Interlude 1 - Movement in the Shadows 1
1.5 Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the light - Interlude Maria
This chapter will detail a lot of Ozpin and Co.'s reaction, and the public's reaction, as well as explain a lot of the Stuff Uaine has said. Most of the crap Uaine says is actually taken from Mythology or some confusing Fandoms like the SCP foundation Mythos. Thanks for all the support, and don't forget to leave power stones if you like my work and want to support it!
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POV Maria
'It's going to be one of those days.' she thought. After the Fairie Queen had left, she stayed up till morning, defending against a stray Beowulf or two that wanders into the ruins of the town. When the Sun had risen, she decided to wake the children. While some may call it cruel, she knew that had to keep moving. It wouldn't be long till more Grimm sowed up to inhabit this town.
After waking the children up, they were very confused. After remembering what happened, they broke down into sobbing. Maria felt torn inside. After all, she wasn't the best at comforting people. So she awkwardly hugged them, and they sobbed into her arms. She was worried they might fall asleep again, but once they were done, they resigned to sitting next to each other and staring at the sky. She checked that they were okay, before pulling out her scroll and called for a Bullhead.
Once she turned around, she saw that the children were whispering to each other, with a determined look on their faces. She walked over to where they were sitting and knelt down.
"We you mind telling me your names?" She asked quietly. She also wanted to ask what had happened in this village, but that would be insensitive. She had no idea what these kids have just gone through. They might have seen their parents murdered right in front of them. Thus, she wanted to take it slowly.
"I am Nora." The girl answered timidly.
"Lie Ren." The other spoke emotionlessly. 'Must be the Stoic-Quiet type' Maria thought. He also might be in shock, Maria considered.
"We wanted to ask," the girl spoke quietly, "What happened to the other person who saved us?" she looked up to Mari with hope.
Maria sighed sadly. "They had an important mission that needed their immediate attention."
The girl looked at the ground for a moment, before Maria continued.
"Though, if they were here, they would definitely comfort and smother you with love." She said humoredly. She secretly thought Uaine is a bit of Tsundere, and would love children.
The girl giggled, and the boy cracked a smile.
"A Bullhead is coming to pick us up." Maria informed. The girl looked around at the town sadly.
"What will happen to us?" the boy asked.
Maria spoke after a moment. "Well, you will likely be placed in a Foster home." She admitted. They were silent.
She decided to not push, and let them ask questions at their own pace. They sat down, and talked to each other. They waited some time, before a Bullhead appeared above the town.
As it landed, they all boarded it. She walked up to the front, and greeted the pilot.
"He looked grimly at the wreckage. "A Grimm attack?" He questioned.
She nodded. "The Nuckelavee." She informed. His eyes widened. The Grimm was famous for destroying settlements.
"How tragic." He commented. "What about those children?" He asked.
"They were the only survivors." She stated sadly. He looked sympathetic.
"But, Its not all bad." She said. "I was able to kill it with he help of another." He looked relived.
"Well, that ought to put some peace of mind into those children." he sighed.
"What of this other person?" He questioned.
"She had another urgent mission to attend. " She answered.
He nodded, and she headed to the back. The children were looking out at the town, and she sat down on the bench opposite of them.
Once the Bullhead started, they turned away from the window. After a while in silence. The girl, Nora, spoke up.
"Thank you." She said. Maria was surprised. She at least thought these children might partially blame her for their villages death, as she didn't arrive in time. She smiled under the mask.
"No, I don't deserve any thanks. It was mostly my companion who helped you." She answered.
After a few minutes. Nora asked another question. "Are you a Huntsman?" she asked.
"Yes. I was responding to a distress call that came from your town." she answered.
The girl was silent for a few minutes, before looking at her.
"I want to be a huntsman too." She said with determination. Maria looked surprised.
"Why?" she asked.
"So no one else is attacked by Grimm." Nora answered.
"I agree." Lie Ren Spoke up.
She was pleasantly surprised. These children were extremely mature for their age. She thought about it for several minutes.
