Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So Primus, do you really think we have enough men to overpower the town defenses?” Asked Hordak of his brother, who’d been acting strangely all day. 

Not that it was unusual for Primus to keep things hidden from his younger brother; Hordak was under no impressions that Primus was honest, or even anything other than an absolute bastard; however something seemed even stranger than normal. Which considering the fact that they were all bandits was saying something. 

“Don’t think it will be a problem.” Primus responded with a smirk. “You, little brother just keep an eye out for threats” 

Hordak puts his head down “Of course brother” He said as he embarked on his scouting trek. 

He wasn’t aware of how far they had traveled to reach this village, and he had no clue which one it was. Not that it mattered, they never came to villages or homesteads with the purpose of staying peacefully. Out of the corner of his eyes Hordak caught a glimpse of some creatures that could likely say the same thing. Two beowolves bounding towards the village; they never even looked at him. 

Hordak suddenly heard a sound of an explosion towards the direction of his brother’s target. He saw his brother standing on a cliff overlooking the village. Hordak activated the energy cannon on his arm and shot it at the ground as he jumped, launching him into the air and up onto the cliff. 

“Little brother” Said Primus with a pause. “See anything… interesting?” he continued with a smirk. 

“I saw two Grimm coming towards the target, and an explosion from within. Though the latter I’m sure you’ve seen” Hordak said with hesitation, glaring intently at Primus. 

“You asked if we had enough men for this” Primus could barely hold back a malevolent chuckle “That’s not an issue. The explosion will draw more Grimm than just the two you saw” 

“What? I thought the plan was to overpower the town guard and rob the bank. Not this” Hordak responded with his voice almost trembling. He'd went along with a lot of bad things his brother had done but this was a line too far. 

“You seem concerned brother, doesn’t this answer your question?” Primus asked smuggly while turning to face Hordak. 

“I was fine with us taking money and getting out. I did not agree to feed innocents to these DAMNED GRIMM!!!” Hordak shouted back. 

Primus grabbed Hordak by the neck and lifted him up “THIS is why I took your semblance away from you brother, you’re too weak! To take the path of least resistance.” he stopped for a moment to focus. “And THAT is why you also aren’t worthy of your aura. I gave you your chance with it, now it will be mine as it always should have been.” 

The two men are alone on the cliff, nothing to stop what was about to happen. Hordak strains to lift his arm cannon up to aim at his brother. The pain of his aura being stripped away making it slower, Primus laughed at the attempt to fight back. 

“I’m… Stronger… Than you think” Hordak is able to get out as he fired his cannon directly into the face of Primus, knocking him back and off the cliff and dropping Hordak. 

The two start rolling down the cliff but the pain of losing his face caused Primus to be unconscious, only not being instantly dead from the shot because of his own aura. Hordak clawed into the side of the cliff to hold himself up and watched as his brother fell to the earth below. He paused for a second before controlling his fall. 

He felt a sharp shooting pain all over his body as he landed, clearly Primus had managed to take some of his aura completely away. That wasn’t important now however, there was about to be a massive Grimm attack on the village and Hordak knew he had to help rectify what his brother had caused. 

Once he arrived he pulled his spear from the sling on his back, during the motion he felt a pain in his ribs, likely from the damaged aura or from the first part of the fall down the cliff. It didn’t matter, he had to pull through. Luckily the explosion seemed to draw nothing but Beowolves and other smaller Grimm. Hordak weaved through the streets of the village dispatching monster after monster and shoving civilians out of the way of danger. If there was one thing he knew it was how to fight.

When the fight was over it was just Hordak standing in the center of town, the light of the sunset acting almost as a spotlight on him. The townspeople finally went outside again as things were quiet, and they wanted to see who had just saved them. 

“That was some display sir” said a middle aged tanned woman with curly orange hair who came walking up behind Hordak. “Are you a huntsman?” 

“Not… quite” Hordak said with some pause and perhaps shame. He partly blamed himself for this situation even happening. 

“We all have our pasts, and I won't pry into yours” The woman said with some reassurance. “Anyone with your skills is welcome in my town, welcome to Higanbana” she continued while reaching her hand out towards Hordak. 

“Thank you” He responded, almost confused. He shook her hand to be polite, however the handshake was interrupted by the sound of a crying baby, and a roar coming from a nearby house. 

Hordak lunged into action through the front door of the home where the Ursa that had made the roar was standing, it’s head poking into a doorway to one of the bedrooms but unable to quite fit through or break down. Hordak jumped on the creature's back and had to balance himself while it shook around trying to buck him off. Hordak was able to plunge his spear into the neck of the Grimm, killing it instantly. He braced himself to land as its body turned to ash. 

The crying of the baby dies down, Hordak had stopped really noticing it was there during the fight but it’s absence was deafening. He approaches the crib in the bedroom to see the child, eyes wide open looking up at him. He lifted the baby out of the crib and holds it gently in his free arm for a moment before setting his spear against the wall to hold it in both. 

“So you found Adora, is she okay?” Asked Lyanna. 

“She seems to be” answered Hordak “Where are the little ones' parents?” 

“Dead in the kitchen I’m afraid” Lyanna said with some pain in her voice. 

Hordak looked down at the child in his arms “What will become of her then?” 

“Not sure honestly” Lyanna responded with a frown “I’m normally too busy running the town to take care of a child, and most people will likely spend all their time the next few days rebuilding.”

Hordak looked into Adora’s big blue eyes and the child looked up hopefully at him and grabbed his finger with her tiny hand “I’ll take care of her then”

“You sure you can handle a child while on the road?” asked Lyanna inquisitively.

“I think I’m done being on the road for a while.” Hordak said with a slight grin “I think I’d like to stay here assuming you’d have me” 

“Well Hordak” Lyanna started “As I said before, anyone with your skills is welcome here” 

Hordak walks through the rest of the house back outside, hiding Adora’s eyes from the remains of her parents. 

“I’m not going to be perfect little one, but I’ll do my best to make sure you have it easier than I did” Hordak whispers to Adora as he walks towards the nearby inn. 

Chapter Text

Adora steps through the door of her dorm at Beacon Academy followed by the rest of her team. 

“I can’t believe the AUDACITY of that Neon bitch!” Glimmer belted in frustration. 

“She was just doing that to get into your head” Said Bow putting a hand on her shoulder. 

“I know, I let us down” Glimmer answered leaning into him. 

“If it makes you feel better Sparkles I got my ass beat pretty bad by Trumpet Boy” Elizabeth said from the opposite side of the room while nervously spinning her tail. 

Suddenly Adora’s scroll started vibrating. It was a call from Hordak, the man who raised her. “Everyone quiet down” 

“Oh snap, it's her dad.” Glimmer said hushedly. 

Adora answers and Hordak’s video feed pulls up. “Hey, Hordak… I suppose you saw our match didn’t you?” Adora said looking down. 

“Pick your head up” Hordak said, sounding aggressively but that’s kind of his motivational tone. “The Vytal Tournament is a good show of abilities, but out in the field against grimm… or bandits it’s much different.” Hordak said, pausing. “Out there it won’t matter what happened in any tournament, all that will matter is your skills, equipment, and what you’ve learned.”

“I know, I’m just worried I haven’t learned enough.” Adora said looking back at him

“That might be the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard you say Adora” Hordak responds, Elizabeth tries to hold back a laugh in the background. “What I’m trying to say is this. You’re strong, and you’re smarter than anyone gives you credit for. So your concerns about your abilities are pointless, you’re the same girl who slain her first Geist at 10 years old. Because you don’t let anything stop you… and I’m proud of you.” He says with a smile. 

Adora smiles back “Thanks Hordak… I should get back to my team but I’ll talk to you later this week okay?” She says as she hangs up. 

“Hordak? More like HER-DAD amirite?” Bow says with a chuckle “C’mon Glimmer that was funny” he continues wrapping his arm around her while she’s not amused. 

“No it WASN’T” Glimmer says finally cracking into giggling while shoving him away. 

Adora looks at them and rolls her eyes before she catches a glimpse of Elizabeth looking into the mirror on the wall next to her while nervously rubbing her arm.

“You doing okay?” Adora says sitting next to her teammate on the desk. 

“It’s just… I don’t have anyone who cares enough to check in on me like that.” Elizabeth says in a manner not dissimilar to ripping off a bandage. 

“You didn’t used to, but you have us now” Adora says, placing her hand on that of the faunus next to her. 

“Yeah, we’re always here for you Catra” Says Bow. 

“Why do you still call me that?” Answers Elizabeth rolling her eyes. 

Bow stifles a laugh “I’m sorry, I just can’t get over the fact that Glimmer unironically thought that was your name during the first week of classes.”

“I’m bad with names Bow! I thought you knew that” Glimmer snaps back. 

Elizabeth laughs “You guys are such idiots… thank you” 

“Of course. We’re a team, even if I’ve given you a stupid nickname” Glimmer says reassuringly. 

“Well, since we’re out of the tournament will we want to watch some more of it tomorrow?” Asks Elizabeth. 

“I heard team RWBY got the jerks who beat us in the doubles round” Says Bow. 

“Well here’s hoping Yang knocks the crap out of those funky jackasses.” Glimmer adds. 

“Sounds fun.” Adora responds with a soft smile. “You guys get some rest, I’m gonna go for a walk”

“I’ll go with you” Elizabeth says standing up. Meanwhile Bow and Glimmer give each other knowing glances. 

Adora and Elizabeth walk downstairs to the street and encounter both team JNPR and team SSSN on their way down and congratulate them on their victories. Eventually they reach the statue of some hero, a statue that has been outside Beacon so long possibly only professor Ozpin knew who it was supposed to be. Though that could’ve just been the perspective of students who couldn’t keep up with Dr. Oobleck’s ramblings during his history lectures. 

“I… didn’t decide to go here because I wanted to be a hero, you know?” Elizabeth says hesitantly. 

“I know, you said before you really only wanted to get away from the woman who raised you” Adora responds before continuing “You called her Shadow Weaver before. Why is that? She must have another name.”

Elizabeth sighs “Her semblance is to cast illusions, and she often used them to scare me to get me to behave. But it’s more than that, she lied and fear mongered me into constant hesitancy, terror, worry. Once she told me that if I didn’t do as she told that my own shadow could turn into a Grimm and eat me. Imagine that? A 6 year old being convinced to ACTUALLY be afraid of their own shadow. So when I realized exactly the kind of liar she was she became nothing more to me than a weaver of shadows… And I refuse to pay her the respect of telling others her name.”

“I'm so sorry.” Adora answers, slightly sorry she even asked. 

“I viewed becoming a huntress as a way to escape forever, I didn’t even tell her my plan. The second I passed the entrance exam into Beacon I never went back.” Elizabeth pauses for a moment “What’s interesting is you’re an orphan too, but you have a completely different experience. You and Hordak may not say it too each other but you do actually view each other as family, he may be gruff and intimidating to people who don’t know him; hell that’s how i felt the first time you and him talked in my presence; but over time I noticed the substance of everything he said to you. He actually cares. His face, demeanor, and tone of voice may not say it but the substance and his actions do… and that’s something I never had the luxury of. Me, you, Glimmer, and Bow are a family here. But you all have your own families to go back to outside of the team, I don’t. If I had never met you guys, or had been placed on a different team with people who didn’t accept me I’d be completely alone.” 

Adora is almost at a loss for words and does the only thing she can think of and hugs Elizabeth, who’s ears flatten in shock and she becomes at ease “Our families are all yours now, okay. Hordak, Bow’s dads, Angella… they’ll all accept you and have you any time okay? So don’t think you’re alone.”

Elizabeth starts to cry into Adora’s shoulder. 

“We have your back… always.” Adora says “You’re never going to be alone again.” 

Chapter Text

“Ugh, really” Callum thought to himself after getting kicked into a rock by Sky Lark of team CRDL. He hadn’t expected his team to have an easy time in the Vytal tournament but he expected them to put up a better fight than they had thus far. Especially against these guys, who were all dressed like they were cosplaying their characters from some fantasy game dressed all as either a knight, rogue, or ranger. 

“Team CRCS is having a rough go of it right now it seems!” Announced Doctor Oobleck of Beacon, he wasn’t wrong but did he really have to say the obvious for everyone in the arena to hear? “All of their members are down to at least half their aura and have barely made a dent into that of anyone on team CRDL.”

“I’ve got your back Callum!” Said Rayla as she leaped over the rock and landed in front of him.

Callum stood up quickly and readied his Atlesian rifle. It still didn’t feel… "him" to wield but it was what he had. “Please tell me you didn’t have one of them following you?”

“You should know that I wouldn’t be that sloppy. Claudia’s getting double teamed though.’ Rayla answered. 

“Then we should hurry this up and help out.” Callum said firing one shot towards their opponent who blocked it with his halberd and chuckled menacingly. 

“Aspiro” Callum whispered to himself, one of the words he uses to help him focus his semblance. The wind picked up in front of him forcing Sky to brace himself, but before to long Mr. Lark was sent flying out of the arena. 1 down, 3 to go as the announcers exclaimed at the turning of events. 

The excitement couldn’t last long however, Soren wasn’t doing so well against Cardin Winchester on the other side of the arena and his Aura was just one big hit away from being completely depleted. 

“I’ll go help him, you help Claudia.” Rayla said, rushing away. Callum followed suit in making his way towards the artificial woods Claudia found herself in where she used her staff to help her swing from branch to branch. Callum could see Dove in pursuit on the ground and Russel chasing behind parkouring on her tail. 

“Okay bird boy this has stopped being funny and is now just sad” Claudia says, slinging herself higher in the tree to stand and get a bearing on her surroundings. She notices Callum beginning to engage in a fight with Dove down below. 

She drops down to start the fight with Russel again swinging her staff at his face. He deflects several swings with his daggers and sweeps her leg causing her to fall off. She catches the branch with her staff and slings herself to a nearby branch and kicks him in the back knocking him off to the ground. Russel being left with a sliver of aura left. Claudia drops down in front of him ready to get one final hit in but suddenly Dove turns his attention on her. 

“Callum, do it!” Claudia yells. “No questioning, do it.”

Russell notices her saying this and throws one of his daggers harshly around the trees before a stiff wind starts blowing, slowly but surely knocking everyone in front of Callum out of the arena. From his side however he could feel something hit him. It was one of Russel Thrush’s daggers, it had just depleted his aura. Callum was out of the match. 

The fight was now up to Rayla and Soren to beat Cardin Winchester 2 versus 1. 

Soren uses his sword to block Cardin’s mace and spins around to regroup. Rayla finally reaches the fight and slashes at Cardin hitting him in the back depleting his aura to half. She spins over him and kicks him in the face, getting him to a quarter. She lands beside Soren. 

“Sorry I’m late” She says with a smirk. 

“Keep doing that and you’re forgiven” Says a tired Soren, straining to smile. 

“What a brillant sequence by miss Ikus, her and mister Dusk are at the advantage here!” announced Professor Port with a boom. 

Cardin lifted himself up from his knees in frustration and determination. He charged at the pair and swung his mace. Rayla dodged completely out of Cardin’s path easily but Soren couldn’t and had to put his shoulder down and into Cardin’s chest to avoid the mace. He tried to drive Cardin backwards and hopefully onto his back; a semblance could be handy right now but Soren had yet to unlock his. Cardin kneed Soren in the chest, knocking him back and depleting his aura completely. Soren was done. 

Cardin turned around looking for where his last opponent was. There was a shadow moving quickly around him, he dodged the sound of sword swings near his face. Cardin swung his feet around and kicked the shadow in front of him while she was in the middle of a thrust and knocked her to the ground 30 feet away. Rayla was now down for the count.

“In spectacular fashion team CRDL WINS I really thought team CRCS had completed the comeback!” Oobleck shouted. 

“It truly was a spectacular fight from both teams.” Port followed. 

Team CRCS returned to their lodging at Beacon after the loss. They were disappointed but mostly just feeling exhausted. Though Callum really wanted to win this one for Rayla. He had heard that team CRDL was nothing but a bunch of bullies and largely targeted Beacon’s faunus students. He knew they’d be reveling in beating “That girl with the horns.”. He could also tell that she was thinking about it too. 

Callum placed a hand on Rayla’s shoulder. 

“Lucky for us Ironwood is too busy worrying about security to come talk to us about that at least.” Soren said, just trying to break the silence. They normally were a pretty talkative team. 

“True, what would he say anyway? ‘You 4 gave it your best and one day you will be Atlas’s finest protectors.’ yeah we know, you say it every assembly.” Claudia said with a laugh. 

Rayla smiles “Or how about ‘Ah good, you’re out of the tournament and now you can work on one of these thousand airships for no pay’” she says doing her best but still awful Ironwood impression. 

The group laughs, though there’s one more voice of laughter from the doorway. 

“Eve, Aoi, surprised to see you guys over here right now.” Says Callum. “Thought your team would be out at the fairgrounds.” 

“Nah, Ichina came up with some new bomb ideas so Amane was gonna help her test them and even though that’s in the woods princess here doesn’t want to be anywhere outside while they’re doing it.” Eve said, grabbing Aoi on the shoulder. 

“Eveee. No I’m not!” Aoi says protesting. 

“Isn’t that, like, totally illegal?” Asks Soren “Couldn’t you get expelled for it.”

“Amane tried telling her that but we convinced her she could use new technology to measure the effectiveness of each grenade on her scroll.” Aoi responded, crossing her arms. 

“It’s only expulsion worthy if Ironwood wouldn’t find it useful if he found out, which he would.” Eve answered 

"Exactly" Aoi says with a soft smile.

“We really don’t act like Atlas students do we?” Said a third girl as she walked briskly between Eve and Aoi.

“Jinguji? What the hell are you doing here?” Said Eve with some annoyance. 

“Kinue, I’m surprised you’re showing up here after today.” Soren said with joy in his voice but also wistfully looking down. 

“Well, I wasn’t just gonna let the blonde doofus I actually like just sulk around with his team.” Kinue says grinning and patting him on the shoulder “Besides, you promised to show me some fencing techniques today after your match.”

“Well, a promise is a promise I guess no matter how tired I am.” Soren says getting up and walking out of the room. 

“Suppose we should get out of here too.” Aoi says, giving Eve a knowing glance. 

“I suppose we should. We will see you all later.” Eve says with a smirk. 

Claudia looks at them and then over at Callum and Rayla. “Wait, so am I seriously the only one who doesn’t have anybody? Gah, single queen over here.” 

“What are you talking about?” Rayla says, raising an eyebrow. 

“Oh come on you two there’s seriously something going on between the two of you and you’re fooling yourselves if you’re denying it. Meanwhile those two who just walked out are so obviously smitten with each other. Hell their ‘caddies’ have some pretty playful arguments from time to time.” Claudia pauses looking towards the window “And of course you have my brother and that girl. And good for him you know, ever since our dad disappeared it's been hard on us, but particularly hard on him.” 

Claudia grips her staff tighter. “I inherited my semblance from him, and the day he disappeared he gave me this. His weapon from when he was a huntsman. But Soren never really got a parting gift, he didn’t get the chance to have one. So anything that makes my brother happy brings comfort to my mind too. And for the last year and a half we’ve been students at Atlas the 2 of you are the closest thing to family me and Soren have had. So if you two make each other happy that also brings me peace.” Claudia slumps a bit “Sorry, the silence of today gave me time to think, and I think I should sleep because I’m becoming a teensie bit unfiltered.”

Rayla and Callum sit in silence for a moment as Claudia falls asleep. The two of them go to the roof together and look at the moon for a bit. For every battle like the one they had today, there’s also peaceful moments like this. What Claudia said earlier was right in a lot of ways. Callum's own mom had disappeared many years ago, so had Rayla's parents. Team CRCS was their own makeshift little family who'd lost some of the one they were born into. Callum leans his head on Rayla's shoulder and drifts off to sleep for a moment. 

Chapter Text

“I don’t want anyone in this room to think even for a second that a tournament loss defines who you are as huntsmen and huntresses.” began professor Amuro, one of the more laid back instructors who worked at Atlas Academy. Rayla always suspected that he might’ve been the only one without a military background. Either way he was well liked by all the students in the room, particularly Kinue Jinguji who seemed to spend the least amount of time with her own team when compared to the time she spent with the professor, team EIAA and Soren. 

Actually no, that was definitely the case. Rayla was just now starting to really wake up and recalled a conversation with Kinue about not getting along with her team. With what little time she had spent around them Rayla had gotten the vibe that they were military brats. She had also gotten a separate vibe that they had made Kinue feel inferior on occasion. Rayla could understand, not just as a Faunus but because her father and uncles were skilled huntsmen and her mother was an even better huntress. With all of that skill and expertise around her in her youth she was never the best around her at any skill. Ethari was stronger and a more creative crafter, Runaan better with all manner of weapons, her father more agile, and her mother more tactically clever. It took her until coming to Atlas and meeting Callum that she realized how skilled she was compared to those her own age. 

Yes, Rayla fully understood Kinue’s feelings. She looked down the lecture hall row team CRCS was sitting in to see Kinue predictably sitting next to Soren. She had apparently been so tired she hadn’t fully registered where everyone sat down, luckily Callum was expectedly right next to her. 

“Anyone who even attends one of the academies is skilled and knowledgeable enough that losing to one of them is nothing to be ashamed of, and in fact losing to them is a good sign for the safety of the world, it means we have more people who can protect the innocent from what goes bump in the night.” Coach Amuro continued, Rayla wasn’t sure if she had missed something he had said or not. “Besides, every loss is a chance to gain a new perspective on either your opponents or yourselves.” the professor scanned the room for a second “Mister Princeton, what did you learn from yesterday?”

Callum looked at him with befuddlement, he had felt too tired yesterday to really reflect on the match. “Well professor, that's a tough one.” he said.

Amuro chuckled a second “It often is, that’s for sure. Don’t worry it’s not a test, there isn’t a wrong or right answer, what you learn from an experience is simply what you learned from it and that can’t be changed.”

Callum pondered a moment “Things only went well for us when we were together. We spent too much time separated from each other and by the time we actually regrouped we didn’t have the aura left to win. We have to stay together.”

“Very good mister Princeton. It is vitally important for your team to stay together ladies and gentlemen. Both literally and figuratively speaking.” Said the professor looking around the room at his students “The friends you make in your academy time will be your greatest allies when you’re out in the field.”

The professor’s words were true of course, but Rayla was wondering why he was saying all of this now during the Vytal Festival. 

“I’m sorry I called you all in here on short notice, the General is worried about something happening, particularly on the first or second night of the singles round starting in a couple days. I figured I’d call in my students for one last second lesson just in case.” Professor Amuro said candidly, almost as if that was something he wasn’t supposed to tell the students. 

An unexpected voice chimed in “What does he think might happen?” Claudia asked curiously. 

“I don’t rightly know but it's why he brought the fleet.” He answered “But I’m sorry, you’re all dismissed. I’ve kept you here long enough.” 

The teams dispersed into the hallway and walked towards the courtyard. Once outside Claudia sped away from the team looking at her scroll intently. Soren was busy still talking to Kinue and didn’t notice. Rayla and Callum looked at each other but after last night they figured that Claudia might need her space for a little bit. Besides, they were in a hurry to board a ship to Amity Arena to see the doubles matches. They wanted to see team CFVY up close. 

Chapter Text

It had been a bit of a hike for Viren to get to Higanbana but he had made it. This was where his contact was supposed to meet him in order to deliver the package he had been carrying the rest of the way to Vale. Viren loathed the fact that he had to do even this much manual labor but it really was the only option, this particular package was one he only trusted himself to carry, and he mustn't arouse suspicion by driving a vehicle into a village like this at nighttime. No, carrying it on foot was the only real way. Luckily Viren was powerful enough no normal Grimm would even be a match for him.  

Viren walked into the local tavern and sat down in a corner booth under the stairs and away from prying eyes, placing the satchel with his package at his feet. Viren scanned the room while stroking his slowly graying brown beard. This establishment was luckily fairly empty tonight, perfect to engage in the kind of business being done tonight. 

A large man proceeded to walk through the tavern doors and back towards Viren’s booth, he stood aggressively over the table. 

“You must be Hazel.” Said Viren clasping his hands together. 

“That I am, you’re Mr. Dusk I take it. Heard you were missing years ago, figured you’d turn up eventually but never thought it would be from assisting the mistress.” Hazel said, eyes focused on the satchel on the floor. 

“Yes well, your mistress seems quite amenable to my goals in spite of some of her let's say… unsavory connections.” Viren said with a sharp grin. 

“Right, well I haven’t got all day so I’ll assume this satchel has Miz Catherine’s Fire Dust as promised.” Hazel said, reaching for the strap carefully. 

“Of course, might I ask, however. Will the people of Vale believe that it was the White Fang who set fire to their Beacon Academy?” Asked Viren with pride rising into his voice. 

