The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Building

"Ozpin." She breathed, mask cracking at the edges as her eyes widened. Surprise—no, shock—mixed with a spike of terror so sudden it felt like a cold blade. I guess I didn't need to explain why Ozpin being a Rider would be horrifically bad and the emotions seemed genuine. "Are you…how? When?"

"Years ago," I said. "I spoke to Ozpin about Babel, not to long before our mission. He said that in his youth, he went on a mission that killed several dozen Hunters and made it out as the only survivor."

"Yes," Grandmother nodded, eyebrows furrowed. "The mission near Jericho Falls; I've heard of it. Supposedly, the area proved to have an enormous population of very old Grimm. Was that not the case?"

"No, that that part was true," I shook my head before pausing. "Or, at least, it was true in the story he told me. However, they aren't the important part; after they killed his team and were about to kill Ozpin, something interfered and shoved him into a barrier like Naraka, which presumably had existed alongside the area. Except, instead of being full of Grimm, the area Ozpin found contained an empty but otherwise intact Babel city."

My grandmother's jaw dropped again.

"A…an entire city? That's…" She trailed off, eyes turning to the side, seeming at a loss for words.

"It gets better," I told her. "Inside, he found something like a computer that he was unable to access due to a password protecting it. He and I began to develop a plan to get inside again and let me access the computer; I should be able to get inside the barrier with one of my new skills and I might be able to figure out the password as well. I still don't know what we'll find if we manage that, but given how Conquest reacted when I mentioned it, I'd say we really want to find out."

"Yes," She looked down at her hands with a frown. She nodded to herself as she considered it, but I could feel her distraction. "Yes, if we could somehow understand the information on it, the value of such a thing would be unbelievable. But how does this play into Ozpin having been taken?"

"Ozpin was stuck inside for a while, but he eventually escaped," I continued. "When he did, however, he was back where he started—completely surrounded by the Grimm that murdered over seventy other Hunters. But…they let him go."

"What do you mean they let him go?" She asked after a moment of silence.

"They just…" I shrugged. "They just let him walk away. Ozpin simply left and they didn't follow."

My grandmother looked at me for long minute.

"Okay," She bobbed her head once. "That is rather suspicious. Anything else?"

I nodded.

"Originally, I believed that the Grimm were simply unable to get past the barrier," I explained. "But Conquest claimed that he'd helped murder the people inside and he showed that he was able to at least get past my Naraka. If we assume that his words were true—and if nothing else, the barrier was empty—then we must also accept that the Grimm could have gotten inside. And if they consider the area to be important, which the number of guards would seem to imply, why wouldn't they have anyone inside of it? And given that it was one of the Riders who first displayed the ability, it could very well be another lying in wait. Furthermore, Ozpin didn't enter the barrier on his own, though he eventually learned how to escape; something pushed him in."

"You suspect the creator of the Grimm?" She asked.

"Him or one of the Riders," I nodded. "The way Ozpin learned to escape might support that, too—but whatever the case, what happened there meant something. For the Grimm to have acted that way around him, he must be either an asset to them, which is what they seem to consider me, or an ally. The Grimm didn't attack my father or the other infected Hunters, for instance. The truth is, we don't know enough about what they're doing or how they work to say anything for certain, but…well, it's rather suspicious, you know?"

"Yes," She agreed, pursing her lips. "Could you see anything? I assume you looked him over. You saw Conquest, right?"

"I saw both Conquest and the Red Rider," I said. "The first was the easiest, if you can say that; he's a bacterial Grimm and he stands out. The Red Rider, though…the only difference I noticed in its host was the presence of an odd and seemingly inert chemical in her bloodstream; otherwise, she seemed like a normal human."

"How did you figure out she was a Rider, then?" My grandmother asked.

"Her title was 'The Red Rider,'" I explained and she tilted her head towards me in concession.

"Fair enough," She allowed. "And you can't see Ozpin's title yet? What level are you now?"

