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RWBY: Silver Eyes and Shadow Games (B5/RWBY Crossover)

Chapter 1

DarthDakka

Author
Author

Summary:

As Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long desperately search for their missing teammate a mysterious explosion in the forest of Forever Fall rocks the Kingdom of Vale. Bringing with it fear, uncertainty and two servants of chaos with an alien agenda of their own...

(Foreknowledge of Babylon 5 is not needed for this story.)
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Author's Introduction:

Before the story begins, I'd like to address the elephant in the room. This story does involve a pair of original characters sharing a prominent roll with the canon cast.

However, the point of the original characters is not so they can overshadow or replace the canon characters. Likewise, there won't be any romance or harem shenanigans between them and the cast of RWBY.

The point of the original characters' inclusion to the story is more 'Let's throw these two characters into the pot and stir, then see how things turn out'. It's not to make a universe which is inherently 'better' or 'worse' than the canon one.

As for the character's back- stories; like the crossover elements, they'll be touched upon and explained in story as it goes on. As I've written this story for people who aren't familiar with Babylon 5 in mind, so foreknowledge isn't necessary to understand and enjoy this story.

So, without further ado, we begin a story of monsters, men and magic...and shadows in between.
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A presence dark invades the fair,
and gives the horses ample scare,
for chaos reigns and panic numbs,
when something wicked this way comes.

-Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

"Having a soft heart in a cruel world is courage, not weakness."
-Katherine Henson

Ruby Rose gave a grumbled protest as she felt the warmth of the early morning sun shining onto her face, despite the fact that she had drawn the curtains before heading to bed last night. She fumbled around for something to keep the light out of her eyes, only to discover that her sleeping mask had slid to the top of her head during the night. The song of a particularly cheerful bird outside the window pushed her the rest of the way awake.

Silver eyes drifting open, Ruby sat up with a yawn, stretching and causing her red-tipped black hair to sway. Dressed in her customary black tank-top and long white pants printed with pink roses, the fifteen-year-old had awoken earlier than was usual for her.

As she blinked slumber from her eyes, Ruby took a look around to see how her teammates were doing. At the bed across from her, Yang Xiao Long snored in her sleep. But instead of sleeping sprawled out on her back like normal, she was curled up under the red blankets. With her back to Ruby, the most visible part of Yang was her long blonde hair, which reached far down her back.

Glancing down at the bed below her sister's, Ruby frowned. It was empty. Blake Belladonna, Yang's teammate, usually wasn't awake before everyone else. For a moment, she wondered why the dark-haired girl might have risen so early and where she might have gotten off to. It was probably too early for the Academy cafeteria to be serving breakfast. Ruby knew from personal experience, though, that fact had seldom stopped hungry students from getting a late night snack. Blake, on the other hand, was not the sort of person to go raiding the kitchen, early or not.

Ruby couldn't shake a feeling that there was something very obvious she was missing. Her mind, still clouded from sleep, took a few moments to realize what it was. Memories of what had happened two days ago stirred in her mind and everything came back in a rush like a bad dream. Ruby gave a quiet groan.

There'd been an argument between Blake and Weiss. Weiss had been expressing her opinions about the White Fang, calling them liars, thieves, and murderers. Blake hadn't taken it well. In a fit of rage, Blake had accidentally revealed she was a Faunus and had been hiding that ever since they met. When she'd realized what she'd said, Blake had fled. That'd been two days ago and Ruby had not seen her since.

Rubbing the last bit of tiredness from her eyes, Ruby pushed the covers back and started climbing out of bed. She knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep now. Not wanting to wake anyone else up yet, she was careful not to make her bed rock or swing too much on the ropes that held it up.

The polished wooden floor felt cool beneath her bare feet as she lowered herself to the ground. A glance behind her told her Weiss, wearing her blue-white sleeping gown, had stayed asleep. Her long, snowy hair pooled across the covers; her face was calm and relaxed. And the sounds of Yang's snores told Ruby she was still sleeping as well.

Going over to the window and the bookshelf in front of it, Ruby could see the vast Forest of Forever Fall that surrounded Beacon on two sides. The sky was dark, but touched with dull purples and reds in the direction of the rising sun, which was just starting to peek over the horizon.

A glimmer caught her gaze. It was far in the distance, resting among the darkness in the red trees of the Forest of Forever Fall.

"Huh...?" She murmured to herself without thinking. She was sure that hadn't been there before.

In a sudden flash, like a bolt of lightening, the gleam flared brighter. It was a strange mix of colors now. A dark blue mixed in with a pinkish-purple color. The light was blinding in the morning darkness. Startled, Ruby flinched away from the widow with a high-pitched cry of surprise and a flurry of red rose petals.

She found herself with her back against the wall at the far side of the room, having used her Semblance to cover the distance, scattering petals across the floor in the process. It'd only been a split second, yet Ruby couldn't shake a feeling that there'd been something wrong about it. Light shouldn't behave like that. Shouldn't be oily and twisted.

To Ruby's left, Weiss' covers shuffled, and the heiress murmured something in her sleep, before going still again. A jaw-cracking yawn drew Ruby's attention up to where Yang, in her night-clothes of an orange tank-top and black shorts, was stretching. Her expression and amethyst colored eyes were half-awake. "Nggggh, wha – Ruby?"

At that moment, a tearing rumble, like a thunderclap of sound, slammed into her ears like a blow.

Ruby jerked, clapping her hands over her ears. She could feel the floor tremble breath her feet as the shock-wave hit Beacon.

Weiss shot upright, her long white hair in disarray. Her eyes darted around wildly as if expecting some sort of attack. At the same time, Yang gave a surprised, "Whoa! The heck?"

A tangle of sounds- sharp cries of surprise and of people scrambling around throughout the dormitory- followed as the thunder faded away.

"What…" Weiss stopped and then tried again, "What in Remnant was that?"

-RWBY-

Paula Ravenwood rolled from where she'd fallen on her side. Moving without thinking, she raised herself up with none of her usual catlike grace. A slim and shapely human woman, she was almost thirty, with dark red-gold hair that reached down to her shoulders. She wore her normal attire: black dress jeans, black boots, a blood-red shirt and equally red leather jacket.

Still dazed, she remained doubled over, gasping as she struggled to get her breath back. The fall had been punishing; hitting the ground had pushed out what little air that had remained in her lungs and made her see stars. Her hands, encased in tight-fitting opera gloves that reached up to her elbows beneath her jacket, rested on her knees. Paula forced herself to take in slow, measured breaths, letting the cool air fill her lungs and ease her racing heart.

Her dark gold eyes flicked to the fallen figure a few feet away, who'd almost gone face-down in the dirt along beside her. Even through her mental barriers, at this close range she could still feel his now-familiar presence. One of the hardest things about explaining what her telepathy could do was when she had to talk about auras, how they felt. It wasn't something she could really describe. But if she had to, the man known as Shaidar Gorthule was like when a cloud covered the sun, dropping everything into shadow.

Even as she thought this, he unsteadily rose into a sitting position, much like she had. A thick layer of oily material covered his lean form from head to toe. The armor wasn't a solid color, but a motley mosaic made up of small, misshapen black segments on a lighter charcoal background. Several short curved spines of the same bio-metal protruded from the back of his upper arms. Likewise, four similar- if larger-spikes projected from his upper back in vertical pairs: two to each side of his spine.

Through the disheveled strands of her hair, she saw the black armor covering the front of his head flow back. It revealed the familiar face of a man in his late twenties as his head turned, looking at her.

His lean face and short dark hair were ordinary enough to disappear into a crowd with little trouble. His eyes were the lone alien feature on an otherwise-human face, with dark green irises flecked with orange, cat-like slits for pupils and a black sclera.

"That was close. You alright?" Shaidar questioned in his mutated British accent.

Even out of breath his concern was clear to hear. Though Paula knew the motion of looking her over with his eyes was a holdover from his old human life, the one he'd had before they'd even met. He could—and probably was— using his cybernetic sensors to examine her from head to toe.

Paula couldn't help but offer the cyborg a little smile. They weren't the most touchy-feely people around and their relationship might not be the most openly affectionate. They still loved each other regardless.

She shrugged, her red-gold hair shimmering with the movement. "I've been better. You?" she asked, still panting a little. Her voice carried a trace of a drawl typical to the American south.

"Tolerable." He coughed as he tried to catch his breath. "Nice thinking back there. I'd say you got us out in the nick of time."

"Thanks. You know what they say— timing is everything." It was a weak quip. She'd all but thrown herself at him in a last desperate measure, and teleported them both through the portal he'd linked open to the Shadow's universe. All while fighting to hang on to him against the pull of decompression into the vastness of space as the armored hull of the United Nations Spaceship Indomitable had been torn open by weapons fire. She and Shaidar had been traveling aboard as observers.

Shaidar's lip twitched into a small smile. "They have indeed."

Getting to her feet, Paula frowned at her outfit, which was covered in a thin grime of dirt. She brushed herself off with gloved hands, making a quick check of her coat pockets and belt. Luckily, she'd landed on her other side, so all three of the glass vials were intact. Likewise, the snub-nosed energy pistol was still in its holster on her belt.

That done, Paula raked her hand unevenly through her hair and got a good view of her surroundings for the first time. Her eyes widened.

"Oh, what the hell have we gotten into now?" she murmured.

Overhead, a distant canvas of stars hung in a dark blue sky. All around her, a vast, hill-crowded, crimson forest stretched into the distance. To her right, the sky was dark, but touched with dull purples and crimsons. Paula had no way of knowing if what she was witnessing was dawn or dusk. The cool air was quiet save for the sound of the creaking and groaning of trees. But this wasn't the true cause of her dread.

In the pale light sunlight, Paula could make out a ragged circular clearing around her and Shaidar. It had to be several hundred feet across; about the size of a parking lot. The ground beneath her feet was stripped clear, exposing hard soil. Bare of bark and branches toppled trees littered the ground. Paula only now became aware of the nose-wrinkling stench of ozone mixed in with odors of decaying leaves and earth.

All this radiated out from the central point- where she and Shaidar Gorthule now stood. As if there could be any doubt for the cause of the newly created clearing.

"Well. This is different." Shaidar said, looking around. At five foot eight he was only a little taller than her. A ripple passed through the armor as it changed from its default black to a vivid red and orange autumn forest camouflage pattern. Paula could tell he was trying to be nonchalant, but she knew better. He was worried, just as she was. But they'd both seen and done too much in their lives to let that fear rule them.

"More like the start of a bad horror film." Something caught Paula's attention, and her golden eyes gazed up into the clear sky above. To her left and low above the treeline, a shattered half-moon glowed down, cold and white. Paula's eyes traced over its craters and pockmarks, noting the similarities to others she'd seen on other worlds on its unfamiliar face.

