Well you guys wanted it. So I'll guess I'll continue this story. Hope you like the chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing it all belongs to Roosterteeth.
"Now I know this looks bad, but believe me when I say it was an accident," swallowed Umbra, as he tried to blow his new hair away from his face.
"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO OUR ROOM!" screeched Weiss, seeing rose petals scattered along the floor and one bed was broken in half while another was completely missing.
"Summer? Is that really you?" muttered Ozpin, drawing confused looks from Weiss and Blake while Ruby and Yang remained motionless in shock.
"Summer? Who the hell is that? And who are you?" frowned the woman as she began backing towards the window.
"Umbra is that you?" realized Blake, causing Ruby, Yang and Ozpin to snap out of their trances as the white cloak woman gave a thumbs up.
"Yeah it's m-" he began, only to be cut off as a yellow gauntlet slammed into his face, sending Umbra flying through the dorm wall and into the next room, crashing into a surprised team JNPR.
"YOU BASTARD! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" screamed the brawler, her hair and eyes burning a fiery red as the heat in the room skyrocketed.
Umbra shook his head before leaping to the side as Yang came barreling through the hole in the wall, causing him to be incredibly grateful for this chick's incredible aura and physical prowess. Yang roared in rage as her punch passed through thin air as Umbra used his new body's incredibly reflexes to jump over the enraged brawler before rushing towards the window, attempting to open it and risk the jump. Ozpin's eyes became dinner plates as he saw the window dissolve into white rose petals as Umbra touched it, making the transformed boy blink in confusion as he stared at his own hands.
"Scatter," muttered the Headmaster in recognition, recognising the Semblance immediately as he stared at the white cloaked figure.
Umbra snapped out of his confused daze as his long dormant combat instincts screamed out a warning and he turned just in time to see a bed from JNPR's dorms come flying at his face. Realising that he didn't have time to dodge Umbra brought his hands up once again, praying that it worked like before. Sure enough the minute he touched the bed it dissolved into white rose petals, this time he noticed a slight drop of power as Aura flowed into his hands as the furniture disintegrated.
Yang didn't seem deterred by the failure of her latest assault as she fired her shotgun gauntlets at her target, only to see the glowing projectile impact Umbra's hand before it too turned into white petals and leaving Umbra unharmed. 'Okay, I think I've figured out the basics of her Semblance now. Anything I touch I can dissolve into rose petals. Useful, but I still don't know what limitations it has imposed on it. Either way, my escape route's open no point dealing with her,' thought Umbra as his now silver eyes narrowed on the rapidly approaching brawler before darting back to the now open window.
Not waiting for Yang to get another hit in Umbra leapt out of the window as he threw one of the chain scythes into the wall of the building before using the weapon and its long extension as a rope to swing away from the dorm room. Only to feel the weapon slip out from the wall as a loud sniper round slammed into the scythe, knocking it out from the force of the projectile. Umbra could do nothing as he began rushing towards the earth, in his tumble he managed to catch a glimpse of something red rush past him before a familiar red scythe just barely missed his neck.
Finally hitting the ground, Umbra felt his old Signal training kick back in as he landed with a roll before spinning to face his newest opponent and readied the twin chain scythes. The transformed boy swallowed as he saw Ruby staring at him with a disturbingly blank expression on her face before she pointed her scythe at him.
"How dare you," she muttered softly, silver eyes now a steely grey as they narrowed on his own.
"Ruby calm down and listen to me. It was an accident! I SWEAR!" shouted Umbra as he tried to reason with the reaper, only for them both to hear a loud crash as Yang slammed into the earth beside her sister.
"You mean it was an accident that you retrieved my box, opened it up, picked up our mother's locket and…and disgraced her memory like this!" stated the reaper, still with the cold tone devoid of emotion that made shivers run down his spine.
"Ruby, Yang! Stop, what are you doing!?" shouted Weiss from the dorm window as she and Blake prepared to intervene, only to stop as Ozpin blocked them off with an outstretched arm.
They both turned to the headmaster in shock and noticed he wasn't even looking at them, instead he was staring at Umbra with an evaluating expression. "Let them get it out of their system, right now they need it. I will step in before it gets too dangerous," he ordered them, getting confused looks from the two students as the three of them watched from the safety of the dorm window.
