Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[Indolent]

"I don't know." she answered honestly. On the one hand, she wasn't really looking forward to hearing any of the grisly details of things that possibly could have happened to Vernal. On the other...she was a maiden herself, so if there was some twisted version of herself going around ripping the magic out of peoples' souls...then she was likely on the list of targets as well. Knowing what to expect, to watch out for, it could only be prudent to have that information. Right? Regardless, Cinder looked even more haunted by the mere thoughts of her counterpart. To be that cruel, that selfish...not even in her worst nightmares had she ever envisioned herself as the villain, going around and inspiring terror wherever she traveled.​

Emerald studied the shifting emotions in the young maiden's face, her features impassive still, her genuine reaction taking place internally instead. It would have been so very easily to deny her that information, to let that sense of dread linger and magnify over the course of time. It'd probably have been something she'd have applauded Emerald for, planting the seed that grew to hinder that boundless optimism and confidence, inhibiting her ability from here on out, making it easier for the transfer to take place at an indeterminable time and place.

There would have been elation at the recognition of all these, were she an Emerald from a different time. Here, she just felt... wrong for thinking that. That this person before her wasn't really deserving of it. Which in of itself was a confusing mess considering this was a Cinder but on the surface level, it was enough in way of making sense.

"Give me your hand," Came the prompt, her own right extended expectantly, "I'm not going to do anything to you. Well, you know what I mean. I'm gonna ground you as I show you."

The Fall Maiden would certainly have acquiesced, as Emerald predicted, after a moment's hesitation. But when she finally placed her hand within the thief's own, she would sense a gentle squeeze of with these red eyes staring into her yellow one, her intention clear as to be a buffer for what came next. The interior of the ship slowly dissipated into darkness, the Fall Maiden finding herself in the center of an ever-spanning, unrelenting darkness with her own presence the only source of light.

Soft footfalls paced apart only in a way that affirmed they were calculated, purposeful, in the darkness as Emerald's voice sung out gently, "This is Cinder as I remember her since I met her... and when I last saw her." At the final syllable's passing, the footfalls' owners materialized with the shadows turning to flesh and cloth. The first was the youngest incarnation, situated to the Fall Maiden's nine-o clock, with the following twelve and three.

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Emerald allowed for Cinder to observe each iteration of her counterpart for a matter of a minute apiece, confident that she would have been scrutinizing and memorizing every little facet to each, their traits, how she carried herself differently, their demeanor that was inherently distinct from her own. It wasn't meant to be a lengthy presentation, intended to be informative in all respects before she finally slid the last piece into place, the answer to the question asked.

The first two dissipated into the selfsame material they were born from, with the third slotting into twelve-o clock position right before Cinder. Its visage remained seemingly the same before a flicker slowly traversed throughout starting from the bottom, complete with a shuttering of the light and in the next instant, it was the same entity albeit posed with a monstrous bend to her form, an animalistic energy emnating from her as it reared in prepration to strike Cinder down. The significant contrast between its prior state and now was more than obvious, front and center with the bone-white claws twitching with the glistening black that comprised the forearm pulsing in anticipation, a ravenous aura wafting off the appendage. Or was it perhaps more the human itself?



"That's how," Emerald murmured, her words succinct and somber.

 

[MidwayLives]

The very second that glyph artillery barrage let up, Robyn seized the opportunity. "May!" There was an unseen nod from the blue-haired huntress who stood behind the larger Joanna just in case any more sudden glyph blasts came flying in, they could be soaked up by someone tougher and less vital. Marigold's hands glowed as her semblance activated. An unnoticeable dome(from Weiss's position, anyway) spread out and everybody within range, including Robyn and Nora, suddenly disappeared under its effects. Raven got pushed back, both by the initial gravity dust and then the following glyphs blasts. She too vanished suddenly though, all traces of her lost in mid-air as the knockback forced her within range of the dome. Omen stabbed into the ground then and Raven grinded to a halt before she could get swept up in whatever remained of that dark fog.

'Robyn and those who gladly follow her are incredible people. Not without their flaws of course, nobody whom exists in this world is perfect. If you say you are, I'd call you a liar. They're much tougher than I am. My place is behind a desk with a keyboard at my fingertips and a cup of hot coffee off to the side, energy cans spiked on the ground. What they do just isn't what I was put on this planet to do...Never was..'

Grey picked himself up and crawled over towards what he believed to be some cover.

'Never will be. But you don't need a sword or gun to do what I can. All you need is a little bit of technology...'

Reaching inside his cloak, he pulled out his scroll and hit record.

'And to be in the right place at the right time.'

They couldn't win this fight on the battlefield, Schnee was proving that without a shadow of a doubt in Grey's mind. If Robyn and the others proved him wrong then by all means.

But maybe if the world saw the real Weiss Schnee and what she was willing to do to stop dissension, things could change.

'I'm not a praying man. But...if there's any spot left for truth in this world...Please. Just this once...'​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Hehehe, for your sake, friend?"

Tyrian moved the tip of his stinger off to the side just a bit.

Venom dripped out and burned away part of the ground where it'd landed.

"If I don't find the Shadowfang, you'd better pray that I don't find you."

With that Trifa and him were gone.

The time apart from his team hadn't treated Tyrian well at all. He'd hardly gotten any sleep, constantly on the move and picking fights with anybody who so much as looked at him funny. Which given his artifical tail and the scars lining his torso and forehead were more often than you'd think. His crusade for hunting down Ichabod's killer had been his sole motivating factor in continuing on like this no matter the cost to his health.

Or to his sanity.

Trifa had been out of the fighting scene for some time but she'd known Ichabod before Tyrian had ever met the man. She could understand and even sympathize with how the scorpion felt about the man. For as cold and seductive as she could be when she was on the clock, she just lacked the heart to tell him the things that Ichabod had trusted her with, things that Tyrian was never supposed to know. The skeletons lining that old man's closet were enough to give Trifa goosebumps. After hearing what Tyrian had been through and what had become of his old friends, she'd stay by his side if he asked her to but she could only hope that even now there were lines the scorpion simply wouldn't cross.

When they'd reached the alleyway, Tyrian's hair was soaked and he didn't bother moving the stands that threatened to cover his face. Trifa had kept her costume on the whole time they'd been doing this. Better to keep anybody with a grudge from figuring out who she was and going after her loved ones, y'know sensible stuff like that.

"Tyrian..."

"What?"

"...Look, if...If that guy wasn't just bullshitting and we're really gonna meet a Shadow Fang here, what are you gonna do-"

"What are you talking about, Trifa? I'll do what we've been waiting for all this time. I'll make them tell me where Taurus is."

"But you don't even know-!" Trifa paused and tried to relax. "You don't know that she's the one who...killed him. Maybe she did, maybe she didn't, maybe she's forgotten all about you!"

"She did. I know it." Tyrian scoffed at the notion that it could have been anyone else. He hadn't seen Eve in sometime but even to this day, her words still struck a chord with him.

'Go back to your owners.'

Tyrian looked down at his weapons. The ones that Ichabod and him had made together for when he was to be sent off to Beacon.

"If you find her..." Trifa let that sentence drift off.

Tyrian paused and took a step away forward into the alleyway.

"I'm going to-"


Tyrian didn't get to finish his sentence as the third voice entered the conversation.

The one they'd come here to meet.

Tyrian tensed up, his nostrils flaring, and his hands clenched.

Trifa was a bit less apprehensive.

"...Something about this isn't clicking, Tyrian. Doesn't...he sound...i dunno, kinda familiar??"

"Who cares what he sounds like?? Get out here and show yourself!"


"That..."

Tyrian's anger seemed to fade for a moment.

"...That's not me anymore."


"What..."

Trifa's semblance was warning her that something wasn't right about this at all. Why was that guy here? Why was he speaking as though he was a Faunus himself? Had there been something that either of them had missed?? The tingling running down her spine made her uneasy and she took a step back.

"I don't like this, Tyrian."

Tyrian was just as puzzled but it quickly gave way under his indignant fury.

"Cut the crap, you're no human oaf. Show us who you really are..."


Tyrian seemed to hesitate for a second again.

"....I don't need any humans to help me."

Trifa had never met those who'd made up Tyrian's team or the others he spoke of as friends.

...Did he really mean that?


"I want to know where Eve Taurus is."

Tyrian's tail uncoiled from around his waist and smacked against the ground.

"And I want to know right now!!!"​

"Ahhhhh. It seems he seeks the sword." The man murmured, his eyes narrowing despite maintaining his whimsical grin. He crossed his arms and leaned to the side and started to slide off the lamppost, only swing all the way around with his legs locked around the lamp itself, apparently far more strength in those chubby limbs than their should have been as he swayed side to side like a pendulum.

"Yet why does he think that is a goal we could point him toward? The sword led the White Fang, it slaughtered our own, it worked with you to oppose our throne."

 

[MidwayLives]

"Ahhhhh. It seems he seeks the sword." The man murmured, his eyes narrowing despite maintaining his whimsical grin. He crossed his arms and leaned to the side and started to slide off the lamppost, only swing all the way around like a pendulum, apparently far more strength in those chubby legs than their should have been as she swayed side to side like a pendulum.

Tyrian's tail swung down once more, the stinger smashing the spot where it'd connected.

"I don't care what title she uses or had with your ilk! I want to know where she is and if you don't tell me I'm gonna-"

Trifa stepped forward and gripped onto Tyrian's shoulder and shook her head.

"Tyrian, think about this. The guy clearly has more going on than just being a bit big in the gut-no offense-and a skill with wordplay. We came here to hear him out, didn't we?"

"Trifa, I-"

"Not to fight. To hear. Him. Out."

"Grrrr..."

Tyrian's tail coiled up and he stepped back.
​

"Yet why does he think that is a goal we could point him toward? The sword led the White Fang, it slaughtered our own, it worked with you to oppose our throne."

The lenses on Trifa's mask narrowed to signify her annoyance with how much of a brat her friend was being.

'Fine, fine. I guess I'll handle this."

Clearing her throat, Trifa turned towards the stranger.

"I can't speak for whatever Taurus has done since splitting off from you guys. I've been spending my years in Vale trying to stay away from this whole..." Trifa gestured wildly with her hands. "Mess. Yeah, that's one way to put it. But...my friend and I have reason to believe that-"

Tyrian shoved the spider faunus off to the side.

"SHE KILLED A FRIEND OF OURS!!!"

Tyrian snarled as the rain drops ran down his body, his shoulders heaving as he could barely contain his anger.

"I'd never asked for her to help us, she didn't care about us, she had her own reasons." Tyrian hissed as he took another step forward. "But, as much as I hate her, it stands to reason that you guys hate her as much as I do. So, just tell me where she is and I'll deal with her!!!"

"Tyrian!"

"Stay out of it, Trifa! She's going to pay and this bastard WILL tell us!"

"Get down from there and fight me!!" ​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Tyrian's tail swung down once more, the stinger smashing the spot where it'd connected.

"I don't care what title she uses or had with your ilk! I want to know where she is and if you don't tell me I'm gonna-"

Trifa stepped forward and gripped onto Tyrian's shoulder and shook her head.

"Tyrian, think about this. The guy clearly has more going on than just being a bit big in the gut-no offense-and a skill with wordplay. We came here to hear him out, didn't we?"

"Trifa, I-"

"Not to fight. To hear. Him. Out."

"Grrrr..."

Tyrian's tail coiled up and he stepped back.


The lenses on Trifa's mask narrowed to signify her annoyance with how much of a brat her friend was being.

'Fine, fine. I guess I'll handle this."

Clearing her throat, Trifa turned towards the stranger.

"I can't speak for whatever Taurus has done since splitting off from you guys. I've been spending my years in Vale trying to stay away from this whole..." Trifa gestured wildly with her hands. "Mess. Yeah, that's one way to put it. But...my friend and I have reason to believe that-"

Tyrian shoved the spider faunus off to the side.

"SHE KILLED A FRIEND OF OURS!!!"

Tyrian snarled as the rain drops ran down his body, his shoulders heaving as he could barely contain his anger.

"I'd never asked for her to help us, she didn't care about us, she had her own reasons." Tyrian hissed as he took another step forward. "But, as much as I hate her, it stands to reason that you guys hate her as much as I do. So, just tell me where she is and I'll deal with her!!!"

"Tyrian!"

"Stay out of it, Trifa! She's going to pay and this bastard WILL tell us!"

"Get down from there and fight me!!" ​

"Hahaha!"

The man clapped his hands twice as Tyrian raged at him, putting more momentum in his swings till he was right side up again. He swung one leg over so he was seated rather than straddled, and leaned one hand on the post as he replied.

"So much anger in a form so lean, yet forgive my ears, I'm not sure what you mean?" he replied as his gaze flickered upwards in thought. "The sword sees herself as virtuous, noble, and true. Lest your friend was a fang, if she meted their end it was likely due! Who was this friend of which you speak? There are many who the sword with their blood have made sleek. Narrow the pool, as it were." He suggested as he glanced back down the pair with curious eyes. Outside of the fact that they were still glowing.

 

[MidwayLives]

"Hahaha!"

Tyrian immediately raised one of his gauntlets and the blades split apart to reveal the two barrels hidden within.

Before he could fire though, Trifa stepped in and pushed his arm down.

"TYRIAN! Fighting with this guy isn't going to get us answers! It's not..."

Damn it...

