Chapter 12: Agenda

Once I returned to the world beyond Cainhurst, I made my way to the depths of the Cathedral District and into a forest teeming with man-beasts. Unfortunately, I soon found something far more disturbing.

A short distance into the forest, I found a ramshackle settlement. After dispatching yet more maddened souls who sought my death, I found myself exploring a deep cavern. Eventually, I came upon a lake of what appeared to be mercury; the very air carried a noxious odour that made my head heavy. But something in my gut told me to proceed onwards, and so I did.

What I found at the end of that cave...I had previously held some faint hope that the Healing Church genuinely believed that their blood ministration would help people, and perhaps some of the lower echelons did believe that.

This 'Choir', though… They cannot be forgiven. Every last one of those subhuman monsters will be my Prey this night.

Journal of Cadfan Lloyd, The Good Hunter, Vol II

Circa 0 M.F.

(10,000 Years prior to the Awakening)

-x-x-x-

Annalise disembarked easily from the Bullhead, her boots making precious little noise as she walked up the stone path toward Beacon. Cadfan fell into step behind her, his passage silent as the grave. As Qrow, Isolde, and Ozpin followed suit, albeit with a more normal level of noise marking their passing, the Queen spoke. "A fascinating vehicle, that 'Bullhead' of yours. What feat of engineering or sorcery keeps it afloat, We wonder?"

Ozpin cleared his throat. "Well, we hardly have the time to discuss the principles of aerodynamics at length, but suffice it to say that the way it is designed, coupled with usage of Wind and Gravity Dust, allows it to exploit the wind and remain airborne." The Headmaster adjusted his spectacles, then continued. "If you remain curious beyond that, I'm sure that James would be willing to discuss technology with you at a later date."

Qrow chuckled. "Yeah, ol' metalhead'll take pretty much any opportunity to talk about tech, especially if it's his tech." The Huntsman affected a serious tone of voice. "'Atlas science is the greatest in the world!' and all that crap." He shook his head. "Man really needs to get laid."

Ozpin gave a mock-weary sigh. "You know very well that James is married to his work, Qrow. What's more, debauchery is not the answer to every problem, as you also well know."

A barking laugh was given in response. "Yeah, but it usually makes 'em suck less," Qrow shot back.

The Headmaster rolled his eyes, the slight upward quirk of his lips belying any real irritation.

Annalise gave a chuckle. "Truly, you surround yourself with a bevy of interesting characters, Headmaster."

Ozpin huffed, a wry smile on his face. "So I am reminded, often to the bane of my sanity."

After a few minutes of walking, the group had entered Beacon, joining with Glynda Goodwitch upon entry, and returned to Ozpin's office. As they ascended to the top of Beacon Tower, Annalise absently commented on the "improvement in elevator quality compared to Castle Cainhurst's own lifts". Once they entered the office, Ozpin moved to pull some chairs from a closet, but Qrow had already slouched up against the wall, while Annalise had...slit her jugular. Because of course she had.

Ozpin pinched his brow as a chair – no, a throne made entirely of sickly-sweet scented blood took form in the center of his office, Queen Annalise reclining in it with all the easy grace and casual lethality of a panther. Ever the loyal knight, Cadfan took up position beside her, arms folded behind his back.

A single grey eyebrow arched at his gaze, and Ozpin sighed. 'Bevy of interesting characters indeed,' he mused wryly. Shaking his head, he took his own seat and pulled up the Cross Continental Transit System's most highly encrypted video calling software, which had been set up by his Deputy Headmistress. Speaking of dear Glynda, she'd...mostly recovered from the macabre sight she'd been faced with, and had taken up position at his side, a bizarre near-mirror to Cadfan's position beside his Queen.

Three screens shimmered into existence above his desk, each depicting a different person. The first was a stern-faced man, with short black hair that faded to grey at the sides. The second was another man, this one looking more than a bit harried, his dark grey hair and impressive beard tousled almost violently.

