Edited by: Marethyu, Priapus

"That's basically what happened before I passed out," Ruby concludes, sitting on the edge of her bed. "I'm just saying that if I had Senketsu, I wouldn't have struggled as much. But I'm not blaming you, Reid! This is obviously not your fault."

"I know that, Ruby," I say with a nod. "We were just unlucky."

"Exactly." She nods back with a smile. "And even then, I still kicked his ass. Everything was just perfect."

"Bad word, Ruby." Her older sister scolds, still holding onto the blanketed dragon egg.

"It's not a bad word; it's an expression." She disagrees. "Also, you say it all the time. I'm not a kid anymore, Yang."

I don't know about perfect. The idea that Salem sent someone after Ruby is making me worry to an unhealthy degree. I knew it was going to happen eventually, but why now? Is it because she killed a Titan, and Salem wants to know how? The silver eyes? Her magic? This is very unsettling.

Sending Tyrian, who was apparently transformed into a Grimm monster after my girl like that, and for Ruby to struggle against him, even without her Senketsu, is beyond disturbing. Whatever Salem did to him made him way more powerful than even Primal-class Grimm.

It's not quite Titan-class, but between it and the class below. That in itself is concerning.

But none of that matters to me right now because the first thing I need to do is ensure Ruby's safety. As strong as she is and as much as I trust her, I don't want her to have the attention of an immortal witch and the most dangerous monster alive. She's not ready to handle something like that.

None of the girls are.

I know I planned on telling them about everything once Yang and I were out of the dungeon anyway, but knowing about Salem isn't the same as being targeted by her. After everything I've been trying to do, this is just not what I needed to hear.

…I feel weirdly tired.

I shake that thought off my head and continue questioning Ruby.

"Do you remember how you felt when you used your silver eyes' power?" I ask. "Titania said it made her feel strong pressure, but what about you?"

I haven't really asked Ozpin much about the silver eyes, as I never got around to it, but I don't think it affects normal humans in any way. It must've hurt Tyrian because he was part Grimm. This means the pressure must've been manifested by Ruby's Conquerer Haki.

So that's Weiss and Ruby that can wield it. At least there's some silver linings…

Although I didn't expect her to use her silver eyes at all, I mentioned it to Ruby in passing, but I told her we could start working on it after she's gotten better at using Haki. I don't want to overwhelm her with so many different training regimes at once. Regular training, hand-to-hand, magic, and Haki. There's barely enough time in the day, especially considering I have no experience in that field.

"I… don't really remember much." Ruby crosses her arms, frowning thoughtfully. "I didn't really feel anything besides being flashbanged. I guess I got real exhausted once it was over? It's like my aura breaking, but before I got trained to get used to it."

"How about before you used it?" I ask again. "What was going on through your head?"

"Oh." Ruby blinks and pauses before hesitantly answering. "Well, I was terrified. I saw Tania just about to die and couldn't do anything about it. I didn't want to lose my friend."

I wait for her to finish.

"But even though I was out of aura, low on magic, and bullets wouldn't have done any damage, I still tried to protect her." She says. "That's pretty much it. It was kinda hard to think properly in the heat of the moment, y'know? I'm just glad that everything went well."

That's just really vague. Her desire to save Titania must've triggered the Silver Eyes anti-Grimm blast, but how can that be replicated? It's not like Conqueror's Haki, where you enforce your will unto others... or is it? I can't tell. I don't have silver eyes to understand how that power works properly.

Hmm, I have no idea what makes something like that tick, so I'm going to have to find the expert. First, I'll ask Ozpin for more info, but to train Ruby, I need someone else. What was that old lady's name again? Maria? She could train her to use that power, couldn't she?

"Hehehe…" Ruby suddenly giggles, pointing at me. "You're not the only one with special eye powers!"

"I guess I'm not." I snort. If there's one thing I'm jealous of her, it's the fact that she can take something like this in stride. "Though special eye powers make you a bigger target, y'know?"

"So? I'll beat them all up one by one." Ruby puffs her chest proudly. "I'm a Titan Slayer, too, remember? And I just proved it again by kicking that weirdo's ass."

…I don't like her growing arrogance, though.

"Is it the Salem person you told me about?" Yang says.

"Most likely," I answer, acknowledging the shared concern about this threat.