"Level Sixty-Nine," I answered. "And before you say anything, yes, that's a sex thing."

"Well, I'm not going to say anything now," She frowned. "Then…do levels go over a hundred then? Or is it something else?"

"I don't know for sure," I admitted again. "However, I believe I'm starting to suspect it goes over a hundred, because I can't see your level, either. When I see her next, I'll check Raven out as well and see what other Hunters I can see now. I should be able to see levels up to one hundred and nineteen so finding someone that strong would confirm it. If that's the case, then increasing my own level enough should let me see Ozpin's title, which might tell us what we need to know."

She nodded.

"If it is Ozpin, though…" She whispered before pausing and seemingly having to force herself to continue. "If it is, then he would have had ample chance to infect…countless people. Every Hunter that's ever gone through Beacon at the very least; far, far more, realistically. And if he's spread his reach that far—"

"The good news is that I don't think he has," I said. "At least, not literally. Although Ozpin has a horrific amount of friends in high places, I believe his infection is on a personal scale. My leading hypothesis is that his infection is one of the soul and that it's not that it shows no symptoms but that the only symptoms I can see have been there since long before I was born. When I entered my father's soul, however, I found no obvious evidence of any infection but Conquest's—but then, Conquest's infection was rather extreme and might have hidden it. I intend to create a larger sample size to check."

She looked me over and I could practically hear the pieces click into place.

"Starting with your mother?" She asked, though it only barely sounded like a question.

"Yes," I confirmed. "She's worked with Ozpin for decades and is a powerful Huntress in her own right—and who, well, had a litter of other Hunters to potentially spread the infection to. Since she's currently disabled, she makes an ideal first test."

"She does," The Roma Matriarch acknowledged. "So why haven't you checked yet?"

I took a slow breath and closed my eyes for a moment.

"Last time I threw down in someone's soul, I lost," I told her as I opened them again. "I'll make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm training my healing skill and a few other things before round two, just in case. There's too much on the line to act recklessly, regardless of the circumstances."

"There is at that," She smiled at me, traces of approval brushing my mind. "Then I suppose we should discuss what to do next, then? Even if you're correct and no one else is taken, that changes things only slightly—it may actually make things worse. As you said, Ozpin has a far reach in ways that have nothing to do with sapient infections; every Hunter in Vale would likely die to protect him. If we were to fight him directly, we'd most likely need to burn Vale to the ground to have even a chance at victory. Most likely Atlas, as well, though it's possible that Vacuo could be convinced to stay neutral for a time. Even then, however…"

Her tone made me tilt my head and focus on her a bit more intently. The implications of what she was say—the Kingdom's at war over the life of a single man, especially at a time like this—were horrific, but there was an undercurrent to the words that was, if anything, even more so. She wasn't talking like she was putting forth a plan, but more like—

"You don't think we could beat Ozpin, even if we went that far?" I asked.

She was silent for a moment, expression looking pained, before shaking her head.

"If I were to fight Ozpin, I would lose," She admitted, making a face as if the words themselves were bitter. "And if instead it was me and you and all of your sisters and the heads of the Mistrali Families fighting together…I'm not sure anyone would notice the difference. It is quite possible that the fight would be over before it began, in a rather gruesomely literal fashion."

"He's that strong?" I asked, feeling a bit surprised. I'd known Ozpin was a complete badass, of course, but I'd never seen him fight or even seen records of the battle. Ozpin seemed to fight only very rarely, from what I could tell.

"I've seen him fight," She said. "Once, a long, long time ago. During the War, Mistral assisted in the reclamation of Vale and…I was in the right place at the right time. I saw him fight the Queen's royal guard and the four Witches, if you can call it that. He's…he's a fucking time manipulator."

Ouch.

"How bad?"

"The worst I've ever seen," She answered. "He can stop it, slow it, speed it up, skip forwards and backwards in time, maybe other stuff—I've always thought he might be able to see the future to some extent, but that's just conjecture on my part, because the man has always had rather amazing timing whenever something important was happening. He appeared to be limited to 'local' time like most other manipulators, but even after all these years, I'm not sure how most of those men died. Fighting him directly…"

She shook her head.