"It's not gonna bring him back either."
​

"So much anger in a form so lean, yet forgive my ears, I'm not sure what you mean?" he replied as his gaze flickered upwards in thought. "The sword sees herself as virtuous, noble, and true. Lest your friend was a fang, if she meted their end it was likely due! Who was this friend of which you speak? There are many who the sword with their blood have made sleek. Narrow the pool, as it were." He suggested as he glanced back down the pair with curious eyes. Outside of the fact that they were still glowing.

"Ichabod."

Tyrian got on all fours and pointed his stinger in the other faunus(?)'s direction.

"His name was Ichabod Krane. I believe she killed him! And for what?!"

It was at this point that Tyrian realized that he'd been the only one getting angry.

"....Trifa??"

The costumed faunus seemed hesitant to get as deep in the vitriol as Tyrian.

"Why am I the only one getting angry here?! He's laughing at us! Laughing at what we came here to do! Laughing-"

"Ichabod...He..."

Tyrian's anger seemed to temporarily fade away and Trifa was no longer looking at the vengeance seeking mess that'd been Tyrian for the past month and a half. It was Ichabod's latest fighter who was polite to her despite her initial dislike of him. It was disconcerting to talk to such a kind-hearted kid and then see him shed somebody else's blood in the ring as if it were just business as usual.

"WHAT?!"

"He fought in the war, Tyrian! Against us, he...He tortured faunus soldiers."

"Wha...No....You're lying!" Tyrian screeched but Trifa's eerie silence was quickly starting to grate on him.

"He never wanted you to learn about this..." Trifa's eyes glared at the 'man' for pushing her into a figurative corner here. "Back in the war they had a name for him, because of his semblance, you know..."

~~~



'The Burning.'

Ichabod wasn't proud of what he'd done in service of his people. At least not when he'd been seeing a faunus himself back home. The faces of those he'd left horribly scarred and in need of skin grafts or reconstructive surgery alone would hardly ever leave him even up to his murder at the hands of the White Fang. He took care of youths like Tyrian and Trifa as best as he could given the disgusting peers that helped finance his establishment. He wished to make amends for what he'd done.

During the war itself?

He was absolutely thrilled to take part in it.

Serving under General Carneilan, Ichabod had been tasked with trying to retrieve information from captured faunus troops. Any that refused to talk would be dealt with in the appropriate manner. For example one particular wolf faunus had been adamant in refusing to say anything that might have endangered his brothers or sisters. Strapped to a chair with his legs ans arms bound, he spit at Ichabod's feet.

"Do what you will, human. I promise you I'll be dead before I tell you anything."

Ichabod slowly pushed up his glasses and chuckled at the pointed act of defiance.

"Is that so, laddy? I have to admit I've seen dozens of folks like you come and go in my time here. You all tend to say the same thing. You won't sell out any of your comrades, you'd rather die than speak to a human piece of shit like me, so on and so forth." Drawing his twin blades 'Mercy' and 'None', the faunus prisoner noticed steam emitting from the blades themselves and Ichabod's person.

"I hear your people have something of a new name for me. They call me 'The Burning'. I suppose ye think it's clever, I think it's downright fitting. Did you know that it can take up to 1400, maybe even 1800 degrees Fahrenheit to cremate a body to ashes? Of course, there's things you need to consider. If the person in life had been a great big fat person, too much fat can cause a grease fire and that's it's own kinda mess. If the retort is shabby then you might need to give it a couple tries before you succeed. The human body isn't an easy thing to destroy."

He took a step closer to the faunus. Ichabod knew he wasn't going anywhere and the faunus knew that too.

"Bones are one thing, flesh goes up no problem, but there's somethings that are stubborn, y'know? Take the heart for example. It's one stubborn muscle. 'Oh, so we'll just turn it up higher and burn the heart too!' Well, what about the bits of bones in the ashes? 'Well, turn it up even higher and burn the ashes too!' Everything succumbs to the indomitable power of heat." Ichabod turned None to the side and looked at how the blade glistened in the light. "My semblance 'Overheat' lets me generate vast amounts of heat. I can create an AOE and turn an entire portion of the battlefield into a sauna and roast m enemies from the inside out. You'll likely die of heat stroke before you ever reach me. But there's another facet to it that only top folks like the General know about.. Wanna know what it is...?"

The wolf had gone silent, his earlier braveheart demeanor having seemingly started to melt away.

Ichabod figured as much.

"I can transfer heat from one object to another. See?"

Ichabod pressed the side of None to the wolf's cheek.

Little by little, the skin on his left cheek started to bubble.

"Ah...Ahhh....AAAAHHH!! I-It hurts!!!"

"Oh! You'd been so quiet I was worried I'd been talking to myself this whole time! Feeling any more talkative or-"

"I...I remember you! You...YOU used to fight back in a small village in Vale. You threw the match against one of us!"

Ichabod's cheerful facade started to crack. The prisoner kept going even as he could feel the left side of hsi face starting to burn and bubble like something left in the microwave too long.

"TELL ME! TELL ME HOW YOU CAN LOOK HER IN THE EYES AS YOU"RE KILLING US!!! TELL ME YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!"

"That's enough!"

Ichabod dropped the blade and wrapped his hand around the faunus's mouth.

The more direct touch left the faunus wailing in agony. Or as much as one could when his tongue was boiled.

Ichabod realizing the severity of what he'd done pulled his hand back and let the heat in the room die down.

But there was no taking back what he'd done.

The wolf faunus had lulled his head forward, blood gushing from his mouth as he whimpered in his chair. All while that glare of hatred remained focused on Ichabod.

In that look he could see her staring back at him.

He wasn't a brave soldier fighting for humanity.

He was the monster. He truly was 'The Burning'-a plague spreading through faunus's rank, snuffing them out like a wildfire blazing out of control.

It was a side he never wanted Tyrian to see and one that Trifa had to catch him in a private moment to admit.

~~~



"He...he did terrible things, Tyrian. He was kind enough to you and me but it doesn't erase what he did...."

Tyrian had stood there and listened to Trifa give a brief glimpse into what Ichabod had told her.

What hit the hardest were Ichabod's apparent closing words to Trifa after that talk.

'Please. Don't ever tell Tyrian about the monster that I used to be.'

"You..."

He turned towards the man they'd come to meet.

His eyes red from the tears he'd been desperately trying to hold back.

"Tell me she's wrong! He didn't deserve to die!!!"

Tyrian ran forward.

"HE DIDN"T!!!!"
​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"IT ISN'T LIKE YOU LEFT ME MUCH CHOICE, ICE QUEEN!!!" Nora snapped back in frustration. It wouldn't have been an option normally considered but all their backs had literally been against the wall. Tough times, tough calls. She'd apologize if needs be when this was over. Thankfully she had been right on the fact that Weiss didn't intend any harm for Ruby, but that was small comfort considering every single grenade got blasted far before they made contact. Trading fire wouldn't work. Not from this position. Not with her being sure to run out of ammo well before those glyphs let up.

Aqua eyes poked up from just behind the frozen Ruby's shoulder, glaring at Weiss.

Purple eyes narrowed as she witnessed that. Even in all that chaos, Weiss had the awareness to notice her bolts and the precision to cleanly remove them from the equation long before they were an actual threat. Robyn was silent as Nora traded words with Weiss, more focused on the actual fight than to engage in verbal combat. They simply had to get something past her awareness, put Weiss on the defensive with an assault that could not be as easily anticipated. The solution seemed pretty obvious. The Happy Huntresses rushed forward in an attempt to stay clear of that mist(as well as avoid the glyph bombardment) as best they could, even as Grey started to dispel it himself.



The very second that glyph artillery barrage let up, Robyn seized the opportunity. "May!" There was an unseen nod from the blue-haired huntress who stood behind the larger Joanna just in case any more sudden glyph blasts came flying in, they could be soaked up by someone tougher and less vital. Marigold's hands glowed as her semblance activated. An unnoticeable dome(from Weiss's position, anyway) spread out and everybody within range, including Robyn and Nora, suddenly disappeared under its effects. Raven got pushed back, both by the initial gravity dust and then the following glyphs blasts. She too vanished suddenly though, all traces of her lost in mid-air as the knockback forced her within range of the dome. Omen stabbed into the ground then and Raven grinded to a halt before she could get swept up in whatever remained of that dark fog.

May started forward then, a slow stride that likewise pushed the edge of the dome closer and closer to Weiss. Robyn's gaze suddenly shifted towards Nora. "Volts!" If Nora was bothered by that nickname, it didn't show. In fact she seemed rather amused by it. Nevertheless, as soon as that call out faded, Nora nodded. Magnhild shifted from grenade launcher to hammer form in a blink and the energetic warrior hopped to stand atop it as a click propelled her forward at high speeds. Nora suddenly popped back into sight as she shot past the edge of the barrier, the hammer already swinging down aiming to smash Weiss into the ground in a similar manner as Marrow had been earlier.

But neither did Robyn leave it to just that, even if that did strike true, she worried it would not be enough. A thought that seemed to occur to someone else as well, as both she and Raven rushed forward. The crossbow wielder came in from slightly to the left as the swordswoman likewise came in from slightly to the right. Robyn let Raven take a small lead as the Beacon huntress broke through the invisibility dome first, Omen slicing out in a flurry of attacks to try and overwhelm Weiss. Skidding to a stop behind, Robyn aimed her weapon away from directly at Weiss in favor of more towards the wall behind her. Several bolts were fired at differing angles, but all intending to bounce off that wall and strike the Schnee in the back even as Raven came in swinging from the front.

Her bolts were likewise joined by others, Joanna firing freely even though May could not while still projecting her semblance.

Weiss's scrutinizing glare only tightened when the Happy Huntresses and their allies were swallowed up by the air; or so it appeared.

Luckily, she knew better.

Her frown curled as she concentrated, and the fiery blue wisps streaming from her eyes' corners suddenly flared in intensity as she splayed her right hand wide in the direction of the cellar doors, tapping into the deep, primal power within her that existed independently of the strength of her soul. Her left whipped Myrtenaster up to divide her face symmetrically down the middle, those same eyes narrowing with practiced concentration.

"Tsk. Look at you all. Do I really have to spell this out for you? You've made a horrible mistake in coming here. Attacking me in my own home like a band of common thugs."

The icy tone she kept taunting them with was one free of anger, vindication, or even any sort of passion or feeling at all. It was just stern, detached amusement, as though Weiss were a schoolteacher addressing ne'er-do-wells as she went around doling out slaps on the wrist. The cellar doors rattled as the winds rapidly swirled and howled through her fingers, whatever footage Grey managed to capture destined to have its audio clipped and distorted by the gales.

"I've seen your files."

It started to strike those assembled just how low the temperature in the room had plummeted, the air flowing in and out of their lungs bitter and frigid as it started to freeze over into icy fractals. Their auras protected them, but Ironwood was having difficulty curling his robotic hand into a full fist as its circuitry iced up completely, his body wracked by violent shivers of its own accord.

"I've spent hours poring through drone footage!"

One person in the room could certainly attest to how much free time Weiss had when she wasn't working. Her hair whipped violently in the breeze as she thrust her hand forward again, another glowing circle pulsing to life on the floor at her feet. Those inside the approaching dome of invisibility found themselves buffeted by the winds once again.

"I know every single one of your tricks! Nothing you're capable of is going to surprise me! I have absolutely no reason to let you fight me on your terms!"

The wall of air slammed into them right as Nora clicked the trigger on Magnhilde, blasting her forward with enough forward momentum to resist it. The others weren't so lucky, finding themselves violently wrenched off their feet regardless of how they dug in their heels and launched all the way back to the end of the cellar once again, impacting the wall hard. Only this time it wasn't a hurricane; it was a blizzard, showers of icy shards drilling them all against the hard surface as they found themselves at the mercy of the elements, Weiss doubling down on her quite frankly unfair zoning tactic to great effect.

With the godly strength coursing through Nora's veins and the titanic recoil of her war hammer, she was able to surge right through the storm and get closer than anyone else had to the councilwoman to date. She found herself descending on Weiss with a seeming free shot, Myrtenaster still dividing the two halves of her face as she touched two fingertips to the blade, the pale blue glow intensified, and a glyph larger than all the others pulsed brightly between them.



KRAKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM

The Arma Gigas was larger than Nora could ever recall seeing it, called back from beyond with its full stature from when Weiss originally felled it all those years ago. It shone brighter, looked sturdier than the Weiss she knew was capable of producing at her comparatively intermediate level, and the shockwave that ensued when it swung its gargantuan cleaver up to meet Nora's hammer sent ripples through both women's hair, rattled the room's shelves and walls, and practically split the floor in two as its heels dug craters in the very building's foundation.

It stepped forward and shoved with both hands against its blade, pushing Nora back a short distance as the suit of armor dropped its blade back down to hip level and gripped it stalwartly. Its single-minded devotion to defending her from all threats brought a smile to Weiss's face every time she summoned it, and today was no different as the only knight in shining armor she ever got stood ready to protect its princess, who peered around its side to give Nora a smug wave.

"No one touches me unless I allow it. And you aren't getting anywhere near me."

Which reminded her. As if to emphasize the point, she whipped Myrtenaster's tip towards the back wall again, and every one of the glyphs resumed firing as she sought to mercilessly remove Robyn and her Happy Huntresses from the equation, taking particular delight in showing that scruffy little upstart precisely how costly a lapse in judgment it had been to try and lord over her earlier. To lay a single finger on her when she couldn't prevent it.

Hopefully she got the message. Signed, Weiss Schnee her better.​

 

[MidwayLives]

Weiss's scrutinizing glare only tightened when the Happy Huntresses and their allies were swallowed up by the air; or so it appeared.