"Salem-what now?" Ruby blinks.

"You told her about Salem?" Qrow looks at me with furrowed brows.

"There's no point in hiding something like this anymore, Qrow, not when they can use magic," I respond, picking up on his accusatory tone. "They're like mini Maidens. Might as well tell them everything."

Qrow doesn't argue with that, mulling it over. If anything, I want to tell them everything— about what started this and what caused the war between Salem and Oz. But I know that it's not my place to talk about specific stuff. And it's not like telling them about Ozpin's history with her will do us any good.

"Fair enough." Qrow relents. "But what are we going to do with her?"

He points at the door with his thumb— specifically noting Titania standing outside the room. I've already heard everything from her, and everything adds up. I didn't sense any hint of deceit from her when she explained her side of the story. She had nothing to do with Tyrian attacking. It was nothing but an unfortunate coincidence.

And even if I couldn't sense someone's intent or feelings, I would believe her anyway. In Ruby's words, Titania risked her own life to help, even though she was severely outmatched in every way. Qrow might not fully believe her, and I understand where he's coming from.

But I do believe her. She might technically be a prisoner here, and I might be doing her a big favor by keeping her safe from Salem in my mansion, but Ruby wouldn't be here had it not been for her help.

I'm glad that putting some faith in her was the right decision.

"Ruby just said that Titania saved her life," Yang answers for me, looking at her uncle with a frown. "Unless it's something like a pay raise, we won't do anything to her, alright?"

"Yang is right." I agree. "What Titania did was in no way an elaborate plan by Salem. Ruby, you said Tyrian was calling her traitor, right? Said something about bringing her back by force?"

"Yup." She nods.

I look at Qrow and give him a shrug, and he responds with a deep sigh.

"Well, I can't really argue with that." He says as he rubs his neck. "I'm going to Oz. Need to give him a proper report. And Yang?"

Yang blinks.

"Glad to see you feeling better." He smiles softly at her, prompting her to smile back. "I'm proud of you, Firecracker."

With that, Qrow walks out of the room, closes the door behind him, and leaves me alone with his nieces. As soon as he leaves, Ruby speaks first.

"By the way," She looks at me. "Is this Salem person the mistress he kept talking about?"

"Yes, but that's for tomorrow morning," I confirm. "Take a nap for now, girls. Come to the training chamber once you wake up, and I'll explain everything. And I'm… sorry."

The two look at me, confused.

"For what?" Yang asks.

"You know, for stalling so much." I clarify. "I know it must've felt really frustrating not getting any real answers about what's been happening."

"Oh, that? I mean, yeah, it was a little annoying at first, but we know you're hiding it for a reason, Reid." Ruby waves it off with a roll of her eyes. "No hurt feelings. Honest."

"Plus, you had a lot of stuff to take care of. You know, business, training… Me." Yang adds, looking sheepish. "I can't be mad at you for a secret or two when you're already doing so much for us. Feels ungrateful."

"I'm happy you understand," I reply, thankful. "I promise all that ends tomorrow. It may not be as crazy as me being from a different world, but it's all truth."

"Yeah, nothing's gonna be as insane as that." Yang snorts.

"You saw the full moon?" Ruby asks her, and her sister nods. "It was beautiful, wasn't it?"

"You kidding?" The blond responds excitedly. "None of the photoshopped pictures on the internet compare."

"Right?" The younger girl giggles. "You took any pictures?"

"Nope, but I did take pictures of these cute critters. Hold on, lemme show you." Yang responds, taking out her scroll before scrolling through her gallery. "Here…? Um…"

"What?" I peek over her shoulder. "Oh…"

The pictures she took of the forest spirits didn't show any forest spirits. This prompts me to take out my own scroll, and as expected, all the photos I took of the snow spirits back in the dungeon with Blake and Weiss only showed the ground they were standing on.

"What the—?" Yang frowns in confusion.

"What?"

"I dunno. I'm pretty sure I took a few pictures of them. Reid called them Forest Spirits." Yang says, showing her sister the screen. "But they're not showing up for some reason?"

"I mean, it makes sense," I tell the blond. "They're spirits. Not animals."

"Ghosts?" Ruby asks innocently.

"Kind of. They're harmless." I answer before getting up from my seat. "Anyway, Yang can tell you all about our adventure. I actually have a few things I need to do."