"It would likely end very badly," She said. "He can be opposed in many ways, even defeated in some of them, but I've never thought of facing the man in battle. You…with your power, some day you might be strong enough to fight him, but…"

We were both silent for a moment at that.

"God thing I didn't intend to," I spoke at last. "I have my suspicions and I'm sure Ozpin suspects that I suspect, but I had no intention of throwing down with him any time soon—even diving into his soul is too risky right now. And like you said, fighting Ozpin means fighting something like half the planet, with a cost to high to make it worth it. Right now, there's nothing we can do about that and so I intend to continue working with Ozpin as normal; I just thought you should know, so we can work on solutions in the long term. I don't have a lot of people I can go to about stuff like this and even less who could help me. Right now, I'm just want to get you up to date, though."

"Noted, then," She sighed, lean forward slightly. "Who's the Red Rider, then? Hopeful someone who can be fought a little more easily, if necessary."

"Ruby Rose, Summer Rose's daughter."

Grandmother paused at that frowning again—probably wondering how that happened, like I had. After a moment, though, she shook her head.

"Could you defeat her?"

"Maybe," I said. "Currently, I'm worried that anything I do to her might awaken the Rider and I'm wary of making the attempt without further information of its capabilities. Ideally, my attempts to find a cure will bare fruit. But if they don't and it comes to that…I think so, yes. She's level fifty with an enormous focus on speed, but I'm fairly sure I can keep up with her as she is now and I've been training my own speed powers, just in case. There are, however, other factors."

"Of course there are," She closed looked at the ceiling and shook her head, seeming annoyed. "Her mother's team?"

"Partially," I nodded. "Her father is Taiyang Xiaolong, after all—but I'm actually more worried about the fact that her half-sister Yang is Raven's daughter. Should something happen to her, a response on that front seems likely."

"Naturally," She snorted. "Because why would anything ever be simple?"

She sighed slowly and rubbed at her eyes with a hand.

"I suppose now's as good a time as any, then," She muttered, perhaps to herself, before looking up at me. "Well, I don't have anything quite as apocalyptic to tell you, but things are happening in Mistral and I suspect Raven is involved."

"Oh?" I frowned. "What's happening?"

"I can't be certain—which in and of itself is rather concerning, considering that it's happening in my city," My grandmother's lip seemed to curl slightly at the mere thought, baring her teeth slightly. "What I do know is that there has been a steady increase in White Fang activity as of late and Raven has contacted me several times to…reassure me that everything is under control. For the sake of our alliance, I have been staying out of this as much as possible, but it seems rather obvious that they're planning something."

"The White Fang?" I questioned. "Or that third faction we never found?"

That was a rather annoying loose end. I knew—or, at least, could be pretty sure—from the conversation I'd had with Mr. Fallow that the third party was a human, but that was pretty much all I knew. It implied a great deal in and of itself, however, because the White Fang seemed willing to work with them despite that fact, meaning it must have been someone with a lot of power. What type of power, I didn't know, but I couldn't say I found the idea of an unknown running around very appealing. I hadn't been able to ask anyone outright without giving away that I had no idea myself, but even beyond that, very few members of the White Fang seemed to know anything.

Before I'd left Mistral, we'd decided to leave the matter be, figuring that with firmer ties between the Families and the White Fang, it was only a matter of time until introductions were made. And yet…

"Either or," She shook her head. "Raven herself has been irritatingly closed lipped on the subject and I haven't managed to find anything concrete. Whoever they are, they seem to work through several layers of proxies. I've found several I believe to be fairly high up the proverbial food chain, but as we are technically allies, interrogation wasn't an option. Alas."

"All this time and not a word?" I murmured. "That's surprising."