'He's beginning to understand the Semblance of Summer Rose, but that's only part of the reason she was so effective a Huntress. Let's see how well he adapts to a different body like this,' he decided, a frowning growing on his face as a thought passed through his head.
'If his Semblance copies the Aura and Semblance of others…how did he get a hold of Summer's?' realized the Headmaster as he headed down to the courtyard, clearly there was more to this boy's Semblance than he realized.
'Okay think Umbra, remember back to Signal, first evaluate the pros and cons of the situation. Pro; This chick, Summer, is far stronger and faster than Ruby and Yang, probably from the fact that she was a full Huntress while they are only Huntresses-in-training, so I have the advantage when it comes to pure stats,' planned the transformed boy as he quickly glanced down at the twin scythes in his hands.
Unfortunately, this tiny distraction was all the pair needed as Ruby used her Semblance to instantly appear in front of him before embedding the point of her scythe blade into the ground and using the momentum to swing around and slam Umbra in the head with a violent kick that sent him tumbling to the ground. Umbra then used his superior speed and strength to slam one of his chain scythes into Ruby, however the reaper just vanished into rose petals as she activated her Semblance and reappeared in a burst of speed beside her sister.
The brawler didn't even need a verbal signal from Ruby as she rushed towards the still recovering Umbra, not bothering to fire any rounds or hurl projectiles as she approached, knowing that most would be useless against Summer's Semblance. He just growled as he threw one of the scythes at the brawler, causing Yang to back off as the weapon impact sent her flying into the air from the force of the blow. Umbra just stared as Yang crashed back to the ground before pulling on the chain and returning it back to his hand. Silently awed and terrified at the strength this woman must have had as he watched Yang lying unmoving in the crater.
"Ruby, let's stop this. I don't want to hurt you like I just did you sister," begged Umbra as he tried to reason with the reaper, only to feel a wave of heat wave over him from the crater where Yang and landed.
Spinning around he saw the brawler glowing with a fiery light as flames danced along her body, lilac eyes now a blood red as she rose to her feet. Umbra backed up slightly as Yang slowly stood up and began walking towards him. Throwing his scythe at her again Umbra's eyes widened as Yang grabbed the scythe as it came towards her, her strength seemingly increased to incredible proportions as it completely halted the scythe's momentum.
'Con; I don't know my own strength. Plus, they both have much more experience than I do, they completed their Signal training after all…and got into Beacon. They already have adapted to me using Summer's Semblance, I should haven't have used it that obviously…Next, I still have no idea how to fight as Summer, hell, I've only got Signal level training…and even that is rusty,' sighed Umbra as he struggled to break the brawler's grip on one of his chain scythe.
'Alright, in order to win this, I need to figure out to fight like Summer, so let's recap what we know. She had very little aura protecting her, her body indicates that she focused on Speed and Strength rather the Endurance and Aura. She has twin chained scythes with extremely long chains to enable throwing, but no guns or firearms,' frowned Umbra as he and Yang were locked in a tug of war, each pulling on their ends of the chain scythe.
'How is she able to match Summer's strength? Is it her Semblance?' questioned Umbra, but before he could dwell on this thought any longer Ruby took advantage of his trapped state and fired a barrage of sniper rounds at him. Thankfully Summer's reflexes were fast enough that he managed to block this attack with his free hand as the barrage of projectiles scattered into white petals that fell all around his cloaked body.
'Alright, this isn't working. Since Summer's got a speed and strength focus let's try hit and run tactics,' decided Umbra as he silently gave thanks to the combat teacher at Signal for being so thorough in class. He might have been a drunk, but he was a damn good teacher when it came to combat class and tactics. A new plan in mind Umbra gave up on the tug of war as he instead rushed towards Yang, using the brawler's own strength against her as he let the chain drag him towards her.
Yang's red eyes widened slightly as he rapidly appeared in front of her and his free scythe slashed at the hand currently restraining his other scythe, freeing it as the blonde hissed in pain. However, before Umbra could even smirk in victory a familiar red scythe suddenly appeared around his neck.
