Episode Ember Grover: Chapter 4: The Resolve

Chapter 4 of Ember's adventure.

            The sunrise peeked through the window waking Ember up with a gentle glare.  She shielded her eyes as she started to get up and get ready for the day.  As she made her way downstairs still in her pajamas, she saw her mother making breakfast for the two of them.  She smiled and gave her mother a pat on the shoulder.

            “Anywhere to be this morning?” Yang asked as she flipped over one of the pancakes.

            “Not the morning” Ember said as she started pulling fruit together for the two of them.  “But I do have some things to take care of around the house and then we’ve got a trip to make this afternoon.

            “We do?”

            “Given what happened yesterday, I think we need to tell our friends what might be going on.”

            “So we just roll over to Beacon tower and just tell everybody what you saw?”

            “Well, we might need to do some housekeeping beforehand.”

 

 

 

            Both Yang and Ember continued to look over documents that were hand written while the computers continued to create copies of everything that Nathan had recorded during his time with the Order onto flash drives.  Ember felt the same strains of anger that she initially felt when she fought her father, but did her best to keep her composure.  Meanwhile Yang was clearly having a hard time going through everything.

            “I can deal with this myself if you don’t want to look it over mom” Ember said as she took her current page and added it to a manila folder.  “Given everything I understand….”

            “I think this is long overdue” Yang said as she crumpled a paper in her fist.  “I kept trying to convince myself that it wasn’t as bad.  And even after the war, I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t him.  That he died as the war began and Tenebris is another person.  I still feel that way to a certain point even now.  I’ve been lying to myself, and I took it out on you last night.  I’m sorry for that.”

            “No, you were right mom.  I’ve been keeping to myself a lot this past month and change.  Heck, I’ve really fallen out of practice since that big battle.  I need to get off my butt and get back into the thick of things.  And it starts with this right here.  With getting what we have to our friends.”

            “What’s left to get pulled together?”

            “Just these last few files.”

            “Then I’ll start running a few things out to the airship and get it warmed up.”

            “I’ll be right behind you” Ember said giving her mom a thumbs up.  Yang took a few boxes and made her way out of the basement.  Ember looked over the small room, and then at a small pamphlet sticking out of a small pile.  She pulled it out and saw it was an old flyer for the Violet Troupe.  And Em was in the background on the drums.  Ember sighed, and put the pamphlet down.

            “If he won’t listen to you anymore, who will he listen to?” she asked as she turned the lights off and made her way upstairs with more files to put on the airship.

 

 

 

 

 

Beacon Tower

Ozpin’s Office

 

 

 

            Beanie, Ruby, Natalie and Christy continued to pour over the physical files that Ember and Yang had brought to the office.  Meanwhile Weiss, Pyrrha, Sun and Blake all were participating via hologram and pouring over the digital files that Ember had provided.

            “It’s pretty crazy” Sun pondered aloud.

            “Which part?” Weiss asked as she looked over a file going over what Ember saw at the Emerald Forest ruins.

            “Ozpin tried to keep so many of the secrets of this world in check, and we know next to nothing about so much of this world.  But the Order knows about these random nooks and crannies related to ancient magic and secrets like they just went to the library and looked it up in five minutes.”

            “Right,” Blake said raising an eyebrow, “THAT’S the weirdest thing that’s come out of this new information.”

            “Given how much more of the world we’ve learned about during these last few months,” Pyrrha said with a sigh, “I’m inclined to agree with Sun.  Doppelgangers of Miles and Nathan seem to be small in comparison to the growing scope of magic and the universe we keep uncovering.”

            “Hard not to see it when the Order is practically drilling it out of the earth” Beanie said with a sigh.  “But the fact that some small Order factions despite not having any active leadership are clearly enacting some kind of contingency plan is worrying.”

            “And I doubt they’re going to take twenty years to bring it to fruition this time” Ruby said leaning back in Ozpin’s chair.  “This feels less like they’re scrambling to pick up the pieces, this feels like they’re getting ready for the next phase.”