"And I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," She added, causing Shaidar to glance up from the portal device strapped to his left arm.

"Oh dear," he said, peering upwards at the broken alien moon. As the light changed, a deep orange gleam flickered to life within his eyes, making them resemble a pair of faintly glowing coals.

"You're saying the obvious darling." Her voice was laced with a playful tone that was only slightly forced.

"Little bit," he agreed, looking back to her, the motion making the orange glint in his eyes die. "Can you sense anything out there?"

Lowering her mental barriers for the moment, Paula reached out, scanning for other minds. "No one but some panicking animals in my range, so on the upside we haven't been seen. On on the downside we're definitely in the middle of nowhere. You?"

Unlike herself, Shaidar Gorthule wasn't a telepath. Nor was he a Preternatural—the name used by the few aware of her 'world' and the existence of people born with supernatural abilities.

Shaidar Gorthule was a Techno-mage. Like the rest of his order, his abilities were the result of a network of bio-mechanical cybernetic implants throughout his body. That technology had been created and supplied by an ancient race of aliens known to most as the Shadows. The Techno-mages served the Shadows in variety of ways, but mostly as elite agents, soldiers or some mix of both.

"All's clear on my end too. But I'm getting metal, probably train tracks, and a signal from over there. I'd say it's an automated hazard alert." He said, gesturing towards several of the fallen trees at the far edge of the clearing. Paula thought she could see a metallic glint underneath.

"As for long range," Shaidar Gorthule continued, "I'm detecting a lot of communications traffic from the south west. Almost certainly from a major city, but it's out of scanner range. And we can't stay here; our arrival has been noticed by the locals. Seems we created quite the light-show."

"Damn. Well, if the locals don't like visitors, we'll be busy soon. It was your portal. Any clue where we are?"

"Yes and no," the Techno-mage replied evenly. "From what fragments I can pick up, the city is named 'Vale' and the people of this world call it 'Remnant'. Unfortunately, I've never heard of either before and we're too far out for me to access any computers wirelessly. I don't suppose any of that sounds familiar to you?"

"No, I don't know the names. It...it feels a bit like the Underworld or one of the other pocket Realms might have felt, back home. Not quite the same but... Of that nature, if less so. Other, is the best word I've got, in a magical sense."

"Now that is intriguing, if not what I'd hoped for. At least on the bright side, this place beats the vacuum of space."

"There is that. Still, this could be complicated." She grinned, a sharp smile. "Let's hope they don't burn witches or things may get messy."

"For them, I'd think," Shaidar Gorthule commented dryly. "We should get a move on. As much as I don't fancy strolling through a strange forest, I'd rather we weren't here when some spooked and trigger-happy natives start showing up."

Here he glanced down for a moment, before continuing, "Still, all things considered, I think we'll remain on foot for a bit. At least until anyone who does manage to track us will think they lost the trail in the forest. It should be safe enough- I'm not detecting anything dangerous with my scanners."

"Can't portal us out then?" Paula asked as they started walking between the fallen trunks, their feet leaving almost no impression on the hard earth. Gorthule's armor flowed back over his face while she spoke. Only when it settled into place did he reply.

"Afraid not. Whatever caused us to accidentally arrive here damaged the linking device." He said, referring to the mechanism wrapped around his wrist like an oversized watch. It was now hidden once more beneath his armor. "In fact, I've shut everything down except diagnostics until I can give it a good look over. Preferably somewhere secure."

"Well. That is inconvenient. And being only half Cerberi, I can't teleport between dimensions." Not to mention she couldn't teleport them to this 'Vale' city. She'd never been there before, didn't have a line of sight and was certain she didn't know anyone living in it either.

The Cerberi were a breed of magic users who served the Preternatural faction known as the Hadean Throne. They were an upper class, but some worked as hired guns or mercenaries to leaders of the Underworld. Save for their alliance to the Throne, their roles made them the mirror-image of the Guardians that served the Aegis.

"Assuming this place is like one of your people's pocket dimensions, is it possibl-" His head snapped around, peering out into the forest as his voice dropped off into a sharp whisper. "Unknown contacts inbound!"

His warning came only a fraction of a second before a chorus of guttural and undeniably enraged howls filled the air, along with a cloying and horrific scent.

Paula stopped, turned, her right hand coming to rest on the grip of the energy pistol hanging on her hip. She reached out, scanning with her mind again instead of her eyes. For an instant, she felt, sensed nothing. Then there was a hint of minds that weren't quite minds at all. They were empty, hollow shells. Twisted. Animalistic. Filled with hate. And a yawning, ravenous hunger. Her heart went cold in her chest.

Quick as lightning, a dozen nightmares of black fur erupted from the underbrush at the edge of the clearing. The creatures were in the broad outline of a wolf, if a wolf had aspirations to become human. Each was roughly bipedal, with bodies that were slumped forward as they ran on all fours. Even in the faint sunlight, fangs glistened in muzzles. Burning, hate-filled red eyes glared out of faces masked by bone.

In that instant, Paula lashed out with her telepathy. But she'd never encountered anything quite like this before. Her attack wasn't coordinated enough to do more than disorientate them. Several creatures stumbled, a few even colliding with each other or fallen tree trunks.

Even while they stumbled, Paula was running through her few spell-casting options. She almost drew her pistol, but stopped before she'd barely begun. She had a better idea. These things could well be magical—she'd try an attack on those lines first.

As her hand darted to her coat pocket, the creatures shook themselves, staggering but ready to continue their attack. They never got the chance.

Two dozen bat-winged imps flickered into existence above the creatures. Each was the size of a large dog. Dark copper armor covered much of their gray bodies. Long steel teeth gleamed in crooked mouths. Paula recognized the imps for what they were of course; hard light constructs. Solid holograms of Shaidar's creation. Holo-demons.

Like a swarm of furious hornets, the imps dove on the wolf-creatures. Bear-trap jaws and arms ending in claws or short blades stabbed and tore chunks out of black-furred flesh. Again, the creatures fell into disarray. They shrieked and swatted at the holographic imps, who darted through the air or clung to their enemies as they hooted, hacked and bit.

It was then her searching fingers closed around the distinctly shaped glass vial holding an explosive potion. Paula pulled it out of her pocket, when she felt Shaidar wrap an arm around her waist and pull her close to him. She felt his breath on her cheek. "Hold on," he said in a short, clipped tone.

She felt something shift under her feet. Her gaze flickered down involuntary. She could almost see a rippling distortion under her feet in the shape of a flat, translucent square. The platform looked to be a little over a yard wide and across but only about an inch thick.

Like all Techno-mage platforms, this one was an extension of the 'mage who generated it. So, Shaidar had an instinctive ability to keep his balance through various maneuvers. But, any passenger on the platform—such as herself—had to either hold tight to the Techno-mage or hope for a gentle ride.

As they shot upwards, a guttural snarl ripped her attention back to the fight. The holographic imps were fighting well, but even as Paula looked, one fell prey to a beast's attack. Its body fizzed into nothingness as it 'died'. But that was not what drew her gaze.

One creature was bounding forward, a pair of imps still stubbornly clinging to it. This one was larger than the rest, with scattered white spines protruding from its back and arms. Its eyes, shining with menace, were fixed on her- on them.

The platform jerked sideways as the creature leaped for them with claws splayed. Paula drew her arm back, almost whacking Shaidar in the face with her elbow, and threw the explosive mixture right at the creature. More by pure luck than by design, the glass vial hit its face and shattered. There was a cough of an explosion. A burst of pallid green fire. The creature tumbled back down into the dirt with a ragged yelp.

About a dozen feet above the treetops, their ascent stopped. As the platform spun in place, Paula caught a final glimpse of the clearing before it was behind them. Their purpose now served, the holographic imps had dissipated. The other wolf-creatures were now glaring up at them, snarling and scrabbling around under them like dogs who'd gotten a cat up a tree. The larger creature she'd hit was getting to its feet. It was still smoldering, with large swaths of fur and skin burned away.

Then the creatures were gone, left behind as she and Gorthule flew out over the forest. The whole fight had only lasted a handful of seconds.

"Sorry for that," Paula said, almost absently to Gorthule. His armor had returned to its default black color. "So a little like Hadean demons—well, obviously not but in theory, could be similar. That's a bit of useful information."

"It's fine," he replied, "But I'd rather you hadn't done that."

"I just wish I'd killed the thing." Paula's eyes were still narrowed in thought, the wind ruffling her red hair. She felt more shaken than afraid by what she'd felt from those creatures. There was a pause as the rest of Shaidar's comment registered then. "I thought I only almost hit you?"

"It's not that. I'd planned to get us out and leave behind as little evidence as possible for the locals to puzzle over. If they learn about us, I want it to be on our terms. So the more we can mislead them about our capabilities the better. They can't fight what they don't know. Besides, we would have gained nothing by staying there and battling it out with those creatures."

As Shaidar elaborated, the platform beneath them grew by several feet and darkened to the color of smoke-blackened glass. She'd seen for herself in the past how platforms could be created in various shapes, such as a chair, a chariot and so on. All which would be more comfortable and easier to sit on. But, as he'd explained to her, simple designs were easier to create, maintain and also change to a degree while in use.

"Ah." She wasn't too inclined to apologize, largely since she was a little skeptical that the platform had been moving away fast enough, but it was a potential problem. But it explained why Shaidar hadn't just killed them. After all, bodies and battlefields could be examined. "Better a potion than a phaser then."

Now that she thought about it, Paula realized his decision to use holo-demons had been more than just a way to keep those creatures busy while they escaped. It was another attempted deception on his part. Anyone who investigated would probably think the creatures had been fighting some other animal. Yes, the fight would have still looked odd given the location. But, it might have been enough to allay suspicions. At least for a little while.

"True. Still, it's not your fault. I should have made my intentions clearer before those things showed up. Speaking of which, how well could you detect those creatures back there?" The platform slowed a little as Shaidar let go of Paula's waist and sat down.

"Not very well," Paula said, sitting down as well. "I've never sensed anything quite like them before. Their minds were almost empty. It's like they were some sort of projection. Which explains a little why I didn't sense them earlier." A thought struck her, "Come to think of it, I don't think I saw any of those creatures bleed. Which isn't normal, even for demons."

She'd thrown in that last sentence for Shaidar Gorthule's benefit. When Gorthule's associates had shown up in her universe, her people's secretiveness had been directed at them, much like it had been with the rest of the human race. Of course, few people were aware of the Shadow's true nature as being from another universe. They'd gone to great lengths to hide where they'd come from and instead claimed to be from a distant galaxy.

"Neither did I. And I couldn't get a reading on them with most of my sensors. My motion scanners only picked them up as intermittent contacts and that was at a reduced range. They barely showed up on infrared as well." There was a definite trace of unease in his voice at the end.