"Okay. By the way, Yang, what have you been holding the whole time?" Ruby asks, pointing at the egg resting on her sister's lap. "Looks like an egg."

"It is~" Yang grins widely. "It's a dragon egg!"

"A WHAT?!"

As I leave the room with the two sisters chattering, I sigh. I honestly don't have anything to do. I don't know what to do right now— after this kidnapping attempt, it feels like everything I've been doing doesn't matter all that much. Trying to kidnap Ruby is one thing, but doing what she did to Tyrian makes this an entirely different and more significant problem.

Was this a warning shot of some sort? Because I'm almost sure that she didn't know I'd be away during Tyrian's attack, meaning she must've been counting on me to see what happened to her demented follower. And that implies that she knew Tyrian had no chance against me.

She practically threw her most devoted worshipper into the fire, but for what reason? What is she planning? I don't know. I don't know, and it's driving me nuts. I know it's wrong to feel like this, but I almost wish I hadn't given any of the girls magic.

Maybe I shouldn't have focused on a business or anything like that. No reason to train the girls when, instead, I could've just grinded my skills and levels. Put all that hard work into getting strong. So powerful that not even Salem could hope to hurt me.

If I got strong enough to kill Titans single-handedly in mere months, then what could an entire year solely dedicated to clearing out dungeons and grinding do?

I just…

I need to think.

"You look like shit," Titania says as I meet her gaze, standing next to the window opposite the room I'm in. "No offense."

"Haha, yeah…" I chuckle. "Things haven't been kind to me recently, but I'll manage. I have to."

"...Right." She responds with a mutter. "So what happens now? I've already told you everything, but I'd get it if you don't believe me."

"Nah, I do." I nod. "You have no reason to lie to me, and Ruby's story doesn't contradict yours. You're alright."

I can sense her relief, but she doesn't show it.

"If anything, I wanna thank you for saving her." I continue. "Even though you were under no obligation, you still risked your own life for Ruby's sake. I have nothing but respect and gratitude for you, Titania."

"Well, I mean, it's not like I had any other choice. I couldn't run away— he wouldn't let me." She says, not expecting my thanks. "It was either help her or die with her."

"Intent doesn't matter here. Without you, Salem would've gotten her hands on her." I reply. "So thank you. Really."

Seemingly unused to genuine words of appreciation, Titania shies away from my gaze, clearing her throat.

"Sure…"

Cute.

"There isn't much I can give you beyond a raise or a new weapon if you're interested in that." I glance at her metal legs. "But for what it's worth, you're free to leave the mansion whenever you want to now."

"So I'm not your prisoner anymore?" She raises a brow.

"No." I shake my head. "You're one of us."

"That right?" She snorts. "You sure that's a good idea? I might end up stabbing you in the back."

"If you do, then it'd be my fault for trusting you, wouldn't it?" I argue, patting her on the shoulder. "But I know you won't do that."

"Oh yeah? How do you figure?" She crosses her arms.

"I can just tell." I shrug. "Beneath this insensitive and uncaring exterior, I know you have a huge heart. You're just scared to show it."

Titania looks surprised by my certainty.

"Anyone told you you're a bad judge of character?" She says with an annoyed frown.

"Nope." I chuckle. "Because I've yet to be wrong."

This time, she doesn't say anything—content with just staring at me with her sharp eyes. I sense her usual apprehension and suspicion, but there's also a hint of gratitude. So faint that she probably doesn't even realize she's feeling it.

She's not so bad. I'm glad Ruby has been hanging out with her. She probably needs it.

"Anyway, I'll be off now," I say, walking away. "If you need anything, hit me up, alright?"

Once again, she remains quiet, prompting me to leave the mansion. My smile drops as I watch the broken moon in the distance, then hop on my bike and drive away. I know what I have to do— I need to make my armor now that I have Terrasteel, but I just…

I just need some time for myself.

Looking up at the broken moon from a small hill a few miles from my mansion, I sigh for the umpteenth time. I don't know what's wrong with me— I've never felt like this before. So demotivated. Tired. It's absurd. I can't feel tired, and yet even the idea of going back to my magic workshop doesn't sound very appealing. I don't understand it. Even though I've been looking forward to making this armor for ages, I just don't want to anymore. At least not right now.

