Yang
The sun slowly rises into the sky, this long night has finally come to a close, and as the sun rises into the sky...the damage is more visible. Haven Academy has completely collapsed into the two mountains that it once stood upon, the fires have been extinguished, leaving skyscrapers of smoke to rise into the blue haze of Remnant's skies. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives in one night from the power of the four Knights. The Dragon remains at the city, circling it, it's roars echoing across the land. Nevermores and Griffins flying with it, tracking down survivors and picking them off one by one. Ashes float through the wind like the petals of roses. The Nikos Residence has collapsed from the fire that consumed its strength, destroying and burying everything that the Nikos name held dear. Pyrrha's posters rotting away as they are left to succumb to the forces of nature that reclaim the land. Alpha Beowulves howl to the skies, claiming the entire city.
The Acolytes of Lien have been picking the civilians off who managed to escape and were unfortunate enough to not be saved by Raven's Tribe.
Yang wakes up, a gasp escaping her mouth when she wakes, sitting upright as she looks around. Initially for her sister, despite the fact that she knows she is not here. She turns to her side where Kassius was but he is not there. She looks over to see him stood over by an opening. Three columns of concrete in the side of the mountain and he can see all of this, the Dragon still circling the detritus of Mistral. The Academy destroyed. He presses his hand against the concrete with his metal hand as he watches the Grimm...seeing their failure before them all. Yang sits up, wearing her orange vest under the bed sheet that he let her cover herself with. And for the first time in a long time, Kassius is not wearing his armour. He is wearing some relatively normal clothing. A brown shirt with a brown fluffy collared jacket and some jeans. His armoured suit is sat on a chair in the corner, recharging its dust cells that helps him be stronger. Her tanned jacket is beside her along with Ember Celica. She slowly gets back up, looking at him as he observes Mistral. "Kas?" She whispers. He turns and looks at her.
"Hey, Yang." He greets. He continues to look out there. And Yang looks with him.
"It's a mess." Yang sighs as she looks down at the floor.
"Yes it is." Kassius huffs. She continues to look at him as he stands there.
"How long have you been there?" Yang inquires with a tilted head. He does not face her but he does answer.
"Around four or five eyes at this point." Kassius answers, which is much longer than she expected. She has only had around five hours sleep anyway.
"Do you ever sleep?" She asks with a shocked voice. Kassius chuckles, stepping away from the edge, past her.
"I struggle." He answers vaguely as he returns to his suit and his weapons. He picks up Lash Equinox, one of the blades anyway, and he flicks it upwards. The hilt opens and the blade folds out, each piece of metal connects together, magnetising onto one another, the gleam of the sunlight running across the serrated blade. Yang walks up to his side.
"Is it to do with Vetra? And your team?" She pries. He looks at her and his expression is ambiguous. It either looks like he is afraid to actually answer her question or there is anger at the fact she brought them up. But she trusts him, perhaps more than he trusts himself.
"Partly..." He answers, running his human finger across the blade.
"And the other part?" Yang asks.
He pauses and flicks the blade downwards, setting it down on the table forcefully with a thud. "It's complicated." Kassius shoves off, walking past Yang without even looking at her. Kassius has become much colder recently, and not just towards her, but towards everyone. It is his way of dealing with a defeat, and one as heavy as this, he tends to blame himself, and that self-blame can accidentally be thrown into others. Even if he does not even mean it. But Yang looks at him as he walks back to the wall, just looking out there. And she is starting to catch on that he is holding something back, so she walks over to his side to look at him.
"Kassius..." She whispers, touching his cheek with her human hand. "What happened back there?" Yang asks. "When Death attacked me, you snapped...your eyes turned red like mine but it was more furious." Yang explains. "I've never seen you crack like that before, what is going on?" Yang asks. He sighs, exhaling heavily.
"It's a long story." Kassius answers. "I will tell you, just not yet." He says.
