long one.” she said with a small chuckle. “If you like, I could find someone that could show you around the land.

Hmmm, I was told to that a look around anyway and send a message back, this could help cut time. I gave her a nod and she went out to find one. After five minutes I was staring at a mask out of boredom. It looked like we’re having a staring contest. After what seemed to be a epic battle of the stare Zecora returned with the same bat Faunus that I saw before.

“Viri this is Tak, one of the settlements best hunters. He’ll be showing you around.” she introduce. The boy in question bowed his head, though I could tell that he was nervous judging by his constant feet movement.

“Hi… uhh.” I greeted, not really sure how to word things. I talked to others than my mother and aunt… sometimes… kinda.

“Don’t mind him, he’s shy around others.” Zecora said much of the boy’s discomfort. I nodded before finally noticing the kid’s eyes, they were greyed out, almost lifeless and dull.

I decided to not say anything, it would be rude if I did. “So… you’re going to show me around?” He nodded in response but said nothing. I shifted uncomfortably before Zecora usher us out of her tent and we went on our way. It was mostly silence between the two of us as I was led around. So much so that it was starting to bug me.

“So… you do anything other than… hunt?” I asked. He seemed to ponder at this for a bit.

“I-I help my father with his farm a-and I am usually in charge with s-spotting any nearby Grimm.” He said, his voice having a nervous tone.

“You spot Grimm? Aren’t you blind?” it’s at this moment I realized, I fucked up. I stopped walking and started to hit my head on a pole nearby. “Stupid, stupid, stupid…”

“You really shouldn’t hurt yourself, miss.” The kid said, trying to get me to stop. I stopped and looked at him.

“I was rude, I should’ve caught myself.” I said before resuming the hitting the pole via my head.

“It’s fine, really…” He said, stopping my head from impacting the pole by putting his hand in between. “It’s not… uncommon for someone to ask me about my eyes.” He said.

“Still… I was taught that it’s rude.” I said with a sigh, rubbing my head from where I was banging it. “My mother made sure I learned manners.” I noticed a crowd had gathered around, most likely because of what I was doing just a few second ago but Tak, if I remember correctly, dispersed the crowd as quickly as it formed.

“To answer your question, yes I am blind.” He said, looking back at me… I think. “But I can feel your presence with the earth beneath us.”

“Oh… cool.” I said with a smile. The two of us continued walking on through the village. “So… do you do anything else then farmwork and hunting?”

“I train… I hope to be Huntsmen someday.” He said, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

“Oh? That’s cool.” I said with a smile. He shrugs a bit. “I don’t see why Faunus can’t be huntsmen, they can do everything a pony can right?”

“Not always.” He said in saddened tone before sighing. “The ponies are ultimately the ones who decide who becomes a Huntsmen and they’ve got a strict list of requirements.” He said.

“Wow…” I paused a bit as I thought about it. Am I a Huntress? Mother did put me through what I guess is the training to become one but… I have to ask her later. We continued on and I asked a few more questions to Tak about the area. It seems other than the local town of Ponyville there’s two more settlements nearby that trades with them… until he said one other thing. “Wait, what? The sun and moon gets moved by the two princesses of the land?”

“Yes though how is unknown to everyone. One could even say it’s magic.” He said, answering my question with a shrug. This didn’t help my logic side of my brain having a small freakout about it. Mostly yelling ‘IT DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT!’

I simply laughed at this which drew some odd looks of how odd it sounded. It kinda sounded desperate. We continued on before returning back to Zecora’s hut as the sun was setting.

“Thanks for the tour Tak, I’ll maybe stick around to check out the sights… maybe go on a hunt or two with ya.” I told him. This got a chuckle out of him and I couldn’t help but smile at this. Zecora told me that there’s a small tent that was put up for me to sleep in for the next few nights. I thanked her and headed over to send another message to my Mother… even my small mental freakout about the sun and mood, also saying ‘How does that work, I thought it was the gravitational pull of the sun that makes the planets spin around it and other stuff please help.’ Before I could think further in the subject that baffled me still, my scroll buzzed and notified me of a message. Taking out the scroll and displaying it’s screen, I saw that it was from mother again. So I tapped the message icon and like before, it displayed an image of her.

“Interesting report, it’s a relief to hear that you haven’t encountered more trouble and I’m very happy to hear that you’ve made your first friend outside of home.”

I smiled at the first half of the message mother sent. Though the fact I made a friend here made me question something… I have friends, I believe one or two of them were outside of home right?... I think? I continue listening to the message before questioning anymore.

“Onto important matters, your scouting mission is a success but your aunt will bring you back the day after tomorrow. So enjoy the remainder of your time there and if you come across anything of interesting, be sure to report it to me or my sister.” With that the image faded away and was replaced with the home screen. I stared at the screen for some time before sighing and putting my scroll down. I have a day to enjoy this world before I go back. I rolled myself over as I mulled over what I heard and let out a tired sigh. I slowly closed my eyes and fell asleep, wondering what tomorrow would bring.

A Dance of Nightmares... not the creepy kind

It has been a few months since Forever Free Academy opened up and time flew by. Already the fifty or so Faunus that came had already gotten the basics down and are on their way to be Huntsman. Team RWBY, Tak and I are funny enough in Indigos class with the training, maybe it’s that we were part of his class before back at Beacon. Unlike Beacon though Most of the Faunus didn’t get put in a team just yet since most of them were still learning. I get what Zecora is trying to do but at some point random teams in a lesson will get us nowhere.

For me I was tapping away on my scroll by a tree with Sylph laying next to me as I was trying to figure out when my birthday is. Funny enough I thought it was a cruel joke for my birthday to be the same day as the coldest and darkest day of the year but after many years of warmth would change that view.

“So I’ll be twenty in a few months… that’s good to know.” I muttered to myself when Sylph perked up. I turned just to see Yang walking over to me with a big smile. Since the first time I’ve seen her, Yang seemed to get taller over the two years and her hair seemed to have grown out a bit. I wonder why?

“Hello~.” she singsonged at me, making me raise an eyebrow.

“Uh, hi?” I greeted with an odd look.

“Question, do you have a dress for a thing in three days?” she asked me, making my odd look more odd.

“Uhh, what?” I asked her. She rolled her eyes at me before speaking.

“I finally got an okay from Headmistress Zecora to do a dance in three days!” she announced happily.

“A… dance?” I asked her. She simply smiled.

“Yup! It’s going to be great!” she exclaimed excitedly. “Lights, food, good music, good friends, it’s going to be so much fun!”

“I bet, well have fun with that.” I told her. She frowned a bit.

“When you said that, it sounded like you’re not going.” she said with arched brow and her arms crossed. I simply nodded.

“Yeah, I’m not much of a dancer. Sorry.” I told her, earning me a frown from the blonde.

“That’s no excuse, even if you don’t dance it be fun to hang out with your friends, besides I’m one of the few that’s getting the dance together so you’ll know it’s going to be a blast.” she said with pride before smiling slyly. “Also I got Ruby a nice dress~.” This made me recoile back a bit.

“Why would you tell me that?” I asked her. She simply smiled.

“No reason~. So you’re coming?” She asked me.

“I told you I’m not.” I told Yang. She frowned at me before letting out a sigh.

“Fine… I guess it’s the nuclear option.” She said. I looked up at her in confusion.

“What’s the nuclear option-” before I finished, I saw her make the puppy dog face. “Yang no, don’t give me that.” She didn’t stop, her eyes seemingly grew bigger and teared up a bit. “Yang stop!” she didn’t, just… that face. Those eyes and… “Ahhh! Fine! I’ll go!”

“Great! See you there.” She said with a smile, after having immediately wiped away the single tear. She turned back and walked off humming happily. I grumbled a bit as I turned to see Sylph doing the same thing. Sighing I pulled out a piece of jerky and fed her.

“Damn Puppy dog face…” I muttered as I went to the video call and called Mother.

“Hello dear.” Mother greeted me once her image loaded up. I smiled at her.

“Hi mother, how are you doing?” I asked her.

“I’ve doing fine, the children are once again back and have requested me to teach on how to better control their abilities.” Mother informed with a smile. “And how have you been? You haven’t called in a while and I was beginning to worry.” She said, her smile faltered a little as she said this.

“Sorry about that, been busy with the new school and work load.” I told her with a sheepish smile, remembering getting lost a few times in the castle. I shifted uncomfortably for a moment before speaking. “So… can I ask you something?”

“I don’t see why not.” Mother said, her smile having returned after my brief explanation.

“Is there was way that… I could get a dress in three days for a dance?” I asked her. Her answer was given to me in form of a deadpan look. “Yes I know I just asked that to a god but give me some slack here, I didn’t really want to go in the first place but I was convinced otherwise.” She chuckled at this before snapping her fingers.

“When you return to your room there’ll be a dress I’m sure you might like laid atop your bed.” Mother said informatively before smirking and saying. “I do believe it’s my finest work yet.”

“Thanks Mother.” I said with a smile. She smiled in return.

“Will that be all?” Mother asked.

“Yeah, sorry I wished I had other things to talk about but I don’t.” I gave her another sheepish smile. “Well, unless you have something to say or ask.” She simply shook her head before saying.

“Then I suppose that’ll be all. I hope to see soon, sweetie.” She said before her image faded off, ending the call. I smiled sadly at the screen before leaning back.

“I’ll figure out a way.” I muttered to myself. Before long I stood up and started walking back to the school with Sylph behind me. I entered the place and saw a few others standing around talking to their friends as they waited for their next class or something. Some of them gave me a wave as I passed. I smiled at them before continuing on until I saw Tak walking in front of me. “Hey Tak.”

“Oh, Hi Viri.” Tak greeted, stopping in his tracks beside me before facing me.

“How goes your classes?” I asked him. He blinked at this before saying.

“Good… great even.” He answered with a smile slowly forming. “If what Headmistress Zecora says is true, I’m currently excelling in my classes.” He said.

“That’s great! Good for you.” I told Tak, giving him an one arm hug. “I knew you can do it, not even your blindness can stop ya.” His smile brightened up even more.

“Thanks.” He said. The two of us walked down the halls, which I saw a number of old and new tapestries hanging up. I guess some people fixed up the old ones so they don’t look like they were moth chow. We passed the main entry place of the school where I noticed a number of tables and chairs being set up along with Weiss and Yang there. I guess this is where the dance is going to be at.

“So… are you going to the dance?” I asked Tak. Tak shrugged before answering

“I don’t know, I haven’t really thought of it.” Tak said as we passed them by.

“Well at least you have a choice, I got guilt tripped into going.” I told him with a sigh.

“Did Yang do the puppy dog face?” He asked, making me wonder how he knew. “She tried it on me, or at least I think she did. She was standing in front of me in silence after I said I’d give it some thought.” He said.

“She must’ve forgot that you’re blind.” I said with another sigh. “Well I don’t know if I’d see ya or not but I guess it’d be fun. I’m not really a dress wearing girl to be honest.”

“Maybe I’ll go, I just need to find something to wear.” Tak said with a quiet hum at the end.

“Can’t help you with that, unless you like wearing a dress?” I said with a chuckle. He chuckled at this as well as we continued our trek to our next class.

Three days later, the Night of the Dance

I sighed as I stood right at my door out of my room. It was the night of the dance and I felt nervous. Maybe I should stay in my room and say I was sick and- I jumped when I heard a knock at my door. I then realised that Indigo and Blake would be swinging by to see if I was still here. Dang it Yang.

“H-Hello?” I called out, there goes faking being sick.

“Are you alright, Viri?” Indigo asked, concern evident in his tone.

“Yes… I’m coming out.” I said. I took a deep breath as I opened the door and walked out, the clicking of the heels echoed down the hallway where I saw Indigo and Blake. Blake wore a black and gray strapped dress that went down to her knees. She had her bow in her hair and a silver bracelet on her right wrist.

Indigo wore a dark gray long coat with a black glove on his hand as well as some black pants and boots. The two of them stared at me as I blushed.

“Well? How do I look?” I asked them as I looked down at myself; I wore a dark red dress with only one frilly strap that leaves my back exposed. The further down some yellows and oranges started to come until it looked like my dress was on fire. My hair was pulled into a braid that hangs over my exposed shoulder as there was little to no makeup on me.

“You’ll definitely turn some heads.” Indigo said with smirk. Blake nodded in agreement.

“You look great, Viri.” She said encouragingly. I smiled as I took a step and stumbled a bit.

“Ugh, I hate these things.” I said as I tried to regain my balance on my heels. “I prefer my boots but no~, I should wear heels. Next time I see Weiss I’m going to give her a piece of my mind about these.”

“Speaking of Weiss, wait until you see who’s her date.” Indigo said with a chuckle before being lightly elbowed by Blake. I arched a brow at him.

“Right… well shall we go?” I asked. The three of us soon headed off towards the dance. On the way I only stumbled three times and cursed twice on the way there. When this dance is done I’m ditching these heels.

When we got there I saw many people were either talking or dancing to the music that was playing. We circle around to the front where Yang is to check in. As we walk I noticed others turn to look at me, this made me blush even more as we got to the front where I heard Yang spoke.

