Have you ever heard that (rather insensitive) joke that all old people know each other? Well, in a sense, it's very true, especially when it comes to teachers.
More specifically, Professors Chiron, and Ozpin, the men with only one name. Chiron and Ozpin had been in correspondence for what would be in Earth time, thousands of years, but was in Remnant, only twenty or so. Chiron spoke mostly about the heroes he trained, and he sent pictures of them in the envelopes (or in some cases, crates, for the more prehistoric photographs). His tales were long winded and generally somber, ending with a tragic death and a gorgeous young corpse, but the recent ones had become more...upbeat, one might say, and a single name began to stand out among the rest; Perseus, or more commonly, Percy.
The recent letters had gone along the lines of; sigh, you'll never believe what Percy did today, he saved the world again. Percy has defeated Kronos, Percy preserved Olympus. Percy this, Percy that! It was enough to drive a grown man batty, and so it did. Soon Ozpin began compiling a list of things that he would do to Chiron or his precious disciple should he ever see either of them, and then his chance arrived, in the form of another incessant, rambling missive. But this was different. This letter was rushed and muddled, but still properly worded, despite Ozpin's sinking feeling that this strange red ink was blood.
Esteemed Ozpin,
I am distressed to announce that Perseus has been banished from Camp Half-Blood. The powers 'on high' have determined him to be a threat to the safety of the other campers after a training accident recently took a turn for the near fatal. Perseus was sparring with an older camper who had survived the most recent wars, and he inadvertently stabbed the young lady with his blade, resulting in massive injuries. Though there was no loss of life, Perseus has been deemed a danger and has been provided with two options for continued survival, total submission to Olympus, an affable idea, seeing as Perseus thrives on rebellion. The second was immediate expulsion from Camp Half-Blood, and as unfortunate as this prospect is, it was for the best, especially now that Perseus has travelled the world and refined his skills to their maximum potential here on earth. I would request that you accept Perseus, or Percy as he pleads that I call him, into Beacon academy so that he may train beyond the edges of his restraint in his current position. Your acquiescence would be most appreciated and Percy will be more than capable of keeping up with the curriculum, despite whatever may arise. Please consider and respond as soon as convenient, and if inconvenient, respond anyway.
Humbly Yours,
-Chiron.
"As if I could refuse a request from Chiron, one of my oldest friends." Ozpin sighed emphatically, not noticing Glynda's stare, or at least bearing it no mind. "I need paper."
Chiron,
A student of yours is a student of mine, pardon my brevity, but the Vytal Festival is approaching.
-Ozpin
"Glynda, could you please have this letter sent to the usual address?" Ozpin asked dismissively, mentally preparing obstacles and tortures for the 'great hero of the new age' as Chiron once said. Ozpin had seen the rise and fall of many a hero and he had no intentions of allowing this hero to simply become an afterthought after all of the effort that Chiron put into the boy. "He will be the best." Ozpin whispered eerily.
"Professor Ozpin." The secretary of the ground floor called up. "You have a visitor, shall I send him up?"
"Yes please." The professor replied, and after a pause he continued. "Also, Meredith, take tomorrow off, your throat is far too sore for you to work."
"Um...I-thank you sir." Meredith responded, clearing her throat.
"I assume you were entertained by the letter?" Ozpin asked, without turning around to even glance at Glynda as she walked in.
"Yes, I was." Glynda replied tersely, not bothering to ask how Ozpin knew. He always knew.
"The Vytal Festival is in two days..." Ozpin muttered, his eyes scanning the schedule shown on his computer screen. "Perseus is going to be here tomorrow, would you kindly set him up with a dorm room, any room?"
He didn't look up, but Glynda knew he was talking to her. "I will set something up, but I'll need him in class soon."
Chiron,
Percy Jackson has arrived, and has already been assigned a new team, I know you'd like them, they're a group of teens with attitude, of which he'll be the fifth, if only Zordon were still here. I look forward to hearing from you again, and I hope that one day we will meet in person-
"Professor Ozpin?" A rough, almost haggard voice asked. Ozpin looked up. Standing at the far end of his office were two young people, both exerting auras of power, but also of calm.