The third was a woman with dark hair that cascaded down her back, though in truth her appearance was youthful enough that one might mistake her for a child...until they met her eyes. She had ancient eyes, royal purple ones that had seen many wonders and horrors alike. Indeed, anyone looking could easily tell that this was a woman who had many stories to tell.

Ozpin greeted them each in turn, "James, good evening. Leonardo, I do apologise for waking you at such a late hour. Gayle…" He paused for a moment, then gave a slight smile. "It's been too long since we spoke; since we all spoke, for that matter."

The greying man, General James Ironwood, was the one to reply. "That it has, Ozpin. But you wouldn't call us all this late for small talk, so why don't you introduce your guests to us?"

At this, Annalise rose from her sanguine throne, her crimson cloak flaring dramatically as she threw her arms out to either side. "We are Annalise, monarch of Forsaken Cainhurst, immortal Queen of the Vilebloods, and anointed handmaiden of Mother Kos. This," she declared, gesturing to Cadfan, "is Our loyal knight and sole subject, Cadfan Lloyd, last disciple of Gehrman, the First Hunter."

The Queen allowed her arms to fall back to her sides, then returned to her seat and smiled. There were more teeth in that smile than anyone was comfortable with. "We come to strike a bargain, and to offer alliance against that upstart pretender, Salem."

Here, Ozpin broke in. "Bartholomew came across an odd ruin deep beneath the Emerald Forest after an earthquake, and Mr. Lloyd over there was...sleeping, I suppose you could call it, deep within, watched over by a living woman made of ceramic and wood."

"And Dreams," Cadfan interjected solemnly. "When a being of sufficient cosmic weight Dreams, or allows others to Dream as it would...the world bows to that Dream."

Ozpin nodded, then continued his explanation of Bartholomew and his' first encounter with Cadfan and Isolde, then later Annalise. Notably, he made no mention of the Lattice, the Great Ones, or the particulars of Cadfan's existence, nor did he disclose the fact that Summer Rose was alive.

As Ozpin spoke, each member of his audience handled the tale in a very different manner. James Ironwood tented his hands, the only signs of his increasing stress and agitation being the slight furrow to his brow and, if one were to listen extremely carefully, the faint metallic creaking coming from his sole gloved hand.

Leonardo Lionheart covered his own stress well, but not nearly as well as the iron-faced Ironwood. It showed up in little ways, in half a dozen minor ticks that taken alone would pass completely unnoticed, but together they painted a picture of an already-overburdened man receiving news that would only complicate his life further.

The final member of the trio, Gayle Chocolette, seemed to react not at all, her face tranquil and inscrutable. It was only fitting that, as Ozpin wound down from his explanation, she was the first to speak. Or rather, hers was the voice that cut through the clamorous volley of questions and demands spilling from Ironwood's mouth.

That voice was silvery and tinged with amusement. "You spoke of a bargain and an alliance, Queen Annalise. Naturally, Ozpin would not bring such a thing to our attention if he did not believe it worthy of serious consideration." Gayle's hand dipped into one sleeve of her shirt, only to emerge with a paper fan. Even as a shark-like grin split her face, Gayle flicked the fan open with a single practiced movement, partially concealing the gleeful expression that her face had twisted into.

"Please, do elaborate on your proposals," pressed the woman who'd once born the title of "Hemlock Empress of Mistral," her eyes glinting with excitement at the negotiations to come.

Annalise, for her part, seemed amused at the barely-leashed fervor that the other woman displayed. "Simply put: We request aid in returning the venerable Castle Cainhurst to its former glory, as well as for Cainhurst to be considered a Kingdom in the eyes of your world. Further, We would be a part of your inner circle, that We might better coordinate against the pretender."

The Queen raised a hand to forestall any protests, which was a good choice, judging from the way Ironwood was opening his mouth.."Of course, We acknowledge that Our desires are hardly minor things, but We are more than willing to offer from Our own considerable resources, as well as to go into combat alongside Our knight."