“Wow~, you clean up good Viri.” she said. I looked up at her and saw she was wearing a gold and orange dress with her hair down. She also wore some yellow long gloves to cover her arms.

“Thanks Yang.” I smiled at her.

“Yeah well glad you could make it, I thought you’d call in sick.” Yang said.

“Won’t lie, the thought crossed my mind.” I told her. She laughed as I asked her where the others are. Yang pointed over to the right side where Weiss and her date were. I looked over and saw Weiss wearing a white and light blue dress with a subtle image of a snowflake on the skirt part. She was talking to… Tak?! “Tak is Weiss’ date?”

“Yup.” Yang said with a smile. “Oh and if you’re wondering Ruby is over there.”

I looked over to see Ruby by the punch bowl wearing a black and red dress that frilled out at the end. She was busy taking a few cookies from the snack table. I chuckled at the sight as I looked back at Yang who was writing something down.

“Hope you three have fun.” Yang said happily before wandering off into the dance. I looked back at the other two behind me.

“So… what are you two going to do?” I asked.

“We’re just going to enjoy the night.” Indigo asked with a smile, holding Blake close to him. Blake smiled up to him as I nodded.

“Alright, I’ll just… do whatever.” I said before walking off, stumbling and cursing quietly as I made my way around. I soon found myself by the food table as I was already asked to dance with three other guys, which I said no to. It’s not I’m being a jerk about it, I’m just not used to dances. I know a bit about dancing but not enough to dance with anyone… or maybe I’m really really shy. I sighed as I poured myself some punch.

“Wow…” I heard someone say. I turned to see Ruby there. “You look… amazing.”

I smiled at this. “Thanks, you look amazing as well.”

“Me? Look amazing? Naaa.” Ruby said with a slight blush. “Weiss got me this from someone in the village so we all had something to wear tonight.”

“Well it still looks great on you.” I told her. I looked at the table and raised a brow. “Did you take all the cookies?”

“No…” she said before glancing at the table a few times. “Okay maybe.” I laughed at this as I saw a man walking over to me.

“Excuse me, but do you want to dance?” he asked me. I frowned as this was the fifth time this happened and I don’t believe it’s going to stop.

“No, I’m fine… in fact I already have someone to dance with.” I said as I leaned over and pulled Ruby over. “See.”

“What?” Ruby asked as she looked at me and the guy.

“Oh uh, sorry I didn’t know.” he said before walking off. I let out a breath before looking at Ruby.

“Sorry, had to make an excuse to not dance with him and roped you in it.” I explained. As I did I saw her face turn red from what I said.

“Oh I uhh, I mean… Uhh.” she looked over at the table, poured herself a drink and drank it. “Okay, I’m better.”

I stared her before turning away. “Well, I’m going to walk around some more so see-”

“Oh no.” she said as she grabbed my arm. “You roped me into your plan, you owe me a dance.”

“What?” I asked as I stared at her before she dragged me towards the dance floor. “Waitwaitwait! I don’t know how to dance!”

“Me neither, it’s fine.” She said before we were on the dance floor. Not sure what to do I just started to dance… I think? For the next while the two of us ‘danced’ which simply looked like we were simply being goofballs. I laughed at some moves she did as I tried to copy them, only to fall over due to the heels. The two of laughed before we walked off the stage, me with the heels in my hands.

“That was fun!” Ruby said happily. I nodded and smiled.

“Yeah, it was.” I said as we walked over to Indigo and Blake. Indigo sat by a table with Blake sitting across his lap as she leaned her head onto him. Indigo saw us coming over and smiled.

“Those were some moves out there.” Indigo said with a small laugh.

“You try and have no skill and wear high heels.” I said a bit agitated while putting the heels on the table. Indigo raised a hand in a defensive manner, having his other arm around Blake, holding her up from slipping off.

“Calm down, I was only just joking around.” He said, nervously chuckling. I rolled my eyes at him.

“You two looked like you were having fun.” Blake said teasingly, glancing at me and Ruby with a little smirk. Me and Ruby both blushed at Blake’s words.

“Well… we were having fun… In a odd and goofy way.” Ruby replied. I nodded silently at this. The two of them laughed before the front doors slammed open and a blast of air rushed past us, knocking some people over.

“What is the meaning this!?” A booming voice roared. “Intruders in my castle!”

The music died out as the lights seemed to darken as a dark blue mist started to fill the rooms floor. The others started to move away from the mist as it started to gather around at the front of the room. The mist soon took on a form of a being with wings and the shadows started to be drawn to her.

“Why are you all here in my castle? Answer me!” She roared, blowing some tables away. One of the table were flung towards Weiss but Tak had quickly grabbed it hold of it before it could hit. The others backed away from her out of fear.

“Uhh, who are you?” Yang asked from where she was standing. Blake stood up from Indigo’s lap, allowing him to stand up as well. Indigo simply watched the woman with a frown.

“You don’t know who I am?! I’m the queen of the land; Nightmare Moon!” She announced. Yang frowned and looked at a clipboard she had.

“Nightmare, Nightmare, N...N… nope not on the list. I have to ask you to leave.” Yang said. This made the dark being smack her across the room and into a pillar. Luckily her aura stopped most of the damage. “Rude!”

“Yang!!” Ruby yelled as she ran over.

“Hey! Who do think you are!?” Indigo shouted, angered at the being for having hurt Yang. He walked closer the dark being. “If you think you can barge in here and attack one of my students, you’ve got another thing coming!” He exclaimed, his anger having rising higher.

“I’m your queen, that’s what.” she said as a wave of darkness went towards Ruby and Yang. Without thinking I bolt towards them and blocked the wave with Molten… Wait when did I have her?

I pushed that thought away as I blocked it and slashed it with a wave of fire.

“You know, I was having fun before you showed up.” I said angrily as I stepped forward. “Now it’s personal.” the being laughed at us.

“A man with one arm and a young child against me? That’s a laugh.” she taunted.

“Grimm!” someone yelled. I glanced over to the door and saw a large group of them coming.

“Yes… come creatures of the dark. Come to your queen.” she said with a creepy grin. I looked at her for a moment before glancing over to Yang and Ruby.

“You think you can handle them?” I asked. Yang simply grins.

“You can bet on it. I need to hit something now.” She said as she and a few others headed out. As I walked over to Indi with my bare feet I glance over to him.

“Care for a partner?” I asked him. He smirked and nodded before some of the shadows surrounding the so-called Queen left her and with blinding speed, went over to Indigo. Coursing through his body like before, I was greeted with the sight of the shadowy arm reforming like it did before.

“A little live demonstration wouldn’t hurt.” He said jokingly as he rolled up his sleeves.

“Insolent worm…” she growled and most of the shadows lifted up around her before two sets of claw-like arms formed.

“Aww, I think she likes you.” I snickered at Indigo before seeing a strike coming towards me. I blocked it, making me skid back a bit. “Okay… that was on me.”

The other clawed arm attempted to strike Indigo only to stop mere inches away away from him. He reached into the palm of the claw before pulling out the familiar large scythe. After having pulled out the scythe, Indigo gave the clawed hand a poke with his scythe, causing the scythe to absorb the shadow before nothing was left.

“You’ve got to do better than that, lady.” Indigo said with a smirk, his shadowy hand gripping at his scythe.The woman growled as another clawed hand was formed from the shadows. She let out a scream as all of them went towards us, two for Indigo and two for me. I jumped up to dodge one of them and sliced another with Molten when I ignite her. I turned just to see the sliced one turned into two swords and zoomed towards me. I yelped as I fired a shot to get out of the way of getting fatal damage. The trade off was my dress got hit.

“Hey! This is my favorite dress!” I yelled as I shot three rounds towards the Shadow lady. She batted them away as if they were nothing just as she kicked Indigo away as he got close. As Indigo was pushed back I saw the shadows forming into spikes behind him. I moved and shot a ember towards those spikes, lighting up the area so the shadows dissipated. Indigo, having quickly recovered, sliced away the incoming claws with ease.

We dodged and ducked under the attacks this lady threw at us, making her angrier.

“Just… stand… still! AGH!”She yelled as a wave of darkness exploded towards us. I swiped upwards to make a flame shield to block my end as Indigo slashed it with his scythe.

“We’re doing good with stopping her attacks, but if we get close she simply bats us away.” I said as I got close to Indigo. “Got any plans?”

“I got one, you might not like though.” Indigo answered, slashing at a shadowy tendril.

“What’s that?” I asked, looking down at myself and the ripped up dress I’m in. “Anymore and my mother will be mad at me for ruining the dress she got me.”

“I’m going to need you to recreate your flame wheel maneuver and direct it towards me.” He quickly answered, jumping back just before a pair of hands could squash him.

“Really, golfball…” I said before sighing. “Fine, you owe me.”

With that I ran forwards before leaping forward and turning into a flaming wheel. I rocketed forward avoiding the shadow claws and weapons as I went right past her twice.

“Fools, you think you can hit me with that!” she yelled as I rolled towards Indigo. Having already positioned himself, Indigo swung his scythe like a golf club, sending me flying passed any of the lady’s shadows. I blast through them with ease as I headed towards her. “Oh you got to me kidding me.”

I slammed into her, dispelling the shadows and a large blast of light and shadow burst out from us. I soon found myself face planted on the ground groaning from the fall.

“Next time… I need to work on the landing…” I grumbled as I pushed myself up. Indigo helped me up as we look around.

“To be honest, I didn’t think it would work.” Indigo said as he looked at the damage caused by the ruckus. As he did a loud, banshee scream was heard and a bright rainbow light shine outside the school.

“What was- Ah!” I yelped as a stick was coming towards my face. I grabbed it by a hair and stared at it. “What the?”

“Foolish mortals, this is my castle!” A young voice yelled. I blinked a few times and looked down to see a young, dark-haired Faunus girl with little cat ears and tail. She wore a midnight blue dress and tried to pull the stick that I was holding. “You will bow before me! And get out of my castle!”

I stared at her before looking at Indigo. “I don’t know if I should be threatened if I think it’s too adorable for it.”

“Well aren’t you just a cutey.” Indigo said, crouching down as he did.

“I’m not cute! I’m the rightful ruler of Equestria and the Ruler of the Night!” she yelled as she pulled at the stick. “Give me back my weapon!”

“It’s a stick.” I pointed out.

“No, it’s my weapon!” she retorted with a whine.

“Stick.” I countered. She gave me a pouty face before replying.

“It’s my royal battle stick, now give it back!” she said as she pulled harder. Indigo couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.

“Do not mock me, you cretin!” She yelled at him, causing him to fall onto the floor laughing hysterically.

“Oum this is rich!” He said between laughs. I felt her let go of the stick and starting yelling at Indigo for laughing at her. I started to snicker at the fact that a five year old kid is trying to be imposing and… nope, I started laughing as well.

“Stop laughing!” she yelled at us. The two of us continued to laugh as she continuing yelling. “I’m a goddess! I’m the Goddess of the Night, Darkness and… and… stop laughing at me!”

“Kid.” I said, calming down a little. “The whole ‘Being a big bad guy’ spiel really doesn’t work when you look like a five year old.” I told her between chuckles.

She puffed up her cheeks before grabbing her stick again. “Just… get out of my castle!”

“Nope, it’s a school now.” I told her. She growled angrily, making her look like a mad kitten at least, as she raised her stick up and it glowed with shadows.

“I said leave!” She yelled before swinging her stick down only for Indigo to stop it and lifting it up so she was at his level. Her ears flatten at the sight of him. “Umm, please leave?”

“Enough, play time’s over.” He said, absorbing the shadow that emitted from the stick. He rubbed his eyes a bit before saying. “And stop yelling at us to leave your castle.” He said with air quotes and added. “This is Forever Free Academy, where Faunus men and women come to learn to become Huntsmen and Huntresses. So yell about this place belonging to you or you being something you’re obviously not, you will get a time out.” He said.

“But-” she was cut off by a look from Indigo. “Fine.”

“What’s your name?” I asked her. She looked over at me before letting go of the stick.

“I’m Nightmare Moon!” She said oddly proudly. “I’m the one that will-” Indigo stopped her by coughing into his fist. She frowned at her before her ears started to twitch. “Ah!” With that she ran over to a wall and we watched her open a passageway into the wall and ran in before it closed.

“Uhh…” Was all I could say before Ruby zoomed in.

“Is everyone okay?!” She yelled before looking around at the place.

“Yes, Ruby. Now calm down before I get a headache.” Indigo said, rubbing his temples.

“Sorry…” she said softly before she continued. “But uhh, we had a little problem.” With that Headmaster, Zecora walked into the room.

“I wouldn’t call it a problem but it’s important.” she said as she scanned the room. She arched an eyebrow before looking at me and Indigo. “Seems you two had quite the big fight here.”

“Not big as it was annoying.” Indigo replied to Zecora’s words before looking at me. “I’ll go get the kid.” He said.

“A moment professor Indigo, it seems we have an audience with some important beings of the land.” Zecora said.

“Important beings?” I asked her. Zecora nodded.