"You must be Mr. Jackson, I've heard a lot about you." Ozpin said mysteriously, his unnerving stare focused entirely on Perseus who looked like this sort of thing happened every day. Then Ozpin's eyes turned to the girl. "However, I was not awaiting a second pupil to be arriving with you."
"I'm Korra." The girl stated calmly, a relatively peaceful smile on her face. Ozpin raised an eyebrow and she continued. "I'm here on the orders of Monk Tenzin, I have letters."
Ozpin's stare didn't lessen, in fact, at the mention of Tenzin it increased. Tenzin and Ozpin's hadn't spoken in quite a while, and now he was sending Ozpin an Avatar. Perseus saw that Ozpin's glare was slowly darkening, and Korra shifted.
"My name's not Jackson, it's Nightshade." Percy stated simply, interrupting Ozpin's eerie staring. Then, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling, he continued. "I'm loving the whole 'emerald-clockwork-post-modern' thing, very chic."
"Nightshade, hm?" Ozpin smiled eerily, his mind quickly changing trains. "I've heard from Chiron that you had a friend that went by that same name, and she died."
"I have many friends that have died." Perseus muttered, his eyes turning dark.
"Like Annabeth?" Ozpin suggested offhandedly.
"You so shouldn't have said that." Korra said warningly, looking up in desperation.
Time and space shifted, contorting out of pure fear as Perseus disappeared from his current position and reappeared standing on top of Ozpin's desk, his sword out and glowing dangerously, mere inches from Ozpin's neck.
Glynda waved her riding crop in her hand, but the magic was batted aside by the aura of space distorting power that Perseus exuded, Korra was the next to react, drawing her staff, but she wasn't confident that she could win a fight against the now smoking Perseus.
"You may not deign to speak my angel's name. My eyes tell me that you have massacred thousands and your foolishness has led to the deaths of thousands more. You do not deserve to speak of her." The eyes that Perseus spoke of were currently glowing like Greek embers, smoking at their edges.
"I'm sorry Perseus, I truly am." Ozpin said, looking less repentant than piteous. "You loved her, and you lost her."
Perseus stepped off of Ozpin's desk, his sword recapped now. Glynda still stood in the corner, coiled so tight that a violin string would be slouching by comparison. "I'm sorry as well, I'm learning to control myself, but her name...it strikes something."
"This outburst will not be overlooked." Glynda asserted, stepping forward, gathering herself to her full height. "How do we know that next time you won't kill someone?"
"I'm sorry, what's your name?" Perseus asked, his gaze sharp.
"Professor Goodwitch." Glynda answered, her stomach in knots, staring down Perseus' endless eyes. "Glynda Goodwitch."
"It's nice to meet you, Glynda, and since only Ozpin knows of Annabeth, there won't be a next time, will there?" Perseus said nonchalantly. Korra cleared her throat and looked between Perseus and Glynda and then toward the elevator.
"I was told that I would be tested upon arrival, can we hurry this up?" Korra asked, her foot beginning to tap along to an unknown beat. Perseus nodded as well, and looked between the two teachers who guided them along to the elevator and down to the combat room. As the elevator descended, Perseus and Korra began to shoot each other looks, having a silent conversation. Ozpin looked between the two, trying to decipher what they were discussing.
"Chiron mentioned that you may be joining the Vytal Festival, and if so, then you will need two fellow teammates, unless you would like to combat four opponents at once?" The professor asked challengingly. Korra looked at Percy who simply shrugged and nodded. "I thought you might."
The elevator ride thereafter was short and tense, and ended much too slowly for some. Percy shoved his fists into his pockets and let his eyes wander in wonderment, as did Korra, Percy hadn't been in a city like this before, and he was enjoying it more than he thought he would. Korra was amazed at the strange architecture she was seeing, and was also looking for a place to eat.
"So, this is Beacon Academy?" Percy asked to himself. He turned on the ball of his foot and did a full three-sixty, checking the entire place out before spotting a group of eight people headed in the same direction as them. One person stuck out in particular to Perseus, a tall blonde girl with wild and untamable curly hair. "Which building is the fighting in?"
"The Amphidrome. You'll be expected there in five minutes, and you should arm yourself, you will be facing many opponents." Ozpin smiled, his voice flat.
"That sounds fun." Korra said sarcastically, causing Percy to sigh.
