I sat in class as Professor Flae as he went on with his lecture, talking about Grimm and Dust. I had my head down as I took my fifth page of notes. Like, really I have one or two notebooks for other lectures but for Flae it’s five.

Beside me, Weiss and Blake were taking notes the same way as Ruby and Yang… not so much.

Yang was simply doodling as Ruby was passed out. I shook my head as I continue taking down notes.

“Alright, I want to see your notes this Friday since Thursday is the Talent show, yay for that I guess.” Flae said as he turned and threw a paper airplane that was thrown earlier today at Ruby. She jolt awake as the airplane was stuck in her hair. “Miss Rose I would like it if you stay awake in my class.”

“Sorry.” Ruby called out. Professor Flae shook his head before looking at me.

“Make sure she writes this all down.” he asks me. I nodded as Flae continues. “Speaking about that talent show, I believe miss Schnee is going to take part of it. Do go cheer her on.”

I heard muttering about this as Yang smiled at her friend. Professor Flae continue on for another few minutes before it was time to go. “Alright you all can go, remember that the finals are coming up soon so study well!”

As we leave I walked down the hallway with Team RWBY as they chatted to themselves. They talked about the the Talent show tomorrow and the Finals and… something else. I didn’t really listen as I had my head in one of many notebooks. I don’t know how long I soon ran into a wall. I blinked in surprise as I turned to see Ruby and Yang there.

“I said look out.” Yang said between snickers. I rubbed my head a bit as Ruby was also holding back a giggle.

“Haha, where did the others go?” I asked them.

“Blake went to have a private study with Indigo, which could be one of two things.” Yang said with a snicker.

“Teaching Iilah or more studying.” Ruby pointed out, making her sister frown.

“Aww, I was trying to be funny…” Yang whined.

“You were going to make it sound dirty.” Ruby frowned at her. Yang simply sighed.

“I just hope my day will get better after this…” she said as she turned around to face Mavis, Mother, there with a smile. “And it just did!”

“Hello, beautiful.” She said, greeting Yang with a quick kiss before turning to me. “How has your day been going, dear?” She asked.

“It been good, long lecture, but again it got better.” she said with a smile. Ruby and I glanced at each other before Yang continued. “So, what to do another sparring match later? I think I got down what you showed me a week ago.” she said as she did some shadow boxing.

“And how about you, Viri?” Mother said, looking at both me and Ruby.

“Good, took another notebook and a half full of notes from the last class and ran into a wall while studying.” I said simply. Ruby shrugged.

“I had a good nap.” Ruby said with a childish smile.

“You know I have to show you my notes later.” I told her.

“I don’t mind, I like your notes!” Ruby said with a bigger smile. This made me roll my eyes as Mother chuckled.

“Seems to me you’ve all had a good day.” Mother said before sighing and looking at me, her smile faltering a little. “Viri, my sister has another task for you.” She said.

“Oh? Do I have to go out to her shop to find out or do you know it?” I asked.

“She’s tasking you to assist a friend of both you and hers in eliminating a great beast.” She said in an informative tone, which was a little odd with how she was dressed. Yang had eventually convinced Mother to try on modern clothing, low and behold here she was wearing a pair of jeans and loose blouse.

“A little off topic, you look good in those.” Yang said to Mother as she gave her a kiss. Mother’s smile returned after that before she looked back at me.

“You said friend that I and her knows, who’s is this friend?” I asked, going through a mental list of my friends.

“Does the name Lana Shepherd ring a bell?” She asked, tilting her head a little. Ruby gasped at this.

“Lana!!! Oh I missed her so much!” she said happily. I nodded as well, remembering the notes that the two of us wrote for her and the others which my aunt found a way to send.

“Yeah, wait she needs help?” I asked, getting worried at that fact Mother said she needs help against a beast. From the last time we went there the monster was the old Overseer that took over her old body and went crazy.

“She will need the assistance in defeating the Great beast of the land before she can move on to the next.” Mother said to me. I looked over at Ruby for a moment before speaking.

“You up for another adventure?” I asked her.