"I know someone." She answered. They looked at her with questioning eyes. "An Ex-Huntsman. He's retired, and lives out in the wilderness outside Vale."
She smiled. "I will talk to him." They looked at her gratefully. "Its the least I can do." She told them.
They were silent most of the way. They eventually doxed off, with the Nora resting her head on Ren's shoulder. She smiled. She noticed that Nora looked to be having a nightmare, and was scrying in her sleep. She walked over and placed her cloak around them, and wiped her tears. She seemed to relax after that.
She walked back over and pulled out her scroll. Their was a lot of new news articles. She took one look at their headlines, before groaning.
She settled in, as it would be a while before they reached the nearest town, and started to read.
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POV - Headmaster Ozpin
A man was standing in his office, looking out of a glass window and into the courtyards below. His office was placed on the top floor of a tower overlooking Beacon academy, a training school for huntsman. He was deep in thought. He was dressed in a black trench coat, with a green undershirt and scarf, with black reading glasses place on his nose. He rested his hand on a cane, and held a cup of coffee in his another, After taking another sip, the elevator behind him pinged, signaling someone had arrived. Out of it walked Summer Rose, who looked around with anticipation.
"Well, Well, Well, look who just got out of the slammer." another man in the office joked.
This was Qrow, one of Ozpin's most trusted huntsman allies.
"Really, I thought I was the one who would end up in prison in the end. But no, it was actually our resident Good Girl." Qrow shook his head dramatically. "I mean, what would your children think if they ever found out? Let alone your husband?" He asked amused.
Summer looked irritated. "It wasn't my fault!" She protested. Qrow laughed again. Ozpin turned around, and addressed them.
"I assume you know why your here?" He asked seriously.
"Gee, i wonder." Qrow asked sarcastically. "Couldn't have anything to do with the appearance of a Unknown Grimm that's been around since the founding of the four kingdoms, could it? Or the woman who could atomize all of vale?" He finished.
Ozpin deadpanned. "No. We're her to discuss the missing funds from beacons spending budget that was traced to have been used to pay off illegal smugglers importing alcohol." He answered.
Qrow started to sweat.
"Of Couse were her to discuss it." Ozpin answered amused. Qrow sighed.
As he turned, 3 floating screens appeared. Ozpin turned to greet them.
He turned to one. "Theodore, Professor Xanthe." He greeted. They both nodded to him.
He looked at the next. "Lionheart." The man in the video was a lion Faunus dressed in a suit."
He turned to the last. "Ironwood" He greeted. The man was silent.
"I trust you all know why were here?" They all nodded.
"Ironwood, If you would." He turned to the man. The man nodded before speaking.
"At approximately 15:25 hours, an unidentified figure appeared near Atlas in restricted air space. He was noted to likely be a Faunus in possession of wings. Upon contact with the unidentified figure, it remained silent and did not respond to threats warning of use f deadly force if it did not comply with demands for it to land." The man spoke, in a serous voice.
"At 15:27 hours, when it refused to comply, Atlas air ships was authorized to use deadly force. It then seemed to simultaneously destroy all military aircrafts in the vicinity. After that, it proceeded to fire a large beam of unknown concentrated energy at Atlas Grounded aircrafts, disabling the Atlas Air Force. it was authorized to use an experimental land-to-air Implosion missile which utilized Gravity Dust. After firing, it was observed that both the Unknown figure, and a second feminine figure that arrived just before the aircrafts were destroyed, were unharmed. The unknown figure, was then observed to be preparing to attack the civilian districts of Atlas, before the unknown female who was thought to be hostile, blocked the attack. They then engaged in Banter and fighting, until the female figure ended the fight with a beam of unknow energy, before both parties left the scene." Ironwood concluded.
"A rather gross simplification, but it does the job." Ozpin noted. "To explain the situation fully, I will actually use another groups summery." Ozpin stated.
Ironwood looked confused, before asking. "Why? This information should be Top-Secret" Ironwood asked.