“They’ll believe it, because it WILL be the White Fang.” Hazel said sternly. 

“Even better, they’ll see those rats for who they are.” Viren responded venomously. 

“Right… Well, I’m going to leave now like none of this ever happened.” Hazel said, intently walking out the tavern door “Oh, excuse me sir.” Viren could faintly hear him say as another man entered the building. 

The tall man with obvious vitiligo and slick black hair approached the table Viren was sitting at. As he got closer Viren could see the large spear fastened on the man’s back and a small badge. Presumably he was sheriff of this town. Not someone Viren particularly wanted to see, though with what Hazel had just taken Viren had no illicit materials and he had no record, at least not officially since he’d technically been missing for the last half dozen years or so. Viren figured he’d start the conversation himself. 

“Sheriff, I didn’t think a newcomer like me rated this personal a welcome.” Viren said. “Please, take a seat”

“Please, no need to be so formal. Just call me Hordak.” The sheriff said, sitting down across from Viren and beckoning the waitress to bring him two of the special.Viren didn’t mind, he supposed he could in fact go for a drink. 

“Okay then Hordak, why feel the need to welcome me so personally? Do that with every wanderer who comes through here?” Viren asked, trying not to sound interrogative. 

The waitress brought their drinks, Hordak sloshed his around in the whiskey glass it came in for a moment before answering “Sometimes it gets boring around here and it is often the wanderers that have the most interesting stories. Sometimes it’s a huntsman who’s lost his license who still travels the countryside slaying Grimm because it's still what’s right, others it's a scientist researching said Grimm, and others it’s as simple as a Faunus girl and human man who recently eloped because his parents didn’t approve.” Viren had to restrain the anger the last example filled him with “It’s the wanderers that I enjoy hearing from most, they remind you of what the world is like outside of a town you’ve spent the last 17 years protecting.”

“You do have a point, wanderers can be interesting, but I’m afraid you’re out of luck with me. I’m just a middle aged divorcee traveling the world with his newfound freedom, nothing to see here” Viren said, trying to avoid any further questions from the sheriff. 

“That may be so but I’m interested nonetheless. These last few months have been kind of boring and lonely so I’ll take the company I can get.” Hordak said. “What’s your name?”

“It’s Viren.”

“Well Viren, it's nice to meet you. You said you’re divorced, do you have any kids?” Asked Hordak. 

“I do in fact, It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them…Though I hope to see my daughter again soon. Depending on how that goes maybe I’ll see about my son too.” Viren said candidly. 

 “Yes, broken families can be a messy situation. I should know, me and my brother are… estranged.” Hordak said, clearly not saying the full picture. 

“How about you Hordak, do you have kids?” Viren asked. 

“In a way. When I first got to town there was a Grimm attack, there weren’t many deaths, but among them was a couple. They left behind a young girl who I decided to raise on my own.” Hordak stared into his drink “I don’t know if I can exactly call myself a father though, I’m certain I did none of it right even though I tried. I never even knew my own parents, my brother raised me and he definitely didn’t do any of it right. She deserved better than me, but I was what she had.”

“Where is she now?” Viren asked, seemingly more curious now. 

“Adora is a student at Beacon Academy.” Hordak said with a pause “She’ll make for an excellent huntress because she’s everything I’m not.” 

“No kidding? It’s been forever since hearing from them but from what I’m aware my children go to Atlas. With the Vytal festival going on maybe Soren and Claudia have met your Adora at some point. Funny to think about.” Viren said downing his drink. “I really should get a move on, it’s a long way to Atlas from here.” Viren paused "That was next on my list." 

“Have a safe trip, and keep an eye out, rumors of a Nuckelavee out to the east of here.” Hordak said warningly. 

Viren made his way out of the tavern and back to walking the main road. Hordak was different than Primus had described him. The years in this town seemed to have made him a different person, though this just meant he was gullible and weak in a different way now. Viren decided that he’d keep all this a secret from Primus for now, he’d be unfocused and out for revenge if he knew exactly where his brother was right now, and as much as he hated to admit it their plans needed Primus for now. Part of Viren wondered if he’d told Hordak too much about himself, he had been reasonably notorious at one point and if rumors of his whereabouts started circling too soon and reached Atlas it could cause him some problems. Luckily Viren knew that the worldwide CCT tower out of Beacon would be out of commission soon, limiting communication which would hopefully prevent that. 

Viren looked at his scroll and saw a new message that simply read: 

I'm in

Viren grinned. Tomorrow was going to be a good day . 

Chapter Text

'Yesterday was… not good'   Elizabeth thought to herself sitting in the Beacon cafeteria. Something had happened yesterday and she was trying to think about why. Yang Xiao-Long had attacked Mercury Black after their match was already over, yet she said that she was merely defending herself after he attacked her. The authorities had believed their eyes and disqualified her from the singles round, meanwhile most Beacon students had seemingly just been trusting that their classmate wouldn't do something like that unprompted. One upside of growing up with a Shadow Weaver is that you understand how easily other people can mess with your perception. Someone in Amity Arena last night had both an illusion semblance and nefarious motivations. Though figuring out who it was is like a needle in a haystack, or maybe more accurately trying to find the Faunus hater among a group of Atlas businessmen. It could be all of them and it could be none of them, and basically anyone who WOULD fit the description would also try to hide it. In fact only one illusionist Elizabeth had ever met seemed to be proud and open about their semblance, and it had been this kid Gus who went to Haven that team AGED had met last week. And that kid didn't seem like he could hurt anything. 

"There you are." Glimmer said sitting next to her. 

"Sparkles, where's Bow and Adora?" Elizabeth asked, noticing the other two weren't with Glimmer. 

"I gave them some money so they could shop away yesterday's drama. Knowing them they'll probably get Yang a present of some sort just to show we still care." Glimmer said as a thud sound came from the other side of the wall behind them. "And that's the sound of Jaune and Pyrrha having a lover's spat." Glimmer continued with a laugh. 

Elizabeth smiled with a snort. "Why didn't you join them on the shopping spree?"

"Because, Catra" Glimmer started with a grin "I wanted to check on you, you've been deep in thought since yesterday and we all worry when you go off alone. Adora would've done what I'm doing but she doesn't want to be a nuisance, which is where I come in. Because I don't care about that one bit."

Elizabeth laughs, "She's such an idiot." 

"Yes, but she's our idiot." Glimmer says, patting her teammate's shoulder "So, what have you been thinking about? I assume it's about what happened with Yang yesterday" 

"I believe her when she says she was attacked. Didn't Coco say she saw Yatsuhashi in the forest right next to her before he got eliminated on the other side of the arena? And it was against that same team. I think someone on that team can make illusions, and that they're cheating." Elizabeth said, pulling out her scroll "I don't know why, but that seems to be the only explanation." 

"I can see that happening. Do we tell Ozpin?" Glimmer asked. 

"Don't know what good it would do, we don't have hard evidence, just suspicion." Elizabeth started. “Besides, what exactly is cheating in this tournament going to do in the long run, might not be worth it”

“Still feels weird to let them get away with it.” Glimmer responded, crossing her arms. 

“I know it is, but I don’t think we should get in the middle of this in our first year. Especially if Lionheart put them up to cheating for him.” Elizabeth said, looking at a new message on her scroll and smiling.

“I suppose you’re right” Glimmer said, noticing Elizabeth looking at her scroll “What’s that?”

"What do you think of this?" Elizabeth said, holding out a picture of a plush dragon for Glimmer to see. 

"What is it?" Asked Glimmer. 

"It's our gift for Yang." Elizabeth answered with a smile.

"It's perfect." Glimmer said grinning back at her. 

Chapter Text

"Your duty isn't just to watch out for your sister, but for the rest of your team too." That was the first lesson Professor Amuro taught Soren when he first began attending Atlas Academy. 

Obviously there had been classes before that point, but those words were the first ones anything the man had said ever truly got through to him. When team CRCS formed Soren wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to think about it. Of course he was happy to have finally made it into huntsman school, and was happy to be on the same team as his sister Claudia. But on the other hand he wasn't quite sure about having their childhood friend Callum being made leader, or the Faunus girl from Mantle who was also on their team. Soren wasn't great at dealing with strangers and was also unsure about taking direction from someone younger than him, but one thing he did understand was duty. So if watching Callum and Rayla's backs just as zealously as he'd protect his sister's was his duty then he was going to do that the best he could. 

Of course as he got to know Rayla that also helped. She was strong and daring in a way few were, she fully embodied what the huntresses from the old stories were supposed to be. Something he knew that his father never was, as much as he did miss the man. Dad seemed to lose track of being a Huntsman the moment he had to take over the Dusk Dust business, and even before that he had never seemed particularly focused on it. That was one thing Soren promised himself he’d never do. 

“Sor-bear your hair looks fine. You don’t have to check it again.” Claudia said from behind him. 

“Fine, sure. But it needs to look dazzling!” Soren said, turning around. 

“You don’t need to impress anyone, Soren. She already likes you.” Claudia said, pausing with a smirk “besides, you’ve had that same hairstyle practically your whole life so what’s even the change?.”

“Yes, but it could be an even more perfect version of itself.” Soren answered. 

Claudia hugs her brother “It’s gonna go great.”

Soren reels from surprise at the seemingly random hug but he hugs her back “Thanks Clauds”

“Now go, don’t keep her waiting.” Claudia said. 

“Right, of course.” Soren said with a smile while running out the door. 

Soren had met Kinue Jinguji partway through his first semester at Atlas. At first she seemed kind of aloof to most everything and kind of cold, though them getting assigned as sparring partners showed Soren the truth. She was a workaholic, and was willing to put all of her time into trying to become a better huntress and better fighter. She wanted to learn how to use every kind of weapon from the basic energy rifles of Atlas military, to all manner of swords, to Flynt Coal’s trumpet, to the weird grenade flinging golf clubs that team EIAA all used. Soren started talking to her when he offered to show her sword techniques after the third time they ever sparred. It was nice to be able to teach someone properly about swords and swordplay, Callum and Claudia never had an interest in it and Rayla was already practically a master herself so he never really had a chance to teach someone. Kinue was admittedly quite suited for it, particularly a fan of sabres and fencing which Soren admittedly wasn’t as naturally attuned for but that wasn’t going to stop him from imparting knowledge. A sword is a sword and no matter the size or shape a proper swordsman should be able to figure it out, and many concepts translated over. A claymore, a katana, and an epoch are each an extension of the wielder and must be able to move naturally with the wielder’s body, though at the same time the wielder must alter how their move to work more naturally with the weapon. Soren struggled with natural biology on occasion but that was a symbiotic relationship he understood, and it seemed that Kinue understood it from the beginning too. 

It was funny, the more the two trained together the more they seemed to understand each other on a level outside of just who they are as combatants. They were surprisingly similar, each of them was willing to spent hours upon hours to better themselves at their craft because they wouldn’t be able to skirt by on their natural gifts for it, nor having a powerful semblance to fall back on or have amplify their skills. No, Soren and Kinue had yet to unlock their semblance and there was no telling if they ever would. But they weren't going to let that hold them back. 

Not that it mattered to them anyway, they’d spent this long without one that it didn’t even seem like they were missing anything. 

“Apparently there’s no more fish noodles here anymore, some girl got every single fish Old Man Shopkeep had on hers the other day” Kinue said after slurping down the last of her bowl. 

"You are kidding! I don't think even I'd be able to manage that." Soren said finishing his. 

“Apparently she was starving after a match.” said Kinue. 

“Do you know who it was?” asked Soren

“Pretty sure it was Blake Belladonna from Beacon.” said Kinue. 

“You’re pretty sure what was me?” said a voice from behind them. 

“Did you really eat like 15 fish in one sitting?!?!” asked Soren with excitement. 

Blake looked at him with confusion for a moment and then to Weiss Schnee standing next to her just to confirm that this was real. “I can neither confirm nor deny.”

“We need to have an eating contest one of these days, I think I’d win.” Soren said grinning smugly. 

“Gonna have to pass.” said Blake.

“Come on Blake, let’s move along. We need to win your girlfriend a teddy bear or something.” said Weiss, dragging her along to Blake’s simultaneous annoyance and relief. 

“She’s not my-” Blake began before getting interrupted. 

Weiss shushed her and they walked away from the noodle stand. 

“I’m surprised to see them out and about after yesterday.” Kinue said. 

“Well, you can’t just hide from the world when something happens.” Soren said as he watched the pair bickering over how to beat the dart game. 

“I suppose you’d probably know about that.” Kinue said, recoiling as she said it. 

“What do you mean by that?” asked Soren with confusion. 

“Nothing, just… forget I said anything. Sensitive subject.” Kinue said, becoming flushed. 

“If it’s about my father there’s nothing touchy about that for me anymore, Claudia on the other hand is a different story.” said Soren, sighing. 

“How come?” Asked Kinue. 

“Our father was… flawed. He was heavily connected with every dust business in Atlas and every mine in Mantle. He didn’t really have time for us a lot of the time, though when Claudia unlocked her semblance he suddenly had time for her to teach her how to use it.” Soren said. 

“What exactly is her semblance by the way?” asked Kinue. 

“Well, her and my dad share a semblance. I don’t know exactly how it works but they can just like, absorb Aura from living creatures. Be it animals or people; it’s terrifying to watch. They can then turn that into some kind of; I don’t know; energy? That can be used for a variety of purposes, even emulating other semblaces. Claudia has at least talked about the idea that she could mimic Callum or Rayla’s semblances if she were to absorb their auras partly.” Soren paused from the explanation, returning to a different train of thought. “I remember before dad disappeared I was jealous of her for it, she had a semblance that she could share with him and I didn’t have one at all. It’s kind of funny, my relationship with her improved when dad wasn’t there anymore. She was just, so distraught and I was the one she turned to.”

Soren had never really talked about himself like this to anyone ever before in his life, these were secrets and feelings he thought should maybe be kept to himself but something about telling them to Kinue felt freeing. No, there was nothing wrong with expressing these feelings. Especially to someone who he trusted with his whole heart. 

“Now that I’m older I kind of understand the kind of person my dad was. Sure he had been a huntsman at one point but his desire for power took him away from it.” Soren paused for a second trying to force himself to say the next part. “And I think he hated the faunus more than he loved his family. He’d just go on and on about the White Fang doing this, that, or the other thing. Calling them rats, or whatever else. And even with him having been gone 6 years before I started coming to Atlas I think some of his bile managed to internalize itself into my brain y’know? It’s why I didn’t trust Rayla when we were first on the same team even though I had sworn to myself that I wouldn’t be him, and it took her kicking my ass every single day and becoming one of my closest friends for it to go away completely. I just consider myself lucky that Claudia is younger than me and probably never heard the worst of it like I did.”

Kinue places her hand on his. 

“In a lot of ways I’m glad he left to wherever in the world he took himself to. There’s so many people I probably wouldn’t know otherwise. Rayla, Eve, Flynt and Neon and…” Soren paused for a second and looked Kinue softly in her eyes “You.”

She leaned in and tilted her head, Soren wondered if this was actually real. She inched ever closer and…

The moment was interrupted by gasps in Amity Arena and screams from elsewhere in the fairgrounds. Kinue and Soren stand up and swing their heads around to try and figure out what’s going on. They finally take a look at a TV on the side of one of the big tents and see what looks like a robot severed in multiple places, except the robot is dressed like… no it couldn’t be. Was that really Penny Polendina? Dead and a robot? It didn’t seem real, their shock caused them to barely hear the woman giving a dramatic speech about the weakness of Ozpin and Ironwood. They snapped out of their shock when they heard the roars of Grimm making their way closer to the fairgrounds. 

Soren’s scroll began to ring and he quickly answered a video call, it was Callum and Rayla. “Soren! You’re okay! Where are you?” shouted Callum, clearly in distress. 

“We’re at the fairgrounds, where’s Claudia?” Soren asked. 

“We don’t know, she hasn’t been answering.” Rayla said with frustration. 

Soren’s heart dropped for a second but he knew his sister was strong, she could survive a few Grimm. “Keep trying to see if she’ll answer, where are you guys?”

“We’re on our way to the dropships to try and help either fight or evacuate.” Callum said. 

“Please hurry, and stay safe Soren.” said Rayla. 

Soren pocketed his scroll and committed himself to what he had to do, both his blood family and found family were counting on him. “You ready to save Vale?” He said to Kinue while drawing his sword, trying to hide his nerves. 

“With you? Always.” she responded as she pulled out her sabre, one gifted to her by Winter Schnee. 

The pair began running towards the direction of the Beacon Academy campus. From Amity Arena the sounds of a Nevermore screeching could be heard and they could see dropships making their way down towards Vale to respond to the apparent Grimm attack. Two Beowolves got in the way of the pair which were quickly cut down. Followed by two more, and then three more, and another, and another. They kept mowing down Grimm after Grimm. The sounds of Atlas robots fighting could be heard, but accompanied by screaming, plus the sound of bullets hitting metal. Had the mechs turned on them? They found the answer as they reached a narrow street in Vale not far from the drop point. 

A mech broke through the walls of the building to their left. This Paladin would certainly be their destruction but they had to try and distract it from what would certainly now be the evac site. They dodged a barrage of rockets and shot through the hole in the wall it had created beforehand and dipped inside what was formerly a shop. Inside they found a pair who had likely been experiencing what they had. 

“How did you dodge those rockets?” asked Bow hushedly. “It barely missed us when it crashed through the building.” 

The sound of the Paladin turning itself in an attempt to detect threats could be heard not far away.

“I don’t know but we have to get it away from the evac site.” said Soren. 

“How?” asked Adora. 

“Well, we fight it while drawing it in the opposite direction of course.” said Kinue matter-of-factly. 

“There are 4 of us, so we might just live long enough to buy everyone else time.” Adora said. 

“Exactly, and if we’re lucky some soldiers will show up and take over for us.” said Soren, hopeful.

Adora held her sword in front of her and grew two whole feet and began rippling with muscle. Soren and Kinue looked at her in surprise and wonder. They may have a chance after all.  “I’m gonna need everything I got for this.”

“Oh wow, She-Roar mode.” said Bow. 

“Please stop calling it that.” Adora said more flustered than annoyed. 

“Never” said Bow. 

The 4 students walked out into the street. 

“Hey metal and ugly look at this!” Adora shouted as she threw a bit of rubble at the mech. 

Bow proceeded to fire an arrow that sent an electric jolt into the Paladin, short circuiting some of the weapons systems. Adora baited the mech to boost in her direction down the street and away from the dropships. Soren could hear a similar fight to theirs happening on the other side of campus. They needed to succeed here. He and Kinue were on the roof waiting to see if they could jump on top of the mech to find where to disable it. The fact 3 of them had swords made this very difficult as they were incapable of piercing the armor, but maybe while climbing on it he and Kinue could find a seam in it. They jumped on top of the mech but it seemed to instantly sense that they had done so and turned quickly to shake them off and flung them into the building next to them with enough force to break some of the bricks, their aura’s depleting and rubble falling on top of them into a cloud of debris. Soren could hear her say something about her arm and he could feel a shooting pain in his left leg. 

Soren started to fade out of consciousness until a familiar voice called out. “Jinguji! Dusk! You have to get up.” 

“Professor?” said Kinue as she stood her way out of the rubble and helped the professor carefully lift up Soren to balance him safely on his hurt leg. She tried to hold her arm in as comfortable a position as she could, though it seemed invariably broken. 

“Easy there Soren. I need you two to listen carefully.” Said professor Amuro. “Kinue I hate to be the one to tell you this but your team is gone, the ship they were on headed down from Amity got shot down.

Soren grabbed her unhurt shoulder but she truthfully felt numb to the news, not really able to process it and he could tell. 

“And yes, that was Penny that was killed in the arena. I know you have questions that I don’t have the answers to and that Ironwood won’t give you. But I need you both to do as I say. I’m going to get those Beacon students to help you to the ships, and I’m going to draw that Paladin away myself.” Amuro continued. 

“But Reiy-uh Professor, you could die.” Kinue said with concern. 

“I know, and I’ve accepted that. But a good teacher protects his students. It was an honor to have you as pupils… Tell your friends that I thought the same of them.” Reiya said dashing off at a pace Soren and Kinue wouldn’t be able to keep up with in their normal states, much less injured as they were now. 

“Come on, we have to go!” Adora shouted as she and Bow guided the distraught pair back to the airships. 

Soren was just now becoming fully cognizant and shaking off the hit he took from the rubble. The weight of the professor’s sacrifice had hit him. He noticed Kinue crying next to him. 

“Soren, Kinue! What happened to you two?!?” asked Callum. 

“We’ll be fine.” started Soren “Where’s Claudia?”

“We called her multiple times, we searched, we’ve asked around. There’s no sign of her Soren.” Rayla said with pain in her voice. 

Soren looked at the airships and then back at the beacon campus, the only light now being a few fires burning and one strange silvery flash from the tower that quickly went away. He wanted more than anything to look around here until he found his sister. 

“We’ll help you look for her if you need, we’re here for you.” Callum said, placing an arm on his shoulder. 

“Hey kids! We have to leave ASAP!” shouted the pilot of the airship that would take them back to atlas

“We’re not leaving unless you do.” said Rayla “We’re staying with you.”

Soren looked at the ship and saw a concerned team EIAA looking out the window. Team FNKI doing the same from the door. Soren looked back at Kinue holding her right arm in close to herself, and then at Callum and Rayla looking exhausted and beaten. 

“No, I can’t do that to you guys. I don’t know where Claudia is but I know where you 3 are. I have to make sure you guys are safe first.” Soren said, a tear drifting down his face. This was the hardest decision he had ever made. “I have to believe that she can take care of herself and will find her way back to us.”

Callum and Rayla hold him close, Kinue would join if not for her arm. The four board the airship and it begins to take off. 

Soren and Kinue stand together at the door as it raises shut. He grabs the hand on her good arm and grips it tightly, as if it’s the only thing keeping him tethered to the earth right now. He rests his head on her shoulder. “I’m sorry Claudia.”

Chapter Text

"Bow. We have to find Liz and Glimmer." said Adora. 

"I know, just. Give me a second." He said with a deep breath. 

Bow tried for a moment to steady his hands from shaking. They had managed to help those two Atlas students but what now? So many of their Beacon classmates were injured, or had yet to be found. Others had simply been killed in the attack. Bow looked down at Yang Xiao-Long unconscious, missing an arm, and with a silent team CFVY standing around her. He reached into his satchel to grab the stuffed dragon plush he and Adora had gotten for her and placed it next to her. 

"Good luck you two." Sage Ayana said, watching them somberly as they passed him and went deeper into campus. No one was going to try and stop those two. Even students from the other schools knew that team AGED was the best friend squad, they'd do anything to take care of the others. 

Bow and Adora had been trying to reach Glimmer and Elizabeth on their scrolls all night with no luck. Before long Bow received a ringing from his scroll, and he quickly answered it. 

“Bow, you’re safe! Please tell me Adora is with you.” Glimmer said with Elizabeth beside her..  

“I am.” said Adora stepping beside Bow to also be in frame of the call. 

“Where are you guys?” Bow asked. 

“We got caught in the middle of a battle in the city.” said Elizabeth. 

“We might’ve died if not for Goodwitch.” Glimmer added. “Meet us at the plaza.” 

“We will.” Bow said as the call ended. 

The campus that just a few months ago had seemingly been their future, now looked as if it was a relic of the past. A ruined monument to dashed hopes. Small embers from where fires had burned previously in the evening now just smoldering in their own destruction. Bow’s mind raced with all the things had seen tonight. Death and destruction caused by what appeared to be nothing more than spite. Was this really what the world was like and he had just managed to be sheltered from it until now? Perhaps, but there was still a fire lit inside him that wanted to protect what beauty there was in the world. It was the force that drove him to want to be a huntsman in the first place and it’s the force that would keep him going now. Yet, a piece of him needed a break, even a short one just to decompress and process what had happened tonight. He knew that among his team he’d had the simplest life, but maybe as a huntsman he could make a world where other people wouldn’t have to have the same problems his friends did. Adora and Elizabeth were orphans, while Glimmer’s dad had disappeared mysteriously and presumed dead when she was young. Meanwhile Bow had both his dads still around, sure they were doting historians who were concerned about his choice to attend Beacon but they had at least always been there. Part of him felt weak for feeling like he needed a break. His friends had a nightmare happen to them while they were much younger than he is now, so why could they deal with that when he couldn't deal with this? 

Team AGED reunited and leaped into each other for a group hug. No matter what had happened tonight they at least had each other again. The group stood still together for a moment in front of the hero’s statue. From behind it emerged Ruby’s uncle Qrow gingerly carrying her unconscious along with a few familiar pieces of gold and red armor. The group’s heart sank when they realized what that meant. 

