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Chapter 3: A Vytal Adventure (?)
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"I hold it true, whate'er may befall;
I feel it when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than to have never loved at all."
In Memoriam A.H.H.
-Lord Alfred Tennyson
Seven Years and Three Months before the Battle of Beacon
The Vytal Festival, once again, had made it's triumphant return to Vale, before it would tour the rest of the world for the next six years, the festival coming every other year, making this the 36th Festival. But that was the last thing on the minds of team AQUA as they followed the throngs of other students through the hallways, noticing the conservative black clothing of the Haven uniform, the casual clothing of the students from Shade in Vacuo, and the grey and white militaristic uniforms from Atlas.
Since they had arrived a month ago, already a number of Atlesian students had come up to Alexander, when he wasn't wearing his school uniform, with questions, expecting him to turn around and be one of their escorts that Ironwood sent with them, only for them to be disappointed and confused when they found a teenager wearing the uniform of an Atlesian Specialist, albeit with some small changes, like the lack of tails on the coat, and the emblem on the back of the coat. Amber and Uranus laughed uproariously every time it happened, and even the ever stoic Quentin would let a small smile grace his lips, further confusing the Atlesian students.
Today, as they entered a massive auditorium, instead of mingling like they normally would, the students were split up by school to stand while Ozpin slowly walked out, the hard soles of his shoes and his cane clicking against the floor of the stage, echoing imposingly around the room. Ozpin stood, as stoic as ever, and dead silent for a minute or so, despite the fact that all the students had long since fallen silent.
"We stand together, students from all four kingdoms, Vacuo, Vale, Atlas, and Mistral, united in our 72 years ago, humanity fought the worst war it has ever known, still referred to this day as the 'Great War'. It was a war fought for innumerable reasons, though chief among them was the concept of individualism and the right to self expression. It was a terrible conflict, turning family members and friends against each other, and because of all the tragedy and death it caused, humanity celebrates this great day, this day of peace, when the four nations came together on the island of Vytal to bring an end to the bloodshed. It is also on this day, while the rest of the world celebrates, that Huntsman and Huntresses remain ever vigilant." Ozpin paused as screens rose up all around the room, some students looking around in surprise at the sudden appearances.
"As first year students, you will be shadowing a fully fledged Huntsman or Huntress on their mission. Some of your missions may take you as far as the other kingdoms, other missions won't even leave the city of Vale. Some of you may find yourselves gone for a month on a single mission, others missions may not even last until the end of next week. But you all will do your very best, and learn all you can from whomever you will be shadowing. Good luck, and, as always, good hunting." Ozpin turned and walked off stage, leaving behind an auditorium that was eerily silent for a few moments before exploding into a mess of chatter.
Amber jumped in surprise when a hand landed on her shoulder. When she looked over, it was to see Goodwitch, her face a mask, but her eyes glittering with pride and amusement. She motioned for Amber to follow her, Quentin, Uranus, and Alexander not far behind them. Goodwitch led AQUA through the winding hallways until they reached one of the elevators that Amber recognized as leading up to Ozpin's office.
Amber and Goodwitch stepped in, unsurprisingly, with ease, while the three boys stepped in cautiously, apprehension and confusion written across their face. It was a quiet ride, and Amber made a mental note to thank Goodwitch at another time for finally getting rid of that accursed elevator music that used to play. It would have only made the whole thing even more uncomfortable.
AQUA and Goodwitch stepped out of the elevator to Ozpin's office, bathed in pale green light, and noticeably lacking in their Headmaster's presence. Quentin, Uranus, and Alexander looked around the room with apprehension, wondering why they had been brought here.
After a minute or so of waiting, Ozpin stepped out of an elevator, coffee mug in one hand, cane in the other. When he saw AQUA waiting with Goodwitch, he gave a small smile as he walked across his office and settled into his chair.
"I'm sure you have many questions, and I would like to dispel one of your worries. None of you did anything wrong. In fact, rather the opposite. You four have, despite your stumbling blocks, cemented yourselves at the top of your class, and because of that, have been given an opportunity that very few before you have been given." Ozpin paused to take a sip of coffee, laughing internally at the looks of confusion on AQUA's faces, and the annoyance that flashed across Goodwitch's.
"Your classmates are, at this moment, choosing a mission and getting assigned to a Huntsman or Huntress. You four, however, will not do that. A Huntress, specifically an old friend of Professor Goodwitch's, and one of the greatest Hunters to graduate from this academy, has requested that she be allowed to take you on a mission that she accepted this morning. I believe it is a Search and Destroy mission on the island of Patch. When she gets here you will know more" Ozpin leaned back into his chair, taking another long sip of his coffee and pulling out a tablet, signalling that the conversation was over.
Amber turned to look at Goodwitch, almost jumping up and down in excitement. "It's her isn't it! I've always wanted to meet her! I can't believe that she's going to lead our mission!" Uranus and Alexander watched in confusion as Amber babbled on in excitement about meeting this mystery woman. Quentin, resigned to his fate of confusion and being kept in the dark, found a spare chair against the wall, and sat down, pulling his zanbato off his back, and a whetstone kit out of a bag he had placed on the ground next to him.
A soft metallic keening rang out through the office as Quentin slowly ran a polishing rag along the length of his blade, cleaning off any dust and debris that had collected on the blade. His mouth curved into a smile when Uranus and Alexander sat down on the ground on either side of him, checking, rechecking, and loading their magazines of ammo for their guns. This continued, a quiet humming coming from Uranus while the boys did their busywork and Amber talked to Goodwitch, until it all stopped when the elevator gave a small ding.
The elevator door slowly opened and a woman stepped into the room. She was shorter than everybody in the room evidenced by the fact that she was, perhaps, an inch or two shorter than Amber, who had previously been the shortest person in the room. She wore a white cloak with a hood that she pulled back, revealing black hair with crimson tips, a pale face, her lips curled into a small smile, and silver eyes that seemed to shine in the light of the office. As she walked farther into the room, her cloak fell back behind her, revealing a white skirt and shirt laced with red on the ends, a black corset around her midriff, black leggings under her skirt that ended under her black combat boots that came halfway up her calf.
"Glynda!" She cried, her voice high pitched and bubbly, throwing her arms around Goodwitch, who responded in kind, though slightly hesitantly. She stepped back from her friend, looking at the girl next to Goodwitch, recognizing Amber immediately from Goodwitch's descriptions. "You must be Amber, are those three your teammates?" She asked Amber, gesturing over to the three boys who were currently frozen in mid movement, staring at the woman who had just hugged their Professor. Amber simply nodded in reply.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Summer Rose, I'm a friend of Glyn-sorry, Professor Goodwitch's. I graduated Beacon a while back, same year as Professor Goodwitch, actually. If you four would follow me, we can go somewhere to get to know each other a bit where we won't be bothering Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch." She said, smiling at Goodwitch and Ozpin before she turned to leave, AQUA following behind her.