Luckily, she knew better.

'They say never to judge a book by it's cover. Staring down the one who's keeping an entire squad of trained fighters at bay, I could think of anything more apt.'

Grey shuddered.

'The face of a maiden, the spirit of a warrior, tried and true.'

With an entire kingdom's worth of power resting within one woman and her target?

All of them.
​

"Tsk. Look at you all. Do I really have to spell this out for you? You've made a horrible mistake in coming here. Attacking me in my own home like a band of common thugs."

'She was right. I hated that. My semblance was of no use here. I couldn't stand shoulder to shoulder with the others and fight.'

Looking among those who'd been downed and or frozen...

'We had the advantage in numbers and it didn't matter. Not. One. Bit.'
​

It started to strike those assembled just how low the temperature in the room had plummeted, the air flowing in and out of their lungs bitter and frigid as it started to freeze over into icy fractals. Their auras protected them, but Ironwood was having difficulty curling his robotic hand into a full fist as its circuitry iced up completely, his body wracked by violent shivers of its own accord.

Grey could feel shivers running throughout his entire body.

'My costume can only do so much...I'm no professional...To put it in crasser terms: I'm freezing my ass off. The modulator hidden within my mask is starting to go on the fritz. I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of the tech in my mask starts to go. My aura's been through the wringer. If she doesn't kill us, frostbite will first...'

But he had to keep recording...

He couldn't stop, no matter what...

The truth was right here.

Was this the kind of leader Atlas wanted? A woman with the power of a monster? Practically untouchable? Who could relate to that? Who looked at her and believed they could be half the person she was or even is? If you resisted her, you could end up in a cell, be killed, or have the elements themselves thrown at you.

Someone so powerful that you couldn't even get near them wasn't fit to be a leader.

They were a menace.

One he'd give anything to stop.

Maybe even his life.
​

The wall of air slammed into them right as Nora clicked the trigger on Magnhilde, blasting her forward with enough forward momentum to resist it. The others weren't so lucky, finding themselves violently wrenched off their feet regardless of how they dug in their heels and launched all the way back to the end of the cellar once again, impacting the wall hard. Only this time it wasn't a hurricane; it was a blizzard, showers of icy shards drilling them all against the hard surface as they found themselves at the mercy of the elements, Weiss doubling down on her quite frankly unfair zoning tactic to great effect.

*shunk*

"Ugh...."

His entire body trembled and then he slumped over onto his side, his scroll falling away from him, the view of the camera moving to the ceiling.

Some of the icicles had hit him and they'd pierced right through his left arm...

Strangely enough it didn't hurt.

'In....times of great pain....I'd heard that some people are so shocked...They need a minute or two before the pain catches up to them...'

A moment or two passed.

Ah, there was the pain.

He activated 'Ghostly Whispers' and the fog exuded from his arm and helped his tendrils pull the icicles out and dump them onto the cellar floor.

'It's...indisputable...This is the worst pain I've felt since joining the Resistance...' Grey thought to himself as he started to crawl towards his scroll.

'But it doesn't matter....'

'I'm a Resistance fighter second, a fighter third, and a journalist first.'

He reached out a bloodsoaked gloved hand to grip onto the scroll.

'It's...gh....my job to find the truth and get it out there...'

Huddling over the scroll in an attempt to try and protect it from any debris that'd been scattered as a result of this massacre. He gripped onto it and tried to aim it squarely at Weiss again.
​

The Arma Gigas was larger than Nora could ever recall seeing it, called back from beyond with its full stature from when Weiss originally felled it all those years ago. It shone brighter, looked sturdier than the Weiss she knew was capable of producing at her comparatively intermediate level, and the shockwave that ensued when it swung its gargantuan cleaver up to meet Nora's hammer sent ripples through both women's hair, rattled the room's shelves and walls, and practically split the floor in two as its heels dug craters in the very building's foundation.

It stepped forward and shoved with both hands against its blade, pushing Nora back a short distance as the suit of armor dropped its blade back down to hip level and gripped it stalwartly. Its single-minded devotion to defending her from all threats brought a smile to Weiss's face every time she summoned it, and today was no different as the only knight in shining armor she ever got stood ready to protect its princess, who peered around its side to give Nora a smug wave.

'An admirable effort....but...she's simply too strong.'

The footage would be rough but if he could just send it to his trusted sources......If he survived just long enough to get enough of it out there....

Maybe their ends-if they were to come here-wouldn't be in vain.

'Dying here? Hm. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking...'

He joked.

​

 

[MyrtenRose]

Emerald studied the shifting emotions in the young maiden's face, her features impassive still, her genuine reaction taking place internally instead. It would have been so very easily to deny her that information, to let that sense of dread linger and magnify over the course of time. It'd probably have been something she'd have applauded Emerald for, planting the seed that grew to hinder that boundless optimism and confidence, inhibiting her ability from here on out, making it easier for the transfer to take place at an indeterminable time and place.

There would have been elation at the recognition of all these, were she an Emerald from a different time. Here, she just felt... wrong for thinking that. That this person before her wasn't really deserving of it. Which in of itself was a confusing mess considering this was a Cinder but on the surface level, it was enough in way of making sense.

"Give me your hand," Came the prompt, her own right extended expectantly, "I'm not going to do anything to you. Well, you know what I mean. I'm gonna ground you as I show you."

The Fall Maiden would certainly have acquiesced, as Emerald predicted, after a moment's hesitation. But when she finally placed her hand within the thief's own, she would sense a gentle squeeze of with these red eyes staring into her yellow one, her intention clear as to be a buffer for what came next. The interior of the ship slowly dissipated into darkness, the Fall Maiden finding herself in the center of an ever-spanning, unrelenting darkness with her own presence the only source of light.

Soft footfalls paced apart only in a way that affirmed they were calculated, purposeful, in the darkness as Emerald's voice sung out gently, "This is Cinder as I remember her since I met her... and when I last saw her." At the final syllable's passing, the footfalls' owners materialized with the shadows turning to flesh and cloth. The first was the youngest incarnation, situated to the Fall Maiden's nine-o clock, with the following twelve and three.

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Emerald allowed for Cinder to observe each iteration of her counterpart for a matter of a minute apiece, confident that she would have been scrutinizing and memorizing every little facet to each, their traits, how she carried herself differently, their demeanor that was inherently distinct from her own. It wasn't meant to be a lengthy presentation, intended to be informative in all respects before she finally slid the last piece into place, the answer to the question asked.

The first two dissipated into the selfsame material they were born from, with the third slotting into twelve-o clock position right before Cinder. Its visage remained seemingly the same before a flicker slowly traversed throughout starting from the bottom, complete with a shuttering of the light and in the next instant, it was the same entity albeit posed with a monstrous bend to her form, an animalistic energy emnating from her as it reared in prepration to strike Cinder down. The significant contrast between its prior state and now was more than obvious, front and center with the bone-white claws twitching with the glistening black that comprised the forearm pulsing in anticipation, a ravenous aura wafting off the appendage. Or was it perhaps more the human itself?

View attachment 708050

"That's how," Emerald murmured, her words succinct and somber.

"...Okay." She remarked after a few quiet seconds of reluctance. She didn't know a whole lot about this Emerald, but her voice, her face, they were more than enough to make Cinder inclined to trust. Not that most would have had difficulty with the teenager in that regard. Some likely would have labeled her too trusting, perhaps even foolish, but she preferred to think of it as simply being open. The whole of the previous month had been spent with Cinder's trust in a thoroughly proven backstabber increasing regardless of that. If there was ever a world out there where she couldn't trust Emerald, who...who...Cinder's thoughts briefly snapped back to whatever that had been on the train. Even she wasn't quite sure what that had been. What she was sure of, however, was that she never wanted to hear of a world where a Cinder couldn't trust an Emerald. Or god forbid one where they were mortal enemies. But those thoughts were swiftly replaced, a couple moments after she grasped that offered hand.

Her eye locked on the first illusion of Cinder when that version of herself stepped out of the darkness. She knew of Emerald's semblance, naturally, but even so she didn't know if she'd ever grow accustomed to experiencing it. A single eye studied that phantom image from head to toe, recognizing the familiar sight of the weapon on her back. That was one constant, at least. The next two that popped up showcased two more constants, if an unsurprising pair given that it was another version of herself. This other Cinder's hairstyles went through similar changes over time, from the preferred short to a longer shoulder length look and then back to the short. And second, that red and gold were as much that Cinder's chosen favored color scheme as they were hers.

Spoiler

But that was the similarities stopped, at the surface level. No matter how well this otherworldly counterpart seemed to rock those outfits, there was just something out her that was...off. Perhaps it was because the teenager's perception was already tinted thanks to what she had been told about her double, but whatever the case, Cinder felt that bad vibes practically rolled off the illusionary reflections of this other self. Completely separate from the annoyance that her doppelganger was that much taller. Why does the evil one get that...sure she looks older, but...

Cinder's silly envy vanished quickly within though, given the change that emerged in the last one. The single change that nevertheless felt so monumentally huge it was hard for her to wrap her head around. A silent stare lingered for a good while.

When she felt she could move, willed it to be, Cinder's handful of steps closer left her standing by the side of this final illusion. Both hands reached out to run across that arm, before it sank in when her hands simply went through the arm. Right. Illusion. The sight of it...how deceptively, eerily smooth it looked. The bony talons at the ends of her fingers. The dark smoke she could just barely make out emanating from the arm. It was, undeniably, a grimm arm. This other Cinder...she'd lost part of herself and attached the limb of a monster, dedicated to nothing but pure destruction...instead of any regular prosthetic. She had willingly turned herself into something horrifying, and for what?

The teenager didn't know, didn't wish to know. She just felt herself slump to her knees, her right hand moving to rub at her left, still very much human arm in an attempt of reassurance. "That's not me, that's not me, that's...not me." She repeated, clutching tightly onto those words. They had to be true. They had to be.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

Weiss's scrutinizing glare only tightened when the Happy Huntresses and their allies were swallowed up by the air; or so it appeared.

Luckily, she knew better.

Her frown curled as she concentrated, and the fiery blue wisps streaming from her eyes' corners suddenly flared in intensity as she splayed her right hand wide in the direction of the cellar doors, tapping into the deep, primal power within her that existed independently of the strength of her soul. Her left whipped Myrtenaster up to divide her face symmetrically down the middle, those same eyes narrowing with practiced concentration.

"Tsk. Look at you all. Do I really have to spell this out for you? You've made a horrible mistake in coming here. Attacking me in my own home like a band of common thugs."

The icy tone she kept taunting them with was one free of anger, vindication, or even any sort of passion or feeling at all. It was just stern, detached amusement, as though Weiss were a schoolteacher addressing ne'er-do-wells as she went around doling out slaps on the wrist. The cellar doors rattled as the winds rapidly swirled and howled through her fingers, whatever footage Grey managed to capture destined to have its audio clipped and distorted by the gales.

"I've seen your files."

It started to strike those assembled just how low the temperature in the room had plummeted, the air flowing in and out of their lungs bitter and frigid as it started to freeze over into icy fractals. Their auras protected them, but Ironwood was having difficulty curling his robotic hand into a full fist as its circuitry iced up completely, his body wracked by violent shivers of its own accord.

"I've spent hours poring through drone footage!"

One person in the room could certainly attest to how much free time Weiss had when she wasn't working. Her hair whipped violently in the breeze as she thrust her hand forward again, another glowing circle pulsing to life on the floor at her feet. Those inside the approaching dome of invisibility found themselves buffeted by the winds once again.

"I know every single one of your tricks! Nothing you're capable of is going to surprise me! I have absolutely no reason to let you fight me on your terms!"

The wall of air slammed into them right as Nora clicked the trigger on Magnhilde, blasting her forward with enough forward momentum to resist it. The others weren't so lucky, finding themselves violently wrenched off their feet regardless of how they dug in their heels and launched all the way back to the end of the cellar once again, impacting the wall hard. Only this time it wasn't a hurricane; it was a blizzard, showers of icy shards drilling them all against the hard surface as they found themselves at the mercy of the elements, Weiss doubling down on her quite frankly unfair zoning tactic to great effect.

With the godly strength coursing through Nora's veins and the titanic recoil of her war hammer, she was able to surge right through the storm and get closer than anyone else had to the councilwoman to date. She found herself descending on Weiss with a seeming free shot, Myrtenaster still dividing the two halves of her face as she touched two fingertips to the blade, the pale blue glow intensified, and a glyph larger than all the others pulsed brightly between them.



KRAKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM

The Arma Gigas was larger than Nora could ever recall seeing it, called back from beyond with its full stature from when Weiss originally felled it all those years ago. It shone brighter, looked sturdier than the Weiss she knew was capable of producing at her comparatively intermediate level, and the shockwave that ensued when it swung its gargantuan cleaver up to meet Nora's hammer sent ripples through both women's hair, rattled the room's shelves and walls, and practically split the floor in two as its heels dug craters in the very building's foundation.

It stepped forward and shoved with both hands against its blade, pushing Nora back a short distance as the suit of armor dropped its blade back down to hip level and gripped it stalwartly. Its single-minded devotion to defending her from all threats brought a smile to Weiss's face every time she summoned it, and today was no different as the only knight in shining armor she ever got stood ready to protect its princess, who peered around its side to give Nora a smug wave.

"No one touches me unless I allow it. And you aren't getting anywhere near me."