Paula fiddled with a knife thoughtfully for a moment, its blade a dulled gray that did not reflect the light, before returning it to it's forearm sheath. "So, we know we're in a preternatural world with the weirdest damn moon I've ever seen. We've got a couple names. And we can't get out, for now."

"I'm afraid that's the long and short of it. But I expect we'll know more soon enough." He said, quietly confident.
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Chapter Note:

Reviews and constructive criticism is always welcomed. I'm very curious to hear people's thoughts about my first attempt at RWBY fanfiction so far and how well I portrayed the canon cast and my original characters.

For clarification, Shaidar Gorthule is pronounced 'Shade-are Gore-thule'.

Not sure how well it came across, but I'm really trying to push the idea of the Grimm being weird and unusual by anyone's standards. Hence why Shaidar and Paula had such a hard time detecting them.

Likewise, I've tried to get across that while both the original characters are intelligent, experienced and generally competent, they're not perfect by a long shot and make mistakes. After all, they've accidentally ended up in an unknown universe. That's the very definition of fucking up with style.
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UPDATE: 4/2018
Fixed a few errors, trimmed down some descriptions and removed the flashback of Blake and Weiss's argument. As all they did was slow down the flow of the chapter and (somewhat needlessly) repeat events from canon. Much kudos to Everfew who helped me out with the editing.
 
Chapter 2


The light was stronger now; the morning sun was a red-orange ball just over the hills.

Stepping off from atop a fallen tree trunk, a woman in red and black surveyed the desolate clearing illuminated by the morning sun. An elaborate helmet obscured most of her head, except for her long black hair and the raven feathers twisted into it. The helmet itself was white with red accents and shaped like the fearsome head of a Grimm bird of prey. One gloved hand never strayed far from the sword sheathed in the heavy scabbard that hung at her left hip.

Raven Branwen strode through the maze of fallen trees, thigh-length black boots moving in measured steps. Like the rest of of her clothing, her boots were well made, but had seen much wear.

Hidden behind the helmet, her crimson eyes were focused on the ground torn by the paws and claws of beowolves. She slowly circled around, inspecting them, careful not to touch it or step on the softer ground of the disturbed dirt.

Approaching one such patch of soil, she paused, seeing what looked like the remains of a pair of tracks mixed in with those of the Grimm. They were faint against the baked ground, little more than a collection of scuff marks. Anyone else would have missed it. But few people in Remnant had her skill when it came to tracking.

Straightening herself, she resumed her search for clues to what had happened here. She continued along, stooping now and again to take a closer look at some mark or print on the ground. Until she'd circled back around to where she'd begun. It was only then that she stopped, her eyes distant as she contemplated the what she'd found.

Raven thought she had a good picture of what had taken place, even if it was half-finished and left her with questions. Such as when had the people whose tracks she'd discovered arrive here? Had they been the ones to cause the blast or only the first come here to investigate it? Their tracks were too spoiled or confused to be sure.

As for how they'd escaped the Grimm, she couldn't be sure. Although she suspected they'd jumped aboard a hovering Bullhead. Given the signs of a fight, she couldn't rule out the use of a summoning Semblance, like the one possessed by the conniving and lavish Schnees.

More important to Raven was the cause of all this. All the signs she'd found pointed to magic, powerful magic at that, to create a clearing several hundred feet across. Had it been caused by Dust, she would have found some trace of it or fragments of bomb casing, and there was no way someone with so powerful a Semblance could have escaped her attention- or that of Ozpin and Salem. The power that had done this was equal to that of a Maiden.

To Raven, this almost had to be the doing of one of Salem or Ozpin's pawns. A third party was possible and not to be discounted, but there was only a small chance of that. Ozpin and Salem jealously guarded what power and knowledge they had.

If it was so easy to acquire such power outside serving in their cabals, Raven would have discovered it long ago. As for stealing it from either of them, that would be a foolish errand unless done carefully. Her misguided brother might have failed to protect the Fall Maiden, but Raven knew that to be a fluke.

That the Fall Maiden had been overcome so easily and had needed a guard at all revealed how weak Amber had been. Inexperience alone could not excuse what had happened. She'd been little more than a figurehead propped up by what Raven saw as a frightened old man who dared only to tell his servants riddles and half-truths. She only regretted it had taken her too long to realize the extent of this.

The idea that Ozpin might have been the cause of this desolation almost drew a snort of laughter from Raven. For all his claimed knowledge and wisdom, he was far too careful and cautious to allow such actions. It was but one reason among many that Beacon would fall and he would fail. Followed soon by the Kingdoms and the fools who cowered within them. It was the natural order of things. People who were weak would die and the strong would live.

A faint sound reached her ears and she glanced up by reflex, already knowing she would see the distant metallic shine in the sky of several Bullheads approaching from the direction of the city of Vale.

Reaching to her hip, Raven drew her curved crimson sword. The blade doubled to over twice it's length in an instant. There was a high pitched thrumming and the sword flashed downward through empty space. The blade left a red rent in its wake. It was as if the air itself was wounded.

Determination and focus enveloped her, hardened her mind to ice and her will to steel. If this was some new twist in Salem's scheme, she would uncover it and plan accordingly.

And should it turn out to be the doing of someone else...she'd ether recruit them by any means necessary or deal with them. One way or another, it would be before Ozpin or Salem could so the same.

What sort of leader would she be if she wouldn't do whatever was necessary to ensure the survival of her people?

-RWBY-

The cavernous space of Beacon Academy's central cafeteria was alive with activity. A steady buzz of voices filled the air while students filled their trays with a wide range of breakfast food, before sitting down with friends and teammates.

Teams RWBY and JNPR's table was no different from their classmates'. As was the case whenever the eight of them had the chance, they'd grab the same spot. As with the other students, none of teens had their weapons, which were safely put away in their lockers.

All this was normal for the crowded room in the morning. Even for the two-week break between semesters at Beacon, the topic of conversation wasn't.

"Come on guys," Nora Valkyrie interjected as she drizzled enough syrup on her flapjacks to induce a diabetic coma. She glanced up at the others, her blue-green eyes narrowing, "It was obviously the climax of an epic battle between some lone, grizzled Huntsman and the giant, one-eyed Ursa that took the life of the woman he loved! Fueled by love, vengeance, and a convenient vein of burn Dust beneath their feet he destroyed the monstrosity!"

The ginger-haired teen then went from manic to melancholic, as if someone had flipped a switch, "But tragically the wounds he took in the battle were too great even for Aura to heal and perishes. In his last moments he thinks of his love hoping that at last, they'll be reunited in the afterlife."

Across from Nora, sitting with the sunlight warming her back and her waist-length wild mane of curly blonde hair, Yang Xiao Long grinned. Despite the situation over the last two days, the other girl's energy was infectious. Still, it wasn't enough to push her partner and friend's disappearance from Yang's mind.

Like the rest of her friends, Yang wasn't wearing Beacon's school uniform. In the athletic, buxom teenager's case, her customary clothing was black shorts, heavy leather boots and a tan leather jacket. The last one was worn over a low-cut yellow top with her stylized insignia of a heart engulfed in flames.

From where he sat next to her, Nora's partner and long time friend Lie Ren, lowered a coffee cup from his lips. The boy, his black hair disrupted by a pink streak, wore a long-sleeved green Mistrali-style tailcoat and white pants.

"Nora," Ren said slowly, "that was the plot of the movie we saw last weekend."

From further down on Nora's side of the table, Pyrrha Nikos also spoke up, her tone and the look in her dark green eyes were one of polite skepticism, "And putting that aside, I'm not quite sure Huntsmen being the cause is very likely."

Unlike Nora's shoulder-length hair, Pyrrha's deep red ponytail reached to the taller girl's waist. Both women of Team JNPR wore a mix of armor and clothing. With Nora, it was silver and worn over a white top and pink skirt. In her fellow teammate's case, the armor was more extensive and a deep bronze color.

"Pyrrha's right. Unless they were carrying a whole shipping container worth of Dust, it's not possible," chimed in Weiss from besides Yang. She looked as prim and proper as always in her white dress and jacket.

Nora let out a disappointed, "Aww."

Yang swallowed a mouthful of food; it tasted like ashes going down. Giving a smile, she said, "I dunno Ice Queen, you might be onto something. Maybe it was a natural pocket of Dust that got set off somehow."

She hoped none of them noticed how fake and forced her smile felt. She'd always worn her heart on her sleeve, sure, but she'd kept her fair share of personal secrets. Her dad didn't know about some of Yang's dates back at Signal, or why she'd come home late the night she'd visited the Bear Necessities and ended up trashing Junior's club. Even when they'd started at Beacon, Yang had managed to restrain herself from doing anything about Ruby wanting Weiss to respect her as leader of Team RWBY. But none of those had been as big as what had happened to Blake.

So it was difficult for her to balance out how she felt while trying to keep up a facade about something so important as Blake's disappearance.

Not for the first time, Yang's amethyst gaze flashed down past Weiss towards her little sister. Ruby was clad in a black blouse, a waist cincher with red lacing and a combat skirt with red trimmings. A red cloak adorned her shoulders, pinned to her blouse by a pair of silver crosses.

To Yang's growing concern, Ruby was still picking at her breakfast of pancakes with strawberries. She didn't seem to be paying much attention to the conversation going on around her either.

A thoughtful expression appeared on Weiss's face. "Maybe, but I can't imagine what could have ignited it. Raw Dust isn't anywhere near as volatile as processed crystals or powder. And I'm almost certain that any Dust deposits near the surface that close to Vale would have been found already."

From beside Pyrrha, a tall blond teenage boy leaned forward, boyish excitement in his blue eyes. "Maybe it was a meteor instead?" he suggested.

Weiss scoffed, "Frankly, that's about as likely as aliens being responsible, so no."

Pyrrha winced at her words, while Jaune looked disappointed at how fast Weiss had shot his idea down. He hesitated for a moment, then looked at Yang's sister and asked, "Well, what do you think Ruby? I mean you did say you saw what happened."

Ruby's gaze jerked up from her food, "Huh? Um, sorry Jaune, I don't think it was a meteor," she said, in a voice that lacked most of her usual peppy tone.

Yang's heart twisted in her chest and she bit the side of her cheek as her older sibling instincts kicked in. It was rare for her half-sister to bottle her feelings in about something that bothered her.

She'd planned to speak to Ruby again before breakfast, but between everything that had happened, Yang hadn't had the time to. What made it all worse, was that as much as she ached to comfort and support her sister, there was little she could do. Not here, in front of Team JNPR and in a crowded cafeteria full of students.

"Are you alright Ruby? Is there something going on?" there was a definite undertone of concern in Jaune's voice now. He was watching Ruby, his eyebrows knitting together as he frowned in concern. The rest of JNPR looked just as curious and worried.

Yang recognized the look on Ruby's silver eyes. She was going to start babbling, like she almost always did when she was uncomfortable or had no idea what to do.