Summer led team AQUA to a garden that none of them even knew existed, sitting down on a stump while Amber and her teammates sat on the ground. "So, we'll do the typical stuff, your name, where you're from, and how about you guys tell me what weapons you use and what your semblance is. We'll start with blondie." She pointed at Uranus, who jumped a bit in surprise, slightly intimidated by the professional Huntress even though she seemed so kind and happy.
"Uh, well, I'm Uranus Olympia. I'm from Vacuo, but I moved to Vale when I was really young. I use a collapsible sniper rifle that also turns into a large sickle if I need to do close range fighting. My semblance lets me infuse aura into rounds I shoot, and I can use my aura to explode the rounds when I want completely independent of whether they're Dust rounds or just standard metal rounds." Uranus was slightly uncomfortable telling anyone his semblance especially after he only realized his semblance a month or two ago in a sparring match, when he had accidentally used it to explode a round right when Lily was about to dodge. Luckily and unluckily, the bullet had been a standard metal round, so it didn't have any Dust reactions, but it did pepper Lily with shrapnel.
Team AQUA had visited Lily every day for the next week in the infirmary while she recovered, and Uranus had been beaten himself up about it for weeks afterwards. It had been instinctual for him, and it had caught everyone off guard, happening too fast for Roland to use his semblance to project his aura outward, bolstering Lily's own defensive abilities.
Summer nodded slowly, watching the Uranus's head drop in shame. She pursed her lips for a moment, thinking something over before she moved on, looking at Quentin, who was looking at his teammate with thinly veiled concern. "You, tall guy, you're up."
Quentin nodded, taking a moment to clear his throat before he rasped out, "My name is Quentin Musashi. I am from Mistral, and I use this zanbato to fight." He gestured at the sword he had balanced on his knees, while he cleared his throat again. "My semblance allows me to see what my opponent intends to do next, though it does not make me fast enough to do anything about it." His hand lightly traced the scar on his throat.
"I see…" Summer said, trailing off as she fidgeted a bit with the bottom of her skirt, clearly a bit uncomfortable. "Well, then, you're next, Atlas boy." She gestured over at Alexander, who sighed a bit reluctantly before he spoke.
"Alright, well, I'm Alexander Wallace, I'm from Atlas, as you obviously know. I have two escrima sticks that can transform into pistols that help me fight in battle. My semblance speeds up my reflexes and boosts my senses. Even when it's not active, my reflexes and senses are still better than other people's." Alexander said, eyes carefully flicking over Summer's face, looking for any reaction or indication of emotion outside her normal smile.
"Oh, you're the kid that knows Jimmy, right?" She asked, recognition lighting up her eyes, and giggling slightly when Alexander just tipped his head in confusion.
"Sorry, one of my friends has known Ironwood for longer than anyone else I've met, and refuses to address him as anything other than Jimmy. It's a bad habit that I picked up and can't quite seem to shake. You know Ironwood, correct?" She asked again, and Alexander nodded, looking a bit uncomfortable that someone he didn't know already knew something like that.
"Yeah, I know General Ironwood." Alexander said, and Summer just smiled widely at him before looking over at Amber, who had noticeably calmed from her overflowing excitement in the tower. Without Summer even asking, Amber started talking.
"Hi, I'm Amber Harvest, I'm from Mistral, I use a staff with Dust crystals on the ends of it, and, uhh." Amber paused, suddenly incredibly nervous and awkward. "Well, I haven't really discovered my semblance yet." She looked down at her boots uncomfortably, suddenly very interested in a small scuff on the toe of one of them, tactfully avoiding the gazes of everyone in the clearing but Summer, who simply looked at her understandingly.
"Well then, if that's all, head back to your rooms, gather anything you need that you don't already have, and meet me on the landing pad out front. I'd like to get to Patch by tonight." Summer hopped down from the stump, and strode away into the forest, her cloak flapping slightly in the wind. Amber immediately hopped up after Amber left and ran off to the room to grab her bag that she had forgotten to bring with her like the boys had.
It was not long after that that Amber walked down the pathway to the landing pad, where Summer stood in front of a Bullhead, watching the boys discuss something nonsensical. On her way to the Bullhead, Amber saw IPRL in full combat gear, waiting with backpacks, and looking very disgruntled.
"Hey, Ianthe, what's wrong?" Amber asked IPRL's leader, whose arms were crossed angrily as Roland attempted to calm her down.
"We were supposed to go on a mission to a village outside Vale and shadow the Huntsman that protects it, named Port, I think, but he got injured enough that emergency services had to bring him back to Vale itself to recover. We're waiting here while they try to figure out who we'll be shadowing when we go to the village." Ianthe said, uncrossing her arms, her left hand playing with the end of the bow strapped across her back that reached down to her hip.
"Well, best of luck, you guys! Hope your mission goes well!" Amber said, jogging off to meet up with her team and Summer, who were waiting expectantly for her. They all stepped into the Bullhead, door closing behind them as they took off, jetting off over the small body of water that separated the island of Patch and Signal academy from the mainland of Vale.
...
The trip was quiet except for Summer's explanation of their mission. Evidently, Grimm activity had been documented around the outskirts of Patch, and they were to investigate, hopefully finding the Alpha that was attracting the beowolves from all around the island. They would find a beowolf, or a small group, and ideally would follow them to the Alpha. From there, it would be a simple extermination mission.
The Bullhead circled around a two story log cabin on Patch for about ten minutes, trying to find somewhere to land, before Summer finally walked into the cockpit to talk to the pilot, and came back to the cargo bay after a minute, a wide smile on her face. Yelling to be heard over the turbines, Summer said, "There's nowhere to land around the house we'll be staying the night at, so we're jumping out! Get everything together, doors open in a minute!"
Alexander pulled his pack onto his back, tightened the straps around his shoulders and chest, and saw his teammates do the same. Summer gave them all a reassuring smile before the large gull wing door opened up, the wind whipping her cloak around behind her, and pushing down her hood. She gave them a mock salute before diving out of the Bullhead backwards, easily a hundred feet up in the air.