At this, the General cut in. "While having two immortals working against Salem would be an incredible asset, I have to ask: what other resources are you talking about, exactly? Ozpin made it sound like your Castle was in disrepair, and you yourself said that you needed help to repair it."

Annalise nodded. "Indeed, the seat of Our power is in a truly appalling state of disrepair. To answer your inquiry, however..." At this, Annalise rose, her throne dissolving into a pool of blood. She drew Adjudicator from its sheath, planted its flat tip against the bloodsoaked floor and spoke a Word.

The air thrummed with inscrutable energy.

A pale, feminine figure rose from the blood, translucent and shimmering with memories of aeons long passed. Her silver eyes alone gleamed with life as they ghosted over the occupants of the room, pausing briefly on Ozpin then returning to rest on the Queen.

"Ser Lloyd is Our sole living knight," Annalise said, resheathing her blade, "but countless specters of the past have pledged themselves to Us beyond even their deaths. To do so is the most honorable, selfless act one of Our knights can perform, and the greatest possible expression of their trust in Us."

With a wave of the Queen's hand, the specter faded from reality, offering a courtly bow as she dissolved into the ether.

"Furthermore," she added, "it occurs to Us that we neglected to mention a particular benefit to Our estate. Namely, that no being may enter the grounds without Our explicit permission, not even the spawn of Ahriman and her dark brood."

"That is to say," Cadfan interjected, "The Grimm are physically incapable of entering Cainhurst grounds unless Her Majesty allows it."

All was silent for a moment or two. Then, the room was filled with noise.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Once the negotiation-turned-interrogation (Ironwood was quite displeased to learn that the spells warding Cainhurst had been lost to time) concluded, Ozpin instructed Qrow to take Cadfan and Annalise back to Patch, and to spend some time with his family as well.

"After all, there's no telling what or when her next move will be."

As the trio returned to the small island, the sun was beginning to sink behind the trees. Upon returning to the Rose/Xiao-Long home, they were faced with the sight of three people laid out on the grass, breathing heavily, while the fourth shook his head, chuckled, and brought his wife and daughters a few bottles of water.

By the time Ruby, Summer, and Yang had gotten up from the dirt and moved to a significantly more comfortable seating on the porch, Qrow had disappeared into the house for a nap, and Annalise and Cadfan had taken positions across from one another.

"I trust that you will hold nothing back, Our knight." the Vileblood Queen said, brandishing her massive, flat-tipped executioner's sword with one hand.

"To do any less would impugn upon both of our honor, my Queen." Cadfan replied, drawing the bone-hilted, moonstone-bladed Holy Moonlight Sword from where it had been sheathed across his back. He brandished the weapon with one hand, the other hand clutching a brace of glittering aquamarine knives that had sprouted from his flesh.

"If we are in agreement, then COME!" Annalise declared, clenching her empty, gauntleted fist. From the back of the gauntlet sprang a triangular blade, reminiscent of a katar. What she used it to do, however, was quite different from what people tended to use katars for.

With a blur of her arm, Annalise's throat was open, and blood fountained from it once more. A scarlet corona wreathed her body and enveloped her blade in a sheath of crimson. Even as the wound in her throat sealed itself, she was rushing forward, blade trailing a ribbon of red behind her.

In the middle of the clearing, she was met by Cadfan, who'd lunged forward into a series of blistering thrusts that one would normally expect from a rapier, not a greatsword. Undeterred, one hand came off her blade to bat away the strikes while the other brought Adjudicator around towards his throat in a vorpal arc.

Cadfan's hand left the Holy Moonlight Sword mid-thrust as he spun, both of his hands suddenly filled with the thin, gleaming Blades of Mercy. The fragile-looking daggers held firm as they scraped against the massive blade, indestructible Arcane siderite flashing and clashing half a dozen times in the span of a second.