He knew there were various video's of the fight from people filming it on their scrolls in the city, but that was it,
"They collected a report of the Female from before the fight above Atlas, and hacked into the drones that were watching the fight, gaining the video and audio of the fight." Ozpin warned.
All of the present peoples reaction were the same, panic. There was extremely sensitive information gained from the fight. One, being that a human can become a Grimm.
Ozpin, nodded grimly. "While not an ideal situation, there is some good to come from this." He said.
"Who hacked the drones!?" Ironwood demanded.
"Anonymous." He answered. And Ironwood groaned and put his head in his hands.
Ozpin felts sympathy for the man. Anonymous was a group of people devoted to the idea or freedom, specifically freedom of information. While they were criminals, the governments let them be, as they were mostly passive, and it let them focused on bigger groups, like the White Fang, a Faunus organization that has been growing more and more violent in recent years.
The main problem is that this act of releasing this information showed that they were right. They supported freedom of information, and in the public's view, they were right. If this wasn't released they would never know about the threats and powers of Huntsman and the threat of new superpowered Grimm. Thus, the government couldn't publicly attack them, and they now have the favor of the public. At least, for now.
Ozpin proceeded to pull up a video, and each person pulled settled in for a evening of long meetings.
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POV Anonymous - Mr. X
A man appeared on screen. He was dressed in a black suit and tie, and his face was covered by a white bunny mask, with cut out eye sockets.
"Hello, Fellow men" He greeted. He was seated at a white desk, with a grey stone wall as a background.
"I am Mr. X, and today we have one of the greatest discoveries since the founding of the 4 kingdoms to discuss with you today." He spoke obviously excited.
"Most have seen the footage of the fight between the 2 mysterious figures in the skies above Atlas, but through several leaks and inside men, we were able to acquire footage from the drones that recorded the whole fight, as well as the audio recordings that came with it." he spoke.
"As well, we have an exclusive report on a pervious encounter with the female figure, who identifies themselves as 'The Fairie Queen' and the famous huntsman known as the Grimm Reaper." He spoke, before picking up a paper on his desk. "This was given to us by an Anonymous source, with permission from The Grimm Reaper." he stated, before continuing.
"We will start right away. At approximately, Noon last Tuesday, The Huntsman known as The Grimm Reaper was commissioned by Authorities to respond to a distress signal originating from Kuroyuri. Based on the report from the distress signal, it was deduced that Kuroyuri was under attack by the infamous Grimm known as the Nuckelavee. Wandering the planes, thins creature was known for ravening settlements and towns." As he spoke, a picture of a map appeared next to him, edited in, then a sketch of the Nuckelavee.
"During the trip there, she was ambushed by a group of mercenaries while recovering from a battle with an Alpha Nevermore. Their leader, identified as a Crocodile Faunus by the Alias Tock, who is wanted for Murder in all Kingdom's, engaged in combat with The Grimm Reaper. The Grimm Reaper explains that Tock's Semblance allows her Invulnerability for 60 Seconds." A picture of a wanted poster appeared, with a bounty of 200,000 lien for Tock's capture.
"Due to her Semblance, The Grimm Reaper was caught of guard, and would have received a fatal wound if not the Fairie Queen intervened. After a batte in which Tock was killed by the Fairie Queen, which The Grimm Reaper refused to elaborate on, The Grimm reaper engaged in conversation with her savior, in which she introduced herself as The Fairie Queen. It is noted that she speak in riddles and confusing statements, though whether this by choice or simply habit is unknown." The man explains.
"Soon after, The Fairie Queen expressed that she was sent their by a person described as a "Fate-Weaver". This is thought to be someone who might posses a Future-Seeing semblance, or simply is well-informed. Either way, The Fairie Queen stated that they were also their to hunt the Nuckelavee. After journeying to the town, they engaged the Nuckelavee in order to protect two children who's identities where not disclosed, from the Nuckelavee. A battle occurred in which the Nuckelavee was killed, and they saved the children."
"It was after searching through the rubble of the town for survivors, with no success, that The Fairie Queen departed after claiming to have been given another 'Vision' by this individual, and shown by a "Mind-Seer' who is speculated to posses a form of telepathy. This Vision she claimed showed another person of importance to the future that needed to be saved. He finished, before setting the paper down.