Alexander sprinted towards the edge without stopping, throwing himself headfirst into a dive out the doors, the wind whipping at his hair and stinging his eyes. Below him, he saw Summer land with a flourish of her cape, and quickly dash away from where he would shortly land. Flipping around, Alexander got his feet under himself, pulling his knees up slightly to brace for the impact, his aura forming a visible protective layer around his legs.
He hit the ground hard, making a small crater, and dropping to one knee as his aura absorbed most of the impact, and then worked to fix the damage from the force it couldn't disperse. Alexander stood up and ran towards Summer, turning around in time to see Quentin land similarly to how Alexander did, throwing up a small dust cloud in the process.
Uranus, a moment or two later, fell through the air, firing his rifle straight down once, drastically slowing his fall right before he landed, turning a hundred foot fall into a ten foot drop, which he easily rolled out of. He stood up with his typical smile, joining Summer and the other boys as they turned to watch Amber drop through the air.
About fifteen feet from the ground, Amber pulled out her staff, elongating it and activating the wind Dust crystal all in one motion, creating a massive blast of wind that slowed her fall down drastically, turning it from a free fall, into a drift down. She landed with a satisfied smirk and another small gust of air, walking over to join the boys and Summer as a tall, blond, muscular man, in a beige shirt covered partially by a brown vest, and brown cargo shorts with black shoes. Some stubble was starting to poke out along his jawline, his left bicep had a red bandana tied over it, and a stylized heart had been tattooed over his right bicep.
A broad smile stretched over his boyish and kind face when he saw Summer, but immediately fell off it when he noticed team AQUA standing near her. He took a deep breath, pausing in his approach, closing his eyes that were noticeably lilac even from a distance. When he opened his eyes, he started walking towards them again, although his jaw seemed set angrily, looking much more intimidating than a couple seconds ago.
"Hello, lovely to meet all of you, name's Taiyang, and I would love to get to know you four, but if you would excuse us for a moment, I think my wife and I have some things to talk about." Taiyang said in a rush, not waiting for any responses before he laid a hand gently on Summer's upper back and the two walked around the corner of the house, leaving a very confused team AQUA to wait outside the door of the house.
"Summer, what happened to not taking anymore missions? I thought we agreed not to take anymore missions, at least until Ruby and Yang went off to Beacon." Taiyang asked, looking hurt and confused. "You said you would finally come join Qrow and I at Signal. What happened to all of that, and why am I only just now learning you took another mission?"
"It's not a big mission, Tai, Ozpin told me about their team, and I just couldn't resist. The mission isn't big, just some Beowolf hunting. I need to know if one of them is what Ozpin claims they are. I need to see it for myself." Summer said, smiling at Tai, watching his hurt expression slip away, watching begrudging acceptance take it's place.
"This has to do with that damn group you and Qrow are in, doesn't it?" Tai asked, sighing heavily when Summer nodded. "Fine, I won't argue anymore, but this is the last one. You promised." He said, and Summer nodded, a determined look on her face briefly before she broke out in a smile, pulling Tai down and kissing him softly before they broke apart, Summer resting her head on his chest, her arms around his waist, and his around her shoulders. They stayed that way for a moment or two before they stepped away from each other, Tai following Summer back to the front of the house.
"Well, come on in, you're not here for sightseeing." Tai said, opening the door, and motioning for AQUA to follow him and Summer inside. The inside of the house, much like the exterior, was a tad bit drab and spartan, mostly brown furniture, but nonetheless was cozy and inviting. Alexander had a feeling that this was somewhere great childhoods could be had, and thus was not surprised when a young blonde girl who somewhat resembled Tai came walking down the stairs holding the hand of a younger girl who, although very young, was already as close to a carbon copy of Summer Rose as a young girl could get, right down to the seemingly natural crimson highlights in her hair.
With simultaneous cries of "MOM!" they ran across the room, arms outstretched. Summer kneeled down on the floor, pulling both girls into a hug with a happy laugh. Tai stood with team AQUA, a smile on his face as well as he looked over at the teenagers, happily noting the recognition and joy in three of their eyes, while Alexander just stood there uncomfortably, unsure of what to say, do or feel in this situation.
Summer turned around after a minute, a hand on each girl's head, walking over to team AQUA. "Girls, these four are going to stay with us tonight before they help mommy kill some monsters tomorrow, so be nice to them." She said, smiling at team AQUA, who smiled back at her and the girls. "Guys, these are my daughters, Ruby," She ruffled the chibi Summer's hair, "and Yang." She ruffled the hair on the blonde's hair, which made her scowl and swat at Summer's hand, only succeeding in making Summer laugh.
"Amber, you can stay in the guest room upstairs. Boys, you get either the couch, armchairs, or the ground. Figure that out amongst yourselves." Summer said, and, barely a moment later, Uranus yelled out, "Dibs on the couch!", causing Tai to let out a bark of a laugh.
"Feel free to put your stuff anywhere out of the way, and if any of you know how to cook, feel free to come help me make dinner." Tai said, walking off towards the doorway that led to the kitchen, followed closely by Quentin, who had given his things to Uranus to find a place for. Summer went upstairs to see something Ruby and Yang wanted to show her, leaving Uranus, Alexander, and Amber in the living room alone, though Amber shortly followed behind Summer, heading upstairs to the guest room, and Uranus set all of his and Quentin's things down before going to join Quentin and Tai in the kitchen.
And so Alexander found himself alone, sitting in an armchair that he had set his bag next to. Reaching down, Alexander pulled out a book and started to read. Alexander didn't own many books that weren't textbooks, and this was one of the few, a gift from Amber to celebrate their second semester and the upcoming Vytal Festival. The vaguely audible conversations from upstairs and in the kitchen drifted out and over Alexander as he started to read, falling away to a dull hum as he focused on the book.
So focused was he that he didn't notice when Amber, Summer, Ruby and Yang came downstairs before going into the kitchen to keep Tai, Uranus, and Quentin company while they cooked. So focused was he that he didn't notice when Yang climbed up onto the arm of the chair he was sitting in, sitting down cross legged, trying to read the book as well, before growing tired of waiting for him to notice her, and poked him firmly in his left shoulder, causing him to snap the book shut and whip his head to look at her with a start.
"Hi, I'm Yang! What's your name?" She asked, a wide, innocent smile plastered across her face that Alexander could have sworn hid some dastardly mischievousness behind it. Lilac eyes stared intensely into his own with a sparkle of childhood innocence that had long since vacated Alexander's own blue eyes.
"My name's Alexander. It's nice to meet you." He said in response, unable to stop the smile that spread across his face.
"Whatcha reading?" She asked, looking curiously at the book in his hands.
