RWBY /c/ RoosterTeeth
What a Wonderful World...
Chapter 10
"I'm sure after this trying experience you would all like to rest and regain your bearings. However, I'm afraid we must clear some matters beforehand… administrative or otherwise."
Ozpin said, adjusting his blazer while he sat down in the teacher's chair at the centre of the classroom. His tone felt frighteningly loud in such an empty space.
The members of Team RWBY sat in the first row of five, remaining silent but feeling no less awkward at the situation. The Professor paid them a brief visit in their temporary accommodations last night, and requested to see them the next morning before breakfast. And now they sat wearing their combat uniforms, waiting on baited breath for Ozpin to speak, perhaps he could shed some light on their current circumstances and maybe even a way to get back to their own Beacon.
He spared them a glance while filing through a small stack of reports, waiting for any one of them to respond. For the briefest moment, his gaze lingered on Ruby in particularly but then his attention returned to the files.
"Now," Ozpin began, pulling one marked with green sticky notes and producing a forest green fountain pen. "From what I understand, you claim to have seen Beacon attacked by members of the White Fang, and by the Grimm."
"Yes." Blake answered honestly with a curt nod.
"And all of you recall seeing a strange white light engulf the area, then you woke up in our hospital wing." He went on, earning shallow nods and sounds in the affirmative. Ozpin made a small scribble on his report then his eyes landed on Ruby.
"Doctor Oxblood has thoroughly documented the accounts of your teammates, I was wondering if you had anything to add Miss Rose?"
Ruby's brows scrunched together in concentration, she did her best to avoid thinking about the event that brought her here. She swallowed hard and began.
"I remember Cinder…" There was a note of pure hatred in her tone at the name, and tears started to glisten in her eyes. "She was on top of Beacon Tower with a Grimm dragon… a-and she killed Pyrrha."
"What?" Blake gasped, eyes wide with horror.
"No, Pyrrha." Weiss held a hand to her mouth in horror while Yang placed a supporting hand on Ruby's shoulder. On all, they were speechless, overcome with silence grief. Ozpin regarded them all with sympathy and allowed them a few moments to grieve before prodding a little more.
"Is there anything else?" He asked gently.
"I… remember my head hurting, and everything went white." Ruby added, her voice cracking slightly as she wiped the tears away.
"Thank you Miss Rose." Ozpin responded, scribbling down a few more points.
"Professor Ozpin, may I ask a question?" Weiss' voice broken the painful silence that followed and all eyes fell on her.
"Of course." Ozpin replied, folding his fingers together and leaning forward.
Weiss frowned, clearly trying to get her thoughts in line before speaking her mind. "Last night, we spoke to some other students; Qrow Branwen and Taiyang Xiao Long. And what they told us was… disturbing to say the least."
"Ah Yes…" Ozpin gave her a strained look. "Gifted as they are, those two can be quite the handful. All of Team STRQ are in some way, I suppose." He lamented, about to offer a smile before noting Weiss' perturbed expression.
"No Professor, I don't mean them personally, but some events were raised and it honestly scared me - us quite a great deal."
"Please elaborate." Ozpin instructed. Weiss and Blake exchanged a look, then glanced at their teammates.
"Well Professor, yesterday we were trying to confirm that we really were in the past by going through the old newspapers in the library archives," Blake began, though her troubled expression betrayed her even tone. "And there were events there that we don't recall from our history."
Ozpin was contemplative, raising a single thin eyebrow as a prompt to continue while the faintest traces of unease dancing across his expression. "Such as?"
"Well sir, it's Patch. And Mountain Glenn."
"What about Patch?" Ruby chimed in, worried as she regarded her teammates' profiles. They'd forgotten she hadn't been present for that portion of the conversation, thus hadn't mentioned it. Regret flashed across Weiss' and Blake's faces when Ruby questioned them further. "Guys, please tell me, did something happen?"
"It fell to the Grimm, apparently a decade ago with Mountain Glenn." Blake explained quickly to Ruby, who looked pale as snow. Yang placed a hand on her back and rubbed small circles in comfort. She took the devastating news equally as hard, but she kept her attention focused on keeping her younger sister calm.
