'There's one every year.' He sighed as he dodged yet another attempt to steal his scarf from his neck, catching the would-be thief by the arm. "Can I help you, Ruby?"
The girl squeaked in fear. "Yang dared me to steal your scarf, and if I don't get it to her by dinnertime – which is in an hour, by the way – she's gonna lock me in the closet with a spoon."
"…A spoon."
"Last night we watched a movie about a demon who'd possess spoons and –"
"I think I get the idea." There was something wrong with movie writers these days. "What did you say you needed?"
"Your scarf."
He sighed and removed the piece of cloth from his neck. "I would like this back in one piece."
"T-thank you, Professor Ozpin!"
"Yes, well, don't make a habit out of this."
She lingered in front of him nervously, then ran off.
The silver-haired man turned and started towards his office, cane in hand, his fingers itching to reach up and hide the pale claw marks across his neck.
~:~
"What in the world did you do to your scarf this time?" She pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, wait. Let me guess. It got stolen by a Fourth-Year, and then somehow fell into the garbage disposal."
The silver-haired man rifled through an open desk drawer, not bothering to look up. "Ruby needed it so that she wouldn't be locked in a closet with a spoon."
"What?" Glynda blinked in confusion.
"Best not to ask." He closed the drawer with a frown. "Do you know where my spare went?"
"That was the spare, sir." She rolled her eyes affectionately and brought a piece of folded turquoise cloth out from behind her back. "But I've brought a replacement."
His eyes lit up. "How on Remnant did that survive?"
"A couple preserving spells placed a few centuries ago." She walked forward and handed him the bandanna. A smile twitched on her face as she tried to contain her laughter. "But then I realized that it clashed horribly with your outfit, so I took the liberty of retrieving another for you." Clothes reminiscent of his Academy uniform was held out towards him.
He took it, eyeing it thoughtfully.
"What? You don't like it?"
"No, no, it's not that…I'm just curious which will throw the students off more – my scars or a vastly different set of clothes."
Glynda's smile suddenly turned sad. "She really did a number on you that time, didn't she?"
"It only caused massive bleeding and minor vocal damage." His voice was deceptively light.
"Yeah. Your voice finally dropped," she teased.
The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, but instead of laughing, he simply shook his head. "We should go. Dinner will be starting soon."
"Right." Before starting towards the door, the two paused to look at an old, worn photograph sitting in a frame on his desk. In it, four young adults stood with their arms around each other and huge white cliffs in the background. All four were laughing, as though the photographer had just said something particularly funny, and all had on a gray Citadel Academy uniform on. Three of the students had a certain look in their eyes, betraying the existence of their past horrors - horrors that were slowly being healed with the help of their friends' presence.
Ozpin and Glynda knew that, just a few years after the photo was taken, the war would break apart the four forever.
I was going to end on a happy note, but then my brain was like "No! You need foreshadowing for all the flashback chapters you're going to do!" Ugh. Expect the first of the flashbacks next week.
Citadel Academy is the name I came up with for Atlas's school.
The white cliffs actually exist in an actual famous place.
Ozpin suffering because why not.
That ending though.:/