Before Yang can press any further, Qrow returns to them all with his sword in his hand, setting it down against the railing and he leans against it, crossing his arms as he stands there. Yang looks at him and she walks up to him, leaving Kassius to his thoughts. A good thing as well, since he has a lot on his mind right now. Yang paces up the steps to Qrow and she looks at him. "Uncle Qrow? Do you have anything?" Yang asks, her thoughts instantly go to her sister, or cousin in this case. But to her Ruby will always be her sister, doesn't matter to her. Despite the fact that she does not know the truth yet. Qrow looks at the tall lilac eyed blonde that stands beside him and he nods, righting up.
"We have a lead of sorts." Qrow says, almost reluctantly.
"Tell me." Yang begs.
"Raven told me some info that could be a possible ally that can help. An informant." Qrow begins. "They only know of him as somebody called the Architect. He is found in the outskirts of Mistral, a small desert near the ocean." Qrow explains.
"Well lets go." Yang says, walking over to her jacket and weapon on the floor.
"There's more." Qrow adds, which makes her stop.
"What?" Yang immediately responds.
"The last location has some deadly Grimm sighted there and there are White Fang there. The Tribe have been helping them, taking in any survivors that they can possibly can. After Beacon, the White Fang have been getting wiped out by the Grimm, most likely the Knights. They have the leader here at the base, she told them that there is an outpost and they are most likely still on the list to be attacked next. She said that if we can save them from the Grimm then they will be in our debt." Qrow paraphrases.
This is good, this means that they are going to increase their numbers, with more people on their side then this means that they could build an alliance against the Knights. "I guess the Knights have gotten the White Fang to realise that they were on the wrong side." Yang chuckles.
"Well, not all." Qrow states.
Yang looks at him. "Adam has not been seen since the fall of Mistral. His partners in crime, Fennec and Corsac Albain are with him...along with Ilia Amitola." When Qrow mentions those names Yang looks over her shoulder at where Kassius is. It doesn't seem like he heard her name. "That Lieutenant is probably with him as well." Qrow adds.
"Well, he did help us fight Fury." Yang says.
"Yeah, so perhaps he is on our side...we can only find that out if he comes and finds us." Qrow explains. "But are you sure you want him with us? After everything he did?" Qrow asks, his eyes looking straight at Yang's metal arm. Yang looks at it and then back at Qrow.
"Everyone deserves a second chance. It's what Ruby would do." Yang says. A smile forms on Qrow's face and he walks down to Yang and he pats her shoulder.
"Atta-girl." Qrow contently says. He walks past her and he stops. "We should gather those who want to come help find this guy." Qrow says, looking over at Kassius. "Kassius?" He asks. Kassius turns and he must have heard the end of the conversation, or at least enough to know that they have a mission. Kassius looks at Qrow and he nods.
"Yeah...I'm on board." He assures.
Slowly everyone starts to wake back up, looking around slowly. Weiss and Neptune look around but they are in no condition to be in combat right now. But Sun, Blake, Nora and Ren stand with them, picking their weapons up from the floor. Informed and ready to get back out there into the action, they all look around. Nora grabs Ren's hand with a big smile on her face. "You ready?" Nora squeaks. Ren sighs.
"Sure." Ren bluntly says. Nora giggles with a little dance, picking up Magnhild in her hands with a mad smirk on her face. Yang cocks her Gauntlets and Blake sheathes Gambol Shroud into the scabbard, attaching it to the magnetic strip of metal in her armour. Her long charcoal black hair bounces as she moves and she turns to see Sun picking up Ruyi Jingu Bang. He is someone else who has not been saying much, after nearly losing his entire team, he has become far less enthusiastic compared to what they are used to. Bringing back a version of Sun Wukong that only Blake really has ever seen, when he told her about what happened to his parents. When Hazel killed them right in front of him and he was helpless to stop him. Sun looks at the concerned Belladonna who looks right at him with a gentle smile. But as he always does, he puts on a smile to try and stifle her concerns. He bottles his emotions up behind his usually jokey personality.
Much like Nora.