“Yup! Bring on the Dinos!” Ruby answered. Almost as if it heard her Hopper came out of nowhere and climbed up on Ruby’s shoulder. “So is Hopper!”

“Whoa whoa, you to are simply going again?” Yang asked with a frown. Ruby and I looked at each other for a moment before Yang continue. “If so then I’m coming too.”

“Wait, you are?” I asked, which Yang nodded.

“Yeah, since you guys left for so long and simply came back as if nothing has happened then I don’t see why not.” Yang explained. I thought about it for a few moments before looking at Mother.

“Is that alright?” I asked. Before she could answer Yang cut in.

“Please~, I want to go. I’ll do anything you want.” she offered which made Mother raise an eyebrow.

“Anything I say.” She said with raised brow and a smirk. Yang nodded without a single word, earning a laugh from Mother before she said. “I don’t see why not.” She said. Yang smiled at her and then at us.

“You know you just talked yourself to do anything she wants right?” I told her.

“For her, I’ll do anything.” Yang replied without missing a beat.

“Even hit someone?” Ruby asked. Yang paused before looking at Mother.

“Is it?” Yang asked as she started to cracked her knuckles. Ruby took a moment to think before speaking.

“What about that one guy who was hitting on Mavis a few days ago? Some bull Faunus guy with blonde hair?” Ruby asked. Yang looked at her sister for a moment before speaking.

“I’ll be right back.” she said in a low angry tone before turning to head down the hallway.

“That despicable man wouldn’t take no for an answer, prideful brute he was.” Mother said, shaking her head with a frown at the memory.

“I’m breaking his horns!” Yang yelled as she marched down the hallway. We all watched this before she disappeared around a corner.

“Wow, not even a moment of hesitation.” I said before looking back at Mother. “You really have her hooked on you huh?” She chuckled a little at this, knowing what I meant.

“She truly is something special.” She said before shaking her head lightly. “Anyhoo, I will meet you at the gathering hall in ten minutes. Change, eat and arm yourselves.” She said before turning to Yang’s direction. “I will go inform Yang the same.” She said before walking off. The two of us nodded and went to do just that. After a quick change of clothes and some packing I went and waited in the gathering hall for everyone. I soon saw Ruby walk over to me with both Crescent Rose and Phoenix Rose strapped on her back.

“Why are you bringing both?” I asked her. She simply shrugged.

“One of them has memories of the last time we went to that place.” she told me before walking up and kissing me on her cheek. I smiled at her as we waited for the other two. After a bit we did saw them walking over to us. Yang looked a little annoyed.

“I don’t see why you had me stop…” Yang asked.

“If I didn’t you would’ve broken the poor boys body.” she said. Yang grumbled a bit but didn’t say anything as Mother looked at the two of us.

“Are you both ready?” She asked with a sigh. The two of us nodded before looking at Yang.

“You alright?” I asked her. Yang took a few moments to think about it.

“I might’ve let my anger got the better of me.” she said with shame in her voice. Yang felt Mother place a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at her and see her smile.

“Shall we?” Mother asked as a heavenly golden light shone in front of us, a door appearing at the center of the gathering hall, bringing a few odd looks from the passing students. Yang smiled and nodded. The rest of us nodded as Mother and Yang walked in first before the two of us followed behind into the golden doorway.

The first thing I felt was the blistering heat. It was as if we walked into an oven set at high heat on a summer’s day.

I looked around and saw we were in the middle of a wasteland. Two large mountains far off in the distance from we are and the lack of green meant we weren’t on the island.

“Where are we?” I asked myself, surprised at the difference of my voice, it sounded… older. I looked over at Ruby and sure enough she was standing there older as well, maybe not as older when we first left but in between.

“Whoa, this is… odd.” Ruby said, brushing her now long hair out of her face. I nodded as I saw both Mother and Yang look around. It seems that Yang didn’t age at all, maybe this is the first time she came here.

“Man, this is where you guys went? I thought it was more like an island?” Yang asked us. “So, where should we- WHAT THE HELL!?!” she yelled as she looked at us.

“Oh… yeah, this is something new.” I told her. Yang stared at the two of us when Mother turned around to see us.

