Luna's green eyes flashed up at her friend's silver ones. They weren't troublemakers, but they didn't take for being pushed around. Both girls were known for their sense of justice which was why they were such good friends.
"Are you robbing us?" Ruby asked as Luna's hands moved to her belt. Her batons were just behind her left back hip. There were four guys in black and one in white. The white coated one seemed to be the one in charge. This didn't look like it would be a difficult fight.
"Yeah," the man replied seeming confused about what was hard to grasp about the fact they were being robbed.
Again the girls made eyes contact. "Oh…"
Luna's grip tightened around her batons and they extended into two thin beams as Ruby swung her leg around just as Luna swung both batons into the man's gut. Instantly both their auras activated as Henchman One went flying through the front window of the store, both girls leaped out behind him.
Luna twirled the cream and light pink batons, resting one across her shoulders while the other was aimed at the window they had just tumbled from. Henchman Two-Four stared at them as their ring leader narrowed his eyes. Luna gripped the baton on her shoulders tighter and slapped it toward the ground, extending out a double edged blade.
Ruby glanced at her friend. They had gone to school together for the last six years, but they were more commonly sparing partners than anything else. Fighting alongside Luna Goodwitch seemed like something she could get used to. They were very different, but two girls who wore hoods tended to have to be friends. After all they had similar fashion sense.
The cream colored hood with pink trimming typically covered most of the fair skinned girl's face. It was a much shorted hood than Ruby's hood, only coming down to her waist, but it showed more of her personality. It was classy and mysterious, her clothing staying in a very slight pink, cream and black. Every bit as beautiful as her namesake.
"Okay…" The ring leader hummed as he studied the two of them. "Get them!"
Ruby's stance widened while Luna lit the air around them with an electric charge. Part of Ruby was very excited to see was Luna's real power unleashed. It seemed fairly evident to everyone at Signal that Luna did not like the idea of using her power in just sparing. She may have shocked a few people and used her wind to literally blow her opponents back. But this was more than that. The entire atmosphere of the air around them had shifted with a spark.
Both of them leaped into action as the three man ran toward them. Ruby's scythe hit the ground and she used it to shift her weight onto while Luna took a different approach. She could feel the energy shift while she used her baton to direct the electricity into her target.
There was not a chance that anyone was getting within five feet of Luna with the way lightning sparked in the air around her. Luna was self-conscious about her control, but she was not about to let anyone else get hurt because of these idiots.
"Right flank!" Ruby called out while her scythe knot into a man and sent him flying toward Luna. A beautiful back handspring sent the girl out of the way while her electrical storm engulfed the man and sent him flying toward the sky. Luna's baton nailed another man in the throat before she shoved the blade through his right shoulder blade. He let out a brutal scream that was only silenced as a bolt of lightning nailed him in the back.
Luna could hear another one approaching from behind her and she leaped into the air, kicking her feet into the air to flip backward and nailed her attacker in the back of the head with her black boots. Ruby came from the opposite direction to send the blunt end of her scythe into his gut. Luna once again landed on top of the man, her boot still on his head while Ruby's weapon settled on her shoulder again. With a quick glance Luna realized that Ruby must have already taken out the other guy because he was at the base of a crumbled building or maybe she did that when the guy came back down from her little shock.
The expression of sheer joy on Ruby's face made Luna smirk as they quickly high fived. Sometimes Luna was teased for being too serious for such a young girl, but a lot of people didn't hold the same amount of power as she did. Luna's semblance could really hurt someone and she wanted to make sure that her strength was only used to defend good people not harm them.
The red haired man wearing the white coat and walking with a cane slowly approached him. He seemed to have a confident stride and immediately Luna felt the urge to knock the cocky right out of him.
"Well girls," the man mused studying the two of them as he pulled the cigar from his mouth. "Red and Stormy, I think we all can say it's been an eventful evening." The cigar hit the ground and his cane put out the embers. He slowly raised it again and aimed it at the girls in front of him. "As much as I'd love to stick around, this is where we part ways."
The sound of a gunshot was what told Glynda she couldn't turn a blind eyes to the sound of combat anymore. A few idiots beating the hell out of each other was one thing, but guns were another. She had planned on spending a quiet afternoon in the library before all of this, but now that plan was ruined. Placing her book down on the table she gripped her riding crop tightly in her hand.
She turned the corner around the block and audibly sighed at the sight of two hooded girls bounding in the direction of a man. Luna was supposed to meet her in an hour, and instead she was being a vigilantly in the streets.
With a wave of her riding crop, Glynda was closing in on them.