This is insane. Salem does one little thing, and I'm already so demoralized and unreasonably paranoid. Why? I don't know why I'm like this or why I'm so afraid of her. Is it even fear, or is it because I know practically nothing about her? Every time I take one step forward, she does literally anything, and I feel like I've been pushed five steps backward.

This whole thing is a mess. Was I really wrong when I decided to take this business route? Should I have taken the girls as students? I know thinking like that is wrong; I know I shouldn't regret the choices I've made, but thinking about the alternative…

Maybe if I had really focused purely on power leveling and grinding levels, I would've already been stronger than Salem. Isn't it absurd how it only took me a little over a month to get where I am? Then those few months I invested into my business— was I wrong to do that?

I sigh and lie down on the grass. Gwyn then materializes beside me, whining as he feels my distress before licking my face to comfort me. I can't help but feel better with him around, knowing that he's the only person who might understand what I'm going through.

Even though he's a wolf.

"Sorry, buddy. I didn't mean to worry you." I pet him. "It's going to be fine. You know me. I just have to give it some time. It'll pass."

Gwyn whines again.

I should stop thinking about this. It'll just make me feel worse.

"You know, I kinda disagree with the girls," I say loudly as we look at the sky before I close my eyes. "There's beauty in Remnant's broken moon. Even with the story of how it became this way."

It makes it look ethereal- something unnatural but in a beautiful way. I'm very certain that there's something supernatural keeping the broken pieces in place; otherwise, it'd start raining down on the planet, right? Or something like that. I don't know my physics, to be honest.

Maybe I should go to the moon one day. Besides my dungeons, I don't think anyone has tried to leave the planet. And for good reason. It's hard to invest in space travel while also trying to keep the unending waves of Grimm at bay.

It's hard to do anything with them around. They're everywhere. The mere thought that Salem can see through every single Grimm is just… what the hell am I supposed to do now? Does she know everything? Was she toying with me this whole time?

"No wonder I feel like I've made no progress," I mutter to myself, covering my face with my arms. "I know I can eventually destroy all of them, but…"

I'm not sure, and I don't want to think about it anymore. This isn't who I am; I don't behave like this. Whenever I encountered a similar issue, I managed it well. This situation will be no different, so why do I feel so inexplicably tired?

All I need to do is prepare better. Be better. It's a simple answer that works for every adversity I face. I can't act so helpless when the world relies on me to save them. I have to be better.

As I continue lying on the grassy hill, I hear someone's footsteps approaching me from behind, but I ignore it, seeing that I don't exactly sense any malicious intent from whoever they are.

However, I can't continue ignoring it when the person stops right behind me, so curiosity and slight concern get the best of me, prompting me to move my arms away and open my eyes to see who it is.

It's a faunus girl with neck-length white hair and red eyes wearing a large black cloak, with no other odd characteristics besides her height because she's very short— maybe an inch or two shorter than Neo, in fact, with a white tail wrapped around her waist like a belt.

Though, I can still tell from her facial features and other assets that she's an adult. Maybe early twenties. She's just really small. And for some reason, she looks oddly familiar, but I don't remember where I've seen her before.

"Hello." She greets me in a very soft voice, although her blank expression tells me nothing. She'd look creepy if she didn't look incredibly adorable.

"Hi…" I greet back. "Can I help you?"

"I saw you on my journey to Vale." She points behind her and at the roadway, which is pretty close to where we are. "I was curious why you're sleeping here even though you have a mansion."

Bit of a straightforward response, not going to lie. I expected her to ask for an autograph. Or what this giant wolf is doing next to me.

"Haha, is that what it looked like?" I chuckle, sitting up properly. "I wasn't sleeping. Just thinking about things, you know? With a view like that and weather this nice, they help."

Gwyn approaches the girl and looks at her curiously, but despite his massive size, she's not intimidated or surprised at all, scratching him on the chin. Now that I get a proper look at her, she feels a bit… odd, kind of like Ozpin. I guess wise would be the right word to use here.

"Troubling thoughts?" She guesses perfectly.

My smile turns into a grimace at that, but I don't deny it for some reason.

"Yeah…" I sigh deeply. "This hero thing is a lot tougher than I expected. For all the fame and money it gets me, it's just tiring."

She says nothing.