Kassius steps into his suit of armour and as he enters it, it engages the activation process. The plates of metal close around his body and they lock together, cogs swirling into one another. It has no sleeve, just his metal arm which is strong enough on its own. He fits Vulcan Nox onto his wrists, the six barrels spin round, loading fresh bullets into the chambers with a solid clicking sound. They flash green when they are primed, he then picks up his two Lash Equinox Swords and he attaches them to the magnets on his suit so they stay connected to him at all times. Finally, he turns to his tanned Stetson on the table and he picks it up, batting some of the silt from the surface, and he fits it onto his head.
Winter emerges from where they had their meeting with Raven, holding her sword in her hand. She pats her little sister's head gently. "We'll be back." She assures. Weiss smiles to her sister.
"Give them hell for us, would you?" Weiss asks. Neptune smiles, giving her a thumbs up where he sits and surprisingly, she returns with the same expression.
Raven emerges with her Odachi in hand and she draws the blade.
"Everyone ready?" Raven asks them, the red blade glowing as she holds it. Yang looks at her mother with the team that are with them. Yang, Kassius, Qrow, Winter, Blake, Sun, Ren and Nora. One hell of a team, one that also has no colour coded name to it. Yang smiles and nods as she stands there, Blake to one side of her shoulders and Kassius on the other, Qrow stood behind her with his sword rested on his shoulder. She holds out her scroll. "Contact me when you find him?" She asks.
"You got it." Yang assures with a smile.
Raven steps aside, thrashing the blade of her sword up to form a red portal behind her that she lets them walk through. Yang takes the first steps, everyone follows her lead as she walks into the portal. She vanishes into the red hue and one by one they all vanish. Nora walks backwards, looking at Weiss and Neptune as she walks. "You better be here when we re-" Before she can even finish, she enters the portal mid-way through her sentence and the portal on this side closes.
Neptune looks at Weiss. "Uh...did you catch that last part?" Neptune asks.
"I guess we'll ask her when she returns." Weiss sighs.
Oscar
"Oscar!" Ozpin's voice calls.
Oscar gasps violently as his hazel coloured eyes snap open, his body jolting forward from hearing his voice again. He hyperventilates where he sits and he looks around the cell. His eyes focus on the cell over from him, and the silver eyed girl is asleep inside, in the dark corner where she is left. Either asleep or has been given more medication for her wounds. It is unclear if Cinder, Emerald and Mercury are supposed to be doing this or not. But Salem's motives are somewhat confusing. And it is very clear that Death can see that. "What is it?" Oscar asks Ozpin as he looks around, his hands pressed against the ice cold floor.
"You cannot sleep here for too long, Oscar. These people could be ready to spring a trap on you at any moment's notice." Ozpin explains to him. Oscar shakes slightly, feeling a twitch in the back of his head. He scratches his messy black hair, looking around the floor, seeing scratch marks and dark black stains. Beowulves were kept in here once. And here he is, a prisoner beside his friend. He crawls over to the bars in the cell to look at Ruby.
"Ruby!" He whispers to try and wake her up. He checks down the halls. He can hear the distant laughs of Tyrian nearby as he walks around. He has been trying to get there but Cinder has been...guarding...Ruby this whole time.
Ruby moves slightly where she hides.
She isn't asleep, she is waiting. Curled up into a ball, she feels weak and vulnerable with her eye in the condition that it is. Oscar goes to call her again but he hears a door slam down the hallway and someone starts walking down the path. Oscar crawls away from the bars and he sits against the wall, playing with the laces of his shoe to act like he was not trying to talk to Ruby. The person approaches the cells and he stops. He is a large, muscular man with short brown hair, a beard and hazel eyes. He wears a two-tone olive green coat over a black three quarter length sleeved shirt, and a large belt. His pants are black and his boots are brown with white fronts. His hairy arms appear to have some scars near the edges of his sleeves. The massive man stares at them both, holding two trays with actual food on them. His hazel coloured eyes look at Oscar and he slides the tray under the gap, the shields let the tray pass through somehow and it moves right up to his side. Some sort of steak, probably from a deer or cow with some vegetables. Broccoli and carrots, that sort of thing. Quite a nice meal for a couple of prisoners to have. "Here you go." He says, a deep gravelly voice as he speaks. Oscar gasps and he looks at him, and he immediately recognises him.