"It's a book about a man who struggles with the mistakes he's made, and trying to make up for them by doing what he thinks is the right thing, but it turns out that it wasn't the right thing for him to do." He said, looking at the leather cover, the gold lettering on the front spelling out 'Honor among Assassins'.
"That sounds really sad." Yang said, leaning over look at the lettering on the book as well. "Why would you read something that makes you sad?" She looked up at Alexander, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Well, I guess it's because sometimes reading a sad book helps us better appreciate both the good things in real life and the stories that have a happy ending. Does that make sense?" He asked, watching Yang sit there quietly for a long moment, before nodding and smiling.
"Yeah, I get it. You have to be sad every once in awhile so you don't take being happy for granted." She said, smiling a bit wider at Alexander. "Do you go to Beacon with Amber?" She asked. "I heard her talking to Mom about it earlier."
"Yeah, we're training to fight Grimm and protect people, just like your Mom and Dad." Alexander responded, placing his book down as Yang jumped off the arm of the chair when Ruby called for her from the door to the kitchen.
"I'm gonna be just like you and Mom one day! I'll go to Beacon and everything!" Yang said, with startling conviction for a ten year old. Alexander smiled at her as she walked away.
"I look forward to it."
…
Dinner was a small affair, some meat, bread, potatoes, and vegetables, followed by some chocolate chip cookies for dessert that Ruby helped Summer make, though the majority of the cookies were consumed by the two that made them. After dinner, Ruby and Yang were sent almost directly to bed, the sun having fallen below the horizon. Tai, Summer and Amber followed them upstairs, and Uranus and Quentin went to go lie down, passing out almost immediately, as the two boys often would.
Alexander, however, continued to struggle with insomnia, and was still up many hours later reading when Tai walked down the stairs, barely making any noise, and stepped out the front door. Curious, Alexander followed close behind, carefully closing the door behind him so it wouldn't make any noise. Ahead of him, he heard Tai clear his throat before a speck of fire burst forth out of the darkness on the end of the lighter that Tai held in one hand to light the cigarette in his other hand. When he lit the cigarette, he cut out the lighter, and took a long draw from the cigarette, sighing and blowing the smoke out into the darkness.
"So you're the kid that Ironwood told Ozpin about." Tai said, without turning around, reached out behind him, the unlit cigarette in his hand extended towards Alexander. "Since you're up, you might as well join me for a smoke. You can bum some off of me just this once, but if you ever smoke with me again, know that you're bringing your own." Alexander cautiously took the extended cigarette, and held it out for Tai to light.
Once it was lit, Alexander took a long draw, the smoke burning his lungs and making him cough several times, his eyes watering slightly. Tai just laughed a bit. "Hey, kid, just activate your aura. It'll heal away the burning and potential long term effects. Just leaves you with the rush." Alexander followed his advice and, for the next minute or so, they were silent.
"I didn't peg you as the type of person who would smoke." Alexander said, watching Tai stomp on the embers of his first cigarette as he lit a second. Tai shrugged, taking a long draw before he responded.
"Everybody has their vices. Huntsman and Huntresses just take vices to the extremes to help us cope. My friend Qrow drinks whiskey like its water, Summer eats more sweets than everybody I know put together, I smoke, and Ozpin consumes coffee by the gallons. They don't fix what happened, or what we did, but they help, and everyone finds something to help them." Tai looked over at Alexander as he lit the teen's second and his third cigarette.
"So, I know why I'm up this late, what's got you staying up to the midnight hours? Does it have anything to do with Project Jaeger?" Tai chuckled when Alexander looked at him shocked. "Look, kid, I know that my wife is better at hunting than I could ever be, but that doesn't mean I graduated from Beacon on accident. I'm still listed as an Elite Hunter all through Remnant, and from what I've heard, you're not far off that rank yourself, Specialist." Alexander just stood there for a long moment before he took a draw from the cigarette, thinking as he exhaled.
"I just… I feel like, no matter what I do, where I go, I can't escape my past, try as I might. I killed a lot of people, and every night, I'm treated to a parade of the people I've killed or watched die, reliving the moments where a red hot knife went through my shoulder, I had my ribs broken, or any of the numerous times I was tortured. It… makes it very hard to get any decent rest, so I usually just work myself to exhaustion before I go to bed. It doesn't help the nightmares, but it forces me to sleep through them, so at least I don't wake up pissed and spend the day quicker to anger than I already am." Alexander gave a heavy sigh, raking a hand through his hair. "I don't know what to do, I don't know if this gets any better, or any easier, but I don't want to be tortured by it my entire life."
"Of course it won't get easier, the nightmares will never go away." Tai said, watching as Alexander's face fell. "But they do stop showing up so often, and, if you play your cards right, you'll have friends around you to help you through it when they do. Your past should not be something you try to run from, or hide from. Embrace it, accept it, grow from it, and hopefully, it won't trouble you as much, and if it does, I can count at least three people in that house that are probably pretty goddam willing to help you through it." Tai tossed down his cigarette and stomped it out, Alexander following suit after a minute of silence.
"Hey kid, why don't I give you my friend Qrow's number? He's a friend of Ozpin's, he's known Ironwood for years, and Summer and I trust him with our lives. I think he might just be able to help you. How about it?" Tai said, reaching a hand out, watching Alexander carefully as he thought about it before digging his hand into his pocket, fishing out his Scroll and handing it to Tai, who tapped around on Alexander's scroll for a bit before handing it back.
"Next time you want to talk to someone, and you don't want to talk to your friends, give him a ring, alright?" Tai waited for Alexander to nod before he ushered Alexander back in through the door into the house. "Alright, now, try to go to sleep. You've got a big day tomorrow, first mission and all." Alexander nodded again, a small smile gracing his face as they split up to go to bed, each anxious for tomorrow.
…
The next day saw team AQUA waiting outside the house while Summer said goodbye to her family, spending most of the time saying goodbye to Ruby and Yang, while she and Tai simply shared a meaningful glance and a kiss. Alexander ran his thumb over the engraving on the metal lighter in his pocket that Tai had given him, which had, on one side, a wing coming off of gears over a stylized heart that matched the tattoo on Tai's shoulder, while the other side had a rose above a bird's head. In his pack was a pack of cigarettes that Tai had given him, with the caveat that he promise to give Qrow a call.
Behind Alexander, staring into the forest, Amber shifted from foot to foot restlessly, anxious to get their first mission underway, her right hand repeatedly twitching towards her lower back where her collapsed staff hung from her waist. Her left hand was tightly wrapped around the strap of her backpack, her knuckles noticeably white. Next to her stood Quentin, watching the Xiao-Long Rose family say their goodbyes with a calm joy in his eyes and a happy smile on his face.