"There's so much to do, but it feels like I barely have time to do anything," I add, lowering my head. It's ironic. I don't need to sleep. I have all the time I could possibly need. "And things— bad things keep happening, and I have no idea how to stop them. It's driving me insane."

The stranger hums in acknowledgment.

"It makes me question if I messed up somewhere," I say. "But I know I shouldn't. I know I should be more confident in my decisions— I know what I did was right, but I just…"

I leave it at that, slowly realizing that I've shared way too much with a stranger I don't know the name of. Beyond how immensely embarrassing this is, this person could be an ally of Salem, and I was stupid enough not to realize it. Although, that's just me being paranoid.

Salem couldn't have found someone who could mask her intents from me. Not to this level.

"I uh… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have overshared like this—"

To my surprise, the girl lets go of Gwyn and just pats my head. Like I'm the small child here. It would be really, really embarrassing if it weren't so weirdly soothing, like how Kali felt when we bathed together.

"I know it's been difficult." She says, her tone very soft. "With so many duties to bear at your age, you'd naturally feel weary. There's nothing wrong with it."

"There's everything wrong with it." I disagree. "I shouldn't feel like this. People don't need an indecisive, whiny moron for a hero. It's fucking pathetic."

"You think being human is pathetic?"

The question makes me freeze.

"No, that's not what I meant…"

"Perhaps not willfully." She says. "Let me rephrase my question. If you and a loved one switched places, and they shared with you their insecurities like this, what would you tell them? Would you say that they're pathetic?"

The mental image of Ruby looking hurt flashes in my mind, deepening my frown. She's not pathetic— she never was.

"No, I'd never do that."

"Then why are you doing it to yourself?" She asks a valid question.

"I…"

I'm left at a loss for words. I don't know how to answer that. But I just know it's not the same. A hypothetical scenario isn't the same. My reality is different. I have so much more power than others—unlimited potential to do so much for the world.

And nobody can do it but me. Considering the system, my magic, and everything else at my disposal, I'm the only one who can actually save this world. No one else has to carry this weight when I'm the one who was blessed by some foreign omnipotent deity.

I know I can do it. Bring Remnant to a golden age where nobody has to worry about Grimm anymore, where no one has to live in fear. Everything is possible for me, even a perfect utopia.

So why am I failing so much?

After a moment of silence, keeping all those thoughts to myself, the stranger speaks again.

"Let me ask you something else." She says. "Do you regret it?"

"Regret what?"

"Do you regret being a hero to these people?" She clarifies. "Do you regret saving thousands and thousands of people using your inventions?"

"What? Of course not!"

"Then how come you're so hesitant?" She questions, still patting my head. "Shouldn't that idea clear all of your doubts?"

"I uh…" I stammer, unable to respond to that.

But it reminds me that had I not started this business, thousands worldwide would've died.

"I… I guess. Yeah, that's true."

There really is no point in sulking. Even if I do regret that, there isn't much I can do besides moving forward. I don't regret it, of course. I've still saved many innocent people by distributing potions worldwide.

I should just keep trying my best, right? Failure shouldn't stop me. The real failure is not trying anymore.

"Then you shouldn't let these thoughts cloud your mind." She pulls her hand away, her face breaking into a small smile. "And although these bad things might keep happening, you shouldn't let them bring you down. You have a responsibility."

"...Yeah, you're right." After thinking about it for a while, I nod and look at the sun as it rises, casting a beautiful color over the horizon. "I can't let any of it get to me. That's how I lose."

The stranger only hums in agreement and says nothing else.

Besides, even though Salem tried, she still couldn't get Ruby, even without me being there. Hell, Ruby didn't even have Senketsu with her, meaning she still needs to put a lot of work into her shitty transforming Grimm people.

I can make the girls grow even faster because the stronger I am, the better scaling my teacher skill gets. Plus Haki, Ruby's silver eyes, Yang's dragon egg— there's so much I can do! I can't view that as a bad thing.

Who cares if I don't have time? I can make time. I just have to be innovative and figure out ways to cover for 'shifts' I can't attend, and I'll be doing several projects at once. I have fucking magic. This is nothing to me.

Oh yeah, now I feel terrific about this. First thing? Legendary dungeon. Once that is done, then, oh boy, I'm coming out of it a new man. It's going to be great.

"Alright, now I'm really feeling better." I smile, turning to the stranger. "Thanks for the pep talk, miss…?"