“Oh, dear.” She said, surprised at our sudden age jump. “It seems you’ve retained the ages you both had before you left.” She said.

“I don’t know…” I said as I looked at my hands a bit. I did a few stretches and turned myself a bit. “I think it’s more of a middle ground, I don’t seem as old as before but still grew a bit.

“We only age a few years then.” Ruby said before looking at her sister and smiled. “Looks like I’m the older sister now~.” This snapped Yang out of it before looking at Ruby.

“You know… longer hair suits you.” she said. Ruby blushed at this before I snicker.

“Told you.” I said with a smile. Ruby simply went even more red than before before she stiffly walked away from us.

“She may be older but she’s still acts like my younger sister.” Yang laughed as she looked around at the desert. “So… now what?” As she said this I looked around, hopping to spot anything that’ll lead us to Lana.

“Hey guys look!” Ruby yelled out from behind me. I turned and saw looking down the edge of a hill, walking up to her and looking over at what she saw, I was greeted with the distant sight of a small camp with several tents. People were walking about shirtless due to the unbearable heat.

“Should we go and introduce ourselves?” Mother asked as she walked up to the edge next to me. Yang followed suit and stood beside Mother.

“Yeah, maybe they know where our friends are at.” I said as I looked up at the sun. “And get some shade.”

Hopper jumped down and looked at the camp we were looking at, it then started to head towards the camp. “Hopper wait!” Ruby said as she chased after it. The rest of us followed behind. Literally less than five minute later Ruby fell over into the ground. “Too...hot…”

“Maybe it’s because you’re wearing mostly black.” I pointed out. Ruby seemed to mumbled something as I looked at the other two. “You two go on ahead, I’m going to try and cool Ruby off.”

“Alright.” Yang said as she headed off as Mother stayed behind to give a few suggestions to help.

“Perhaps someone can lend you some clothing fitting for this environment.” Mother suggested as she waved her hand over Ruby, lifting her up from the ground and back on her feet. Ruby panted a bit more as if she was running for a mile.

“You alright?” I asked. She shook her head.

“Black clothing… really bad...also small...not great…” she panted. As she said that I noticed that my clothes were a bit tight on me.

“Maybe some more clothes for me as well. We should- what are you doing?” I asked Ruby as she was unbuttoning her jacket.

“What do you think?” she said. Soon Ruby took both her jacket and combat skirt off and used her cloak to wrap herself up to cover the light gray tank top and shorts underneath. “That’s better.”

“We should continue forward.” Was all Mother said, gaining a nod from both me and Ruby. The three of us headed to the camp. As we got there I saw the others in came wearing what looked like cloth armor of some kind while others close to nothing. I wouldn’t blame them by this heat.

“Halt, state your name and business!” Said someone off the my right. Looking at the owner of the voice, I saw a woman in her mid-twenties pointing a Tek rifle at us. Yang readied her gauntlets for a fight but was stopped by Mother as she placed an arm on her shoulder, silently telling her to stand down. Yang gave one last look at the woman and her gun before lowering her hands, trusting Mother’s decision. “I will not as again, who-”

“That’s enough of that!” A familiar voice shouted as she came into view. Abandoning her tek style skin-tight bodysuit, she wore clothing similar to everyone else’s. On her back was a deactivated Tek sword and a metal pike.

“Lana- I mean, Ma’am.” The woman stuttered in surprise before lowering her weapon. Ruby fidgeted a bit and unfortunately the woman saw this and took aim once again. Lana placed a hand on the gun before lowering it much to the woman’s confusion. “But-”

“But nothing, these are our allies and we will treat them with respect.” Lana said with a stern voice, sounding similar to a mother scolding her child. The woman looked down before saying.

“Yes, mother- ma’am.” The woman said, correcting herself before giving us one last glance. I paid her no mind as I walked up to Lana.

“Excuse me but is there… a place we can talk that’s not in this heat?” I asked her in. Lana gave me a look before looking at the rest of us before nodding.

“Follow me.” She said with a nod before leading us to a large tent. Inside it was like some sort of makeshift command center with several maps displayed about on a large table, each of them having a different area marked with a red circle and some exes. At one corner was a makeshift bed, a desk with various items scattered across it. There were a few chairs stacked on top of each others, probably having not been in use prior to now. Lana turned to face us just in time to see Ruby hug her.