"Oh she's fine. She just didn't sleep well last night," Yang jumped in. She tried not to grimace, that had been about as subtle as an Ursa.

The reaction from JNPR was mixed. Jaune and Pyrrha exchanged glances. Nora looked more puzzled than anything else. Ren gave Yang a searching look; she answered with her best expression of polite confusion.

For a moment, she worried that they would try to dig deeper, but JNPR seemed to accept her lie or at least they were willing to drop the topic and move on to talking about what their plans for the day were.

Besides her, Yang was aware of Weiss relaxing. She might have been better at hiding it than Yang or Ruby, but the white-haired girl had a nervous edge to her in recent days.

A question from Pyrrha and Weiss's response was lost as Ruby gave Yang a relieved smile. It was a small smile, but it was there. For the blonde, it was no wonder Ruby had been so unconformable lying to Jaune. After all, the fellow team leaders were best friends, she had probably wanted badly to tell him what was going on.

It didn't take much effort from Yang to know why her little sister felt not just worried, but uncertain about how they'd find Blake. Along with her decisions over the past two days, both of them knew that finding Yang's partner was going to be difficult. But Ruby was too much of an optimist to believe that they wouldn't be able to. Though Yang suspected that, like herself, her little sister worried if Blake would want to come back with them.

When Blake had ran off, Ruby wanted to go after her right away, but Yang and Weiss had talked her out of it.

Just let her get it out of her system. She needs time to calm down, Yang had told Ruby.

And if she comes back on her own, Weiss had added, we don't have to worry about attracting attention and getting all of us in trouble.

That decision was one Yang had started to doubt more and more as the days had passed. She knew that sometimes people walked away because they want to be alone, but sometimes they walked away because they want to see if people cared enough to follow them. That and Yang couldn't help but worry that something might have happened to Blake.

Yet, Yang had managed to tuck her feelings away to provide encouragement and support. To let Ruby know her big sister had her back. To help her hold what remained of Team RWBY together. To try and keep JNPR or anyone else from getting suspicious.

"...going to see that new Spruce Lee film, 'Enter the Nevermore,'" Pyrrha said, pulling Yang out of her thoughts and back to the breakfast table. The conversation, it seemed, had carried on without her.

"Even if it won't be the same movie theater we normally go to," Jaune sounded a little sad about that.

"Why, what happened?" asked Weiss.

"They still aren't happy with us after Nora got too carried away playing 'Whack-a-Grimm' in the lobby arcade with Magnhild last month," Ren explained.

Nora had the decency to look a little embarrassed at this. Weiss stared at her, dumbfounded. Yang, on the other hand, was less surprised by Nora's antics, even if she thought that was going a bit too far, even for what passed as normal for Nora.

"Oh yeah, I remember you telling me about that," chirped Ruby. To Yang's relief, she was making a token effort to join in the conversation.

"Maybe all of us could meet up and have lunch?" Jaune suggested. Yang knew he was just being well-meaning and hoping to make Ruby feel better.

"Well, we were planning to go to Patch for the day and visit my dad." She forced a somewhat apologetic expression on her face as she again saved her sister from having to lie to her best friend. In truth, she knew Ruby wanted to spend today searching Vale for Blake. She didn't know if Ruby had told Weiss about her plan.

Weiss shot Yang a glare out of the corner of her eye, but gave no other outward reaction.

"Oh I see."

"So is Blake coming with you guys?" Asked Nora.

Yang tried to stop herself from tensing up. She gave a small shrug that she hoped looked casual. "Maybe."

In spite of this being the two-week break between semesters, they'd known that sooner or later, someone would notice Blake's absence. So, the remainder of Team RWBY had told people she was off visiting relatives outside the Kingdoms. That she'd lived outside the Kingdoms was a fact Blake herself had mentioned the few times she'd talked about her past.

"You don't know?" Pyrrha asked, puzzled.

"Well, Blake said she isn't sure if she'll be back in Vale today or not. And Scroll reception is not good where she is at." Weiss explained.

While the conversation carried on, Yang couldn't help but think how JNPR would drop everything if they knew the truth about why Blake wasn't around.

It was some time later that the trio of girls headed back to their dorm. An awkward silence had descended on them, the loudest sound being Weiss' heels clicking against the wooden hallway floor as she followed not far behind her partner. Despite trying to walk with the usual spring in her step, Yang could tell Ruby was uneasy.

As for herself towards the end, Yang had tried not to tune out the conversation as her worry for her team and Blake had grown into impatience. The only bright spot was they'd kept JNPR from getting too suspicious.

As they reached their room, Yang closed the door behind her and locked it. She almost gave a sigh of relief, they were safe from being overheard now.

"This sucks! We should just tell them, except it might get Blake in trouble, and we don't even know where she is, or if she's coming back," Ruby said, her words coming out in a rush. Her eyes were anxious and bright, with the start of what might be tears.

Yang noticed at once. Moving to sit right beside her on the bed, she wrapped an arm gently around her sister's shoulders in a side hug. She hoped it would provide some comfort to her, like it would when they were kids.

Being accepted into Beacon two years early and given command of her own Huntress team meant that people tended to forget that Ruby Rose was a fifteen-year-old girl. But Yang would never forget, and to her Ruby would always be her baby sister.

"I know," those were the only words that Yang could come up with, her mind unable to find anything better to say. Off to the side, she could see Weiss watching them with an unreadable expression.

For a long moment Ruby curled into Yang's embrace. The giving a small sniff, she straighten up and turned to face her partner. "Weiss, I know she's been gone all weekend, but we need to find her."

"I'm sure she's fine, Blake's a big girl; she can take care of herself," Weiss said. Yet Yang thought she could hear a little concern in her voice.

"Maybe, maybe not. Either way, she's missing and we need to try and find her," Yang retorted. Standing up, her hands wanted to ball up into tight fists. What remained of her temper was fraying fast.

"Weiss, she's one of our teammates," Ruby interrupted before Yang and Weiss' argument could continue further. Yang saw her sister was looking at the heiress, her silver eyes earnest.

Weiss arched her scarred eyebrow at Yang's sister. For a moment, it looked like she was going to try and argue. Then, she sighed, her shoulders slumped in resignation. "Alright, I'll help you look for her."

-RWBY-

Surrounded by a crowd of people, Penny Polendina waited patiently for the pedestrian crossing light to change.

Illuminated by the rising sun, the street around her was busy with cars and fellow pedestrians like herself. Although today she was was cataloging a major increase in activity compared to the correlating time on the previous days she'd spent in the city.

Given the grumbling she'd overheard, this activity -and delays, which seemed to be the cause of the grumblings- was 'typical Monday morning [expletive].' Few, if any of them, seemed to be putting much thought into the unidentified explosion in the Forever Fall she'd seen earlier.

As she pondered this, the pedestrian crossing light changed color. Penny hurried across the street along with the crowd of people, none of whom gave more than a passing glance at what, to them, seem to be a short, ginger-haired girl with bright green eyes and a freckled face.

It was several minutes after she'd left that main street behind that a car that pulled up along side of her. The vehicle appeared to be an expensive Atlas-designed civilian model, but Penny recognized it and knew that beneath its plain gray exterior it had been heavily modified. Including a reinforced chassis and armor plating.

Likewise, she recognized the man who peered back at her through the open driver's window, an expression of obvious relief on his face, "Penny, please get in."

Climbed inside and closing the door, her hearing picked up the sound of a window rolling shut. Like all those in the car, the driver's window was bullet-resistant and tinted so those outside would have a harder time looking in.

As the car began moving down the road in the direction Penny had been walking towards, the driver spoke up again, "You should know better than to go running around in a strange city." He admonished her.

Penny bowed her head, subdued, "I know, sir. I came back as fast as I could when I heard the explosion."

The man turned his head so he could look at her. His next words where said in a tone that meant to sound reassuring, "That's very commendable of you Penny. And I'm sure your father will be pleased to hear that."

The rest of the ride back to the house where Penny was supposed to be staying at was spent in silence.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Author's Notes:

So, about that butterfly effect...

Raven is one of those characters in that she's simultaneously very easy to write and very difficult to write. I see her as a twisted mix of Yang and Blake's personalities, in that she's got their faults dialed up to eleven and their positives but warped.

And speaking of Yang, I tried my best to show her stuck in between a rock and a hard place. Given how much she wears her heart and passions on her sleeve, I imagine that it's difficult for her to put up a facade. But not impossible for her to do either.

Regarding Penny's section, I was intentionally going for a slightly clunky sentence and word formatting. I figured this would fit Penny's robotic nature. Particularly since this is Volume 1 Penny, whose not as experienced when it come to dealing with people and the outside world.
 
Chapter 3

Far across the ocean from the Kingdom of Vale and high over the eastern edge of the continent of Anima, the Mistrali passenger airship Allure of the Skies continued its days-long journey towards Beacon Academy.

The Allure of the Skies did not resemble the airships used by Atlas or Vale. Bare brass and steel supports strengthened key portions of its hull. Large canvas sails, ribbed with reinforcements like a fish's fins, had unfolded from the bottom and sides of the vessel. The majority of the ship seemed to be made out of wood- while in truth, the material was layered over the Allure's huge metal hull and was more decorative than functional.

Inside, it's ornate passenger cabins were filled with the chatter of the students from Haven Academy, who were traveling to Vale for the upcoming Vytal Festival.

Within one such cabin, Cinder Fall paused over her meal. Her attention now fixed on a holographic projection showing a Vale News Network report. The anchorwoman, helpfully labeled Lisa Lavender, was speaking.

[...Details are scarce at this point about the cause of the blast. We have still unconfirmed reports that a Schnee Dust Company rail-line in the area many have been damaged. The SDC has refused to make any comments at this time on the matter....]

Dimly, Cinder was aware of her two servants, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, had caught sight of her reaction and were now watching the news story as well. The majority of her thoughts, however, were focused inward.

Cinder's fingers—her nails painted and manicured—wanted to curl into claws because of the anchorwoman's words. To bunch up the checkered gray skirt she wore. It, along with the black jacket that made up the uniform of Haven Academy, were more conservative than what she preferred.

She and her servants had spent the last three months there, pretending to be students under the watchful eye of its headmaster, Professor Lionheart. The same man who'd provided Cinder with the papers that had allowed them to pose as students in the first place.

During those long months, Cinder had comforted herself with the thought that all the play-acting would be worth it. Beacon would fall and when it did she would learn where Ozpin was hiding what remained of the Fall Maiden.

There had been times where she could almost taste victory and couldn't wait to finally clutch it with her own two hands.

Now her careful mask of calm was being eroded away. No plan ever survived contact with the enemy, she knew, but this was unexpected. Her mind startled tumbling through possibilities, even as she returned to eating.