Hazel Rainart.
He met him at the Train Station to get to Mistral in the first place, and he helped him. Hazel turns to Ruby and he pushes the tray into her cell as well, she looks over at it and then at Hazel, but then she turns back into the shadows to not look at him. She is scared admittedly. But Oscar looks right at Hazel as he stands there. "Oscar...don't..." He begs.
But Oscar is stubborn. "Who are you?" Oscar questions, since he may have memories of Hazel but he does not truly know his name. Hazel looks at Oscar and then he recognises him as well.
"You're that boy from the train station." He remembers as he looks at him.
"Don't let such a small obstacle block your path?" Oscar recites from memory, Hazel exhales sharply through his nostrils, like he laughs a little.
"How ironic...that you have become a obstacle." He chuckles as he looks at him.
"Why did you help me, then?" Oscar questions. Hazel just stands there when Oscar brings that up and he grabs the bridge of his nose, looking away from the boy with similar coloured eyes. He then turns back to him, his shadow cast over his small frame.
"Perhaps the old me is still in here somewhere." Hazel says. Hazel turns to walk away, and Oscar hears Ozpin speak in his head.
"The student I knew is still in there...I just hope he can find it within his mind." Ozpin states. Hazel walks away but he stops to look back at Oscar.
"Hazel." He announces, getting his attention.
"Huh?" Oscar replies.
"Hazel Rainart. That is my name." Hazel answers, continuing on his path as he walks away from him. Oscar picks up the tray and he looks at it. If these two have any friends compared with the others, there are actually four of them.
Hazel
Cinder
Mercury
And Emerald.
But it is a stretch at best. He sighs as he sits there, and then Ruby turns round to see Oscar. This is the first time that he has actually seen Ruby since he was captured. He never knew about her eye until right now and a gasp escapes his lungs. "Ruby..." Ozpin's voice gasps in horror when he sees through Oscar's eyes, the torment on the poor girl's face. She looks at Oscar as he sits there and he crawls up to the bars, clutching onto them as he looks at her.
"Ruby?" He whispers.
"Hey, Oscar." Ruby sombrely replies, looking down at the floor, her arms wrapped around her knees.
"What happened? Who did that to you?" He asks with a nervous voice.
"Death." Ruby answers. "He shot an arrow at me, I tried to escape but it just got my eye." Ruby explains, pointing at the bandage that covers it.
"Who gave you the bandage?" Oscar asks. Ruby looks at him with a smile that seems like she still does not believe it when she answers the question.
"Cinder." She answers. Oscar can feel the shock and confusion that is going through the mind of Professor Ozpin in his head right now. Wherever he is, he has not been in the loop of everything that's been happening. Especially to Cinder in this dreadful place. The last time Ozpin met her, he was going to be killed by her. But she didn't kill him, for some reason, she spared his life when she could have easily killed him. But she still killed Pyrrha? There are so many unanswered questions surrounding what happened that night in their clash that must be answered. And the answers are somehow being hidden from Oscar, Ozpin is locking off portions of memory and emotions from him to keep them all a secret from him. They sit there and he continues to look over.
But when Oscar looks at her, he hears the chilling cackling laughter of one deranged, psychotic scorpion Faunus approaching. He hums in a singsong tone as he approaches, exaggeratedly swinging his feet in the air as he walks over to Ruby's cell. His arrival causes Oscar to retreat back and he walks over to her cell. His golden eyes staring at her as he smirks, his scorpion tail crunching as it moves around erratically. "Little red flower..." He whispers maniacally. Ruby stammers in fear when she looks at him, his eyes fixated on her silver eyes. Ruby hides in the darkness as he grabs the bar, staring at her with his maniacal gritted smirk that has been carved across his face. He tightens his grip on the iron metal that stands between him and his prey. "I still think that we have some unfinished business." He snarls evilly. "You humiliated me." He growls, his tail rising up as his hand points to it.