Panicking Umbra placed his hand on the ground before activating Summer's Semblance as the pavement beneath the three fighters dissolved into rose petals, causing them all to fall into a massive crater of rose petals. Umbra, having expected this, was the first to recover as he leapt out of the white petals and tried to catch his breath from the near miss as he saw the white rose petals burst into flames and both Yang and Ruby climbed out.
'This isn't working they're too skilled, too experienced for me to beat them, even with Summer's body and Semblance!' he realized with a growl, only to have Ruby appear in front of him instantly with her scythe coming straight to her head. Caught off guard and not even having time to think Umbra felt his body move on its own as it instinctively used the chain connecting the scythes to his arms to stop Crescent Rose in its tracks.
Immediately after this the chains wrapped themselves around Crescent Rose and the scythe was ripped out from Ruby's grasp as Umbra pulled. All three fighters froze at this as silence echoed around the battlefield, broken only by the sound the red scythe hitting the ground. 'How did that happen?' thought the three of them as all of them realized that technique was well beyond what a Signal dropout could perform, hell, even most Beacon students would have needed to practice for days to perform it.
This lull didn't last long though as Yang rushed him, and with a combination of pure rage, adrenaline and her Semblance, proceeded to punch Umbra in the gut with the force of a runaway freight train. Everyone watched as the white aura protecting Umbra shattered, signaling that his Aura protection had completely depleted. Umbra just collapsed to the ground, wheezing in pain as the white aura surrounding his body began flowing back into his body.
"That's not good," muttered Umbra through gritted teeth as he stared up at the two Huntresses-in-training before him.
'This is what I get for pretending to be something I'm not I suppose; I could have avoided this fight entirely if I just played along. I'm an actor for Oum's sake how hard could it have been to pretend to be Summer...at least until I could escape,' he pondered, his eyes widening.
'Wait that's what I would have normally done, avoid the fight entirely! Why didn't I? Sure it would have caused Yang and Ruby some pain…but it's better than this at least!' realized Umbra as he coughed up a small amount of blood, the damage from Yang's last attack clearly more damaging than any of them expected.
Upon seeing the broken and beaten body of their mother lying on the ground beneath them, it seemed that the two Huntresses-in-training realized what they'd done as Umbra coughed up more blood. "Um…Umbra…are you okay? I…I didn't mean to…" started Yang, only to flinch as Umbra coughed out even more blood.
"Didn't mean to what YANG! Beat me to a bloody pulp! You and your sister are insane!" snapped Umbra, still with Summer's voice.
Ruby just blinked sadly, "sorry, we lost our temper. It's just…our mother's locket is precious to us. It was an accident."
"An accident? You mean like what happened with me and the damned locket!" he growled as the pain finally seemed to subside.
However, Umbra's rantings were cut off as a familiar incredible pain erupted around his body and he collapsed to the ground. All the observers, even Yang and Ruby, felt sick as they heard his screams as well as bones breaking and reshaping. He still deserved punishment for what he did…but even they would agree that this was too much, as they watched his body slowly return to his normal male form. Headmaster Ozpin watched with narrowed eyes as he saw the remaining white fragments of Aura get reabsorbed into Umbra's body as the boy fell into the bliss of unconsciousness.
"Go to your teammates, I believe they will need some consoling after this, I will let Glynda know that the dorms need fixing," ordered the Headmaster to Weiss and Blake whom nodded as they rushed over to Yang and Ruby.
The Headmaster then walked up to the unconscious body of Umbra before calling the medical staff at the infirmary, letting them know they were about to have a unique case. At least he would be able to run some tests on the boy's Aura as he was unconscious.
Umbra groaned as light began to flood into his closed eyes, causing the boy open his eyes and hiss as his eyes adjusted to the light level. Once his eyesight returned the boy blinked as he saw the grey haired man from early standing near his bed, apparently reading something on his scroll as two other adults were monitoring some sort of equipment that had been hooked up to him.
"I don't know Headmaster, the equipment says there are faint traces of both Miss Rose's and Summer's Aura within him. His Semblance could store it for later use but right now we still have no idea how it works," stated the blonde haired woman.