"It's insulting is what it is," She snorted. "First, I'd been unaware that Raven Branwen was working right under my very nose—now there's another and even having been tipped off, I'm struggling to learn their identity. It's even worse because I know who has the answers, but I'm not allowed to take them. From what I can tell, however, they, whoever they are, have taken great measures to remove themselves from the present scene. It seems likely that they are laying low and waiting for something, although for what, I haven't the slightest idea. The White Fang is obviously involved, but as of yet they don't seem to want anything."

"Odd," I agreed. "Perhaps Jian Bing would have an easier time getting answers?"

"The thought has occurred," She tilted her head my way. "Allies we may be, but neither of our groups trust each other; I can't say I'm particularly surprised no one has opened their hearts to me. For you, though…well, that's a rather different story, isn't it? And if nothing else, you have rather amazing eyes and ears."

"Thank you," I smiled at her, inclining my head back. "I've already arranged a meeting with Raven to discuss recent events, though I'm still deciding precisely what to tell her. I'll see what I can find out in the process—and failing that, I have a friend in the White Fang who I've asked to keep an ear to the ground. I should be able to learn something, especially if they are making a move."

I paused for a moment, a vague thought arising and slowly taking shape in my mind.

"Or perhaps…" I mused aloud, lifting a hand to my lips and nodding slightly to myself. "Perhaps this is an opportunity."

My grandmother looked up, raising an eyebrow as she saw my face.

"What do you have in mind?" She asked, resting an elbow on her knee.

"It occurs to me that this isn't a new issue," I said slowly. "This group, whoever they are, have likely been active in Mistral for quite some time."

She made a face at that, but nodded.

"And?"

"And I just remembered something from…well, it feels like a long time ago now," I cracked my neck, frowning. "When I returned from the White Whale mission, I found that Ozpin had been watching the whole time on my father's request. The implications of that are a bit more concerning in hindsight, but that aside, I remember him reacting very calmly to, you know, the whole international terrorism thing. He even mentioned something about whispers in Mistral and jokingly—or, at least, I assumed he was joking—proposed sending me to investigate."

"You think it might be related to this?" She asked. "Or…perhaps to the Grimm?"

"I don't know what to think," I admitted slowly. "But I can't help but think that between his concerns and your own…perhaps it deserves a more personal touch."

"Ah," She said, eyes widening for a moment and then narrowing in consideration. "You mean coming to Mistral?"

"I'd say it'd be a pretty good excuse to," I answered.

Because that's what it would be—an excuse. It would serve as a good justification for leaving Vale, at least for a while, and thus get away from the seat of Ozpin's power and from the watchful eyes of his cameras. I could cover myself with illusions, within Naraka, and even change who I was physically, but with Ozpin as a potential threat, I couldn't be certain if any of that was enough to hide from him. Even more so, I doubted any of it would matter; we'd meet periodically to discuss what to do and prepare and I felt certain that he would monitor my growth closely, whether because he was a teacher or because he was a Rider. I could lie, but with the situations I might get into, the battles I might face…I couldn't be sure what I'd need to do or reveal. As allies, in appearance or in truth, trust would be expected and secrets thus harder to keep.

More than that, if he was a Rider and he was using his knowledge and power to guide me somewhere, then following his orders might be pretty dangerous. By staying here in the city he controlled, letting him send me on missions and advise me in what to do, I could be doing exactly what the Grimm wanted me to—hell, they'd seemed disgustingly satisfied with everything I'd done so far, so maybe that was exactly what was happening. If I went to Mistral, though, beyond where Ozpin could easily watch me, I'd have the opportunity to gain power, to plan and prepare. I could improve my skills and develop new ones, study everything I had access to, work in secrecy to develop countermeasures, and then return. It meant the advantage of surprise, the freedom to make my own choices away from prying eyes and subtle hands, and might, might, be what I needed. If I could learn more about the Riders while I was away, prepare myself to face them, I might become strong enough to risk facing the Red Rider or to dive into Ozpin's soul to see the truth or—

Or maybe not, I reminded myself. I still wasn't sure of anything. I'd considered it before, if the entire point of the Riders—Grimm that could, in theory, be anyone—was to drive us apart. We'd fear each other, question each other, doubt each other, and in our division, we'd be conquered. Ozpin had access to knowledge and power even I could scarcely imagine, control over all the Hunters of a nation and allies in many more, and decades of experience. I'd thought to myself countless times that Ozpin's help was invaluable. If I was wrong, could I afford to discard such a thing or push it away?