"And how are things that different from your time?" Ozpin inquired coolly. "Did our Huntsmen manage to recapture those territories?"
"No, sir." Weiss said, swallowing down the lump in her throat, "In our history, Patch never fell. To this - that day, it serves as one of Vale's primary farming and agricultural hubs."
Ozpin's eyes became incredibly intense, narrowing slightly as his mind spun out theories and hypotheses for the historical inconsistencies. This was beyond troubling.
"Moreover, when we looked into the fall of Mount Glenn, according to your timeline it was brought down by some kind of highly infectious plague. But in ours, it was caused by poor handling of the perimeter defense." Weiss' voice trailed off, Blake was more than willing to finish the thought for her.
"And this is the first we've ever heard of any kind of illness assaulting Vale, but when we spoke to Qrow and Taiyang, they talked of it like this 'Black Vein' was common knowledge."
At this time, Ozpin leaned back, rubbing a hand over his forehead. "My god." He whispered. While his tone was level, Team RWBY could see a horrifying realization dawning in the Professor's expression and he let out a shaky breath. He'd seemed content to keep to himself for now.
Seeing their future headmaster show such a blazen crack in his otherwise unflappable demeanour was frankly more terrifying than the Grimm and the White Fang put together.
Ozpin sighed heavily, rose from his seat and started to pace slowly back and forth between the teacher's desk and student rows. It took him a little time, but he regained his usual professional composure, though his tone was melancholic. "It seems to me that one of two scenarios have happened to your team. The first being: you have travelled back in time through your own timeline, and these events have long since faded from public memory."
This was most unlikely to the Professor's mind. Even in the most ideal of circumstances, he couldn't see such a vicious scar fading so quickly or easily. And a generation of Hunters couldn't - and wouldn't - simply forget a core motivation of becoming who and what they are.
"Second; you have not travelled to your own past, but rather a divergent timeline, in which events have been altered as a side-effect of your presence."
Like a stone disturbing a tranquil lake, it was quite possible that the girls presence rippled through time, disrupting its natural flow. But theoretically speaking, if that were the case, then time should have only been affected from the time they arrived a week ago. Ozpin stroked his chin in thought.
Perhaps whatever powers brought them here was adversely responsible for the derivation of events… or perhaps there was something more was going on.
As disconcerting as the thought was, could it be possible that these girls weren't the only thing tossed back in time?
Shaking his head very lightly of these speculations, Ozpin looked at the girls and spoke with the most apologetic tone he could muster. "I know very little of the powers that brought you here, but regardless of how its happened, I'm afraid that in either circumstance; returning to your own timeline is quite impossible. In all likelihood, by your mere presence here, it has been erased entirely."
"Wha-" Yang tried to speak, but words were stolen from her. Weiss pressed a hand to her mouth and stared down, whispering her older sister's name in despair. Blake paled, sorrow spreading across her features while Ruby let out a tiny hiccup and clasped her hands over her mouth to hide the tiny sobs.
"We can't go back?" Yang croaked fighting back the sting of tears.
In pity and sympathy, Ozpin allowed them some more time to process the news. Unfortunately, he couldn't allow them too much before moving onto other matters at hand.
"Given the unusual circumstances, I feel it would be wise to contact any family you have and discretely explain the situation. If you could provide me with any information that may help me locate them, then I will draft the letters today."
"What will happen to us now?" Weiss asked numbly.
"You go on with your training, and attempt to integrate as much as possible." Ozpin replied.
"But…" Blake tried to interject, her tone was shaky. "There's a theory that if we try to change events in the past, it'll drastically alter the future?"
"Your past, and our present, has already been changed Miss Belladonna. You yourself have stated that events have happened that don't coincide with a history you have been taught." Ozpin answered coolly. He paused, seemingly trapped in thought before inhaling slowly. "As I'm sure Doctor Oxblood as informed you, none of your scroll ID numbers are registered in Beacon's datafiles, or any other academies. However, that doesn't dispute the fact that you are still technically minors entitled an education."