Uranus's arms were crossed as he stood next to Quentin, his fingers beating a steady staccato onto his bicep, and his right foot tapping gently against the grass of the lawn. Quentin reached over after a minute or so of the tapping, resting his hand on Uranus's shoulder, causing the blonde's foot to still almost immediately, though his fingers kept tapping away on his arm.
Eventually, Summer stepped away from her family, waving to them as the group started walking into the forest, very carefully to tread lightly, their eyes darting and heads swiveling, searching for something that would indicate the presence of Grimm, be it the red eyes, the white bony armor, the acrid scent, or a growl. They ventured for a couple hours before breaking for lunch around midday, eating some bread and cheese from their packs while they sat quietly. Before long, they were back on the search, more spread out and confident this time, Summer carefully observing the teenagers as the sun started to approach the western horizon.
When the sun drifted below the horizon, they set up camp under a rocky overhang, thanking the gods that the temperature didn't drop too much when the sun went down. It was hardly the most comfortable place to sleep, but there were far less comfortable and far colder places that they could potentially have slept, so there was little argument. After starting a small sheltered fire and cooking up dinner, AQUA went to bed, leaving Alexander awake to take the first watch.
He sat quietly on top of the overhang, legs swinging below him, eyes carefully scrutinizing the landscape around him while a cherry light glowed at the end of the cigarette that he held in his fingers. He heard the rustling of a cape, and moved over a foot to make room for Summer to sit down next to him. She watched him silently for a bit before she finally spoke.
"Amber's watch is about to start." She said quietly, watching Alexander stub out the cigarette on the ground next to him. "You should wake her up in a minute so you can get some sleep."
"No need, I can take her watch for her. She's our leader, and we need her as well rested as possible. Besides, not like I would get much sleep anyway." He said, expecting her to say something about how he was as important to the team as Amber is, and that he should at least try to get some sleep. But she didn't. Her hand rested on his shoulder, and he looked over to see her staring at the lighter he was absently flicking on and off in his hand.
"Tai gave that to you, didn't he?" Summer asked, giving a sad smile when Alexander nodded in response. "He must like you. The only people who even know he smokes are Qrow and I. He had that engraved right before Raven left. He was going to surprise her with it, just a little thank you…" She just trailed off a bit, her words disappearing into the soft breeze.
"You guys lost your fourth teammate?" Alexander asked, confused when Summer didn't answer immediately, choosing to look off into the night with a long sigh.
"Something like that. What I'm going to tell you is not something to be repeated without Tai's permission, alright?" Summer turned and stared at him so intensely that Alexander could only nod nervously.
"I am… not Tai's first significant other. I don't know the whole story, both Tai and Raven were very private people at the time, and Tai still is, so they're the only two that could really tell you the whole thing, Qrow and I were able to piece together this story after Raven left." Summer took a long breath, letting it out slowly.
"Raven was my best friend, had been since probably a week into our time at Beacon, and Tai was Qrow's. There was always this...tension, I guess, between them that Qrow and I used to joke about meaning that they were destined to get married." Summer let out a scornful laugh. "Well, when we left Beacon, we split ways for a bit, or, at least, Qrow and I split off to do our own things. He went to Atlas, I went to Mistral, and when we returned, Tai and Raven were living together. Not that surprising, really, I had expected them to get together for a while. But it didn't affect our missions, didn't change the fact that in a bad month, Qrow and I would complete more missions separately than they would together."
"Then, a couple years later, Raven goes on a mission by herself to Vacuo, comes back really distraught, starts going out to bars with Qrow and not getting back to the apartment she and Tai shared until really late at night, smelling like smoke and booze. She and Tai worked through it together, but after that, she seemed so skittish, especially around me, like one wrong thing would make her bolt. My best friend went out of her way to avoid me." Summer paused, swallowing hard and wiping at the corners of her eyes. Alexander's cigarette, long since forgotten and burned out, fell from his hand to the ground below them.
"Maybe a year after that happened, she disappeared again, not on a mission, and leaving no note behind, really freaking Tai out. I helped Tai recover, we got really close, and when he started feeling better, we started dating. It was fun for a month or so, until Raven returned one day when I was out on a mission, leaving a basket on Tai's doorstep, and disappearing through some portal that Tai had never seen before."
"When I came back the next day, Tai was sitting in a chair, holding a baby with his blonde hair, and crying as he read a note from Raven that she left with Yang alongside her birth certificate and enough baby formula to make it through a month or so. So I called Qrow, and, together, we got Tai through it, day by day, even though, on his best day, he seemed to only get up because of Yang." Summer sighed, looking down at her boots.
"I still loved Tai, obviously, and he got better slowly, but what really made him get his act together was when Yang was a couple months past her birthday, I found out I was pregnant. I had Ruby nine months later, Tai and I married a year or so after that, and we continued moving forward. Tai stopped taking missions after we married, so we moved to Patch where he started teaching, but he carried everything with him. Every failed mission, every friend that died, and Raven." Summer watched Alexander carefully for a moment before she continued.
"Tai is a good man, and I love him, but he does not trust easily, he never has, but especially now. His advice, if he gave you any, is more than likely some of the best advice you will hear. Not because he is a wise person, but because he's already been through it." Summer stood up, Alexander's eyes following her.
"Have a good night, Alexander, I hope you manage to find sleep." She said, before leaping up into a tree near the overhang, pulling the hood farther down over her face, and settling into a fork in the tree to sleep. Alexander pulled out the lighter once again, flicking it on, watching the light dance across the engravings as he listened to howls of Beowulves far off in the distance.
…
It took them the whole next day to find one Beowolf, and when they set up camp, it was in sight of the Beowolf as it rested. Uranus took the first watch, and, two watches later, Quentin woke Alexander up. Alexander walked a few meters away and jumped up, grabbing a branch, and hoisting himself up into a tree, keeping a careful eye on the red eyes that bobbed up and down in the darkness. The hours passed by slowly, though Alexander was far from bored. Thoughts raced through his mind, and his fingers flew across the keyboard of his Scroll, documents after document, mission report after mission report, all connected together into dossiers that he had been compiling with every free moment he had had in the past two days.
Four dossiers, three of which he had compiled personally, the fourth of which had been sent to him, courtesy of General Ironwood himself. Everything he could find on team STRQ from their first year in Beacon, to the last official mission they had each completed. Qrow, apparently, averaged a mission completion every couple days, and though Summer took longer on her missions, she generally took missions that had been given higher danger ratings.