“Yes, it seems the Princess of Equestria and her long-lost younger sister wished to see what has happened to their old castle.”

Author's Note

Why is it that every time Yang hosts a dance something bad happens? :/ :applejackunsure:

So this is the reason it's called Scorched Earth

I sat in class as Professor Flae as he went on with his lecture, talking about Grimm and Dust. I had my head down as I took my fifth page of notes. Like, really I have one or two notebooks for other lectures but for Flae it’s five.

Beside me, Weiss and Blake were taking notes the same way as Ruby and Yang… not so much.

Yang was simply doodling as Ruby was passed out. I shook my head as I continue taking down notes.

“Alright, I want to see your notes this Friday since Thursday is the Talent show, yay for that I guess.” Flae said as he turned and threw a paper airplane that was thrown earlier today at Ruby. She jolt awake as the airplane was stuck in her hair. “Miss Rose I would like it if you stay awake in my class.”

“Sorry.” Ruby called out. Professor Flae shook his head before looking at me.

“Make sure she writes this all down.” he asks me. I nodded as Flae continues. “Speaking about that talent show, I believe miss Schnee is going to take part of it. Do go cheer her on.”

I heard muttering about this as Yang smiled at her friend. Professor Flae continue on for another few minutes before it was time to go. “Alright you all can go, remember that the finals are coming up soon so study well!”

As we leave I walked down the hallway with Team RWBY as they chatted to themselves. They talked about the the Talent show tomorrow and the Finals and… something else. I didn’t really listen as I had my head in one of many notebooks. I don’t know how long I soon ran into a wall. I blinked in surprise as I turned to see Ruby and Yang there.

“I said look out.” Yang said between snickers. I rubbed my head a bit as Ruby was also holding back a giggle.

“Haha, where did the others go?” I asked them.

“Blake went to have a private study with Indigo, which could be one of two things.” Yang said with a snicker.

“Teaching Iilah or more studying.” Ruby pointed out, making her sister frown.

“Aww, I was trying to be funny…” Yang whined.

“You were going to make it sound dirty.” Ruby frowned at her. Yang simply sighed.

“I just hope my day will get better after this…” she said as she turned around to face Mavis, Mother, there with a smile. “And it just did!”

“Hello, beautiful.” She said, greeting Yang with a quick kiss before turning to me. “How has your day been going, dear?” She asked.

“It been good, long lecture, but again it got better.” she said with a smile. Ruby and I glanced at each other before Yang continued. “So, what to do another sparring match later? I think I got down what you showed me a week ago.” she said as she did some shadow boxing.

“And how about you, Viri?” Mother said, looking at both me and Ruby.

“Good, took another notebook and a half full of notes from the last class and ran into a wall while studying.” I said simply. Ruby shrugged.

“I had a good nap.” Ruby said with a childish smile.

“You know I have to show you my notes later.” I told her.

“I don’t mind, I like your notes!” Ruby said with a bigger smile. This made me roll my eyes as Mother chuckled.

“Seems to me you’ve all had a good day.” Mother said before sighing and looking at me, her smile faltering a little. “Viri, my sister has another task for you.” She said.

“Oh? Do I have to go out to her shop to find out or do you know it?” I asked.

“She’s tasking you to assist a friend of both you and hers in eliminating a great beast.” She said in an informative tone, which was a little odd with how she was dressed. Yang had eventually convinced Mother to try on modern clothing, low and behold here she was wearing a pair of jeans and loose blouse.

“A little off topic, you look good in those.” Yang said to Mother as she gave her a kiss. Mother’s smile returned after that before she looked back at me.

“You said friend that I and her knows, who’s is this friend?” I asked, going through a mental list of my friends.

“Does the name Lana Shepherd ring a bell?” She asked, tilting her head a little. Ruby gasped at this.

“Lana!!! Oh I missed her so much!” she said happily. I nodded as well, remembering the notes that the two of us wrote for her and the others which my aunt found a way to send.

“Yeah, wait she needs help?” I asked, getting worried at that fact Mother said she needs help against a beast. From the last time we went there the monster was the old Overseer that took over her old body and went crazy.

“She will need the assistance in defeating the Great beast of the land before she can move on to the next.” Mother said to me. I looked over at Ruby for a moment before speaking.

“You up for another adventure?” I asked her.

“Yup! Bring on the Dinos!” Ruby answered. Almost as if it heard her Hopper came out of nowhere and climbed up on Ruby’s shoulder. “So is Hopper!”

“Whoa whoa, you to are simply going again?” Yang asked with a frown. Ruby and I looked at each other for a moment before Yang continue. “If so then I’m coming too.”

“Wait, you are?” I asked, which Yang nodded.

“Yeah, since you guys left for so long and simply came back as if nothing has happened then I don’t see why not.” Yang explained. I thought about it for a few moments before looking at Mother.

“Is that alright?” I asked. Before she could answer Yang cut in.

“Please~, I want to go. I’ll do anything you want.” she offered which made Mother raise an eyebrow.

“Anything I say.” She said with raised brow and a smirk. Yang nodded without a single word, earning a laugh from Mother before she said. “I don’t see why not.” She said. Yang smiled at her and then at us.

“You know you just talked yourself to do anything she wants right?” I told her.

“For her, I’ll do anything.” Yang replied without missing a beat.

“Even hit someone?” Ruby asked. Yang paused before looking at Mother.

“Is it?” Yang asked as she started to cracked her knuckles. Ruby took a moment to think before speaking.

“What about that one guy who was hitting on Mavis a few days ago? Some bull Faunus guy with blonde hair?” Ruby asked. Yang looked at her sister for a moment before speaking.

“I’ll be right back.” she said in a low angry tone before turning to head down the hallway.

“That despicable man wouldn’t take no for an answer, prideful brute he was.” Mother said, shaking her head with a frown at the memory.

“I’m breaking his horns!” Yang yelled as she marched down the hallway. We all watched this before she disappeared around a corner.

“Wow, not even a moment of hesitation.” I said before looking back at Mother. “You really have her hooked on you huh?” She chuckled a little at this, knowing what I meant.

“She truly is something special.” She said before shaking her head lightly. “Anyhoo, I will meet you at the gathering hall in ten minutes. Change, eat and arm yourselves.” She said before turning to Yang’s direction. “I will go inform Yang the same.” She said before walking off. The two of us nodded and went to do just that. After a quick change of clothes and some packing I went and waited in the gathering hall for everyone. I soon saw Ruby walk over to me with both Crescent Rose and Phoenix Rose strapped on her back.

“Why are you bringing both?” I asked her. She simply shrugged.

“One of them has memories of the last time we went to that place.” she told me before walking up and kissing me on her cheek. I smiled at her as we waited for the other two. After a bit we did saw them walking over to us. Yang looked a little annoyed.

“I don’t see why you had me stop…” Yang asked.

“If I didn’t you would’ve broken the poor boys body.” she said. Yang grumbled a bit but didn’t say anything as Mother looked at the two of us.

“Are you both ready?” She asked with a sigh. The two of us nodded before looking at Yang.

“You alright?” I asked her. Yang took a few moments to think about it.

“I might’ve let my anger got the better of me.” she said with shame in her voice. Yang felt Mother place a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at her and see her smile.

“Shall we?” Mother asked as a heavenly golden light shone in front of us, a door appearing at the center of the gathering hall, bringing a few odd looks from the passing students. Yang smiled and nodded. The rest of us nodded as Mother and Yang walked in first before the two of us followed behind into the golden doorway.

The first thing I felt was the blistering heat. It was as if we walked into an oven set at high heat on a summer’s day.

I looked around and saw we were in the middle of a wasteland. Two large mountains far off in the distance from we are and the lack of green meant we weren’t on the island.

“Where are we?” I asked myself, surprised at the difference of my voice, it sounded… older. I looked over at Ruby and sure enough she was standing there older as well, maybe not as older when we first left but in between.

“Whoa, this is… odd.” Ruby said, brushing her now long hair out of her face. I nodded as I saw both Mother and Yang look around. It seems that Yang didn’t age at all, maybe this is the first time she came here.

“Man, this is where you guys went? I thought it was more like an island?” Yang asked us. “So, where should we- WHAT THE HELL!?!” she yelled as she looked at us.

“Oh… yeah, this is something new.” I told her. Yang stared at the two of us when Mother turned around to see us.

“Oh, dear.” She said, surprised at our sudden age jump. “It seems you’ve retained the ages you both had before you left.” She said.

“I don’t know…” I said as I looked at my hands a bit. I did a few stretches and turned myself a bit. “I think it’s more of a middle ground, I don’t seem as old as before but still grew a bit.

“We only age a few years then.” Ruby said before looking at her sister and smiled. “Looks like I’m the older sister now~.” This snapped Yang out of it before looking at Ruby.

“You know… longer hair suits you.” she said. Ruby blushed at this before I snicker.

“Told you.” I said with a smile. Ruby simply went even more red than before before she stiffly walked away from us.

“She may be older but she’s still acts like my younger sister.” Yang laughed as she looked around at the desert. “So… now what?” As she said this I looked around, hopping to spot anything that’ll lead us to Lana.

“Hey guys look!” Ruby yelled out from behind me. I turned and saw looking down the edge of a hill, walking up to her and looking over at what she saw, I was greeted with the distant sight of a small camp with several tents. People were walking about shirtless due to the unbearable heat.

“Should we go and introduce ourselves?” Mother asked as she walked up to the edge next to me. Yang followed suit and stood beside Mother.

“Yeah, maybe they know where our friends are at.” I said as I looked up at the sun. “And get some shade.”

Hopper jumped down and looked at the camp we were looking at, it then started to head towards the camp. “Hopper wait!” Ruby said as she chased after it. The rest of us followed behind. Literally less than five minute later Ruby fell over into the ground. “Too...hot…”

“Maybe it’s because you’re wearing mostly black.” I pointed out. Ruby seemed to mumbled something as I looked at the other two. “You two go on ahead, I’m going to try and cool Ruby off.”

“Alright.” Yang said as she headed off as Mother stayed behind to give a few suggestions to help.

“Perhaps someone can lend you some clothing fitting for this environment.” Mother suggested as she waved her hand over Ruby, lifting her up from the ground and back on her feet. Ruby panted a bit more as if she was running for a mile.

“You alright?” I asked. She shook her head.

“Black clothing… really bad...also small...not great…” she panted. As she said that I noticed that my clothes were a bit tight on me.

“Maybe some more clothes for me as well. We should- what are you doing?” I asked Ruby as she was unbuttoning her jacket.

“What do you think?” she said. Soon Ruby took both her jacket and combat skirt off and used her cloak to wrap herself up to cover the light gray tank top and shorts underneath. “That’s better.”

“We should continue forward.” Was all Mother said, gaining a nod from both me and Ruby. The three of us headed to the camp. As we got there I saw the others in came wearing what looked like cloth armor of some kind while others close to nothing. I wouldn’t blame them by this heat.

“Halt, state your name and business!” Said someone off the my right. Looking at the owner of the voice, I saw a woman in her mid-twenties pointing a Tek rifle at us. Yang readied her gauntlets for a fight but was stopped by Mother as she placed an arm on her shoulder, silently telling her to stand down. Yang gave one last look at the woman and her gun before lowering her hands, trusting Mother’s decision. “I will not as again, who-”

“That’s enough of that!” A familiar voice shouted as she came into view. Abandoning her tek style skin-tight bodysuit, she wore clothing similar to everyone else’s. On her back was a deactivated Tek sword and a metal pike.

“Lana- I mean, Ma’am.” The woman stuttered in surprise before lowering her weapon. Ruby fidgeted a bit and unfortunately the woman saw this and took aim once again. Lana placed a hand on the gun before lowering it much to the woman’s confusion. “But-”

“But nothing, these are our allies and we will treat them with respect.” Lana said with a stern voice, sounding similar to a mother scolding her child. The woman looked down before saying.

“Yes, mother- ma’am.” The woman said, correcting herself before giving us one last glance. I paid her no mind as I walked up to Lana.

“Excuse me but is there… a place we can talk that’s not in this heat?” I asked her in. Lana gave me a look before looking at the rest of us before nodding.

“Follow me.” She said with a nod before leading us to a large tent. Inside it was like some sort of makeshift command center with several maps displayed about on a large table, each of them having a different area marked with a red circle and some exes. At one corner was a makeshift bed, a desk with various items scattered across it. There were a few chairs stacked on top of each others, probably having not been in use prior to now. Lana turned to face us just in time to see Ruby hug her.

“Lana I missed you~.” Ruby said happily. I smiled as well as I saw this. Lana returned the hug with a laugh, having not seen us for who knows how long.

“It’s great to see you two again.” Lana said before pulling away and noticing Mother and Yang, the latter was a little confused as to what is going on.

“Lana, I want you to meet…” I pause for a second before smirking a bit. “Both Mavisath Xiao Long and Yang Xiao Long.” I introduce.

“Huh?” Yang asked me with a confused frown as Ruby snicker a bit. I simply continued speaking.