"We'll be there in three minutes, I just have to go grab a drink or something." He lied smoothly, taking a quick detour to meet up with the eight. He quickly caught up with the group and began to eavesdrop silently in their conversation.
"So, there's this huge Ursa, and like 5 Beowulf's, and me and Ren are surrounded, but then Ren whipped out his ninja moves and I just started swinging my hammer like crazy and we kicked butt and sold the pelts for money and bought pancakes!" The pink haired girl, Nora expounded. The rest of the group sighed like they had heard the story before.
"So, you just swing your hammer around?" Yang asked, looking uncertain.
"That sounds like a solid backup plan!" Perseus quipped, surprising the entire group. Jaune let out a quick yelp while Ren simply raised an eyebrow, his ninja senses had warned him of Perseus' approach. Percy tossed his arms over Jaune and Ruby's shoulders and walked between them, smiling. "I used to do that whole thing with the wildly swinging of weapons, it worked pretty well, but anyway, I'm Perseus, who're you?"
"I'm Ruby."
"Nora!"
"I'm Ren, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Um, I'm Jaune."
"I'm Yang, this is Weiss and Blake."
"Hello! I'm Pyrrha."
"I'm Korra!" Korra spoke up from the other side of the group, causing everyone (bar Perseus) to jump again, especially Blake, who was used to being able to detect people coming up behind her. "I'm Perseus' friend."
"Is no one going to ask why we're here, and what we're doing?" Perseus begged, pouting slightly. Yang took the bait.
"So, you come here often stranger?" She asked.
"Me and Korra are here for the sexy convention, just like you guys, and let me say." Here Perseus winked at Jaune and Yang. "I'm looking forward to the blonde division."
"I don't really-" Jaune began, but Percy interrupted him with a finger to his lips and a quiet hush.
"Don't worry, my feelings are entirely bromosexual." Percy whispered, his smile eerie.
"This is just adorable, really, but what are you doing here?" Weiss demanded, her voice firm as she gave Percy a look, Korra was still silently flirting with Blake. Percy and Korra shared a look before their faces became stone.
"Checking out the competition." Percy said calmly, any emotion that he was feeling had disappeared. "We're being given an entrance hazing, we're going to have to fight, I'm sure, and if so, then why not know who we're fighting."
"So you came here to find the weakest links, and now you're going to glide through the entrance exam?" Pyrrha asked, angry. Perseus' stone mask got colder. "That's dirty, it means you're nothing but a coward."
"Percy and I are far from cowards, we're just looking for interesting fights." Korra said, her calm facade fading. "It seems like we've found some nice, fun little battles. I'm looking forward to battling you Pyrrha."
The entire group's eyes went wide, and Pyrrha smiled menacingly. Despite Pyrrha's hesitance to flaunt her strength, she was not to be underestimated. Perseus eyed the weapons of the group and pointed at Ruby. "Is that a gun?"
"Yes…" Ruby said, pulling it out before hitting the on button. "It's also a scythe." Percy nodded and smiled at her with all of the awkward seductiveness he could manage. "You're freaking me out."
"Dang it! And that's my winning smile too!" Percy said sadly, sighing. "I'm looking forward to fighting you Ms. Rose."
"How do you know my name?!" Ruby asked, her eyes wide.
"It's written on the inside of your cape." Perseus said, smiling. "Just a side note. That's a freaking awesome cape! So please don't wear it during our battle, I'd like to have it when your corpse slowly drains of life."
Everyone eyed Perseus nervously, Ruby's hands began to shake, and Blake shivered. Yang's fists clenched. No one could throw around threats with that much ease unless they meant it, and Yang had to protect Ruby.
The Amphidrome was impressive. Perseus had to admit that he was thoroughly flummoxed by the architecture. "You know that we're going to need to win this battle, and there's only one way to do that."
"The Avatar State." Korra muttered. Perseus looked at her surprised for a moment and then shook his head.
"That's plan B! Plan A is teamwork!" Percy said seriously, tossing Korra her staff. Korra caught it and shrugged innocently. "Don't play dumb, you're not as good at it as me!"
"So, what's the plan? Other that teamwork?" Korra asked, her voice mocking. Percy smiled and began to explain…
"We are so screwed." Korra said as she stood across from Ruby and Pyrrha beside Perseus who was armed with a strange combination of a greatsword and a gladius. The blade was long and slightly leaf shaped with a crossguard that looked like human hands gripping the blade, and a handle that looked like a spine.