“Lana I missed you~.” Ruby said happily. I smiled as well as I saw this. Lana returned the hug with a laugh, having not seen us for who knows how long.

“It’s great to see you two again.” Lana said before pulling away and noticing Mother and Yang, the latter was a little confused as to what is going on.

“Lana, I want you to meet…” I pause for a second before smirking a bit. “Both Mavisath Xiao Long and Yang Xiao Long.” I introduce.

“Huh?” Yang asked me with a confused frown as Ruby snicker a bit. I simply continued speaking.

“They are trusted friends of ours, even closer since Ruby and Yang are half-sisters.” I told Lana who looked at the two. Mother simply chuckled at my introduction for the two of them while Yang blush madly before calming down after a kiss from Mother.

“Greetings, as my daughter said, I am Mavisath. You should be familiar with my sister, Axycia if I’m correct.” Mother said, gaining a nod from Lana before she said.

“Yes, I am.” Lana said before looking back at me with a little smirk. “So how’s the young one?” She asked.

“If you mean Qo, she’s fine…” I said with uncertainty. “She’s with some friends of ours.” She smiled at this before saying.

“So how long have you known?” She asked, crossing her arms with a smirk. Her electric blue eyes shining as she spoke.

“If you mean the DNA thing you did, the for quite a while.” I told her. She chuckled at this before saying.

“To be fair, you did say you wanted the little one to be different.” Lana said between chuckles. She then noticed Hopper running through the tent flaps, heading to Lana before climbing up her legs and reaching the top of Lana’s shoulder. It nuzzled it head onto Lana’s with a purr. “Aren’t you sweet little furball.” Lana said, petting Hopper as she purred.

“Wait, so she’s why Qo...” Yang stopped, not knowing how to word it without angering me. She knew that calling her a clone easily ticked me off, having grown accustomed to her being my own kin. I glanced over at Yang for a moment before saying.

“Yes… Lana here is the one who cloned Qo… But as I said in the past, Qo is my daughter and I would like it to keep it that way. Thank you.” I said to her. Yang nodded as Ruby spoke up.

“Umm, you don’t think you have any clothes for this weather and place?” Ruby asked before shaking her discarded jacket and skirt. “We’re not clothed for this.” Lana thought briefly on this before walking over to large storage crate. She opened it and took out some light-colored clothing, similar to what she was wearing.

“Here you go, that’ll keep you from overheating.” Lana said, handing the clothes to Ruby. I noticed Yang fanning herself, a layer of sweat on her skin. Mother saw this and stood behind her, wrapping her arms around her. Yang let out a blissful sigh at this, leaning closer into her embrace.

“You shouldn’t have to worry about the heat, love.” Mother said just above a whisper, speaking in a loving tone. Yang smiled even more as Mother said that. Ruby in the meantime was a little bit away putting on the new clothes. Soon she was wearing the new clothes alongside her red cloak, which she used to block any view as I changed clothes.

“So, how have you been Lana?” I asked. Lana looked at me before smiling.

“I’ve been… somewhat good.” She said, smiling a little as she did. “I have discovered a way to travel between Arks, though it is a little depressing.” She said with a faltering smile.

“Do I want to know?” I asked her as I pulled on the pants. Lana soon looked down sadly before sighing and saying.

“While you were gone, Rockmond had suggested for me to search for other Overseers, other Arks.” Lana said before sitting on her bed. “Week after week I’ve spent my time searching, finding nothing but dead signals and uninhabited Arks.” She then faced the open flaps, seeing the desert outside. “Except for this one, this Ark was one of two Arks that still broadcasted any sort of a signal. Both were distress signals.” She admitted with a solemn tone. “I investigated their Overseers but… well this is what I found.” She said raising her arms and opening her hand, a blue light emitted from the center of her hand, displaying an image of a very damaged and rusted Overseer Obelisks. One of which was almost entirely scrapped of its outer shell. “I’m… I’m the last one.” She revealed. I was silent as the image slowly faded. Lana spent a very long time in the Overseers body when we were on the Island. Now the thought of being the last Overseer… that could be worse.