“They are trusted friends of ours, even closer since Ruby and Yang are half-sisters.” I told Lana who looked at the two. Mother simply chuckled at my introduction for the two of them while Yang blush madly before calming down after a kiss from Mother.

“Greetings, as my daughter said, I am Mavisath. You should be familiar with my sister, Axycia if I’m correct.” Mother said, gaining a nod from Lana before she said.

“Yes, I am.” Lana said before looking back at me with a little smirk. “So how’s the young one?” She asked.

“If you mean Qo, she’s fine…” I said with uncertainty. “She’s with some friends of ours.” She smiled at this before saying.

“So how long have you known?” She asked, crossing her arms with a smirk. Her electric blue eyes shining as she spoke.

“If you mean the DNA thing you did, the for quite a while.” I told her. She chuckled at this before saying.

“To be fair, you did say you wanted the little one to be different.” Lana said between chuckles. She then noticed Hopper running through the tent flaps, heading to Lana before climbing up her legs and reaching the top of Lana’s shoulder. It nuzzled it head onto Lana’s with a purr. “Aren’t you sweet little furball.” Lana said, petting Hopper as she purred.

“Wait, so she’s why Qo...” Yang stopped, not knowing how to word it without angering me. She knew that calling her a clone easily ticked me off, having grown accustomed to her being my own kin. I glanced over at Yang for a moment before saying.

“Yes… Lana here is the one who cloned Qo… But as I said in the past, Qo is my daughter and I would like it to keep it that way. Thank you.” I said to her. Yang nodded as Ruby spoke up.

“Umm, you don’t think you have any clothes for this weather and place?” Ruby asked before shaking her discarded jacket and skirt. “We’re not clothed for this.” Lana thought briefly on this before walking over to large storage crate. She opened it and took out some light-colored clothing, similar to what she was wearing.

“Here you go, that’ll keep you from overheating.” Lana said, handing the clothes to Ruby. I noticed Yang fanning herself, a layer of sweat on her skin. Mother saw this and stood behind her, wrapping her arms around her. Yang let out a blissful sigh at this, leaning closer into her embrace.

“You shouldn’t have to worry about the heat, love.” Mother said just above a whisper, speaking in a loving tone. Yang smiled even more as Mother said that. Ruby in the meantime was a little bit away putting on the new clothes. Soon she was wearing the new clothes alongside her red cloak, which she used to block any view as I changed clothes.

“So, how have you been Lana?” I asked. Lana looked at me before smiling.

“I’ve been… somewhat good.” She said, smiling a little as she did. “I have discovered a way to travel between Arks, though it is a little depressing.” She said with a faltering smile.

“Do I want to know?” I asked her as I pulled on the pants. Lana soon looked down sadly before sighing and saying.

“While you were gone, Rockmond had suggested for me to search for other Overseers, other Arks.” Lana said before sitting on her bed. “Week after week I’ve spent my time searching, finding nothing but dead signals and uninhabited Arks.” She then faced the open flaps, seeing the desert outside. “Except for this one, this Ark was one of two Arks that still broadcasted any sort of a signal. Both were distress signals.” She admitted with a solemn tone. “I investigated their Overseers but… well this is what I found.” She said raising her arms and opening her hand, a blue light emitted from the center of her hand, displaying an image of a very damaged and rusted Overseer Obelisks. One of which was almost entirely scrapped of its outer shell. “I’m… I’m the last one.” She revealed. I was silent as the image slowly faded. Lana spent a very long time in the Overseers body when we were on the Island. Now the thought of being the last Overseer… that could be worse.

Ruby simply gave Lana a hug as Yang and Mother looked at her sadly.

“You...sure there’s no other Overseer left?” I asked.

“I’ve searched for countless months… nothing, not single thing.” Lana said, closing her eyes as she wiped the tears away. “I truly am the last Overseer.” She said before shaking her a little before adding. “I’ve linked my Obelisk to this Ark, allowing me to travel to here and back, I plan to do the same to the other Ark but first I must defeat the Great beast that resides here.” She explained.

“What is this Great beast?” Yang asked.

“A mythical beast known as the Manticore.” Lana said, standing up from her bed and walking over to the table with the maps. “These maps have possible locations for the Artifacts necessary to summon the beast. Unfortunately, my people were unable to scout the north due to the wyvern sightings.” She said, circling the area in question with a blue marker.

“Wyverns? I thought they were make-believe.” Yang said in confusion. Lana looked at her with a questioning glance before looking at me and Ruby. We only shrugged, not knowing what to say.

“With the technology Overseers have access to, it’s no surprise to see that one had created the mythical Wyvern.” Lana said, looking back at Yang.

“Oh…” Yang said simply.

“So the plan is to find this artifacts, summon this beast and take care of it?” I summed up. Lana nodded before saying.

“There are three artifacts, each of them are required to summon the Manticore.” Lana said just before Hopper jumped off of Lana’s shoulders. Hopper emitted a high pitched chirping-like sound as it ran out of the tent.

“Hopper?” Ruby said. I looked at the direction of where Hopper went before looking at Lana. Mother and Yang followed Ruby out of the tent.

“Now why would the Jerboa… Oh no.” Lana said before running out of the tent. I soon followed suit, wanting to know what was going on. Stepping outside, I was greeted with Ruby hugging Hopper as she looked up onto the distance. Following her gaze, I was horrified to see a large cloud of sand that made its way towards us.

“What do we do!?” I asked in a panicked tone, looking at Lana as I spoke. Lana, looking at the cloud on fear, ran back into the tent.

“Do not fret, Viri.” Mother said, gaining my attention as she raised her hand at the storm as it rapidly made its way here only for it to split into two clouds, leaving Lana’s camp untouched by the sandstorm as the storm went by. “Mother has it all under control.” Mother said with a little smirk.

I rolled my eyes as Lana stepped out of the tent, looking confused. Hopper purred, relieved that the storm had passed.

“The storm, it just… ignored us.” Lana said in awe as she looked at the storm in question as it went farther and farther away. Mother chuckled at Lana’s reaction.

“Yeah… that was freaky…” I said. Yang laughed a bit before walking over and gave Mother a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey, is Rockmond, Ed, and the twins around?” Ruby asked Lana, earning a nod from her.

“Yes, they’re out scouting the dunes out south.” Lana answered her.

“More friends of yours?” Yang asked us, curious to know as she stood next to Mother with her head on Mother’s shoulder. Ruby nodded, to which Yang smiled.

“When would they be back?” I asked Lana. Lana shrugged a little at this before answering.

“I’m not sure, they’ve been gone for quite a while and with that storm that had just passed, it might have delayed them.” She said, uncertain of when they’ll return.

“Perhaps Viri could be of assistance.” Mother suggested, surprising me and Lana a little at the offer.

“Uhh, yeah if there’s anything I could help-” I was cut off when Ruby elbowed me in the side. “We could help you with, we’re happy to.”

“Hey! I’m here too!” Yang pointed out. I chuckled as I looked at Lana.

“Are you sure you’d like to do this?” Lana asked just to be sure. We all just nodded in unison, gaining a little chuckle from Mother. “Alright, just head south from here until reach the jagged rocks, from there you’ll need to go around a large rock before you can enter the dunes.” She said, informing us on where to go.

“Is there anything we should know?” I asked. Lana nodded before looking off towards the distance, following her gaze we saw the jagged rocks she mentioned.

“Do be careful on the way there, I’ve been told that a few Rex’s roam around that area.” She said, warning us of the danger.

“Rex’s… Like, T-Rexs?” Yang asked a bit nervous. Lana nodded at her, earning a nervous look from Yang. Mavis turned to Yang and whispered something into her ear. Yang expression turned to a calmer one.

“Right, beware of the Rex’s.” I said.

“Wait! Is my Rex here?!?” Ruby asked. Lana tilted her head curiously before answering.

“I do think believe so, yes.” She answered after a brief moment of silence Ruby did a little dance at her answer, making Mother, Yang, and I chuckle.

“I guess we should gear up and then head out?” Yang asked.

“You’re already equipped for battle, love.” Mavis said to Yang, chuckling a little as she spoke. Yang rolled her eyes before looking at me.

“Well if you all are ready we’ll head out.” I said before looking at Lana. “We’ll be back soon.”

“Do be careful, this place is nothing like the island.” Lana said as we walked away. Soon enough the camp was far behind us, the sun signifying that it was midday. We continued on, following what Lana told us where to go. I just hope the rest of them are alright.

Elsewhere

Ed looked through the a spy glass around where he stood, hoping he could find something in the everlasting ocean of sand. Alas there was nothing in sight for miles with the exception of a few mantis and centipedes.

“Did you see anything?!” One of the twins, Navaeh, asked him. Ed frowned a bit before answering.

“No, it’s been a no for last five minutes. And in the next five minutes there will be, again, nothing.” He called out in an agitated tone.

“Don’t have to be mean about it…” Navaeh said. Ed sighed as he kept looking. Soon he lowered the spyglass and looked over at a much larger dune of sand. He figured that if he got over there he would see more than where he’s at. Be turned away to go tell the others about his idea.

Right as a large burning thing flew over his head a crashed landed almost a mile out away from him. Ed watched it crash and was simply staring at the now smoking hole. He then heard the rest of his party running up to see what happened.

“What the hell was that?!” Heaven asked loudly.

“I have no idea?!” Ed answered just as loud.

“Enough.” Rockmond said as he stared at the crash site. He soon started to make his way over to it. The twins and Ed looked at each other before quickly following. As the four got to the site they saw in the sand was an odd looking ship. It was burnt and bent the wrong way as the sand slowly started to replace itself.

“Is it safe?” Navaen asked.

“I don’t know…” Rockmond said as he slid down closer to the ship. He walked around until he found the front of it and saw that, whatever it was, had someone in it but now had pipes sticking out of it and twisted in a odd way. He could see an arm sticking out of the ship that wasn’t moving. As the others came to see this they all went silent for a moment.

“Who would’ve done this?” Ed asked.

‘A stray asteroid.’ a voice said. The four of them looked around before Rockmond saw, what he thinks, is a floating glowing eyeball. It continued as it speaks, seemingly light up when it does. ‘Honestly it was quite surprising, we just appeared out of nowhere after Rose bought something and then ‘poof!’ we were in the ship. We flew around and then found this place…’ it looked around for a bit and then at the sun. ‘It kinda reminds me of mercury, so hot and close to the sun and- oh wait, almost forgot.’

The group watched as the glowing eyeball started to give off a bright light and expand a bit. They covered their eyes as it went off before it dimmed. There standing in front of them is a woman wearing some sort of armor, not like the Tek armory the group had used before. She looked around before stretching a bit.

“Thanks, Beta. That wasn’t fun.” the woman said.

‘Well crashing after getting hit by an asteroid would be bad…’ the eyeball, Beta, said. The woman shook her head before looking at the group.

“Hia.” she greeted.

“Who… are you?” Rockmond asked. The woman tilted her head before looking around her for a moment.

“Hmm, well call me Rose. And since this is a place I haven’t seen I have to say the important phrase.” she said happily.

‘Please don’t.’ Beta asked, which he was ignored.

“Take me to your leader!” Rose said to them, earning her a sigh from Beta.

‘Really?’

“Yes, really.”

Author's Note

So I wonder who’s that woman at the end of the chapter? Well of course I know but you all got to wait >:)

Also sorry for taking a long time, ish, my internet was being stupid and couldn’t do anything

Meeting the family, part 2

“I think Ruby and Yang’s place was so far the best at greeting us,” I said as the two guards pointed their guns at us.

At the desk stood a woman that looked a lot like Weiss, only her hair was done up into a bun and some of it covered her right eye. She wore a white and blue uniform and, most importantly, looks both surprised and angry at us.

“What the hell just happened?!” she yelled as she looked at everyone before landing her eyes on Weiss. Her expression turned into shock. “Weiss?”

“Hello… sister,” Weiss said with a nervous laugh. Winter opened her mouth before closing it after a few moments.

“Stand down,” she ordered, earning a look from the guards.

“You sure?” one of them asked.

“I… don’t know just as yet,” Winter said.

The guards pulled the guns back but held them at the ready. At this point, I got a good look of the room. It was a simple whitish gray colour with some bookcases and folders. Weiss’s sister sat down behind her desk as she stared at everyone before seeing Indigo, staring at him, then moving on.

“Apologies for the sudden appearance Miss Schnee,” Father said as the door behind us closed before vanishing. Winter looked at him, giving him a once over.

“Yeah… who are you?” she asked at Father. The latter nodded before speaking.

“I am Saanvodkiin Xiao Kun, and I, along with my friends and family, are here to accompany young Weiss during her visit here,” Father said as he gestured towards Weiss, who held Tak’s arm tightly.

Father glanced at the armed Guards before saying, “We mean you no harm.”

Winter looked at him for a good few moments before one of the guards spoke.

“What should we do?”

Winter didn’t say anything as she stared at Father. She looked like she was thinking.

“Stand down,” she said as she looked at Weiss before adding. “Everything said in this room, stays in this room. Got it?”