Which reminded her. As if to emphasize the point, she whipped Myrtenaster's tip towards the back wall again, and every one of the glyphs resumed firing as she sought to mercilessly remove Robyn and her Happy Huntresses from the equation, taking particular delight in showing that scruffy little upstart precisely how costly a lapse in judgment it had been to try and lord over her earlier. To lay a single finger on her when she couldn't prevent it.

Hopefully she got the message. Signed, Weiss Schnee her better.​

There was no understating how cold the room had gotten thanks to the authoritarian winter maiden's display of power. Even Robyn and her squad, with their familiarity of the cold climate, how they dressed appropriately for it, and even with their auras...the wave of cold that washed over all of them chilled them to the bone. Weiss's smug, icy tone was just as cold as she spoke down to the collective lot of them with that air of superiority so common among those that resided in Atlas. Robyn's scowl grew more and more intense with every word. "Don't listen to her--" She started to yell, only to be cut off by the fierce winds that struck yet again. Fiona, May, Joanna...even herself, none of them managed to remain standing in the wake of those storm winds. No matter how hard they had tried to do so.

The four were swept off and slammed the wall again, hard enough to drive the chilled air out of all their lungs. Her concentration broken, May's semblance use ended. "Grrrr." A growling hiss escaped from Robyn's mouth as she tried to force herself off the wall once more, glaring at Weiss with such distaste. But it was not to be. Ice shards shot off, piercing into their clothes and drilling deep into the wall itself, keeping them pinned for the time being. The same was true for Raven, those red eyes wide in disbelief. Weiss hadn't had these powers for very long...to be this powerful...it just didn't seem possible. Was she always this naturally gifted???

That was even before the huge knight came into play.

The shockwave between giant blade and large warhammer rocked the room even harder than the winds had. The whole cellar shook as if struck by a mini earthquake, and even the floor cracked apart under the pressure. But it didn't last, the gargantuan summon forcing the tiny Nora back a fair distance, though she landed solidly on her feet nevertheless. Huh. Someone who was basically Thor, electricity crackling around her and standing in what was essentially the eye of a hurricane, all the while staring down a giant knight. Definitely sounded like a story that could come right out of some storybook about legends. Despite the situation, despite Weiss's confident words that she wasn't going to touch her or even get near the maiden, she couldn't help but grin.

"Wanna bet?!" The challenge excited her, Nora digging her heels in as she readied herself to--

The glyphs started to open fire again, the full onslaught beginning anew. She dashed forward as fast as she could just then, aiming to bring Magnhild down before the barrage forced her back, pouring every last bit of strength into it to try and force the strike past any defense from the knight. Robyn and her huntresses weren't so lucky. It decimated their auras, eventually rendering the whole lot of them unconscious. "No!" Raven shouted out as the blasts came in, once more shifting to her magical bird form as a means of escape and yet again fly forth for Weiss.​

 

[Indolent]

"...Okay." She remarked after a few quiet seconds of reluctance. She didn't know a whole lot about this Emerald, but her voice, her face, they were more than enough to make Cinder inclined to trust. Not that most would have had difficulty with the teenager in that regard. Some likely would have labeled her too trusting, perhaps even foolish, but she preferred to think of it as simply being open. The whole of the previous month had been spent with Cinder's trust in a thoroughly proven backstabber increasing regardless of that. If there was ever a world out there where she couldn't trust Emerald, who...who...Cinder's thoughts briefly snapped back to whatever that had been on the train. Even she wasn't quite sure what that had been. What she was sure of, however, was that she never wanted to hear of a world where a Cinder couldn't trust an Emerald. Or god forbid one where they were mortal enemies. But those thoughts were swiftly replaced, a couple moments after she grasped that offered hand.

Her eye locked on the first illusion of Cinder when that version of herself stepped out of the darkness. She knew of Emerald's semblance, naturally, but even so she didn't know if she'd ever grow accustomed to experiencing it. A single eye studied that phantom image from head to toe, recognizing the familiar sight of the weapon on her back. That was one constant, at least. The next two that popped up showcased two more constants, if an unsurprising pair given that it was another version of herself. This other Cinder's hairstyles went through similar changes over time, from the preferred short to a longer shoulder length look and then back to the short. And second, that red and gold were as much that Cinder's chosen favored color scheme as they were hers.

Spoiler

But that was the similarities stopped, at the surface level. No matter how well this otherworldly counterpart seemed to rock those outfits, there was just something out her that was...off. Perhaps it was because the teenager's perception was already tinted thanks to what she had been told about her double, but whatever the case, Cinder felt that bad vibes practically rolled off the illusionary reflections of this other self. Completely separate from the annoyance that her doppelganger was that much taller. Why does the evil one get that...sure she looks older, but...

Cinder's silly envy vanished quickly within though, given the change that emerged in the last one. The single change that nevertheless felt so monumentally huge it was hard for her to wrap her head around. A silent stare lingered for a good while.

When she felt she could move, willed it to be, Cinder's handful of steps closer left her standing by the side of this final illusion. Both hands reached out to run across that arm, before it sank in when her hands simply went through the arm. Right. Illusion. The sight of it...how deceptively, eerily smooth it looked. The bony talons at the ends of her fingers. The dark smoke she could just barely make out emanating from the arm. It was, undeniably, a grimm arm. This other Cinder...she'd lost part of herself and attached the limb of a monster, dedicated to nothing but pure destruction...instead of any regular prosthetic. She had willingly turned herself into something horrifying, and for what?

The teenager didn't know, didn't wish to know. She just felt herself slump to her knees, her right hand moving to rub at her left, still very much human arm in an attempt of reassurance. "That's not me, that's not me, that's...not me." She repeated, clutching tightly onto those words. They had to be true. They had to be.​

To show someone their darkest side, even if it wasn't of that person, had to have some kind of effect. Even the most stoic, self-assured individual had a modicum of a reaction towards it, something in it being a revelation that forced you to at least acknowledge it despite lacking a basis in truth. It was an old trick Emerald employed herself when the need for inciting division and strife emerged, to cast aspersions on one's own self image. Better yet when it was to stow discord between multiple parties. But this time it was without the intention for that, doubly so as the circumstances was that it wasn't even the same person in question. But she knew it was going to be perceived that in some part, it was difficult to divorce the two.

For one, Emerald observed her own alter in this world, denoting many a similarity between the two. Similar sense of fashion, the same sense of humor that was both nihilistic and dark, the love for campy films and horror movies, the creative bend to the usage of their semblances, her relationship with Mercury, her distaste for the excessively cheery attitude of those around her, the proclivity towards thievery though in her case it was within good reason or for pranks. But there were significant, contrasting elements all the same, for one, she wasn't squarely on the side of the Grimm, actively working to defend the weak and the innocent despite clearly being the sort of person nobody expected in the profession. For another, she actually had friends beyond her own clique, finding people more tolerable than Emerald did, enough to genuinely care about them and go out of her way after a fashion. So she had her own difficulties coming to terms with the fact that someone wearing the same face, using the same weapons and semblance, led a different life despite clearly coming from the same origins. Her time here lent itself to allowing her to be able to manage it at the least.

So when Cinder slumped to the ship's floor, that was when the illusion had dispersed with the mint-haired thief standing before her with her eyes downcast, her right hand clasping her left elbow in a display of penitence. It was Hazel who drew Cinder into an embrace, concern eminent in every aspect of the act as he had witnessed the other Cinder firsthand. It was natural for the words that came to be the antithesis of the very idea, his tone a calm, reassuring melody. "Believe me, you're nothing like her. I promise you that. You'll make sure of it."

Gretchen, on the other hand, was still very much out the loop, her understanding at minimal a peripheral recollection of what little Hazel had said about it all. "What the heck did you just show her???" Her voice was the epitome of accusatory, even though she had the shakiest idea that Emerald was simply answering the question but for Cinder to have fallen to her knees like that was alarming. Brosel, for his part, seemed to materialize into view in front of the Fall Maiden, one paw on her knee as he gazed up with a concerned yet quiet yip.

The thief for her part bristled at the tone leveled her way, though she managed a brisk calmness to her words, "I only answered her question by showing her! It isn't easy reconciling the differences between yourself and the other. I know that much. Maybe it was too soon, too much, for her, maybe I shouldn't have shown her at all. My own agenda is making sure I return home and if working with you guys ensures that, I'll do what needs doing and she needed to know. We shouldn't be here at all, we don't have a place in it, and the only things that matter to me... are home."

Her gaze shifted among the three of them before her, her eyes demonstrating the sincerity of her words as she spoke and when the words concluded, the gaze settled squarely onto Cinder for a moment. Then, missing nary a beat, Emerald turned on a dime and stalked for the cockpit of Tock's craft, intent on conveying the requisite knowledge Tock might have needed whilst calling for Neo to come along to coordinate the infiltration heist.

 

[Gus Gungus]

It was a storybook battle for the ages indeed, the valiant champion facing down the imposing giant, two titans meeting in a clash that was almost gladiatorial. There were only two problems.

Weiss didn't believe in fairy tales. And she fought efficiently, not fairly.

Six more glyphs appeared surrounding the Gigas, and a swarm of ethereal Lancers burst from their centers with wings buzzing as they all darted for Nora at once, mobbing and stinging her from all angles. The knight flung itself forward in tandem, and by the time she got any kind of a moment to gather her thoughts its mighty blade smashed into her torso and propelled her all the way back to that oh-so-familiar wall, where the crater she was left in found itself blitzed by every form of projectile at Weiss's disposal except lightning until the clash was decided.

And then there was one.

To Raven, this must have seemed almost inconceivable. Carnelian had made a mockery out of them in the aftermath of Haven, but not like this. The general had struck hard and fast, capitalized on things like confusion, fatigue (both physical and mental) from the preceding battle, and the uncoordinated nature of their attacks in a confined space as they all spilled over one another trying to get a shot at him. The very nature of his semblance was to make martial combat look effortless. He made them get in each other's way, then divided them up and started whittling them down piece by piece. It was a careful process, meticulous, and by the end of it they had observed him tiring somewhat, slowing. There was no telling how it might've played out had that battle drawn out any longer.

This was different. They hadn't been able to land a hit on Carnelian, that was true.

They hadn't even gotten close to Weiss.

Carnelian had ambushed them; They had ambushed her. Bar one parry, the Winter Maiden herself had yet to be drawn into a prolonged melee engagement of any kind. And she wasn't flummoxing them, playing keepaway with them, whittling them down through any kind of methodical process or capitalizing on any fatigue or confusion. They were well rested. She stood in one spot and waited for them to come.

And in a matter of minutes, every single one of them had been struck down. In this room, against that medley of abilities, they hadn't been a cadre of elite tier fighters.

"Tch."

They were dominoes. And Weiss Schnee had just knocked the whole row over with a flick of her finger.

Except one.

Weiss turned her head to regard Raven with a frigid, dispassionate stare. Now that the upstarts and motormouths had all been put to bed, now that there were no egos left to clash with, an entirely different demeanor had settled over the heiress; something icy. Something... empty. There was no pomp, splendor, or braggadociousness to be found on that face, no trace of the arrogant disciplinarian with a flair for the dramatic. At the end of the day, none of this made her feel anything. It was clinical. It was business. It was what had to be done. She'd proven her point to everyone in the room it needed proving to. Now all that remained were two women doing what they wholeheartedly believed to be the right thing, however misguided one of them may have been.

All glyphs vanished, though the blizzard still howled through the completely unrecognizable remains of what had once been a rather impressive wine cellar. Weiss put her feet together, straightened her shoulders, and whipped Myrtenaster's tip out to one side, adopting a traditional dueling stance. Her eyes flickered over to one of the ice sculptures for a moment, then back. And when she spoke, it was with a calm, severe tone that urged Raven to think about her next action very carefully.

"Well?"

Despite what these people wanted to think of her, she wasn't a monster.

A simple surrender would do.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

With the exception of one.

Weiss turned her head to regard Raven with a frigid, dispassionate stare. Now that the upstarts and motormouths had all been put to bed, now that there were no egos left to clash with, an entirely different demeanor had settled over the heiress; something icy. Something... empty. There was no pomp, splendor, or braggadociousness to be found on that face, no trace of the arrogant disciplinarian with a flair for the dramatic. At the end of the day, none of this made her feel anything. It was clinical. It was business. It was what had to be done. She'd proven her point to everyone in the room it needed proving to. Now all that remained were two women doing what they wholeheartedly believed to be the right thing, however misguided one of them may have been.

All glyphs vanished, though the blizzard still howled through the completely unrecognizable remains of what had once been a rather impressive wine cellar. Weiss put her feet together, straightened her shoulders, and whipped Myrtenaster's tip out to one side, adopting a traditional dueling stance. Her eyes flickered over to one of the ice sculptures for a moment, then back. And when she spoke, it was with a calm, severe tone that urged Raven to think about her next action very carefully.

"Well?"

Despite what these people wanted to think of her, she wasn't a monster.

A simple surrender would do.

"...…………………."

This was ludicrous, almost utterly unbelievable. Sure, Weiss was the Winter Maiden, but they'd known that going in. One opponent. Just one. Weiss Schnee vs her sister, the former top general of the Atlas military, Robyn Hill and her own adept squad, Grey, the young Ruby Rose and Nora Valkyrie making up in spirit what they lacked in age and experience, and herself. It should have been enough. More than enough. And yet...Raven's eyes roved over the room, taking in all of their frozen and collapsed unconscious bodies. What a fiasco. The moment she was addressed though, Raven's gaze snapped up to the maiden herself, standing there in a dueling stance. All the glyphs had vanished, but Weiss was still clearly willing to engage further. Just as clearly though, was the fact that the choice was left up to her. One hand rested on Omen's hilt as Raven stood steady in a combat stance herself.