"Well why don't we ask him? He's awake," replied the green haired man in a rapid tone that Umbra struggled to follow along with.
Upon hearing this, all three adults turned to face him and Umbra flinched under the gaze of so the three Hunters. "Well Mr. Furvus. I suppose I should welcome you to my school. Unfortunate that it couldn't be under better circumstances," greeted the grey haired man as he put down his scroll.
"I am Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon. To my left is Professor Goodwitch, who teaches Dust and Combat Classes. To my right is Professor Oobleck, in charge of History Class," introduced Ozpin with a smile.
"Doctor," corrected Oobleck getting a small chuckle from the Headmaster.
"You need to do something about your students Headmaster, they're violent psychopaths," growled out the boy, getting a sigh from the Headmaster.
"I was hoping you could put all that behind us," he replied, getting nods from his two fellow teachers.
"I. WAS. CAPTURED. DETAINED. AND. BEATEN. And you want me to just sweep all that under the rug," hissed out the boy.
"They were only doing their job; you were a suspect in a possible terrorist attack. It is the same as if the police took you in for questioning," lied Ozpin, hoping to stop any lawsuit in its tracks, after all the Council were already looking for a reason to remove him from his post at Beacon.
"They beat me to a bloody pulp in a blood rage! In full view of the other students!" he snarled, causing a blank expression to grow on the Headmaster's face.
"Actually, the student's saw a white cloaked adult woman challenge her family to a spar that got out of hand," replied Ozpin, making Umbra's jaw drop.
"Then I'll tell them the truth, and turn into Summer so they believe me," argued Umbra, causing the Headmaster to frown.
"We don't even know if you can turn back into her. And even if you could, I would have you charged with identity theft, the law is very vague on such issues," continued Ozpin, once again lying through his teeth as Umbra just slumped into his bed.
"You're a bastard…not very heroic of you Headmaster. So what do you want? You've already proved that I can't touch your precious psychopaths," growled out the boy.
Ozpin sighed sadly as he replied, "as an apology for what happened I thought we would help you figure out your Semblance. You never know when it could be helpful, plus it looks and sounds rather painful."
"You have no idea," replied Umbra as he shuddered from the memory. "Still I doubt you're doing this for purely altruistic purposes but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth."
"Very well first I have an idea of how your Semblance might work but to test it I need you to turn back into either Ms. Rose or Summer," replied the Headmaster, leaning forward in anticipation as the other two headed back to their instruments.
"Ha yeah sure, I'll just go up and ask Ruby to give me her mother's locket again shall I?" scoffed the boy, clearly showing what he thought of the idea.
"If my theory is right then you won't need it, try to turn into her right now," ordered the Headmaster.
"And how am I supposed to do that?" frowned Umbra, as he sat up from his bed.
Ozpin just shook his head as he shrugged, "we don't know. It's your Semblance, you understand it at an instinctual level that we can barely comprehend. Try remembering what it felt like the first time you transformed, it might act as a trigger."
"This is going to hurt," sighed the boy as he closed his eyes and thought back to the foreign sensation from his past two transformations.
At first nothing happened as he tried to recapture the odd feeling from before…but nothing happened as he growled in frustration. The boy was about to give up when he felt it…
The two foreign presences at the back of his mind, seemingly contained by something as he tried to reach out to them. As he grasped them two images burned themselves into his mind, they were two replicas of Ruby and Summer surrounded by wispy ghostly colours of their respective Auras. In fact, it almost reminded him of the character creation screens from the occasional RPG he played back when he was younger.
Both Ruby and Summer's forms stood perfectly still as they were slowly rotated as if waiting for him to select one of them. Each of them had weapons strapped to their backs, allowing him to clearly examine what they both looked like, although their blank expression was kind of creepy. In fact, Umbra had to stop himself as he began to examine the two different bodies and his eyes fell on their 'assets.' Shaking his head, he tried to put the perverted thoughts out of his mind as he walked over to Summer's form.
"It's the one I know best out of the two, and at least her Semblance won't Oum damn knock me out," he decided as Umbra reached out to touch Summer's wispy glowing form.