He couldn't find anything of note on Raven, some reported sightings after Tai's filed missing persons report, and didn't read anything more than he felt he needed to in Tai's file, which mostly just reinforced knowledge he already had. Tai was currently employed as a teacher at Signal Academy, though the subject he taught had never been specified by the academy.
By the time the sun rose, Alexander was just about done reading all he cared to, his mind racing with unanswered questions, some for Summer, some for Tai, but most for Raven, whose last mission had been an unofficial mission. Whatever paperwork or orders she had shown her friends and family had clearly been fabricated, as there was no mission report that put Raven in Vacuo at all in her time as a Huntress, and, from what he had gathered, she had never even traveled to Vacuo.
It all brought a number of questions to the front of Alexander's mind, most of which, however, could only be answered by Raven, who, if the most recent confirmed sighting was to be believed, was in Menagerie, though that sighting was several months old. When more beowolves started joining the one they had been following, Alexander went around, waking up everyone else except for Summer, who simply dropped down from the treetops with barely a rustle from her cloak to alert them to her arrival.
The next couple days were spent like the first, largely in silence, while they followed the steadily growing pack of beowolves, gaining a couple every day until the pack was around thirty strong on their fifth day out, when they finally found the Alpha in a clearing, surrounded by over fifty Grimm before the pack they had been following joined the group.
The Alpha was old, clearly older than any other of the Beowolves in the area. It towered over the other Beowolves, easily over 25 feet tall, with thick bone plates covering the lower parts of its arms, its shoulders, and completely covering the top of its head except for eyes. It also had sharp, bone spines sticking out of its back all along its spine, each one at least half a foot long, and some near its shoulders were around a foot.
AQUA gathered around Amber, Summer watching from the treetops above them while they talked.
"Uranus, you'll be up in the treeline, take a shot at anything that you can, try to thin the pack as quickly as possible, take any potshots at the Alpha that you think you need to. Quentin, you're going to fight the pack head on, I'll provide any firepower I can, try to keep your flanks clear. We need to decimate the pack as fast as possible so we can help Alexander. Speaking of which." Amber turned to look at Alexander who had a grim and determined look on his face.
"Do you think you can at least occupy it long enough for us to get the pack?" She asked, smiling apologetically when he nodded. "Alright. Uranus, get where you need to be, we go on your shot." With that, Uranus jumped up, swinging himself up into the trees, quickly disappearing into the treetops. Amber pulled out her staff and it sprung apart to its fully extended form while Quentin and Alexander's hands hovered over their weapons anticipatorily.
A couple seconds later, a crack rang out, and a beowolf's head exploded into a red mist before a second explosion rocked the clearing, the fire dust inside Uranus's bullet reacting violently with his semblance, creating a veritable firestorm that eliminated another few beowolves as they burned up in acrid smoke. A blast of wind exploded from Amber's staff, rocketing Alexander and Quentin towards the pack.
Flipping in midair, Alexander slammed his boots into the snout of a beowolf, using it as a springboard, throwing him up into the air above the pack with a smile on his face, feeling weightless for a moment as he hit the apex of his jump before another blast of air slammed into him, throwing him over the pack, right at the Alpha, his face settling into an emotionless mask again. As he flew, he could see beowolves drop to the ground in two pieces, in flames, or missing a head, but for every one his teammates put down, more came after, and still more from the forest.
Alexander flipped again as he neared the Alpha, slamming his boot into its snout before it pushed back, sending him back into the air momentarily before he hit the ground rolling and rose in a crouch. With a loud roar, the Alpha swung at Alexander with a paw larger than his torso, forcing him to roll out of the way before he rose again, running straight at it. The next swipe he jumped over, quickly running to the side of the Alpha, expecting it to turn towards him.
Except it didn't. Instead of turning, the Alpha simply swung its paw in a deceptively quick but brutal backhand, slamming into him with such force that it easily threw Alexander thirty feet away into a tree, where he slammed with an impact that created spiderwebs of cracks in the tree. Faster than he thought possible for something so big to move, the Alpha was in Alexander's face, swiping at him again. Barely able to recover in time, Alexander dropped under the arm, rolling between the Alpha's legs and jumping up onto its back, grabbing hold of the spikes near its shoulders, placing his feet against its back and pulling as hard as he could.
The combined forces caused the Alpha to stumble back a couple feet before it collected itself, trying to swipe at Alexander with paws that he dodged by flattening himself between the spikes on its back. Alexander thought himself terribly clever for a moment before the Alpha started moving again, slamming its back, and Alexander with it, into a tree as hard as it could manage. This dazed Alexander momentarily, though through the fog, he was able to think clearly enough to reflexively tighten his hands around the spikes, although his feet dropped from the Alphas back, bringing Alexander's full weight down on the spikes in a violent jerk.
The smaller of the two spikes snapped off easily in his right hand, leaving Alexander momentarily dangling from one spike while the Alpha wound up for another slam into the tree. Alexander shook his head to clear the fog, and, pulling himself with the unbroken spike, dropped his full weight once more onto the spike, causing it too to snap off, and dropping him to the ground in between the Alpha's legs, knocking the wind out of him while the Alpha howled in pain and anger. Alexander, catching his breath just in time, rolled away, spikes still in hand before popping back to his feet about twenty feet away from the Alpha.
It charged at him again, its red eyes blazing with incredible, unfathomable rage, and its paw brought back to swipe at Alexander before it was suddenly stopped in its tracks, distracted by a loud crack and a sniper rifle slamming into the side of its snout. Alexander ran forward in between the Alpha's legs, slamming a spike into one of the Alpha's feet, and, during its howl of pain, brought one of his escrima sticks down on the end of the spike, the electric explosion driving the spike deep into the foot, rooting it to the ground.
Alexander quickly rolled away, eyes fixed on the Alpha as it howled in pain, pulling at its leg, trying to free it from the spike. He dropped the second spike as more sniper bullets slammed into the Alpha, bringing out his own guns and emptying every bullet in the loaded magazines into the Alpha's stomach when it brought its armored forearms up to block the consistent stream of bullets that Uranus was firing at it. Alexander reloaded, running forward while the Alpha was distracted, jumping up off its crouched legs onto its shoulders, placing the barrels of his guns on the Alpha's neck and emptying everything he had into its neck, though it did little lasting damage to it.