I blink, seeing that she's nowhere near me. I try looking around the area, but she is just not there. But she was just— How the hell did she do that? To me? That's not normal. Unless it's some kind of teleporting Semblance? But then why'd she walk to Vale…

Well, whatever it is, I'm a bit upset I didn't get her name. I avoided using Observe because it kind of feels rude to use it on random people, getting their names and titles — which sometimes reveals very personal things — without consent, but now that I know she's not a random person, I'll be sure to get a read on her stats.

If I ever see her again. I haven't properly thanked her either— apparently, I really needed that talk.

Nevertheless, it would've been nice if I had been left with a name, at the very least.

– Ruby –

"Wait, wait, wait, the brother gods are real?" Blake asked in an incredulous tone. "And they wiped out most of humanity?!"

"I'm trying to wrap my mind around the fact that they took magic with them," Weiss said. "How do you even do that on a global scale?"

"They're not called gods for nothing, I guess," Levi added. "Though, the fact that Mr. Astera comes from a different universe is what's crazy to me. Was I really the only one who didn't know?"

"Pretty much," Yang confirmed.

"I know it sounds insane, but all of that is the truth," Reid assured them, though Ruby had quickly believed him herself. He wouldn't lie about this. "All of this— everything I've been doing was for the sake of preparing for an inevitable, final war against Salem."

Yes, the Grimm Queen. The biggest, baddest Grimm on Remnant. Ruby had always felt that something like that existed. That something or someone was controlling the Grimm somewhere in the Dark Continent. After all, nobody ever went there and came back alive.

And whatever drones or bots they sent there would also get destroyed, implying that there was something intelligent that didn't want to be seen, because Grimm never targeted robots unless they were attacked first. After all, robots were soulless.

It was a popular theory that'd been circulating since before she'd been born. There was never any evidence of its validity, but it had just always made sense to her. It reminded her of one of her favorite tropes ever: The Demon King, who lived in the most dangerous place in the world, surrounded by the strongest demons (i.e., Grimm). It was like they were living in a fairytale, where eventually, they'd be vanquished by the chosen hero, bringing peace to the lands.

The chosen hero that came from another world.

This is amazing. Ruby's eyes were sparkling in admiration as she looked at her boyfriend. It really is a fairytale!

The whole gods thing and the admittedly sad backstory of said demon king weren't expected at all, but of course, it should've been obvious. These details about the brother gods, Salem's curse, and everything else just made it seem real.

"So it really is possible. Destroying the Grimm once and for all." Weiss said before quickly clarifying. "I never doubted you, of course! But I didn't expect it to be so… I don't know, within our grasp. I thought it would take us decades before we reached this point."

"Yeah, it feels like you're implying we're months away from this war." Blake agreed.

"Well, I don't know about months, but definitely within the next five years, at least," Reid responded, looking confident. "And in these years, we're gonna do everything we can to prepare. Training is going to be a lot tougher from now on. I won't go easy on you anymore."

"You've been going easy on us?" Yang raised a brow, not convinced.

"Obviously. I've never used Armament or potions in my training, have I?" He snorted, making a good point. "Ruby's the only person who can push me to get serious, and that's only with Senketsu."

"Heh." Ruby puffed her chest proudly.

"That's not a compliment, young lady." Reid was quick to say, making her deflate. "Regardless, he's still a great addition to your arsenal. So great, he basically puts you on a whole other level."

He? Ruby blinked.

"Meaning…?" Levianna said, looking at him in interest.

"Meaning I'm going to figure out a way to put you all on the same level. Whether through regular training or weapons and tools of equal value." He answered. "How am I going to do that, you ask? Don't worry about it— I'll figure it out."

"I mean, honestly, yeah. That tracks." Yang shrugged. "You got me a dragon egg. That's basically as good as Ruby's stripper outfit."

Yang's blunt response silenced everyone.

"I'm still mad at you for that, by the way." She added, glaring at Reid.

"Yang, it saved my life. Twice now." Ruby argued.

"Yeah, but why does it have to do that?!" She complained. "I don't want some random people ogling my baby sister! It's weird!"

"Look, I'm trying to find a solution for that," Reid said, trying to soothe her. "I'll figure something out soon. I promise."

"You better." Yang scoffed.

Ruby may have found the whole stripping thing a little uncomfortable, admittedly, but her sister was definitely overreacting. If anything, if Yang was the one who wore it, she'd be very into it. Probably.

"...Getting back on track." Blake cleared her throat. "This Salem… Is it safe to assume that she's stronger than Titans?"

"She should be. Or at least on their level." He nodded. "Though, the real problem is her immortality. Even if you blew her to bits, she'd return like nothing happened."

"Just like that Tyrian guy," Ruby said. "Every time I shot him or cut him, he'd just regenerate."

It wasn't until she'd used her silver eyes power that he'd seemingly lost his ability to heal his wounds. Or so she'd heard. Could her silver eyes be the key to defeating Salem? If yes, then it was no wonder there were no silver-eyed warriors anymore.

But Reid had said that she wanted to die. Ruby thought. This is so confusing.

"Yes, but unlike Tyrian, she can't be put down." He said. "I might try to find a way to bypass this immortality, but so far, our best bet is to seal her away."

"So then, what's the plan?" Levi asked. "How do we even begin to approach this?"

"Obviously, the first thing we need to do is prepare. I'll put more effort into golem production, making them better and more numerous, and spreading them all over Remnant." Reid explained. "I'll be focusing on Vale at first, turn it into an impenetrable fortress while expanding my reach across all of Remnant. That way, we'll have a place we can reliably fall back into in case bad things happen, and no other incident like the one with Tyrian can occur."

"What about us?" Ruby questioned eagerly.

"Train, obviously." He said. "There isn't really a lot you can do besides that, to be honest. Besides Weiss having her own company."

Ruby didn't like that answer very much, but she didn't argue.

"Though, I'll say this right now." He quickly added. "If you don't feel comfortable and don't want to get involved in any of this, then I get it. I fully understand. You may all be huntresses, but none of you are obligated to fight in this war. This burden shouldn't fall on your shoulders if you don't want it."

"You kidding?" Yang smirked. "This is like telling us we don't have to be in the grandest adventure of our lives. We're onboard, aren't we, girls?"

"For sure. I don't care how powerful this Salem person is— Humanity has survived for this long, and it's about time we pushed back." Weiss agreed. "And with you on our side, I doubt she's a real threat. She'll fall like all the other Titans you defeated."

"Five Titans down in less than a year, and you think we're backing off now?" Ruby added. "Don't you remember, Reid? We're heroes, and heroes always beat the villains."

"I don't know if I agree with that, but Ruby is right." Blake smiled. "We're in this until the end."

"I have nothing inspiring to say, so I'll just say I agree with everyone," Levi concludes.

"Somehow, I knew you girls would say all that," Reid responded. "Then we start our new training today. Blake, come here for a second. Everyone else, start warming up."

As everyone got their orders, with Weiss and Levi starting a quick spar, Yang stood still, which made Ruby look at her strangely. Her older sister caught the gaze and backed off, glancing occasionally at Blake.

"So I heard from Velvet that you finally figured out your element," Reid asked. "Mind showing me what you can do?"

"Oh, sure."

Blake extended an arm, casting several dark tendrils that scratched and broke the wall. Ruby gasped in surprise, looking excited. No way! Was that dark magic? The opposite of Ruby's light magic?!

"Ooh, shadow magic!" Reid noted with a smile. "That's pretty powerful. And unique."

…Close enough.

"It is?"

"Yup. It's unique because it becomes more potent in dark areas." He explained. "Though, that's as much as I know about it. I'll give you one of my books so you can study in your own time."

"That's cool with me. Thanks." Blake nodded.

As the two continued conversing with each other, Ruby threw her sister another glance, seeing that she kept looking at the two. More specifically, at her partner.

"You okay, Yang?"

"Huh?" The older sister blinked, then whispered back. "Uh, yeah, just um, you know, I never really got a chance to talk to her after…"

"Oh." Ruby blinked, now understanding what she was doing. "Well, now's your chance."

"M-maybe later." The blond shuffled awkwardly. "I don't wanna bother her…"

"Pfft, that's stupid. She'd be happy to talk to you." She encouraged. "C'mon, where's my confident and popular older sister? It's gonna be fiiine."

Yang hesitated but then sighed and reluctantly listened.

"Alright…"

Her sister wavered momentarily but then worked up the courage to speak up.

"Blake?"

Her partner paused and turned around to look at her.

"Yang." She acknowledged, suddenly feeling just as awkward. "...Do you need anything?"

"Y-yeah, it's just…" The blond paused but then sighed and came clean. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"What?"

"For how I reacted before." She clarified. "It wasn't cool. You didn't know, and I was being unreasonable."

"No, not at all! You had every right to be mad at me." Blake disagreed. "I acted like a coward, and I hurt you. I'm the one who should be apologizing."

"But still, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that," Yang said. "You're my teammate and partner. I should've put more trust in you."

"Look, it's fine. I understand, okay?" The faunus responded, gently putting her hands on the blond's shoulders. "You don't have to explain yourself to me."

Instead of replying verbally, Yang hugged her partner tightly without saying a word, who returned the embrace with equal tenderness. The scene made Ruby smile. She was very happy for her sister. It must've been tough to conquer her trauma.

She met her boyfriend's gaze, who gave her a wink and a thumbs up, almost to say 'Good job!' to her. Though, admittedly, he did most of the work. Yang came out of the dungeon looking a lot better.

Seriously, nothing beats helping your friends get over their problems.

– Raven –

Having nothing to do, she sat on her broken bed in pure silence, waiting until Ozpin and that monster Titan Slayer of his wanted something from her. That 'boy' was even worse than she'd thought— during her coma, he had apparently defeated three more Titans, two of which had been undiscovered.

If his outburst back then wasn't enough, then that should be proof that whoever he was, he wasn't human. No man, especially as young as he was, could hope to pull off something like that. Where had he come from?

And why would he ally himself with Ozpin, of all people? Why wouldn't he just… do his own thing, like Salem? To restrain himself like that… what was he after? Did he want the relics? Was his claim about the maidens being unimportant true? Or did he say that to scare her?

That train of thought stopped as she heard the door open, prompting her to flinch, only to see Yang of all people. She was sure she'd see Astera or Ozpin, not her daughter again. What did she want?

Yang closed the door behind and silently approached her, stopping right in front of her. The two kept eye contact— with Raven glaring at her daughter's expressionless face. Why was she here?

"Stand up." Yang started.

Raven's glare deepened, and she didn't listen.

"Stand." Yang frowned as she suddenly exploded with magic, a fiery aura surrounding her. "Up.

Raven flinched, not believing what she was sensing, before slowly doing as she was told. As soon as she was at eye-level with her daughter, Yang exhaled as the fire around her slowly settled down…

Before suddenly throwing a punch at Raven, hitting her square in the face.

The strike instantly broke the mother's nose and sent her crashing into the wall, prompting her to gasp in pain as her aura flickered, on the verge of shattering from a single hit. Raven scowled at Yang, but she knew better than to fight back.

"This one's for Dad," Yang said before pausing. "…Damn, that felt a lot better than I thought it would."

"So that's it? You came here to kill me?" Raven growled. "D-do your worst."

"Chillax, if I wanted to kill you, I would've done so already." She scoffed. "Nah, I just came here to say a few things. And, well, to punch you in the face."

Raven clicked her tongue, wiping blood off her nose.

"And that is?"

At her question, Yang smirked.

"I'm better than you." She claimed. "In every way you could imagine."

"What…?"

"You heard me." She said smugly. "You know who's also better than you? Summer Rose, my real mom."

Raven said nothing.

"For a while, after she passed away, I thought getting you back would make my life feel complete again," Yang added. "But now I know that I don't. I don't need you. I never did."

Once again, Raven remained quiet.

"All the people I need are already with me." She concluded, turning around. "And you're not one of them, Raven. I just felt like telling you that."

"That's it?" Raven's scowl deepened. "You came all the way here to say that."

"Pretty much." Yang shrugged nonchalantly. "Though, there's one more thing."

She stopped at the door, her smirk dropping.

"You'll never be my mother. Ever." She said. "…But if somewhere in that bottomless, dark pit you call a heart…"

Yang exhaled.

"If there's truly a fraction of regret, then…" She paused. "…I'll be there to start over if you ever want to."

"Ridiculous," Raven growled, not even wanting to hear it.

"Heh, yeah, I thought as much." Yang chuckled, walking out of the room. "Goodbye."

With that, Raven was once again left alone

This time with a broken nose.

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