Adora looked down into the puddle of water that pooled from the broken fountain and then back at Qrow.  “Is Ruby going to be okay?” she asked. 

“She will be, eventually.” Qrow said, clearly tired. “You 4 stay safe.” he added as he walked away from them. 

Bow began to sob softly. Nothing could prepare him, or anyone for this. He leaned against the broken fountain and the rest of the team sat next to him. Glimmer placed her hand on his shoulder. 

“I want to go home.” he said “Or at least some place that feels like home.” 

“We may be able to help with that.” said a familiar mature voice from behind them. 

“Professor Goodwitch?” said Adora, turning around. 

“Tomorrow there’s a boat leaving for Anima, the 4 of you are all from different places in the Kingdom of Mistral correct? Use this as a chance to go on a break, unwind, figure out what you want to do next. Beacon will take time to rebuild, but the 4 of you are welcome back here whenever you’re ready.” Glynda said. “You’re the future protectors of our world, but right now you should get a chance to just be kids.” she continued, echoing the words she had heard from someone they had all just lost. 

Team AGED all looked at each other and knew that this was probably their best and safest option for moving forward, even if it partly felt like they were running away. 

They sat together unable to sleep waiting for the ship. Home would be bittersweet, but at least it would taste like something. 

Chapter Text

A young Eve walked through a back alley outside of a nightclub in Mantle. It was easy for a kid to blend in and hide in the nighttime rush with all the miners flooding the bars and streets outside them in an attempt to numb the pain of having your soul owned by a dust baron. That ease of hiding was needed tonight because she had just pickpocketed around 300 Lien off of one of the Dusk Dust Company's enforcers. Rose Aleon was NOT someone to mess with. Luckily she had never seen Eve's face as far as Eve could tell, and no one was running after her. At this point discretion was just for safety and to make sure now one could follow her home. 

Eve crossed the street and into another alleyway, her best route back to where her, Klein, and Lily had been staying since she started living with them a couple months ago. It was strange, she had no memories of what her life was before she met them but that almost seemed to not matter. What's the point of worrying about what you're missing out on from a past you can't remember anyway? 

Eve tried to slip around the last corner quickly but was stopped in her tracks when she ran into a large figure. 

"Stealing to survive is a lot of stress isn't it?" said a blonde man with scars on his face, he was using an old golf club as a cane which he then pointed at Eve when she backed away. "What if I taught you how to fight for it instead?"

"Eve? Eve, are you okay? Wake up." whispered Aoi as she pushed Eve on the shoulder. 

Eve jerked awake and looked around the room nervously. She was still on the airship back to Atlas. Most everyone was asleep. 

"Why did you wake me up?" Asked Eve.

"I thought you were having a nightmare, you were jerking around like it." Aoi responded. 

Eve sighed "Wasn't a nightmare, just a memory."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Aoi asked. 

"No," Eve said sternly "especially not here."

"If it's affecting your dreams you shouldn't run from it" Aoi said with concern. 

"The past is the past, nothing you can do to change it. "Eve said, looking down. "Thank you for your concern princess." she continued while patting Aoi on the head. 

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that!" Aoi said, momentarily unable to keep her voice down. Luckily no one else on the ship woke up. 

"You did" said Eve with a grin "get some sleep princess, don't worry about me." 

The past is a strange concept when you can't remember much of it. Eve could never remember a time when she wasn't fighting for something. For food or safety in the streets of Mantle, for money to keep Lily and Klein safe from whatever nefarious force was trying to take their home, for her and her team's pride during the tournament, or for her life like tonight. Eve had always had reasons to fight. 

Still, that didn't make what had just happened fail to sting. The smiles that were normally on her team's faces were absent tonight, particularly Aoi's signature had been notably missing. This may have been the first time Eve had ever seen her truly sad. Of all the reasons she had to fight, at this moment that may have been the one most important to her right now. Eve was not going to let this happen twice. 

“You know kid, you’d make a lot more money a lot easier by being muscle for Miss Catherine” said an annoyingly familiar voice as Eve was about to take her transport up to Atlas from Mantle. 

“True, but I wouldn’t become a better warrior. If I’m going to do that I have to attend a huntsman academy.” Eve responded with annoyance “besides Rose, don’t you have some miner to beat up?”

“Not for another 15 minutes” Rose said with a chuckle “I hope you know that huntsmen are just as capable of doing ill as everyone else.” 

“Huh, so that explains you then.” said Eve messing with her bags “I know their souls are just as corruptible as any of us, but they’re also the best fighters and that’s what matters. I can’t better myself until I go face to face with the best out there. To be the best, you have to beat the best… And I plan on piercing them through with my rainbow bullets.” she continued, spinning the cylinder of a revolver before placing it back in its holster. 

“Made of different stuff than me then kid. Take care of yourself up there, it’s a whole different world. Don’t let it make you soft.” said Rose almost tauntingly as she walked away. 

It’s kind of ironic, when you don’t have many memories each one means more. Each one seems to define who you are and what you believe more than if you remembered everything. Sure, much of Eve’s past didn’t matter. But what little of it did meant everything. 

Chapter Text

Hordak rummaged around the office in his home trying to find something; nay anything; for him to do. He needed a distraction. Last night Beacon Academy had fallen, a massive attack from both Grimm and the White Fang all led by some mysterious woman with a bone to pick with seemingly the whole existing world. All sounded familiar to Hordak, destruction for destruction's sake. 

He might find the whole thing interesting to ponder if not for one detail. He hadn't heard from Adora since before it happened. 

Hordak knew how strong the girl he raised was and that if anyone were to survive such an ordeal it would be her, yet still an uncertainty was bound to linger. One that wasn't helped by the fact that worldwide communication seemed to be disabled and he hadn't even been able to send a message through to ask what happened, or if she and her team were alright, would she even have a way back to Anima? Were they going to stay and help rebuild Beacon? Too many questions that his adoptive daughter wasn't here to answer. 

So, he did what anyone who'd never been taught a healthy way to cope with emotions would do. He distracted himself with work, or at least tried to. That was the thing about Higanbana, the day of the Grimm attack and his arrival was probably one of the most eventful days in the town's history. He held the title of sheriff but basically none of it had to do with criminality in the town, even the Branwen clan kept their noses clean on the rare occasions they found themselves in Higanbana. No, no real crime here. The bulk of his work was just huntsman contracts under the guise of protecting the town. Back when Adora was here she'd be his partner for tracking down dangerous Grimm in the area but since she went to Beacon it had just been him, and even then the real work was few and far between, Huntsmen regularly took simple contracts in the area to easily fund their trip around Anima on their way to either Haven or Argus. As a result Hordak was regularly left with nothing to do a lot of the time except for talking with various people passing through town and modifying his weapon. 

It has been about a month since the halberd he'd had for at least half a dozen years had seen use. Adora liked to call it Horde Slayer. He had managed to incorporate the firing mechanism from his arm mounted energy cannon from his bandit days into the design to give him a ranged option. Which he found himself needing more and more with every hunt. 

The damage Primus had done to Hordak's aura had never been fully recovered, a doctor had helped the physical wounds of that day heal but the spiritual wound would stay forever. He'd never be able to recover more than around 60% of his aura on any official measurement. A side effect of this seemed to be that he'd also become fatigued much quicker that he probably should. Or maybe that was just sleep deprivation, Adora did always tell him to rest more. 

A knock came from Hordak's door before someone barged in. 

"I know you're here Sheriff Higa." said a voice very familiar to Hordak. 

"Lyanna what's the point of knocking if you're just going to walk into my house anyway?" he said as she walked into his office.  

"You act like I haven't done this regularly for the past decade" Lyanna responded. 

"What is it you need?" Hordak said. 

"First I should talk about what you need." Lyanna said sitting across the desk from him "You're worried, everyone in town knows it."

"I'm not worried, she can handle herself. I know she's fine out there somewhere." Hordak said, looking down into his morning coffee. 

"Not what I mean." said Lyanna

"Then what do you mean?" asked Hordak. 

"You're worried that she'll never come back. That she'll see communication being down, and her having spent months making friends at Beacon as her chance to get away from you. That you were such a failure as a parent she'd never want to hear from you again." Said Lyanna. 

Hordak looked at her with bewilderment. 

"I was upstairs when you were talking with Mr. Dusk the other day, your voice carries a lot. You're really unfair to yourself. Adora respects and admires you a lot. You're the one who got her special ultra elastic clothes to accommodate her semblance, you trained her to fight, you raised her on your own the best you could while dealing with health struggles and having to protect our town." Lyanna continued. "Do you know the reason she gave me when I asked why she wanted to be a Huntress?"

Hordak shook his head while sipping his coffee, the only thing he could do to continue suppressing his emotions right now. 

"She said she wanted to be more like you." Lyanna said. 

Hordak sniffed "I don't know why she'd think that." he said. 

"Hordak, your perception of yourself is skewed towards seeing who you were in your days as a bandit. She never knew about that, all she knew was the person who raised her and taught her everything she knows AND made her a sword that looked exactly like one she saw in an old cartoon. To her you’re an example of what a huntsman should be, even if you aren’t one at all." Lyanna said reassuringly. 

"How did you know about that? The bandit thing, I never told anyone." Hordak said.

"The day we met I said your past didn't matter, I never said that I wouldn't be able to figure it out." Lyanna answered. 

"My brother was responsible for the death of Adora's parents." Hordak said "I don't know if I deserve the acceptance I received from you people."

"The way I see it, by raising her yourself you've done all you can do to try and make up for what he did that day." Said Lyanna.

Hordak came to a sudden realization about something said earlier in the conversation. "Hold on, you said something about Mr. Dusk, you meant Viren? Correct?" 

"I can see the line of thinking you're getting at, and I know. He's finally shown himself after all this time. And there's something else. I heard him talking to a man before you came in. Viren gave him fire dust for the White Fang to use. I tried to call and warn Vale and Beacon but the Atlesian Military screened it and told me I was wasting their time and lying about him." Lyanna said with annoyance. 

"What should we do about him then" Hordak said with a growl, if this man had something to do with Beacon's destruction then Hordak wanted to show him personally how big of a mistake that was. 

"I'm pouring through documents about him and the Dusk Dust Company right now, but without a better CCT signal I won't be able to find out or communicate much of anything about him. I'd need one at least strong enough to connect us to Haven's archive server" said Lyanna "Luckily that's the task I had for you. There's a scientist named Entrapta Anahita living in a shack in the woods nearby. I need you to find her and bring her here to help us modify our tower to produce a stronger signal. Not just for us but for all the town." 

Hordak looked at the map and Lyanna pointed to where the shack should be. "Hmm, there's a history of Boarbatusks inhabiting that area. I'll have to be on guard but it's doable." Hordak said while standing up. 

"Stay safe, sheriff." said Lyanna as he left the building. 

Hordak walked a few miles down the road contemplating Lyanna's words. Maybe she had been correct. Primus had spent the first 30 years of his life telling him that he was worthless, a failure, unloveable, and that his only place of value was by Primus' side. Hordak probably still had a lot of that internalized. The last 17 years had likely barely started to chip away at that and it likely meant that he definitely had kept her at arm’s length for a long time, probably one of the reasons he felt himself such a failure. A vicious cycle of feeling like the kid deserved better than him, leading to him not being as good of a father as he should have been. Father? Huh, probably the first time he’d even thought of himself as such. Maybe he was already making progress. 

The trail up to Entrapta's shack seemed to also be home to 3 Boarbatusks. Hordak had to wonder how the lone scientist had managed to live up here, or if she even was still living given the presence of these Grimm. Though considering that the trail looked long and it was only 3 of them they likely hadn't made their way up the hill to the shack assuming she wasn't the dramatic type that might attract them. 

The Grimm noticed Hordak and two of them began to spin their way towards him while the 3rd stayed back. Hordak shot a blast at the feet of the ones running at him causing them to recoil to the side out of their roll and onto their hooves. Hordak kicked the one to his left in the tusk, knocking it on its side; he followed by quickly impaling it with his halberd slaying it instantly. He then swung it into the face of the next one as the last one started charging at him, he tried to dodge but couldn't because his weapon got caught on the back of the tusk of the Grimm he was presently engaged with. Hordak got upended and could feel a surge of pain from losing aura. He shot the 2nd Grimm in the head while airborne, piercing its armor and killing it. The third rolled towards him and he quickly stepped out of the way stabbing the Boarbatusk in the side knocking it out of its roll. 

Hordak tried to shake the pain and stiffness out of his leg caused by the hit he took. He was probably at around 20% on his aura and it was assuredly going to recover slowly. 

That didn't matter though, the way up to the scientist's shack looked clear. The building looked clear of any presence of Grimm and he could hear the sounds of mechanics tools from inside. 

"Dr. Anahita? Are you in there?" Hordak said, knocking on the door. 

He waited a moment, no change in sound. No answer. 

Hordak sighed and opened the door. "Entrapta? Is that you in here?" he could see a small woman with long purple hair that she was… standing on? Well that was a new one for Hordak.

The woman turned around towards him. "Oh, sorry. Must've been too distracted working on Emily to hear you come in. Oh… your badge. Sorry sheriff is this another place I'm not supposed to be to work on my robotics? I'll leave if you need" 

"No… actually my town needs your help." Hordak starts. 

"Ah, is it about the CCT signal? I don't look at the news but based on the lack of service today I'm assuming Beacon Tower is out of commission. With that being the case I assume you need to strengthen your town's signal to boost the range and maybe even overlap with Haven's." Entrapta said, interrupting. 

"Yes, that's exactly right. Do you think you can do it?" Hordak asked. 

"It's definitely possible but I'd need parts that I don't have right now. I'm barely able to keep Emily functioning at the moment." Entrapta said, gesturing towards the round robot behind her that to this point Hordak though was unfunctioning. Though now he could see that the round bot that was almost as big as he was simply seemed to be experiencing extremely low power. Whatever dust was being used wasn't able to properly recycle itself with any efficiency causing this poor machine to be in this state. 

"In Higanbana we have a good bit of various parts, I've actually collected spare electronics over the years just in case. I'm sure with your expertise we'd be able to improve our tower and keep uh, Emily up and running." said Hordak. 

"Really! Then what are we waiting for? We have work to do!" Entrapta said excitedly. 

"One more question, would it be possible to add to our signal a message that only reaches one specific person and will do so whenever they enter the signals range?" Hordak asked, kind of embarrassed it might be a dumb question for such a clearly smart person to be asked. 

"Hmm, it might take some finicky programming but it's definitely possible assuming you already know the specs on the scroll you're trying to reach." Entrapta answered. 

"Perfect, because I do." Hordak said, not able to even count all the times he had repaired Adora's scroll over the years. 

The pair grabbed the robot together and began their walk back towards Higanbana. Tonight some important work would start. 

Chapter Text

Elizabeth had forgotten how much she hated water. She had been seasick for the last 5 days on this ship that seemed to be moving at a snail's pace. The rest of her team was up on the top deck somehow able to enjoy the fresh air up there, meanwhile she was down below just trying to find a way to go the day without throwing up. If she could avoid being roped into a conversation with the moody girlfriend of the ship’s captain that would also be good. 

Elizabeth slipped down into the cargo deck, maybe she could swipe a fruit or something down here. It was also the one place on the ship she hadn’t gone to try and get away from the feeling of being at sea. 

“Oh sorry, am I not supposed to be in here?” said a tired voice. 

“If you’re not supposed to be in here I’m not either.” said Elizabeth, looking at the dark haired girl who must’ve been around her age. She was sitting cross legged next to a pallet of bread loaves and she was holding 3 slices of it stacked together in one of her hands. “And what is that you’ve got here?” Elizabeth continued, pointing at it. 

“... It’s a bread sandwich. My brother used to make them when he was stressed out. If you put a little ketchup and mayo on it it almost tastes like a real sandwich.” The girl said taking a bite “Not quite though.”

 "You the seasick type too?" asked Elizabeth. 

"Nah, I'm just a stowaway. Not that I think the captain would notice whether I was one or not." the girl said with a pause "I also just need a little alone time, though talking to a stranger might also be the distraction I need so feel free to stay." 

"I have nothing better to do. So why not" Elizabeth said, sitting down next to her.

"I'm Claudia, Claudia Dusk." The girl said. 

"Elizabeth Coba, my idiot friends sometimes call me Catra." she said with an annoyed chuckle. 

Claudia giggled "Oh my gods that's a bit on the nose isn't it?" 

"Yeah, Glimmer is not the smartest sometimes." Elizabeth said with a laugh. 

A mouse made its way out of a crevice between boxes and skittered across the floor towards Elizabeth and stood looking up at her. She picked it up and began scratching its head. She looked up on a nearby shelf towards a block of cheese. 

"Ah, you want that little guy? Okay." Elizabeth said, standing up and picking the cheese off the shelf. She broke off a small chunk to give to the mouse.

"How did you do that? I always wanted a little mouse friend!" Said Claudia excitedly. "I've tried chasing them and was never able to catch one."

"When I was a kid I used to chase them. Once I unlocked my semblance I learned it was easier to befriend them when the both of you are calm" Elizabeth said. 

"Why did it take unlocking your semblance to learn that?" Claudia asked. 

"My semblance allows me to hear the thoughts of animals. Much like with people it's easier to understand and communicate with them if they're calm." Elizabeth said, sitting back down next to Claudia with the mouse still in hand. 

"That is so cool!" Claudia said with a pause of realization "can I try?" 

"I don't think it would work like that" Elizabeth said, confused. 

"No, I mean my semblance allows me to absorb someone else's aura and use their semblance, don’t worry it’s completely safe. So can I?" Claudia said. 

Elizabeth pondered a moment "Sure, why not" 

"Okay, hold still." Claudia said. 

Claudia grabbed Elizabeth's arm with both hands and closed her eyes. There was a slight burning sensation at the spot that she was being touched and she could definitely feel the aura coming out of her. 

Claudia stopped and Elizabeth handed the mouse to her. Claudia smiled at it "Hey there little buddy. Oh, you want some peanut butter now? Sure thing" Claudia said, reaching for one of those cups of peanut butter snack packs of celery sometimes give you. She sat the peanut butter and the mouse down on the floor. Claudia grabbed Elizabeth's arm again and returned the aura. 

"Most of the time they just ask for food." Elizabeth said. 

"Just like people." Claudia said as both of them laughed. 

Suddenly they were interrupted by an announcement from over the ship's loudspeakers "Attention, this is your rugged and dashing captain speaking. If you look ahead of us you'll see that we're rapidly approaching land. We should make it there by sunset." 

"Seems we've almost made it. You're welcome to tag along with me and my team if you want" Elizabeth said. 

"Team? Oh right you must be from Beacon. I'm sorry about what happened. I would join you guys but I have my own places to go." Claudia responded. 

"Okay well, I should probably get back to my them. Take care of yourself Claudia. May our paths cross again." Elizabeth said. 

"I certainly hope so. Catra." Claudia said with a wink. 

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Not you too now." 

Elizabeth made her way up the stairs back to the making deck. The boat may have been literally sickening but at least the trip had given her a new friend. Though something about Claudia's semblance seemed off, as though it would have hurt much more than just the slight burn she felt had she tried to fight against it. 

Chapter Text

3 weeks. It had been 3 weeks since Beacon fell and Claudia disappeared. In spite of the circumstances Kinue was a natural fit on her new team, the morbid pronunciation of team CRKS hadn’t even changed with her addition. She was fortunate to be among friends during this time. Her arm had needed to be in a sling since they got back and today was the first day she was able to have it off. Soren in particular had been waiting for this day, and for a reason outside of just caring about her and wanting her to be okay. 

No, he’d been waiting for her to be healthy so he; or more accurately the team’s leader Callum; could ask Ironwood to send them on a mission to help Beacon and look for missing Atlas students so they could be brought home; hopefully including Claudia. Kinue and Soren had been sharing a bunk in the team’s dorm to save Claudia hers for when she got back. Besides, after a night like what happened at Beacon you don’t keep those you care about at a distance if you can help it. Team CRKS seemed to understand that. Callum and Rayla had been calling their families regularly since coming back, keeping tabs on what was happening at home. The general’s blockade and embargo seemed to be a hot topic from what Kinue had managed to overhear. No new money coming into Atlas, no new goods coming into Mantle, and nowhere to go to escape it except for the endless empty tundra that the rest of Solitas had to offer. Or at least that was what seemed to be on the table. The haze of joining a new team and having to deal with the absences of people like Professor Amuro made it hard to keep track of the news to tell if the council had voted on it yet. 

“Look, I know how much you kids want to help but we can’t afford to send anyone out right now. We have to keep everyone here that we can.” said Ironwood sternly from his desk. 

“General, we can do this! We can save lives, we can bring our classmates home. It’s something we have to do.” Callum said. 

“I know you’re all capable but that's not what this is about. Atlas has to protect itself from letting what happened at Beacon happen here.” the general responded. 

“You’re already planning on locking down our borders, who could possibly get in and mount an attack capable of bringing down the most fortified place in all of Remnant?” Callum said. 

"We thought the same thing about Beacon and look how that turned out." Ironwood answered with pain in his voice. 

Rayla butted in “So what do we do? Just sit around here waiting for a threat that may never come? What are you going to tell the families of those that died? That the bodies of their children will never be returned home, that you refuse to send anyone to recover them because of some mysterious threat that you can’t tell them about?” she said with exasperation. 

“That’s enough Miss Ikus.” Ironwood roared. 

“No, that’s not nearly enough. You want people to make sacrifices for you but you aren’t willing to risk anything for them.” Rayla said. 

Ironwood pounded the table “None of you know what I know! Now go. We’re done discussing this.” 

“Fine” Soren started “We don’t have anything more to say to sir.”

Team CRKS was escorted back into the hallways and back towards the dormitories by some of the military’s guards. Everything seemed different about the school now and not just because of the people who were no longer there. It operated differently; seemed stricter, harsher, more oppressive. If these walls could talk they’d be getting interrogated. The guards left them once they were back in the Academy section of Atlas’s facilities. Soon they arrived in their room. Rayla sat cross legged on the window sill overlooking the city and stared out the window. Soren crashed on what was once Claudia’s bunk. Everyone seemed to just need time to think. Callum sat at his desk and opened up his sketchbook. 

Kinue paced around, no one on the team had been prepared for being told no. Kinue looked over Callum’s shoulder to see what he was drawing. It looked like some kind of ball, maybe orb with markings and what appeared to be dust crystals. 

“What’s that?” Kinue asked. 

“Promise not to judge me?” Callum said. 

“No, but tell me anyway.” Kinue responded. 

“Okay, it’s a design I kind of want to try to make for my weapon. I don’t have the materials for it, but if I have the design then maybe someday I can build it when I finally do.” Callum said.

“So how would it work?” asked Kinue. 

“Okay, so this is the part I’m asking you to not to judge. My idea is that I want it to be a lot like one of those orbs that wizards in old movies use, and the dust serves the functions of different spells. Fire dust for fireballs, frost dust for ice spikes, lighting dust for… well y’know; and gravity dust for magic missile.” Callum said with a grin “That’s not stupid is it?”

“Considering our classmates are two girls who use golf clubs to smack grenades around and a guy that uses a trumpet I’d say no weapon idea is stupid.” Kinue responded. 

“Well, it’s nice to hear you say that. Was really worried for a second you’d call me weird.” said Callum. 

“Personally I’d say what makes you weird makes you strong, leaning into your quirks rather than avoiding them. Sometimes to find your way you have to go outside the lines.” Kinue said. 

“Huh, I’ve never thought about it like that. I just know that I’m sick of using my semblance as a crutch. I want to be able to actually do something, I have that rifle that I just suck at using. I need something that’s me. And this feels like me.” Callum said pointing at his sketch. 

“Well, let’s see if we can get you some parts soon.” Kinue said with a smile. 

“Wait, what you said about having to find your way by going outside the lines. That’s it!” Callum said, pointing into the air. 

“It’s what?” Kinue asked, Rayla and Soren now paying attention. 

“Ironwood won’t send us on a mission right? But that doesn’t mean we have to stay on campus. We’re allowed to stay at home on weekends, and with as busy as Ironwood and seemingly everyone has been around here lately, likely no one will even notice that we’re gone if we don't come back. We can use all that time to figure out alternate ways to leave Solitas.” Callum explained. 

“That’s actually brilliant.” said Kinue. 

“Breaking some of Ironwood’s rules eh? If you need any help with that just ask me.” said Eve as she walked into the room with the rest of team EIAA. 

“We’ll take all the help we can get. Assuming the rest of my team is in, as well as the rest of yours.” Callum said. 

“I’ll do whatever I have to for my sister.” said Soren. 

“Claudia needs our help, it’s my duty to do what I can.” said Rayla. 