Surrender was absolutely not an option. The female Branwen twin refused to consider it for even the most fleeting of seconds. However, even if Schnee came at her with only sword in hand, utilizing nothing else but dust and glyphs in the arsenal of abilities she'd showcased here...Raven was still not certain she could win. Not alone. If only her counterpart, brimming with her own maiden power, was unbroken and present. That would have helped greatly even the field. Or Qrow, even. Their teamwork, it could have potentially been sufficient...or at the very least, better than a solo Branwen. But no. They were both out. Her teeth gritted together as she cursed her lack of options beyond going at it alone, fingers of her one hand on Omen curling up even tighter on its hilt as--

Suddenly her eyes widened as another idea struck her.

Of course. Why didn't I...

Raven didn't even finish that thought, sword swung out and then slid back into its sheathe so fast that it was difficult to tell it had been pulled out in the first place. But she didn't swing at Weiss, instead opening a portal by her side. Raven moved just as fast with her hand as she had just done with her sword, and before the individual could do more than look up at the other side of the portal that just popped up above her head, a gloved hand shot out and grabbed hold of her, yoinking her right up in a blink. The portal snapped shut just as swiftly once that was done. Though it inadvertently left some in a...slightly more troublesome situation.​

Her gaze shifted among the three of them before her, her eyes demonstrating the sincerity of her words as she spoke and when the words concluded, the gaze settled squarely onto Cinder for a moment. Then, missing nary a beat, Emerald turned on a dime and stalked for the cockpit of Tock's craft, intent on conveying the requisite knowledge Tock might have needed whilst calling for Neo to come along to coordinate the infiltration heist.

When Emerald got there, there was no trace of their pilot or anything else in the cockpit either, save for Tock's two swords resting against a wall. Blades that suddenly clattered to the floor as she and everybody else felt their craft swerve into a abrupt nosedive, thanks to their sudden lack of pilot. Before Cinder could even think about returning Hazel's hug, she felt herself fall even more to the floor with the sudden turbulence. "What the..."

"...hell?" Tock unknowingly finished the same phrase as the young fall maiden, no longer looking out into the horizon beyond the cockpit window but instead in some dark room, filled with ice sculptures and prone bodies. "No time! You're needed!" Raven blurted out, that short blunt response all she offered in explanation as she threw herself at Weiss in the interim to give Tock the time she needed to activate her semblance. In her desperation she had reached out to get the best option she could think of, and well, when your back was against the wall? Who better than somebody whose personal superpower was being invincible? Short time or not.

"But I..." The croc faunus started, about to explain that she didn't even have Chronos and Meridian with her. But her eyes shot to the duffel bag she still had wrapped around her shoulder and an eyebrow raised. That...was an option. She didn't have much idea what was going on, but clearly a fight had just been happening. One hell of one too, judging from the amount of people scattered about. As Raven sliced away in a delaying flurry to keep Weiss's attention squarely on her, Tock pulled the bag off her and opened it in a rush, pulling out red and yellow dust crystals from within. She hesitated for a moment as she stared down at them, but the sound of blade meeting blade jolted her back into action.

She went for the same kind of crazy shite she'd seen from that big guy back at Haven, jamming both crystals into her forearms.

It stung like an absolute son of a bitch.

Yet she did all she could to bite down on the agony, feeling her muscles swell up greatly from the sudden influx of power she'd just forced into herself. Beyond the pain, she could feel the lightning and fire shooting through her whole body, ending with the usually slim faunus far more jacked than she had any right to be. And after a moment, all the pain abruptly ceased to affect her as her semblance activated, invulnerability taking hold. At least for the moment. She knew it would return in full force and then some when the minute was up, but for that minute? She was stronger. The lightning dust coursing through her made her even faster, and she was normally already pretty quick on her feet. And Ray needed her help. That was all she needed to know for now.

The pain would be a problem for slightly in the future Tock to handle.



Raven shot a quick glance over her shoulder and in the blink of an eye, pulled away from engaging Weiss. For reasons that became even more abundantly clear as a larger and much quicker than she had any right to be crocodile faunus was suddenly in Weiss's face, those sharp teeth locked into a grin that was mere inches away from her own.

So close was she that Tock could have kissed if she wished. But she didn't. That was reserved. Almost before the councilwoman could even register the wide grin, a fist suddenly struck her full-on in the underside of her jaw. Yet before that uppercut could fully launch her into the air, Tock's opposite hand grabbed hold of the maiden's leg and yanked her back to slam hard into the ground. Not a second after that, she hurled Schnee into an unoccupied corner of the cellar like she was a baseball instead of a human being, albeit a short one. Tock moved so fast that she had caught up with the thrown Schnee before the maiden could even land on the ground in that corner. A heavy combo of punches followed to strike at Weiss in mid-air.

As Tock kept Weiss busy, Raven had already opened another portal. This time to the unconscious Qrow, and the professional bird huntress was hard at work. The last of Robyn's Happy Huntresses got tossed through to the other side, Raven making an instant beeline for Nora and then the others to do the same. And after that, her attention would turn to the frozen statues to gingerly grab hold of them, lift, and carefully deposit them on the other end of that portal. They had to leave. Now.

All of them. Clock was ticking.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

She went for the same kind of crazy shite she'd seen from that big guy back at Haven, jamming both crystals into her forearms.

It stung like an absolute son of a bitch.

Yet she did all she could to bite down on the agony, feeling her muscles swell up greatly from the sudden influx of power she'd just forced into herself. Beyond the pain, she could feel the lightning and fire shooting through her whole body, ending with the usually slim faunus far more jacked than she had any right to be. And after a moment, all the pain abruptly ceased to affect her as her semblance activated, invulnerability taking hold. At least for the moment. She knew it would return in full force and then some when the minute was up, but for that minute? She was stronger. The lightning dust coursing through her made her even faster, and she was normally already pretty quick on her feet. And Ray needed her help. That was all she needed to know for now.

Raven's flurry had occupied her attention momentarily while she twirled and parried the strikes with a few gauging ripostes of her own, but it spoke to the SDC head's sense of battlefield awareness that she managed to clear enough space for herself to very much bear witness as some random faunus shot herself up and mutated into some sort of brutish freak. "What are you supposed to be? Did you just inject a whole bunch of dust intravenously? You know we're not liable for that, right?"

The uppercut that punched the last consonant out of her mouth before it could leave of its own accord was, without even remote competition of any kind, the hardest Weiss had ever been hit in her entire life. And she had been hit with frustrating regularity for someone of her caste. The shrill cry she emitted reflected as much, Weiss like a tiny doll in the hulking crocodile's hands as she snatched her leg and bashed her into the floor. Rather than letting her momentum fling her all the way into the corner, the maiden gracefully dovetailed into a spin that had her plant both feet against a stabilizing glyph in midair, but Tock was already upon her to batter her dainty body with that gargantuan fist again. And again. And again-

As Tock kept Weiss busy, Raven had already opened another portal. This time to the unconscious Qrow, and the professional bird huntress was hard at work. The last of Robyn's Happy Huntresses got tossed through to the other side, Raven making an instant beeline for Nora and then the others to do the same. And after that, her attention would turn to the frozen statues to gingerly grab hold of them, lift, and carefully deposit them on the other end of that portal. They had to leave. Now.

THOOM

It was Tock who suddenly looked like the doll when the even more massive gauntlet of the Arma Gigas gripped her by the skull, smashing her deep into the cellar floor in just one of many craters now devastating the room and giving Weiss a valuable moment to catch her breath as her gaze whirled and eyes widened. One hand whipped out, calling forth the blizzard onto Raven to try and keep her from the ice sculptures. "No! Stop!"​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Tyrian immediately raised one of his gauntlets and the blades split apart to reveal the two barrels hidden within.

Before he could fire though, Trifa stepped in and pushed his arm down.

"TYRIAN! Fighting with this guy isn't going to get us answers! It's not..."

Damn it...

"It's not gonna bring him back either."


"Ichabod."

Tyrian got on all fours and pointed his stinger in the other faunus(?)'s direction.

"His name was Ichabod Krane. I believe she killed him! And for what?!"

It was at this point that Tyrian realized that he'd been the only one getting angry.

"....Trifa??"

The costumed faunus seemed hesitant to get as deep in the vitriol as Tyrian.

"Why am I the only one getting angry here?! He's laughing at us! Laughing at what we came here to do! Laughing-"

"Ichabod...He..."

Tyrian's anger seemed to temporarily fade away and Trifa was no longer looking at the vengeance seeking mess that'd been Tyrian for the past month and a half. It was Ichabod's latest fighter who was polite to her despite her initial dislike of him. It was disconcerting to talk to such a kind-hearted kid and then see him shed somebody else's blood in the ring as if it were just business as usual.

"WHAT?!"

"He fought in the war, Tyrian! Against us, he...He tortured faunus soldiers."

"Wha...No....You're lying!" Tyrian screeched but Trifa's eerie silence was quickly starting to grate on him.

"He never wanted you to learn about this..." Trifa's eyes glared at the 'man' for pushing her into a figurative corner here. "Back in the war they had a name for him, because of his semblance, you know..."

~~~

View attachment 708085

'The Burning.'

Ichabod wasn't proud of what he'd done in service of his people. At least not when he'd been seeing a faunus himself back home. The faces of those he'd left horribly scarred and in need of skin grafts or reconstructive surgery alone would hardly ever leave him even up to his murder at the hands of the White Fang. He took care of youths like Tyrian and Trifa as best as he could given the disgusting peers that helped finance his establishment. He wished to make amends for what he'd done.

During the war itself?

He was absolutely thrilled to take part in it.

Serving under General Carneilan, Ichabod had been tasked with trying to retrieve information from captured faunus troops. Any that refused to talk would be dealt with in the appropriate manner. For example one particular wolf faunus had been adamant in refusing to say anything that might have endangered his brothers or sisters. Strapped to a chair with his legs ans arms bound, he spit at Ichabod's feet.

"Do what you will, human. I promise you I'll be dead before I tell you anything."

Ichabod slowly pushed up his glasses and chuckled at the pointed act of defiance.

"Is that so, laddy? I have to admit I've seen dozens of folks like you come and go in my time here. You all tend to say the same thing. You won't sell out any of your comrades, you'd rather die than speak to a human piece of shit like me, so on and so forth." Drawing his twin blades 'Mercy' and 'None', the faunus prisoner noticed steam emitting from the blades themselves and Ichabod's person.

"I hear your people have something of a new name for me. They call me 'The Burning'. I suppose ye think it's clever, I think it's downright fitting. Did you know that it can take up to 1400, maybe even 1800 degrees Fahrenheit to cremate a body to ashes? Of course, there's things you need to consider. If the person in life had been a great big fat person, too much fat can cause a grease fire and that's it's own kinda mess. If the retort is shabby then you might need to give it a couple tries before you succeed. The human body isn't an easy thing to destroy."

He took a step closer to the faunus. Ichabod knew he wasn't going anywhere and the faunus knew that too.

"Bones are one thing, flesh goes up no problem, but there's somethings that are stubborn, y'know? Take the heart for example. It's one stubborn muscle. 'Oh, so we'll just turn it up higher and burn the heart too!' Well, what about the bits of bones in the ashes? 'Well, turn it up even higher and burn the ashes too!' Everything succumbs to the indomitable power of heat." Ichabod turned None to the side and looked at how the blade glistened in the light. "My semblance 'Overheat' lets me generate vast amounts of heat. I can create an AOE and turn an entire portion of the battlefield into a sauna and roast m enemies from the inside out. You'll likely die of heat stroke before you ever reach me. But there's another facet to it that only top folks like the General know about.. Wanna know what it is...?"

The wolf had gone silent, his earlier braveheart demeanor having seemingly started to melt away.

Ichabod figured as much.

"I can transfer heat from one object to another. See?"

Ichabod pressed the side of None to the wolf's cheek.

Little by little, the skin on his left cheek started to bubble.

"Ah...Ahhh....AAAAHHH!! I-It hurts!!!"

"Oh! You'd been so quiet I was worried I'd been talking to myself this whole time! Feeling any more talkative or-"

"I...I remember you! You...YOU used to fight back in a small village in Vale. You threw the match against one of us!"

Ichabod's cheerful facade started to crack. The prisoner kept going even as he could feel the left side of hsi face starting to burn and bubble like something left in the microwave too long.

"TELL ME! TELL ME HOW YOU CAN LOOK HER IN THE EYES AS YOU"RE KILLING US!!! TELL ME YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!"

"That's enough!"

Ichabod dropped the blade and wrapped his hand around the faunus's mouth.

The more direct touch left the faunus wailing in agony. Or as much as one could when his tongue was boiled.

Ichabod realizing the severity of what he'd done pulled his hand back and let the heat in the room die down.

But there was no taking back what he'd done.

The wolf faunus had lulled his head forward, blood gushing from his mouth as he whimpered in his chair. All while that glare of hatred remained focused on Ichabod.

In that look he could see her staring back at him.

He wasn't a brave soldier fighting for humanity.

He was the monster. He truly was 'The Burning'-a plague spreading through faunus's rank, snuffing them out like a wildfire blazing out of control.

It was a side he never wanted Tyrian to see and one that Trifa had to catch him in a private moment to admit.

~~~



"He...he did terrible things, Tyrian. He was kind enough to you and me but it doesn't erase what he did...."