Was Roman behind this? Could the White Fang have somehow slipped from her control in the months she'd been gone?

Cinder choked her fear down with effort. Neither of those were possible. The White Fang had everything to gain by following her commands. And like Roman, they knew what would happen to them if they disobeyed. Besides, for all his moments of flamboyance, Roman was more interested in making money over headlines. It was part of why she'd procured his services in the first place.

Cinder felt the return of her old confidence. This event could be made to work in her advantage. The spreading of fear and paranoia had always been part of her plan.

On the other hand, this could provoke a reaction beyond what she wanted at this time, so there was a potential, no matter how small, of this backfiring.

"So... the plan is still going ahead, right?" ventured Mercury, breaking the stillness of the cabin.

Clicking off the projector with delicate press of a button on the remote, Cinder rose, turning to face him. She took in the scene before her with a glance of her pale, golden eyes.

Mercury was leaning back on his chair, gray hair disheveled as normal, regarding her warily. Sitting in a nearby chair, Emerald was also watching Cinder.

The fourth member of their team of faux-students, Neopolitan, had left several days prior. She'd gone ahead to help Roman pull off the planned Dockyard heist. The earlier Dust robberies had been done with cars and other ground vehicles, as without Neopolitan's illusions to hide behind, Bullheads would be spotted and heard long before they could escape with the stolen Dust.

"Yes," Cinder replied, using her usual assured lilting tone. "We'll need to make some changes, but the plan will still proceed."

I will be strong. I will be feared. I will be powerful. I will never be weak again.

The thought was almost enough to make her ignore the remaining clammy tendrils of fear around her heart.

-RWBY-

On a forested hilltop a handful of miles to the north-east of the city of Vale, Shaidar Gorthule stood leaning against a tree. Once more, the bio-metal armour that covered him from head-to-toe was Autumn-coloured. Armor that he felt as a faint, almost weightless warmth. Despite how it covered his face, his vision was unimpeded.

While his gaze might have been pointed towards the distant city, the majority of his attention was focused on dispassionately studying information that scrolled across his vision on an ever-present personal heads-up display. He'd been scrutinizing the various topics accessed from Vale's Cross Continental Transmit System for a while now. Evaluating the less than ideal situation he and Paula found themselves in.

[...These institutions accept graduates of primary combat schools, who have shown great promise and tenacity, to not only battle the world's deadliest creatures, but also protect their fellow man...]

They were outsiders in a strange world, with no allies or friends to turn to. Both he and Paula had agreed during their travel toward Vale that revealing themselves as outsiders should be avoided if possible. There was taking justifiable risks and then there was outright stupidity. Throwing themselves at the mercies of the locals fell under the latter.

[Aura is a manifestation of the soul, a life force that runs through every living creature on Remnant, whether they are a meager shopkeeper or a renowned knight. However, what sets true warriors apart from all others is their ability to amplify and control their Aura...]

Even as he'd continued to learn about this strange world, Shaidar had little difficulty in keeping an eye on his surroundings. Both with scanners and his natural senses. His mind, like those of many who served the ancient alien race known as the Shadows, had been augmented with neural cybernetic implants. Of these, it was his command and control modules that allowed him to receive, process and act on information faster than an entirely organic individual could. Training, in addition to experience gained from his years of service had allowed his not-quite human mind to become adept at using them.

So the breeze that whispered through the holographic and sensor shroud he'd created over their temporary hiding place did not escape his notice. Not that it was in any danger of disrupting that shroud. Even to the perspective of an outsider using the most advanced equipment on Remnant, the hill would appear uninhabited save for a few forest animals.

[Thank you, Cyril. Details are scarce at this point about the cause of the blast. We have still unconfirmed reports that a Schnee Dust Company rail-line in the area many have been damaged. The SDC has refused to make any comments at this time....]

Satisfied at last, Shaidar severed his connection with the CCTS, having already inserted a program into the network. The program was but one of several he had stored. This one had been instructed to insert the false identities and other necessities for blending in with a modern society. As for money, the program was to infiltrate and set up a modest bank account full of Lien, all of which would of course be made to look as if they'd existed for much longer than they really had.

For a moment, Shaidar Gorthule's inhuman green eyes focused a tall collection of buildings that loomed several miles away to his left, south of his position. Perched atop a plateau on the border between the Forest of Forever Fall and the Emerald Forest. It looked like a castle pulled right out of a child's fairy tale. At the centre, a high tower jutted upwards like a spire of bone. An iridescent green light gleamed at it's top like a watchful eye: Beacon Academy.

As he straightened up and moved around the tree he'd been leaning against, the four spikes of bio-metal on his back stood back up. As those energy diffuser tendrils were no longer in danger of getting caught or stuck into the tree.

Shaidar strode towards where Paula was sitting on a half-rotten fallen tree trunk several feet away. The slim redhead, the woman Shaidar Gorthule loved, was facing away from him. Paula was scanning the horizon for any potential threat. Like Shaidar had done with his sensors, she was telepathically scanning for the presence of anything that escaped the notice of her other senses.

Hearing him approach, Paula swung her feet over the tree trunk so she was facing him.

A thought had the bio-metallic armour slip away from Shaidar's face. While he could speak through it with no trouble, he preferred not to under these circumstances.

"Still no sign of those creatures?" Shaidar asked, sitting down by her side. According to what he'd learned, Grimm weren't as common around the Kingdoms, thanks in part to the locals killing any large groups they could find. But he wasn't about to be caught flat-footed by leaving it to chance.

"Nothing yet." Came her accented reply as she folded her arm. Turning her head away from him, the Cerberi looked out in the direction he'd walked from. Towards where the city of Vale was lazily stirring from its morning slumber. Narrowing her golden eyes, she said, "So we're looking at seemingly modern tech, but a distinct sense of background magic. Unusual—those two things rarely coexist from what I've seen."

Magic. Even after almost a year, a tiny part of him still wasn't used to the idea of what Paula and her people were capable of, which was the source of his disquiet. Paula's abilities both looked and acted like magic. Even to the point that the Shadows weren't quite sure how those abilities worked either. But that didn't make it mystical or magical. Merely a science they hadn't yet been unraveled.

As a Techno-mage, Shaidar had been accused of being an actual wizard, warlock or even less flattering names. The truth was he and those in the Techno-mage Order simply used technology to emulate magic. Yet he still found himself struggling to explain the abilities he'd observed here. He wasn't used to being the one trying to figure out how things worked and he didn't like it.

"This world does have its fair share of curiosities," the Techno-mage agreed, drawing her attention back to him as he considered his words. A new planet was a lot to take in and they couldn't afford to remain out here for much longer.

True, they had advantages for now. The hill, besides being empty of Grimm, gave them a good chance of spotting anything that might approach. Anything that came by land would be slowed by the steep slope- as he'd planned. But there was no guarantee of how long it'd remain free of Grimm.

Of course, skimping on the details too much could also cause problems. Knowledge, after all, was power. Besides, it was better to remain here than to try to walk and talk, all while remaining on guard.

It was unfortunate that they weren't both Techno-mages or telepaths. It would have been much easier for him to share what he'd learned. His mind had been fortified against telepathic intrusions when he'd joined the Shadows. And the nature of Paula's powers made it impossible to make her a Techno-mage, even if she'd desired it. Still, there was no one else he'd rather have by his side right now.

So he told her of the ravenous and enigmatic Creatures of Grimm. Monsters so mysterious that no one knew where they came from. To the point that the Grimm might as well spring out of holes in the ground. How the locals had to use visual sights or lasers to reliably target them in a fight. That the Grimm evaporated into into black smoke, leaving nothing behind when killed. A trait that caused Paula to comment that the Grimm were sounding more and more like the demons she'd fought.

With that out of the way, he moved on to the four Kingdoms, and how in the world outside of them were scattered towns amidst monster-infested wilds. How, despite everything else, the Kingdoms were shockingly similar to the Western societies of Earth. With the only true difference over all being the Kingdoms placed a greater focus on individualism. Even the language they spoke was standard American English, with smatterings of other Terran languages and accents as well.

In fact, Shaidar Gorthule had noticed Remnant's identical language back at the forest clearing when he'd first picked up on Cross Continental Transmit System transmissions from the Kingdoms, but had forgotten to mention it there. He'd had more pressing issues on his mind then.

"Huh, between the Grimm and everything else, it's like a magical science experiment. Wonderful," Paula said.

"But fortunate for us."

"Mmm, yeah, at least we can communicate if need be."

"True. As for the locals, they're known as Remnans. They tend to refer to themselves by race or as citizens of their respective Kingdoms. Happily for us, they're more or less human."

Paula tilted her head, "More or less? The last time someone told me that, it ended up being the planet of the cat people."

Shaidar was surprised. Paula didn't too often speak about her past.

"Interesting you'd say that. Turns out the local humans share this world with human sub-species called 'Faunus'. Each has a minor animal feature- an extra set of ears, a tail, that sort of thing. Many of them also have better night-vision than humans."

"Fascinating," Paula deadpanned, "might support my theory this place is a magical experiment, might not – the other cat people were aliens."

For a moment, Shaidar considered mentioning the White Fang in what he was going to tell Paula. But decided against it- they were more of an annoyance in the Kingdoms then a real threat. So something that could be brought up at later, a better time. Even if their raid on a Schnee Dust train several months prior was a curious change to the White Fang's overall strategy.

He shook his head. "I doubt it. Everything I could find points to both Faunus and humans being indigenous to this world. As for the humans, you're lucky on two counts. Odd eye and hair colours are rather common here. What's more, ever since a world war eighty years ago, a tradition was started of having names evocative of colours or based off of art."

That such conflict had happened was unsurprising. As was the resentment and disenfranchisement that followed at the war's end. Both among the defeated Kingdoms, who resented having decisions forced upon them by outsiders thanks to an unexpected defeat and the Faunus population of Remnant, who'd found their situation remained impoverished. Chaos and adversity were the natural order of things.

Because of this, the Shadows and those who served them had embraced a philosophy of evolution through chaos since ancient times. And so sought to help encourage competition and turmoil. Societies and species had to adapt or weather the storm of conflict as best they could. Those who did not would perish, leaving room for those who survived to rise up stronger and better than before. Something he'd experienced for himself on a personal level.

With all that said, too much chaos -anarchy- was as harmful as no conflict at all. Chaos in the Shadows' philosophy was a means to an end, not the end goal itself. Too much conflict would wear a civilization down to nothing. And a civilization that continuously fought and back-stabbed among itself would likewise collapse in short order.

"Huh." Paula considered. "That is useful for us both. You might need an alias, though."

"I was thinking of using Justin Blackwood. Unfortunately, my eyes are a little too unusual, even for this place, so it's back to hiding them behind holograms again."