“What about you guys?” Callum said, turning to Aoi, Amane, and Ichina. “We could all get expelled for this.”

“If it’s for the sake of others I’m obliged as a huntress to take action, even if the consequences could keep me from having that title officially.” said Aoi. 

“Why not, it’s not the craziest thing Eve had dragged us into.” Ichina said matter-of-factly. 

Amane sighed “I can’t believe I’m encouraging this but my tech expertise could become valuable for you all, and if the whole team is doing it I’m not exactly innocent in anything so I may as well help us get away with it. I’ll keep an eye on the logs for any transports that won't be missed if they... went missing.” 

The mood of the room had changed, the feeling of being chained down that Kinue had felt earlier had been lifted from her and the whole team. Ironwood’s iron fist couldn’t keep bearing down on them forever, and the fact he only ever looked forward meant he wouldn’t be able to see team CRKS and team EIAA sneaking around underneath him. Throughout her life she’d been accustomed to being under the radar and easy to miss. It was about time that became an advantage. 

Chapter Text

The plan had been to go to Haven to get Bow to see his dads, then after a few weeks take the train to Argus to see Glimmer's mom, and finally a brief stop in Higanbana to see Hordak before heading back to Beacon and help rebuild. That plan had been harder to make good on than any of them anticipated. The increased number of Grimm on the roads of Anima had proven both a blessing and a curse. Obviously it was dangerous and slowed them down, but it also meant that the villages of the continent needed someone to slay them and would be willing to pay. 

Team AGED had made a decent bit of money off of it but it was still tough. They hoped however that this next mission would be their last one, and they could maybe afford to catch the train to Haven further up the road. 

Part of Adora felt guilty about not going to her own home first, but Hordak had never been the sentimental type. Besides, a part of her wondered if she'd been a burden on him. Just another responsibility for him to deal with that now with her gone he wouldn't have to worry about. 

Now wasn't the time for that. People in a town nearby had reported that they'd seen a strange shapeshifting Grimm in the woods, it hadn't attacked anyone as far as anyone was aware but there was still a danger in it being out there and no one seemed to know exactly what kind it was. 

Adora cut through a Beowolf on the side of the road. No shapeshifter yet but plenty of normal Grimm. Elizabeth slashed at another with her claws. They really needed to get her a real weapon, she was great hand to hand but a second option was really needed. 

Glimmer teleported to a tree branch and dropped down on another Grimm swinging her staff into it using gravity to make the blow even stronger. Bow shot an arrow that pierced the armor of the lone boarbatusk among the pack of Grimm. 

"I can't believe you didn't bring out She-Roar for this Adora." Bow said. The time on the road with his friends wasn't the same as going home but it seemed that it had at least brought back his sense of humor. 

"I said to stop calling it that." Adora said with a laugh; the stupid name seemed to be growing on her "Besides, it's not necessary for something like this." 

"Where could this shapeshifter be?" asked Elizabeth.

"We have no way of knowing, we just have to keep going until we find it." said Adora. 

"If it means smashing more Grimm I can handle it." said Glimmer, wiping sweat off her brow. 

The team kept walking down the road another couple hundred yards. They could hear rustling in the trees around them, but where from? It seemed to be coming from all directions. 

"I thought I saw a bird?" said Adora curiously. 

"What? I saw a wolf." Glimmer said, now confused. 

"I'm hearing something else." Elizabeth said, pondering. 

"How? It just went dead silent, or am I going crazy?" Bow said, now concerned. 

Elizabeth turned around "There you are… whatever you are." she said calmly. 

The rest of the team turned around and screamed as they saw a small Grimm that shared a lot of resemblance with a bear, but it clearly wasn't an Ursa. The black and red that usually were a Grimm's fur and eyes respectively were instead maroon and teal, with its armored parts also matching the teal eyes.

"What is that thing!?" asked Glimmer. 

"Calm it down princess, it's perfectly safe." said Elizabeth. 

"How can you know?" Glimmer asked in response. 

"I can hear them. If they were going to attack me I wouldn't be able to." Elizabeth explained. 

"I didn't know your semblance worked on Grimm." Adora said, surprised. 

The creature transformed to look like a mountain lion and Elizabeth started scratching its chin "Apparently it does, on the rare occasion they don't attack immediately." 

"Well why isn't it attacking?" asked Bow. 

"Give me a second," Elizabeth said, focusing. "They call themselves Melog. Someone was experimenting on them but they don't know why. When the experiment failed they were dumped nearby. They don't want to attack anything and would rather scare all people away.

"Then why are they talking to you?" asked Adora. 

Elizabeth looked in the eyes of the feline Grimm "They say they just like my face." 

"So are we just gonna travel around with a friendly Grimm from now on? We might not be allowed in any towns like that." Glimmer said. 

"Hmm, you have a point. Melog, could you maybe shift into something smaller and more safe looking? Elizabeth asked. 

Quickly the Grimm shrunk from a mountain lion into a housecat, all with the same patterning as before. 

"What do we do now though?" asked Glimmer. 

"We could lie and say we did kill the shapeshifter." Elizabeth suggested, petting Melog. 

"Eh, I don't know about lying to them. We could just tell them about the small herd from earlier and that we didn't find it. Might get some pay for that." said Bow. 

Adora got a ding on her scroll.

"Wait, is CCT signal back?" asked Glimmer. 

Bow pulled out his scroll "Hmm, it's faint but there is a little bit of service." 

Adora checked the message. It was a voice message from Hordak. She played it. 

"Adora, if you're hearing this either the new tower in Higanbana just went online, or you just entered its range. I have a couple reasons for sending this to you. 1. Me and Lyanna just learned about something about one of the people responsible for the fall of Beacon which might interest you. But the other is much simpler. We miss you...I  miss you, and want to know that you're safe. So if you can, please come home if you get the chance."

Adora wiped her eyes. 

"So I'm guessing we have a new plan." said Bow "don't worry, it's fine. We know you want to go home too" he continued, putting a hand on her shoulder. 

"We're only a few miles from Higanbana aren't we. We can make it before sunset, we'll just take a different turn than we'd planned on." Elizabeth said. 

"Then let's do it." said Glimmer. 

"Thanks guys." Adora said. 

Team AGED started down the road, it took a couple hours, and there were a couple Grimm in the way that Melog was able to help with. Nothing was stopping them from helping Adora go home. 

Adora’s birth parents died when she was too young to even remember them, Hordak was all she’d ever known. He wasn’t perfect; he wasn’t even particularly warm; but he was what she’d always had. Sometimes he had seemed emotionally distant but whenever Adora needed something growing up he was always there to take care of it. New clothes that could handle growing and stretching when her semblance broke all the old ones, helping her with combat school, even rescuing her from an Ursa when she’d gotten lost playing in the woods outside of town when she was 5. 

They reached the gates of Higanbana as the sun began setting. Adora ran through the town turning every corner as sharply as possible and taking every shortcut for the fastest way home until she finally made it to the door and walked in. 

"Hordak? I'm home!" she yelled. 

Hordak walked out of his office. Adora rushed to him and wrapped her arms around him to his surprise. He hugged her back for maybe the first time ever. Adora began crying. 

"I didn't know if you even wanted me back." she said. 

Hordak held her tighter "I didn't think you'd ever want to be back." 

Adora's team walked in on the scene. 

"I'm glad you're safe," Hordak said to her "and your friends are welcome here as long as they'd like." 

For just a moment all of their insecurities and tragic histories had washed away. For a moment they were just a father and daughter who'd reunited after far too long. For a moment, everyone was fine. 

Chapter Text

Callum tugged at his satchel that he just placed his newly bought dust crystals securely into. He bought extra just in case his and Ichina's first attempt at building his orb went poorly. She'd managed to pack a bunch of her tinkering tools from team EIAA's dorm with them so hopefully they'd be capable of building at least a prototype. 

The floating city of Atlas was a lovely sprawling Metropolis that held its share of secrets. It seemed a place that would be basically impossible to get in or out of in the case someone didn't want you too. Still, it was also home. At least it was to everyone in the group except for Rayla and Eve who'd both grown up in Mantle instead. Callum had come to understand through them that not everyone viewed his home the same way he did. To some instead of being beautiful and safe it was a monument to everything that kept them down. A floating city forcing the other city underneath it to literally live in its shadow, while the people of said city did the dangerous work that the privileged topsiders didn't want to do themselves. Or at least the work that the dust barons thought could save them money by making the people of Mantle do it for pennies instead. 

Callum's stepdad on the other hand could at the very least be counted on to have no such interest. Harrow had sold any stake in his father's dust business the moment he took being a huntsman seriously. You can't earnestly work to protect people if you're also trying to sell to them, that was a lesson Callum's mother Sarai had taught Harrow. 

They arrived at Callum’s home and Harrow welcomed them inside. “You brought a lot more friends this time, is there a special occasion I don't know about?” Harrow asked, putting a hand on Callum’s shoulder. 

Callum took a moment to compose himself for what he was about to say “Ironwood won’t let us go back to Beacon to find Claudia, so we’re going to find our own way back there.”

“Normally I’d advise against not following James’s orders, but I see a familiar fire in your eyes and I know I can’t stop you.” Harrow said with a smile.  

A cheerful voice called out “Callum! You’re home!” said Ezran rushing in the room to hug his brother.

“Ez! How've you been?” said Callum, holding him tightly. 

“Well, I learned that Bait likes soap operas.” Ezran said with a grin as he lifted the aforementioned toad off the floor and onto his shoulder. 

"Your semblance can be that detailed huh? Amazing." Callum said. 

"Yeah, for some reason he's obsessed with his hope that the faunus servant boy can elope with the heiress. Who knew toads loved forbidden romance so much?" said Ezran as the brothers laughed. 

Harrow smiled and looked around the room "You're all welcome here as long as you'd like. It's a big house so find a place you can be comfortable." 

Callum and Ichina immediately went back to his room to start working on his weapon, this little ball would finally make him an actual fighter, not someone who's ability to defend himself is entirely reliant on having enough aura to cast his semblance. 

After a couple hours of work and a couple electric jolts to her hands Ichina held a hopefully finished orb out in front of her “So I’ve never worked with this many different kinds of dust in such close proximity before, but as long as they stay encased in their crystals when not in use they should theoretically be fine. The buttons next to each crystal allows you to fire the dust type of your choosing.” she said, handing it to Callum. 

“Wow, there’s a lot of energy pulsing through this isn’t there? I can feel it.” he said, looking intently at his new weapon. 

“That’s dust for you. It’s not just energy, it’s power. There’s a reason why so many wars were fought over it.” Ichina said, getting lost on where the conversation was going. “But enough of the history lesson, aren’t you going to test it out to see if it works?” 

“Right, let's do it.” Callum said packing it away and going downstairs. 

In the basement of Callum’s home was a training facility, one that Harrow and Callum’s mother had used to stay sharp when on break from their huntsman work. When Callum was younger his intention had never been to be a huntsman, but the disappearance of his mom had changed something in him. Of course for a while it seemed that his combat abilities; as much as his Aunt Amaya had tried to teach him using all of her Atlas military knowledge; would prevent him from really being able to make it into Atlas. But at 14 he unlocked his semblance, which breathed new life into his dreams of being a huntsman. It was powerful in its own way and Callum had become very proficient with it. He could create powerful wind gusts at will, and was also capable of creating lightning surges; though that was much more difficult and took a bit longer. 

They reached the testing area, the test dummies should be sturdy enough for most anything that would be thrown at them. The rest of Callum’s team all watched as he began testing his new weapon. 

First element to test was frost, he pressed the button next to the frost crystal which opened up the bottom of the crystal pouring frost dust into the weapon’s core. The weapon fired and sent a spike of ice at the dummy. Perfect, it had worked just as intended. 

Next was the lightning, same process, similar result. A bolt of lighting sharply crossed the room and jolted into the dummy. Things were looking promising. 

Next up was fire. Same process and… nothing. The dust had poured into the core but no fire, that was something they’d have to figure out and work on later. 

Time to see if the gravity dust would work. He activated the mechanism, the gravity dust poured into the core and… Callum could hear a strange noise that he couldn’t quite recognize. Suddenly the weapon blew up in his hand, him only being protected by his aura which depleted as he got slammed into the wall behind him by the blast. 

Multiple voices exclaimed asking if he was okay and Rayla rushed over to help him up. Callum looked at his weapon in pieces on the floor. “I need a nap.” Callum said exhaustively as he limped. 

“I’ll help you upstairs.” Rayla said, wrapping Callum’s arm over her shoulder. Soren and Kinue looked over with concern. 

They reached his room and he sat down. 

“I’m an idiot I should’ve known this would never work!” Callum finally let out after a bit of silence. 

“Your weapon? We can get more materials tomorrow, you’ll make it work.” said Rayla with concern. . 

“Not just that, this whole idea; leaving Atlas to do our own thing. It’s gonna backfire just like my stupid orb and I’m dragging the rest of you down with me.” Callum said, pounding his fist into the bed. 

Rayla sat next to him “Shut up! You just had an explosion happen right in your hand and you aren’t thinking clearly. You didn’t drag anyone along to anything, we all already wanted to do this. You just had the courage to voice it.”

“But how do I know this won’t just be a spectacular waste of time?” Callum said with frustration. 

Rayla held his hand, the one that had just held the exploding orb. “You don’t, but it’s better to fail at trying to make a difference than to sit around not doing anything. Because when you do that you guarantee failure, there’s no time to wait around for something to happen. You have to make it happen.”

Callum grips her hand tighter “Of course you’re right. Thank you.” 

“Now, you take your nap sweet prince.” Rayla said with a grin. 

“Hold on, there’s one more thing I want to do while I’m awake.” Callum said as he leaned in and kissed Rayla. 

Callum’s mind had always been more at ease when he was around Rayla, in multiple ways she completed him. He wasn’t a gifted warrior while she was, she had a habit of keeping him focused on the important things, and the fact she was a faunus from Mantle meant she gave him a window into a world he knew nothing about previously. He couldn’t have asked for a better partner to have been assigned at initiation. She may have just been a huntress in training, but to Callum she was a hero. His hero.

“There’s no time to wait, right?” Callum said, pulling away softly. 

Rayla grabbed his face tenderly “There never is.” 

Chapter Text

Runaan looked at the news on his scroll, an accident had forced one of the Schnee mines to shut down indefinitely. An accident that killed at least half a dozen workers. It may have been more if Runaan hadn't personally come in to rescue several of them. 

As expected the Atlas news sources had yet to say anything about how the accident could've been preventable with just a few added safety precautions. Instead they had given Jacques Schnee a full minute to blame it on "Human, or perhaps Faunus- error." and deflect all responsibility from himself. 

Of course the threat of Ironwood's embargo looming overhead didn't help matters. It seemed that the dust companies were in a rush to mine up as much as possible now before they couldn't export anything anymore, and to top up their reserves before they halted all work because of it. 

"What a shitstorm." Runaan said to himself as he sipped on his nightly tea for the sake of relaxation. 

After a moment, his peace and quiet was interrupted by a knock at his door. He slowly set down his tea and stood up to get the door. He swung it open to see a hooded girl he’d never met in person but still new by proxy. 

“Claudia? What are you doing here? Your team has been worried about you for weeks.” Runaan said with surprise. 

“I know, I just don’t know if I’m ready to see them yet. Can I come in?” Claudia asked, pulling down her hood. 

“Of course.” he said, his voice softening. 

“Is Ethari home?” she asked. 

“No, he’s out delivering equipment to some friends.” Runaan explained. 

“Probably for the best, something tells me you’re better at keeping secrets.” Claudia said. 

Runaan laughed, “You’d be correct, now tell me.” his tone became more serious “What is it that makes you want to hide from your friends, your brother included.” he asked. 

“At Beacon I… I ran away, I couldn’t help them through any of what happened that night and I can’t stand to see them for a while because of it. I’m no huntress, I just wanted to attend Atlas because my brother was. I’m not as strong as him, or as courageous as Rayla, or even as determined as Callum. I’m something else.” Claudia explained “I don’t have whatever it is that they have that makes them cut out for it.”

“Let me tell you something, there is no wrong or right way to be a huntsman or huntress. What doing such means to everyone is different both in terms of why they do it and how they do it.” Runaan responded. “And I watched the fight in the tournament, you have the skills to make it. You just have to now figure out why you do the things you do.”

“Well, Callum and Rayla do it because they want to help people. Soren likes that part too but he also always had this desire to be a hero. But I don’t know, I think I only ever liked the idea because I was with people that mattered to me.” said Claudia. 

“That’s just as valid a reason to do it as any other. What’s the point of a better world if those you care about can’t benefit from it, and what’s the point of heroism if you can’t celebrate it with someone.” Runaan falls silent for a moment. “I wish every day that Rayla’s parents could still be here. They’d be so proud of who she’s grown into.”

“They would be.” Claudia said, putting her hands on his arm “And thank you, for everything.”

Runaan felt a sharp burning sensation on his arm where she was touching him “What are you…” He couldn’t continue, the pain was too much, all he could do was scream out. He tried to jerk away but the pain just increased tenfold.  

“It hurts more when you fight it.” Claudia said gripping tighter “I’m sorry, but my dad thinks your semblance will be useful and I can’t let him down again!”

Runaan looked up at her in horror as he fell to the floor and passed out from the pain. His tea now spilled on the floor next to him. 

Claudia turned both of them to shadow and carried an unconscious Runaan out the door.

Chapter Text

"Wait, I recognize this guy." said Glimmer, looking at a picture of Viren Dusk "He was one of the people who met with us after my dad vanished. Something seemed off about him to me, I always thought it was just the news he gave me but maybe it wasn't." 

"So this Viren guy gave fire dust to some guy who was on his way to Beacon?" asked Bow. 

"Yes, it would seem so." said Hordak.

"And Ironwood wouldn't even accept the call of warning after he surrounded Vale with his entire fleet!" Glimmer shouted "Nothing good comes from Atlas, I knew it." 

Entrapta chimed in "Well a few good things come from Atlas. Scrolls, cars, other tech, the dust that powers it, TV shows about the drama in the lives of rich people." she paused and found the room staring at her a moment "But you are right, culturally it is a cesspool of the disingenuous and power hungry. Dr. Polendina and Dr. Scarlatina may be the only genuine scientists I met there and they told me to leave." 

"Okay, so why did he want to destroy Beacon? Especially if he hates the Faunus as much as a lot of these old news stories suggest. The White Fang were there, why would he help them with something?" Adora asked. 

"Because it makes us look bad" Elizabeth said "There's a long history of bigots being surprisingly amenable to extremist Faunus “liberation” groups for that very reason. Someone like Adam Taurus does more to make our people look like monsters to the uneducated general public than any propaganda could. There's a fine line between violence for the sake of self defense and violence to instill fear in the people you hate and the White Fang falls on the same side of it as people like Viren." 

"This explains why you aced Dr. Oobleck's class." Bow said. 

"Viren doesn't just want to hurt us, he wants to make it so we don't have allies either." Elizabeth continued. 

Adora put her hand on Elizabeth's before turning back to Hordak "So, what can we do?" 

"Viren is probably back to hiding in Atlas somewhere. From what Haven is aware Ironwood is considering a dust embargo that would likely also limit travel to there." Hordak said. 

"So how do we track him down?" asked Adora. 

"The first step would probably be going to Argus. There's an Atlas military base there. While it's maybe a long shot we could probably convince them to give us passage through by convincing them you're students trying to transfer to Atlas with Beacon being closed." Hordak explained. 

"If that's our only option it's what we have to do." Bow said. 

"Bow, you don't have to. I know how much you wanted to go home." Adora said. 

"I'm a huntsman, Adora. That means doing what I can to make the world better even if it's hard." Bow said "Besides, I'm not letting my friends go into danger without me."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's start prepping for the trip." said Glimmer

The room rushed around Elizabeth as the rest started tuning their weapons and finding things to pack that might be useful. Bow and Glimmer snatched some of Adora's jumpsuits from her room. If they fit her while she's using her semblance then they'd have to fit them right? 

"Can't help but notice you aren't rushing to pack like they are." Hordak said, sitting down next to her.

"I don't have much." Elizabeth responded. 

"Not even a weapon I see." Hordak said. 

"I learned to fight with my hands, why stop now." Elizabeth answered. 

"Hand to hand skills are great. But every great huntress needs a weapon as great as she is." Hordak paused, "Also it would probably make Adora worry less." he whispered. 

"I don't even know what I'd use." she answered, thinking for a moment "I've always thought whips were really cool" 

"Then I'll make you the greatest whip Remnant has ever seen." Hordak said. 

"You'd do that?" Asked Elizabeth with surprise, she wasn't used to being given anything.

"Of course. You matter to Adora, so I'll do what I can." Hordak said, standing up. "Now let's come back to my workshop and you can tell me exactly what you want your whip to do." he continued, motioning Entrapta to come too in order to assist them. 

The three spent a couple hours tweaking the design a few times, until finally Elizabeth had her weapon built. An old school leather whip with the shocking twist of a taser in the handle. 

As Elizabeth held it in her hands it felt like something that was truly hers. A lot of people named their weapons and she had always thought they were corny for it but at the present moment she had an idea for hers. Tongue Lasher, in reference to her own sharp wits and smart mouth. Though that was a name she was just keeping to herself, Adora definitely didn't need to know about it. 

She didn't know whether they'd actually ever find Viren, but if they did she was hoping to give him a lashing. 

Chapter Text

"So Viren, you've acquired the semblance of Runaan Amaris. Impressive." Primus growled. Claudia had just met him but something about the man was alarming. 

"More specifically my daughter did. Tomorrow evening she'll sneak into an airbase carrying a cloaking device Miss Aleon stole from Will Scarlatina's lab a couple months ago and use it to give us a powerful warship with stealth capabilities that no one will ever detect arriving or leaving." Viren explained. 

"So we have everything we need for the invasion of Menagerie?" Asked Catherine as she sloshed around her wine glass. 

"Not quite. While the key to being able to bring the Faunus to their knees is my having Micah Khomsan's semblance, I still need something to make it stronger after my Grimm experiment failed miserably." Viren responded.

"So what, you're too weak to succeed at what you need to do? Figure it out already!" Primus demanded. 

"Shut up! Is talking all you do?" Claudia said, defending her father. 

"Watch your tone with me child" growled Primus once again. 

"Silence Primus, don't forget who you owe your very life to." Catherine said, glaring at him. 

Viren walked towards Primus "Do you know the difference between people like my daughter and I and people like you Primus? You consider yourself an empire builder, you think because you spent years building a clan and leveling towns that you know how to build something for yourself. But in the end what were you left with? Nothing but your brother who you'd controlled since the day he was born, you didn't even tell him that the rest of the clan abandoned you didn't you?" 

"You don't get to speak to me like this!" Primus belted. 

"Oh but I am. You think you're a builder but you're nothing but a destroyer. It's the truth about you in your very soul. Think about our semblances, my daughter and I can take an aura and then use it. We take, and then we use what we take to make something better out of it. You think that's you but when have you ever done anything with it, you say you took your brother Hordak's semblance but you've never used it, you've never been able to. And when you say you took part of his aura none of it shows up on any measurements we've conducted. You're incapable of creating something. You take things and then you destroy them. Which is useful for people like me and Catherine, who actually know how to build things, but it does not make you unique." Viren said calmly, circling Primus the whole time. 

Primus seethed. 

"You can't respond because you know it's all true. Now if you're done my daughter and I have actually useful things to plan." Viren said. 

"Not so fast Viren" said Rose walking in the room "we may have a new problem." 

"What kind of problem?" asked Claudia. 

"There's an upstart group in Mantle known as the Happy Huntresses. Their leader Robyn Hill is planning on running in the next council election." Rose explained. 

"And? We'll be gone by the time that happens." Viren responded. 

"That's not the issue. The issue is that they're just as comfortable working underground as we are. If they have reason to suspect us of anything they WILL look into it and likely find something." Rose continued. 

"If they find some washed up auraless huntsmen what would that do to stop us?" Viren said. 

"The business Viren. That could take down the whole company if it got out!" Catherine shouted. 

"And Ironwood is about to place an embargo on dust, so the company isn't even useful anymore!" Viren yelled back.

"We still need the company to fund us even if we succeed with your plan." said Rose. 

"When! When my plan succeeds we'd be able to start a whole new one with the desperate labor force the displaced faunus would create. You'll get your damn money Catherine." said Viren. 

Viren and Claudia charged out of the room. 

"You understand why we have to take Menagerie right? Why it's necessary?" Viren asked her. 

"The White Fang who stole your dust to burn Beacon are based out of there. They have to be taken out even if innocents can get hurt in the process." Claudia answered. 

"Very good. I'm proud of you." Viren said.