Both guards nodded as they returned to both sides of the door. When that was done, we sat down in the couches that were near us and didn’t say anything. Winter simply rubbed her head without saying anything.

As she did this, Father had summon some chairs for Yang and the kids to rest a bit. Winter saw this and simply looked at Father in confusion. Her gaze shifted around to all of us, as if she was trying to figure out why each of us were in her office.

“So-”

“Can it, you,” Winter snapped, cutting Indigo off. “I have some questions for you but right now you’re not on the top of my questioning list.”

Indigo kept quiet after that before rolling his eyes.

“Any questions you may have, I will be happy to answer them,” Father said to the agitated Schnee. Winter didn’t say anything as she raised her hand and pointed at Weiss.

“You… you made quite a scene back home,” Winter said, making her younger sister look down at the floor. “Father is pulling his hair out trying to find you after you up and left.”

“Wait, what?” Ruby asked, looking at Weiss, who in turn simply laughed as Winter continued.

“First the incident at the fundraiser, then getting disowned, all leading to you running away from home. That’s… quite bold of you,” Winter said to Weiss.

Tak looked at Weiss, wanting to ask what she meant but decided against it. Indigo rubbed the side of his head, while Blake looked at Weiss worryingly. Yang kept quiet while Father glanced the young Schnee. Winter stared at her sister before sighing.

“I should take you back to father…”

Weiss looked at her sister with a fearful look and was going to say something, but stopped when Winter put her hand up.

“But since father won’t even look at me, why should I say anything?”

Weiss smiled at her a little bit as she leaned back into the couch and into Tak’s arms.

Winter took note of this before saying, “As for right now, what in all of Remnant is going on?!”

With those words echoing in the large room, Father raised his hand at her, gaining the full attention of the guards before Father said.

“Please be still, Miss Schnee, otherwise this will be uncomfortable,” he said and without letting Winter question his words, her eyes widened and her pupils dilated similarly to how it happened to Taiyang.

“Hey!” one of the guards yelled at the both of them pointed their guns at him. “What are you doing?!”

Father shook his head before both guards dropped their weapons, shattering like glass as they hit the floor.

“You mortals and your guns,” Father said under his breath as the guards looked shocked at the remains of their weapons. The guards backed away from him after this.

“How in Oum did he do that?!” one of them yelled as the other stared at Father.

“All will be revealed in do time,” Father said as he lowered his hand, bringing Winter out of the trance. Winter shook her head as she frowned.

“Ma’am, you alright?” one of the guards asked Winter.

“Yes… I’m fine,” she looked up and looked at the guards. “Where are your weapons?”

“Uhh…”

They both stared at Father as he sat there.

Father simply raised a brow, as if silently telling them that they shouldn't have drawn their weapons. Before they knew it, the shards that were previously their weapons flew up to them and reformed in their hands.

“Now then, any questions?” Father asked turning to face Winter.

Winter did have questions, many of them in fact, with the majority of them regarding Father’s abilities. We sat there chatting to ourselves as the two of them talked.

“Alright then, Weiss, I believe it's time for you and your sister to catch up,” Father said after finishing the barrage of questions.

“I believe so, too… but alone,” Winter said as she stood up. “Sorry, but some questions are family related.”

Weiss nodded, giving Tak a quick kiss before standing up. Winter raised an eyebrow at this before the two of them left the room. Tak blushed as they left before shaking his head a bit. Qo hopped down from the couch and ran to the window.

“Whoa, look at all the snow!” she said.

This brought Kaida and Strun over to the window, as well, gazing in awe at the sight of the snow. Father and Yang chuckled at their children’s curious nature. I shifted uncomfortably as I looked out of the window where I stood. My frown deepened as I felt myself pushed away from the window and, in a sense, the snow. Ruby saw this with a worried frown.

“Are you alright, dear?” Father asked, noticing my expression.

Ruby and Father looked at me waiting for an answer. I looked at them, then back at the window, rubbing my arms as I felt chilly.

“Atlas… and snow…” I answered them.

Ruby was a little confused, but Father understood. Ruby glanced at Father to ask, but the latter shook his head even before she could utter the question.

Father then looked at me before saying, “Viri, you no longer have to be afraid… you know this.”

I looked down at the ground as I took some deep breaths.

“Yeah… I know… just a little shaky,” I told him as I took Ruby’s hand. Ruby smiled a little before I leaned over to whisper into her ear.

“Don’t let go, please.”

Ruby paused for a moment before nodding as I straighten out a bit. It took a bit, but Indigo was finally able to break the silence, sparking a conversation between us all. It was mostly us looking back at our time at Beacon. We even compared Indigo’s teaching before and his teaching now, and we all agreed that at some point it had gotten increasingly difficult, especially with his shadow fist ability he uses frequently. Most of us glared at Indigo about the shadow fist, which he simply gestured at with a handgun gesture before clicking his tongue a few times with a wink.

I rolled my eyes at this before the door opened and Winter and Weiss walked back in. Weiss was smiling a bit before sitting back down by Tak.

“Well, I do wish for you all to stick around and enjoy, but I have to ask you all to leave for two reasons,” Winter said as she put up one finger before continuing. “One, I’m working and I don’t want people walking around where they’re not supposed to be here. And two, more importantly, I’m worried that someone will see Weiss and send word to our father. If he finds out, he’ll flip.”

Father nodded at Winter’s words before glancing at Blake. Indigo sighed as he stood up, helping Blake up as well before Lilah stood up as well.

“So I guess we head to Blake’s parents place now?” Indigo asked, sounding a little nervous as he spoke.

Father glanced at Blake as she nodded. With that as an answer, the door from before appeared behind us.

“Thank you for your time, Miss Schnee, may we meet again,” Father said as he stood up.

“Yes… but next time do send word before appearing in my office,” Winter asked as there was a small twitch in her left eye.

Father chuckled and nodded before opening the door, revealing a small town by the ocean. We went through the doorway into the open area which was crowded with different Faunus people, lots of them were looking in our direction with bewilderment and fear. Mostly, we would travel through a doorway that appeared in the middle of the street.

“Why do you always go for the most crowded places?” I asked Father.

The latter simply chuckled and shook his head. Blake looked at our surroundings before looking at Indigo and nodding. Blake started to lead us forward into the city, passing the townsfolk who stared and whispered as we passed. We got up to a hill that overlooked the place.

“Well, isn’t this lovely,” Weiss said with a bit of a cheer. “I love the whole tropical setting.”

“Kinda a stark contrast from your home,” Blake chuckled at this. Indigo simply watched the town, marveling at it before shaking his head and looking at Blake.

“Well, where to?” Indigo said to Blake.

“Well, we should go see my parents, so this-” Blake was interrupted by Ruby who came up behind her.

“Oh oh! Is it that house over there? Or is it over there? Oooo, I think it’s that one right there,” she said, pointing at different buildings.

Blake sighed before taking Ruby’s arm and pointed at the large building down the hill and straight ahead.

“That one.”

Ruby and Weiss stared at it before Ruby pointed at Blake and then at the house, which Blake nodded.

“YOU LIVE THERE?!” both Weiss and Ruby yelled.

Indigo looked at the house, taking a deep breath as he did before letting the breath he held after a moment.

“Something wrong?” I asked him. Indigo glanced at me before looking back at the large house.

“Just… just nervous is all, nothing to worry about,” he said before looking at Blake. “I'm ready to meet your parents.”

He earned a nod from Blake before the two of them walked ahead and went up the concrete steps. We followed behind them just a few feet away before they stopped at the large doors. Blake took a deep breath before knocking on the door. It was a few moments before the door opened.

“I'm sorry, but we're not seeing- oh.” the woman said.

She had short black hair with cat ears that were pierced. Her eyes were the same yellow colour as Blake’s.

“Blake? I thought you left for Haven.”

“Hey, mom… there's a lot to talk about?” Blake explained. Blakes mom stared at her before narrowing her eyes a bit.

“Well, come on in, don't want to keep you all out here,” she said as she moved out of the way for us to come in. “If anyone is wondering, I'm Kali Belladonna.”

Blake and Indigo walked in first before we all entered. As soon as we entered we marveled at the interior entrance hall.

“I still can't believe that this is your house!” Weiss said as we looked around.

“It's nothing much really,” Blake said with a chuckle.

I smiled a bit as I looked around. I also started to see some things that were somewhat covered up, mostly bullet holes. We continued following Kali before coming up to a set of large doors.

“Wait right here please,” Kali said before entering the room. Lilah looked up at Blake and Indigo as they both fidgeted uncomfortably.

“You two really are nervous for this?” Lilah asked the two.

“I'm meeting my wife’s parents for the first time, I'm more than nervous… I'm freaking the flip out!” Indigo exclaimed, making sure not to swear with Kaida, Strun or Qo nearby.

Lilah soon turned to face Blake, who was very nervous just standing there.

“What about you?” Lilah asked. Blake looked down at her.

“I'm a bit nervous as well,” Blake answered. “I don't know what my dad will say.”

Lilah rolled her eyes.

“I don't think it will be that bad, “ she said as the doors opened.

There stood a tall muscular man wearing some black pants and a open navel blue robe. He had a bushy black beard and hair with the same yellow eyes. Lilah stared up at the man with wide eyes.

“Oh boy…” Indigo muttered under his breath.
The man's eyes looked at all of us before looking at Blake.

“Well, I didn't believe it until now,” he said as he looked at Blake. “I thought you and most of the others left for Haven.”

“Yeah… there's a lot to talk about,” Blake said. The man didn't say anything as he looked down at Blakes hand which has her wedding ring.

“Yes, we do,” he said before turning away. “Come on, there's seats in here.”

Blake entered with Indigo and Lilah in hand before following suit and awwing at the large study. A few large couches were at the center of the room. Blake's dad curiously watched as we all entered while thanking him for kindly letting us in. As we all sat down, Blake's father went around to sit by his wife. He let out a painful sigh as he sat. Kali gave him a worried look.

“I'm fine,” he said. He looked at all of us. “Now, I would like someone to explain to me why there's two Blakes.”

Hearing this, Father looked at them and nodded.

“Please be still,” Father said, raising his hand at them both.

Blake's parents looked at him in confusion before widening their eyes as their pupils dilated. While waiting for them to awaken from their trance, I've noted that, throughout our visits, the trance lasted only up to a minute for Taiyang and Winter. After a minute of waiting, Blake's father blinked before shaking his head. He looked at Father, then at Blake.

“Well… that explains a lot,” Blake's father said simply.

Father nodded at this before looking at Blake and Indigo. Blake’s father did the same, but mostly to Indigo, and frowned at him.

“Uhhh… Heyoo,” greeted Indigo with a nervous smile. The man frowned at him but didn't say anything.

“Honey, please, be nice,” Kali told her husband. He frowned at her before sighing.

“I know the two are different, but… it’s odd to see our daughter, who was here a few weeks ago, here again. Married.”

He then turned to Indigo with a stern look. “But if I find out you make Blake sad or hurt, you'll lose more than your arm.”

Indigo quickly raised his hand in defense.

“Sir, with all do respect, that's the last thing I'd ever think of doing,” Indigo said before gesturing at his stump and saying. “I lost an arm defending her during the attack at Beacon, I'd gladly lose the other if it meant she was safe.”

He said, leaving out the bit where he literally did die during the fall. Blake's father stared at Indigo for a few moments before sighing.

“Can't tell if I'm getting too old or not,” He said. He then looked down to Lilah and stared at her for a moment before smiling a little. “Well, it seems time goes differently where you are all at.”

“For us it's been at least two years since we last set foot on Remnant,” Indigo said with a shrug. Blake’s father looked at him then at Lilah for a moment, then a confused look formed on his face.

“Then… how?” Kali asked, pointing at Lilah then at Blake and Indigo.

“What…? Wait, no. No, no, no, no! I’m not their kid!” Lilah said, her face red in embarrassment. Indigo chuckled.

“You'd not believe how many people think that,” he said to Kali and Blake’s father, who quickly mentioned that his name was Ghira.

“Really?” Kali said as she looked at Indigo. “Well, it kinda makes sense, she does look a little like you both.”

Lilah crossed her arms at this, muttering to herself.

“While we may not be her actual parents, me and Blake… sorta act as her parental figures,” Indigo said, earning a side glance from Lilah. She grumbled a bit, and was going to say something but didn’t.

“Well, I just hope you two are taking good care of her,” Ghira said.

As he said this he shifted a bit. He looked a little bit in pain. Kali gave him a worried look but he simply shook his head.

“Are you alright, Mister Belladonna?” Father asked him.

“I’m fine… just a little sore,” Ghira said with a smile. Kali frowned at him which he simply rolled his eyes. “We had some issues two weeks ago, nothing too bad.”

“Dad, the one side of the building was damaged and looks like there was a fire,” Blake pointed out.

“Again, nothing too bad,” he repeated. Blake frowned at this but didn’t say anything.

“Sorry to ask this. I see the rings, but… are you two really married?” Kali asked Indigo and Blake. Indigo took a deep breath and nodded, taking a gentle hold of Blake's hand.