The best false identities, he knew, were the ones similar to a person's actual name. It was easier to remember and more liable to be responded to instinctively. Which presented a slight problem; there weren't any that he could imagine responding to or were commonplace enough not to stick out that sounded like 'Shaidar Gorthule', Meaning he was back to using a name close to the one he'd been born with.

"Don't want them thinking you're a new form of their Grimm," Paula agreed, "also, Blackwood? So are we cousins?"

He blinked, seeing the mischief in her golden eyes, "...I should certainly hope not, given the things we've done together," which was the most polite euphemism that he could come up with at the moment.

"You know," Paula teased further, "in some cultures that wouldn't matter a damn," at his reaction, she laughed, "easy, there. I don't want to be cousins either. I just couldn't resist."

"Thought as much." A slight grin quirked at the corners of his mouth, "didn't think you'd support that sort of thing either, but nice to have it confirmed."

Paula rolled her eyes, but she was smiling a little, "Glad to help."

As much as he wanted to continue bantering, work took precedence. The dark-haired man recognized the banter for what it was. Both part of her normal personality and her letting what uneasiness she felt at the whole situation show. The latter of which showed in her vital signs as well. Even with everything she'd seen and experienced beforehand, it was only natural to feel a little nervous. He was no different.

Growing serious once more, he said, ''Unfortunately, it's not all fish and chips either. You're not the only one here with preternatural abilities. Everything on this planet, outside of the Grimm, has what the locals call an 'Aura'. According to them, it's a manifestation of the soul."

Of course, just because the Remnans thought Aura was the power of the soul didn't make it true. But as was the case with Paula's magic, there was no way of proving it one way or another, which was why Shaidar saw no point in bringing it up now.

Together with the Grimm and the stunning cultural similarities to Earth, the existence of Aura was another reason to suspect that Remnant was the result of some sort of experiment. It was unusual for a species to naturally develop what amounted to superpowers. Even with no solid proof of an outside force being responsible, it was more than enough to make him wary. He'd encountered the results of places like this before.

"Hmm," Paula said, thoughtful. "Well, a kind of magic would explain what I sense about this place. So what does this Aura do?"

"Well, it heals simple injuries and works as a personal energy shield, albeit one that can't filter out smoke or airborne toxins. With training and experience, Aura can also enhances physical strength, speed and reflexes. Enough to pull off martial arts acrobatics right out of Hollywood."

"You said experienced- I assume there's a difference?"

"A considerable one. Aura strength depends on experience, training, and innate skill. Most civilians don't have unlocked Auras, and those who that do tend to have little. Anyway, all this brings us to something that's right up your alley."

"How so?" asked the redhead.

"This world has a naturally occurring mineral called 'Dust'. Not only is it used as an energy source in place of everything from petrol to gunpowder, but as powerful specialized ammunition or an elemental sorcery. Providing a person has the training and Aura to trigger it of course. Also, the different types can be mixed to make new ones with unique properties."

"Huh. Powdered potion," Paula quipped. "Not precisely, of course—sounds a lot less complex, but still."

"Perhaps. It's something you might want to look into anyway. We should use every advantage we can get in this place."

"Assuming I can tap into their magic," She pointed out. "It's quite likely I can't—it wouldn't be the first time a different magic system was inaccessible—but worth testing."

Even if Paula could use it, being 'non-magical' meant that Shaidar couldn't use Dust for anything beyond mundane purposes. Which was unfortunate, if unlikely to prove fatal. Being a Techno-mage meant he could replicate most of what Dust offered. Though there were of course limitations to his abilities.

"Of course. There's one other thing. Dust can also be used to augment Semblances, a unique Aura ability that can be unlocked with time and effort. Which seems to mirror some aspect of a person's character. Most tend to be physical or combat oriented."

If these 'Semblances' were based on defining personality traits as claimed, it could open a lot of potential. He could use it to gain insight into psychological weaknesses and behaviors which he and Paula could exploit, should it be necessary. He'd always been good at that sort of thing.

The Techno-mage gave a tight ghost of a smile as he continued. "The good news is that Aura is a finite source of power. As a protective force, it's depleted with every hit they take. Using their Semblance or augmenting their physical abilities drains a person's Aura as well. So to avoid running out of it in the middle of a battle, they tend to be conservative instead of going all out. Also, Aura isn't always active. It has to be consciously called up. Without it, Remnans are no tougher than normal humans."

"Makes sense," Paula mused, "magic always drains something, if you do enough of it, active powers in particular. This sounds like a magic system primarily based on active powers."

"It does match up with what you've told me in the past," Shaidar agreed. It was also similar to how his abilities worked to a certain degree as well. "There is one difference. The Remnans can track Aura levels electronically with what amounts to a glorified application on what they call a Scroll- their version of a mobile phone."

Paula's eyebrows shot up, "Well, that's...interesting."

"I thought so too. Unfortunately, the software I downloaded wouldn't calibrate with my sensors, so I can't be certain how well I'll be able to detect Aura with them."

"Oh. Still," the Cerberi replied, "at least it'll be easy enough for us to get our hands on. Useful too if we get into a fight."

"I don't doubt it's doable, if a bit difficult for our purposes. It seems it's more a reference to ensure no one's injured during tournament-style fights for Huntsmen. It's all quite curious."

"Weird. It can't be an issue of technology, because it can run on a mobile phone..." Paula murmured.

He nodded, "As I see it, either no one's considered using the technology offensively, or it wasn't developed further to keep the balance of power in favor of the Huntsmen."

"Speaking of which, who are these 'huntsmen' you keep mentioning? Some group dedicated to fighting the Grimm?"

"In part, yes." Shaidar Gorthule felt the return of a tingling of nervousness nibbling at the base of his spine. Not quite fear, but instead a clear understanding of the stakes involved. Besides, very little truly alarmed him anymore.

While the Huntsmen- or more precisely, Huntsmen and Huntresses- were formidable threats, they were not unmanageable ones. Considering the total lack of telepathic Semblances, they might be even more manageable than they first appeared. But that depended on factors involving Aura itself and the sort of mental protections it might grant. Given Aura's connection to magic, he'd be asking Paula about that before making any assumptions.

For a moment, Shaidar wished Paula had been wearing her armour when they'd been transported here. It would have given her at least some physical protection if they had to fight Huntsmen. But that regret was fleeting. No sense wishing and lamenting for what they didn't have.

Nonetheless, if forced into combat against Huntsmen, he'd recommend having fear, surprise and intimidation on their side to ensure they had a clear certainty of winning.

Keeping all that firmly in mind, he told Paula what he knew.

-RWBY-

Ruby's stomach twisted in nervous excitement.

Taking care not to bump her head, she ducked under the top bunk and finished spreading the map she'd gotten from Beacon's library across Blake's bed. The map of Vale was so large that it wouldn't fit on the four desks that lined the front of the room in pairs.

Pulling one of several cheerios she'd snuck out of Beacon's cafeteria from a pocket, Ruby placed it on the map.

From one side of her, Weiss looked on. On the other, stood her big sister Yang. She couldn't be certain, but she had a feeling Yang was trying to hide a smile.

"Okay, so we'll check out the places Blake likes to hang out at first," Ruby said, moving the lone cheerio with down the streets on the map. She thought of the list of addresses she and Yang had spent yesterday coming up with.

"If she hasn't been to any of those spots, we'll..." Ruby searched her vocabulary and tried to copy Weiss. "Reconnoiter any hotels we can find."

Despite whatever arguments they had, she and Weiss where still friends. And she kinda hoped that it'd help make her partner more comfortable with what she had planned. Going by the look on Weiss' face, Ruby could see that she was only somewhat successful.

"Um, Ruby, I don't think hotels are going to tell us who their customers are," Yang pointed out.

"Well, we can always ask right?" Ruby replied, deflating a little. She wondered how Yang knew that- but she was the older sister after all. It made sense she'd know more.

-RWBY-
Shaidar Gorthule stepped through the walls of Vale and onto the Kingdom's streets. It was an action he undertook with all the effort of stepping from one room to another. Covered in armor once more and standing atop a platform, his feet hovered a few inches above the ground.

The Kingdoms' inhabitants took no notice of him as they went about their morning commute. There was no way they could have. In the depths of the other-world dimension of phase-space, Shaidar was both invisible and intangible.

The world around him was dim, like just before a storm. The sounds of people about him were faint and distant. Colors were weak, washed out like an old photo left in the sun for years. Likewise, the crowds of people and the noise they made were equally as pale and faint. A twisted, swirling mist filled the busy street.

A notification flashed in the corner of Shaidar's vision. Accessing it, he found the program he'd sent out earlier to plant identities and the like for him and Paula had finally completed its task. Not that he'd doubted it'd have any difficulty in carrying out his instructions. There were plenty of cracks in every wall. Even with its limited processing power, the program had found and exploited them.

Compared to the technology of the Shadows, the inventions of this world might as well be out of Earth's Bronze Age. This observation wasn't a slight against the people of Remnant. They'd done an impressive job at adapting and surviving, so far as he was concerned.

Of course, Shaidar Gorthule knew a clever and determined opponent could still provide problems. Technological superiority did not make one unbeatable by a long shot. Even a normal human was capable of defeating him under the right circumstances.

Spotting an alleyway a little further in, he headed towards it, passing through people like a ghost along the way. Caution made him move a little slower than before. While being phased muffled most sound, it didn't cancel it out completely.

All the while, Shaidar kept a firm eye on the probe he'd planted on Paula's shirt collar. It transmitted the image of her standing warily back on the hillside, along with other data to him. The microelectronic device was no larger than a good-sized grain of sand. It'd only been sheer, dumb luck he'd had a handful of the probes lying in the bottom of his pocket when they'd arrived on Remnant.

Only when he was several yards into the dim alleyway between buildings did he stop. Lowering himself all the way to the ground, he dissolved the platform.

With a final glance around to make sure no one might be watching, he stepped through into the normal world. A patch of air in the alley twisted and warped, like a heat-shimmer on a hot summer's day. There was a whisper of sound that was swallowed up by the everyday noises of a city. Shaidar Gorthule slipped out from the shadows, as if they had just given birth to him.

The new mottled gray pattern of his armor blended in well with the gloom of an urban environment. At least before he threw up an illusion of an empty alleyway around him. For good measure, he created a soundproof dome that encompassed the area within the illusion as well. Just as no sound from within would pass out into the alley, no sound from the alley could penetrate within. That done, he sent a message through the probe, telling Paula that he was in position and the coast was clear.

While both he and the Shadows could phase-cloak, his was crude and limited compared to their mastery. Among other things, unlike the Shadows, he couldn't bring anyone with him into phased-space. Which was even less than what the vat-grown warriors, melodramatically called 'soldiers of darkness' by their adversaries, could do. Given that and Paula's limitations with her teleportation, they'd been forced into this course of action.