            “Do we think it might have anything to do with the doppelgangers Ember ran into?” Christy asked as she walked over towards to where Ember and Yang were standing.

            “I’m not sure” Ember said scratching her head.  “They seemed more interested in collecting the residual energy that lingered in those ruins rather than using it themselves.”

            “Maybe that’s part of it” Natalie wondered aloud as she went over another report.  “The residual energy can access small pieces at certain times, but collect enough energy…”

            “One might be able to create a specific door” Sun said aloud.  The room fell silent for a moment.

            “And if they were trying to bring back Zenoma Mortem from the dead last time….” Natalie said with growing concern.

            “Who’s to say they won’t bring another version of him back here?” Yang said while clenching her fist.

            “Or worse” Ember said putting her hands behind her head.  The room fell silent for a moment again.  Ruby then stood up from Ozpin’s chair and placed her hands on his desk.

            “We need to find Nathan.”

            “Why him specifically?” Weiss asked.  “We have Anima Imperia in custody, and if we continue to dismantle the remaining Order cells, we should be able to find out what they’re doing while stopping them at the same time.”

            “Imperia isn’t telling us anything” Natalie said pulling up her mugshot.  “She was fiercely loyal to the Order.  And every single grunt we’ve captured are as tight-lipped as she is, refusing to tell us anything.”

            “So what makes you think Nathan would tell us what they’re planning?”

            “For starters,” Ember said stepping forward, “he’s the last of the current leadership of the Order that we haven’t captured or isn’t dead.  And given how things ended with him going off-script and not following through with the resurrection of Mortem and how he was starting to talk about how he thought even the Order had betrayed him, he might be a bit more inclined to tell us what the Order is currently planning since he thinks he needs revenge against them.”

            “He also wants revenge against us” Yang said crossing her arms.  “Not sure which enemy of his enemy is his friend currently.”

            “Either way,” Beanie said as he pressed a few buttons on his Scroll, “we may have been looking for him before this new information, but now we need to do so in earnest.”

            “We weren’t before?” Ruby said tilting her head in confusion.

            “We were approaching this like we have with most members of the Order in the past.  Like we would with most criminals.  But Nathan isn’t going to follow those same tendencies.  He’s convinced he’s the savior of this world and might make moves that further his goals.  We need a wider net.”  As he said this, Jacob, Brooklyn, Ty, Miles and Sage appeared on the holo-call along with everyone else.

            “I thought you said I didn’t need to be on this call honey?” Miles said looking over at Blake as he realized they were on the same call, hung up his own Scroll and joined Blake on her device.

            “I didn’t realize Beanie was going to bring you in” Blake said as she shuffled a few things around so Miles had room.

            “We’re changing our approach on finding Nathan” Beanie said getting right to the point.  “Information has come to our attention that we will relay to your devices after this call is over.  Ty, Jacob and Brooklyn, we need you to double your efforts in trying to find Nathan over in Mistral.”

            “What do you think we’ve been doing?” Jacob asked tilting his head in confusion.

            “I know, but we need you to expand your search.  This is a top priority.”

            “There’s still a lot of moving pieces in regards to the Order’s activities” Sage said as he pulled up an active map of mission board requests in the Vacuo region alone.  “Myself and most of the other huntsman and huntresses are slammed as it is.”

            “Link up with the headmasters of your respective regions” Beanie said as he motioned towards the headmasters in attendance.  “We’ll work together to try and pool our resources together.  I have a feeling this is only going to get worse before it gets better.”

            “We might be able to send some of the members of the Menagerie militia to aid in certain regions” Miles said.  “I doubt Nathan’s here.  I’m one of if not the only human living here full-time and I stick out like a sore thumb.”

            “I’ve got Derrick working on updated security drones here in Atlas” Weiss chimed in holding up a small prototype.  “If we can get these mass-produced, we might be able to help alleviate issues with the search.”

            “Sounds good” Natalie said with a smile.  “Just make sure they can’t get hacked by the Order this time?  Fool me once, you know the rest.”