She ran up the side of the building, using dust to assist her movements and caught a glimpse of her daughter and her daughter's best friend standing before a large aircraft with their weapons in hand. Glynda's eyes narrowed as she willed herself to pick up speed. She leaped for building to building, landing gracefully and pushing for more power to get to her child.
A crystal was thrown in front of them and neither of the girls had time to react when suddenly a gun shot rang out again.
She wasn't sure how she managed to throw up a shield just as the crystal ignited, landing just between her daughter and the blow. Glynda's green eyes flashed toward her daughter's and the terror that shown in Luna's eyes was more than just at what wrath her mother held for her when this was all said and done. Perhaps the girl was realizing how close she had just come to being truly hurt.
For a moment Glynda was tempted to lecture her child, but the feeling dissipated when Luna seemed as eager to hug her mother as she was to run from her. Glynda's eyes softened as she realized that both the girls were not hurt. Granted that was sheer luck, but it was something she could be thankful for.
Her riding crop high in the air she brought it down swiftly with the falling of the purple shield she had used to protect them. Both hands were brought back before she pushed her riding crop forward. Purple shards shot toward the aircraft while Glynda felt the need to take a step forward. If she could take the aim off the girls they all would be safer. She pushed her glasses up with two fingers as she took control of the shards to knock the man threatening her daughter off his balance.
Luna's hood blew off her head revealing her main of blonde curls that matched her mother's perfectly. There was a single white streak as creamy as her hood that feel from her bangs but other than that she was almost her mother's double.
A storm cloud brewed above the aircraft and Ruby's jaw almost dropped at the realization of how similar mother and daughter's semblances were. With a sharp tug of her baton, Luna brought down water and lightning onto the air craft while Glynda brought down shards of ice. Ruby watched in awe as they worked together in ease and harmony. For a moment Ruby's mind wondered to if her own mother would share this connection like Glynda and Luna did, but she didn't allow her mind to focus on it.
She had barely noticed the man had disappeared until a woman was standing in the hanger in front of them. Her clothes looked as though they burned with embers as she runes burned at Glynda's feet.
Both children watched in awe as Glynda cartwheeled out of the way. She pulled the shards of concrete off the ground and aimed them at the aircraft. The girls could only watch the huntress in action. She moved so easily, her crop controlling the shards with so much power it seemed unreal. Once again she moved closer to the girls, ready to protect them from whatever was going to be the next of this woman's attack.
Runes once again appeared at her feet, but this time the radius was larger. Luna was focused on the sky, aiming bolts of lightning at the aircraft and Ruby seemed completely mesmerized by the power. Glynda waved her crop at them, pushing them out of the way while the fire lit an explosion at their feet. Ruby landed better than Luna. Her angle was just off enough to send the girl skidding on her elbows, her head bouncing on the cement.
Glynda couldn't tear her eyes off of the aircraft until she was sure it was going to leave without another attack. It was only then that she was able to run to her daughter.
Luna was sitting up with her head between her hands and her elbows bloody. Glynda's heart broke. Granted she did it to protect her daughter and the alternative would have been worse, it was obvious that Luna's aura had dropped because someone whom she trusted used their semblance on her.
"Are you alright?" Glynda asked, her hands going to her daughter's blonde curls and pulling out a hand of blood. Immediately she pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and pressed it against her daughter's scalp.
"I'm fine," Luna mumbled trying to stand up, but only having her mother to shove her gently back down to sit. Ruby was by her side, eyes wide with worry.
"You guys were so awesome!" she cheered despite her friend's state. "And I didn't realize your mom was the Glynda Goodwitch. Not that Goodwitch is a common name but-"
Luna yelped as Glynda checked over her elbows and Ruby frowned. "Do you need me to call someone?"
Glynda shook her head and wrapped her arms around her daughter's back to brace her against her. Luna's hand stayed pressed to the back of her skull as they walked.
The infirmary was quiet. Luna had expected her mother to drop her off there and go about business, but she hadn't quite expected the level of sheer fear she had seen behind her mother's eyes at the idea of leaving her. Glynda had asked the nurse kindly to take good care of her daughter before pressing a kiss to the crown of her daughter's head and escorting Ruby Rose away. Surely once her mother stopped being relieved Luna was alive she would be facing the Goodwitch wrath that came with stupid decisions that could have possibly gotten her killed and did get her hurt.
The wrath of her mother was legendary to students at Beacon Academy, but Luna knew her mother differently. Of course she did have a firm hand but it was simply because she cared so deeply. Ignorance or arrogance would quickly get someone hurt, especially in the battlefield, which was why Glynda was so stern. She had lost a dear friend to someone else's stupidity while fighting the grim years ago and she had almost lost her own life. Luna knew that the idea of leaving her alone scared her mother more than the grim ever could.