A tight cloud of shimmering bright blue orbs filled the air as she teleported next to him. A moment's concentration to his armor had the bio-metal flowed away, retreating as it was dispelled. It's matter transforming back into energy, which was re-absorbed. There was no reason to keep it on any longer. By the time the blue glow faded away a few seconds later to reveal Paula, the armor had all but vanished. Exposing the simple black uniform he wore beneath.

"Well, that was fun, even if it beats trying to go in the front door and having to answer a lot of awkward questions."

"Or trying to get over the wall by flying," he replied, removing a matching pair of silver rank pins from his collar. They were triangular in shape, with a stylized bas-relief image of an upraised black hand on them. The image marked him out among for forces of the Shadows- and were the cause for his change of name.

As for flying over the walls- Shaidar hadn't want to risk the off chance that Vale's defenses would detect them through whatever shroud he could make by sheer weight of having that many sensors pointing in the same direction. Not to mention what would happen if a flock of Nevermores swarmed him and Paula in the air. Even if the small Grimm proved to be a mere inconvenience- Vales' many surface-to-air weapons being fired at them wouldn't be.

"Is anyone looking this way?" he continued, while weaving a hologram around himself. There was no way his black outfit would be mistaken for anything than a military uniform. Even with Remnant's hyper-focus on individualization, it would only make him stand out more than he'd like.

In an instant, it was finished. A full-body illusion covered him completely; giving him the appearance of a green-eye human dressed in a dark blue shirt and black trousers of local style. It was realistic enough to withstand even careful study. The full body illusion was necessary and easier to maintain. As attempting to just hide his eyes and clothing would have given him an odd and somewhat disproportionate appearance.

"Not in particular. Your program pull through?"

"That it did. Think you can put up a little telepathic 'notice me not' around both of us until we get out of the alleyway?"

What Shaidar was asking wouldn't make him and Paula invisible. Instead, it subtly altered people's perception to make both of them unnoticed. It was a projected field- but not an intrusive one telepathically. People's eyes would just slide off them. It was one of her best skills as a telepath.

"Sure. I was thinking about doing that to myself anyway until I can get cleaned up and a change of clothes."

"That's probably a good idea," he agreed. Although Paula didn't look bad for someone who'd spent the past few hours in the forest, she was still a bit disheveled. Her face and clothing was streaked here and there with dirt. The energy pistol at her side wasn't much of a concern. Given how diverse the weapon designs were on Remnant, it's appearance alone wouldn't attract much attention. At least so long as she didn't fire it. The Kingdoms had yet to develop energy weapons that could be used as rifles, much less side-arms, yet.

Technological limitations on his part meant it would be much more difficult for Shaidar to cover her in the same sort of full-body illusion that he now hid behind. "You ready?"

"Yep. Let's go," she replied.

As the pair headed off, Shaidar dispelled the hologram of the empty alley and the sound-proof dome behind them. Soon the pair of them had disappeared into the crowd, becoming just two more people among many.

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Author's Note:

To clarify any confusion about Shaidar's line about people tending to use their Aura conservatively; given what we've been told and why the capabilities of various Huntsmen seem to fluctuate somewhat in canon from scene to scene, my explanation is that Aura works like how the Jedi/Sith use the Force in Star Wars. Yes, they can use Aura/the Force to make them move really fast, jump really high and so on. But they don't have it dialed up to that intensity all the time because they have to worry about tiring themselves out.

As for Cinder, based on what we see in the later Volumes, as well as her flashback conversation with Salem in V3, I'm of the view that Cinder as we saw her in the early Volumes was something of an act. A facade she put up to try to awe and intimidate others.

To my mind, this makes Cinder a much more interesting character then she first appeared to be. Even better, it makes her a great foil for not just the canon characters of RWBY and JNPR, but also Shaidar Gorthule (an affably evil, well-intentioned extremist, anti-villain) and Paula Ravenwood (a dark action girl/lady of black magic with some femme fatale elements to her).

Anyway, I'm curious to hear what people think of this chapter. Out of all the ones I've written, this is the one that gave me the most problems- and I cannot thank my betas enough for helping me knock it into shape.
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Chapter 4


As the late afternoon sun shone down on the sweltering streets of Vale, Weiss Schnee couldn't help but regret her choice in footwear, which was now dusted with dirt. Her white boots, an expensive Atlesian design with wedge heels, had been chosen for comfort that belied their ball-room appearance. Despite that, walking around almost all day meant Weiss's feet were aching something awful.

Weiss wasn't as sure that she regretted her decision to come along.

"Blaaaake!" Yang shouted from besides her as the three teens passed into one of the many shadows that fell across their path from the buildings that lined the street.

Weiss had spent the last two days in quiet emotional turmoil. She'd been worried about her father finding out about what happened and using it as an excuse to pull her out of Beacon. All while she and her teammates had struggled with the revelation of Blake's identity.

To be blunt with herself, Weiss had agreed to come along out of both worry and frustration over the whole situation. She'd been too tired to argue with Ruby and Yang. She'd felt the need to take action, the desire to do something. It was either that or fret the whole time at Beacon about a person who she may or may not hate. But her pride and her anger at the White Fang wouldn't allow her to come out and admit that. Until Ruby's pleading had just given her an out to go along with the search.

Weiss's stomach let loose a low growl, reminding her of the lateness of the hour. It'd been a little after one o'clock when the three of them had stopped to eat lunch at a small diner. Even as they'd ordered a small meal, Yang had tried asking some of the less-preoccupied employees if they had seen Blake. All she received was shaking heads.

"Blaaaake!" Ruby called out, cupping both hands up near her mouth.

Not for the first time that day, most people continued to go about their business, some pausing to give the three teenagers curious looks. Others went about with faces that were pale and worried. They traveled in small groups of twos and threes. Almost all of the groups were human.

The few Faunus Weiss could see around walked alone or in pairs. They seemed all too aware of the stares and wary looks they were getting from the groups of humans. Reactions were equal between hunched shoulders or studious ignorance.

Here and there, Weiss could hear people speaking with each other in voices that were little more than low murmurs.

"...bit overkill for just some train tracks."

"What are you saying? They didn't mean for it to blow up?"

"How'd they get so much Dust out in the middle of Forever Fall like that?"

"I'm saying, it makes more sense for them to be storing it there. Either to take it away to Menagerie or god knows where else. But something must have happened and it all get set off early."

"Nah, the bastards probably wanted to hijack a train, load it full of Dust, send it back to the city and blow up the rail yard. I remember hearing something months back that the White Fang robbed a Schnee train for Dust."

"You don't need something that powerful to wreck a railway. Hell, wouldn't make more sense to rip up the tracks with crowbars and what have you, then run off and wait for the train to derail and have no one know about it until they can swoop in and take everything that isn't nailed down..."

It wasn't the first time that she'd heard talk like that. Once news had gotten out that the mysterious explosion had damaged a Schnee Dust Company rail line, it hadn't taken long for people to start suspecting the White Fang for being the cause. It also hadn't taken very long for people to start guessing at why the Fang had so much Dust out there.

A selfish part of her was glad that no inquiring individuals, who recognized her or saw the crest of the Schnee Dust Company on the back of her bolero, had tried asking her questions.

And yet, Weiss could see that there were some people who seemed to be taking some measure of reassurance from the sight of the three Student-Huntresses. If that was so, she could understand why given what had happened. Not for the first time in the past few minutes, Weiss thought about thumbing through the daily news on her Scroll for updates or messages from Winter or the SDC.

"Blaaaaaaaake! Where aaaare youuuu!?" Ruby yelled as they rounded a corner and began walking down a lightly populated side street.

As a car sped by them, Weiss almost didn't hear Yang mutter under her breath to herself, "This is hopeless."

Weiss found herself agreeing with Yang. Vale was simply too large with too many people. It seemed more and more ridiculous to think they could find their missing teammate in all of that. Weiss had thought that since Blake was a Huntress-in-Training would make her more conspicuous. Even if the average person on the street might be used to the sight of a Huntsman or Huntress, it didn't mean they didn't stand out thanks to their appearance. As well as the fact that Huntsmen and students of Huntsmen Academies where permitted by law to carry their weapons with them.

Seeming to finally notice Weiss's inattention, Ruby stopped and turned around to address her partner. "Weiiss, you're not helping!" she almost whined, gesturing with both arms, almost imploring her teammate.

At times, Ruby could surprise Weiss with moments of maturity. Other times, such as now, she acted more like a little kid.

Weiss favored Ruby with a look of exasperation, "Oh, you know who might be able to help? The police. We should have gone to them hours ago."

"Ugh, Weiss..." Ruby growled between clenched teeth, crossing her arms tight against her chest. That she was so irritated by her words did not escape Weiss. Ruby was just as frustrated as she was. Good. This could be an opportunity to talk some sense into the leader of RWBY and her sister.

That knowledge wasn't enough to keep Weiss from reacting to Ruby's words. Flinging her arms out to the sides for emphasis, she protested, "It was just an idea!"

"Yeah, a bad one," Ruby tossed back, along with another annoyed look in Weiss's direction, before she turned around and continued walking down the pavement.

Moving from where she'd been standing off to one side, Yang followed in her sister's lead and falling into step behind her. "Weiss, I think we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions."

Despite the gentleness in her voice, Weiss wasn't fooled by it. The hard edge it held betrayed what her words and tone did not. Yang was not really making a suggestion.

Weiss had to stop herself from pointing out that she'd heard Yang say moment ago about how the search for Blake was hopeless. Yang was just making excuses and just didn't want to be the one that crushed Ruby's hopes of finding Blake. Weiss wanted to talk sense into them, not enrage them.

"The innocent don't run Yang. She could know something about what happened this morning for all we know. And if we haven't found her by now, we aren't going to," Weiss replied, following behind Yang.

Again, she wondered if Blake's anger and outburst had happened because she'd had some sort of foreknowledge about the explosion.

"You really don't care if she's innocent, do you?" Yang asked, her voice rising.

"Don't be stupid; of course I do," Weiss was honestly insulted, "I'm just afraid of what she'll say if we find her," which was the truth. She did care. But the mounting evidence was enough to put Blake's innocence in serious doubt so far as Weiss was concerned."You heard what she said. She could have been sent to Beacon to spy on everyone."

Ruby whirled around in a blur, leaving Weiss to wonder if the younger girl had used her Semblance. That though was pushed into the back of her mind at the glare Ruby was giving her. "Weiss, Blake is our teammate. She deserves a chance to explain. As her friend, as her leader it's my responsibility to give it to her. So we're going to keep looking."

Weiss was startled into silence. This was new. She'd never been under the illusion that Ruby didn't have a backbone to her. But even as leader of team RWBY, she still tended to fade into the background on occasion. More often than not, this meant letting Yang take the spotlight.