"We will now show the exclusive footage given by an insider." He spoke, before straitening his tie.
Another video played, switching views between several drones during the fight.
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POV Summer rose
'Creepy' was her first though while watching the video. The creepy man with the bunny mask, now named Mr. X, quickly the jist of what the public knew, before showing a report made by the Grimm Reaper. Summer herself had never met her, but she was famous as on of the strongest Huntsman of this generation.
'So this 'Tock' must have been pretty strong to catch her of guard.' Summer thought. But what she was interested was the supposed person who saved her.
It had been a rough few days. First, she is sent on an emergency mission from Ozpin, with no description, then meets this man in a skull mask. She shuttered just thinking about him. He completely destroyed her. With her semblance, it allows her to teleport, leaving rose petals being.
Thus, she relied on surprise and counter attacks to end fights in an instant. But her fight with the Grimm was nothing but a one-sided slaughter. She could barley dodge its blasts, and even then, she knew during the entire fight it was not taking her seriously. She was preparing to teleport, when it suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of her, and stabbed he through the chest.
And while watching the fight Between the 'Fairie Queen' and this Grimm, she is glad it was going easy on her.
She continued to watch, till the man brought up that she may be working with someone who could see the future. Someone who could see the future? This was huge. With someone like that, they could save settlements before the collapsed, and even gain an edge against the Grimm. And maybe even their Queen.
When she heard that the Nuckelavee was killed, she was a little excited. The Nuckelavee was a creature that had terrorized settlements for generations, and with its down fall came a lot of security.
Well, whatever securities were left often the discovery of this new Grimm. She then watched the video that showed the battle from the POV of the drones, between this Grimm and the Fairie queen.
Summer licked to say she was not an easy person to surprise. Many of her friends would disagree. Qrow looked like he just wanted to drink alcohol until he couldn't remember this meeting happened, or watching the video.
The revelations the video revealed were countless. The Grimm itself was insanely strong. Being able to destroy a dozen Atlas ships with one swing of its sword. Its blasts could rip through metal and stone like butter. It spoke about them showing their duel to the world.
The Fairie Queen blocked its attacks like they were nothing. She sighed in relief when the Fairie Queen saved the city from that blast.
She was surprised by the Fairie Queen's voice, which sounded like several people talking at once.
Then the Fairie Queen asked if it was once human. This set off alarm bells in her head, and she could tell that everyone else felt the same.
Except Ozpin, who watched their reactions carefully. It answered yes.
This was huge. This Grimm, was similar to Salem. Once human, but now an immortal Grimm.
She expected the fight to escalate further. Both the Grimm, now named Vasto Lorde, which sounded like it came from an ancient language, and The Fairie Queen both seemed to be testing each other, and not actually revealing their true abilities.
The Grimm spoke again, telling the Fairie Queen that it could devourer other Grimm in order to gain strength. That was worrying. Grimm don't attack each other, this was a universal rule that always stayed the same. But this showed that not only a Grimm could attack other Grimm, but they could gain intelligence and extreme power with enough age.
She looked over at Ozpin, and she could tell he knew what she was thinking. She watched the Grimm fire another beam, before the Fairie Queen seemed to fail to block it, before appearing in front of it.
[Matter Eraser!] The Fairie Queen shouted, before releasing a huge beam even bigger than the Grimm's.
She gapped at the destruction it caused.
Once in stopped, she let out a surprised gasp at the Grimm. Half of its entire body was disintegrated, and it looked as though it might die any second.
She heard the Grimm curse her and laugh, exclaiming how the Fairie Queen destroyed its sword.
She then heard the Grimm figure out the Fairie Queen's power. 'Such frightening intelligence.' she thought. She could tell the Fairie Queen was also wary of the Grimm.
But if the Grimm was scary, the Fairie Queen was absolutely terrifying. Three powers at a time, that could literally be anything, and adapt to the situation! She couldn't think of a more powerful semblance if she tried.
