97 Troubled Waters

Logan sighed as he was escorted down several very long hallways after he arrived at the hideaway of Little Miss'. Having gone through the trouble of dealing with several scouts that belonged to the weird cult-like Faunus Group that was searching for the place, Logan figured that Little Miss' paranoia was at an all-time high. Well, even more than normal since Logan knew about her uncontrollable semblance. But Logan needed anything she managed to dig up about this group so he just kept his thoughts to himself about everything that she was doing to keep herself safe. After all, without the head, the spider will die.

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When Logan came to the last checkpoint in the maze of hallways, he wasn't surprised to see a heavily armed defensive post with Little Miss' standing with a rocket launcher in hand. Quite the sight when you consider that she and her daughters are all on the shorter side in height and the launcher is almost a good two heads taller than her too. Logan just mentally chuckled at the sight of her holding the massive launcher.

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Little Miss': "Good to see you've made it, Logan." Little Miss' greeted Logan after it checked out that Logan was safe. "Sorry about the round-about way of getting here. Those cultists are hell-bent on killing every single one of us. And I rather not meet my husband by their hands but by old age."

Logan: "It's understandable." Logan dismissed it. "I would do the same if I was in your shoes, probably more, but the same. How are you holding up?"

Little Miss': "Better, now that I got a shard of steel out of my arm." She said, showing a freshly bandaged arm. "Not to mention that those scouts you took out save several of my men's lives. Thanks to you, my men were able to secure a route for supplies we were running low on."

Logan: "At least I could help in some way." Logan said before being lead to a sitting area. "Anything else I could do for you as I basically dragged you into this?"

Little Miss': "Other than finding a way for those bast*rds to stay away from us? Not much." Little Miss' said as she pulled a canteen out and drank from it. "If anything, I just hope what I managed to dig up is worth what you paid." She then handed him a file from a nearby table.

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Logan took the offered file and read through it. It contained numerous sightings of the cultist's symbol and many accounts of Faunus that acted oddly with similarities to the ones from Menagerie. Some of the Faunus were named and others who seemingly disappeared overnight. But there were enough cases to be connected if one looked closely. Several small towns outside the Kingdoms even seemingly vanished overnight as well after they were visited by a priest of some sort with the same symbol on his chest. Logan couldn't help but feel that this cult was connected to that surge of mana he, Salem, and Glynda felt.

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But as he read, Logan felt like there was a pattern to the disappearances. Only around seven towns have disappeared so far, but there have been numerous appearances of the symbol. Logan couldn't help but wonder how the cult managed to stay in such a low profile for so long without anyone really noticing. Then he noticed the answer, the dates. The most recent one is almost four years ago and the oldest is older than the Great War. The answer as to how they could be seen but not remembered is time. Logan shuttered at the realization of how simple-minded people could be to just ignore things should it try to interfere with their lives.

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Little Miss': "Still though, I'm surprised at how hard this shite was to dig up." Little Miss' said after drowning the rest of her canteen. "The amount I had to sift through was small but it took a massive amount of time to even piece it together."

Logan: "People are creatures of habit, both humans and Faunus, and when something threatens to break that habit, either one of a few things can happen." Logan spoke as he finished reading the file and stood up. "One, they ignore it; and forget it even happened and go about their lives while hoping it never happens again. Two, they try to stop it from happening again so that they could go back to the way things were. Three, they try to embrace that change in hopes that it will lead to a better outcome or something easier they can get used to. Or four, they will fight it with every fiber of their being to stop it from happening to make sure things will stay the way they are."

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Little Miss': "While I agree with your view," Little Miss spoke up once Logan stopped speaking, "But two and four are the same."

Logan: "Not quite." Logan said as he began to leave. "For two, they cherish their lives far too much to die for it. And Four, they would be willing to throw countless lives at the problem just to make it happen. After all; any change, even for the better, is always accompanied by discomforts."

Little Miss': "What about you?" Little Miss' asked Logan as he almost left the sitting area, stopping him in his tracks. "I know what you call yourself. 'A soldier without a war to fight' , and yet you do things that seem to come straight out of a comic book. Both villainous and heroic. Why waste the energy? If I was you, I just do whatever I wanted."

Logan: "...energy huh?" Logan said quietly. "Energy may be likened to the bending of a crossbow; decision, to the releasing of the trigger. Only I can choose when to do that. And what better way than the only thing I know how to do." And with that, he left.

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Little Miss': "Bast*rd pulled a Sun Tzu on me." Little Miss' muttered after watching Logan walk out.

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{RWBY: Fireborn}

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Logan sighed heavily as he soon returned to his and Glynda's dorm. Fatigue plagued his body and his mind wobbled from incoherent thought to incoherent thought. His only saving grace from sleeping on the floor was the couch that was in the sitting space of the dorm, the one that Glynda saw currently sitting on. So when she saw Logan enter into the dorm then flop onto the couch while using her thighs as a pillow, Glynda wasn't surprised to hear Logan let out a quiet snore. Though she did blush a little bit when Logan mumbled in his sleep about how soft her thighs were.

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Unfortunately, Salem had decided to visit and saw the whole thing.