A wry smirk crossed his lips. "Fortunately, I am able to make a good case now and then. For now, you are all officially on bed rest as per our head physician's advice, until the end of next week. At which time, the documentation will be ready for you to attending this school."
"As you are already a team, it would be quite redundant to send you through the Emerald Forest initiation. So you will be officially listed as transfer students from a private academy." Ozpin paused for a breath, walked back to his desk and sat down, filing through the stack of reports again and pulling out a sheet of paper. Fountain pen in hand, he scratched out another series of notes before meeting their gaze again.
"In a rather fortunate circumstance, the Vytal festival is only six months away. We are already receiving notice of transfer students, so it will be simpler to help integrate you into the school using that event as a cover. Afterwards, we can officially list you as students of Beacon after that batch of paperwork is finished."
Ozpin produced another sheet of paper from the desk, his pen hovering over the sheet. He repeated his plan once more, noting the young female team were in too much of a shock to process his words the first time. "Again, I would also like to know if you recall any family from this time period. Any names at all."
"What do you plan to do with that information, Professor?" Blake inquired, perhaps a little more coarsely than she intended. Ozpin didn't seem to mind.
"I plan to draft letters, explaining the situation and establishing a cover story for your sudden appearances. Believing you are distant family members is far more credible a story, than a team of time travellers, wouldn't you agree?" The reasoning was sound, and none of Team RWBY really wanted to argue the point anyway.
"Uh Professor. I'd prefer to avoid contacting whatever family I have." Weiss said tentatively after some consideration. "Would it be possible to not contact them?"
"Miss Schnee, I can understand your reluctance, but you claim to be a member of a prestigious family. I'm sure you don't have to be reminded of the public scandal that would came from your remaining silent. That, in turn, would affect not only yourself but your teammates." Ozpin informed her firmly, then his tone softened. "Walter Schnee is a stern man, but a shrewd one. I'm sure he will understand."
Weiss nodded mutely, but made no further attempt to dissuade the Professor.
"Professor," Yang started, biting her lip. "I'm not exactly sure how to say this, but our parents are actually the members of Team STRQ."
Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Team STRQ?" He almost sounded incredulous. Honestly, this shouldn't have surprised him, the resemblance alone was uncanny - and yet somehow it did. "So I assume you two are cousins then? That makes the situation somewhat easier. As I understand it, they come from decently sized families. I'm certain you can discuss a proper cover story together."
"Uh, no Professor." Ruby said, regaining her voice. "Yang and I are sisters. We share a father."
"Oh." Ozpin's eye widened slightly in mild surprise, before refocusing. "You should discuss a proper cover story with them." He repeated.
"And you Miss Belladonna?"
"I… don't know anyone." Blake answered, "There is one person I might want to contact, but I don't know if the name they gave me was false or not."
"If you can recall a name, that just might be enough." Ozpin assured her.
"May I join you?"
Summer said by way of greeting, standing by Raven's seat in the cafeteria in her combat gear. Argent Briar, her high caliber compound sniper bow, was comfortably fastened to the magnetic harness on her back under her cloak. Raven selected a secluded table towards the main hall exit, as opposed to the majority of their peers who seemed to bunch up as much as possible by the kitchens.
Since last night, the tension between Team STRQ's members was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Darn near suffocating. In fact, when they woke in the morning, hardly any words were exchanged. When Summer had left, Qrow was still in bed determined to drown out the world with headphones and a scroll game, while Taiyang was in the shower.
Raven had already left before Summer woke, but now she sat by herself silently nudging her porridge around the bowl which had long since turned cold.
"Raven?" Summer prodded again gently, as her teammate seemed locked in her own thoughts.
For a second, she got the feeling Raven was ignoring her before she lifted her head slowly with a passive expression. Summer winced in sympathy at the red and black bruise marking her pale face. At least Raven didn't appear to be infuriated as she did after that run-in with Yang, and that gave Summer a modicum of relief.
"Did I miss a training session?" Raven asked in a neutral tone, nodding to the seat across the table which Summer took.