“Yeah, close to two months now,” Indigo said with a smile. Kali perked up at this before speaking.

“Please, tell me someone took pictures,” Kali asked, looking at everyone before looking at Blake. “You better have taken pictures.”

Hearing this, Father chuckled before a brief flash of light had given Kali what she asked for, her daughter’s wedding pictures. Kali eyes brighten as she looked through them.

“Oh my, you look absolutely beautiful in that dress!” This earned a blush from Blake but she smiled nonetheless.

Kali looked through the pictures happily, seeing Blake’s big day through the taken pictures. Ghira took interest in them, too, and smiled at the picture of Blake showing off her wedding dress.

“You do look absolutely beautiful, Blake,” Ghira said with a smile.

Blake smiled at her father as the rest of us smiled at them. Soon enough, after they were done looking through the photos, Ghira began questioning Indigo. Actually, it was more of an interrogation than questioning. It was mostly to get to know his son-in-law. At the mention of alcohol consumption, Indigo decided to tell the truth and tell them that he used to be a raging alcoholic, though he did left out bit where his drink was lethal and at any moment could've killed him. Ghira was not pleased to hear this, but before he could say anything to Indigo, the latter said that it was thanks to Blake that he had stopped for good.

“I literally threatened that I’ll beat him with his flask if he continued,” Blake added.

Indigo slowly nodded at this. Lilah laughed, hearing this about Indigo had really brought her to tears of laughter.

Indigo grumbled, “Oh, don’t be like that. If I didn’t, you’ll drink yourself to death.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Indigo said before chuckling.

This earned a chuckle from Ghira. It wasn't until Kaida, Strun, and Qo let out simultaneous yawns that we were notified of the how long we've been here. Lilah was the last to yawn before she leaned back onto Blake and Indigo’s arms.

“I suppose that's our queue to head back home,” Father said as he stood up. He then looked at Kali and Ghira before nodding and said. “We thank you for your time but I'm afraid we must get going.”

Father picked up Kaida and Strun with ease. Yang stood up, as well, with the help of Father’s tail.

“Well, I do hope we’ll see you all again,” Ghira looked over at Indigo with a little frown. “Even you”.

Indigo kept quiet.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Kali said to her husband with a frown.

“What? Isn't every father supposed to hate the one who’s daughter married to some guy?” he asked his wife.

“No, not really,” Kali deadpanned.

“Oh,” Ghira said after.

Father chuckled, before a key, similar to what he gave Taiyang, appeared in his hand. He then handed it to Ghira before saying.

“If either of you ever wish to come and visit, use this on any door,” Father said as the gears in the key turned and moved. Ghira looked at the key in interest.

“Thank you,” Ghira said as we all stood up.

Blake hugged her parents goodbye. Indigo picked up the tired Lilah, who lazily whined as she was picked up. Soon enough, the familiar doorway appeared behind him and, with a wave goodbye, Father and Yang were the first to leave, wanting to take their children to bed. Ruby, Qo, and I went through soon after before Indigo and Blake walked through the doorway. Ghira and Kali waved goodbye one last time before the door closed and vanished then and there.

“Now if you'll excuse us, Yang and I must put these sleepy little ones to bed,” Father said to us before he and Yang turned and left. I turned to look at Indigo.

“I have to take Lilah to bed before I get ready for tomorrow’s class,” Indigo said before walking off with Lilah in hand and Blake in tow, leaving me and Ruby alone with Qo. The latter denying her tiredness.

“I'm not tired,” Qo said as another yawn cane on. I raised an eyebrow.

“What's that, then?” I asked with a smirk.

“Uhh, extra air?” Qo answered. I rolled my eyes as I picked her up.

“Come on, you, time to sleep,” I said as I carried her off. I couldn't help but silently laugh when I heard her snore against my shoulder.

Author's Note

And that’s the end of the family meet up.

First an Island, then the Desert, and Now a large Cavern

It has been almost a week after the trip to Remnant, and things have been pretty good. I’ve spent most of my time with Qo, as she did her school work and played with Sparky. I enjoyed my time with my little girl. At the moment, I was walking down the halls with some food until I saw Indigo walking in front of me. I smiled as I caught up with him.

“Oi, Indi! What’s up?” I called out to him, though he didn’t seem to turn around.

Frowning, I finally caught up to him.

“Hey, I’m talking to you,” he looked at me in confusion, coming to a halt as a result. He blinked and scratched the back of his neck before he spoke.

“Apologies, I have not been myself in a while. What is it you said?” he asked me with a voice familiar yet unfamiliar to me.

He looked at me with a confused expression before realization dawned him.

“Ah, yes, you're Viri Mal Kun,” he said with a proud smile. “Now I remember.”

I stared at the man that looks like Indigo right before I saw something that should’ve stood out of me.

“You’re not Indigo, you have two arms,” I said, looking at the arm Indigo lost before. He followed my gaze.

“Ahh, I should've known my grandson’s resemblance to me would be uncanny,” the man said with a laugh. His laughter died down into chuckles before he stopped and looked at me.

“And yes, I am not Indigo. I am Theodore Parker. I do believe we've spoken before,” he said with a polite bow with his introduction. I stared at him for a few moments.

“Theodore? Wait, I thought you were a part of Indigo’s head,” I asked him with confusion and surprise in my voice.

“To put it simply, your aunt brought me back in a body of my own, but at a cost. The semblance I once had, the very same used to heal my grandson, is now fully apart of him,” he said with a smile, even after mentioning the loss of his semblance. “Speaking of your aunt, I am on my way to meet with her in one of the training facilities here.”

“Ah… well, mind have me tag along? I’m on my way to my room and it’s on the way.” I said with a small smile.

He nodded before he resumed his walk down the halls with me following beside him. As we walked I couldn't help but glance at the Indigo lookalike every so often, seeing the uncanny resemblances between the two.
“You're acting like your aunt when I returned, she was just staring in silence,” said the man with a chuckle as we walked by a few students who turned their heads towards Theodore, most likely confusing him for Indigo.

“Well, it’s hard to act differently when…” I trailed off a bit as I tried to think of something to say after. I shook my head as I continued on with something else.

“So, how is it? Having your body back, I mean?”
“It's… it's been a wild ride these past few days, having been but a shadow for a few decades. I sort of forgotten what limbs feel like.” He said as he rolled his shoulders. “The first few minutes made feel like a newborn.”

He crossed his arms and added, “Your aunt only stared at me as I accustomed myself to my new body.”

He laughed.

“I, uh, don’t want to know all the details,” I said with a slight blush on my face.

Theodore chuckled.

“Don't worry, I'll spare you the details,” he said before we stopped at one of the training halls used for extensive training and sparring. “Here we are.”

He opened the door and went in as I followed. I saw that my aunt was there, as she was overseeing two people sparring, which took me a few moments to see that it was Divos and Ailis. The two of them were going at it as if they been training for years, which for Dovah made sense. Divos was using a short sword and dagger while Ailis was using a glave. My aunt was walking around the arena as she watched the two of them clash. As we entered I saw Divos hook his arm around the glave and moved it in a way that Ailis was lifted upwards then behind him, crashing into the ground.

“Enough!” Axycia said as she enter the ring. “Divos wins.”

“No fair!” Ailis said angrily. Divos chuckled and put his weapons away.

“Ailis, that was fair, don’t be a spoiled sport,” Axycia said at her, making the young Vokun Dovah cross her arms.

“Impressive fighting, you two,” Theodore said, making himself known to everyone inside.

He clapped and added, “And excellent takedown, my boy.”

He complimented Divos’s win. Divos smiled at this and made Ailus frown more. She grumbled a bit as I turned my head to see Qo up in the bleachers, with Sparky sleeping on her head again. I kinda wonder why she was here, as Axycia came up to the two of us.

“Hello Viri,” my aunt greeted with a smile.

“Hey, aunt Axycia,” I greeted back. She smiled at me before looking over at Theodore as her smile grew.

“Here I thought you’ve gotten lost,” she said with a giggle. “I was debating to go out and find you.”

Theodore chuckled at this and shook his head.

“I never get lost, my dear. I simply look for an alternative path,” he said in a joking manner with another chuckle.

Axycia rolled her eyes at this before walking over and giving him a kiss on his cheek.

“And a hello to you too, love,” he said before doing the same, bringing a small blush on her cheeks.

The other two kids didn’t seem to pay attention as they were busy talking. I looked up at Qo and decided to make my way up to her. As I got close, she looked up and smiled.

“Hi, mommy!” she greeted with a smile.

“Hey there, honey, what you reading?” I asked which she simply showed me a science book. “Oh, you’re taking an interest in science?”

“Maybe,” she said as she put the book down.
I sat next to her and put my bag of food down. I handed her some of her food: a simple sandwich and some cookies, as I watched the two kids went at it again with some more sparring. During their match, they were surprised to see Theodore joining in, holding his own weapons ready for a fight. He held some sort of bladed pistol and a short sword.

“Don’t go easy!” Axycia called out.

“We won’t,” both Divos and Ailis said at the same time, earning a chuckle from my aunt.

“I wasn’t talking about you two,” she said, earning a chuckle from Theodore as he clanged both blades together.

The two kids looked at one another before Ailis charged at Theodore with her glave. Theodore simply parried her blade as he pushed it away, before moving close into Ailis’s space. Ailis tried to back up as she pulled her blade back, as Theodore brought his sword down on her as she tried to block, breaking the staff part. Ailis stared at the two halves of her broken weapon.

“Unfortunate, but not unexpected,” Theodore said to the Vokun Dovah.

Ailis looked up at him as he kicked her just out of the ring. As she fell, I saw she had a frown on her face, maybe due to losing again. Theodore turned to Divos as he stared at the man.

“Uhh,” was all Divos could say before Theodore closed the gap between to two of them, and able to defeat him by disarming him.

“Well… that was quick,” my aunt said with a chuckle.

“Haha! I still got it!” exclaimed an excited Theodore as he raised both his arms in celebration.

“Yes, yes… remind me to give you a reward later,” Axycia said with a wink at Theodore.

“I'll keep that in mind,” Theodore said with a smile as he lowered his arms.

He then looked at Ailis and Divos before saying, “I do hope we can do this again another time.”

Divos nodded at this as Ailis simply grumbles a bit.

“Oh, don't be like that,” he said to Ailis. Ailis didn’t say anything as she sat where she is.

“Don’t worry about her, she’ll cool down in a bit,” Axycia reassured him from where she sat.

Theodore nodded at this but glanced over to Ailis with a worded look before sighing and looking over to Divos, who still was laying on the ground.

“Up, up,” said Theodore as he offered his hand to the young Vokun Dovah.

Divos took his hand and got pulled up to his feet. I looked over at aunty, seeing her smiling as she simply looked at Theodore.

“You look very happy,” I told her. She looked over at me with the same smile.

“I’m very happy Viri,” she said before looking back. “Only a few things will make me this happy.”

I smiled at her as I pulled Qo onto my lap as she read more of her book. It was at this point that Father, Ruby, and Yang came in. Father was quick to notice Theodore before looking over to aunt Axycia. He then walked over to us before speaking up.

-------------Editor’s Checkpoint-----------
“Hello you two.” He greeted before looking down at Qo as she read her book. He smiled at the sight before sitting beside me, not wanting to disturb Qo. Yang followed suit and sat beside him, though her gaze was at Theodore. Ruby was the same, looking at him in confusion like her sister. “So you've finally done it.” Said Father, breaking the silence. Axycia chuckled at this.

“Was there any doubt?” she asked with a smirk. Ruby and Yang looked at each other for a moment before Ruby spoke up.

“Uhhh, who’s he?” she asked, pointing at Theodore who was now showing Divos how to wield two blades. While the two of them did that I saw Ailis looking at the two halves of her glave with a frown on her face.

“Yo!” I heard Rose call out to us which made me jump a bit. We all turned to see her walking in with a smile on her face before seeing Theodore before stopping. “Two arms, Theo right?” She asked us. Father and Axycia nodded, gaining yet more confused expression from Ruby and Yang.

“He is Theodore Parker, Indigo’ grandfather.” Father said, mostly to Ruby and Yang.

“Wait… didn’t Indi’s grandfather…” Yang started before looking at Axycia as she smiles as she wiggled her fingers a bit, making some magic appear in her hand. “Right… that makes sense.”

Ruby was still confused before I pulled her over to me with a smile. “Honestly, don’t try to think about it.” She smiled at me before giving me a kiss on the cheek, making me blush a little. Father turned to look back at his sister before saying.

“Does he know about him?” Father asked Aunty.

“He does, though Blake finds this a little odd that the two look very much like each other, minus the eyes and one extra arm.” Axycia explained. Father nodded in acknowledgement before looking over to Yang, who simply stared at Theodore. Most likely wondering how he and Indigo look so alike.

“It's best not to think about it, love.” Father said to her, bringing Yang out of her thoughts.