The minute his hand came into contact with her he felt the familiar and yet excruciating pain as his body was shifted and changed, the white Aura from Summer's mental image exploding outwards from her body and blinding Umbra. The pain eventually subsided and Umbra opened his eyes to see Ozpin nodding as if expecting this result while Oobleck and Goodwitch were staring at him with wide open mouths.
"Did it work?" he asked, only to have the question answered by itself as he heard the feminine voice coming from his throat as Ozpin held up a mirror, to reveal Summer's face looking back at him.
"Well Glynda, did we record the results?" asked Ozpin, turning to the blonde and causing the her to snap out of her daze.
"Yes Headmaster, the Aura is now an exact match to Summer's there is no trace of either his own or Ms. Rose's," she informed him.
"So what does that mean?" asked Umbra, trying to ignore the feeling of wearing a combat skirt.
After all, during the fight he didn't really have time to take notice but…this was a mature female body, the thought instantly made a blush appear on his face as he shook his head and focused on Ozpin. Hoping that the talking would distract him from his current predicament.
"It would seem that your Semblance allows you to copy another's Aura entirely, even down to their Semblance," replied the Headmaster.
"But then how come I physically turn into them? Why not just keep the Aura and Semblance? I mean I didn't think Semblances could affect the body like that," replied Umbra with a frown as he crossed his arms over his chest, only to grow another blush as he put rested them on his lap.
"It is not unknown for a Semblance to completely change a person's body, the Doppelgänger Semblance is a good example of this. I personally know of a few that can shapeshift into animals. So it's not unheard of," lectured the Headmaster, as Oobleck and Glynda begun taking medical tests of Umbra's new body, blood tests, finger print examinations, were just some of the procedures he was forced to go under as Ozpin continued.
"As for why it changes your psychical form in the first place. Well it is the nature of Aura to return the body to a state it finds natural, that is why people with their Aura unlocked tend to slow down their aging process once they reach their peak fitness level," informed the Headmaster as Oobleck and Glynda left the room to analyse the data from the tests.
There was silence between the two as Umbra began digesting what Ozpin had said before he realised a flaw with the theory. "But if my Semblance required someone's Aura to copy them how did I manage to turn into Ruby's mum?" questioned the boy in confusion as he gestured to the current body he wore, making a frown cross Ozpin's face.
"I don't quite know, but I do have a theory if you would care to hear it," replied Ozpin, getting an eager nod from Umbra.
"It is possible that Summer had that locket for so long, experienced so much with it that fragments of her Aura were imprinted on the artifact itself. When you came into contact with it, your Semblance interacted with these fragments as it would a normal person and began absorbing it," explained the Headmaster, getting a scoff from the boy.
"That's impossible, everyone knows that you need a soul to generate Aura. It can't just latch onto something that you own," he laughed, remembering back to his old lessons at Signal.
"Perhaps, or perhaps not. Tell me, have you ever heard the saying; 'putting your heart and soul into something?' A very odd turn of phrase isn't it? Perhaps there was more to that saying then we originally realized?" replied the Ozpin with raised eyebrows.
"Headmaster Ozpin, you can't be serious," frowned Umbra, shaking his head.
"Whether or not this theory is correct is irrelevant. The fact remains that you are now able to turn into Summer Rose, a Huntress that died years ago. It would seem that even after all these years the mysteries of Aura still surprise us," sighed Ozpin, before turning back to face Umbra.
"Now let us talk about your future. I have a proposition to make," offered the Headmaster, only to stop as Umbra raised a hand.
"I'm going to stop you right there Ozpin. I know what you're going to offer me and I refuse, I'm not a Huntsman," replied Umbra as he started taking deep breathes to calm his rising anger.
"Then what are you Umbra?" asked the Headmaster with raised eyebrows.
The boy just shrugged, "I'm an actor, simple as that. Not a hero, not a fighter, I'm a civilian."
"But you don't have to be Umbra, I'm offering you a chance at something more. You can leave your civilian life behind you," pressured the Headmaster gently.
Umbra frowned as he remembered the stern yet understanding face of his boss training him and others like him to be actors and offering them jobs. "What makes you think I want to leave this life Ozpin?" he growled out, making the Headmaster blink at the boy's anger.