Everything was going to be fine. Claudia would be able to protect those she cared about from being hurt like they were at Beacon again

Chapter Text

Rayla was woken up by her scroll buzzing, she had dozed off next to Callum while he took his nap. She scrambled to answer it as fast as she could when she saw that it was from Ethari. 

"Is everything okay?" she asked, her voice waking up Callum. 

"No, it's not.'' Ethari said, trying to compose himself "Runaan's gone, and it looks like there was a struggle. So he didn't just leave, he was taken."

"We'll be right there." said Rayla, quickly hanging up and gathering her things. 

“What happened?” asked Callum.

“Runaan got taken. We have to get down to Mantle.” answered Rayla as she bolted out the door. 

In the living room of the Princeton home Soren and Kinue were watching late night TV, they looked over at Rayla with concern. 

“Something happened didn’t it?” Soren inquired. 

“Runaan’s gone. I have to figure out what happened while we have time.” she said.

“We’re with you.” said Soren, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

Team CRKS packed their gear and left the Princeton home. They managed to find a dropship to take them down to Mantle even this late at night. They walked the city streets until they arrived at Rayla’s old home. 

“We made it as fast as we could, Ethari. Is there a sign of what happened?” Rayla asked. 

“His tea spilled and the chairs fell over. Other than that not much, no sign of forced entry. I’m concerned, it’s just like-” he paused for a moment “It’s just like when we lost your parents Rayla. Whoever took Runaan was someone he let his guard down with.”

“Who would kidnap a huntsman though?” said Callum “Especially right now.”

“I don’t know.” said Ethari. 

“We may be able to help.” said a blonde woman standing at the doorway.

“Robyn, thank you for coming. I thought you might be busy when you didn’t answer.” said Ethari.

“We were busy, and we found something. There’s an abandoned DDC warehouse a few miles from here that would be the perfect place to hide someone you just kidnapped.” said Robyn. 

“I assume there’s a catch if you’re here and not snooping around in there.” Ethari responded. 

“There is, the lock is specifically a Dusk Dust Company master key that would be in the hands of very few people, which makes it unlikely but since it’s our only lead I still feel like it needs to be followed, especially considering Runaan was one of their more vocal opponents.” Robyn said. 

Soren held a key in the air “I have one of those. I can let you in.” he said. 

“So we have a Dusk among us?” Robyn questioned. 

“The name is Soren Dusk, huntsman in training.” explained Soren

“Well, it seems we have exactly the help we needed.” Robyn looked down and sighed “I guess since I have next year’s election to focus on I shouldn’t risk getting caught snooping around there. May, you and Fiona take these kids down to the warehouse. Me and Joanna will stay here with Ethari to clean things up.” 

“I’m going to stay here too,” said Callum “Maybe I can help us find a clue.”

Rayla whispered in his ear “Ask Ethari to help with your weapon.”

Callum nodded his head silently and turned to his present task. Rayla left the home following closely behind Soren and Kinue. Leading them to the warehouse was the tall girl with blue hair and a short sheep faunus whom Rayla recognized. In fact she had grown up looking up to Fiona Thyme, a fellow faunus from Mantle who had managed to make it in Atlas Academy. Of course she’d keep working close by. 

Half a mile down the road Rayla began to worry about Soren, she knew that the company was a touchy subject for him. They hadn’t talked to each other much about it but she knew that memories of his missing father brought him conflicted feelings and pain. Those had been more visible since Claudia disappeared. 

“So, you worried about what we might find in there Dusk Boy?” asked May. 

“Well duh, we might find someone who’s been kidnapped in there. Not exactly a comforting thought is it?” answered Soren. 

“Not what I meant.” said May. 

“Well what do you mean?” Rayla asked, defensively. 

“I’m wondering if he’s worried we’ll find something that could completely tear down the company he’s the heir to.” said May. 

Soren sighed “Look Marigold, I’ve never cared about being heir to some fortune. I know the kind of person my father was and I decided to be nothing like him, so if you’re assuming all that is something I care about just back off.”

May placed a hand on his shoulder and sighed “I know that realization wasn’t easy kid. You grow up thinking your parents are superheroes” she paused for a moment “and then you realize they’re the villains.”

Soren looked back sadly at Kinue and Rayla walking behind him as the huntresses walked ahead. “You got that right.” he said quietly. 

They reached the warehouse and Soren used his key to open the door. To their surprise the warehouse was completely empty. No crates, no shelves, no machinery, absolutely nothing left behind. 

“Okay, if it’s abandoned you’d think something would be left behind.” said Fiona “Which means that someone has been cleaning it out."

Fiona looked around for a bit “Aha, you see that?” she said pointing at a keyhole on the floor “Soren, try seeing if your key fits it.”

Soren leaned down and used the master key which caused part of the floor to slide away from them, revealing a staircase into the warehouse's basement. 

The two Happy Huntresses led RKS down the stairs. They could all smell something… Grimm, but different this time. The group stayed on their guard. 

They came across what appeared to be a science lab, notes strewn across a desk in the corner. 

May and Fiona walked over to the desk as Rayla, Soren, and Kinue looked around the rest of the room. They could see a table with restraints on them, and another table with beakers that smelled like they once contained all manners of strange chemicals. 

Fiona and May flipped through the notes on the desk. 

“These are all signed as being done by Viren Dusk.” May said. 

“So this is just where Soren’s dad did experiments a long time ago.” said Kinue.

“The smells are too fresh for that, they would've likely gone away after 7 years.” said Rayla.

“Maybe someone’s trying to recreate whatever experiments he was doing.” responded Kinue. 

May interrupted “The dates on this are all within the past two years. He was doing these himself.” 

“What!?!" exclaimed Soren in shock. 

Fiona began reading from the last page of notes “14 years I’ve had Micah Khomsan’s aura and semblance. 14 years I’ve tried to make it more powerful. I finally came to the conclusion that more auras could make it more powerful if I could find a way to shed the excess semblances so that all of the energy of the auras could go into the one semblance. However the recent experiments have been a failure, the modified Grimm was still unable to store the semblances of Sarai, Tiadrin, and Lain. In the meantime I’ll keep these auras to myself and continue to keep the prisoners in the basement of my home. These notes will be kept in the warehouse lab in case I have a breakthrough and need to check my previous work.”

“That’s…” Rayla was shocked to hear the names of her parents. She’s speechless, they’d been locked up all this time, a tear rolled down her cheek. Kinue placed a supportive hand on her shoulder “They’re alive.”

Soren picked up a glass beaker from the table and threw it into the wall on the other side of the room. “All this time he was alive! And he was kidnapping Callum’s mom and Rayla’s parents! He left me and my sister so he could focus on his prison for the families of my closest friends, for what? Power? What kind of power? I knew he wasn’t a good guy but.” Soren had to pause a moment to catch his breath “But this is fucking monsterous! My dad is a fucking monster!”

Soren broke down crying and sat on the floor. Rayla and Kinue sat on each side of him to support him. 

Rayla finally broke down into more tears and latched onto Soren. He wrapped his arms tightly around her. 

“I’m so sorry Rayla. I’m so sorry.” He said as the trio melted into each other. 

Chapter Text

The train to Argus was surprisingly comfortable. Almost as comfortable as the old dorm back at Beacon actually. Bow and Glimmer had fallen asleep already. The trip would take a day or two, depending on if it stopped in Haven first or not. Hordak hadn't bothered checking the itinerary because it was the last train leaving the station that day. "It doesn't really matter." he had said. Adora wondered if there was another reason, ever since they'd boarded he and the scientist had been talking non-stop. 

Adora got distracted by noticing something on Elizabeth's hip. "Wait, is that a whip?" she said. 

"Man, I was hoping you wouldn't notice until we had to fight something," said Elizabeth, smirking "those two helped me make it. You should be seen them finishing each other's sentences every time they had an idea." 

Adora smiled "Well, good for Hordak. He never really made any lasting friends while I was growing up, so it's nice to finally see him enjoy someone else's company." 

"So, what do you think we'll find in Argus?" asked Elizabeth. 

"Well, definitely Glimmer's mom. Maybe a little down time. I'm not sure if we'll actually find the guy we're looking for but we're at least getting out and doing something. We're probably gonna leave Argus stronger than we arrived" responded Adora. 

"That's a confident response. I'm not so sure though, if this Viren guy is really that dangerous I don't know if we can handle it." said Elizabeth. 

"We won't know until we try Liz." said Adora. 

"Just, don't do anything stupid please." Elizabeth said, placing her hand on top of Adora's. 

Adora repositioned hers to have them be holding hands "I won't, I promise" she said smiling. 

"You better keep that promise." said Elizabeth. 

"Don't worry, just get yourself some sleep okay." said Adora, motioning her towards their lodgings in the train.

Adora sat alone for a while and realized that Entrapta had apparently already gone to bed while she and Liz had been talking. Hordak sat next to her. 

"You know she likes you right?" said Hordak gruffly. 

"Well yes, we're friends and teammates. Of course she does." Adora said. 

"Oh, is that not how young people describe crushes anymore. My mistake." said Hordak. 

"Oh what pfftttttt Elizabeth no she doesn't have a crush on me you're crazy." said Adora nervously. 

"I know what I see, Adora." he said. 

"Well what about you and the scientist lady?" Adora questioned. 

Hordak chuckled for what may be the first time in years "Touché. I definitely think about her in a few ways." 

"Gross"

"Not what I meant, Adora… look I think you should go for it if she matters to you, and I know she does." said Hordak

 "How do you know that again?" asked Adora. 

"The first time you called me after you arrived at Beacon half of all you talked about was your new teammate and partner. This cat Faunus named Elizabeth who was absurdly fast and strong. It took you forever to talk about the other two." he said. 

"Oh" Adora blushed. 

"I guess neither of us are very good at hiding things are we?" Hordak said. 

"I got it from watching you dad." Adora stopped herself and covered her mouth "sorry I-" 

Hordak cut her off "-No, it's fine Adora, Really." he sighed "I should've let you call me that much sooner."

"Why were you uncomfortable with it for so long? I remember as a kid you told me that you never wanted to be called that." she questioned. 

"I didn't think someone like me should be a father." He answered. 

"Why? What do you mean someone like you?" Adora continued questioning. 

"I was a bandit, along with my older brother Primus. The day I found you he caused an explosion which drew Grimm to Higanbana, Grimm that killed your parents. When I knew what he'd done me and him fought, when I survived I went to town to help how I could. I saved you from an Ursa but… your parents were already gone. I should've known what he was doing and stopped him sooner. You were orphaned because I couldn't stop him. The only reason we ever met was because I'd already failed you." Hordak solemnly poured out. 

Adora shed a tear "You realize that I never felt like an orphan as a kid right? That was because of you. I never thought you failed me, you saved me."

"I didn't save you, I did what I could. I taught you how to save yourself." Hordak responded. 

"And those lessons are what I appreciate most dad." Adora said. 

"Well, maybe I didn't do such a bad job after all." he said "But your strength, your courage, your big heart, those are all you Adora. Those are the things that make you special. You don't need the teachings of some grizzled old man, fancy weapon, or powerful semblance for that. Strength, courage, and a big heart. That's Adora." 

"The other things did help quite a bit though." she said with a laugh. 

"Yeah, I mostly helped with the clothes though. Those were pretty expensive." 

"So that's why we always lived in that shack." Adora said, jokingly. 

"Yes of course, that's the reason." Hordak said, laughing with her. 

Chapter Text

"I'm so sorry Rayla" Soren said once again, his mind spinning. This couldn’t be real but it somehow was "My dad cost you so much time with your family, and I know there's nothing I can do to fix it"

"Don't blame yourself you couldn't have known what he'd done" said Rayla, sniffing. 

He could tell in her voice that she was as always trying to keep herself together for those close to her. Soren couldn’t help but think she shouldn’t have to, that she could lash out in a rage and he’d understand, Kinue would understand too. Soren felt nothing but a pit in his stomach. He didn’t like feeling helpless, and he HATED feeling like he’s let down those he loves. Those were both presently the only two things he felt. It didn’t help that he’d already been feeling the latter a lot in the past month.

Kinue grabbed his hand, "You can't change what's been done, but together we can change what happens next." 

“Hey kids, I know you’re supporting your boyfriend right now but we need to get moving if we’re gonna rescue these people tonight.” May said. 

"May" said Fiona, in the same way a disappointed teacher would. “She's right though, we need to go to the basement of your home Soren, if they’re down there still they need our help.”

“I know.” said Soren, standing up and wiping his eyes “Let’s get back to Callum and Ethari, we might need as many people as possible if my father is still there.”

“I’ll call team EIAA.” said Kinue.

The group made their way back towards Ethari and Runaan’s home. Rayla and Kinue seemed determined but Soren couldn’t help but feel a certain amount of guilt. His own father had been hiding this underneath his feet for years. He’d grown up being told to never go into the basement and he had listened, he was scared of the place even after his father was no longer around. He possessed the key to it but he still refused to ever check out what was down there. Maybe that had been intentional on Viren’s part, to raise Soren to be afraid so he’d never find what was down there on his own. Claudia had kind of always just followed his lead in not going into the basement. He wondered why his dad had stayed so close to them yet never showed himself, he abandoned them from right under their feet. Soren had his fists clenched the entire journey back to meet with Callum. Maybe their determination was right. He had to make this right.

“Guys, you’re back. What did you find?” said Callum. 

“So Runaan wasn’t there.” Ethari said glumly. 

“No, but we know where to find him.” responded Rayla. 

Soren walked up to Callum and hugged him, the only thing that really felt right to do. “We’re gonna rescue your mom bud, I promise.” 

Callum gasped “W-what is he talking about.” 

“Viren kidnapped your mom and Rayla’s parents and locked them in the Dusk Manor basement.” explained Kinue. 

Callum stared blankly back at her for a moment, unable to process "So, my mom's alive?" he asked, shedding a tear "Then what are we waiting for, let's go." 

 "We have no idea what's gonna be down there, but team EIAA is coming to help." said Kinue. 

"We're coming too." said May. 

"If there's any documents down there you may need our help to look through them" added Fiona. 

"Viren disappeared to hide all the people he'd taken, and then years later comes back to take one more… why?" wondered Ethari aloud.

"We'll find out when we're down there." answered Fiona.

"His notes said something about capturing auras right? That's his semblance" said Soren "he's using them to make himself stronger." 

"But why? He was already one of the more powerful men in Atlas" May pointed out.

"Maybe the people he captured can answer that!" Callum exclaimed "With as many years as he was gone he was bound to say something about his motivations to them. Let's just ask my mom when she's out."

"I agree, let's just get moving and continue this rescue." Soren said as he walked out of the home with purpose in his stride. 

Any fear that Soren had left in his body was gone, maybe Claudia had been kidnapped by their father too since seemingly every other missing huntsman or huntress in Atlas could be pointed back at him. Soren could at least hope. All that mattered tonight was doing right by those he cared about. Claudia was missing, Viren had been out of his life for years, his mom had left to live in Haven after divorcing his dad. Sometimes he wondered why she didn't come back after he disappeared. Maybe it would be too painful, maybe she thought she'd been gone too long, maybe Viren had somehow gotten her barred from traveling to Atlas. The reasons didn't really matter though. It still all left the same present truth. Callum, Rayla, and Kinue were the only family he had in his life right now. He was 14 when Viren disappeared so house servants had helped him and Claudia continue living in their home until it was time for them to go to Atlas Academy, the servants doing so at the request of Viren's business partner Catherine. 

Soren wondered what had become of it since they'd been gone, they hadn't spent much time at home since going to Atlas. They chose to spend off weeks with Callum and his family instead, a much less empty house. 

Soren opened the door to Dusk Manor, at some point team EIAA had started following them. Eve and Aoi had their clubs in one hand and a couple grenades in the other, just in case something happened. Soren must have had tunnel vision because he didn't recall when they had arrived.

He led the group towards the basement door, he looked at the DDC master key in his hand and the keyhole he was about to plug it into. Years of doubt washed away from him, before suddenly the door opened. But it wasn't him who opened it. A dark hooded figure walked out of the door. 

"Soren!" exclaimed Claudia with surprise as she wrapped her arms around her brother. 

"Claudia? What are you doing here." he said, softly hugging her back. It had been too long. 

The rest of team CRKS huddled around them and started a group hug. They'd found her and didn't even need to leave Atlas to do it. 

"Claudia what are you even doing here, we didn't think you'd be able to get back to Atlas." said Rayla. 

"Oh, well dad brought me here. It was pretty easy, we had a cloaking device he stole from this Scarlatina guy." Claudia said casually. 

"Wait… dad brought you here?" Soren questioned. 

"Yeah, he's alive, isn't that great?" shouted Claudia. 

"Wait, you came from the other side of that door… you know what's on the other side don't you?" Soren asked. 

"Only some of it, I've only been here a couple weeks. But I'm glad I found you guys, I think you could help us-" Claudia said before being interrupted. 

"- Claudia, dad kidnapped Callum's mom and Rayla's parents. Did he tell you that?" Soren said. 

"He has a good reason!" Claudia shouted. 

"So he also took Runaan too I'm guessing. You'd have to have seen that." Ethari said, speaking up. 

"That was me, dad said he needed Runaan's semblance so I got it for him." Claudia responded. 

            "Claudia, you know this is wrong." said Soren.

"We're trying to protect you, all of you! So what happened at Beacon doesn't happen again. The White Fang won't be able to hurt us anymore!" Claudia pleaded. 

"He started kidnapping our families a decade ago and it still didn't stop Beacon from happening. You can't just kidnap people and say it's for 'security'!" argued Rayla

Eve jumped in "I don't care what we're arguing about, we need to let those people out right now." 

Claudia screamed "Why won't you all just listen to me! Soren, don't you want to see dad again?" She looked at him hopefully. 

"No, not now that I know who he's become." Soren answered. 

Claudia roared primally, turned invisible and ran over everyone in her path running out of the house. Leaving the door to the basement open behind her.

Team CRKS was left stunned and shaken. 

They all ventured down into the prison and found the cells. Runaan, Sarai, Lain, and Tiadrin were all sitting together in one cell. Soren's key was able to unlock it. Had Viren planned for him to one day participate in this the way Claudia presently was? Soren shuddered at the thought. 

The door swung open and the families reunited. Sarai yelled "Callum" as Lain and Taidrin simultaneously shouted "Rayla". Runaan and Ethari embraced at the rescue, them having luckily only spent a night separated. They both knew based on those next to them that it could have been much longer. 

Kinue grabbed onto Soren's hand. Funny, other families were coming back together but his had never felt more fractured. 

Everyone decided to return to the Princeton house that night. They had some serious things to talk about now, but for tonight they'd just enjoy each other's company, catch up on what's happened over all these years. Harrow laughed with Runaan and Lain over how they'd been rivals back in their school days while Sarai explained that her and Tiadrin had secretly been close friends the whole time that was going on. They even called in Callum's aunt Amaya. She'd been a Lieutenant in the Atlas Military until a couple years ago when she quit and dove all her time into discovering what became of her sister all those years ago. She'd thought Sarai had died on a mission in the tundra. Sarai explained that Viren joined her on it and took her Aura while her guard was down. Soren couldn't remember Harrow's exact reaction to hearing that his best friend had kidnapped his wife but he recalled that it was fuming. 

Not that Soren could blame him. But all he could think about was his sister, and that for the first time in forever she seemed impossibly far from him. 

Soren found a room to just sit alone against a wall in. He had to hope that there'd be a way to get through to Claudia about the kind of person their father was, a way to warn her that she didn't need him anymore, a way to show her that Viren was lying. 

Callum, Kinue, and Rayla walked in and sat on the wall next to him. 

"I know it's a rough day for you." Callum said, placing a hand on Soren's shoulder "But your team is here for you." 

"I… we love you Soren." said Kinue. 

"You're our friend, our family, our partner." said Rayla, placing her head on his shoulder. 

Soren started to tear up "I love you guys too." 

He hadn't expected this, he thought Callum and Rayla would spend all their time tonight reconnecting with their parents. Perhaps they saw him as just as much part of their family and they were part of his, hell at this point they might be his only family. He couldn’t tell anymore. It was 5AM and team CRKS was exhausted, they finally were getting their rest. They fell asleep together on the floor just as the sun began to rise. 

Chapter Text

Free, after a decade Sarai was finally free. She may not have her aura but her soul was healing. After ten whole years she was finally able to wake up next to her husband again. Finally able to wake up her sons to start the day… Ezran probably needed the news that she was back explained BEFORE she walked in to wake him up, he thought she was a ghost at first before it was explained that she was real. He’d grown up so much in that time it brought a tear to her eye. So had Callum, he was sleeping in a pile with his team when she walked in. She’d never expected him to be a huntsman, but it was a pleasant surprise. He was the perfect combination of brave and kind. 

"Funny isn't it Sarai," started Tiadrin "that our children got to know each other and become friends without having ever known that we'd also been friends back in school"

"It is but it feels natural," Sarai said "they’re equal parts passion and compassion. With the will to do what’s right even when it’s hard. They’re kindred spirits.”

“Kinda like us, don't you think?” replied Tiadrin. 

“All that and more and we’ve only gotten to spend a day with them.” Sarai said, she looked down and sighed “We only just got them back but our work isn’t done. Viren’s out there.”

“We’ll need their help Sarai.” Tiadrin paused “Besides, I don’t think they’d let us go after him alone”

Sarai and Tiadrin watched as Ethari worked with Callum and Ichina to build a working version of his elemental stone. 

“See, the fire dust makes the design just slightly too volatile. It makes the weapon prone to explosions like what happened before. If we were in a military setting we may build a workaround to maintain all 4 elements you want to work with, however you’re a huntsman that simply needs something reliable. So the quick solution would be to just remove the fire dust and its chamber from the equation.” Ethari explained. 

“So I’ll still have Ice, Lightning, and Gravity. And work how I planned it?” asked Callum. 

“Yes, you designed a surprisingly detailed blueprint. Especially for someone who’s never done that sort of thing before.” Ethari praised. 

“Some of that was me.” Ichina corrected. 

“Yeah, mostly her. She fixed some of the mechanical issues my original design had. Solved a lot of problems I couldn’t.” added Callum. 

“Well, together you kids made my job easy. You two did all the painful work.” Ethari laughed. 

He put the finishing touches on Callum’s new weapon and held it in his hands. He closed his eyes to focus intently on it. Ethari raised his other hand and a duplicate of Callum’s orb appeared grasped within it. 

“One for the road.” said Ethari, handing them both to Callum. 

“That was… AMAZING.” exclaimed Callum “That’s one of the most awesome semblances I’ve ever seen.”

“It certainly has its uses.” said Ethari with a grin “Every huntsman needs a backup plan.”

Fiona walked in the room blankly staring at a piece of paper “I hate to interrupt but we have a major problem.”

Fiona gathered everyone into the living room. Most people seeming confused as to what was going on, but Sarai had some suspicions. 

“Fiona, what's in the notes you gathered from Viren’s prison last night?” asked Robyn.

"Viren is planning to invade Menagerie." stated Fiona.

"What? What makes him think he's even capable of doing so?" asked Rayla "Even if he did become a bloody wizard using that Micah guy he still has in custody he'd be massively outnumbered." 

"He's stealing an Atlas warship loaded with artillery… actually presumably Claudia already did it last night." answered Fiona. 

"Not possible, there's no way he got it out of Atlas undetected." said Soren 

"Someone named Rose stole a cloaking device from Will Scarlatina's lab" Fiona replied.

"Rose Aleon? That bitch!" Eve said, enraged.

"She has been heavily connected to the Dusk brand before, so yes. It's probably her." Fiona said matter of factly. 

“Wait, hold on!” interrupted Callum “If they stole a cloaking device from Will Scarlatina that means he’s capable of making one. If he can make one, then maybe we can get him to make us one. Then we can use it to get our own transport out of Atlas undetected.”

“Who would be your pilot?” asked May.

Amaya raised her hand and signed, expressing that she’d be able to fly. Every Atlas military member who reached a certain rank knew how to fly at least a little bit, Amaya may not have been enlisted anymore but she still had her knowledge. 

“You aren’t coming?” Soren asked May. 

“I can’t, we’re needed in Mantle and my skills are best used here.” she paused “besides, you kids can handle this on your own.”

“Best of luck to all of you, but this is as far as the Happy Huntresses can go.” said Robyn as her crew left the house. 

“Scarlatina… that sounds familiar doesn’t it?” said Rayla. 

“Vytal tournament? Team CFVY!” exclaimed Callum in realization “Velvet Scarlatina went to Beacon, she was in the tournament. Will is probably related.”

“Didn’t she fight a Paladin and win on the night Beacon fell?” said Rayla. 

“Maybe we use that knowledge to get him to help us.” said Callum. 