“It's just… the resemblance is so uncanny.” Yang said to him with a quiet chuckle. I chuckle at this as I looked over at Ailis, who was talking to Rose at the moment. I felt Qo wiggle a bit before seeing her looking up at me with some needy eyes. I giggled before giving her another cookie, which she happily ate. Ruby and Yang watched as Theodore sparred with Divos, Ruby was excited to see his weapons in use and wondered what they can do. Axycia, while happy to see her son getting along with Theodore, was simply staring lovingly at the latter. It was really weird seeing like this, having known her to be strict and very serious while growing up.

“It is odd seeing you like this dear sister, it has been so long since you've looked another the way you do now.” Father said with a chuckle as he glanced at her.

“Well, times has changed for the better.” Axycia said with a smile. With a nod and a one armed hug, Father spoke up.

“I'm very happy for you, I truly am.” He said as he hugged Axycia. Axycia rolled her eyes at this but accepted the hug. It was then that Theodore and Divos had finished their match. Divos went to get his sister while Theodore walked over to us, his gaze soon landed on Father and Yang before seeing Ruby sitting beside me. He looked back at Father and bowed before speaking up.

“Greeting, you must be Saanvodkiin. It's an honor to meet you.” He said to Father in a respectful manner. Axycia rolled her eyes at him.

“You are always so formal.” She laughs at Theodore.

“It is a habit of mine.” Theodore admitted with laugh of his own as he straightened back up. Father chuckled at his politeness. Yang shifted a bit before speaking.

“If you’re wondering, I’m Yang Xiao Kun.” she introduce herself as she pulled closer to Father. Theodore smiled and bowed his head.

“Ah yes, the wife of Saanvodkiin, I could I forget.” He said with a chuckle and another bow before looking at Ruby. “And you must be Ruby Rose.”

“Hello.” Ruby said before giving me a look. I rolled my eyes before handing her a cookie as well. Ruby happily ate the cooking with a smile on her face. Theodore chuckled at this before seeing Qo. He raised a questioning brow before he glanced at me and Ruby before looking back at Qo.

“And who might you be, little one?” He asked Qo.

“I’m Qo!” Qo answered happily. I smiled at this as I petted her head a bit which made Qo’s tail move back and forth happily. Through the corner of my eyes I noticed Father's smile vanished and formed a concerned frowned as he looked away before facing his sister, only for her to nod with a concerned expression as well.

“Something wrong?” I asked Father. He nodded before looking at me.

“Yes, it is about our dear friend, Lana.” Was all he said with a look of seriousness. Both Ruby and Yang looked at each other as they looked at Father with worry.

“What’s wrong with her?” I asked with a look worry of my own.

“She's on an unstable Ark, one that might collapse and burn at any given moment. She was lured into it but we are not sure how.” Father explained as he stood up and walked down the bleachers. I moved Qo off of me as I stood up to follow him as Ruby helped her sister up so she could stand.

“Is she alright?” I asked Father as I followed him.

“For now she and the others have set up a secure base camp but the dangers of that Ark are much more ferocious and driven than the ones they've encountered before.” He explained to me as he helped Yang down the last step.

“So… we’re going to go help her?” Yang asked as she stood beside Father.

“Uhh, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come Yang.” I said, earning a frown from her.

“And why not?” she asked with a hand on her hip and an arched brow. Father stepped in, placing a hand on Yang’s belly before speaking.

“She's right, dear, it isn't wise for you to come along in your current state.” He said to her before shaking his head and adding. “And it isn't wise for me to leave you like this, so I'm afraid you and I will not be going this time.” He said. Yang frowned at this before sighing.

“Man… this sucks…” she turned to Father before adding. “You better make it up for me not going.” With a smile Father nodded at Yang's words. Theodore was still sitting beside Axycia, the latter explaining the situation to him.

“Well if anyone is going I believe I’m going.” Rose said with a smile. “It be nice to see everyone again.”

“I thought you didn't like Lena?” Ruby asked her, gaining her attention.

“I didn’t say say I didn’t like Lena, we just disagree a lot.” Rose said before adding. “Reminds me of another friend of mine that does the same thing.”

“So I have no doubt you will go as well.” Father said, guessing my decision. I nodded as Ruby stood by me.

“Lena is our friend, we have to go help her.” Ruby said with a smile. I smiled as well as Aunt Axycia walked up to us. Rose looked at the two of us before saying.

“Well, if those two aren’t coming,” Rose started to say as she pointed at Father and Yang, which made Yang frown more. “That would leave the three or five of us, is anyone else coming? What about Blake or Weiss?”

“I suppose it's worth asking them.” Father said as Theodore stood beside Axycia, arms crossed waiting for a final decision.

“I want to come!” Ailis said with a smile.

“No.” Axycia said with a frown. Ailis frowned at this as her mother continued. “You’re still learning how to fight and at where you are you don’t have the right to come.” Ailis simple grumbled at this.

“I should go find the others, see if they want to come.” I said before heading off to find the others. It took a while but I found them in the library. It took some time but I explained to them what’s going on. Indigo and Blake thought over it before they agreed to help. Weiss and Tak took longer to decide due to the fact of Tak’s momentarily complete blindness on foreign grounds though it came much of a surprise to hear Tak agree to help even mentioning that he would need time to accustom himself before he could be of any help. With nothing holding her back Weiss agreed as well. I feel like she didn’t need convincing if Tak was coming as well. I smiled and went back to the others to tell them of the news about the others. As I got there I saw that aunt Axycia was talking to Father as Yang was sitting back down with the twins near her. I didn’t see Qo at all, maybe she headed off?

Theodore was off to the side, speaking to a still angry Ailis. Unfortunately I was too far to hear what he was saying but whatever it was made her frown vanish. She soon nodded at this before Theodore looked at all of us.

“Well!” My aunt said as she clapped her hands together. “We just need to wait on the others and we’ll be ready to go!” Father seemed to chuckle a bit but didn’t say anything. Yang was still upset she couldn't come to help but she didn't argue knowing that it's a bad idea considering her pregnancy. Both of her kids sat next to her as they watched the rest of us wait for the other four. It wasn’t long until Indigo, Blake, Weiss and Tak to arrived in the training hall. Both Indigo and Blake stopped when they saw Theodore. The three of them stared at one other before Blake spoke.

“I’ll never get used to this.” Blake said. Indigo simply waved at Theodore.

“We will eventually.” Indigo told Blake before wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Weiss on the other hand looked at the two in confusion before taking a deep breath and saying.

“I'm not even going to ask.” She said, almost muttering to herself. Axycia simply coughed to get everyone's attention.

“Well, if everyone is here, we should get a move on.” she said as her hands started to glow. A circle formed around us as runes started to form as the light dimmed. She looked over at Father with a smirk. “Not all of us use a bright light door to get to places, just too bright.”

“Very funny.” Father said in a sarcastic tone as he rolled his eyes. Yang suppressed a laugh at this while the twins giggled at their father's sarcasm. “We will see you all soon.” He added with a wave of his hand. As the runes were finishing I saw movement near us. I turned as the spell was finishing.

“Wha-” was all I could say before everything went black.

“-t” I finished as we were transported. I blinked as I looked around at where we are. It looked like some sort of large overgrown building with what could only be described as several large rings. I heard Tak shiver and looked over to him to see if it was fine before realizing that the floor itself was a cold rusted metal.

“Are you okay?” Weiss asked Tak, worried about his well being. Tak nodded, shifting his feet a bit.

“Cold floor.” Tak said with a nod before shivering a bit as he moved his feet around, not being able to stand in place on the metal floor. Weiss smiled at him before looking off somewhere, her smile turned into a frown.

“Uhh, Viri…” Weiss said as I stared at her before looking at where she was looking… oh crud.

“Hi!” Qo said with a simile as Iilah was standing beside her.

“For the record, it was her idea!” Iilah said quickly as she looked at Indigo and Blake. “She’s very convincing!”

“Qo!” I said as I marched over to her and pulled her away to talk to her. “What are you doing here??”

“I wanted to come.” she said simply.

“Without asking.” I said with a frown on my face.

“You wouldn’t let me come if I did that.” she pointed out as she crossed her arms at me.

“Because it’s dangerous Qo, that’s why I didn’t want you to come.” I said firmly. Qo simply shrugged.

“Well you’re now stuck with me.” she said as she stuck her tongue out. My jaw dropped as she walked by me with a laugh.

“You little…!” I said, earning a laugh from my aunt as Qo went over to her.

“My, how this one reminds me when you were young.” Axycia said with a smile. Theodore chuckled a little at this before looking down at Qo and saying.

“I hope you understand the kind of trouble you are in when we return.” He said to her. Instead of a childish worry that most kids would have, Qo simply smiled.

“I’ll see Dinosaurs, it’ll be totally worth it.” she said happily. I sighed as I looked at the rest of us. I saw Ruby, was older now, gave me a small smile as Weiss, Indigo, and Blake took noticed of the two of us

“Wait, what?!” Weiss yelled as she looked at the two of us. “How are you two older?!?”

“Didn’t you not realized that we spent like, years beforehand at two other places like this?” I asked her with a frown. “Or did you not believe us?” Weiss was silenced by my questions while Indigo shrugged while Blake was giving Iilah a stern talking to, the latter was looking down in sadness with her ears laying atop her head.

“It's just hard to believe that being true.” Tak said in Weiss’s place as he blinked. I noticed that stopped hopping from one feet to another, having grown used to the cold metal. I sighed as I looked at my aunt.

“Anyway to send them back?” I asked her, earning a whine from Qo.

“No~, I don’t want to go back, I just got here!” she said with a pout. Axycia chuckled a bit which I noticed that she seemed a little bit tired.

“Sorry, can’t really do that. Transporting this lot was more taxing than I thought.” she said before sighing. “Haven’t need to put in so much power into it before.” Theodore looked at her with a little concern over her exhaustion. She simply waved it off. “I’m fine… I just… need a spot to rest up for a time.” I frowned at her sadly as she took a step forward before stumbling a bit. Theodore caught her as she grumbled a bit.

“Easy there, dear.” Theodore said, his voice full of concern. She looked over at him and sighed.

“Mind if I lean on you for a while?” she asked. Theodore nodded before letting her lean onto him. She smiled as she looked at the rest of us. “Well, first things first is to find Lena and her group.”

“Hmm, Beta could you do a long range scan of the area? Maybe find out where we are?” Rose asked as Beta appeared. With a nod the little Ghost’s body disassembled itself before a bright blue pulse of light traveled throughout the area. Beta soon reformed and looked at Rose.

“It's official, this place is big…” Beta said before looking at Rose and adding. “And scary… really scary… anyone like snakes?” Beta asked as he turned to look us. We all just looked at him silently before he spoke. “I've also picked up a few smaller signatures ahead of us, too small to be a threat.”

“Lovely, well then.” Rose said as she looked at all of us. “Shall we go find that others.” Glancing at Qo with a frown, I soon nodded along with the others. Rose led the way with us following behind. My ears twitched as I heard rapid footsteps heading towards us and looking to the source, I saw a Raptor sprinting towards us. My hand shot to where Molten Fox is and… she’s not there. I looked down at the holster and saw it was empty… why do I forget to grab my weapon!

We watched at the Raptor got closer at us until there was a loud gunshot in front of it, making the Raptor come to an abrupt stop.

“Better move on you overgrown lizard, less you like to become a nice pair of boots.” Rose threaten as she held a revolver in her hand. The Raptor hissed at her as she shot again, this time a bit closer which scared it off.

“Raptors… great.” Indigo said upon sight of the fleeing Raptor. As the Raptor ran off everyone looked at both me and Ruby, who the latter was have this busted look on her face.

“You two… forgot your weapons?” my aunt asked us, to which we both hung our heads for.

“Well… it’s not like we’re…” I looked up to see both Weiss and Blake have their weapons on them as well as Theodore. “... never mind.”

“You done goofed.” Indigo said, earning a chuckle from Blake. “How is that you two forgot your weapons?” He asked with a frown. Iilah was too busy laughing at mine and Ruby’s predicament.

“I’m still… remodeling.” Ruby said as I simply hung my head. I ran by my room twice! How could I forget. I felt someone grab my hand and saw Qo there between us holding each of our hands with a smile.

“Don’t think this gets you out of trouble.” I told her. Qo simply shrugged at me.

“Well since you two don’t have any weapons…” Rose said as the two of us looked up. Two weapons appeared in her hands. “Scout rifle for Ruby and Pulse rifle for Viri.” she stated before handing them to us. With our temporary weapons given to us, we continued forward before stopping at a ramp leading up and an open chest nearby. The chest was empty save for a few pages of utter nonsense. As we took a look at it and around Iilah let out a scream.

“SOMETHING’S CRAWLING UP MY LEG!” she yelled. We all turned and saw a large lizard seemed to crawl up Iilah and resting it’s head on top of her shoulder.

“Kinda like Sparky.” Qo said, looking up at the sleeping wyvern on top of her head. The lizard tilted its head and looked at Iilah before blinking. It simply stared at Iilah, as if studying her.

“W-what are you looking at?” she asked the lizard shakenly. The two stared for a few moments before the lizard opened its mouth and it's tongue shot out onto Iilah face. She screamed as she started running around with the lizard on her. Indigo couldn't help but laugh at this but was quick to compose himself and take a hold of Iilah as she ran by him and lifted her up.