Umbra just ignored this as he continued, "Do you know how hard it is to find a job if you're a Signal dropout? It becomes a negative stigma that's stuck with you for life. It's why most of us resort to crime for work."
The Headmaster said nothing as he saw the complex emotions being displayed on the boy's face, realising that he had a point. After all, the majority of dangerous criminals were at some point a Signal student…maybe he should have made a support program for them?
This thought was cut short as Umbra spoke once more, "but my boss wasn't like that. He looks for Signal students specifically and offers them jobs. He wants to teach them skills that they need to survive in the real world, things that aren't taught at a combat school like Signal."
"Do we get paid much for working? No. Do we care? NO! Here we all were at the bottom of the barrel contemplating the criminal life when he comes along and picks us back up. We all owe him more than we can possible pay, and you want me to turn my back on him and be your little pet experiment!" shouted Umbra, the bed's metal bar in his hands dissolving into rose petals
Seeing things were about to get out of control Ozpin raised his hands in a calming gesture as he tried to reason with the teen, "I assure you Umbra, that is not my intention-"
"Oh really?" questioned the boy, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Then explain why you only showed interest in me after discovering my Semblance. That's all you want me for, my unique abilities, don't think I'm some naïve student you can swindle Headmaster. I'm a coward but I'm not an idiot."
Seeing the Headmaster stunned by this outburst the boy began heading for the door, "My loyalty lies with the man who has been taking care of us when we were kicked to the curb, you and all the other Hunters can go to hell for all I care."
"If you are so loyal to him, then why would you pass up the chance to ease his burden?" asked Ozpin, a knowing smile crossing his face as Umbra froze at the door before turning with a frown on the boy's face.
"What do you mean?" questioned the teenager.
"You said that you all get paid very little due to the number of you he has hired. But do you know the real reason? He's going bankrupt," announced the Headmaster, making Umbra's eyes widen.
"It's not that big of a surprise really. His theater, The Looking Glass, isn't big or popular, that coupled with the fact that he kept hiring new Signal dropouts as staff, it's a wonder his business has lasted as long as it did," informed Ozpin as he opened his scroll and showed it to the boy.
As Umbra looked at it he saw numerous messages and bank statements all addressed to his boss, all saying the same thing. The theater would go bankrupt within the next month, maybe two if they had a good season.
"I thought it was illegal to abuse your position as Headmaster of Beacon like this, those messages were private," muttered Umbra, glaring at Ozpin whom shrugged.
"That is not the issue here, now that you know…what are you going to do?" asked Ozpin, making a frown of concentration appear on Umbra's face.
'That's a good point, I don't want the theater to shut down because of us, it's the old guy's life. Maybe it's time to start looking into some more…unsavory activities with my Semblance. With Summer's and Ruby's bodies and Semblances it would be easy to steal the money needed to keep us going,' he thought, planning to go talk to his friends and fellow dropouts Miltia and Melanie about some work.
As if sensing his thoughts Ozpin raised his eyebrows and spoke up, "perhaps we could come to an understanding?"
"What did you have in mind?" he questioned in a suspicious tone, having a bad feeling about where this was going.
"Beacon would be more than willing to sponsor this theater, after all providing Signal dropouts a home and work stops them joining criminals. With our support, The Looking Glass would never have to worry about money issues ever again," replied the grey haired Headmaster as he took the scroll back from the boy.
"And in return?" asked Umbra, his eyes narrowing.
"I think you know," answered the Headmaster in a saddened voice.
"You're a manipulative bastard, you know that Ozpin? Why do you even want me? I'm not even that good of a fighter! I lost to Yang and Ruby when I had the body and Semblance of a full Huntress!" exclaimed Umbra.
"True you only have basic Signal training, but you were top of your class while you attended, your old instructor spoke very highly of you. Next while your fight with Miss Xiao Long and Miss Rose ended with your loss, it was your first time using Summer's weapons, first time having that level of speed and strength available to you, not to mention during the fight you figured out the basics of Summer's Semblance," listed the Headmaster in a lecturing tone.
"While you are nowhere near experienced enough to be at the level of a Beacon student…you are extremely adaptable and a very quick leaner. With proper training you could be an incredible force to reckon with," concluded Ozpin with a smile.