He was jumping off when the Alpha swung a paw at him quicker than he anticipated, catching him on his shoulder and throwing him across the ground painfully. He stood up, breathing heavily as he ran over, holstering a pistol and picking up the spike he had dropped, before running at the Alpha once more, his gaze locked on its unarmored left elbow. He jumped up again, sticking the spike into the elbow, making the Alpha roar in pain as he backed up and another sniper bullet left a deep gouge across the armor on the top of its snout.
Alexander ran forward again and jumped, planting a boot on the end of the spike, jumped off the Alpha with an aura fueled jump, the force he generated jamming the spike through the Alpha's elbow, pinning it to its side, making it unable to block Uranus's shots and fight Alexander at the same time. Alexander took a deep breath, trying to calm himself as he watched another shot slam into the Alpha's face.
He ran forward again when another sniper shot knocked the Alpha off balance, jumping up, using the spike in the Alpha's elbow as a foothold, pushing himself up onto the Alpha's shoulders once again. A paw swiped at him wildly that he ducked under, placing a pistol against the eye of the Alpha and unloading a full magazine into it's eye, causing it to roar in pain, a cry from childhood nightmares filling the clearing, causing everything in the clearing to pause as Alexander pulled his pistol back, reloading before emptying another full mag into the same eye, prompting another cry as the Alpha bucked angrily, a black liquid seeping from it's eye, elbow, and foot. Alexander landed painfully on his back, slowly standing up, a dull ache indicating that his aura was dropping low. Another hit from the Alpha would likely deplete Alexander of his aura.
As he rose, he pulled his second pistol from its holster and reloaded his other one before leveling both at the Alpha that had turned to glare angrily at him. He emptied both magazines into the Alpha as it held up an arm to block Uranus's shot, the round bouncing off into the forest. Bullet after bullet buried themselves into the Alpha's torso, columns of smoke releasing whenever one connected. After his magazines were spent, the Alpha fell to one knee, letting out a pained cry as the red light left its eyes.
A massive column of black smoke rose up as the Alpha gave another cry before it disappeared, leaving behind a dirty, sweaty and tired Alexander standing in its place as the smoke dissipated. What little beowolves there were left were decimated in moments by zanbato slashes and gouts of flame as Alexander dropped to the ground, sprawling out in the grass, watching the clouds drift across the sky and the branches of the trees wave quietly in the wind. When everything finally fell silent, Summer appeared from the forest to sit down next to Alexander.
"So, did you have fun playing with your friend?" Summer asked, laughing when Alexander's response was to groan and give her the middle finger. Summer sat patiently next to the Atlesian while the rest of AQUA made their way over to them, their travel gear in hand, having collected it from the forest where they left it. Amber threw a bag at Alexander, who made no effort to catch it, letting it drop down on his stomach before he held it against his stomach with both arms.
"If you all would like, you're welcome to stay tonight in my house. Otherwise I can call a Bullhead and we can head back today to Beacon." Summer said, and AQUA unanimously accepted her offer while Alexander got to his feet.
Summer jogged off into the forest, her cloak flapping behind her, and AQUA followed behind as Alexander felt his fatigue slowly lessen as his aura started to regenerate. It was a difficult jog through the forest to say the least, often fraught with bramble bushes that tugged at any loose parts of their clothing, hidden roots that threatened to send you sprawling into the dirt, and holes and ditches that were hidden by leaves and branches. But after a few hours of travel through the forest following the most direct path Summer could manage, they found themselves approaching the cabin in the woods, under the pale light of the moon, tired, hungry, and dirty.
Tai was standing out back, a cigarette held between his lips, arms crossed as he watched the group of five approach him with a smile on his face. As she passed him, Summer kissed him on his jaw before opening the door and beckoning the teenagers in. Tai gave Alexander an indecipherable look as he walked past that almost seemed approving. Nodding to Tai, Alexander walked in the house, throwing his bag down next to the chair he would be sleeping in, and immediately walked towards the stairs. Halfway there, he was hit in the head by something that, when he grabbed it, turned out to be a rolled up towel that Tai had chucked at him from across the room with a smile before he turned back to talking with Summer in a whisper, the door behind them closed.
That night, either because of exhaustion, or a feeling of contentment and belonging that he had long searched for, Alexander fell asleep easily, and, for the first time, was not plagued by nightmares. He woke the next day well rested to a heartfelt goodbye from Tai, Ruby, and Yang, and a calm ride back to Beacon in a Bullhead, talking amicably with Summer and the other teenagers for most of the trip.
It took the long ride back to Beacon for him to realize it, but, for the first time he felt truly at peace, truly calm. Their arrival to Beacon was a quiet. The Bullhead touched down, the door opening to reveal Professor Ozpin waiting to greet his students and welcome them back to Beacon. AQUA and Summer followed Ozpin up to his office, slightly apprehensive, though it quickly disappeared when Ozpin quickly dismissed them after congratulating them on a job well done. As they left, however, Alexander let his team leave without him, choosing to stand in the waiting room at the bottom of the elevator when he recognized someone leaning against the wall. A tall man, of lithe build with poor posture, though his slouch seemed calculated, something done to possibly make people underestimate him.
Black hair was slicked back by a hand with several rings raked through it. The hand pulled away to reveal intelligent red eyes that observed everything in the room carefully. A two toned grey shirt, sleeves rolled up and the top few buttons undone to reveal a cross necklace that hung at an angle. Behind him, Alexander could see the hilt of a weapon and a tattered red cape. The red eyes finally landed on Alexander, quickly raking him up and down, taking in everything about him, pausing briefly at the pistols on his thighs and lighting up in recognition of the uniform.
"Heh, so you're the kid Jimmy likes so much, huh?" He asked, his voice rough. "Should've known Summer would find you before I did. She always was better at these types of things." He continued to stand slouched against the wall even as Alexander walked closer.
"Qrow Branwen, formerly of team STRQ, now a teacher at Signal and, from what I've gathered, Ozpin's favorite operative." Alexander said, prompting a slight wince from Qrow in response.
"Nah, Ozpin never liked me as much as he liked Summer. Can't fault him for that, though. Not many people are fonder of me than they are of Summer." He said, with a self-deprecating laugh that got Alexander to smile.
"Oh, good, Ironwood hasn't turned you into a tin man yet." Qrow said with a chuckle and a smirk. "Bastard wouldn't know comedy if it hit him in the face." The room lapsed into a slightly uncomfortable silence, Alexander not exactly sure how to say what he wanted to say next.
"So, uhh, well, Tai said to talk to you if I ever had trouble sleeping because of bad memories. I figured, even though I might not really need the help right now, since you were here…" Alexander trailed off awkwardly, firmly planting his hands into his pockets out of discomfort, though there was no need, as Qrow's face immediately shifted from mirthful to very serious and understanding.