Ruby simply gave Lana a hug as Yang and Mother looked at her sadly.

“You...sure there’s no other Overseer left?” I asked.

“I’ve searched for countless months… nothing, not single thing.” Lana said, closing her eyes as she wiped the tears away. “I truly am the last Overseer.” She said before shaking her a little before adding. “I’ve linked my Obelisk to this Ark, allowing me to travel to here and back, I plan to do the same to the other Ark but first I must defeat the Great beast that resides here.” She explained.

“What is this Great beast?” Yang asked.

“A mythical beast known as the Manticore.” Lana said, standing up from her bed and walking over to the table with the maps. “These maps have possible locations for the Artifacts necessary to summon the beast. Unfortunately, my people were unable to scout the north due to the wyvern sightings.” She said, circling the area in question with a blue marker.

“Wyverns? I thought they were make-believe.” Yang said in confusion. Lana looked at her with a questioning glance before looking at me and Ruby. We only shrugged, not knowing what to say.

“With the technology Overseers have access to, it’s no surprise to see that one had created the mythical Wyvern.” Lana said, looking back at Yang.

“Oh…” Yang said simply.

“So the plan is to find this artifacts, summon this beast and take care of it?” I summed up. Lana nodded before saying.

“There are three artifacts, each of them are required to summon the Manticore.” Lana said just before Hopper jumped off of Lana’s shoulders. Hopper emitted a high pitched chirping-like sound as it ran out of the tent.

“Hopper?” Ruby said. I looked at the direction of where Hopper went before looking at Lana. Mother and Yang followed Ruby out of the tent.

“Now why would the Jerboa… Oh no.” Lana said before running out of the tent. I soon followed suit, wanting to know what was going on. Stepping outside, I was greeted with Ruby hugging Hopper as she looked up onto the distance. Following her gaze, I was horrified to see a large cloud of sand that made its way towards us.

“What do we do!?” I asked in a panicked tone, looking at Lana as I spoke. Lana, looking at the cloud on fear, ran back into the tent.

“Do not fret, Viri.” Mother said, gaining my attention as she raised her hand at the storm as it rapidly made its way here only for it to split into two clouds, leaving Lana’s camp untouched by the sandstorm as the storm went by. “Mother has it all under control.” Mother said with a little smirk.

I rolled my eyes as Lana stepped out of the tent, looking confused. Hopper purred, relieved that the storm had passed.

“The storm, it just… ignored us.” Lana said in awe as she looked at the storm in question as it went farther and farther away. Mother chuckled at Lana’s reaction.

“Yeah… that was freaky…” I said. Yang laughed a bit before walking over and gave Mother a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey, is Rockmond, Ed, and the twins around?” Ruby asked Lana, earning a nod from her.

“Yes, they’re out scouting the dunes out south.” Lana answered her.

“More friends of yours?” Yang asked us, curious to know as she stood next to Mother with her head on Mother’s shoulder. Ruby nodded, to which Yang smiled.

“When would they be back?” I asked Lana. Lana shrugged a little at this before answering.

“I’m not sure, they’ve been gone for quite a while and with that storm that had just passed, it might have delayed them.” She said, uncertain of when they’ll return.

“Perhaps Viri could be of assistance.” Mother suggested, surprising me and Lana a little at the offer.

“Uhh, yeah if there’s anything I could help-” I was cut off when Ruby elbowed me in the side. “We could help you with, we’re happy to.”

“Hey! I’m here too!” Yang pointed out. I chuckled as I looked at Lana.

“Are you sure you’d like to do this?” Lana asked just to be sure. We all just nodded in unison, gaining a little chuckle from Mother. “Alright, just head south from here until reach the jagged rocks, from there you’ll need to go around a large rock before you can enter the dunes.” She said, informing us on where to go.

“Is there anything we should know?” I asked. Lana nodded before looking off towards the distance, following her gaze we saw the jagged rocks she mentioned.

“Do be careful on the way there, I’ve been told that a few Rex’s roam around that area.” She said, warning us of the danger.