Ruby shakes but she tries to stay as brave as she possibly can. "You hurt my uncle." She softly says to him. Tyrian gasps in amazement, the gasp bouncing into laughter, his hand on his chest as he bends back to laugh. His cackles echo down the hallway.
"How sweet of you." He chortles. Whilst he stands there, Oscar stands up and he shouts at Tyrian.
"Hey!" Oscar yells. Tyrian's eyes pop wide, and the grin curves further as his eyes turn to where the young shout came from. He looks over his shoulder to look at him, stepping towards his cell. "Leave her alone!" Oscar challenges audaciously. Tyrian chuckles at the sight of the equal aged boy defending the girl he has only known for a few days. He takes a couple of casual steps towards the cell, still smirking away as he stares at him. He places his hand on his scarred chest and then points at little Ruby in her cell.
"Oh! Are you a friend of hers?" Tyrian questions, looking into his eyes to try and make him defend her again. He wants a challenger. "Or more?" He suggestively says with rising eyebrows, constantly sneering.
"Who are you?" Oscar questions.
"Be careful, Oscar. This man does not seem like he is to be trifled with, you could get yourself or even Ruby killed." Ozpin warns in his head, making Oscar's eye turn a little to hear him. Tyrian slaps the side of his head and shakes his head with a laugh.
"Oh! Where are my manners?" He theatrically wonders. He then takes a bow before Oscar. "I'm Tyrian." He announces. "Tyrian Callows, finest hunter that has ever lived. For it is not just anyone who can capture a Silver Eyed Warrior." He scoffs, giving himself the title despite the fact that it was mainly Death that did most of the work. But this is probably all part of Death's manipulative scheme to control them. He controls Cinder through fear along with Mercury and Emerald, he gives Watts the honour to become more powerful with his plans and he gives Tyrian the means to fill his thirst for blood. "And you are?" Tyrian asks, tilting his head.
"Oscar Pine." Oscar answers, still remaining as stoic as ever.
"Oscar Pine!" Tyrian repeats enthusiastically. "You know I think I heard about you." He says.
"Did you now?" Oscar scoffs.
"Oscar..." Ozpin whispers to try and get him to calm down.
"Indeed, I have heard that you have an Aunt at your farm, is that correct?" Tyrian questions. But Oscar does not answer because he knows that Tyrian is testing him. "I also have heard a rumour or two, just some gossip, that one of the reasons that you wanted to become a Huntsman is to be a hero. So then you could have a certain someone in your life?" He presumes as he approaches his cell, crossing his arms. Oscar stammers, because he is starting to realise that Tyrian knows more about him that he begins to realise. Somehow he knows of his reasons that many do not.
Fear...
He searched his mind back at the forest.
He must have told Tyrian about this, since the Knights seem to approve of Tyrian the most out of the four members of Salem's crew. Tyrian sniggers at Oscar as he backs away from the cell as he grabs the bars of his cell. "Perhaps..." He begins, taking a step aside and holding his hand out to Ruby as he stands there. "...she lays before you?" Tyrian presumes. And the lack of an answer is all that Tyrian needed as he approaches her cell once again.
"Leave her alone!" He begs.
"Fear is all about theatrics, Oscar. So I hope you will indulge me on this show." He says, holding a video camera and his other hand is the wrist blades as he opens the door and slams it shut behind him. The blade extends upwards with a metallic scraping sound, the light gleaming off the serrated blade as he grins at Oscar and then turns to Ruby. "Now...I am going to do what I should have done long ago." He snarls, grabbing Ruby by the throat and arching his arm back, causing Ruby to whimper in fear as he starts to record a message.
A message to be sent to her family.