"Thought you might as well get the ball rolling." Qrow sighed heavily, running his hand through his hair again. "Well, I'm not exactly sure what will work for you, but I'll tell you what works for me, if that's fine?" He waited patiently for a moment before Alexander nodded, prompting him to continue.
"Honestly, time more than anything else has been a big factor. That and realizing that there was nothing I could do. I know that that bit might not really help all that much for you, but, in reality, if what Jimmy has told me is true, you really didn't have any other option. Nobody could expect a kid to even make it through half of what you went through and did, but you did." Qrow paused for a moment, spinning a ring around his index finger, a thick silver band with the same symbols that Tai's lighter had.
"That's really it. There's no real science to it. Hope that helped. If you ever want to talk, I assume Tai gave you my number, give me a call. I'm happy to help whenever I can." Qrow said as the elevator behind Alexander beeped, a white blur shooting out to latch onto Qrow in a hug that threatened to knock him over.
"Qrow! It's so great to see you! You never visit anymore!" Summer cried, her hug reciprocated after Qrow regained his balance. "The girls would love to see you! You have to come back to Patch with me after this!" Qrow released the hug, pushing away the Huntress who was almost jumping up and down in joy.
"Alright, fine, once we get back, I'll go back to Patch with you. I haven't seen my nieces in far too long. And Tai, I suppose deserves a visit." The last bit was said jokingly offhandedly, prompting a swat to the arm from the white-cloaked woman, which Qrow feigned to be in great pain from.
"Are you two already leaving on a mission?" Alexander asked, his curiosity overruling his fear at intruding on a private moment. Summer only turned to him, a wide smile on her face.
"Yeah, Lionheart got a pretty reliable tip that Raven's in Mistral, so we're going to hunt her down." She said, he smile somehow seeming to grow even brighter as she spoke.
"He knows about Raven?" Qrow asked, looking at Summer, head cocked to the side in curiosity, though a smile still had yet to leave his face as well.
"Well, yeah, Tai gave him his lighter." Summer said, as if that explained everything for Qrow, which it seemed it did, as he simply 'Aaah'ed in response, and nodding a bit.
"Hey, Alexander, when we get back, you and your team should come join us at Patch over the weekend or something. I know the girls would love to see Amber again, Tai would love to have Uranus and Quentin around so he doesn't have to cook, and I know that Tai is looking forward to seeing you again." She said, with a smile so hopeful that Alexander couldn't do anything but accept, unknowingly smiling himself.
"Lovely!" She said, grabbing Qrow's arm and practically dragging him out, the pair shouting their farewells over their shoulders as they left.
"I hope they find her. If anyone deserves some good luck in their lives, it's those two." Ozpin said cryptically, before turning and leaving Alexander alone with his mild confusion.
…
Seven Years and Two Months Before the Battle of Beacon
A late night, rare these days for Alexander, found him wandering the campus of Beacon academy barefoot in a t-shirt and athletic shorts, laden by a feeling of dread that he just couldn't shake. The moon was shadowed by thick purple clouds, waiting to burst forth with rain at any moment. So, when he felt a drop of liquid hit his shoulder, he wasn't initially surprised. It was when the drop wasn't cold, and stuck his shirt to his skin that he got worried.
He swiped a finger across it, feeling it come away with a viscous liquid that smelled of iron, definitely blood. Looking up, he saw a bird flying crookedly towards the landing pads before it dropped suddenly, plummeting to the ground on a landing pad. Running over, Alexander was startled to find, on the ground, not a bird as he would have expected, but Qrow Branwen, covered by cuts and stab wounds, bleeding profusely.
Alexander dropped down next to him, seeing a hole in the left side of Qrow's stomach that seemed freshest, and, unlike the other wounds, didn't go all the way through. Pulling his shirt off, Alexander balled it up in one hand, pressing it down as hard as he dared on the wound as he pulled out his Scroll, dialing the number for Beacon's hospital wing. The Scroll rang a few times, making Alexander nervous for a moment before he heard someone pick up with an exasperated "What?".
"Qrow Branwen is critically wounded on the landing pad, I need help immediately, and someone needs to wake Professor Ozpin up, he'll want to know." Alexander heard nothing in response for a moment, getting a bit nervous until he heard frantic shouting in the background of the call. The sounds of people rushing around was the last thing he heard before the call dropped.
Everything was silent for a long while until he heard people starting to run up behind him, causing him to look back. A hand clamping down on his forearm, consequentially, scared the devil out of him, his head whipping around to see Qrow, head up and eyes wide and staring right at him, breathing shallow. "Tell Tai I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, she's not coming back." His head dropped down, tears streaming down his face as the hospital personnel loaded Qrow onto a gurney as he repeated those sentences several times before just lapsing into repeating "I'm so sorry", his head rocking back and forth.
Alexander followed the EMTs to the hospital wing, telling them everything he could, answering as many questions as he could before they reached the hospital wing and Alexander was forced to wait out in the lobby, standing, barefoot with no shirt in the middle of a cold hospital lobby, his shirt having been tossed in a trash bin by the EMTs.
"You did well, Alexander." Ozpin said, having just randomly appeared by his shoulder, a shirt held in an outstretched hand that Alexander gladly accepted and put on. His now empty hand joined his other, holding onto the end of his cane with a white knuckle grip. "You should head to bed, now, child. If anything happens, I'll be sure to have you notified."
Alexander waited a moment before nodding, turning to leave the hospital wing, but paused at the door when he could have sworn he heard something crack. Turning around, he saw a small puddle forming at the bottom of Ozpin's cane, the tile around it cracked and broken, Ozpin's head bowed. Alexander swallowed a growing lump in his throat, feeling tears prick the edges of his eyes as he left the hospital wing.
…
A/N: Fuck. This was a bitch to write, what with university combined with the fact that I kept struggling with how to get to the chapter to the point I wanted it to reach. I hope you all at least liked the chapter as a chapter, I know I threw some feels at you there.
Thanks as always, to my bud, Bulba Fett, for betaing the chapter and being patient with my bullshit.
What'd you guys think about Season 4? I liked it, overall.
Reviews, as always, are welcome. See you all in the next chapter.
Bulba Fett: Almost had it up to here with your bullshit...I kid, I kid. But yeah, Volume Four ended on a pretty nice note. I've had my...issues...with how the story for RWBY has been going since the end of Volume three and Rooster Teeth as a whole, and frankly, I don't want to rant on someone else's story. Though, the amount of RenNora was great...we need more of that in V5 ;)
PEACE!