“Rex’s… Like, T-Rexs?” Yang asked a bit nervous. Lana nodded at her, earning a nervous look from Yang. Mavis turned to Yang and whispered something into her ear. Yang expression turned to a calmer one.

“Right, beware of the Rex’s.” I said.

“Wait! Is my Rex here?!?” Ruby asked. Lana tilted her head curiously before answering.

“I do think believe so, yes.” She answered after a brief moment of silence Ruby did a little dance at her answer, making Mother, Yang, and I chuckle.

“I guess we should gear up and then head out?” Yang asked.

“You’re already equipped for battle, love.” Mavis said to Yang, chuckling a little as she spoke. Yang rolled her eyes before looking at me.

“Well if you all are ready we’ll head out.” I said before looking at Lana. “We’ll be back soon.”

“Do be careful, this place is nothing like the island.” Lana said as we walked away. Soon enough the camp was far behind us, the sun signifying that it was midday. We continued on, following what Lana told us where to go. I just hope the rest of them are alright.

Ed looked through the a spy glass around where he stood, hoping he could find something in the everlasting ocean of sand. Alas there was nothing in sight for miles with the exception of a few mantis and centipedes.

“Did you see anything?!” One of the twins, Navaeh, asked him. Ed frowned a bit before answering.

“No, it’s been a no for last five minutes. And in the next five minutes there will be, again, nothing.” He called out in an agitated tone.

“Don’t have to be mean about it…” Navaeh said. Ed sighed as he kept looking. Soon he lowered the spyglass and looked over at a much larger dune of sand. He figured that if he got over there he would see more than where he’s at. Be turned away to go tell the others about his idea.

Right as a large burning thing flew over his head a crashed landed almost a mile out away from him. Ed watched it crash and was simply staring at the now smoking hole. He then heard the rest of his party running up to see what happened.

“What the hell was that?!” Heaven asked loudly.

“I have no idea?!” Ed answered just as loud.

“Enough.” Rockmond said as he stared at the crash site. He soon started to make his way over to it. The twins and Ed looked at each other before quickly following. As the four got to the site they saw in the sand was an odd looking ship. It was burnt and bent the wrong way as the sand slowly started to replace itself.

“Is it safe?” Navaen asked.

“I don’t know…” Rockmond said as he slid down closer to the ship. He walked around until he found the front of it and saw that, whatever it was, had someone in it but now had pipes sticking out of it and twisted in a odd way. He could see an arm sticking out of the ship that wasn’t moving. As the others came to see this they all went silent for a moment.

“Who would’ve done this?” Ed asked.

‘A stray asteroid.’ a voice said. The four of them looked around before Rockmond saw, what he thinks, is a floating glowing eyeball. It continued as it speaks, seemingly light up when it does. ‘Honestly it was quite surprising, we just appeared out of nowhere after Rose bought something and then ‘poof!’ we were in the ship. We flew around and then found this place…’ it looked around for a bit and then at the sun. ‘It kinda reminds me of mercury, so hot and close to the sun and- oh wait, almost forgot.’

The group watched as the glowing eyeball started to give off a bright light and expand a bit. They covered their eyes as it went off before it dimmed. There standing in front of them is a woman wearing some sort of armor, not like the Tek armory the group had used before. She looked around before stretching a bit.

“Thanks, Beta. That wasn’t fun.” the woman said.

‘Well crashing after getting hit by an asteroid would be bad…’ the eyeball, Beta, said. The woman shook her head before looking at the group.

“Hia.” she greeted.

“Who… are you?” Rockmond asked. The woman tilted her head before looking around her for a moment.

“Hmm, well call me Rose. And since this is a place I haven’t seen I have to say the important phrase.” she said happily.

‘Please don’t.’ Beta asked, which he was ignored.

“Take me to your leader!” Rose said to them, earning her a sigh from Beta.

‘Really?’

“Yes, really.”

Author's Notes:

So I wonder who’s that woman at the end of the chapter? Well of course I know but you all got to wait >:)

Also sorry for taking a long time, ish, my internet was being stupid and couldn’t do anything