Sarai jumped in “There’s one more thing everyone.” she looked around the room, her children, their friends, her friends, her husband, and her sister all looked at her intently. Her family was all waiting with baited breath “It’s not safe to stay in Atlas, even with Viren and his crew gone there’s something else. Before I got captured I overheard James talking to Ozpin about something. Something that might drop Atlas out of the sky. If Beacon was attacked I’m worried that anything could happen now. So I ask that everyone join us on this trip out of Atlas. We have to stop Viren.” Sarai paused and looked at Ezran and Harrow “but I can’t stand the idea of losing my family again while being gone.” 

“I wanted to go with you anyway.” Ezran said, hugging his mother. “Besides, I can always talk to a dog to ask if it saw anything.”

Sarai put a hand on the top of her youngest son's head. She probably didn’t have much longer she’d be able to do so while taller than him, so she was going to make the most of it. 

Everyone began packing for what could be the most consequential trip of their lives. Sarai walked up to Callum and Rayla. “I suppose you two would like to take care of talking to the scientist wouldn’t you?” she asked. 

“Yeah I trust Soren and Kinue to pack extra supplies for us.” answered Callum. 

“I’ll tag along, I need to have some fresh air after all that time.” joked Sarai… even the joke did still sting. 

“Not so fast.” said Tiadrin, interpreting for Amaya “We’re coming too.”

“Wait, you’re actually making use of what I taught you about sign language while we were locked up?” said Sarai with surprise. 

“I may as well.” answered Tiadrin. 

Rayla looked at her mom happily “Always room for two more.” 

Sarai followed the kids out of the house. They had no time to rest, but in spite of that she’d never felt more invigorated. 

Chapter Text

Will Scarlatina was among the more notable scientists among Atlas’s research and development team, he was apparently enough so that his request to have his own private lab outside of the military base had been approved by Ironwood. At this point he seemed to more just be someone who was contracted by the Atlas Military rather than someone who was truly aligned with them. At least that was Rayla’s theory that she was hoping was true. Otherwise he might turn them in for their plan to leave Atlas. 

They arrived at the lab and knocked on its front door, a voice could be heard making its way towards the door.

“For the last time James I’m not helping you make a bomb-” said a bespectacled man, pausing as he opened the door “Sorry, you aren’t who I was expecting. How can I help you?” he said, stressfully stroking his brown beard. Rayla could notice a select few gray hairs in it, that must have been recent. 

“Are you Will Scarlatina? We could use his help.” Rayla said. 

“You’re Atlas students aren’t you? I think I saw you two fight in the Vytal tournament.” paused a moment in realization “You should probably be in school right now though… come inside, let’s talk privately.”

Will’s lab was much less creepy than Viren’s, also quite a bit cleaner. It seemed like the kind of place where actual scientific pursuits happened, a place where the goal was to learn and create things that can be used by others rather than something done just for one's selfish desires. Though the fact that Will had mentioned that Ironwood had tried to get him to build a bomb before hinted that the more noble goal was one that had to be fought for to maintain. 

"You two wouldn't happen to know my daughter Velvet would you?" Will said solemnly while sitting down. Rayla had noticed that he appeared to just be a human, not a single Faunus trait to him. Would make sense if he was just a human, made it easier to become a respected scientist in Atlas of all places. Not a particular good place to be a Faunus in most scenarios. Might also explain why Velvet and her mom hadn't lived with him there. 

"Not personally, we did see her in the tournament though. Team CFVY was was amazing to watch in action." said Callum.

"What about…" Will paused "What about the night Beacon fell? Do you know if she survived."

"She kicked the arse of a Paladin. That's what she did. I caught a glimpse of it. She didn't just survive, your daughter is a hero." said Rayla.

Will looked at her with relief and he took a sip from the water bottle next to him "Well, that's good to know." he looked over at Sarai and Tiadrin "I envy you two… I haven't been present enough in Velvet's life, being needed all the way across the world." he let out a heavy sigh. 

"We weren't able to be very present for them either, until now." Sarai started "and the reason for that is why we need your help."

"Wait…" Will saw Amaya in the corner and something clicked "I should've recognized sooner. Sarai Princeton and Tiadrin Ikus, you've been missing for a decade." 

"Precisely, and we need you to help us follow after the man who took us." Tiadrin said.

"I would love to help, but I'm not sure how." said Will.

"Can you make us a cloaking device for an airship? Not even a huge one, just enough to transport around say… 16 people." Callum asked. 

"Whoa, how do you know about that?" Will asked with surprise.

"We also know who stole your previous one." Said Rayla.

"So who was it?" asked Will.

"Rose Aleon, working for Viren Dusk… who's also still alive. He's using it to steal a warship, and we need to follow him." Rayla responded, leaving out the detail of Claudia's involvement. They had to be able to reach her somehow.

"Hmmm, and you're planning on following him on your own? Why not get James- I mean the General's attention about this?" asked Will.

"He's too focused on some nebulous threat out there than anything tangible here, besides he's locking down our borders and won't send anyone out for any important missions. No leaving Solitas." explained Callum. 

"Hmm, so you need to sneak out to bring a kidnapper to justice? Very huntsmanlike." Will paused a moment "I'll do it on one condition, that you bring me with you. I have to get out of here, and maybe see if I can find my daughter." answered Will. 

"I can agree to that." said Sarai.

"I had a backup cloaking device built in case Ironwood came looking for it, it was his contract that had me build it after all. I've been holding it for him to have when he needs it. But if I'm leaving it's unnecessary" explained Will as he handed the device to Rayla. It was a small black box that appeared to be magnetized on one side “Place that on any metal piece of the ship and it will render your ship invisible both to the naked eye and to Ironwood’s scanners. Perfect for a stealthy escape.”

“We’re going to have to sneak in at night and get Amaya to the ship.” said Tiadrin.

Amaya began signing and Sarai interpreted “I remember the airbase’s patrol patterns, I’ll go alone and get you that ship.” she said.

“Amaya you don’t have to” Sarai responded. 

“Yes, I do. I’m the pilot and I know my way around. There’s no reason to risk the kids on this mission. They’ll need their strength to chase Viren.” signed Amaya, Callum no interpreting only for the sake of Rayla and Will. 

“Stay safe sister.” said Sarai as she hugged Amaya. They gave each other a knowing look that spoke and entire speech back and forth to each other. 

Upon returning to Princeton Manor Rayla let Soren and Kinue know the plan. One thing was hovering over their heads… Claudia. 

Kinue was the first to break the silence “What do we.. do?” she paused again “... About Claudia?”

“We have to be able to get through to her somehow.” said Soren, crossing his arms “Look, she spent a half dozen years with him gone from her life. She’s desperate to have a parent again. We just have to show her who’s really there for her.”

Rayla thought for a moment, questioning whether Claudia knew about the plan to invade Menagerie. If she did then that didn’t seem like something the Claudia she knew would support without believing she had a good reason for it. Claudia had made a hard effort to befriend Rayla when they first were assigned to the same team. Rayla had seemed to be the outsider on team CRCS for multiple reasons. Being the Mantle raised faunus among the Atlesian humans being the big one. But also that Soren and Claudia were siblings, and Callum had been their childhood friend. She was the unknown in this scenario, and here was this dark yet bubbly girl just wanting to go out and have a spa day with her on the first weekend off and learn where she did her braid. 

Claudia was unique, and something very specific said by her last night crept into Rayla’s mind “She sounded like she thought she had a good reason didn’t she? She said she was doing it for us, trying to protect all of us. She has to believe it, he must’ve just told her a lie about some kind of danger.”

“So, we have to prove he’s lying.” said Kinue. 

“Might be tough, they both have a stubborn streak..” started Soren “But for her sake we have to believe.”

Team CRKS began a group hug, rallying around the hope they can get their fifth member back as her true self. It had to be possible. Rayla couldn’t let it not be, and she could sense that Callum’s feelings matched her own. 

Chapter Text

Glimmer sat alone in her childhood bedroom. It was large, much like the rest of the house but it had always felt empty in its own way. Not because it lacked warmth, or love, or support mind you. Her mom Angella had provided plenty of that… in fact too much sometimes. But there was still the aura around the place of what was missing. She’d been 4 years old when her father had vanished somewhere in Atlas and ever since that moment there was a subtle melancholy even to the most joyous of times. Though with Bow, Adora, and Elizabeth now here the house felt a little more comforting. She’d met Bow on a trip to Haven when they were both 7 and had been close ever since. Both decided to go to Beacon when Pyrrha Nikos; Glimmer’s classmate at Sanctum Academy; had decided to go to Beacon instead of Haven. She’d been the brightest among them, she had to know what the best Academy was so they followed her lead.

Of course, even that memory now had its own unique shadow over it. The city was building a park in Pyrrha’s honor after her sacrifice at Beacon, with a statue of her and everything. It was something at least. Some kind of attempt to honor a fallen pillar of the community. Glimmer just hoped that Pyrrha’s team never had to see it, the mixed emotions seemed unbearable. Glimmer and Pyrrha had never gotten to know each other particularly well but even still she didn’t know if she’d be able to withstand seeing it. 

“I explained to your mother the full situation, she understands, though she is cautious” said Hordak, ducking under the doorway that was just slightly too short for him. 

“Why wouldn’t she be, last time someone in her life went off to Atlas he didn’t come back.” said Glimmer sharply. 

“That’s why she’s coming with us.” answered Hordak. 

“What?!?” asked a perplexed Glimmer. 

“We need all the help we can get…. She never told you that she was once a huntress did she?” Hordak said. 

“No, she didn’t. Because she wasn’t. She hated huntsman work, told me she tried to get dad to quit many times but he didn’t. She tried a thousand times to convince me not to go to Beacon or even Sanctum” Glimmer responded, turning away from him. 

"Well… I'm not going to argue the truth with you. It is something she should tell you about herself anyway." Hordak said, leaving the room. 

It was late, she'd been in her room basically ever since they got to Argus. They weren't planning on trying to get transport to Atlas until tomorrow anyway. Maybe she should get up and show her team around her hometown but she just didn't have the energy for it. The sun was just now starting to set but she felt groggy. Before long she had fallen asleep. 

Glimmer awoke a couple hours later and noticed Adora, Bow, and Elizabeth asleep on the cushy carpet beside her bed. She needed a drink of water. As she left the room she could overhear her mom and Hordak having a conversation in the kitchen. From the hallways she was able to see their silhouettes in their shadows.  

Angella poured a glass of wine for herself and handed the bottle to Hordak who poured one for himself. "17 years Hordak, is that what it's been?" asked Angella. 

"And the only time we weren't trying to kill each other" Hordak said with a chuckle. 

"The only reason I didn't that time was because I'd heard your brother died. Figured with him out of the way maybe you'd be able to set yourself right." Angella responded. 

"What makes you say that?" asked Hordak. 

"You were the younger brother, he was the clan leader. You likely didn't have a choice in anything, just do as big brother said. With that influence gone it gives a person a chance to find themselves. Happens all the time." responded Angella before continuing "besides… a couple years earlier you could've killed me after I'd been disarmed, but you didn't. You had an honorable streak in you that he didn't let you show very often. But in that moment it was just us, and you let me leave with my life. An opponent and huntress who'd hunted you for years to that point." 

"Maybe I just didn't want Micah to kill me in revenge." Hordak said. 

Angella laughed "That's a valid reason."

"In all seriousness, I was saddened to hear about him disappearing. It was all on the news fourteen years ago. He was a good man" said Hordak, subtly raising his glass and taking a sip before pausing "I can't believe you didn't tell her."

"When I was still doing that work she was too young to understand, and by the time she was I was still mourning in my own way… so I lied. So I didn't have to take responsibility for encouraging him. Lied about it to keep her from following our footsteps because I couldn't take it again, only she has so much of her father's spirit that nothing could stop that kind of determination, there's no stopping her. That's why I have to go to join you in your quest, to stop being a damn coward and take some control in my life as a huntress again." explained Angella intensely “grief controlled me for too long.”

Hordak took another sip of wine "That's the fiery Angella I knew and hated… I'm glad to have you join us." 

Glimmer tried to stifle gasps, Hordak wasn't lying. Her mom was a huntress. She'd misjudged her mother the whole time and Angella's speech had almost brought her to tears. She didn't need the water anymore. She went back to bed with a level of self-assurance that she'd  ever had before. If her mom was that much of a badass then they'd be safe for sure.

Chapter Text

 “Amaya called, she acquired the ship and is on her way. We can’t stay grounded long or someone will report it. Let’s get ready.” Sarai said, peeking through the door into Callum’s room where Team CRKS was currently sitting, before she left to presumably tell someone else the same thing. 

“We’ll grab all our stuff don’t you two worry we’ll get everything.” said Callum as he and Rayla grabbed two duffel bags and walked out of the room and turned towards the guest room where Soren and Kinue had been staying. The two of them sat on Callum’s bed in silence for a moment before Kinue grabbed Soren’s hand tenderly and he held it right back tighter. 

“I put on a brave face a lot. You know that though, because you always see right through me. I hope they can’t, I put that face on for their sake… and yesterday the facade broke.” 

“We’re going to get Claudia back, I promise.” said Kinue. 

“I just… wish I had a way of knowing where she was right now. A way to get a hold of her when I doubt she’d answer a text. A tracking device would be nice. Could help us track my father too but mostly I just want to see if I can get Claudia alone just to talk to. But then again I’d maybe be prying too much, maybe she needs space. I don’t know.”

“Amane could help you there maybe, I heard her talking a few weeks ago about ways to track people’s location on your scroll without a microchip.” suggested Kinue. 

“Hmm, like I said it feels kind of wrong but…” he sighed “It could definitely help. I’ll check it out.” Soren said. 

“You don’t have to be the strong one all the time. The rest of us are strong too.” said Kinue. 

“I know you guys are, but you shouldn’t have to waste it on me.” he answered. 

Kinue grabbed his face firmly in both of her hands “Soren, listen to me. Nothing any of us do for you will ever be a waste.” she paused “especially me. Because….” she paused again and kissed him “I love you” she said as she pulled away. 

Soren laid his head into her shoulder “I love you too.” he said. 

Soren and Kinue stayed sitting on the bed in calm quiet until Amaya arrived in the airship. Callum and Rayla greeted them outside with their weapons and bags. Everyone seemed amped up, prepared, ready to rush headlong into danger. Sarai, Tiadrin, Lain, and Runaan were still without their auras so any fight would be more dangerous for them right now but they were also highly skilled and experienced. Harrow, Amaya, and Ethari were just as experienced and they were at full strength. Team EIAA were madwomen in their own unique way. Team CRKS were the only ones who themselves felt like they might be a question mark, though their skills were as honed as ever. This was what all that training for the past year and a half had been for right? They needed to show what they were made of. 

Soren approached Amane shortly after takeoff. They’d left just after sundown and likely wouldn’t make it to Argus until morning, they had plenty of time to work on something if needed. 

“Amane I… heard you knew about how to track people.” asked Soren. 

“Shhhhh, Aoi doesn’t know about the chip I put in the scroll.” Amane responded. 

“Actually I was hoping to know about tracking without a chip.” Sorene said. 

“You want to track your sister, don't you?” Amane deduced. 

“Yes… I do.” Soren answered with a sigh “Is that possible?”

“Not only is it possible, It’s actually relatively easy. She’s probably not turned off her tracking data on her scroll, so that means we just need to modify yours to receive hers based on nearby signals. Now since she’s likely far away it won’t work at first but once we’re in range it should work. Assuming you’re fine with voiding the warranty on your scroll.” explained Amane. 

“That warranty has never been used before so why assume I’d need it now.” Soren said, pulling the device out of his pocket and handing it to team EIAA’s tech expert. 

It took a few hours to modify his scroll into a proper tracker but it seemed to work, his scroll now had a radar showing dots of all the scrolls of his friends. It felt odd having that much information on hand. He turned off tracking for all his contacts except Claudia, that was the only tracker he’d need once they reached Argus. 

It was just after midnight now, most everyone was asleep. It was odd, he felt too antsy to want to get any rest himself. He was ready to drop to Argus and begin searching for Claudia and his father, to see if they could finish this. But obviously they still had a few hours to go. 

Soren sat down at a table in the commissary of the airship. Amaya had managed to grab a big one, meant to transport hundreds of soldiers. Now carrying not even 20 huntsmen. Viren had probably grabbed one much like this, and hoarded all the robots and artillery possible for his planned barrage of Menagerie. 

“You’re up late” said Rayla, walking up to him. 

“No later than you.” answered Soren. 

“Yes, but I slept for a coupla hours before now, you didn’t.” she chided. 

“True, what woke you up anyway?” Soren asked. 

“Anticipation, worry, Callum’s snoring. A combination of the three.” Rayla answered as she sat next to Soren and leaned her head against his shoulder. 

“That makes two of us… except for Callum’s snoring. Thought he’d finally stopped doing that last year.” answered Soren. 

“So did I, but no. It was apparently just waiting for the worst time to strike.” said Rayla “We overheard Kinue telling you she loves you earlier. Way to go you big golden retriever boy.” 

“I thought you guys left, How’d you hear that?” asked Soren, blushing.

“We kinda actually just stood outside the door out of view for a few minutes.” Rayla said, smirking. 

“Oh brothers help me. What all did you hear?” asked Soren. 

“We heard enough. Look, you and Callum are childhood friends. You and Kinue have a special connection that you share. They clearly love you…but so do I, and I have to say it. You matter to me, knowing you blamed yourself for something you had no control over hurt almost as much as finally knowing what happened to my parents.” Rayla explained “Yesterday proved that just… now isn’t the time to leave things unsaid.”

Soren looked down and wrapped his arm around her “You’re right, and I love you too… and because I love you, you need to go back to sleep. Roll Callum off the bed so he snores into the floor if you have to.”

Rayla giggled “Okay then Dusk prince.Try to get yourself some rest too, please.”

“I’ll do my best.” he said.

Soren sat there for a moment before getting up to find his room. Everyone was supposed to have individual rooms but as expected Kinue was sleeping in his bunk. It was a pretty small bed, probably the only reason Callum and Rayla were able to share one was because they were both built like an asparagus. Soren was too bulky, damn those muscles he’d worked so hard for. Oh well, he’d just steal Kinue’s assigned bed instead. 

When he woke up they’d just touched down outside of Argus. Obviously landing in the city wasn’t an option, that would draw too much attention. He found his team; the people that cared about him; just outside the ship. All of them had their weapons with them. 

“Soren, me and you team up to search the city for signs of where they might be. We're sweeping in pairs” said Callum. 

“I have my tracker, it will know where Claudia is. That may also be where Viren is but let's still have a broader search just in case they aren’t together. " said Soren. 

"Smart plan." said Rayla.

"We'll be a couple blocks down from where you are. Let's keep a call open to communicate what we're seeing" said Kinue. 

"Team CRKS versus the world." said Callum with determination as he gave Eve a knowing salute from 100 feet away where she was briefing her own team. 

Callum and Soren walked around the city for an hour without much sign of anything, the tracker hadn't even popped a blip of Claudia yet. Nothing to track and no real signs of activity so far. None of the other groups had found anything either. 

"At this rate we might not find anything, maybe they skipped over here and are almost all the way to Menagerie by now" said Soren cynically. 

Callum tried to keep the attitude positive "Doubt it, Amaya said we're almost out of fuel. She's gonna stealth out the ship while she gets some more dust. But they'd have to do the same thing and this is the only place to do it in the area. Even if they brought their own fueling dust on board they'd have to stop in town for something. Besides, the notes said they'd have business here. They're in Argus. It's a matter of where" 

Suddenly they heard a commotion from a couple blocks away and Soren saw Claudia's blip on the radar finally pop up. It was the same direction as where the scream he thought he'd heard just came from. 

"You guys following that too?" Asked Callum. 

"Affirmative" responded Kinue. 

It appeared to be inside a construction zone but all of the workers seemed to be gone. The sign read "Pyrrha Nikos Memorial Park". Soren hopped the fence into the unfinished park, though the only thing unfinished was a half built statue.

Soren looked around and then down at his scroll, the blip was moving away from the site quickly, even quicker than it was moving before actually. He turned to follow it until he heard a girl moaning and groaning from the other side of the statue. 

A voice called out in pain "Dad! Elizabeth!"

Soren turned to see who this voice was. It was a blonde girl only around a year or two younger than him. In fact it was someone he'd met before, once. Over a month ago at Beacon on the night everything changed. He still remembered the name. He'd never forget a single detail about what had happened that night. 

"Adora?"

Chapter Text

It was a new day. Team AGED was traveling with Hordak, Entrapta and Angella towards Atlas’s airbase in Argus. It was early in the morning, most of the city’ citizens weren’t up and about yet so it was just them. 

“You nervous?” asked Hordak.

“Not at all. We have a mission.” answered Adora.

“Good, I figured you wouldn’t be.” Hordak said with a chuckle. 

They walked a couple more blocks down the sidewalk, the vibe seemed off this morning. Adora almost got the sense that they were being followed but that couldn’t be possible. Who could be following them?

“Hello brother, fancy seeing you here.” said a growling voice.

“It can’t be.” said Hordak, clearly unsettled, as a man stepped around the corner. Angella let out an audible gasp.

“Yes brother, I’m alive.” he said and two more people joined him, one appearing to be a young woman wearing a dark cloak and hood to cover her face. The other was… well it couldn’t possibly be him “Viren here saved my life all those years ago. Not out of the kindness of his heart mind you. But because he and the princess Miss Catherine had a use for me.”

“Are you done?” asked Viren, clearly annoyed. 

“Primus, I should thank you. You brought the very man we were looking for right to us.” Hordak said. 

Adora readied herself for a chase. Their target was right here. 

“Oh don’t worry, I was just leaving. But I figured I should be present for the family reunion." said Viren smugly. 

"Oh how long I've waited for this." said Primus as he noticed Angella "Ah, I see that you two have even started working together, that's cute." 

  Bow unleashed a net arrow to trap Primus momentarily. Entrapta dipped around the corner to  fiddle with her tech for some purpose Adora likely wouldn't understand. Viren and the hooded girl made a run for it. Hordak, Adora, and Elizabeth chased after them.

"Sorry brother, you deal with them until next we meet" said Hordak passing by Primus. He'd be kept busy with fighting Glimmer, Bow, and Angella. 

Viren was surprisingly fast for having to be pushing 50 at this point. Adora noticed a sign for a construction site. Viren and the girl seemed to be going around it but Adora got an idea.

"You two keep chasing, I'll cut them off " she said, activating her semblance and growing in size, strength, and more importantly for her current purpose, speed.

Adora ran through the construction site but was cut off by the girl, who then took off her hood. She couldn't have been much older than Adora was. 

“I can't let you hurt my dad, but I don't want to hurt you either. So can you please hold still." The girl said. 

Adora gripped her sword tighter "Not a chance, we have to bring him to justice." 

"Justice for what? He’s done nothing wrong"

"For helping destroy Beacon. Suppose he didn’t tell you that"

"You're… you're lying!"

Adora lunged at the girl pointing out her sword to which the dark figure easily dodged it and pulled her staff from off her back. Adora made another swing but the girl struck Adora's hand while dodging the swing, disarming her. The girl proceeded to grab Adora on the arm. She felt a burning sensation that hurt even through her semblance and her aura, aura that she felt was slowing being stripped away. She tried to fight it, tried swinging punches and even connected a couple but nothing was stopping what the girl was doing. Adora shrunk back down to her normal size. Tears filled her eyes and she called out to the only people who could maybe help her. 

"Dad!" She yelled for Hordak, the gruff old man that still managed to make her feel better so often, and likely the only person who could understand the situation she was in.

"Elizabeth!" She yelled for the person she cared about most in the world, someone who she made the promise to that she wouldn't do anything stupid to put herself in danger. A promise she seemed to have just failed. 

Chapter Text

"Dad! Elizabeth!" 

Elizabeth turned around and stopped along with Hordak. They gave each other a knowing glance and abandoned their chase of Viren, Adora was in trouble.

They saw a sign for a construction site in their way for. It was for the Pyrrha Nikos Memorial Park that Glimmer's mom had told them about. Elizabeth's heart sank even deeper than it already was. What had happened to Adora? 

Liz walked around a corner and saw an unfinished bronze statue. Next to it she saw Adora being helped up by a blonde boy and a white haired horned girl. They were being followed by two more people but Elizabeth wasn't paying attention to them. Was Adora even conscious? If so she barely was. 

"What happened to her?!?" shouted Elizabeth, unable to hold back her concern. 

"Soren… you should be the one to explain" said the faunus girl. 

"She got her Aura ripped." said Soren. 

"What does that mea-" started Elizabeth before being interrupted by Hordak

"I know what it means." said Hordak, walking over to the people who'd helped "Completely?" asked Hordak. 

"Yes, they would've worked quickly." said Soren. 