Nurse Yin wrapped Luna's elbows and applied an ointment to her skull. Though she knew it would help them heal in only a day or two Luna hated the stuff. It itched like crazy and it was more of struggle not to scratch that it was to deal with the pain.
Her batons were safely against her hip as she laid back on the cot. It was going to be a long hard conversation with her mother, but she sort of hope that there would be some praise in there somewhere as well. It was interesting to Luna to have seen her mother in action. As many times as she had imagined her mother, the heroine, leaping in to save the day it had never occurred to Luna that she would need her mother's saving.
If she had admitted such things to Glynda, the woman would have most likely laughed until she cried. Protecting Luna was a large reason as to why Glynda had stayed a huntress as long as she had. She wanted her daughter to grow up in a safe world with as little threat from the grim as possible. Saving her daughter was what Glynda felt like her life was for.
The older woman's black heels clicked against the marble as she walked toward the infirmary. She knew Ozpin wouldn't be terribly far behind her, but she wanted a few moments with Luna before he interrupted.
She sighed and shook her head slightly as Ozpin entered her mind. How the man could offer a child to come to their school seemed absolutely ridiculous. Ruby still had years of growing and learning to do before she dared enter Beacon Academy. Their students were put up against the grim and often in life or death situations. Yes, Ruby had done exceptionally well with dealing with a threat, but Beacon seemed like a bad idea to place children.
She pushed the door open and smiled kindly to the nurse who nodded in the direction of the room her daughter was in. The stone cold Glynda Goodwitch that everyone else saw was not the same person Luna saw. The moment the door opened and Glynda stepped in, she was pulling her daughter into her arms.
A lot had happened that day and yes, Luna was going to get a lecture that would probably seem never ending, but this was the first moment she had alone with her baby.
Glynda had been young when Luna was born, and though she was not at all in Glynda's plan (at least not for another five to ten years) she had brought nothing but love and joy to her life. The image of her tiny blonde baby with the biggest green eyes made Glynda squeeze her eyes closed and press her nose into her daughter's hair.
"I'm okay, Mom," Luna teased slightly, reaching up to tug some on the neck of her cape. Apparently it was choking her some.
Glynda pulled back just enough to send a silencing glare to her before kissing her head one last time. "Since you're okay, I'm sure you know what you're going to hear."
The girl sighed as she twisted her fingers in the blonde curls. "They tried to rob us."
The pointed look Glynda gave Luna made the girl shrink. "You would have done the same thing! I know I need to be careful, but they were bad guys. And I didn't really get hurt. Only a little, and you came-"
With a single raised hand Luna was silenced, looking nervously at her mother. "You put yourself and other in danger, young lady. You and Ruby both. If I hadn't gotten there when I did you both could have been seriously injured." Glynda let out a sigh at Luna's hurt expression. At that she once again pulled her daughter closer and looked at the wall. "I simply wish you would be more cautious. Only because I love you."
Both of Luna's arms came around her mother's neck and Glynda let herself smile. "I love you too, Mom."
For a moment they just stayed like that. Glynda wished she could wrap her daughter up in her aura and never let anyone hurt her, but she knew that was impossible. They had a good relationship and a firm connection. They had each other, and as long as Luna knew that her mother would always show up in time than they were safe.
The sound of someone clearing their throat had Glynda turning toward the door as Luna's head moved to her shoulder. Ozpin stood in the doorway, smirking slightly at the view of his most strict and stern instructor sitting on a cot with her daughter wrapped up in her arms. No one else would have been allowed the view, but Ozpin was graced to see more of Glynda than the rest of the world.
"Luna, glad to see you are feeling better," Ozpin greeted the girl.
Luna glanced at her mother, trying to gauge what kind of business he was here on. Personal was possible, but as was professional by the look her mother had given him.
"Thank you, Professor Ozpin." Luna sat up as her mother stood, smoothing her skirt and cape in the process. Her stomach suddenly growled and her cheeks blushed furiously as both adults turned to her. "I'm sorry, Ruby and I were supposed to get lunch but…uh, yeah…"
Glynda chuckled softly as she shook her head and Ozpin's lips quirked into a smirk. "I hope you will allow me to take your mother and you out to lunch then."
The way Luna leaped off the cot and out the door had both adults exchanging amused smirks. Ozpin's hand fell onto Glynda's lower back. Their eyes connected for a moment before they followed the girl out.