"I'm not a Huntsman, Ozpin. I don't want to risk my life of a bunch of strangers who would just stab me in the back," growled Umbra, a flash of phantom pain coming from his old wound as the memory briefly resurfaced.
"Yes, I know about your tail. I know what they did to you, rest assured they were expelled from Signal once it was found out. Your combat teacher saw to that," replied the Headmaster in a saddened tone.
"The old drunk comes through again huh? At least there's one competent teacher at Signal," scoffed the boy. "That being said my point still remains, I'm not a Huntsman."
"Indeed you're not a Huntsman, you're an actor. Tell me, Umbra, what is an actor's job? Their job is to immerse themselves in a character, to play the role given to them, to become someone else. Perhaps that's the reason for your Semblance?" theorised the Headmaster, causing Umbra to frown but say nothing as Ozpin continued.
"But I digress, I don't want you here as a student Umbra. And rest assured you won't be fighting Grimm. You won't even have to live on Beacon grounds. In addition to Beacon's sponsorship you will also be getting paid double whatever you make at the theater," proposed Ozpin, getting a curious expression from Umbra.
"So then what will I be doing?" he asked in disbelief, the entire thing seeming too good to be true.
Ozpin smiled, "I have been talking it over with my fellow Headmaster James Ironwood for a couple of days now. We both decided that due to the increasingly varied jobs Hunters are being forced to undertake, a new class should be taught here at the Academies."
"New class? What does that have to do with me?" replied Umbra as his frown deepened.
"Simple, I want to hire you as a Teacher's Assistant, together with Glynda and myself, you will be teaching our students how to infiltrate organisations as well as spot infiltrators. I believe your unique skills and Semblance will be invaluable in assisting with teaching the class," replied Ozpin with a smile.
"And in doing so, you get to keep an eye on me personally," pointed out Umbra with a smirk, causing Ozpin to smile approvingly.
"Indeed, yet another reason for you to assist in teaching. You have a very sharp mind. So do we have a deal?" asked Ozpin, about to hold his hand out to the boy before remembering his Semblance and retracting it.
Umbra was silent for a few seconds before he sighed, "I'll do it. Now can someone please give me a scroll so I can call my work. They're all probably worried sick after I didn't show up after the Breach."
"Of course, I look forward to working with you, Mr. Furvus," replied Ozpin as he handed over his scroll to the boy.
Elsewhere a certain drunk Huntsman was enjoying one of his few days off as he turned on his computer when he saw a certain video pop up on the recommended videos. 'Real Life Huntress Fights Beacon Students!'
"Oh this should be good," laughed Qrow, after all there was no way Ozpin would let something like that happen at his own school, especially not with the Council breathing down his neck.
"Let's see this so called Huntress," he chuckled, opening his flask again as the video started.
It was poor quality…probably filmed off a scroll as the cameraman pointed it towards the three figures fighting in the courtyard below. Qrow's eyes widened as he recognized the distinctive clothing of his nieces even through the poor video quality. 'What's going on?' he wondered as the two of them rushed towards their opponent.
As the camera swerved to follow them Qrow spat out his drink as he saw the familiar white cloaked woman holding them off with her twin chain scythes. 'That's not possible…she's dead. It must just be someone who looks like her,' he decided, only for that theory to die as he saw the white cloak woman activate her Semblance.
"Scatter," muttered Qrow as the pavement turned to white petals.
"Summer," gasped the Huntsman as he immediately downloaded the video and got out his scroll before typing a message.
Raven, Tai.
We need to talk. ALL THREE OF US! It's about Summer…she's ALIVE!
Meet me at the Crowbar around three tomorrow.
Raven, I know you don't want to see us again. But you owe Summer, if you don't show up I will hunt you down myself. This is a matter for all of team STRQ!
Qrow.
So that was a thing. If you didn't realised team STRQ are going to have a major role in this story. Net I need a name for Summer's weapons, let me know your suggestions in the reviews. So for the few people that read Holding All the Cards…I tried but I just couldn't get back in the right mind set. So unfortunately it's back on Hiatus. Sorry.