"No. Actually, I was hoping we could talk." Summer replied, playing awkwardly with her hands.
Raven's lips pursed in a thin line and her crimson eyes narrowed. "I get the vague impression I'm not going to like this 'talk'."
Summer made an uneasy sound with a searching expression playing across her features. "I… know you're a very proud individual, and you twins have an eye-for-an-eye policy. And I completely respect that, but-"
"But?" Raven interrupted, raising a dark eyebrow and already sensing her speculation was correct.
"I was hoping that you could maybe give it a pass this time?" Summer tried to make it sound more like a friendly suggestion, but it was an order and both girls knew it.
Raven blinked, "I can't do that."
"Raven, please." Summer said, but even her pleading silver eyes couldn't sway her teammate.
"I'm not doing it, Summer. She punched me, I want payback. It's just that simple."
Summer opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated before playing this card. Especially since last night wasn't exactly the best Raven she'd ever seen. In a low voice, Summer spoke. "Raven... she is your daughter."
Scoffing, Raven rolled her eyes and slouched in her chair. "She isn't my daughter. Nor is that Ruby girl yours." At least she wasn't swearing. "Summer, I turned seventeen a month ago. Seven-teen. Just like you. There is no physical way either of those girls can be our daughters."
"We," Raven gestured to herself and Summer, "are only teenagers. Unless you have a massive secret to tell us, I'm certain you haven't given birth to anyone and neither have I."
"When you put it that way," Summer conceded, but then pressed the issue. "But they're from our future, Raven."
Bitterly, Raven scooped up a spoonful of porridge and ate it. "It's not a future I want any part in. Besides, why are you so intent on believing that rubbish?" She spat the words like they were laced with poison.
Pushing down the wave of emotion, Summer made her point. "Because you are right about one thing, that Ruby isn't mine. My little sister had green eyes."
Summer paused, and Raven watched her features as she searched for the next words to say. "But…?" She prompted impatiently.
"By virtue of how outlandish the idea is, wouldn't that make it more credible? Otherwise, why bother coming up with such a convoluted story if their intention was anything other but to convince us they belong in a hospital." Summer offered, then tilted her head and gave a light shrug. "Barring that, we can always have Doctor Oxblood perform a blood test?"
Raven dropped her spoon and raised her hands in a gesture of assent. "Fine then. Yang whatever is Raven Branwen's daughter, and Ruby is the child of Summer Rose. But not these two." Raven pushed her breakfast aside and pressed her hands together, staring intently into Summer's silver gaze. "I'm not going to treat them any differently than how I treat any other stranger, because future children or not we don't know them Summer."
Summer felt crestfallen but Raven's next words ignited a small spark of hope. "If they would like to approach us and want to earn our trust, then I have no issue with that. That being said, I will still pay Yang back for what she did to me, because as far as I'm concerned she attacked me for no reason." And just like that, it fizzed out.
"Raven." Summer sighed weary, pressing her palm to her forehead before an idea struck, even better in a language Raven understood perfectly. "Okay, how about this; when Yang heals enough to use that arm in combat, we'll set up a sanctioned duel monitored by an instructor so you two can work out your grievances in the ring. That way you two can work through it positive secure way, how does that sound?"
Raven raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the idea and considered it for a few seconds then gave a single nod. "I like it. That's assuming of course Yang is up for it."
If Summer had to guess; that answer would be yes.
The line went dead, cut off by the other caller. Taiyang ran a hand through his gold locks, sighing deeply before slipping a light grey scroll into his breast pocket. So much for that idea. He couldn't shake this terrible feeling. He turned the bathroom faucet on and washed his face with cool water before exiting into the dorm room dressed in his combat clothes.
Qrow was still in bed, tapping away near frantically at the scroll with his headphones covering his ears, clearly lost in the music and game. Of course, that disgruntled expression shouted that he was anything but entertained.
Taiyang crossed the room in easy strides, slapping Qrow's leg lightly while plopping down on Raven's bed. A startled look of annoyance flashed in across his face before he pried off his headphones to address his teammate.