As Cadfan ghosted just out of Annalise's range, the Blades disappeared into his sleeve once more, having reclaimed his trusty greatsword before it had even struck the ground. Without missing a beat, he snapped the fingers of his off hand, causing the crystalline knives he'd dropped at the same time as his blade to erupt in light where they lay scattered around his Queen. She would only be blinded for the briefest of moments, but even the barest instant of vulnerability could turn the tide of battle.

As Annalise blinked the spots from her eyes, she felt more than heard the whisper of Cadfan's Quickening enhanced movement behind her. With no time to turn to meet the strike that she knew was coming, she had but one recourse. With a wordless cry, the blood that was clinging to her like a second skin burst, hurling Cadfan backwards as it briefly ignited into pale red flame. The Vileblood Queen turned on her heel, the remaining blood from her aura curving up and around her left shoulder like a macabre fusion between a talon and a wing.

Cadfan slowly rose from where he'd been knocked prone, the wide brim of his hat shading his eyes as he ripped shards of hardened, searing hot blood from his chest. With a cry that was half roar, half howl, and all unearthly, the hunter pounced forward, laying about with his blade in a chaotic, frantic frenzy. Annalise weaved through some of the strikes and deflected others with sword, hand, and wing. Due to both the speed and unpredictability of the attacks, however, grazes and nicks began to pile up on both her armor and her flesh, though the latter healed almost the instant they were made.

As the Queen moved to counter the blistering assault, she was unexpectedly beset as four fleshy tendrils erupted from beneath Cadfan's coat, lashing at her with tips armored in razor-sharp, aquamarine crystal. Worse yet, when she severed one, from the stump two more budded to take its place.

As things stood, Annalise would be quickly overwhelmed by her knight. She couldn't accept such an easy loss; it would be unbefitting of the Vileblood legacy! With gritted teeth and wild eyes she disengaged, her wing of blood smashing the tendrils aside as she leapt back and up, dragging herself skyward with the very blood in her veins. Every bit of blood outside of her body began to gather along her blade as she raised it to the heavens with both hands, burning first with that same pale red flame and then an aura of dark crimson lightning.

Below her, Cadfan ran a hand along the blade of his own weapon, the arcane energy within him stirring briefly and in turn rousing the leashed moonlight within the sword. A wave of turquoise starlight followed his hand as the true form of the Holy Moonlight Sword materialized in all its cosmic glory. The once-dull sword now glowed with an unearthly light, its blade easily doubled in thickness. Mind twisting fractals and whorls swirled along the flat of the blade, further adding to the eerie beauty of the weapon.

But the weapon's beauty was, for the moment, irrelevant. No, what was important was the mystic weapon's power. As Cadfan bent his knees in preparation for a leap of his own, he drew back his blade, its tip pointing behind him even as the weapon's glow grew ever brighter.

A moment passed, then two...and then, Annalise fell on Cadfan like a lightning bolt from heaven, bringing her crackling blade down with all the force she could muster. Even as his Queen struck at him with all her might, Cadfan moved to match her, frozen arcane moonlight clashing with scorching blood lightning. For a couple of seconds, it seemed as though they were at a stalemate, blades locked and mystic arts countering each other perfectly.

Then, with all the force of a gunshot, all four of Cadfan's tendrils punched through Annalise's armor and torso, wrapping around her and binding her limbs to her sides. Adjudicator fell from twitching fingers, the dark burning of the Queen's blood winking out as it clattered to the tortured earth.

For indeed, the area in which they'd clashed resembled nothing less than the impact site of a meteorite, grass burned away and dirt melted to molten rock, which had then been rapidly cooled by the Holy Moonlight Sword's own no less devastating power. As the wind settled, the scents of burning greenery, ozone and blood began to hang thickly around the combatants.

"It seems that We will need to train further with you, dear knight," Annalise remarked wryly. "Clearly, millennia trapped in that damnable chair did Our prowess in battle no favors."