Tyrian had stood there and listened to Trifa give a brief glimpse into what Ichabod had told her.

What hit the hardest were Ichabod's apparent closing words to Trifa after that talk.

'Please. Don't ever tell Tyrian about the monster that I used to be.'

"You..."

He turned towards the man they'd come to meet.

His eyes red from the tears he'd been desperately trying to hold back.

"Tell me she's wrong! He didn't deserve to die!!!"

Tyrian ran forward.

"HE DIDN"T!!!!"
​

"...The Burning?"

The man's smile finally cracked for the first time as it wavered into a frown, and his head was tilted to the side in confusion.

"A name known by our kind, a monster from the shadows. If the sword he did meet, well.... there's only one way that goes. Yet still I'm perplexed, you're a faunus as well! Whyever would you mourn if that man was sent to hell?"

He swung off the lamppost as Tyrian started to charge forward to land in a slumped crouch that he rose up from like a snake, and a thinner smile was on his face as his eyes met the scorpion's.

"This isn't my task, milady was quite clear, to join the shadow fang I was you to steer. But this talon must question whether that's the path I should tread-"

The way the man leaned sideways out of the way of Tyrian's first swing was graceful and unnatural all at once, and a fist caught him under the chin of his wild charge that sent him stumbling backwards a few step as his opponent skipped backwards with a cackle

"-Or if I should just kill you human loving scum instead!"

Something was incredibly off about that punch. Tyrian's aura hadn't registered the oncoming danger, and more to the point, the veteran arena fighter heard a sound he was likely very accustomed to; the sound of fracturing bone. Except it hadn't come from him. It had come from the man's hand as he struck him.

It was almost as if the man he was about to fight didn't even have his aura unlocked.

 

[MyrtenRose]

THOOM

It was Tock who suddenly looked like the doll when the even more massive gauntlet of the Arma Gigas gripped her by the skull, smashing her deep into the cellar floor in just one of many craters now devastating the room as Weiss's gaze whirled and her eyes widened. One hand whipped out, calling forth the blizzard onto Raven to try and keep her from the ice sculptures. "No! Stop!"

Tock ordinarily would have replied with some snarky line, even with the clock of her semblance use winding down, but this situation was unique enough that she refrained from doing so. And not just because of the dust crystals jutting out of her arms either, this mess she'd found herself pulled into was a delaying act so Raven could get those people out of here. The faunus was just fine with letting her actions speak for themselves. Any words would have been cut off anyways, by that thunderous slam of Tock's skull into the ground. That attack, Tock felt sure that it would have absolutely dropped pretty much anybody she'd ever met. It certainly would have been enough to leave even herself feeling pretty beaten.

Spoiler: Like this

But that was when her semblance wasn't active. As it was, that undeniably powerful slam? All it amounted to for Tock in that state was...not a thing. Barely a second passed before Tock was rising back onto her feet, both hands gripping onto the gauntlet as she did so, in a similar manner to this:

And despite the massive size difference, the croc pulled with remarkable strength of her own. Enough to take even that giant knight off its armored boots. A moment later, Tock threw it with all the might she could muster, right towards Weiss when the maiden's attention shifted to Raven. Immediately after she followed through with a thrust forward of both arms, twin blasts of fire and lightning rushing out of her arms in ways they were never meant to and aimed to strike the pair of maiden and summon simultaneously. "HURRY!" She yelled a split-second later in Raven's general direction. The other huntress nodded, willing herself to move even faster than she already was. Raven could already feel herself shaking at the intense cold of the blizzard, but she didn't let up for a moment as she forced herself on despite the freezing chill and the harsh winds.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

*Kri..krik-kreeee-ee-eeek*

At least on of the sculptures was looking worse for wear as Raven pushed through. The little crack that had formed was no longer alone, lines crisscrossing along the ice in a chaotic spiderweb of damage. large swaths of the ice had started melting only to freeze over at the sudden blizzard, leaving strange and jagged icicles that went sideways along Yang's form. Yet even the sudden drop in temperature, the more cracks grew the more little ones spawned alongside them, exponentially increasing the weakening of the frozen prison.

Everyone in this room was a gods-forsaken idiot. Herself included.

*Krik...krak-krak-KRAK*

Weiss saw a bunch of rabble after her head and no real plan to fix the world's problems. Ironwood's resistance saw a vicious dictator with no heart who was solely interested in power. and the only words Yang could manage when it came time to stop what might've not had to be inevitable was 'please don't', like that was going to fix anything.

*KRAK, KRAK KRAK-*

Too often people assumed she was all action and no talk. But she'd gotten others through some hard times and worked her way out of conflict with her words just as often as she worked someone over with her fists; she just knew to pick the right tool for the job. She was supposed to be the dependable one, the big sister or best friend who always came in clutch, and she'd chosen the worst time to drop the ball.


*KRA-KRA-KRRRRRRAAAAAAAAACKLESTHS-*

This whole fight was happening because of her, because of two dumb choices she'd made. Like hell was she going to just let herself be carted off without trying to fix it.

the ice shattered with one last might flex of her arms backwards, Yang's hair burning golden and her eyes glowing red, but she immediately had to drop to a knee as she gasped in her first deep breath in minutes, chunks of ice sloughing off her to the ground as she shivered despite the licks of flame coming off of her. She let herself take a few steadying breaths before she forced herself to get to her feet and start trudging through the wind for the sound of Crocodiles blasting heiresses and knights.

 

[Gus Gungus]

And despite the massive size difference, the croc pulled with remarkable strength of her own. Enough to take even that giant knight off its armored boots. A moment later, Tock threw it with all the might she could muster, right towards Weiss when the maiden's attention shifted to Raven. Immediately after she followed through with a thrust forward of both arms, twin blasts of fire and lightning rushing out of her arms in ways they were never meant to and aimed to strike the pair of maiden and summon simultaneously. "HURRY!" She yelled a split-second later in Raven's general direction. The other huntress nodded, willing herself to move even faster than she already was. Raven could already feel herself shaking at the intense cold of the blizzard, but she didn't let up for a moment as she forced herself on despite the freezing chill and the harsh winds.

the ice shattered with one last might flex of her arms backwards, Yang's hair burning golden and her eyes glowing red, but she immediately had to drop to a knee as she gasped in her first deep breath in minutes, chunks of ice sloughing off her to the ground as she shivered despite the licks of flame coming off of her. She let herself take a few steadying breaths before she forced herself to get to her feet and start trudging through the wind for the sound of Crocodiles blasting heiresses and knights.

"STOP."

She was Weiss Schnee.

This was her house.

And she had had quite enough.

Seeing the only figure she could ever depend on to protect her hoisted off its feet and wielded as a weapon against her was the final straw. Wherever that fool with the recording device was trying to blend in as if she didn't know exactly where he was and what he was doing, a more violent gale suddenly snatched the scroll from his hands and dashed it against the far wall, breaking it as whatever footage he got up to that point transferred safely to the cloud. Tock found herself gripping nothing as the suit of armor dissipated into formless energy, and a black glyph formed under the goliath to repel her into the air. Dozens of smaller snowflakes formed all over the dust giant's brutish figure, suspending her there and acting as restraints as Weiss burned through the entire remainder of Myrtenaster's gravity dust vial in an effort to immobilize this monstrosity completely without giving her any kind of leverage or anchor point to break free with. This beast may have been strong, she may have been invincible, but that did not mean Weiss Schnee was about to let herself be rendered helpless by nothing more than a lumbering pair of fists. She had been caught off-guard, her earlier declaration about none of them being capable of doing anything to surprise her proven untrue. That was done now.

"These are not my work hours. I came down here for a drink. Twice now you people have come traipsing through some portal and attacked me, unprovoked, and this time? You've proven to the entire kingdom of Atlas that the so-called 'resistance movement' is nothing more than a pack of violent thugs who attempted to kidnap me from my own home. I know hindsight is 20/20, but maybe you should've asked the White Fang how that's worked out for them over the years."

She picked herself up with dignity and grace, just like always. The gusts of winds howling throughout the cellar finally started to subside as the glow pouring from Weiss's eyes dimmed, bringing about an oddly beautiful serenity as the air crystallized into gently drifting snowflake patterns.

"So if you're going to scatter and run like insects, no different to whatever color Fang is in season every time I remind them how insignificant they really are? Then by all means. I really don't care. Have some kind of problem with me? Then MAKE AN APPOINTMENT like ADULTS! The best way to reach me is through the nearest police station. But I'm done with this, and I want every single one of you not here by invitation out of my house."

She whipped her rapier's tip up to press it against Tock's throat.

"Except for you. And don't think I don't see you doing whatever it is you think you're doing over there either, Yang. When I said 'stop', I meant you too. Whatever you plan on saying or doing, I'm not interested. Go back to your room, now."

Her coldly narrowed eyes didn't actually move towards the huntress, didn't do anything other than stay locked on to Tock's own as she waited to see if this cretin had the audacity to try and break free, much less the strength. But it was the same tone she'd taken with Yang whenever the huntress pushed her luck just a little bit too far during the last month with change, the one that brooked no defiance, no sassy comebacks, and no arguments.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

*Kri..krik-kreeee-ee-eeek*

At least on of the sculptures was looking worse for wear as Raven pushed through. The little crack that had formed was no longer alone, lines crisscrossing along the ice in a chaotic spiderweb of damage. large swaths of the ice had started melting only to freeze over at the sudden blizzard, leaving strange and jagged icicles that went sideways along Yang's form. Yet even the sudden drop in temperature, the more cracks grew the more little ones spawned alongside them, exponentially increasing the weakening of the frozen prison.

Everyone in this room was a gods-forsaken idiot. Herself included.

*Krik...krak-krak-KRAK*

Weiss saw a bunch of rabble after her head and no real plan to fix the world's problems. Ironwood's resistance saw a vicious dictator with no heart who was solely interested in power. and the only words Yang could manage when it came time to stop what might've not had to be inevitable was 'please don't', like that was going to fix anything.

*KRAK, KRAK KRAK-*

Too often people assumed she was all action and no talk. But she'd gotten others through some hard times and worked her way out of conflict with her words just as often as she worked someone over with her fists; she just knew to pick the right tool for the job. She was supposed to be the dependable one, the big sister or best friend who always came in clutch, and she'd chosen the worst time to drop the ball.


*KRA-KRA-KRRRRRRAAAAAAAAACKLESTHS-*

This whole fight was happening because of her, because of two dumb choices she'd made. Like hell was she going to just let herself be carted off without trying to fix it.

the ice shattered with one last might flex of her arms backwards, Yang's hair burning golden and her eyes glowing red, but she immediately had to drop to a knee as she gasped in her first deep breath in minutes, chunks of ice sloughing off her to the ground as she shivered despite the licks of flame coming off of her. She let herself take a few steadying breaths before she forced herself to get to her feet and start trudging through the wind for the sound of Crocodiles blasting heiresses and knights.

A sudden hand reached out and stopped her before she could get a step further. It wasn't the more violent methods used by her other self earlier, but it was still Raven Branwen who intervened before the blonde continued on. She had been going for the frozen Yang first for several reasons. "Yang. No. Don't." This Raven all but pleaded with eyes full of worry. "Tock's buying us time, but that portal can't stay open too much longer. We can't risk Weiss or anybody else discovering where we're at. And...and if we leave without you, then all this..." Raven's free hand gestured out to everything around them. "It was all for nothing. Do you understand? This was supposed to be us getting you away from her. If she still has you then...what happened to the other Raven..." Raven couldn't bring herself to say the words aloud, as if not doing so would somehow stave off the bad feelings. If she heard Weiss's demand for Yang to go to her room, it didn't show on her face. Either she hadn't heard, or she didn't care what the woman wanted. "If we don't get out of here, then it was all pointless. Stop this, for your sake and hers, and instead help me get the other iced over people out. Please. We have to go."
​

"STOP."

She was Weiss Schnee.

This was her house.

And she had had quite enough.

Seeing the only figure she could ever depend on to protect her hoisted off its feet and wielded as a weapon against her was the final straw. Wherever that fool with the recording device was trying to blend in as if she didn't know exactly where he was and what he was doing, a more violent gale suddenly snatched the scroll from his hands and dashed it against the far wall, breaking it as whatever footage he got up to that point transferred safely to the cloud. Tock found herself gripping nothing as the suit of armor dissipated into formless energy, and a black glyph formed under the goliath to repel her into the air. Dozens of smaller snowflakes formed all over the dust giant's brutish figure, suspending her there and acting as restraints as Weiss burned through the entire remainder of Myrtenaster's gravity dust vial in an effort to immobilize this monstrosity completely without giving her any kind of leverage or anchor point to break free with. This beast may have been strong, she may have been invincible, but that did not mean Weiss Schnee was about to let herself be rendered helpless by nothing more than a lumbering pair of fists. She had been caught off-guard, her earlier declaration about none of them being capable of doing anything to surprise her proven untrue. That was done now.

"These are not my work hours. I came down here for a drink. Twice now you people have come traipsing through some portal and attacked me, unprovoked, and this time? You've proven to the entire kingdom of Atlas that the so-called 'resistance movement' is nothing more than a pack of violent thugs who attempted to kidnap me from my own home. I know hindsight is 20/20, but maybe you should've asked the White Fang how that's worked out for them over the years."

She picked herself up with dignity and grace, just like always. The gusts of winds howling throughout the cellar finally started to subside as the glow pouring from Weiss's eyes dimmed, bringing about an oddly beautiful serenity as the air crystallized into gently drifting snowflake patterns.