"Begin." Glynda said loudly, and the buzzer sounded.
Ruby swung her scythe so it faced behind her and fired off a shot, launching herself toward Percy who ducked under her swing, leaving Ruby heading straight for Korra, who quickly leapt up and swung her staff down, knocking aside Ruby's second swing. As this was happening, Percy headed toward Pyrrha, his sword drooping toward the ground. Pyrrha swung her short sword diagonally, planning to catch Perseus off guard, but he brought his sword up and blocked Pyrrha's blow, catching it in his crossguard as he slid beside her, dragging her to face away from Korra. Pyrrha withdrew her sword and lashed out with her shield, catching Percy across the face. As Percy slid across the floor, he caught a glimpse of Korra defending herself desperately from Ruby's onslaught. "Belay!"
Korra leapt up and over Ruby, rolling on the other side of her to avoid her scythe and came up behind Pyrrha who was quickly approaching Percy. Percy used a quick roll to knock Pyrrha off her feet, and then dashed toward Ruby. Pyrrha swung her sword at Percy's retreating form, but the slash was blocked by Korra's staff.
Pyrrha and Ruby naturally caught on, quicker that the rest of the audience. Both were now wary of attacks from two directions. As Ruby slashed and shot at Percy, becoming irritated by his haunting smile and his seeming ease with which he avoided her bullets, she finally snapped and unleashed her semblance on him, dashing past him, attempting to bat him aside with her magnificent speed, but instead, she found herself hurtling into Pyrrha. As she was about to run smack into her head, Pyrrha raised her shield and Ruby ricocheted off of it, leaping up into the air and firing three shots at Percy's new position, or where he was. Percy was currently joining Korra in the fight against Pyrrha, attacking from just far enough away that only Pyrrha was within sword length, and Korra was out of reach. They had experience working together, that much was positive. As Ruby landed, she ran toward Pyrrha, her scythe at the ready, until suddenly, she felt her scythe being pulled off path, sending her spinning out of control.
"Pyrrha! What was that!?" Ruby demanded, trying to regain her balance. Pyrrha shot her a look of confusion before Korra redoubled her attack, and Percy headed back toward Ruby.
"You should watch your back, it seems like Pyrrha's got a score to settle." Percy said ominously. He smirked and his sword knocked Ruby's scythe aside. "Maybe I'm not the biggest threat to you on this battlefield."
"Did you see Ruby's face when she came after you?" Korra asked, she had no confidence in the plan, but still, she had to try. "She looked like she hated you."
Pyrrha swallowed and her hand drooped just for a moment. Korra capitalized on this moment and swiped her staff across Pyrrha's head, knocking her off balance for a moment. "Belay?"
Percy nodded and jumped toward Ruby, ramming his shoulder into her and spinning around her, jumping over her scythe as she tried to stop him. Pyrrha turned around quickly, only at the last moment to see Percy disappear and feel all of her energy drain from her.
"Pyrrha Nikos has been eliminated." Glynda announced as Ruby felt the cold edge of a blade against her neck.
"Surrender." Percy growled, his blade already drawing pinpricks of blood. Ruby raised her hands above her head as she saw Korra step over Pyrrha's body. She couldn't allow it to end like this. She decided to draw her final trump card. She turned quickly and was about to fire a dust bullet at Korra when suddenly her scythe raised up and the dust bullet exploded uselessly. She sighed and suddenly the whole world went black.
"So, how did you do it?" Yang asked, looking down as Ruby dozed peacefully. Percy frowned and looked down at her, he held great admiration for her, and Pyrrha.
"Subterfuge." Percy said simply, Korra rubbed his shoulders and sighed as well. "I convinced Ruby that she couldn't trust Pyrrha and Korra did the same to Pyrrha."
"We mimicked their semblances, and using that, we used them against each other." Korra continued. Pyrrha was awesome in Korra's opinion, and Ruby had guts.
"We also used the Belay command. We knew that we were only going to do it once, and then we would use it as a distraction, but they didn't." Percy finished, he brushed some hair out of Ruby's eyes and looked mournfully between her and Yang. "I'm sorry. I didn't have to use that threat, but...sometimes there's a part of me...it's out for blood."