And if I was right, did I dare to? If Ozpin was a Rider, that would mean two—or at least two—Riders were active in Vale doing who knows what. Could I take that risk, leave them unattended and unwatched? What if Ruby awoke or Ozpin did something major? Even with so many unknowns surrounding both, could I risk not being close by?

I had no idea. Each choice was filled with uncertainty, because I was uncertain—lost, even.

But…even so, I had options. I knew enough to take a few chances and make some guesses. Looking back, remembering all of my conversations with Ozpin, the things that stood out the most were when the usually unflappable—even in the face of utterly horrific disaster—man was surprised. I remembered every time I'd seen him that way, but one…one stood out in particular.

When I'd told him about Raven.

She was the key, I thought to myself. If I had Raven on my side, even a choice as complicated as this one could be made simple. She could create portals from one Kingdom to the next like it was nothing, spy on people from massive distances, and so much more. With her help, I could get back to Vale in potentially moments, should it be necessary, and monitor the situation from the other side of the world. Just like that, most of the risks involved would disappear. And if so…

Slowly, the pieces began to fall into place.

"Yes," I said after a moment of silence. "It could work. And I think it might give us an opportunity, just in case our fears prove true. And…God, it's hard to say this, but in this particular case, maybe we're lucky."

"How so?" She asked, frowning at the words.

"I was thinking about the situation in Mistral—and that might help, I think, but even putting that aside, it seems things are already in order," I told her. "More than one person has taken me aside recently, to talk to me about what might happen next. Supposedly, a lot of Hunters who go through what my Mom has are…requested to move back in with their families, for a time. So that they can be watched over and looked after."

My grandmother said nothing for a long moment, looking down at her hands.

"Yes," She whispered at last and I knew she was catching on. Even so, I had to take a deep breath before continuing, choosing my words carefully.

"I love my sisters and my mother, but I'm not blind." I said. "I'm fully aware that the former have a lot of issues with the latter. I care too much about them to force them to take care of Mom and I care too much about Mom to rely on them to take care of her—and something tells me that any therapist that looks over our family is going to catch on to the problems of forcing them together anyway. And that…well, that leaves you."

She closed her eyes for a long moment, sighing.

"She hates me as much as your sisters hate her," She said at last. "For different reasons, perhaps, but…"

"But she was the one to call you here, wasn't she?" I told her and she frowned but nodded. "I think she did so for a reason. She probably knew how the system would handle her—and after everything that's happened, she wouldn't ask any of my sisters to take her in. So, she went to you. Will you do it?"

"Yes," She answered, sighing again and rolling her eyes. "Of course. She hates me, but the feeling has never been mutual."

I nodded.

"Thank you, Grandmother."

She grunted again, shrugging a shoulder.

"How long would it give me?" I asked. "To train and prepare, I mean."

"It depends on a number of things and how we handle the situation, I suppose," My grandmother considered. "The obvious answer is 'until she was deemed recovered,' but what that means is rather nebulous. For something as extreme as the loss of most of her limbs and the deaths of her husband and a teammate…three or four months wouldn't be unreasonable. Quite possibly as much as half a year, for safeties sake. We could also arrange things in other ways."

I nodded again, more slowly this time.

"Okay," I said to myself. "Okay. I'll make it work. I have to make arrangements and speak to Raven before we hammer out any specifics, but…I'll make do. Now then…there's some other stuff I need to tell you, but it can wait. Most of it's easier to show, anyway. However, there is something we should decide upon as soon as possible."

"Oh, what now?" She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"What should we tell my sisters?" I asked.