"Wait, ripped… or absorbed?" Liz asked, slowly coming to realization. 

"Absorbed." said Soren "She has Adora's semblance now?"

"It's Claudia… isn't it?" asked Elizabeth "That hooded girl looked kinda like someone I met on a boat a few weeks ago. You seem familiar with whoever this was, enough to have followed them here." 

"You're sharp, I'll give you that." started Soren. 

"You don't have to tell them, Soren" said the white haired girl. 

"Rayla, yes I do." Soren sighed as he and Rayla were joined by their friends "Claudia is my sister, Viren is my father. Viren has done a lot of awful things and roped her into it too." He peeked behind him, the boy looked at him urgently "what is it Callum?" 

"Our families and team EIAA are on their way over here." he said. 

"There's more of you?" asked Hordak. 

"You four look like Atlas students." pointed out Elizabeth. 

"Claudia was on our team, she went missing at Beacon. Kinue was added to our team after that happened but we wanted to find her… and then" Rayla trailed off.

"We found she'd been recruited by Viren, and he'd been kidnapping people for over a decade." Kinue said, jumping in. 

"My mom and Rayla's parents had their auras absorbed similar to how Adora did." said Callum. 

Adora started to droop and Soren handed her to Hordak who held her tenderly in his arms. 

"Who are you two anyway?" asked Callum. 

"I'm Adora's… father." said Hordak awkwardly. 

Elizabeth tried to find the right words "I'm Adora's teammate and… friend." 

"Beacon students, right? I don't think me and Soren would have survived that night if not for her and Bow." said Kinue. Right after saying that a look of realization came across her face "Wait, were you two chasing down Viren too?" 

"Yes, we discovered that he had a hand in the fall of Beacon. Particularly providing the White Fang with the dust used to set the campus alight." said Hordak.

"What?!" exclaimed Callum "Wait that explains something." 

"What does it explain?" questioned Hordak.

"We found that Viren plans to attack Menagerie. If he gave the White Fang the means to attack Beacon than he did so in an effort to disincentivise the other kingdoms from assisting the Faunus with defending themselves from what he's planning." explained Callum. 

Elizabeth and Hordak raised their eyebrows listening to what Callum was saying. This was serious. 

"Shit!" shouted Hordak "Angella, Bow, and Glimmer must still be fighting my brother."

"Think again." Responded Angella, walking behind them throwing and unconscious and tied up Primus down in front of them. 

Bow and Glimmer exclaimed in shock and concern about Adora at the same time the rest of their new friends' group showed up. This was becoming a crowd, maybe even an army to take down Viren Dusk. Still, there was concern for Adora's well-being. Entrapta showed up to double check Adora's aura. It was gone. 

Melog, who'd been a bit distant the last few days rubbed against Elizabeth's leg. They could apparently tell how worried she was. She didn't know how to feel about having a creature that could essentially read her mind. Still, it was comforting. Elizabeth picked them up in her arms. 

The huge group headed back to Angella's home with the unconscious Adora for recovery and their new prisoner in Primus who they may be able to interrogate. Elizabeth stayed near Adora to keep an eye on her. The elders of their new group of friends joined along with the other team of students. She could overhear team CRKS filling in the rest of the group on the situation. 

Elizabeth helped Hordak set Adora down carefully on Glimmer's bed. There was no way to tell how long she'd be out. Runaan, one of the members of the other group, had told them that it could be around an hour. He'd be drained similarly, fighting back did make it worse and it seemed that Adora had tried to fight it particularly hard. Elizabeth remembered her meeting with Claudia and the slight burning sensation she had felt, and she'd essentially given her aura willingly. She had no reference for how bad it must've been for Adora. She shuddered at the thought. Luckily though Runaan appeared healthy enough even without his aura. They could all hope that Adora would feel the same way. 

Elizabeth sat on the couch as movement swirled around her, so many new people all at once. 

"She'll be okay, she always pulls through." said Bow, sitting next to Elizabeth on the couch. 

"I don't know, she puts a lot of pressure on herself. She'll probably still want to take charge of everything even without her semblance and she's vulnerable without her aura. Trust me, I know her." she said. 

"I know her to… not as well as you I know but that fight is because she's resilient. Besides, she has us. And she has this whole group to help out now." said Bow. 

"Where's Sparkles anyway?" asked Elizabeth. 

"Well Catra, she's arguing with her mom about living arrangements and… prisoner holding." Bow seemed uncomfortable at the thought "we're probably going to interrogate him soon" 

Hordak tapped the back of the couch "Speaking of, Elizabeth we need you in there for that. Team Leaders should be present to know what Primus has to say about his collaborators, with Adora out of commission right now it should be you to represent team AGED." 

Elizabeth nodded and Bow gave her a knowing glance. They walked back to Angella’s master bathroom, not much for a prison but better than nothing. They were joined by Callum along with his mom Sarai, Rayla’s mom Tiadrin, and his classmate Eve. She’d just known them for a little bit but Callum and Eve didn’t particularly seem the leadership type, though she guessed appearances and first impressions are deceiving. 

“I know Primus” started Eve “Nothing but a brute who fancies himself more refined than just your average union buster.”

“Oh, is that what you think I am young lady? Just some enforcer!” said a booming voice that began chuckling “Please, what you knew was me at my lowest. Forced to serve some wannabe baroness and her scheming little rat of a business partner. At my prime this whole continent feared my name!”

“If you’re so scary how come I never heard of you?” said Elizabeth, clearly attacking his ego. That was one thing she knew how to manipulate, someone’s grandiose view of themselves and attack it in the most vulnerable spot. 

“Oh how low I must have fallen, because you’re the third little girl that’s had the audacity to sully my name in my presence while I was not in a position to smack that smug grin off you-” Primus began buzzing with an electric shock as Entrapta walked in the room with her scroll. She pressed a button and the shock stopped. 

“Low voltage still hurts, if you start going too far again attacking your interrogators I’ll shock you again.” Entrapta said. 

“Oh, you’re all supposed to be interrogators. Even my baby brother. That’s adorable.” Primus said with a giggle “ Well If you want to know what Viren and Catherine are planning I’ll just tell you. I don’t care at all about them.”

“Start talking” said Hordak.

“Very well, I suppose most of all you want to know where they’re going next? Well that’s easy, they’ll stop in Haven. Catherine has endless connections in Mistral that she wants to use to start the dust business back up outside of Atlas including Little Miss Malachite and her Spiders gang. I think she’s doing this behind Viren’s back. Part of me wonders if his goal is to simply be King of Menagerie, rule over the Faunus with an iron fist. The scheme with the White Fang simply ensures that the other Kingdoms are simultaneously too weak to overthrow him and not have the motivation to even if they had the strength. Whether that would succeed or not I’m unsure but it’s what he wants. That said they seem to not be working together, he’s relying on her money to fuel his war campaign and she’s relying on the faunus he displaces to be her cheap labor. It will never work as they each want but will still be quite destructive.” Primus laughed after explaining “I sure do love some chaos.”

Callum chimed in “What about Micah Khomsan? Viren has his semblance correct? And wants to make it stronger. Where is he being kept?”

Angella’s jaw dropped and Elizabeth looked at both in surprise “My… husband is alive?” questioned Angella. 

“Yes indeed he is” said Primus with a malevolent grin “Not that I had any say in that. He’s being kept in the brig of their stolen warship right now, he’s practically impossible to get to.”

Elizabeth’s mind began turning, there had to be connections to that and what had happened today. 

Callum jumped in the exchange again “So that explains why they took Adora’s semblance. He thinks hers can be used to strengthen Micah’s.”

“Makes sense, with us as prisoners he used the spells more as threats than as actual danger.” said Sarai. 

That had to be it. “Right, Adora’s makes her taller, faster, and stronger. Combined with that it could make Micah’s spells incredibly powerful, almost as powerful as in legend.” said Angella. 

“For that information am I free to go? Isn’t that how you noble types operate?” Primus said smugly. 

“Yes brother you’re free to go… to jail. Angella take him to the precinct, I’d go with you but they may have a bounty for me too.”  Hordak said, he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck remembering that their new friends didn’t know the context. 

Elizabeth had to admit, Hordak could be pretty hilarious whether it was intentional or not. Hordak patted her on the shoulder as the leaders left the room, they had some insight on Viren’s plans and how fractured his and Catherine’s partnership may be. “You kids made it so we barely had to jump in, well done.” 

Hordak’s praise made her feel weird, it was something that felt more personal than that of a teacher like Professor Port or Goodwhich. Maybe this is what people who had actual parents felt all the time. It felt nice. 

Chapter Text

“Professor you can’t just give me 100% on my first exam because my mother told you to.” said Aoi, frustrated. 

“I know, and I didn’t.” said Professor Amuro. 

“There’s no way I got all of them correct! I didn’t feel like I studied nearly enough for it.” responded Aoi. 

Amuro snorted “Amawashi I know you’re suspicious that at every turn your mother has cleared your path for you but trust me when I say that she has no influence over my class. Over the Atlas military? Yes, but not here. Ironwood takes the training of future huntsmen and huntresses very seriously and wouldn’t let money cause us to lower our standards for any reason. If you succeed in my class it was on your own merit.”

“I was just expecting it to challenge me more. The only time I feel tested at all is when-”

Amuro interrupted her “When you spar with Eve? You definitely seem much more confident and fulfilled during those. That’s for sure.” 

“It’s true, I need her in order to become my best self. I can’t become my best without being challenged.” said Aoi. 

“True, but I think it’s also more than that. Before arriving here miss Shinjo was your only friend, and even then it could seem more that she’s mostly assigned by your mother to keep an eye on you. But Eve is someone you can be more genuine with. Any warrior needs a true partner. Aoi, I’ve been helping train you since long before you even came here, before you decided to be a huntress instead of simply an arena champion. And in all that time I’ve never seen you more comfortable than being a member of team EIAA.” said the professor, after a moment of thinking about it she did realize she was right. Since meeting Eve she felt freer than she ever had, like she finally knew that meeting her mother’s expectations could take a backseat to what she wanted and believed. 

Aoi paced around one of the guest rooms of the Sparkles’ home. The place was surprisingly familiar to her as she’d grown up in a similarly large home, though this place was definitely cozier. Her own home growing up seemed to be more designed for keeping up appearances than for being an actual comfortable place to live. 

“Hey, Aoi you mind coming out for a second, we have something to discuss as a group.” said Callum as he poked his head through the doorway. 

“Oh, uh sure.” said Aoi, shaking herself out of thought. 

“You alright? I know this trip is a lot.” said Callum. 

“Yeah it’s just…” she paused for a moment “I’ve been thinking about the professor. I spent that first month after Beacon trying not to think about it but he’s really gone. We have nothing left but the things he’s already told us, and now we’re on the most dangerous mission of our lives when we’d need his advice the most and there’s just… nothing. Just memories.”

Callum sighed “You aren’t alone, I’ve been thinking about him too. I think we all have been. Suppose all we can do is succeed in our mission and do him proud.” 

“You’re right. Here’s hoping the wisdom he’s already given us is enough.” responded Aoi. 

“I believe it is, now come on. Let’s brief you on what we’ve learned.” said Callum. 

Aoi followed Callum into the dining room, the table was big enough for everyone in the house but right now it was just team EIAA, team CRKS, and the rest of Callum’s family. Funny to think that this big group wasn’t even half the people in the house right now. 

“So, what did Primus say?” asked Harrow. 

Sarai began “Okay, so it would seem that Catherine and Viren are somewhat at odds in their goals. Each of their end goals feed into each other but they aren’t unison. Each of them will prioritize their own goals so if we create a challenge for one we weaken the other.”

“What are their goals though?” asked Kinue. 

“Catherine wants to expand her dust empire. Viren seems to want to use it as a jumping off point to an actual empire. Viren is the main threat but with Catherine’s underworld connections we can’t ignore her.” said Sarai. 

“That’s where team EIAA comes in” said Eve “Catherine is going to stay in Mistral once they make it to the city so we’re going to make it our goal to track her and take her down once she’s there.”

“The goal of the rest of us, with the help of our new friends, is to free Micah Khomsan, and to stop Viren from leaving on his ship towards Menagerie. If we can’t we’ll have to follow him and you four will be on your own.” said Sarai. 

Callum jumped in “Luckily they don’t know we even managed to leave Atlas, so we’ll have surprise on our side. With the help of both Will and Entrapta we should be able to come up with a way to disable their ship and prevent that from happening.” 

“Even in a worst case scenario I know we can handle it.” said Eve. 

“We could always send at least part of team AGED if you need backup.” said Rayla. 

“What do we even think of our new allies?” asked Amane.

“We’re dealing with 4 Beacon students, a huntress, a tech expert, and a former bandit slash sheriff. They’re certainly competent, especially if they learned Viren’s role in the attack on Beacon on their own.” said Sarai. 

“Adora and Bow saved mine and Soren’s lives that night, they’re certainly a good bunch.” said Kinue. 

“How’s she doing by the way?” asked Soren “She doing any better?” 

Harrow sighed “Will is looking over her right now, he’s the closest thing we have to a doctor. She should wake up soon.” 

“It can take awhile to wake up from getting your aura ripped, it’s only been a couple hours since it happened.” said Sarai “She’ll be fine, those of us who’ve experienced this before will help her out when she’s ready.”

“Do you four expect to fight Viren without your aura’s?” asked Harrow.

“We do, we’ll have to be more careful this way but we need as many people as possible on this.”

“They have all of us watching their backs, everything will be fine.” said Rayla “It has to be.”

“We already know all this, look let’s get back to talking about Catherine.” said Eve. 

“How are we supposed to take down someone so powerful?” asked Ichina.

“Her connections are with the Spider crime syndicate. Just get them to lose confidence in her usefulness.” Eve explained.

“How do you plan to do that?” asked Callum.

“I grew up in Mantle, Catherine has always liked keeping her goons down low to be her eyes and ears while she stays in her ivory tower. With Primus already gone, the Spiders may have doubts about her muscle. If her other enforcer were to also be suddenly be gone she’d lose leverage with them.”

“You’re seriously planning to kidnap Rose?” asked Rayla, perplexed. 

“With us 4 it’s totally doable, besides. I know Rose, and just how to get her right where we want her.” said Eve. 

Aoi finally stepped into the conversation “That feels… oddly dishonorable for a huntress.”

“Aoi, I know but it’s my best plan. Besides, this isn’t like the arena where everything’s a fair fight. We’re already at a massive disadvantage, we need something to turn the table.” said Eve. 

Aoi sighed “You’re right, I still need to get used to the dirty work of being a huntress.”

Sarai shot her an understanding glance “It takes time to get used to making decisions like this. It comes with experience. In most scenarios I’d disagree with Eve’s plan but with what Viren’s planning it may be our only choice.”

“Unless there were some way to convince Rose to abandon Catherine.” chimed Ezran. 

“This! That would be the best case scenario, we'd also gain another potential ally.” said Aoi. 

Eve sighed “We could try that as a plan A, but if it doesn’t work we revert to plan B okay.”

“Fine, if that’s the best we can do.” said Aoi. 

It seemed that the plan was formed, at least generally. More details would come later. This had always been Eve and Aoi’s relationship. Aoi helped temper some of Eve’s more brash impulses, Eve helped Aoi free her mind from both what she expects and what is expected of her. They balanced each other out perfectly. A true partnership. 

Chapter Text

Adora woke up in Glimmer’s bed in a daze. She couldn’t really recall what had just happened, perhaps it had been a dream. Something was definitely wrong though, she couldn’t quite put a finger on it but she felt empty somehow. It was almost like the same feeling she felt when her aura was depleted during the Vytal tournament, only this time the feeling was somehow more intense. 

She stood up from the bed, still trying to get her head on straight. Quickly Elizabeth came to her side. 

“Adora, you're awake!” she said quickly wrapping her arms around Adora before looking at her with concern “How are you feeling?”

“Weak.” said Adora, shaking her head “What happened.”

Elizabeth sighed “Your aura got sucked out of you, along with your semblance.” she said, grabbing Adora’s hand. 

Adora focused for a moment, Liz had to be wrong. She had to be able to use her semblance but… she couldn’t. A tear dropped down her face. Who was she without her semblance. Or even just her aura? Who could she possibly protect like that? And who was she if she couldn’t protect those she cared about.

Elizabeth wiped the tear away “What’s important is that you’re safe now, okay. We were so worried.” she said, caressing Adora’s face.

“I’m sorry.” said Adora.

“For what?” Elizabeth answered. 

“I broke my promise. I said I wouldn’t do anything stupid and then this happened.” Adora responded. 

“You couldn’t have known what they were doing.” Liz seemed to choke on the next words. “It seems now that you were their target anyway, and none of us could’ve seen it coming.”

“What? So they specifically wanted my semblance? Is that it?” shouted Adora, not even quite sure how she was feeling, what she was thinking, or where to go next. A part of her wanted to run out of the house and be alone but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Not with Elizabeth right there. This seemed like the only place she could possibly get comfort. 

“Adora… When you were out I had time to think about a few things. I’m not wasting time anymore, this has gotten dangerous.” said Elizabeth, looking Adora directly in her eyes. 

“What is it?” Adora asked, her mouth suddenly getting dry. 

“I love you and… I have to tell you before we do anything else.” said Elizabeth, holding Adora’s hands even tighter. 

Adora slowly lifted herself to kiss Elizabeth and held onto it for a moment “I love you too” said Adora. 

“Oh… am I interrupting something?” said Hordak as he walked into the room. 

“Kind of…” said Adora awkwardly.
“It’s fine, he was wanting to say something important to you anyway.” Elizabeth kissed Adora on the cheek “I’ll be back don’t worry.” She said, leaving the room. 

“Hey… dad. Great timing.” said Adora with an awkward laugh. 

“Well, it seems you’re bouncing back pretty well, much better than I did,” said Hordak. 

“I don’t deserve it, what am I going to help with now? I’m a liability now.” said Adora. 

“We added more people to the group who are in the same position as you. They don’t believe in such a thing.” said Hordak. 

“They’re vulnerable too then, and let me guess they’re experienced huntsmen. I’m just a student while being in that situation.” Adora responded. 

Hordak sighed and sat down next to her “Do you remember what I told you on the train?”

“That you thought you’d failed me as a kid?” questioned Adora.

“No, not that part. The part where I was talking about what made you who you are. Strength, courage, and a big heart. That’s the real you, those are what you provide. And those are things that can’t be taken away from you ever. Not by anyone. It’s the things that can’t be taken away that are what truly makes the warrior.” said Hordak. 

“I don’t feel very strong right now.” said Adora.  

“Your physical strength isn’t your only strength Adora. You’re resilient, you keep moving no matter what. You keep caring no matter what. It’s what makes you a natural leader and it’s what makes a grumpy old man proud to be your father. Whether I’m your real father or not.” Hordak paused for a moment “Neither of us have ever been alone it seems, you’ll meet Sarai along with the rest of her group soon enough. She can teach you how to fight without your aura, if you’re still worried.”

“It has to be tough. You at least have half of yours.” said Adora.

“True, but did you know that nearly half of the population in most of Remnant hasn’t unlocked their aura? In Vacuo that number is only around 15% but it’s dangerous out there so most people really need it. But what about the rest of those people? Even that 15% in Vacuo. Do you think they’re helpless? No, they all find their way to do what they have to. And most of them don’t nearly have your courage.” said Hordak standing up. “You should probably meet with Callum and Eve, the leaders should get together to plan things out. But two other people wanted to see you first.”

Bow and Glimmer rushed into the room and each wrapped their arms around her. She clearly wasn’t alone, the people who all cared most about her all hurried to see her as soon as she woke and they all had a new group of people to help them apparently. She grabbed both her friends tightly. Maybe she would be okay after all.

Chapter Text

“Seems like you’re taking a real shine to being the leader, aren’t you Eve?” Inquired Professor Amuro.

“It was made for me professor.” Eve Answered.

“I’m glad to hear that but have you gotten to know your team very well? Camaraderie is an important aspect to leading a team, you know?” 

“They talk about themselves pretty often. We’ve got the rich girl, the computer geek, and the crazy mechanic.” 

“It’s a good start, but I guess what I should ask is if they know anything about you.”

“Professor I barely know anything about myself, and everything I do know becomes obvious the moment you meet me.”

“True, you do seem to lack a filter. However there’s definitely more to the story of Eve that you don’t want to tell. As your teacher I’m not going to pry… but please consider telling your friends some of it once you’re comfortable. Your mental health will thank you.”

Eve sighed and stood up “I’ll think about it” she said before exiting the Professor’s office. 

“Adora, hi I’m Callum.” said team CRKS’s leader at the entrance of the group’s ship “This is Eve, we’re Atlas students also after Viren.”

Adora had to take a moment to compose herself, recollecting something “I think I remember you two. I think our fight in the Vytal tournament was sandwiched between each of yours.”

“Yeah it was, I remember looking at the leaders listed and going ‘Tough blonde chick, tough blonde chick, doofus’” she said while gesturing at Callum.

“I’m a doofus and I’m proud, Eve.” responded Callum.

“I know, just like all my other friends.”  said Eve. 

Adora smiled for what must have been the first time in at least a day as the three leaders stepped aboard  “My dad explained the situation and the plan to us. I’ve never been to Haven before but Bow will be happy to be home.”

“I don’t know how much time we’ll have to relax. Catherine will likely already be making a move when we land.” said Eve.

“We have enough people, if Bow needs to see his family it’s fine.” Callum looked down and sighed “I’m letting Soren see if he can find his mom, get some answers. The rest of us will take care of things while our friends are away.”

The trio arrived at a table in the ship’s commissary and sat down. 

“So, I suppose I should get to know you two if we’re trying to save the world together.” said Adora. 

Callum snorted “Getting to know me is easy… Eve on the other hand is tougher, I’ve known her for two years and I don’t know much about her.”

“It’s hard to tell others about yourself when you don’t know it yourself.” said Eve with a sigh “It’s tough not remembering anything about 12 whole years of your life. It’s just gone, nothing, no hints. Just a few strangers who become the closest thing you have to family. And then more and more who fit the same bill but can never see it how you do. Because how can they, they remember where they come from. You all can talk about your families, the good, the bad, the weird, the traumatizing… I know none of it. 

“Eve, I’m sorry.” said Callum. 

“I always thought it was so weird, team CRCS always bringing up their family histories of separation, the missing, possible deaths. Kinue talking about her dad being barely even treated like a person by her mom, Ichina saying her parents don’t believe in her. I couldn’t help but find it all a little funny, not because any of it was good but because there’s this strange privilege in being able to complain about your family and their circumstances, or personalities, or whatever else. At least then you know what caused you to be how you are. I’m brash and impulsive yet also charming and have no idea what drove to that. Was it genetic? Was is The environment of Mantle? Was it the fact that those were the personality traits that could actually help Klein and Lily? Or did my former family somehow bring that out of me when I was much younger. How does the past shape you when you don’t have one?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t know.” said Callum. 

“Aoi is the only person I’ve told about my amnesia other than you two, and she had to pry it out of me.” said Eve with a pause “Maybe I should tell more people. Either way Adora you’ll get to know me by being around me more than anything else.”

Eve felt a weight seemingly lift off her shoulders and she wasn’t sure if that was good or not. She’d gotten used to it being there but maybe it was for the best to leave it behind. Perhaps that weight was the thing trying to bury her in that same past she knew nothing about, the anchor trying to keep her from accepting how she must be in the present. Whatever it had mean, it was gone now. 

Chapter Text

The air in Mistral was fresher than it was in Atlas. Maybe it was all the trees in the surrounding countryside of Anima, or maybe it was simply the lack of smog. Whatever it was, Soren needed it. It was a scent he could faintly remember from two trips he and Claudia had made with their mother during their childhood. Leaves, freshly harvested herbs, breads of all varieties and styles cooking from different parts of the city. He hadn’t been in years, not since his mom never returned from a trip she’d made back to her home years ago. His dad had said she just didn’t want to come back but something about that sounded off, because he and Claudia had also been disallowed from ever going to Mistral on their own. It seemed fishy, and Soren wanted answers. 

Soren approached a middle aged man at a jerky stand, a deer faunus with notably long horns and deep green eyes “I’ll take two spicy” Soren started as he reached for his Lien “You wouldn’t happen to know where I could find a woman named Lissa would you? Or any of the Del family?”

“Lissa?” The gruff voiced man started “She lives a couple miles to the west in an old bright yellow house. Been alone in it the last couple years since her mother died.”

Soren looked down “Oh…” he said almost with disbelief. 

“Something wrong?” The man said, Soren could now see his nametag said Clif. 

“I just found out my grandma died two years ago.” Soren said pulling some extra money out of his wallet a placing it in the tip jar “Thanks for the jerky and the information Clif, stay safe my friend.” Soren said, starting up the road. 

