The wind was cold tonight.
Vale glittered below like a sprawl of sleeping stars, stretching out to the dark horizon where ocean met sky. The faint hum of traffic echoed from far below, where four individuals were. The building top was otherwise quiet — save for the low whistle of a breeze weaving between antennae and the rusted edges of the water tank.
Ozpin sat on the edge of that tank, legs crossed loosely and cane resting across his lap. He was gazing down at the city, watching the way its lights bled into each other, the way the lights pulsed faintly against the night fog. His coat swayed in the wind, and the reflection of neon signs from a nearby building shimmered across his black sunglasses.
Why he was wearing sunglasses during the night, no one knew...
Qrow stretched his arms over his head, a long, heavy yawn breaking the silence. "Alright, Oz," he muttered, tone half-exasperated, half-lazy. "I gotta ask. Why're we up here again? You call us out after a whooping like that and make us stand on a damn skyscraper? Is this going to be a recurring theme?"
Ozpin smiled faintly, the corner of his mouth twitching. "It's peaceful up here," he said, his voice mild. "Vale looks nice from this angle. Freeing, in a sense. Better than being trapped behind the same office walls every night."
Qrow snorted, rubbing the back of his neck. "Could've fooled me. Looks cold and windy to me."
Before he could say more, Winter shot him a glare that could've frozen the air around them. Her long white hair shimmered faintly in the city light, elegantly dressed down despite the failure they'd endured in the dream, earlier. Qrow caught the look, raised his hands in surrender, and muttered something under his breath that sounded vaguely like "ice queen."
Raven however, ignored the both of them. She stood a few meters away, perched near the edge of the rooftop, one foot resting on the parapet. Her katana lay unsheathed in her hand, the blade catching slivers of moonlight as she lazily ran her nail across its edge. She wasn't really filing it— just keeping her hands busy.
A vague scowl could be seen on her face.
Qrow leaned against a vent, pulled a flask of... something strong from his coat, and took a long drink. The smell of whiskey drifted into the cold air. Winter's glare twitched slightly in his direction but she didn't comment.
Ozpin tilted his head toward her instead. "Miss Schnee," he said softly, "you were in command of that operation. Let's start once more from the beginning."
Winter nodded once, posture straightening. The steel in her eyes reflected both duty and weariness. "Yes, sir."
She inhaled slowly and began once again.
While they were patrolling across a hillside sector of Vale, five humanoid signatures attacked them. Four of which, were strong enough to register as Rank Twos and one of which as a Rank One. They emerged from a warehouse and immediately went guns glazing.
Winter's team counterattacked, but found that the leader of these rank 2's had an extremely tough body. Practically impossible to damage through conventional means. Later, the chant began.
It cut through everything—sharp, layered and malignant. Raven's counterattack disrupted it mid-ritual, but it wasn't enough.
The leader's body convulsed and reshaped into something grotesque like a Mutant Amalgamation grimm. He was able to produce flesh tendrils that were slick with marrow and bone. They could spiral outwards like roots from a tree. The second instance of chanting that followed later on, was worse. The area of the dreamscape stilled as if the very concept of motion had been suspended.
Winter's memory of it still lodged like glass under her ribs. The way the sound had reached into her lungs. The way her heartbeat had slowed without her consent.
The sky above them felt as it it had been cracked open and something vast and unseen, a gaze of unknown proportions pressed down upon the world. It was a pressure so immense it felt like existence itself was being judged.
Qrow had compared it to Aura Pressure which high ranks could perform on lower ranks, but infinitely greater. This, had the ability to suppress everything, even rune skills, to a certain extent— as seen from when the three's abilities spluttered out. Even Raven had looked pale beneath the half-light of the broken moon when that presence appeared.
And then, without warning, the pressure of that existence somehow was able to force them out of the dream realm and back into their real bodies.
That group was the only one who wasn't affected. Like that gaze had specifically chosen to spare them of its scrutiny.
That mysterious group hadn't attacked afterwards, stating that killing them was worth little, after all. And most importantly, all life belonged to the sleeper.
Ozpin listened to the report in silence. His expression remained unreadable, but the tightening of his gaze betrayed thought, not calm.
Ozpin had already sent other reconnaissance teams to the area but due to the nature of the dream and its ability to reset the landscape, there was nothing to be found of the groups traces. What was interesting however, was that the reset had happened quite fast...
The wind shifted. Qrow leaned against the rail, his usual countenance now dulled into something closer to fatigue. Raven stood apart, katana sheathed, posture taut with the memory of unease. Winter kept her stance rigid, though the faint tremor in her fingers told the rest.