Luna had watched the two of them for the past several years. Ozpin would join them for dinner or take them out from time to time, he would fall asleep with her mother curled under his arm on the couch while watching a movie, and it was unheard of to see them exchange an affectionate peck while preparing food in the kitchen. Yet her mother had never mentioned anything happening between the two of them. He was the only one that Luna had ever seen Glynda share a smile with and make her laugh. He was also the only one allowed to see Glynda break after a particularly hard day.
It just felt like her mother would share it with Luna if she was in a relationship. Not that she had before, because as far as Luna knew she didn't have them. Glynda barely even spoke of Luna's father and every time she did Luna could almost feel her mother's turmoil.
Luna didn't even know his name, she didn't know her parents' story, all she knew was that it hurt Glynda to even think about. Just the look on her mother's face when she would ask stopped Luna's questions many years ago. She never even dared to picture the man because if there was one thing her mother was known for doing it was protecting her from being needlessly hurt.
"Luna?"
The girl startled as she was pulled out of her thoughts. Both adults were staring at her as she seemed to have just stopped beside the table their hostess led them too. A small smile tugged at Glynda's lips.
"Welcome back, where were you?"
Luna shrugged. "Just inside my head."
There was something in her daughter's tone that made Glynda's smile fade before she sat down right next to her daughter. She could almost feel Luna wanting to reach out to her, so she took her daughter's hand underneath the table and felt the girl relax some.
Ozpin smirk at them. If the students at Beacon saw this side of Glynda Goodwitch they would most likely assume some strange force had taken over their Deputy Headmistress's body. However, Ozpin knew this side of his friend very well. The side that would give him a firm hug at the end of a long day and called him late at night because she knew he wasn't sleeping.
He had known Luna all of her life and he could see she wasn't sure what to think of their relationship. Luna always treated him in a very formal way, as though he was simply her mother's colleague. Even as a small child, barely up to her mother's hip, she would greet Ozpin with a slight bow of her head and always with Professor.
She was her mother's daughter. Guarded, beautiful, scared to love. Ozpin had gotten to Glynda and surely he would be able to get to her daughter as well.
"Your combat styles have vastly improved in the last several years," Ozpin began suddenly earning the immediate attention of both Goodwitch women. Glynda's eyes narrowed dangerously in her friend's direction.
"Thank you, Professor." Luna played with the ends of her hair nervously. "Mom always taught me to study hard and train harder."
The grey haired man hummed as his eyes flickered to back to Glynda. It was obvious she wanted him to stop talking and most people would have already bit their tongue with the ice stare she was shooting him.
"Smart woman, your mother." It was meant to defuse some of the tension but Glynda was still glaring just as harshly as she was before as the man continued. "I see you inherited her talents that aided her so well in being a huntress."
"Ozpin…" Glynda warned, her eyes flickering dangerously.
Luna glanced at her mother before she dared to continue. "Thank you sir. I've always wanted to become a huntress, like my mother."
With that, Glynda's gaze shifted to her daughter. The danger in it had dissipated to affection directed at her sweet child but she didn't want her daughter at Beacon. She didn't want her daughter to be a huntress at all. The idea of her daughter up against the grim, even with an experience team beside her, was too much for Glynda to imagine. The reason she stayed a huntress as long as she did was to make sure her daughter never came face to face with a grim. That's why she taught hunters and huntresses. Still, it melted Glynda's heart to know that her daughter wanted to be like her.
Ozpin's eyes also moved in on Luna. "You want to be a huntress because your mother? Is that the only reason?"
"Well," the girl shifted in her seat under all the attention, "no, I guess not. I remember Mom would come home at night and tuck me in as she told me stories about heroes and the grim. Every night I would imagine my mother as these heroes, fighting to protect people she didn't even know because it was the right thing." Luna felt her mother's hand fold around hers as her eyes shifted from Ozpin to her mother and the girl tugged on her cream hood. "I want to be like my mother and do the right thing."
Ozpin's crooked smirk was more than just the new student he was about to bring into his program. It was about the amount of love radiating from Glynda despite the fact that they were sitting in a very public place and Glynda was moments away from wrapping her daughter up into a hug and kissing her hair over and over again.
"Beacon would be very lucky to have a fighter such as yourself studying with us."
Glynda had expected herself to fight Ozpin. To argue with him, to demand that he at least wait until her daughter was a more appropriate age. Instead she found herself supporting him. She wanted her daughter to follow her dreams almost as much as she wanted to keep her daughter from any and all danger.
They both looked at Ozpin as Luna shifted closer to her mother. "Are you… are you asking me to come to your school?"
At that, Ozpin outright smiled. "I believe young Ruby could use a friend at Beacon."