“You know, I didn’t expect to see you again after you took my advice, Entrapta.” said Will, walking into the ship’s armory which Entrapta had turned into her makeshift lab. The lab seemed to be mostly for robotics, though that wasn’t what she was looking at presently. 

“Did you know that Pietro succeeded in his experiments?” asked Entrapta while lifting up a stack of paper marked Penny Protoco l. “A robot that looks like a human and has an actual aura. Fascinating.”

“It was a remarkable breakthrough.” said Will.

“Doctor Scarlatina, do you think that we’d ever be able to create artificial auras that could be given to people who’ve permanently lost part or all of theirs? Because if it could be done for a robot, then it must be possible for organic life as well.” asked Entrapta. 

“Maybe someday.” Will sighed, not wanting to particularly dash her hopes but still needing to clarify “But Doctor Polendina had to give up part of his own aura in order to bring Penny to lifee. Our friends have to wait longer to fix what's been broken. Hopefully once we defeat Viren it will be returned."

"Maybe, but what if the aura has been destroyed. What about them?" 

"True, some semblances may be able to simply destroy it. I suppose for victims of such, this work is still helpful. If this is something you want to undertake when this is all over I'll gladly lend my services where I can." 

"Thank you Will" said Entrapta with a hopeful smile. 

Soren walked the short hike to where Clif had told him his mother's house was. He was there, he could see it, he could faintly remember that small yellow house just slightly up the hill from the rest of the homes on the street. It was quaint, but cozy. It also reminded him of the many things he'd missed over these many years. 

As he walked to the door his memories of everything that had been happening recently flooded him. Soren wasn't sure he was ready to see his mom again. 

He steeled himself to knock on the door. He knocked with conviction. Every second until that door opened felt like an eternity.

The door opened revealing a woman with slowly greying blonde hair and a look of equal parts surprise and shock and relief on her face.

"Soren?!?" she started, almost about to break down crying.

"Mom?" said Soren, not sure what to say. It seemed her emotions from the absence had matched his. 

Lissa embraced her son, for the first time in nearly a decade. 

"How did?- Where is?- I saw you on TV- I'm sorry I couldn't be-" She couldn't decide what she wanted to start with. She had so much to say, yet couldn't pick what to start with.

Soren shed several years as he held his mother tighter. "I'll explain everything, okay. But, can we just sit down and talk please."

"Of course sweetheart." responded Lissa as she welcomed him inside the old yellow house. 

Adora walked alone in Mistral's main Bazar. She'd seen it in pictures, but to actually be there was something entirely different. Team AGED was assigned to search for any signs of Catherine and Viren in the city's topside while teams EIAA and CRKS checked the underworld.

Team AGED decided to split up to cover more ground, though partly it was so Bow could visit his parents on their farm. Adora just wanted to see the sights of the city while Glimmer and Elizabeth did their actual task. Wasn't like they were likely to find Catherine schmoozing with local politicians in some café. It was an oddly calming mission. 

Still, as beautiful as it was you could still clearly see the city's flaws. Wealth disparity, faunus discrimination, general corruption, Adora could still faintly smell each. Hordak had taught her to not trust appearances after all. 

Even still, it was nice to experience a new place. 

"Adora?!?" called out a surprised but familiar voice from a distance behind her. 

She turned around to see a blonde boy in a hoodie with new looking armor running towards her. Though the reason he had the new armor was one that broke both of their hearts. 

"Jaune?" 

"Oh thank goodness it really was you, I thought I was gonna make myself look like an idiot again." said Jaune. 

Adora snorted "Jaune I don't know where you came from but it is good to see you." 

"We, we didn't know what happened to any of you after Beacon. We just couldn't keep up with everyone after everything that happened. Blake ran off, Weiss got taken back to Atlas by her dad, Ruby was unconscious and went home, and all this after…" Adora knew what he couldn't say.

"You don't have to say it." said Adora as she gave her old classmate a hug. 

Jaune hugged her back "Is the rest of your team okay?" 

"Yeah, we all made it okay. Shaken, but we're fine." She said, pulling away. 

"I'm glad to hear it."

"What are you even doing in Mistral, Jaune?" 

"Nora, Ren, and I joined Ruby in searching for answers. We came here to see if Lionheart knows anything. What about team AGED?"

"We're… on a mission of our own let's just say." 

"I wish you guys luck… I'd stay to talk more but I'm already late with groceries. Ren is gonna make soup." 

"Good luck Jaune, Beacon Blondes forever!"

Jaune smiled "Beacon Blondes forever, Adora!" 

"Dad got you banned from traveling to Atlas?" asked Soren. 

"Yes he did indeed. Our relationship had broken down, yes but… to do something like that was unthinkable. It was the worst time of my life, I couldn't see you… or Claudia anymore." Explained Lissa, something she'd just learned deeply saddened her. 

"I know we can get through to her mom." said Soren, projecting confidence. 

"We, you say? That's not just me and you is it?" 

"It's not, the rest of our team can too. I know she doesn't want to hurt any of us. She's just misguided, and sad, and missed her dad." 

"I think so too, she was always a daddy's girl. It was so adorable at one point."

"I'd love it if you could meet the rest of the team mom… outside of Callum, though he is a lot different than the kid you knew him as."

"True, a huntsman in training with a strong semblance and a stronger will. I always did like that boy."

"Rayla is strong, and committed, and forgiving, and loyal, she's one of the best friends I've ever had. And Kinue is… well she's…" Soren couldn't find the right words. 

"Special?..  Right?" said Lissa "As soon as you said her name your voice changed. And I'm happy for you Soren. You deserve it"

A knock came at the door and it suddenly opened revealing a girl in a black cloak. 

"Claudia?" said Soren, confused. 

"Soren? What are you doing here?" said Claudia.

"I came to see mom, why else would I be here?"

"No dummy, I mean in Mistral? How'd you know to come here?" 

"Claudia, be nicer to your brother" said Lissa. 

"It was Primus wasn't it? I knew we forgot something in Argus."

"Who? Oh yeah the guy with weird green dreadlocks and a nasty attitude. Don't remember him saying anything but as you say, I am a dummy."

"Look, can you both sit down? We can have a nice calm family get together." said Lissa. 

"Of course mom, that does sound nice." said Soren. 

"Sure, sounds good to me." said Claudia. 

Lissa rushed to hug her daughter "I'm so sorry, I would have never left if I had known I wouldn't be allowed to come back"

Tears began to fall out of Claudia's eyes. 

Team EIAA walked down a dingy and dirty alleyway. 

"I know you're here Rose, you're never late" said Eve. 

Rose stepped out from the shadows and flung her cigarette on the ground and stomped it out "and you always are little one. I see you brought your pampered brats."

Ichina began to protest that comment but Eve lifted her hand before she could say a word "I did, and I know you're alone."

"So, what would bring you to go through so much trouble to meet with me?" 

"We want you to sabotage Viren's warship." said Eve.

"That's it? Little did you know I was already planning that, keep him from flying for a couple days so Catherine can get a little control back. Bring him to the table for a deal."

"That's a good start. How about you do something extra as well, you do owe me a favor." said Eve, smugly. 

"I always did like you, you're smart. Let's hear it."

"Disable his robots." 

"Are you crazy? He's going to know it was me, with as powerful as he is now I'd be dead or sure. He may even kill Catherine and risk having Malachite come after him if I did that. Delaying his flight is one thing, taking away his weapons is another." 

"View it as another bargaining chip for you and Catherine to use against him. If he were to kill you he'd have less muscle and lose Catherine's money to support his efforts"

"Primus told you about their little arguments did he?" 

"That he did, for being a bag of hot air he was surprisingly useful."

"You have a deal Little Eve." Rose said, holding out her right hand. 

"I'm not shaking that hand, let's shake on it with our left." Eve said blankly. 

"You really are that smart kid." Rose said, obliging. 

"A pleasure doing business." said Eve, turning around immediately after shaking hands to lead her team out of the alleyway. 

"Do you think she'll really hold up her end of the deal?" asked Aoi. 

"I do, for someone so dishonorable Rose respects the deals she makes." said Eve "Besides, I promised the kid I'd try the peaceful solution first."

"I… don't believe you. Why would he do that? Why couldn't you come back even when he was gone if it was true?" said Claudia, rubbing her temples intently.

"He didn't want mom to have influence on us, that's why." said Soren. 

"I don't know what he thinks I'd be able to do, but he didn't want me home anymore. He got me banned from Atlesian travel, I was blindsided by it. I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to you." explained Lissa, choking up. 

"I needed my mom and you left, I needed my dad and he left… but he came back, and now you’re here. Can we try to be a normal family again?" asked Claudia. 

"Ask your father that. Darling I would love to have the two of you in my life again. It's all I've wanted since I've been gone and I'd almost given up on it. But sweetheart you have to understand who your father is, I didn't realize until years later that-" Lissa begged before being interrupted.

"Stop it!" exclaimed Claudia, pausing "I don't… I don't want to hear you talk about him like that… not again. I just got him back! He always supported me, taught me how to use my semblance" she paused, gripping her staff tighter "He gave me my weapon, your experience wasn't mine… but, I wish it was more like mine." she finished, looking down. 

Soren looked at his sister softly, he understood who she was. Her motivations were simple. Claudia had a stunted childhood, just like he did, but for her it came at a time before she gained realization about the possibility of her parents being complex, flawed beings and without them around as she got older she never got the chance to have that realization until now. 

Realizing this wasn't a solution though, he had no way to help, not advice… not anything constructive at least. 

Lissa spoke up "I know it must have hurt when I never came back, and it must've hurt even more when he vanished, and it must've hurt feeling like you had nothing that mattered but yourself and your brother. But you got through it, together. You're a huntress and you're strong." she said, holding her daughter's cheek "I know that nothing I say will change things right away. But you're strong enough to get through all these questions for the better."

Claudia began to cry once again with Lissa wiping the tears away. 

Kinue arrived back aboard the airship exhausted. No sign of Catherine or Viren.

"How can they not be anywhere!" Callum said as he banged the wall with the underside of his fist.

"It's just one day" said Rayla, trying to calm him down. "I'm just going to assume team EIAA's plan worked." said Kinue matter-of-factly. 

"I hope so, if not we're running out of time." said Callum. 

Kinue was a bit concerned by the lack of progress they made today, but one thing was on her mind more than that. "Do you guys think Soren found his mom?" 

"He had to, he's always been resourceful at finding people." said Callum. 

"True." said Rayla "He managed to find me after I'd gotten lost and went to the wrong class during our first week. 

"Maybe he's back and can tell us about it?" suggested Callum. 

"If he is I know where he'll be waiting." said Kinue. 

She led them down the hall towards her room, she could definitely hear someone sitting idly on the bunk. She turned the corner "Sor-" her heart sank when she saw who it really was. 

"Well, it certainly has been too long darling." said a woman with a smug presence holding a glass of wine "What's the matter my dear? Not happy to see your own mother?"

Chapter Text

Claudia arrived back aboard the warship and looked around. How much of a home could this place really be? How much of a home could any place be if she knew her mom and brother were still out there?

Claudia walked towards the front of the ship where her father had made himself a makeshift office. 

“Dad? Are you busy?” she asked, peeking her head into the doorway. 

Viren looked up from his work “For you Claudia? Never. What is it?”

“I’ve been wondering, when all this is over do you think you could make things right with mom? Bring the family together again?” asked Claudia, hopefully. 

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t. Sometimes when two people break something together it’s harder to put back together than if it was broken by just one. Besides, our mission may take awhile. It’s best not to think about domesticity at such a time.” said Viren, returning to his work. 

“Okay dad.” said Claudia, slowly leaving the room and looking down. 

“Mom, what are you doing here?!” Kinue said. 

“I detected an Atlas airship in my territory so I sought it out. Can’t risk military transports coming into Mistral unregistered can I?”

“There’s no way you’d leave the interior of the city unless it was important. Spill it, how did you know it was me?” 

“You always were a clever girl. A friend of mine named Catherine showed up here yesterday and told me some Atlas students were after her and to keep an eye out. Her associate told me that if another Atlas ship showed up it was the people following them.” the woman explained, sloshing the wine around the glass casually “At first I was going to do the bare minimum and tell them the ship arrived. But then I saw something interesting on the city’s surveillance cameras this morning. My own disobedient daughter showed up in Mistral for the first time in years without so much as a hello.”

Kinue clenched her fists and took a deep breath “Leave now, and don’t come back.”

“Oh but darling I haven’t even introduced myself to your friends yet.” she said, standing up “I’m Mariya, charmed to meet you mister Princeton, miss Ikus.” she glared at both of them as she called them out “A shame I’ll miss out on meeting that Dusk boy I hear you’re so infatuated with. If he’s anything like his father I must say I hardly see the appeal.”

“Soren is NOTHING like his father!” shouted Kinue.

“And you’re exactly like yours.” responded Mariya “Only you don’t have a tail for me to drag you by when I need to.”

Kinue fell silent and collapsed against the bed. 

“I’ll be making my leave darling.”

Callum and Rayla looked at each other stunned as Mariya left the room. They noticed Kinue shaking with fear sitting next to the bed. 

Rose strolled down Mistral’s city streets carrying her jacket over shoulder. This part of the city was too clean for Rose’s liking, not enough dirty work to be done and not enough scum to carouse with. It was boring, even at nightfall. 

She walked into a hotel and made her way up the stairs to one of the suites and opened the door, closing it quietly behind her after she made it inside. She could hear the toasting of wine glasses coming from the dining table. 

“I see councilwoman Jinguuji has made it here already. Your visit with your little scamp not last very long?” said Rose. 

“She was never a particularly well behaved child.” Mariya said. 

“Neither was I.” said Rose with a smirk. 

“Yes, but you prove yourself to be useful.” said Mariya. 

Catherine butted in “Speaking of, how did our efforts to stall him go? Since you’re here I assume you weren’t caught in the act.”

“Ship’s gonna need a few electrical systems repaired, the AI of the bots has been turned off.” Rose grinned, impressed with herself. 

“Good, that buys us some time to get him to agree to a few terms.” stated Catherine. 

“Which ones are most important, if you mind my asking?” questioned Rose. 

“Firstly, he can’t kill the Belladonnas.” said Mariya, “I’m going to have a need for them if this goes through.”

“Yes, Mariya here will welcome them and provide refuge while their home is occupied. Likely even give them a platform to speak for themselves and their people.” said Catherine. 

“Meanwhile Catherine will be a… job creator for the refugees of Viren’s conquest.” said Mariya “Mr. Dusk is a maniacal fool but he’s powerful enough his foolishness creates quite the opportunity for the rest of us.”

“You get a chance for good optics, I get cheap labor.” Catherine said. 

“You two really have this figured out huh?” said Rose. 

“If you’re clever enough and powerful enough you can do all but put the shattered moon back together.” Mariya said while giving Catherine a knowing glance. 

Rayla placed a hand on Kinue’s shoulder while Callum looked around the room still confused as to what happened. 

“Kinue… what was that?” he asked. 

She tried to compose herself “That… was my mom. One of the worst people in all Remnant and the leader of Mistral’s city council to boot. She plays up like she’s one of the biggest supporters of the Faunus, meanwhile behind closed doors she controlled basically everything my dad and I did, dragging him by the tail. She was so mad when I decided to go to Atlas instead of Haven, something she had to have done just because she wanted to look good in front of the press. Sending her daughter to the local academy. But… I have no idea what she’s been doing to my dad these last couple years.”

“Then we find a way to contact him.” said Soren, as he walked in the room “I could hear from down the hall, Kinue are you okay?” he asked, leaning down and grabbing her hand. 

“Shaken, but I feel a bit better now that you’re here.” she said, smiling hopefully. 

“Soren, did you find your mom?” asked Rayla 

“I did, we talked for a while. It was nice… even when Claudia showed up.”

“Wait, Claudia was there… so she knows we’re here now?” said Callum. 

“Callum, my mom knows we’re here. If Claudia hadn’t Catherine or Viren would know anyway.” pointed out Kinue. 

“Is your mom coming to the ship?” asked Rayla.

“No, she has too much important business in Mistral to take care of to risk leaving. Buuuuut that may be good for us right now.” said Soren. 

“How so?” asked Callum. 

“There’s been a lot of fishy huntsman deaths and disappearances in the wilds lately that haven’t been investigated by the city council, she’d been rallying for them to do something about it but one particular person seemed against doing so.”

“My mother.” said Kinue. 

“My mom has enough contact within the city she’d be able to get a hold of your dad if we needed to.”

That may not be necessary.“ said Rayla, sounding slightly confused as she motioned towards Runaan standing in the doorway holding a piece of paper

“Yes, an old contact of mine snuck behind me and handed me this letter while I was searching the market earlier. I believe this is for you young lady.” said Runaan. 

Kinue opened up the folded piece of paper. It read:

(This letter is for my daughter, so don’t read it Runey! -Tatsuya)

Starlight, I know what’s going on and I know you must be busy. But it would do me a world of good to see you for the first time in two years. I know you had to have done well in Atlas and made some great friends if you’ve traveled all this way against Ironwood’s wishes to make it here. Meet me in our special place. Don’t worry, your mother is out on business and won’t be home for a while.

Kinue smiled while reading and tried to hold back tears. “I know where to go.” she said, Soren gave her a gentle hug. Callum and Rayla joined shortly after. 

Sarai stepped through the doorway of a tavern, kind of a dusty and musty place. Not dangerous mind you, just a little bit… rustic. Still, not the place she’d normally visit if not for the presence of one particular old friend who did frequent establishments like this one. Not helping the look of the place was how empty it was.

She looked around and found one of the few people actually here, she quickly noticed a humorously large sword next to a man sitting at a corner table with slick black hair and a face currently being obscured by a whiskey glass. 

“Qrow, nice to see you got my message.” Sarai said as she sat across from him. 

The bartender shouted from across the room “Old friend of yours Qrow?”

“You could say that!” yelled Sarai back at him. 

“You went missing for a decade and you haven’t changed a bit, Sarai.” said Qrow with a chuckle.

“Not quite true, you don’t get locked up in your friend’s basement for ten years without something changing in you a little bit.”

“I was about to ask. What really happened? With your mission James sent you on.”

“Viren asked to help and wouldn’t take no for an answer, I decided I could use the backup. Then he betrayed me, ripped my Aura using his semblance and locked me up underneath his home.”

The bartender slyly slipped by the table and placed a glass of whiskey in front of Sarai “It’s on the house.” he said gruffly before walking back towards the bar. 

“Damnit, it was bad enough we lost Summer a few years earlier. I suppose you’re lucky that it wasn’t…” Qrow trailed off. 

Sarai took a swig of her whiskey “Salem, I know. I’d be dead, or worse.”

“Do you think that he…”

“There’s no way Viren knows about her, he wouldn’t still be alive.”

“Unless he made a deal with her.”

“Brothers, you might be right.” Sarai set down her glass and placed her head between her hands. 

“What is it?”

“We found out he supplied the White Fang to attack Beacon. My mission was to scout out one of Salem’s contacts. What if instead he decided to meet with them and cut a deal?”

“In this fight, you never know who’s done what. Luckily we’re supposed to meet with Lionheart to secure the Spring Maiden and the relic, which buys us some time.” said Qrow. 

“We?”

Qrow sighed “My nieces and their friends… Plus Oz’s new host, some farmboy.” Qrow took another sip of his drink “Who’s the we in your case? In your mission that I’m assuming is ‘bring Viren to justice’ right?” he asked with a smirk.

Sarai grinned "Let's see, my son. His huge group of friends, my husband and sister, our friends-slash-the team we were rivals with at Atlas, some Beacon students and their apparent guardians, a huntress and a bandit turned sheriff… plus two scientists."

"Wow, you get the huge army for your mission. Lucky."

"Hey, at least half a dozen of us have our Aura's ripped out." 

"Maybe we're putting way too much pressure on these kids. They get their whole world turned upside down, watch their friends die, watch the world become separated and then what do they have to do? Fix our mistakes." said Qrow, gulping down the last of his whiskey. 

"Maybe, but they're determined just like we were at that point. It's scary how much they can remind you of yourself." said Sarai. 

Qrow sighed "For me, that's what I'm worried about."

"The world is scary, especially right now. But I'm just happy to see them face the challenges head on, even when no one with a heart could blame them for running from them." 

"Maybe you're right… but they're still just kids… kids I should get back to. Ruby gets worried if I'm out drinking too late." He said standing up and preparing to walk out. 

"Qrow… be on your guard, okay?" 

"I always am. You be sure to keep your sister out of trouble."

"You say that like it's possible." Sarai said with a laugh. 

Sarai finished her drink and made her way back to the group that needed her too. “Maybe they’ll fix what we couldn't.'' she thought to herself. 

Kinue swiftly climbed up the side of her childhood home. It was a very conflicted place for her. Her mother’s demands and expectations had made many of the home’s rooms places filled with bad memories. The living room where her mother had screamed at her for going to Atlas instead of Haven, her own room which was to always be kept magazine worthy, the hallway where she first heard the sound of Mariya slapping her father. It wasn’t a home filled with happiness. 

However, there was one place on the property where she could take a little bit of solace. 

Kinue made her way up to the roof and found her dad standing there waiting for her, his raccoon tail swooshing in the nightly wind. He smiled at his daughter softly as she jumped into his arms and they held each other tightly. “I missed you too.” he said tenderly. 

"Dad, are you okay? Has she hurt you? I'm-" Kinue said, getting interrupted.

"I'm fine." he said, holding her hand gently "Let's sit down, look at the stars, and talk like we did when you were a kid, okay?"

"Okay" Kinue said, wiping a tear from her eye. 

The pair sat in silence for a moment, wanting to enjoy each other's presence before having to return to serious matters. The roof had always been a father-daughter comfort space, a way to momentarily escape the expectations Mariya had for each of them. 

"It's funny, the stars may be brighter tonight than they have been in almost two years. Or maybe that's just the world in general looking brighter to me now." Tatsuya said with a smile. 

"Dad I'm sorry I left, I-" 

"Shhhh, Starlight. Don't be sorry. You did what would make you happy. There is nothing wrong with that."

"But, I left you all alone with her."

"She's seemed to leave me on my own for a while anyway. Stuck in her own business."

"Do you know anything about what she's gotten involved in?"

"A little bit. But something tells me you know more now."

"She's working with some of the people who helped destroy Beacon. I don't know why." 

"She chases what can get her power. She spent years parading us around as the perfect little family of progress. Yet she let the bulk of the faunus in Mistral continue to be exploited workers of the dust refineries because she was making under the table deals with the Schnee Company.”

“Dad, how do you know so much of this?”

“I may not be a warrior like you but I do notice things. When she’s gone for awhile I’ll occasionally rummage through her correspondence, the secret stuff is in secret letters she keeps in her desk.”

Kinue’s eyes widened “Do you think you could expose her on this? Provide hard evidence of her various collusions, maybe get the council to drop her.”

“You’re thinking the same as I was. The issue is that the desk is locked, I was only able to figure out parts of what was on the documents inside because of my semblance. We need to find a key.”

“Or, maybe we could get you a special explosive that disintegrates the lock.”

“Do we know anyone who could acquire something like that?”

“I know someone who could make something like that.” Kinue said, pulling out her scroll and sending a quick message.

“I assume that was sent to your team. I do wish I could meet them.”

“You should be able to soon, the only reason they aren’t tonight is because they’re scouting to see if she comes back early.”

“Smart kids.”

“Also Soren was really nervous.” Kinue said with a blush. 

“Oh, is Soren your boyfriend or something?”

“...Pretty much.”

“I’m sure he’s wonderful. I trust your taste.”

“He really is.”

Tatsuya wrapped an arm around his daughter “I know we have work to do tomorrow, but let’s just enjoy this for right now.”

“How do you do it?” asked Hordak as he sat next to Harrow in the ship's commissary.

“Do what?” asked Harrow, confused. 

Hordak looked down and sighed “Be the replacement parent.”

“I don’t know if one can ever truly be that. Callum’s birth father, well… he died when Callum was very young.”

“And what did you do?”

“I did what you feel guilty over. I kept him at arm's length too long, but it’s never too late to correct that.”

“Adora was an infant when her parents died, I don’t think she even remembers anything about them. I don’t remember her even asking about them, except for the old pictures of theirs that were still in the house. She was asking who they were, and I didn’t have any answers.”

Ethari sat across from them “You can’t replace what was lost, but you can become your own thing that’s special in its own way. You’ll never be them but you don’t need to be, and all of us know that’s what Adora thinks of you.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to learn a little about them and let her know what they were like. I always had Sarai to help me with that, luckily.” said Harrow. 

“Thank you both. I suppose it's taken me 18 years to get used to being a dad.” said Hordak, quietly laughing at himself.