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{IF you made it this far, post a picture of a kitten here!}

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The smirk Salem had would have been enough for Logan to wish for death had Glynda not been a part of it too. That was, if he was awake to see it in the first place. Glynda, on the other hand, had to experience all the teasing Salem threw her way while Logan blissfully slept on her lap. A few hours later, Logan awoke but was very groggy. The sight of Salem, however, was more than enough to jump-start his systems almost instantly.

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Salem: "Did you have a nice nap, Logan?" Salem asked in a sickly sweet tone that made him shiver.

Glynda: "Don't try to run, you're gonna suffer the same as I did." Glynda whispered into Logan's ear as she hugged him tightly against herself while using her semblance to make sure he couldn't move.

Logan: "Salem, Glynda, please no." Logan pleaded to them. "I just finished trying to track down a Faunus cult that dates back from before the Great War!"

Salem: "Explain now." Salem ordered; any thought of teasing was gone after Logan spoke. "If a cult that old existed, Ozpin and I would know about it no matter how well they hid."

Logan: "I wouldn't count on you knowing." Logan said as he pulled the file Little Miss' gave him out of his [Inventory]. "They used people's habits and the passage of time to hide in plain sight. Having only brief moments of sightings, only four in the past ten years, to gather the current relevant information about the times. Then disappearing from the world." Logan said as he handed the file over. "The only reason I found out about them was that one of their members tried to gather soldiers in Menagerie with their semblance. A mind-control type of semblance."

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Glynda: "A mind-control semblance?!" Glynda shouted as she let Logan go to look over Salem's shoulder to read the file with her. "A semblance like that could tear down any of the Kingdoms should they use it on the right people. Be it starting a war or other means."

Salem: "And all these sightings..." Salem studied the file. "All of these line up with small towns outside the Kingdoms disappearing overnight were deemed to be caused by Grimm since they were destroyed. And that symbol, I feel like I've seen it before."

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Logan: "So far, I haven't put a name to this group." Logan said with a shrug. "And they haven't named themself either. All I know personally is that their symbol appears whenever that mind-control semblance appears, so it's a good guess that whoever that semblance belongs to is decently high up in the cult."

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Salem: "I'm inclined to agree with you on that, Logan." Salem spoke. "But there is far too little evidence to give that thought merit. The chances that person is only a pawn is very likely as well."

Glynda: "I understand where your coming from Salem, but I'm trusting Logan's call on this one." Glynda inputted her thoughts. "Such a semblance being used as a pawn means they have something far more dangerous in their arsenal. And that's a thought I shiver at."

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Logan: "That's all and good, but there is something else that concerns me." Logan spoke out after the two women fell into thought. "So far they've attacked seven towns and each of those towns are gone. At first glance, it seems random but taking a closer look tells a different story." Logan told them as he pulled a map from his [Inventory]. "Especially if we put it on a map."

Salem: "Logan, what... are..." Salem started to say but stopped when she noticed what Logan did."It can't be. Anyone with some idea of the old eras could piece it together almost immediately."

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Glynda: "A giant spell matrix? And an eight-pointed star at that?" Glynda wondered aloud when she marked the towns down on the map. "Even though I'm not that great at magic at the moment, aren't spell matrices with eight points for summonings?"

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Salem: "Yes, that is correct." Salem said with an annoyed expression marring her face. "A normal spell matrix only requires a five-pointed star to encompass the four elements and the fifth being used for space. Summoning requires the aid of an eight-pointed star because whatever is pulled through the circle can come from anywhere. Be it the past, present, or future; even the mages of old during the Brother Gods era were stumped where the summonings came from. And the Brother Gods never told anyone. They believed, at the time before my folly, that we should learn their gifts by ourselves so that we may grow as an advance, sentient species."

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Logan didn't like what Salem said about the Brother Gods. If his interaction with the two in the past was anything to go by, they did something and are planning to do a lot more. From the way it sounded to Logan, even they had no clue as to what magic could do or even its limits. That was one thing that made Logan believe that there were more gods than the Brother Gods on Remnant. Then his mind suddenly wandered back to the letter Karma gave to him all those years ago when he truly unlocked his semblance.

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Logan: ' 'I was born during a certain time.' ' Logan remembered the letter he got from Karma. 'I figured it was some time before the Brother Gods wiped the human race from the planet. But what if I was wrong? What if I was born long before the Brother Gods existed and I just don't remember it?' Logan thought for a while, while the two women discussed what needed to be done to find the next location for the summoning circle to be completed. 'Whatever, or rather whenever, it was doesn't matter. That can be figured out later, right now my main priority is to deal with this cult. Once this is done with, I'll do my best to find the truth out.'

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Logan then turned his attention to the conversation the two women were having about the possible locations for the last point in the summoning circle. They debated for several hours before Salem left with a copy of everything Logan had found. By the time they were done, Glynda was tired and Logan felt the same even though he had napped a good while.

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So being the good husband he was, Logan carried Glynda into the bathroom, cleaned the both of them with some minor teasing her and there, before finally laying down in their bed in each other's arms. Glynda nodded off almost as soon as her head touched which put a smile on Logan's face as when she nodded off, Glynda cuddled right up to Logan's chest. Logan smiled softly and ran his hand through Glynda's hair, causing her to snuggle closer. Logan smiled happily as he drifted off to sleep while holding Glynda in his arms.