Ozpin's cane tapped once against the metal ground—a quiet, thoughtful sound. The name "Sleeper" lingered in his mind like a stain. It was no doubt a cult of some sort. But the idea that they could summon that entity... was... problematic.
Finally, Ozpin exhaled and removed his glasses, pressing his fingers against his temple. When he spoke, it was more to the night than to the others. The organization was much more dangerous than he had anticipated.
Ozpin's fingers brushed lightly against the head of his cane. "Did any of you manage to discern what they were doing there in the first place?"
Winter's expression didn't change, but her eyes flicked briefly toward the ruined skyline far below. "No, sir. Before we could investigate, the warehouse they emerged from was obliterated from the inside." She hesitated a fraction. "By that rank 1."
Qrow frowned. "The spear/cannon user?"
Winter nodded once. "Exactly. The impact wasn't too strong but... from the looks of it, we were somehow discovered before we could even get close."
Ozpin's brows drew together, thoughtful. "So in the midst of doing... something... they had known that they'd been discovered."
"That's the strange part," Winter replied. "They shouldn't have. My Seal Rune was active the entire time — everything inside my radius was locked down. Sound, light, aura signatures and even presence itself. We should have been ghosts." Her jaw tightened. "And yet, somehow, they sensed us anyway."
Raven's voice cut in from the edge of the rooftop, low and unimpressed. "Or perhaps they weren't sensing us at all. Maybe whatever they were doing in there was an attempt to be noticed by something else."
"Something else?" Qrow muttered, squinting. "That's comforting."
Winter ignored him, continuing evenly, "Once the warehouse collapsed, the situation became too chaotic to assess. Between the chanting, the transformation, and the interference from that... thing, determining their goal was impossible. But given the nature of the ritual, I can assure you — it wasn't anything good."
The silence that followed was heavier this time, thick with unspoken agreement. Even the wind seemed to quiet, as if the night itself was listening.
His gaze drifted toward the horizon, where the dark edge of the Dreamscape met the sky. Somewhere out there was the man they had fought—the one who had fired truck-sized projectiles from half a kilometer away. A weak Rank One whose weapon that had transformed mid-battle.
The Spear user.
Ozpin's brow furrowed slightly. "His armor — dark metal, stylized markings along the side of the weapon?"
Winter blinked. "Yes. You know him?"
Ozpin's gaze didn't leave the skyline. His tone grew heavier. "Operative Jaune Arc encountered someone with a similar description approximately four and a half months ago. Back in Ansel."
Qrow straightened at that, his expression tightening. "Oh... I think I remember you mentioning something like that to me, a while ago..."
Ozpin nodded. "At the time, Jaune was just awakening to the Dream and LUCID hadn't found him yet. But there was an incident… one that resulted in the death of a Peak Rank 1 operative in Ansel that went by the name, Raymond Red."
Winter's eyes narrowed slightly. "You're saying—"
"I'm saying," Ozpin interrupted quietly, "that the description matches perfectly. The weapon. The stance. Even the range of attack. It's likely the same man."
The rooftop fell silent again, save for the wind whispering through the vents.
Raven finally sheathed her katana, her voice calm but cold. "So, the one who killed this Raymond Red guy wasn't just a random assassin. He's part of this group."
Ozpin nodded slowly. "It would seem so."
He glanced at the three of them, his eyes reflecting the faint city lights — tired, thoughtful, and edged with something like dread.
"This is no longer a fragmented threat," he said at last. "This group... they have history and now we can guess their purpose. They're moving more in the open now."
Qrow capped his flask and pocketed it. "Guess we're not sleeping easy tonight."
Raven smirked faintly. "Since when do you sleep at all?"
Qrow shot her a sidelong glance. "Touché."
Winter folded her arms, staring at Ozpin. "What's our next move?"
Ozpin turned back to the city, watching the shimmering sprawl of lights. "For now?" he said softly. "It seems that I need to have a chat with Ironwood."
He paused, voice dropping just above a whisper.
"Because if operative Arc's intelligence, received from his father is true, then this group, The Sleepless, have officially declared war on us."
"War..." Raven muttered, her thumb resting on her red lips.
"Indeed. Perhaps it's time for LUCID to respond as well, and excise this cancer before it can cause a great loss to humanity. I'll be damned if I let some sleeping god decide the lives of all humans."
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AN: Short chapter today
Advanced chapters are available on patreon.