"As you wish, my Queen," Cadfan agreed as he disengaged, his tendrils disappearing into the folds of his coat as though they'd never been there in the first place.

Their bout done, the duo turned to face their erstwhile audience. Yang was staring, jaw hanging loose, while Ruby seemed to be nearly vibrating in excited awe.

Summer's expression was partially obscured by her hood, but what could be seen of her face suggested that whatever it was that she "saw," it had shaken her. Taiyang was wide-eyed, but judging from where his eyes were lingering, it was less due to their spar and more due to the additional damage to their yard.

As for Qrow? The man had apparently been woken up by their clash, and had come out to see what all the ruckus was about. He let out a low whistle before taking a modest (well, modest for him at least) sip of whatever was in his flask.

"Man. You two really did a number on the yard, didn't cha?" Qrow gave a lopsided grin. "Reminds me of when Summer and Rae would fight over T-grk!" Whatever he'd been about to say was cut off when Summer practically teleported to his side and gagged him with a vine made of Aura.

"Ignore him," she said with a smile just this side of sinister. "He's clearly had too much to drink and is delirious."

Summer's claims would've probably been more believable if her cheeks weren't visibly red with embarrassment.

Annalise chuckled quietly, picking up Adjudicator and sheathing it at her back. She then pressed a hand to one of the holes in her armor, her actual wounds having already closed back up. A dark crimson rune flashed on her hand, too quickly for anyone to see anything but curves and points. When she removed her hand, the space beneath was pristine once more, as though no damage had been done to it in the first place. She repeated this process on the rest of the holes, and in short order, her regal adornment was flawless once more.

"Ah, descendant," the Queen said, a thought occurring to her. "We have a gift for you, as you mentioned that your weapons were lost in the fight with...her pawns."

Annalise reached beneath her cloak and produced a sizeable pouch. Undoing the strings revealed four ingots of a shimmering metal, reminiscent of Cadfan's Blades of Mercy. "Mortal hands will not be able to easily work this siderite, but Our knight will be able to mould it as a baker does dough." The Queen smiled gently. "We do hope that you will be able to replicate your weapons with this, dear descendant." Annalise's smile was quickly replaced with a look of shock as Summer wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug, thanking her profusely.

His speech no longer impeded by Summer's Semblance, Qrow let out a guffaw. "Like mother like daughter; once a weapon nut, always a weapon nut."

In spite of the face his Queen was making (which was blatantly a plea for help) Cadfan merely gave a small smile, and shook his head at Summer's antics. 'It is nice to be around such lively humans. I could be imagining things, but I think some of my own humanity is being drawn back out by being around them.'

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Are you certain that is what she said? Kos?"

"Y-yes, Your Grace. 'Annalise, monarch of Forsaken Cainhurst, immortal Queen of the Vilebloods, and anointed handmaiden of Mother Kos'. T-those were her exact words."

"..."

"Your Grace?"

"No, surely not. That old fool is desperate, but not that desperate. To trust in those things would lead to a surer and more violent extinction for all than laying down arms and allowing my children inside would. If this 'Annalise' is truly anointed with the power of the Great One of the Deep, she will inevitably cause friction within his little group.

"As for her so-called impregnable fortress...well. There does not exist a wall my children cannot circumvent, no spell that I cannot Destroy, given time. Her arrogance will be her undoing."

"A-as you say, Your Grace."

AN: Emerges from the depths of Lost Pthumeru, Beast Cutter in one hand, tome of fanfiction mystic hymns in the other, prosthetic hand, and the Mortal Blade strapped to his back

Kept you waiting, huh? Frankly speaking, my life has been a swirling maelstrom of various chaoses, major and minor, for quite some time. I haven't updated this fic in more than 5 months, and for that I sincerely apologize. I've really been struggling with this chapter, but at long last I have finished it. I hope you all enjoy.