"Come on, we need to keep looking before it gets dark." Ruby continued over Weiss's surprise. She saw Yang give Ruby a sisterly look of approval as the pair resumed walking.

Helpless, Weiss followed them. As she lagged further and further behind in thought, the more her emotions in her chest festered. Chief among them being anger, resignation and bitter disappointment. The comparative silence was broken only by the click of her heels on the pavement.

Weiss' train of thought came to a sudden end as a shop door in front of her swung open. The thick glass smacked against the side of her head. Caught off-guard, in mid-step and in high-heels, she fell, knocked onto her back.

Dazed, Weiss lay still for a second, gazing at the brilliant blue of the afternoon sky. When she recovered enough presence of mind to start sitting up, a hand appeared in her field of vision, reaching down towards her. It was covered in, of all things, a black opera glove that reached up towards its owner's shoulder.

At that instant, she heard an unfamiliar woman's voice, "Hey, are you alright?"

Weiss looked up. Bending over her was a golden eyed, red-haired woman in a plain black shirt and pants. Weiss guessed her to be around Winter's age, if a little older.

In the shadow of the store behind the woman, stood an almost nondescript dark-haired man in jeans and a dark green shirt. Both he and the redhead held several of shopping bags in one of their hands.

-RWBY-

"Hey, are you alright?" Paula asked, bending forward to offer her hand as the white-haired teenager propped herself up. Shaidar stood alongside her. As before, the Techno-mage's form was hidden behind a full-body hologram to hide that he wasn't totally human. They'd done some shopping earlier in the day, but had taken a break to freshen up and to avoid running themselves into the ground.

A look of confusion flashed across the girl's pale blue eyes and delicate, almost aristocratic face. At the girl's waist was a rapier, with what looked like a large revolver cylinder built into its hilt. Thanks to how she'd fallen, it'd been almost pushed out from where it was tucked into the girl's belt.

Paula could sense that the girl's Aura had been unlocked. Though how strong it was, the Cerberi couldn't tell. Like all Auras, unlocked or not, it felt almost-but-not-quite unrecognizable as magical.

Despite her telepathic shielding, if Paula hadn't been distracted by her conversation with Shaidar, she might have realized that the girl had been walking by. The teenager had been projecting a fair amount of anger before the door had opened.

Those brief touches she'd received were enough for Paula to get a feel of the girl's telepathic signature. The teenager felt like cracked ice. Strong, but brittle and quick to anger if pushed in the right place.

For all of Paula's years of experience and her adopted mother's lessons, she'd never had the best control when it came to her mental shielding, so she couldn't block out strong emotions or thoughts.

As a result, instead of a teeming anthill of mental activity, she lived with the occasional thought or dozen from people around her making it past her shielding to babble in the back of her mind. It was like staying in a hotel room where she could, on occasion, just hear the people talking next door. She wouldn't lie and claim it wasn't a small part of why she loved Shaidar. Around him, she could relax her guard at least a little and not worry about easily picking up on his thoughts.

As for the white haired girl, the stunned mix of surprised confusion Paula had seen on her face was giving way to a different set of emotions. Though not quite to the point where the redhead could detect more than a bare whisper of them.

Not taking Paula's offered hand, the girl started getting to her feet. When she spoke, her voice was stiff with bruised pride, "I'm fine, thank you."

Shrugging, Paula withdrew her hand as the teenager adjusted the rapier that hung at her side. A scowl flashed across the other girl's face at the sight of smudges of dirt on her dress.

Before the white-haired teenage girl could finish standing up or say anything, Paula heard a pair of concerned female voices cry out, "Weiss!"

The embarrassed pink flush on the teenage girl's face darkened a few shades as she spun in the direction of the voices. This time the red headed Cerberi detected a sharp flare of embarrassment and flinty irritation through her mental shields.

A pair of teenage girls were approaching the trio at a half-run- a younger girl with a red cloak, followed by an older blonde. Given the distance between the two groups, Paula guessed that Weiss had fallen behind the other girls and it'd taken them a moment to realize what had occurred.

Like with Weiss, Paula sensed that the two girls had their Auras unlocked. But besides Aura, there was something else that she was picking up. That something both intrigued and worried her.

"Are you okay?" the younger girl asked as she and the blonde drew to a halt.

"I'm fine Ruby. I'm not made of glass," Weiss replied, sounding exasperated. But beneath it, Paula could detect an undertone of I'm not helpless in her voice. She was more than sure Shaidar picked up on it as well.

Between the weapons, choice of clothing and age, it didn't take any sort of genius to realize what the three teenagers were. They were Huntresses. Well, Huntresses-In-Training, given their age. Shaidar had been quite informative about the warriors that protected the Kingdoms of Remnant. Which had been a point he'd been very emphatic about- that these Huntsmen were warriors, not soldiers.

Paula personally thought 'glorified mercenaries' might be the more accurate description. She'd said as much to him too, and commented that the 'whole system sounded open to all sorts of abuse'. Which Shaidar had found amusing and agreed with her about. They also both concluded that Huntsmen were quite the respectable threat.

Quirking a brow as the three girls descended into a conversation of their own, Paula exchanged glances with Shaidar. He shrugged and nodded his head off to one side. Seeing the girls were likely going to ignore them, they turned to leave.

"Hey do you guys have a minute?" a voice called after them. Turning back, Paula saw it was the blonde teen. There was a look of determination in her purple eyes. At this close, Paula realized the blonde was an inch or two taller than herself and was about Shaidar's height. "Just need to ask you something real quick...it's important."

"Sure, what is it?" asked Paula.

"We're looking for friend of ours, she's our age. Long black hair, amber eyes, kinda broody," the blonde pointed at her head, a look of uncertainty flashing across her face for a moment, "has a black bow on top of her head? You two wouldn't happen to have seen her? Just a sec, I've got a picture."

The other two girls had stopped their conversation and were giving the blonde a look of concern. Paula also caught a glimpse of a windblown tangle of thoughts and feelings from Weiss. As much as she might want to know what the whole story here was, Paula wasn't the type to start looking into people's heads out of mere curiosity.

By now, the blonde had fished out a Scroll from a pocket and was holding it out for them to see. On the screen was an image of the four girls in a selfie-style group photo. Three of them were the teenagers they'd just met. The fourth was the girl that the blonde had just described, with a small but happy smile on her face.

Besides her, Paula saw Shaidar slowly shake his head and she could feel the deep disappointment from the three girls. The glimpses she'd gotten of their mental signatures blossomed into full clarity in her mind.

Paula sensed that, despite the bad news she'd just heard, Ruby's telepathic aura was like a summer breeze. Bright, with an underlying earnestness and optimism for the world. To an extent that Paula found almost gratingly naive.

As for the blonde, Paula could feel a fiery passion that billowed like an open furnace. Protective and also consuming of anything that threatened those the blonde cared about.

"Are you sure?" Paula asked him, searching her memories. "Didn't we see her almost an hour ago with a Faunus? A blonde one that looked like a surfer dude?"

"You know, I think your right," his voice was low, thoughtful.

There was a sudden cocktail of triumph mixed with sadness from Weiss that splashed against Paula's mental shields like venom. If Paula had to put it into words, it would be 'Why did I have to be right?'. But just as quick, Weiss' reaction was buried under the emotions of the other girls.

"Really?!" that was Ruby, perking up like an excited puppy. An eager gleam appeared in her silver eyes. With it, came a resurgence of that almost endless optimism that Paula had an instinctive distaste for.

"Where were they?" asked the blonde at almost the same moment, giving off a momentary flare of relief and hope, though unlike Ruby she was trying to temper these feelings.

Paula paused, thought. "I think it was a street or two over?"

"That sounds right." Shaidar answered her. Then to the teenagers he said, ""I believe they were heading towards the docks."

For a moment, Paula wondered if Ruby was going to hug either her or Shaidar. Instead, Ruby grinned and said "Thank you!" with that she took off with a "Come on!"

The blonde followed after her, as did Weiss with a cry of "Hey! Wait up!"

"You're welcome!" Paula shouted. Besides her, Shaidar called out, "Good luck finding your friend!"

As the three girls vanished around a corner, Shaidar turned to face her.

"Well, that was different," he said, shifting the shopping bag from one hand to another as they began walking away. Alongside a pair of Scrolls and various other items, the bags held a few simple tools that were needed for opening up Shaidar's now-damaged Linking Device. As various countermeasures prevented anyone from scanning it and gaining knowledge about the design or how to replicate the means of opening portals from one universe to another.

"In more ways than one," Paula mused, keeping her voice low. Sure the street might almost be empty, but that was no reason to throw caution aside. "Besides Aura, I picked something unusual from Ruby. Some sort of magic that felt more like the kind I'm familiar with."

"Are you certain?" he asked, his voice also low. Before she could answer, he said, "No, of course you are. Forget I asked. Do you have any idea what it might be?"

"I'm pretty sure that it's some sort of active power. Whatever it is, it hasn't been awakened yet. Beyond that, I don't know."

There was a thoughtful look on Shaidar's face and in his illusionary green human eyes. "It's an interesting complication. But not one I think we have to worry about. At least not yet. In the meantime, we have more pressing matters," he shrugged, "I doubt we'll run into any of those girls again anyway."

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Author's Notes:

Ruby Rose; the leading cause of psionic diabetes.
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One of my biggest Pet Peeves for RWBY is how very often things just happen to the central characters, especially Ruby. As the main character her actions -or lack of- should actually mean something. Ruby's role should be more than her just being somewhere by chance. Ruby can't just be there when other characters are having their own stories being told, and she can't just react when things happen. Too much of what happens to her is just the result of luck and heavy plot convenience for my liking. I've tried addressing this issue, not only in previous chapters along with his one, but also the ones to follow. Likewise, this applies to Shaidar and Paula as well. I tried to give everyone equals parts to play here.

As a side note, this chapter was originally going to be different. In my original draft, RWY would encounter Shaidar and Paula in a way very similar to how its depicted in this chapter. However, in that draft, Shaidar and Paula wouldn't know where Blake was. Instead, RWY would learn about Blake from a random civilian in a follow-up chapter. But I found this didn't flow very well and just over-complicated things. Besides, by having Shaidar and Paula being the ones to give RWY directions, it helps give them a more prominent role early in the story without going too far with the Butterfly Effect.

Also, regarding Ruby, Weiss and Yang's mental signatures or auras; given how Semblances are said to be based on defining traits of a person's character, I tried to make their mental signatures somewhat evocative of them, without coming out and laying everything in clear black and white.

On a final note: Besides not having any real reason to suspect them, Paula and Shaidar being dismissive at the end come from the simple fact that they're used to the important players in any universe being at least old enough to vote and usually old enough to drink. Plus, Shaidar does have a good point- what are the odds that he and Paula will run into those same girls again?

(Heh. If only they knew, the poor bastards...)
 
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