But she could only use each power a certain amount of times. Then she heard the Grimm speak again, and she could only wonder, 'What could have required the Fairie Queen to deplete that power? What could weren't even using that power?' It raised many questions. Could the Fairie Queen have fought with other Grimm or creatures that required using such a power? How powerful would they have to be?
As she thought these questions, she turned her attention back to the screen. She watched as the Grimm fled, and the Fairie Queen left, she realized, to find her.
The video then cut, and a new man appeared on screen.
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POC Anonymous - Mr. B
Another man was now sitting at a new desk. He had black hair, and was wearing a black trench coat and gloves. He was wearing a white mask with a purple lightning mark over one eyes, and a thin red line where his mouth would be.
"Welcome," He spoke. "I am Mr. B. I am an expert in linguistics, and will decipher some of what the Fairie Queen is saying."
He then picked up a piece of paper from the desk and started to read.
"Now most of what the Fairy Queen says are references to mythology and legend. While most of the ancient legends from before the founding of the kingdoms were lost, our experts were able to use various libraries around the kingdoms to search for the terms she uses. We will want to get started right away."
"Now, this is some of the dialogue exchanged between the Fairy Queen and the Grimm reaper, Courtesy of the latter."
"The First thing that stands apparent is that the Fairy Queen referred to the Grimm Reaper on several occasions as 'Thanatos'. This is believed to be a reference to the Greek God Thanatos, who was the god of death. Now this is also believed to be a way that the Fairy Queen was making fun of the Grimm Reaper, as most of the legends involving Thanatos were of human mortals tricking him. This could be a parallel between the Grimm Reaper being 'Tricked' or ambushed. "
"Another thing of note, is that the Fairy Queen calls Tock, the mercenary who ambushed The Grimm Reaper, as 'Yaldabaoth's Kin'. This is believed to be a reference to the god, known as Yaldabaoth, who was actually found from an ancient text originating from an ancient clan that worshiped what is thought to be Fairies. It is stated that Yaldabaoth represented the beast-like tendencies of man, and was a god of animals and beasts. Therefore, a Faunus could be considered its kin, due to their animal biology." He explained.
"While there are many other references to mythological tale sand gods, we were unable to find enough evidence to support one claim of what they might mean."
"But, we were able to decipher most of what was said during the video. The Fairy Queen referred to Atlas, As Olympus. We believe this to be her insulting Atlas. Olympus, once again found in mythology, was the home of the gods, and was depicted in some works as a floating paradise, but despite this, and as most know, the Greek gods were not depicted as 'Gods' in legend. They were repeatedly portrayed as insensitive people who did what ever they wanted, and were shown on in many different legends that the kidnapped, rapped, tricked, and stole, and repeated these things constantly. Therefore, we believe that she is calling Atlas a floating paradise that houses people, who we think are the officials of Atlas, are equivalent to these Greek gods." He summarized.
"Finally, we noted that she also referred the the people of Atlas as 'The Church of the Broken God'. This once again was found from ancient text by this 'Fairy Worshiping Clan'. The Church of The broken god was described as a group of people who worshiped the god known as Mekhane, who is the god of intelligence, and machinery. Thus, the Fairy Queen is calling the people of Atlas people who worship the Machines and Intelligence, which we here at Anonymous agree with."
"Despite the lack of information of the Fairy Queen, we have quite a lot on her opponent. The term 'Vasto Lorde' is ancient Mistralian, which roughly translates to "Highest Great Hollow". Now after some searching, we found several reports and studies that were on a race of Grimm known as Hollow's. Though the studies all mostly turned up little, they discovered that Hollows were an ancient race of Grimm that varied greatly in appearance, and were thought of to be a collection of unknown Grimm species. But, it was discovered that all of these Grimm types were though to devourer other Grimm's, including their own species, and grow in strength. It was recorded that it was thought that once these Grimm grew strong enough, no matter their appearance, they all gained a human-like form. While the existence of this Grimm type was mostly written off as either fake or extinct, it doesn't change the fact that the Fairy Queen called him a hollow."