"What?" Qrow said sharply.
"You okay?" Tai asked. Qrow groaned rolling his eyes and reclined back on his bed, cradling his head while glaring holes in the ceiling.
"Oh yeah. In future I'm a washed up alcoholic old bastard that couldn't give three shits about the world or anyone in it." Qrow answered with mock cheer, adding in a sullen tone dripping with sarcasm. "So I'm just fuckin' peachy, thanks for asking."
"You're not the only one who winds up with shit luck. Qrow." Taiyang reminded him.
Last night when Ruby and Yang were regaling them with their story, certain notions came to light: About the future, and the fates of Team STRQ in particular… it was not encouraging to say the least. And most definitely not how Taiyang envisioned his future.
"Yeah. Summer ends up dead, and Raven apparently pisses off." Qrow growled with a morose frown. "Beacon's biggest badass team gets a hell of a reward for its efforts, doesn't it?"
"So we shouldn't even bother trying anymore? Is that what you're saying?" Taiyang sighed, awkwardly tapping his fingers together. "Not exactly the badass life of adventure either of us hoped for. But you know there's a chance we can make it better." He tossed a hand up, "I mean, just by knowing it all goes to shit, we can actively work to put it right."
Qrow shot him a look of irritation before rolling onto his side, his back facing Taiyang. "Your future kids show up outta the blue and you turn introspective? Gimme a break." He brushed off.
Taiyang ran a hand through his golden locks, scratching the back of his neck before speaking. "... Can I ask you something?"
"If I said 'no' would it stop you?"
"God's honest truth - why do you wanna be a Huntsmen?" Qrow looked over his shoulder, grim red eyes meeting blue. "Vengeance?"
"It's one of the big three, ain't it?" Qrow answered sharply, rolling back and sitting up against his bedhead. "Everyone's here cause they wanna protect, want vengeance or just plain wanna run."
He shrugged. "Hell, maybe even all three."
Taiyang watched his profile with concern, leaning forward while he did. "It really got under your skin last night, didn't it? What they said about Patch. And you? Your... 'future habits'."
It was nearly impossible to track all the emotions flashing across Qrow's face; bitterness, anger, sorrow, sadness, even a little terror. As quickly as they appeared, they vanished. Leaving behind the face of a frightened boy who wanted to be sick and cry at once - and that look terrified Taiyang.
"Yeah." He admitted with a heavy tone, folding his arms and staring down the length of his bed.
Taiyang nodded, placed a hand on his shoulder with the greatest sympathy he could muster then slapped his leg again. "C'mon. Outta bed and have a shower. We've got combat class in about ten minutes."
Qrow jerked his head to the room door. "Go ahead, I'll meet you there."
"I'll wait. Have a shower. Wash your face." Taiyang insisted, standing and walking to his own bed now and going through the bedside draws.
Qrow pulled his sheets aside and swung his legs out, his eyes glue to the ground. A silent eternity passed by before he finally ambled to his feet and to the shower.
"I just... never thought I'd end up in like that, ya know?" Qrow said heavily.
"We can change it man." Taiyang assured him.
"Yeah..." Qrow dragged his hand down his face. "Combat classes next, yeah?" He confirmed.
"Yeah."
"Good." Qrow nodded, his expression slowly morphing back into his usual cocky self. "I kinda wanna knock Team CTDL down a peg, they've been getting very uppity lately."
"And I'm sure they'd say the same thing about you." Taiyang shot back, wearing a crooked grin.
"Well there's a difference. They think they're that good. I actually am that good." He boasted making his way to the shower. "Thanks, man."
"What are friends for?" Taiyang shot him a smile and Qrow returned with a genuinely friendly grin, before Taiyang's finger snapped to the door. "Dude! Shower! Hurry up - Classes in 5 minutes!"
Author's note:
So, some bombshells dropped and Taiyang's Daddy instincts show through.
For fun, there is a pole on my profile. Please take a look and vote if you please. :)
Please Review and Comment. I welcome Criticism (and theories~!). :)