"So if you're going to scatter and run like insects, no different to whatever color Fang is in season every time I remind them how insignificant they really are? Then by all means. I really don't care. Have some kind of problem with me? Then MAKE AN APPOINTMENT like ADULTS! The best way to reach me is through the nearest police station. But I'm done with this, and I want every single one of you not here by invitation out of my house."

She whipped her rapier's whip up to press the point against Tock's throat.

"Except for you. And don't think I don't see you doing whatever it is you think you're doing over there either, Yang. When I said 'stop', I meant you too. Whatever you plan on doing or saying, I'm not interested. Go back to your room, now."

Her coldly narrowed eyes didn't actually move towards the huntress, didn't do anything other than stay locked on to Tock's own as she waited to see if this cretin had the audacity to try and break free, much less the strength. But it was the same tone she'd taken with Yang whenever the huntress pushed her luck just a little bit too far during the last month with change, the one that brooked no defiance, no sassy comebacks, and no arguments.​

Oh shite.

That was the thought that suddenly burned through her mind and was written all over her face as the giant she'd intended to toss over at the maiden just up and faded into nothing in her hands. She didn't even have time to launch any further attack with the dust inside her. A dark glyph formed under her feet and propelled her straight upwards and straight into being suspended up in the air as dozens of the things restrained her. Once Weiss finished speaking, it was even more readily apparent that Tock had indeed been trying to free herself, to boldly brute force her way out as she strained against it all. She had started the moment Weiss began going on about her work hours, but despite her strength...that position was a difficult one to break from.

She hadn't managed to do so by the time that weapon was poking at the edge of her throat. There was concern in Tock's eyes, despite her best attempts to hide it away. Not from that weapon being leveled at her neck, but for the very short amount of time she had left. The faunus roared in defiance, reaching down deep and straining with every muscle to its fullest extent and beyond to fully break free. She did accomplish the herculean feat but by the time she hit the ground and started running...with all the seconds that gone by in her initial combo on Weiss, dealing with the knight personally and especially all the moments spent wasted trying to free herself from that suspended position...

She'd been fighting against time as much as she had been battling Weiss and her summon. And time had run out.

The croc batted aside the rapier from where it was pointing, dashing closer towards the maiden at breakneck speeds, hand stretched out in an attempt to grab her and throw her...it didn't go as intended. By the time she'd gotten up there, her run dropped to her sliding across the ground on her knees, the sudden return of the debilitating agony taking away any focus on attacking further. Her rushed momentum kept her sliding forward until it was halted as she fell into one of the many craters in the room. Her aura shattered and with it and semblance both out of the picture...

Every fooking nerve felt like they were being submerged in lava WHILE at the same damn time being electrocuted to death. There was a deafening howl of pain as all that coursed through her system, quickly followed by both a second somewhat less loud screech and the frankly disgusting sound of dust crystals being ripped out of her arms. Thuds followed as the crystals were dropped to the side, but despite all that agony...after a handful of seconds, Tock pushed herself back up to standing and stepping out of the crater, blood flowing from her arms like twin rivers.

Pain was an old friend of hers, after all. Her body was rapidly returning to her regular size in the absence of the dust infusion. "You want me? Come get me!" The croc growled. No aura, no semblance, no weapons...and no chance of victory. But Tock dashed at Weiss all the same intending to smash her thick skull against the maiden's, not one to give up a fight quietly.

Raven's eyes widened at all that and she bellowed even louder this time around. There was precious little of that left to waste.

"NOW, YANG!"​

 

[MidwayLives]

And in a matter of minutes, every single one of them had been struck down. In this room, against that medley of abilities, they hadn't been a cadre of elite tier fighters.

"Tch."

They were dominoes. And Weiss Schnee had just knocked the whole row over with a flick of her finger.

Except one.

'It was...It is...so cold in here..'

Part of his mask had started to ice over, he could barely see out of the left side of his mask.

This had looked like their chance.

To finally take down Schnee once and for all. End her wicked machinations and bring a wind of change throughout Atlas.

Instead, they'd been tossed aside like broccoli Weiss didn't order.

Grey wasn't much of a fighter, even his semblance reflected that. He preferred to stay in the shadows and gather information. Be the one that nobody saw.

He'd been flung around like a ragdoll and his left arm hung uselessly at his side having been punctured by iciles in Weiss's last volley.

Yet the scroll kept filming all the same.

'Not...yet...'
​

Yet she did all she could to bite down on the agony, feeling her muscles swell up greatly from the sudden influx of power she'd just forced into herself. Beyond the pain, she could feel the lightning and fire shooting through her whole body, ending with the usually slim faunus far more jacked than she had any right to be. And after a moment, all the pain abruptly ceased to affect her as her semblance activated, invulnerability taking hold. At least for the moment. She knew it would return in full force and then some when the minute was up, but for that minute? She was stronger. The lightning dust coursing through her made her even faster, and she was normally already pretty quick on her feet. And Ray needed her help. That was all she needed to know for now.

The pain would be a problem for slightly in the future Tock to handle.

Watching the faunus buff herself and achieve the impossible and actually lay her hands upon Schnee didn't stir any feelings of optimism from Grey.

'Brave....Foolish....It doesn't matter.'

Maybe all this time had made him far too cynical but after seeing everyone around him knocked aside like dust in the wind?

What hope did Tock have?
​

As Tock kept Weiss busy, Raven had already opened another portal. This time to the unconscious Qrow, and the professional bird huntress was hard at work. The last of Robyn's Happy Huntresses got tossed through to the other side, Raven making an instant beeline for Nora and then the others to do the same. And after that, her attention would turn to the frozen statues to gingerly grab hold of them, lift, and carefully deposit them on the other end of that portal. They had to leave. Now.

All of them. Clock was ticking.

Grey saw Raven moving to save the others.

He made no effort to move himself.

'Can't leave...Not just yet....'

How much footage would be enough? Would what he caught here be enough to turn the people against Schnee if it went public?

Grey didn't have all the answers but after seeing what Schnee could do up-close?

His conviction had gotten even stronger.

She needed to be stopped no matter the cost.

Any one person having this kind of power?

It....frightened him.
​

Wherever that fool with the recording device was trying to blend in as if she didn't know exactly where he was and what he was doing,

'I've been spotted....i need to...'

It wasn't too surprising. With everyone else downed, she was bound to discover him.

An attempt to activate his semblance to try and make himself went nowhere fast.
​

a more violent gale suddenly snatched the scroll from his hands and dashed it against the far wall, breaking it as whatever footage he got up to that point transferred safely to the cloud.

It was too late.

The scroll had been snatched from his hand and Grey was forced to watch as it broke into pieces upon crashing into the wall.

'....Disappointing.'

He'd pressed his luck and now it was over.

What footage he'd managed to obtain would need to be looked through.

There was no dancing around it.

They'd lost tonight.

But they would be back, over and over, until they toppled Schnee and her allies.
​

"These are not my work hours. I came down here for a drink. Twice now you people have come traipsing through some portal and attacked me, unprovoked, and this time? You've proven to the entire kingdom of Atlas that the so-called 'resistance movement' is nothing more than a pack of violent thugs who attempted to kidnap me from my own home. I know hindsight is 20/20, but maybe you should've asked the White Fang how that's worked out for them over the years."

Grey dragged himself to his feet,whilst clutching at his injured arm.

He listened to Weiss's words.

There was no point in shouting back and forth.

The fight wasn't over.

Not by a long shot.

There was nothing more he could do.

He raced for the portal.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"STOP."

She was Weiss Schnee.

This was her house.

And she had had quite enough.

Seeing the only figure she could ever depend on to protect her hoisted off its feet and wielded as a weapon against her was the final straw. Wherever that fool with the recording device was trying to blend in as if she didn't know exactly where he was and what he was doing, a more violent gale suddenly snatched the scroll from his hands and dashed it against the far wall, breaking it as whatever footage he got up to that point transferred safely to the cloud. Tock found herself gripping nothing as the suit of armor dissipated into formless energy, and a black glyph formed under the goliath to repel her into the air. Dozens of smaller snowflakes formed all over the dust giant's brutish figure, suspending her there and acting as restraints as Weiss burned through the entire remainder of Myrtenaster's gravity dust vial in an effort to immobilize this monstrosity completely without giving her any kind of leverage or anchor point to break free with. This beast may have been strong, she may have been invincible, but that did not mean Weiss Schnee was about to let herself be rendered helpless by nothing more than a lumbering pair of fists. She had been caught off-guard, her earlier declaration about none of them being capable of doing anything to surprise her proven untrue. That was done now.

"These are not my work hours. I came down here for a drink. Twice now you people have come traipsing through some portal and attacked me, unprovoked, and this time? You've proven to the entire kingdom of Atlas that the so-called 'resistance movement' is nothing more than a pack of violent thugs who attempted to kidnap me from my own home. I know hindsight is 20/20, but maybe you should've asked the White Fang how that's worked out for them over the years."

She picked herself up with dignity and grace, just like always. The gusts of winds howling throughout the cellar finally started to subside as the glow pouring from Weiss's eyes dimmed, bringing about an oddly beautiful serenity as the air crystallized into gently drifting snowflake patterns.

"So if you're going to scatter and run like insects, no different to whatever color Fang is in season every time I remind them how insignificant they really are? Then by all means. I really don't care. Have some kind of problem with me? Then MAKE AN APPOINTMENT like ADULTS! The best way to reach me is through the nearest police station. But I'm done with this, and I want every single one of you not here by invitation out of my house."

She whipped her rapier's tip up to press it against Tock's throat.

"Except for you. And don't think I don't see you doing whatever it is you think you're doing over there either, Yang. When I said 'stop', I meant you too. Whatever you plan on saying or doing, I'm not interested. Go back to your room, now."

Her coldly narrowed eyes didn't actually move towards the huntress, didn't do anything other than stay locked on to Tock's own as she waited to see if this cretin had the audacity to try and break free, much less the strength. But it was the same tone she'd taken with Yang whenever the huntress pushed her luck just a little bit too far during the last month with change, the one that brooked no defiance, no sassy comebacks, and no arguments.​

A sudden hand reached out and stopped her before she could get a step further. It wasn't the more violent methods used by her other self earlier, but it was still Raven Branwen who intervened before the blonde continued on. She had been going for the frozen Yang first for several reasons. "Yang. No. Don't." This Raven all but pleaded with eyes full of worry. "Tock's buying us time, but that portal can't stay open too much longer. We can't risk Weiss or anybody else discovering where we're at. And...and if we leave without you, then all this..." Raven's free hand gestured out to everything around them. "It was all for nothing. Do you understand? This was supposed to be us getting you away from her. If she still has you then...what happened to the other Raven..." Raven couldn't bring herself to say the words aloud, as if not doing so would somehow stave off the bad feelings. If she heard Weiss's demand for Yang to go to her room, it didn't show on her face. Either she hadn't heard, or she didn't care what the woman wanted. "If we don't get out of here, then it was all pointless. Stop this, for your sake and hers, and instead help me get the other iced over people out. Please. We have to go."



Oh shite.

That was the thought that suddenly burned through her mind and was written all over her face as the giant she'd intended to toss over at the maiden just up and faded into nothing in her hands. She didn't even have time to launch any further attack with the dust inside her. A dark glyph formed under her feet and propelled her straight upwards and straight into being suspended up in the air as dozens of the things restrained her. Once Weiss finished speaking, it was even more readily apparent that Tock had indeed been trying to free herself, to boldly brute force her way out as she strained against it all. She had started the moment Weiss began going on about her work hours, but despite her strength...that position was a difficult one to break from.

She hadn't managed to do so by the time that weapon was poking at the edge of her throat. There was concern in Tock's eyes, despite her best attempts to hide it away. Not from that weapon being leveled at her neck, but for the very short amount of time she had left. The faunus roared in defiance, reaching down deep and straining with every muscle to its fullest extent and beyond to fully break free. She did accomplish the herculean feat but by the time she hit the ground and started running...with all the seconds that gone by in her initial combo on Weiss, dealing with the knight personally and especially all the moments spent wasted trying to free herself from that suspended position...

She'd been fighting against time as much as she had been battling Weiss and her summon. And time had run out.

The croc batted aside the rapier from where it was pointing, dashing closer towards the maiden at breakneck speeds, hand stretched out in an attempt to grab her and throw her...it didn't go as intended. By the time she'd gotten up there, her run dropped to her sliding across the ground on her knees, the sudden return of the debilitating agony taking away any focus on attacking further. Her rushed momentum kept her sliding forward until it was halted as she fell into one of the many craters in the room. Her aura shattered and with it and semblance both out of the picture...

Every fooking nerve felt like they were being submerged in lava WHILE at the same damn time being electrocuted to death. There was a deafening howl of pain as all that coursed through her system, quickly followed by both a second somewhat less loud screech and the frankly disgusting sound of dust crystals being ripped out of her arms. Thuds followed as the crystals were dropped to the side, but despite all that agony...after a handful of seconds, Tock pushed herself back up to standing and stepping out of the crater, blood flowing from her arms like twin rivers.

Pain was an old friend of hers, after all. Her body was rapidly returning to her regular size in the absence of the dust infusion. "You want me? Come get me!" The croc growled. No aura, no semblance, no weapons...and no chance of victory. But Tock dashed at Weiss all the same intending to smash her thick skull against the maiden's, not one to give up a fight quietly.

Raven's eyes widened at all that and she bellowed even louder this time around. There was precious little of that left to waste.

"NOW, YANG!"​

"...I..."

The look Yang gave Raven when she grabbed her shoulder and said those words was a stormy and unfocused one even as the wind around them began to die down. But whatever was going on her head, the rueful grin she sported as she shook her head was resolved.

"...The fact that this was all for me is the whole reason I can't go back. I...I probably don't deserve it after all this, but I'm gonna need you guys to trust me one more time, okay? Don't bother coming for me" She said as she lifted her hand to grip Raven's shoulder, and despite everything that just happened pointing towards otherwise, her smile was confident.

"I promise that I'll find my own way back when I'm done with what I gotta do. Take my sis and go. Tell uncle that the next time he sees me, he's got full permission to give me that ass kicking. But he will be seeing me again. Ruby too."

Her tone was firm and gentle and utterly sure, and the only sign that any of it might be put on was how the look flickered as she gave Ruby one last glance. But nonetheless, she gave Raven a small push towards the two still frozen and turned to walk away.

 

[MidwayLives]

"...The Burning?"

"Don't call him that..."
​

"A name known by our kind, a monster from the shadows. If the sword he did meet, well.... there's only one way that goes. Yet still I'm perplexed, you're a faunus as well! Whyever would you mourn if that man was sent to hell?"

Tyrian grit his teeth.

Nobody understood, dammit.

Okay, so what if he'd...he'd been this monster?! He'd always been there for Tyrian when he needed it! He'd never been cruel to him!

If he wanted to change, to lead a new life, what gave her the right??

What gave her the right to take him away?!

'We couldn't even say goodbye.' 'We don't even know where he's buried' 'If he was even buried. Maybe they tossed his body in a ditch.'

Shut up.

'he'd been so bad and we were too naive to realize it'

Shut up!

'We-'

SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT. UP!

The voices in Tyrian's head went dead silent.

"You can go ahead and think I'm deluded or brainwashed all you want. I wasn't his slave. He...He was the only one who gave my life meaning! BUT HOW COULD THE LIKES OF YOU EVER UNDERSTAND THAT?!" Tyrian screamed, the tears falling freely. As his punch was sidestepped, it continued on to smash into the body of the lampost, leaving a rather sizable dent in it's wake. As the 'faunus' countered and socked Tyrian in the jaw, he stumbled back but not even for a moment losing the ferocity in his eyes. He flailed wildly, his eyes wide and his hair a sopping wet mess as his tail coiled up ready to strike.

"I"LL MAKE YOU TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!!!!"
​

"This isn't my task, milady was quite clear, to join the shadow fang I was you to steer. But this talon must question whether that's the path I should tread-"

The way the man leaned sideways out of the way of Tyrian's first swing was graceful and unnatural all at once, and a fist caught him under the chin of his wild charge that sent him stumbling backwards a few step as his opponent skipped backwards with a cackle

The notion that this man had apparently been tasked with recruiting him into the organization fell on deaf ears. Tyrian braced himself for another charge and would have gone through with it too if Trifa hadn't stepped in once again. Putting her former training partner into a full nelson, Trifa struggled to keep the scorpion from straight up breaking free and going in swinging like a madman.

"LET ME GO!!! GET OFF!!!"

"TYRIAN!!! You need to calm down!!! This isn't a fight you want!!!"

Trifa had spent most of her life staying as far away from faunus rights issues as she could. She made a healthy enough living and got by pretty decently. Sometimes she missed Ichabod and the ring more than usual. Other days she was glad that she felt like she made a difference in her community by assisting local law enforcement every now and again. But you didn't get to live a life with a checkered past like hers without trying to stay informed about the goings on of the world. The Talons were no joke. If Taurus had managed to kill Ichabod-who was still pretty damn formidable even with a limp and a cane-then whoever it was staring them down had to have been just as skilled as her.

She was the ring's best fighter until Tyrian showed up. The one major fight they'd had, he'd won by a ten count after pinning her. He hadn't gotten away without a broken nose and a few missing teeth mind you. She wasn't much better having rocked a few busted ribs and a black eye. But they'd been teenagers back then.

To veterans like this, they may as well have still been kids.

"He's a Talon, Tyrian! They're the best of the best!"

"I DON"T CARE!!! I"LL FIGHT ALL OF THESE BASTARDS!!! GET! OFF ME!!!"

He struggled against Trifa's grip and she found herself barely holding him back.

"Even if you beat him, Tyrian, it won't end here! They'll mark us and we'll be hunted down! They'll never stop coming until we're dead!"

Tyrian merely grunted and cried out in anguish.

"STOP IT!! We can't fight an army, Tyrian! We...We can't!"

Tyrian broke free from Trifa and the result left her falling back into a puddle, her mask falling off in the process.

"I miss him too, Tyrian! Don't you think I wish he was still here?! That I could call the old bastard up and see how things are going?! He was a piece of shit back in the day , he did things that I can't defend and neither could he. He didn't want us throwing our lives away like this! Please, Tyrian! There...There has to be something else, another way!" She pleaded and Tyrian froze.

He didn't turn to face Trifa but the crack in his voice said enough.

"When I saw the medals in his office, I never really questioned them. I didn't think it was right. But now that I know what he did..."



"I hate that the Old Man think he ever needed to hide the truth from me!"

People were always babying him. Needing to be there when he lsot his cool. When the voices got too loud for him to control. Ichabod noticed it even when the faunus had been a young peppy lad getting into scraps and brawls. Hazel and even Watts could tell that Tyrian needed someone to be there for him. To watch over him and temper the constantly raging battle of emotions that seemed to play out every day of his life in his head. So for the bombshell to be dropped that he'd been 'protected' all these years by a man he looked up to, who he thought could tell him anything...

It broke his heart.

"Get out of here, Trifa. Go back home and forget about the Old Man and me. I made this bed and now..."

He wiped away his tears.

'I've gotta lay in it."

Like a good pet, right, Eve?
​

"-Or if I should just kill you human loving scum instead!"

Something was incredibly off about that punch. Tyrian's aura hadn't registered the oncoming danger, and more to the point, the veteran arena fighter heard a sound he was likely very accustomed to; the sound of fracturing bone. Except it hadn't come from him. It had come from the man's hand as he struck him.

It was almost as if the man he was about to fight didn't even have his aura unlocked.

The faunus hissed and stamped the ground with his foot.

"Call me whatever you'd like, you piece of dog-shit."

His tail reared up.

"But do it after the fight."

Tyrian had no doubts in his mind that it was likely he'd lose here. No amount of street fighting or brawling compared to years of professional combat like these 'Talons' had probably seen. This guy was likely no exception. Still, something didn't feel right and it was a thing that Trifa had pointed out before.

"This....You're just using this man as a meat shield, aren't you? When Trifa and I found him he was a sniveling wretch. He told us what we wanted and I didn't even have to hurt him...' Tyrian's eyes began to glow as did his hands. "Tell you what, if I lose, I'll join. If I win, you tell me where Taurus is."

"But first thing's first, let the meatbag go and fight me yourself."

Trifa hadn't fled like Tyrian had ordered.

Her eyes were constantly darting around for any sign of wherever this Talon's 'real body' may have been. Was Tyrian really onto something? A semblance that let you...possess others??

"Horrifying..."​

 

[MidwayLives]

When Emerald got there, there was no trace of their pilot or anything else in the cockpit either, save for Tock's two swords resting against a wall. Blades that suddenly clattered to the floor as she and everybody else felt their craft swerve into a abrupt nosedive, thanks to their sudden lack of pilot. Before Cinder could even think about returning Hazel's hug, she felt herself fall even more to the floor with the sudden turbulence. "What the..."

"...hell?" Tock unknowingly finished the same phrase as the young fall maiden, no longer looking out into the horizon beyond the cockpit window but instead in some dark room, filled with ice sculptures and prone bodies. "No time! You're needed!" Raven blurted out, that short blunt response all she offered in explanation as she threw herself at Weiss in the interim to give Tock the time she needed to activate her semblance. In her desperation she had reached out to get the best option she could think of, and well, when your back was against the wall? Who better than somebody whose personal superpower was being invincible? Short time or not.

Neo had kept to herself for the most part.

It'd been bad enough to have to stare at this world's version of Red's face when she first got 'dropped off' here.

Then to see a murder-happy(something she could relate to!)version of Blondie....

Neo formed an illusion of the other Yang and before the moment was through, she'd shattered it with a decapitating swing from Hush's blade.

...Still didn't feel as good as doing it for real would.

If she was supposed to feel happy about going to Atlas, she wasn't.

If losing yet another chance at happiness with Roman wasn't bad enough, here she was traveling yet again with a smaller more annoying version of Cinder! Her of all people! Why couldn't she just have died or something? Why did...he...

Neo felt her bottom lip trembling and sighed. Thinking about 'w;hat-ifs' wouldn't change the reality of the situation. Pulling out her scroll and looking over the still open DMs with her world's Roman, she sniffled.

She was living proof of that.



~~~

Before she could mourn any further,Neo nearly collapsed. What the hell happened?! Had somebody attacked and if so who-

No....What if...

Neo winced.

If the other Cinder had indeed wound up here and was making a mess of things, well, Neo didn't know what the hell she was going to do.

Kill her? Begrudgingly work with her to get home? Kill her? See how the two Cinders played off eachother? Kill her?

Whichever choice she ended up making, she had to worry about the here and now. Wouldn't be doing much of anything if this damn thing crashed. Making her way from the other end of the ship, Neo made her way down to the control room. That damn crocodile was nowhere to be seen!!! Where the hell could she have gone???

"*panicked mute noises*"

Whatever!

Neo quickly moved to try and take over the controls and get the ship steady again! If she messed this up then....​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

The faunus hissed and stamped the ground with his foot.

"Call me whatever you'd like, you piece of dog-shit."

His tail reared up.

"But do it after the fight."

Tyrian had no doubts in his mind that it was likely he'd lose here. No amount of street fighting or brawling compared to years of professional combat like these 'Talons' had probably seen. This guy was likely no exception. Still, something didn't feel right and it was a thing that Trifa had pointed out before.

"This....You're just using this man as a meat shield, aren't you? When Trifa and I found him he was a sniveling wretch. He told us what we wanted and I didn't even have to hurt him...' Tyrian's eyes began to glow as did his hands. "Tell you what, if I lose, I'll join. If I win, you tell me where Taurus is."

"But first thing's first, let the meatbag go and fight me yourself."

Trifa hadn't fled like Tyrian had ordered.

Her eyes were constantly darting around for any sign of wherever this Talon's 'real body' may have been. Was Tyrian really onto something? A semblance that let you...possess others??

"Horrifying..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, are you two finally done? I've no intent to get in the way of the couple's fun"

The man was leaning against one of the alley walls when Tyrian gave his attention back to him, with his elbow against the brick and his hair tangled in his hand, a bemused smile back on his face. "So fearful of a name, no, not even that, your friend cowers at a title, and doesn't even know if its fact!" He chuckled and pushed off the wall, his hands clasped behind his prodigious back as he leaned forward slightly and started to walk towards Tyrian.

"Yet no puppet is this, I'm a faunus for sure; a pig faunus on two feet, my words honest and pure! Of course, even if you think that about talons or pigs I'd lie, you've got more important problems-"

Even for Tyrian, the next move came fast, and the man was suddenly in the air in to his left with a spinning kick straight for Tyrian's head and an absolutely gleeful smile and blood running down his legs from the violent motion they'd been subjected to

"-LIKE TRYING NOT TO DIE!"

 

[MyrtenRose]

"...I..."

The look Yang gave Raven when she grabbed her shoulder and said those words was a stormy and unfocused one even as the wind around them began to die down. But whatever was going on her head, the rueful grin she sported as she shook her head was resolved.

"...The fact that this was all for me is the whole reason I can't go back. I...I probably don't deserve it after all this, but I'm gonna need you guys to trust me one more time, okay? Don't bother coming for me" She said as she lifted her hand to grip Raven's shoulder, and despite everything that just happened pointing towards otherwise, her smile was confident.

"I promise that I'll find my own way back when I'm done with what I gotta do. Take my sis and go. Tell uncle that the next time he sees me, he's got full permission to give me that ass kicking. But he will be seeing me again. Ruby too."

Her tone was firm and gentle and utterly sure, and the only sign that any of it might be put on was how the look flickered as she gave Ruby one last glance. But nonetheless, she gave Raven a small push towards the two still frozen and turned to walk away.

"..." It was difficult to fully read the look on Raven's own face after everything Yang had just said. Frustration and anger for Yang continuing to go ahead with this foolish idea, despite the madness around them. That was there. Yet there was also some levels of pride and respect in there too, for as much as Raven thought that to be a questionable decision, she could respect Yang's conviction for sticking to her choice. Not just anybody had conviction like that. Certainly she herself didn't. However, there was another feeling expressed in that look, and the one that Raven felt the most. A profound sense of apologetic sorrow. "You better. I'll hold you to that promise." She slowly replied, tearing her gaze away from Yang. She did trust her but......this still seemed far too much like she was abandoning a Yang.

Again.

Her eyes flittered about as she looked towards the ground, the hand that had grabbed her daughter's shoulder falling limply back to her side. When she lifted her head back up, Yang had already turned away. She prayed that she wouldn't have any reason to regret letting Yang slip from her fingers here. "Please be careful." It was soft enough, quiet enough, that it could have been easily missed among the sounds of Raven likewise turning and striding away to go retrieve Ruby and Winter before it was too late to do so.​