"Pyrrha!" Jaune hollered, busting into the infirmary without hesitation. Ren and Nora were soon to follow. "What happened to her?! How did you win?!"
"We lied, and we used tricks. If you want to recall our victory and have a fair fight, then you can rechallenge us if you'd like." Korra said guiltily, until she heard Pyrrha sat up, her head still blurry.
"Don't worry about it." She muttered, rubbing her temples lightly. "Tricks are weapons too." She looked at Percy with a hint of admiration and stuck out her hand for him to shake. "I look forward to facing you again, Perseus, you're one of the best opponents I've faced in a while."
As Ruby's eyes slowly opened, Professor Goodwitch stepped into the room and cleared her throat loudly. Team RWBY and JNPR both shot up, or as best as they could, Percy held Ruby down, keeping her from hurting herself, while Korra and Pyrrha were arguing with each other about her condition. "Team JNPR and RWBY, you may return to your rooms as soon as your teammates are healed up, Korra and Perseus, are to come speak with me."
"Whatever you have to say to us, you can say here, I trust these people, so please, go ahead and say your piece." Korra said, her hands on Pyrrha's shoulders. Percy nodded and his hand began to subconsciously brush through Ruby's hair.
"Mr. Nightshade, Ms. Sato, you two are going to need to either form a team out of two more hunters and/or huntresses, or you'll be split up." Glynda said calmly, her voice wavering slightly as she felt the oppressive auras of all of the strength in the room.
"If we- gods forbid, are separated from each other, would we have a guarantee that we would never have to fight each other?" Perseus asked, looking deeply into Glynda's eyes. She nodded slowly, and Percy smiled. "I'd like to be attached to either Team JNPR, or Team RWBY, these are good people and I want to stay with them."
"That sounds suspiciously like a plan." Ruby joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Um, it was one." Weiss said, in stereotypical-teenage-'duh' mode.
"And that was a joke." Blake said calmly.
Perseus whistled appreciatively and stepped back to see the four and laughed. Standing beside Pyrrha's bed, he almost looked like a normal teenager. "Thousands of comedians out of work and they do this for free!" Pyrrha gave a laugh and Jaune smiled as well.
"Ahem!" Professor Goodwitch interrupted, garnering the attention of team RWBY and JNPR. "You were going to let Mr. Nightshade unpack, were you not?"
"About that..." Perseus trailed off. "I don't have any clothes. I lost my luggage on the ship."
Nine people simultaneously looked down and sighed in exasperation, followed by one man's nervous laughter, and one girls awkward smile.
A few minutes later, ten people who had nothing to say, too tired, rode in an awkward silence for thirty floors in a cramped elevator. One of them, the tallest, began to whistle quietly.
"Please shut up." Weiss intoned. Her voice was bored, but there was also a stinging cold edge to her quip.
"Sorry." Replied the green eyed offender, just as the door 'dinged' open. The whole team, along with their newly appointed apprentice, marched calmly through the building, the doors sliding open soundlessly as they passed through them and began the trek home. At the hallway, Korra and Percy hugged and gave each other kisses on the cheeks, both exchanging knowing looks.
"So...bunkbeds..." Korra tried tiredly looking for a reaction from the rest of the team, hoping someone, anyone would smile. No one did. "Nevermind. I'll be comatose on the floor if you need me."
Team RWBY watched as she flopped onto his futon and her breath evened out, blissfully unaware, just as Blake wished she could be eventually, just like Weiss wished she were right now, and just like Ruby and Yang were slowly becoming.
"This is going to kill me." Weiss muttered.
In an entirely different universe, in a brightly lit room, occupied by only a typewriter, and a middle aged man, there began a soft clacking, and the man smiled at the ticker tape that emerged from the typewriter. "Oh Weiss...If only it would…"
Meanwhile, in Team JNPR's room, Percy smiled at how near the beds were together, but without any energy to say a thing, he simply fell on his face on two of the beds and rolled onto the floor, stealing a couple covers and rolling himself up in a cocoon on the floor, already falling asleep.
Ren looked him over beside everyone else and took a deep breath. "I think that this room will suddenly become quite more interesting."
In the same brightly lit room as before, the man chuckled and nodded. "You're not wrong."