"This is also supported by the translation what the Grimm called his energy attacks. The word 'Cero' also translate to 'Hollow Flash'. Due to this we think its safe to assume this Grimm is a Hollow."
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Ozpin watched the various people in the offices reactions carefully. This was probably the biggest event sense the creation of Atlas. He could understand their reactions as well. After all, he had similar the first time he saw the video.
The video itself was quite the clever creation by Anonymous. Usually, they speak about certain politicians that were exposed to have been corrupt or about current events. Like a podcast, in a way. But in this video, they took out most of their usual propaganda to make it appeal to the normal citizen. Quite clever indeed.
That's not to say how they even got ahold of the information. Which was from Ozpin himself. Through several, 'Coincidences' they caught wind of an encounter between The Grimm Reaper and The Fairy Queen, and Maria, with a little push from Ozpin, gave them all the information they wanted. Not that he would of forced her to reveal the information if she didn't want to.
There was a specific reason Ozpin set this up to happen. And that was to give hope. Against the eternal never ending threat of the Grimm, and their immortal queen, humanity was on the brink of collapse. Thus, he created Atlas using an ancient relic made by the Gods, allowing the city to float. Publicly, people thought it was some technologic marvel using Gravity Dust.
Despite the content of the video revealing many top-secrets, humanity needed a symbol, a chance of hope. A person who could stand against a thousand year-old Grimm? The Fairy Queen was someone who quickly rose on Ozpin's, to do list. She was someone of unimaginable value. Despite the mystery's surrounding her appearance, she could likely be hundreds of years old, based on the information from Summers Rescue. She was able to heal Summer from a Near-Dead, or possibly Dead state, into a fully recovered one.
He looked at the ground, an knew that she would be the key to his success. The fall maiden that slumbered beneath the academy, kept in a near dead state, could be healed. That alone was enough to seek the Fairy Queen out. But based on what they had seen, who knew if she had powers that might even be able to turn the tide against Salem.
But he also knew it would be hard to track her down. No one had ever seen or herd of her before, thus it must mean she had only appeared recently, or she was extremely good at staying off the radar.
Another worrying thing was the Grimm itself. He knew that despite his suspicions, it likely had no connection to Salem despite their similar origins. Salem would never work with someone who could potentially harm her, and kept a close leash on any Grimm that was of significant age.
Thus, it only was sensible to assume that the Grimm worked alone, and had no ties to Salem.
Once the video was over, he prepared to listen to the arguing of several individuals for the next few hours. 'What I do for the sake of humanity.' he thought.
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A/N: Almost 5k words. Geez. Despite this chapters length and difficulty to write, It was extremely fun. Most of what Uaine says is derived from mythology, but their are a few outliers. I also draw inspiration from Type-Moon/Fate franchise, because of all its cool stories. I also draw inspiration from the Lovecraftian Mythos, and SCP mythos, which is where Mekhane and Yaldabaoth come from. Mainly from one of my favorite SCP tales, "Project Paragon" by DJKAKTUS, also author of another one of my favorites, "Ouroboros Cycle". Project Paragon also contains a lot of lore about Fairies, gods, and myths that I will use in this story.
Changing gears, I also really, really, really, really, hate Ironwood and Lionheart. Not actually as people, but as characters. I know most people agree everything after RWBY volume 3 is garbage, (I liked volume 4), But I think Ironwood and Lionheart's characters where going to be much different in Monty's version of RWBY, and were going to play a much bigger and better role, with their characters actually developing and changing. That's why I dispose writing them. They are so one- dimensional, unbelievable, and and stereotypical, combined with what I think they were going to be in the original version of RWBY. Knowing what they do later on just ruins them as characters for me.
Anyways, Idea's, Comments, Pointing out mistakes, Constructive Criticism, or just yelling at me to work faster is always welcome. Remember to leave power stones if enjoy what I write and want to show support!
Mr. X:
Mr. B:
Ozpin:
Lionheart:
Ironwood:
Qrow: