In Beacon

"Now, that should cover all of the routine business ladies and gentlemen." The Headmaster said, leaning on his desk with his fingers interlocked.

They were in the Headmaster's office. Seated firmly behind the large desk was Headmaster Ozpin, his standard cup of coffee half empty in front of him. To his right stood Glynda Goodwich, one of his most trusted confidants, and to his left sat Professor Port and Professor Oobleck. Several screens had been brought in and were facing them, showing several other people of equal import.

General James Ironwood, Headmaster of Atlas.

Leonardo Lionheart, Headmaster of Haven.

Professor Theodore, Headmaster of Shade.

"With the usual business out of the way," Ozpin continued, "Has anybody noticed anything... odd occurring in their respective Kingdoms? He looked at the other Headmasters with an eyebrow raised. "Over the last several weeks there have been several… incidents, within Vale that are cause for concern," he admitted reluctantly. "The first that should be mentioned is an attack on Amber, the current Fall Maiden."

The other Headmasters immediately showed their alarm, the air filled with raised voices as they demanded to know more, becoming quiet only when Ozpin raised his hand.

Undeterred, General Ironwood spoke in the silence, "You say 'current'?" he asked, direct and to the point. "So I assume she managed to beat back her assailants?"

"She is... alright now," Ozpin stated vaguely, taking a quick sip of his coffee. "She was saved by an unknown third party before she was found by Qrow. She has been recovering in the infirmary for a week now, and she has been coming in and out of consciousness, but it appears that she will make a full recovery."

The General visibly relaxed, and it wasn't hard to understand why. For a Maiden to be lost, a person of incredible power and key to one of the Relics… Such a thing would have been devastating.

"And we have no information on who the guilty party was?" Demanded Professor Lionheart, looking nervous. "That is, for somebody to be bold enough to attack a Maiden, and for her to be wounded to the point that she's been bedridden… Are we sure that they left unsatisfied?"

"Excellent questions." Ozpin acknowledged calmly, "As soon as I have those answers, I shall inform you immediately."

The others looked at him incredulously, but before they could say anything Ozpin sighed and lifted up his hand. "As I have said, Amber has been unconscious for the most part, and has been unable to tell us anything beyond the roughest of descriptions of her attackers." He responded easily. "Once she feels well enough we will have portraits drawn up of them, and I will send them out to you once they have been finished. Anything further will have to wait until Amber feels better."

While it was clear that they were unhappy with that, all of them still calmed down.

"On a lesser note, we have encountered another mystery. On the outskirts of Vale we have found some interesting statuary, which Professor Oobleck has been investigating." Ozpin nodded to Oobleck, who jumped up and took the lead.

"Yes! Numerous statues of Grimm were found just south of Vale, in various positions of attack and fleeing. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the insides of the Grimm were also exquisitely crafted! This led us to believe that the statues used to be Grimm, and were turned into stone through one method or another."

Oobleck typed some commands on his Scroll and sent the relevant data to each of the Headmasters. "Upon further investigation it appears that while the method of petrification was extremely quick, the point of origin was quite clearly the optic nerves."

Professor Theodore raised an eyebrow at that, "They saw something that turned them to stone?" He asked incredulously.

"Yes!" Oobleck stated with excitement, "This can be observed through the pictures I just sent. In diagrams E1, E7, and O2, one can see that as the body turned into stone, however fast it was, it was not instantaneous. Until the petrification reached the heart, one can see the minute blood clotting and buildup before turning to stone itself. Following this, one can determine that the eyes were the original starting point."

Lionheart looked at the report nervously, "So, what? Is this a new weapon of sorts?"

All eyes turned to Ironwood, who returned their questioning glances with an irritated glare, "No," he huffed, "Atlas has not been researching ways to turn Grimm into statues. Honestly, I'm not even sure where we'd start for that sort of thing!"

"Quite!" Oobleck stated eagerly, "The current theory is that this is the result of somebody's Semblance."

"That's quite the Semblance… I wonder if it's limited to just Grimm." Theodore mused before looking at Ozpin, "Has there been any further incidents of this happening?"

Ozpin shook his head, "I'm afraid not, though we have been keeping an eye out."

Silence reigned for a little as they looked through Oobleck's report, before Ozpin gained everybody's attention once more. "With that in mind, has anything else of note occurred in anybody else's area?" He asked.

Ironwood sighed heavily, "I'm sure that everybody has heard what happened at Dustspire Mines earlier this week," He stated grimly. "The truth is that all of the damage was caused by one madman. No ID, and the Faunus of the mines all state that he appeared out of nowhere. The real kicker though?" He grimaced, "He did it all without the aid of Aura."

That news was met with silence as everybody processed that shocking news, several people gaping at the General.

"W-what?!" Theodore gasped, voicing everybody's thoughts. "But the news stated that there were numerous casualties -"

"There were!" Ironwood grit out, hands clenched. "We have no idea how it is possible, but it happened. I have my best men conducting investigations as we speak."

"Hmmm" Ozpin hummed thoughtfully, gazing intently into his coffee before looking at the General again. "What about weapons? Armor?" He prompted. While he enjoyed taunting the General, it was obvious that the deaths of his men hit him hard.

The General took a deep breath, "Both weapons and armor were old, but had no other defining features. Nothing special whatsoever." He reported. "As I said, investigations are still ongoing as to his identity and to the source of his power."

Ozpin nodded slowly before looking at Lionheart and Theodore. "What about you two?" He prompted.

Theodore shook his head, "No, nothing near the scope of what you two mentioned." He paused, "Although there have been warnings of increased Grimm activity on the North shores. Numerous ships have been wiped out without a trace." He paused again as he thought for a bit before smiling, "The only other thing that has occurred that is of note is actually some good news. A couple of men, a faunus and human duo, have started up a new business here in Vacuo, taking residence in the town nearest to Shade and requesting a loan to start their endeavor. Their stated goal is to provide an alternative means of energy beyond Dust."

Ozpin perked up in interest, while Ironwood snorted dismissively, "That's been attempted before, and the results have always been dismal."

"Perhaps, but their audition proved rather... interesting, in my opinion." Theodore said with a small smile. "While it might not ever replace Dust completely, it would certainly be nice for non-military ventures to have a non-dust option."

"I agree," Ozpin said with an interested look in his eye, "It bears watching I think."

Theodore gave Ironwood a look, before turning back to Ozpin, "The name of their company is 'American Industries'" he said, "I'm… Unsure as to the background of the name, but it appeared to have quite a bit of meaning to one of the gentlemen." He snickered slightly, "So long as the two can actually work together and stop arguing, I am actually looking forward to what they might come up with."

"Thank you Theodore," Ozpin stated, while Ironwood continued to look unconvinced. "What about you Leo?" He asked, turning to the lion Faunus.

Lionheart only shook his head, "I'm afraid that the only occurrence that might be considered odd has been reported has been the actions of the Grimm themselves." He reported. "Students out on missions have reported seeing less and less Grimm in the field, and a few villages report that numerous Grimm have looked like they were fleeing something,"

"I see…" Ozpin muttered, looking lost in thought for a second before looking back up at everybody assembled. "If that is all, then I'd like to thank everybody for their reports. Please keep watch for anything else that might happen in your areas, and let the rest of us know if you require any assistance."

And with that the people on the screens disconnected, leaving just the physical people in the office.

Glynda quickly stood up, "Before everybody here leaves, I have a few announcements to make for the staff."

Seeing that she had everybody's attention, she continued, "I would like to announce that I am adopting a child, and will be spending some of my time with them." She stated calmly, ignoring the shocked looks she received. "Because of this, I will have less time to deal with things that are outside the scope of my job description…" looking pointedly at the Headmaster, "Therefore, I'm afraid that if any unusual circumstances come up that you three may have to deal with it."

"Capital!" Professor Port bellowed with a broad smile, "There is no need to fear! As if we would do anything that would increase your workload!" He ignored the looks he received at that, and hastily continued "But now tell us about the young one you're adopting, is it a boy or a girl? Are they being named after me?"

Glynda gave him an arched look before muttering "I fear for the school already…" under her breath, before responding in a louder voice, "I'm not adopting a newborn, and her name is Jackie Goodwich. I wanted to let you three know about her before I introduced you to her, and I'll bring her down to the staff room later this afternoon."

"Splendid! I look forward to meeting her! I myself am amazing with kids - why, I once saved an entire orphanage, fending off Grimm while keeping the kiddies calm with my stories all the while!" Port said enthusiastically, while Oobleck merely nodded as he typed away at something on his Scroll.

Ignoring Port's growing tale of heroism and valor, Glynda turned to Ozpin, "That brings me to my second order of business," she stated. "Because I will be busier, I would like to hire another staff member. This person…" She brought out a dossier, "Has already applied for a nurse position, which has been vacant for quite a while."

That immediately gained everybody's attention. In a school of Huntsman in training, there were always accidents. Aura prevented most from becoming harmful, but that usually led the younger trainee's to be overconfident in their reserves, and once they ran out of Aura… The results were never pretty. And in the cases of broken bones they had to be careful that the person's Aura didn't replenish until the bones were set. Otherwise their Aura would attempt to heal the broken bones, causing it to heal incorrectly. Therefore, the position of nurse was usually quite stressful for a Huntsman Academy.

As of late, most minor injuries were treated by the students themselves, with the excuse that doing so was both good practice and a punishment for not paying enough attention to their Aura levels. For more serious wounds, Glynda would provide escort to a hospital in Vale.

"Hmmm, I shall look through it and schedule a meeting." Ozpin stated, looking at the file. "Miss Nightingale?"

Glynda nodded, "She's from one of the settlements. While not having her own Aura unlocked, she seems quite capable."

As the conversation went on, nobody noticed a white squirrel sitting at one of the windows. As soon as the conversation started dwindling, the squirrel leapt to the ground and ran outside, smirking to itself.

A polymorphed Merlin was feeling very proud of himself. Of course the girl Amber would survive - HE had been the one to cast the spells on her, so was there any other type of outcome?

As for the other bits of information that he heard? It made him practically smile in anticipation. Numerous Servants already integrating into the world, with two coming to the school directly. That meant he'd have to be very careful in the future, but it also promised to make for interesting times, which he was eagerly looking forward to.

He was actually quite curious about this school. When he had first arrived, he had been surprised to find several areas with Bounded Fields protecting them. Different than what he was used to, and complex enough that he couldn't dismiss them out of hand, he was quite confident that he could slip by them after a bit more work.

Not that he was in a hurry, mind you. He was perfectly content sitting back and watching other people run the show. If things become dire, he'd step in of course… But really, if he stepped in and solved everybody's problems, then how would they ever learn? And where would the sense of accomplishment be?

That was his story, and he was sticking with it.

Until then, he had more important things to work on… like upholding his reputation as a prankster.

Smirking to himself, he spotted a group of students and brightened, thinking only for a moment before deciding on a spell and started to cast it. He was about halfway through with it when -

"FOU!"

A white blur dashed across the hallway and slammed into him with surprising force, sending him flying into the wall.

Recovering quickly, he looked at his assailant with a spell on the tip of his mind, only to dismiss it in surprise.

"Fou?" He asked incredulously, "How did you get here?"

The former Beast IV (at least, he hoped that this was a former version…) looked almost victoriously at Merlin even as it glared at him, "Fou!" It declared while giving him a stern look.

Merlin blinked in surprise, "Oh c'mon Fou, I wasn't going to do anything major, it would have just been in good fun!" He whined, getting a glare from the squirrel-like creature.

"Fou!" The small creature insisted, and Merlin groaned.

Honestly, technically Fou had been HIS familiar. All those years of taking care of it, and this was how it showed it's appreciation?

"Look," he attempted, "a few pranks aren't going to hurt anyone, and it'll keep them on their toes! Good practice for everybody, right?" He finished, resulting in an unimpressed Fou, and he sighed. "Well, it's not like there's much else to do right now." He was NOT pouting. Powerful wizards did not pout.

He would know, being one of them.

"Fou!"

… Ok, he did not like the tone of that. He squinted at the small animal, noting the mischievous glint in it's eyes, before turning pale under the fur.

Fou was a white furred squirrel-like creature. Currently, Merlin was polymorphed into a white furred squirrel. A very handsome one if he said so himself.

And he couldn't turn back without revealing himself to the castle.

"N-now now Fou," he said nervously, "You know that this is just me polymorphed. I'm not actually a squirrel, I'm still very much a man."

"Fou!" The white furred animal took what the naive would call a cute step. But he knew better, and he would call it a menacing step forward, causing Merlin to take a step back at the same rate.

"I'm way too busy right now to play around right now!" He insisted, "I'm a busy guy! I'm sure there's some wonderful students who would love to play with you!"

"Fou!"

Later that day, students could be seen cooing at the sight of two squirrels 'playing' across the grounds, with one running from the other, and the other playfully catching him and letting him go.

In Salem's Castle

Salem sat at the front of her 'council', of whom only Tyrian Callows, Arthur Watts, and Hazel Rainart were physically present. Two Seer Grimm were present as well, their orbs showing a frustrated Cinder, and a nervous looking Lionheart.

As she listened to Lionheart give his latest report, she couldn't help but feel a tinge of worry.

Something was happening in Remnant, and she was unsure as to what.

She had always been cautious. She had time on her side after all, and with a mindlessly obedient and unquestioning army such as the Grimm at her beck and call she was in the perfect position to manipulate the entirety of Remnant, waiting for the perfect time to strike.

Little by little, she whittled down the various villages and towns, forcing many to seek refuge in one of the four major cities. Because everybody knew that the Grimm 'never' attacked there. This in turn increased the economic strain on each city.

By directing her Grimm to settle in certain areas, she created patterns. Patterns that Hunters, and others, would notice and 'exploit'. This caused them to become complacent as they grew comfortable in the routines she established, allowing her to predict where people would travel, the actions they would take.

All of this allowed her to slowly besiege the entirety of Remnant, with nobody the wiser. Although she was aware that she could be more aggressive, destroying more villages, creating more grimm and so forth, she refused to do so until the proper moment. She was very intimate with how… Surprising, humanity could be when pushed against a wall. More than once she had seen how when things were at their bleakest, somebody would rise up in the defense of the people.

A Hero.

She scoffed internally. Heroes. More often than not mere puppets of Ozpin. Still, they had proven quite annoying in the past. This was why she was doing things as patiently as she now was. She could afford the time to do so, and nobody realized the true extent of her manipulations.

The most recent results of these manipulations had borne fruit - the Fall Maiden, a key to an item of overwhelming power, decided to travel all by herself on a supposedly 'safe' path.

It should have been a foregone conclusion. Cinder and her own pawns had the element of surprise, and all three were extremely talented. Though powerful, the Maidens didn't have increased durability. With the Grimm she bestowed to Cinder, stealing the Maiden's power should have been simple.

And yet they were interrupted by a third party in the middle of the transfer… One who had given the pseudonym of a character in a legend, a fairy tale, long forgotten. Emerys Myrddin. Or, according to the ancient legend, the wizard Merlin.

And according to Cinder, he not only displayed a familiarity to the Grimm parasite, he seemingly possessed, at minimum, three separate Semblances.

She suspected this player was a new tool of Ozpin, similar to the Maidens, but was wary as she was unsure how his exact powers worked. He had not made an appearance elsewhere and she suspected that Ozpin was keeping him close to Amber as a protector.

As if that wasn't enough, multiple other unforeseen events had occurred.

An unknown person had attacked Atlas at the Dustpire Mines. While she didn't care about the loss of life, she very much cared about the results of this event. Atlas had been dealt a blow, and were undoubtedly increasing their defenses even more than what they already were. Although the damage to the mine would put a strain on the ever increasing demands for Dust, the military had been seen working hard to save the miners from the collapses caused by the attacker. Such publicity might cause the neutral faunus to look more favorably on Atlas, which would be frustrating.

The news that some people were working on creating a non-Dust form of energy was also troubling as it would undermine years of driving up the cost of dust and decreasing the supply. She would wait and see what came of it, and if needed she would send Tyrian to ensure they had an accident.

And finally, the number of Grimm was decreasing across all four kingdoms.

Normally she would expect that the Huntsmen were making a push of some sort, except this was on a Remnant wide scale, and according to Leonardo the Huntsmen were as clueless as she was.

They could be replenished, and the number wasn't low enough to cause true alarm yet, but the fact that she was unsure what was killing them made her wary.

With these new occurrences, she was tempted to sit back and wait. She had survived this long because she refused to take chances, and everything she did was calculated and in her favor. True, her current pawns would object - they had their reasons for joining, and they did not share her long lifespan. However, if she deemed it best to wait a generation, then they would have no choice but to go along.

… But now, for the first time, she had a pawn with the Maiden's power, even if it was only partially. This was an advantage that she needed to push with. She would simply adapt to the changing circumstances and watch carefully.

Leonardo finished his report and she smiled at him, smirking inwardly when she saw him flinch. Even though he wasn't here physically she could still inspire fear in the poor man.

"Thank you for that report Leonardo," She said smoothly, and he gulped.

"O-of course, your Grace," He deferred nervously, but before he could leave she raised her hand, causing him to freeze.

"A moment, Leonardo," She murmured, "You have told me that the number of Grimm have gone down in all of the Kingdoms, and yet I have sensed that Mistral seems to have suffered this more than the other kingdoms." She gazed at him coldly with a raised eyebrow, not letting him see how much she enjoyed how panicked he became at that accusation. "Do you, perhaps, know more about this?"

She knew that it wasn't him. He was so scared of her that he wouldn't dare move against her, but it never hurt to reinforce his fear.

Cutting off his spluttering denials, she continued. "If it is not you, then I recommend that you put more effort into looking into what is causing it." She sat back casually, "In the meantime, you will continue to reduce the Hunter's capability around Mistral."

He looked sick at that statement, and yet he bowed down nonetheless, "Of c-course, your Grace." He stated brokenly, and as he walked away she let him do so.

Turning to the rest, she first looked to Arthur Watts, "Arthur, I'd like you to look into this 'giant' that Atlas is studying," she stated smoothly, "If he is as antagonistic to Atlas as he appears to be, then he might be a valuable ally in the future." She cocked her head at him questioningly, "Are you confident in your abilities to break into their network?"

He smirked, "Of course I can," He replied, not even trying to hide his eagerness. "As if they could keep such fascinating information away from me. An Aura-less man capable of embarrassing the Atlesian army to this extent?" He looked at Cinder out of the corner of his eye, "Perhaps you could learn a thing or two from this Brute my dear," he stated with a cruel smile, "Without Aura, and it still took an army to restrain him, whereas you couldn't take on one man despite having Aura."

Cinder flushed, her fury evident despite the distortion from seeing through the Seer, but was interrupted by Salem herself before she could reply as she'd like. "The man appears to be a new pawn of Ozpin, and the point he made with the Maiden's power not working right was indeed a valid one." She stated, "Such a man should not be underestimated. And with that," She turned to Cinder, "Have you had any difficulty in using the power?"

Cinder smirked triumphantly at Watts before turning to Cinder, "No, I have not." She replied, "The power flows easily, and it feels glorious." To emphasize this, she summoned globes of fire into her hands, her expression making it clear how much she enjoyed her new power. "I can only imagine how it feels to have the entirety of it flowing through me," She stated with relish.

"Very good," She approved, "We'll have to work on a plan to allow you to recover the rest of the power. If Amber remembers what you three look like, that will make things… troublesome in the future. In the meantime, we'll continue with the plan of working with the criminal underworld. You should also prepare to talk with the White Fang. Even with just a portion of the Maiden's power it should be easy to bring them to heel."

Cinder winced at the reminder of her failure and gave a nod, "Of course, I'll do so immediately." She stated.

After that, the meeting continued as normal. Tyrian and Hazel were to remain on standby for now, though if these strange events continued she would send them to investigate, and the others knew their tasks.

As the meeting concluded, she was surprised when a Seer came up to her with a signal that somebody was trying to contact her. Eyes narrowed, she reached out to complete the connection when it was suddenly cut off. Quickly reaching out with her senses, she confirmed that the Seer on the other end of the connection had just been killed.

And it had occurred in Mistral.

Perhaps she would be sending Hazel to investigate sooner rather than later.

In Mistral

Alpha looked at the scene in front of him in horror, his claw outstretched.

Grimm were creatures of limited intelligence, but as time went on they evolved. They learned.

Unknown to all of Remnant, Grimm of sufficient intelligence were aware of another type of Grimm called Seers. Capable of contacting other Seers, Ancient Grimm were able to use them to contact other Ancient Grimm. Though they rarely did so, they were able to do so to coordinate if needed.

More importantly, they were able to contact their Queen in dire circumstances when needed.

Normally Alpha would never even think of contacting the Queen. Such a thing was almost unthinkable, a form of blaspheme even, that she would ever care of the existence of one so lowly as himself.

But this… He was desperate.

The stub of his left forearm throbbed as he thought of the strange aura-less Huntsman that he and his pack had found weeks ago. The day his pack died. Normally such a thought would leave him in a fury, but now it simply left him cold with fear, if such a feeling was possible for a Grimm.

He couldn't get rid of him. He had employed every trick he knew of, and yet the scarred man with the two strange swords always found him. Their latest clash had resulted in the removal of an arm, and it STILL burned!

The strange Huntsman - and he was a Huntsman, Alpha was convinced of this. He must be - never seemed to care about other Grimm unless they were Beowolves, though if they were in his path he would not hesitate to fight them. The only way Alpha had truly gained ground on the other was when he ran through another pack of Beowolves.

He didn't feel guilty about his actions. It was either them or him, and he would not let it be him if he could prevent it.

But even this wasn't working as well as he had hoped anymore, and he feared he would need to change tactics soon.

But his main goal had been reached! He had found a Seer! His Queen needed to know of this strange threat as soon as possible, and he had eagerly reached out to create the connection, feeling a sense of awe and wonder…

Only for a large tree to crack and collapse, falling down on the Seer Grimm before a connection could be established.

Grimm were incapable of crying, and yet Alpha felt the urge to do so as he looked on in horror.

What had he done to deserve such luck?!

Flying above the tree's, a crow could be seen wobbling in a semi-drunken fashion in the air as it traveled to it's next destination.

As Alpha stared in horrified shock at the sight of the dead Seer, he felt an oppressive feeling coming closer, one that he had grown intimately familiar with, and he immediately burst into a three legged run.

Finding this Seer had been a miracle, and he couldn't count on finding another. Another tactic was needed.

He just wasn't sure what.

But that would have to wait, as images of a twisted sword filled his imagination and he felt an itch in between his shoulder blades.

"You are surprisingly elusive, I must admit." A voice resounded in the distance behind him, barely within range, and he redoubled his efforts even as a cold laugh echoed behind him.

"It's admirable, if pointless. Hrunting WILL find you, that is fact. The only variable left to determine is where you shall be cut down."

Alpha whimpered to himself once more.

Truly, what had he done to deserve such luck?!

Author's Notes:

Hey everybody! I apologize for taking so long to update this story. Part of the reason was that I started writing other stories, and those distracted me. I write for fun, and so if I have the inspiration to write something, then I'll do so. And then another reason was that this chapter was difficult for me to write for some reason, and I'm not sure why. Even now, I'm looking back and I feel unsatisfied with how it flowed… Hopefully future chapters aren't as difficult.

Next chapter we'll see a timeskip, and the chapter itself will be centered around Beowulf and Alpha, and we'll see how they are doing :)

Oh, and the scene with Fou? That was inspired by a scene from the old animated movie "The Sword in the Stone". Now, I've been told by a couple of people that Fou is actually a male… And I'm sorry, but I don't know that I can buy that just looking at it… Regardless, for the purposes of this fic, if a gender is required, then I shall be assuming that Fou is female.

I'd like to thank everybody who has left a comment or who has favorited this story. This was the first story I started writing here, and I'm really glad to see that it has been received so favorably. Hopefully everybody will continue to enjoy the story as chapters continue to come.

I'd like to thank my brother, Autumnstar, and my sister, CaptainDarkElf, for their help in peer reviewing this chapter and making sure that it is presentable.