“Easy there, I don't think it wants to hurt you.” Indigo said, placing Iilah back down while the Lizard like creature retracted its tongue and blinked at Iilah. “I think it likes you.” He added smiling a little. Blake smiled as well after having laughed at Iilah’s reaction. Iilah sniffles a bit before shooting Indigo a glare. The latter rolled his eyes and said. “Oh don't be like that.” He said before giving the lizard a gentle pat on the head, to which it leaned onto his hand. “See, its friendly.” He said just before the lizard wagged its tail, causing the tip of it to light up, surprising Iilah in the process. Indigo retracted his hand and the lizard’s head rested against Iilah’s shoulder as it wrapped its tail around her to secure itself. Iilah panicked but quickly noted that it was strangling her in the slightest.

“I do believe it has imprinted on you, curious.” Theodore said as he watched the lizard opening an eye to look at him.

“We can keep it.” Blake suggested to Iilah and Indigo but I'm sure it was directed more to Iilah. The latter didn't know what to make of this, in one hand she should be panicking and scream for its demise but in the other hand, she was curious of it and its sudden imprinting on her.

After we all gotten settled we all went up the ramp to a long metal corridor. As we walked I glanced at Aunty, worried that she might collapse at any moment but the thought soon vanished when I saw her leaning her head against Theodore's shoulder with a smile on her face. I smiled at this as we continued on until we got to a large patch of red tipped mushrooms.

“What’s this?” I asked as I looked the mushrooms a bit closely.

“Hey hey!” Beta yelled as he floated over and tried to push me back. “We don’t know what they do, better not stick your face near it.” I frowned at this as Beta started to scan the mushrooms.

“Don’t worry, he does that to me all the time.” Rose said with a small laugh. Beta soon finished and emitted a red light that surrounded a single mushroom. This one had a red stem on it, though I'm not sure if it made any difference.

“That one's bad, avoid it.” Beta said as he continued to highlight the single mushroom as we walked by the patch and once on the other sighed he stopped highlighting before vanishing again. We continued walking until we came up to what looks like a broken bridge. I went over to see what was below and saw a large body of water.

“Unless we want to take a dip in some water we have to find another way.” I said to the others.

“I got it.” Axycia said as she took a few steps forward, though she was already panting before she stopped. “One bridge coming-”

“You are in no shape to conjure anything, any more use of your power and you'll be out cold.” Theodore quickly stepped in and said to her. As he said this, Indigo looked down at the lake below before glancing at the dark corridor behind us.

“Getting us over to the other side won’t kill me.” Axycia said with a frown. Indigo raised his hand towards the corridor, resulting in the shadows to be absorbed by him and in the process, reform his shadow arm. That done he quickly looked over the edge.

“We'll think of another way.” Theodore said back to Axycia. Indigo raised his shadowy hand before it slowly dissipated. Whatever he done had earned him a questioning look from Blake and Iilah. Curious to know what he did, I walked over to his side and quickly noticed a very long and shadowy slide that led to the shore.

“A shadow slide?” I asked him as I stared at it.

“Would you rather walk down?” Indigo asked me as the slide shifted into a long set stairs.

“No no, slide is alright.” I said quickly after, making Indigo chuckle. The stairs then shifted back into a slide. I could still hear Axycia argue with Theodore over her not being in good condition to make a bridge or a way down.

“Hey!” Weiss yelled, drawing their attention to her. “There’s a way down, are you coming?” she asked with a frown on her face. Axycia blinked at this, looking over to see the slide down and grumbled a bit. Indigo was the first to go down it with Iilah in his arm, though judging by the terrified scream that the poor girl wasn't expecting it. The stopped at the bottom, just a few inches away from the water. Indigo placed the still shaken Iilah down before waving up at us. It took a few minutes but all of us slide down the slide until we all were at the bottom. Tak and Weiss were the last to go down and when they did, Tak was excited to feel the dirt instead of the cold hard metal.

“Alright, Beta, anything came up as of yet?” Rose asked Beta, maybe talking about the radar in her helmet or something.

“Nothing but a few signatures here and there, most of them are small but there's at least a few of them to be worried about.” Beta said as he appeared over her shoulder. It was then I noticed it getting darker. Was it sunset already? I really couldn't tell.

“Is it me or is getting darker?” Indigo asked out loud. Everyone looked around at where we were. Farther away from the lake was a forest of odd trees and upon closer inspection, it turned out to be some sort of large fungi forest. Another thing I noticed was the several stumps around area, indicating that someone was here before.

“Better keep moving.” Rose said as she looked around. “Don’t want to be caught out in the middle of nowhere.” Taking her advice we wandered about, not really knowing where we were going. At a few occasions we came across some Spinos fighting some sort of giant spider crab, we of course avoided them and for a good reason. Eventually it had gotten too dark to venture any more and we set up camp with me and Ruby building a fire with the knowledge we gained from our time in the Island.

Axycia was quick to sit by the fire, finally having a spot to rest but not without pulling Theodore with her much to the latter’s surprise. Blake, Iilah and Indigo all sat together by the fire as well with the lizard still on Iilah’s shoulder happily resting. Rose was keeping guard with a gun in hand in case of any danger. Weiss and Tak were farther away from us most likely meditating.

“When did Weiss start meditating?” I asked Ruby.

“A little bit before our final exams, Tak said it would help her focus. Ever since then she made it part of her daily routine.” Ruby explained. I nodded as she and Qo helped me make some food from the berries we collected along the way, making sure to leave out the black berries and put away the white ones in case of an injury. It soon turned into berry soup, which would work for the time being. Iilah and Qo accepted the soup hungrily, after shamefully admitting that they have not eaten before leaving.

The rest of the night, I think, we chatted and ate before some of us were starting to fall asleep. Rose took first watch over the camp as the rest of us fell asleep. It was… passable where we slept until my ear twitched as I heard something. I looked up and around to see where the sound was coming from. Due to the fire being only embers I couldn’t see anything in front of me. I heard footsteps near me and saw Rose with Beta floating over her shoulder as he shined a light in front of her. She seemed to be stepping quietly around the camp with her gun out.

“Rose?” I whispered quietly. She quickly shushed me.

“Quiet, Beta picked up something and that something is getting bigger.” she whispered back. She moved her gun up to aim. “Better get that fire going and the others up, I don’t think we’re alone.”

With that said, I shook Ruby awake and moved to the others. I shook them enough to hear them complain before extending my hand out to make the fire reignite.

“Ugh, what gives Viri?” Weiss said, complaining that she was woken up.

“Isn't it a little late to be awake?” Tak asked tiredly as he sat up. Indigo sat up silently and blinked lazily before shaking Blake, earning a bit of a hiss from her has a result before finally opening her eyes only to glare at Indigo.

“What's going on?” Indigo asked, too tired to add emotion into his words. They all looked over at me before they, and very much awaking any one who was still sleeping, jumped at the sound of Rose taking shots at something.

“Look alive people! We have some things wanting to take some bites out of us!” Rose yelled as she shot a few more times. It was then when we all heard a roar near us… then another… then multiple ones going off near us. Everyone was shocked to have heard the roars, Iilah and Qo were both terrified. It didn't help that it was practically pitch black dark. Indigo quickly stood up and formed his Scythe though by the look of his face, it was difficult to do.

“Indigo?” Blake said in a worried tone before another few shots went off.

“You don't look so good man, maybe using your shadows is a bad idea right now.” Rose said as she had another gun, a side arm I believe, appeared before she tossed it to Blake. “Use this for now.” It was then Indigo collapsed from exhaustion, his Scythe dissipated just as he fell to his knees.

“Too… tired.” Indigo said with ragged breaths. Tak let out surprised yell, gaining our attention and quickly saw that large dog like beast had pounced on Tak. Weiss screamed just before a glyph appeared to shove the dog beast off of Tak, everyone else was moving in close around as my aunt was trying to use her power, only for it to not happen due to not being fully awake. Weiss pulled Tak back and stood in front of him with her rapier in both hands.

The beast shook its head in a daze before growling and baring its teeth before two more stepped out of the darkness, these ones smaller than the one that pounced Tak. The larger beast, presumably the leader, raised its head up to roar but was quickly met with a sharp metal end of a now bloody pike. From the top of the head through its jaw, the pike was impaled perfectly onto the beast for a quick and easy kill. The two smaller beasts looked at the limp body of their dead leader before facing the one responsible in the darkness. It was then we heard an audible beep as two green orbs appeared from the darkness.

“Get lost.” Said the person responsible, his voice while gruff, was very familiar. The beasts let out a whine before vanishing into the darkness, their whines becoming more distant by the second. As they ran off I looked the two green orbs.

“Rockmond?” I called out to the voice. The impaled pike was pulled out of the body before the person walked into the light, revealing themselves to indeed be Rockmond wearing a pair of Night vision goggles. He pulled them and smiled before saying.

“It's good to see you two again.” He said to me and Ruby. I smiled at him as I felt Qo behind me, clinging on to my legs as she was hiding from the dog beasts. I turned around and kneeled down.

“Hey hey, everything is okay now.” I said to her softly. She sniffled a bit as she clinged to me even more. I gave her a hug as Rose walked over to Rockmond.

“Yo! What’s up Rock man!” Rose greeted with a cheerful tone. Rockmond shook his head at Rose with frown.

“Don't ever call me that.” He said to her.

“Aww, you missed me.” Rose said happily. He simply rolled his eyes at her.

“So what brings you here?” He then asked us. He quickly shook his head before we could answer and said. “Nevermind that now, right now I'll need to take you all back to the camp, there you can rest easy.” He said dismissing his own question. We all looked at eachother, not really complaining about leaving our camp to go to a better one.

“Well, lead on.” I said to Rockmond. With a nod and a torch, Rockmond led the way to Lana’s camp. The trip was silent, not because we had nothing to say but because there were more of those beasts out there. During the trip, I did notice the large device strapped onto Rockmond’s back and made a mental note to question him about it later. I held Qo in my arms as she was calming down. I hummed softly to help her calm down, but it wasn’t as loud to attract anything around us. We soon came across a very large lake with a natural rock column in the center of it. What stood the most even in the dark, was the top of the large metallic structure, it up with several watchtowers and searchlights.

We briefly marveled at what could potentially be our place of rest and Rockmond could telo we were eager to get there. So with a quicker pace, we walked up a slope that led up to a shattered holographic billboard, its message unreadable from the garbled and glitchy screen. Below it however was the sleeping form of a Raptor.

Rockmond walked up to it and shook it awake, earning a threatening hiss from the glowing Raptor. With a snap of his fingers The Raptor awoke and quickly looked at Rockmond and startling us in the process. Rose was quick to take aim at it but stopped upon sight of Rockmond petting the Raptor.

“There you are, I got something for ya.” Rockmond said before taking a still bloody chunk of meat, no doubt from the beast he killed and tossed to the Raptor. The latter was quick to devour its treat before announcing its excitement with an odd wheeze like sound that echoed in the dark and putting us on edge. “Don't worry, this area is completely secured and the dinos you see around are harmless unless provoked.” Rockmond said. Qo stared at the Raptor in awe, finally having a closer look of one after our first encounter with the creature. No doubt that there were questions Qo wanted to ask but as soon as she opened her mouth a loud yawn was the only thing that came out. We continued up and simply marveled, at least I did, at the ancient looking architecture not because they were ancient and still standing but because of how advanced it all looked.

Eventually we came across a behemoth sized reinforced door, both side of the door frame were blocked off by stone walls. Rockmond walked up to the door and was immediately spotted by a searching.

“State your name!” Said a woman on the searching. Rockmond rolled his eyes and raised his left arm before flipping them the bird, making me quickly block Qo’s eyes from the offensive gesture. “Ugh, fine.” Said the woman before the large doors creaked open. When it was opened, I was surprise to see village on the other side with houses made of wood or stone though one was made out of metal with no windows, giving me the impression that it might've been a freezer. The houses weren't that big, only big enough to house a few beds and nothing more. We stopped by a dark house, the lights inside were off before Rockmond flipped them on and showed us the bunk beds.

“Go ahead and pick your beds, this is where you'll all be staying for the night.” Rockmond said as he held the door open for the rest of us. Iilah was quick to run pass most of us and call a top bunk, earning odd looks from us having never seen her do something like this. Whether she noticed the stares or not, she was out like a light and snored happily. Blake and Indigo took the bottom bed, deciding to sleep together after seeing that the bed was big enough for them both. I placed Qo on the top bed of the one me and Ruby chose before laying down together. Theodore had suggested that he take top, worrying that Aunty might be too exhausted to climb up. His concerns vanished when he was pulled down onto the bottom bunk with Aunty, the latter giggling quietly at her lover’s surprise. Tak and Weiss shared a bed as well, though Weiss was using Tak as a pillow but it didn't look like he minded this as he draped an arm over her.

Everyone fell asleep as soon as their heads landed on their pillows and I was no different, we finally were able to get some sleep without any worries.

Author's Note

And we’re back in the ARK! Yay~