            “You underestimate my ability” Derrick said as he shoved his way into Weiss’ camera feed to make a quick jab.  Everyone laughed as they continued to get things in alignment.

            “Everyone knows their assignments” Beanie said.  “Keep in touch.”  With that, the call ended.  Everyone returned to what they were doing as Ember and Yang turned to leave.

            “You going to be helping with the search I assume?” Ruby asked the two as they reached the elevator.

            “Only in emergencies” Yang said with a sigh.  “I think I need a bit more time away from fighting.”

            “Fair enough.  Ember?”

            “If you find him or get a really good clue, I’ll be there” Ember said holding up her fist in earnest.  But then she relaxed her fist saying, “but I think I need to be with my mom for the time being.  Our family has been separate from one another long enough.”

            “I understand” Ruby said with a smile.  “Honestly, we should take some time to see Hera since we’re here almost all the time.”

            “You want to take a few minutes to grab lunch?” Ember said with a smile.  “I can text Arri to meet us in the courtyard, then we can grab Gray and Hera, make a day of it.”

 

 

 

 

            Ember walked through the halls of the Beacon dorms, memories of her time in this building coming to the forefront of her mind.  She knocked on the door of Team GASH, and Gray opened the door and started beaming when he saw who it was.  He excitedly gave them a hug, they exchanged greetings, and let him know what they were planning.  He threw his textbook off to the side, grabbed his coat and ran out with them.  They then made their way to the courtyard as they saw the rest of their extended family waiting.  Ember watched as everyone enjoyed the moment of levity.  She almost forgot what she experienced in this courtyard just a month prior, and was able to enjoy the moment without worrying about the future.  Afterwards, they all said their goodbyes, and went their separate ways.  Ember and Yang both returned to their home on Patch, and Yang started getting a light dinner ready.  Ember walked out and saw there was a few more logs that could be chopped up.  She initially started to use her Semblance to split the logs, but she went and grabbed the old axe and started chopping away herself.  As she did so, she felt as if a strange energy was emanating from the forest.  She looked over, but just saw the leaves rustling.  She sighed and got back to work as the Lost Master simply looked on and turned away into a green portal.

 

 

 

 

 

Rest.

Breathe.

For the Gears Are Turning

Time Marches On

The World Marches On

To Its End.

 

 

 

Retribution.

SAGA OF SEASONS

 

 

 

Episode: Ember Grover

End.

 

 

 

Authors Note:

 

            Not going to lie, there are some episodes that I write for this series where I know exactly what I want to write.  The pacing of an episode,, the overarching story, the general lore relevance, and the overall theme I want to go for.  Other times like with this episode?  I feel like I’m spinning my wheels trying to figure out where I want to take certain characters.  I have ideas for Ember’s character during the events of Zero Year make no mistake, but they don’t work unless they are told within the context of future episodes.  As a result, I felt like I was kind of throwing things against the wall and seeing if it stuck with this episode.  At the time of writing this original version, December of 2023, I think when I finish the rest of this book and it comes time to go back over and edit everything, I’m going to want to really look at this episode.  Maybe not change it drastically, but perhaps re-work some of the ideas and themes I tried to play with.  Maybe get rid of or expand upon the moment in Chapter 1 where I allude to some of the townsfolk whispering about her history with Nathan.  Or perhaps trying to create a much better understanding of what the Order was doing in the ruins.  All of these are unique challenges that come with writing an anthology that is connected and relevant to a grander narrative as opposed to one large book with a beginning middle and end.  Now I know why Nomura never his original vision for Birth By Sleep 2, it is a challenge.  One that I am excited to take on still to this day, but hope that my friends will continue to offer feedback as to what they think does and does not work.  I don’t want to be told I’m the greatest writer in the world or all my stuff is flawless, nor do I want to be degraded by being told my writing is garbage.  I just want to know what I did well and what I could do better next time so I can tell even better stories next time.

Author's Note

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