Chapter 12: A Couple of Discussions
The first thing I notice when I wake up is that I'm not in my usual sleepwear. I rub my eyes and turn my neck to each side, resulting in a disgusting yet relieving crack. I look around the room and smile. 'Yesterday was hectic. I can't believe Junior! I'm calling my grandmother at the first opportunity to tell her about this!' My smile disappears suddenly. 'The twins seemed rather ill placed in society. I mean, the Underground, of all things! I'm actually happy that I found them. I need to talk to Ozpin for them.'
Beside me, Azura stirs. She makes some really cute noises, not unlike a puppy, as she awakens. On my other side, Jack is still, but for his ears. They twitch back and forth, seeking sound even in his sleep. Zamin is, of course, underneath his mountain of pillows. Small, almost imperceivable, quakes rock the room. I've gotten so used to them that they seems to act as a lullaby, easing me back into a sleep that I don't want to succumb to. I rub my eyes again and throw my legs over the bed to stand.
I forego my usual morning routine. I just redo my hair and brush my teeth, don my discarded clothing from last night and walk out of the room in search of Ozpin to fulfil my promise. Walking down the corridor, I begin to think about how to approach Ozpin. I turn a corner and hit something, or someone.
I look up to see Professor Ozpin just standing there, looking down at me and sipping his coffee. I jump up and brush off my clothes. "You're just the person I needed to see, sir!"
He moves the mug from his lips and quirks an eyebrow. "Really? Well, if you'll come this way, we can talk in my office."
He turns around and starts to head in the direction I was going. We walk down the corridor in relative silence, the only exception being the slight click of my heels and him sipping from his mug. Soon, we're standing in front of an elevator. He ushers me in, then pushes the button for his office. Again, the small space is engulfed in almost complete silence, forcing me to think on what I'm going to say. The more I think, the more nervous I become. If I could, I would have already backed away from Ozpin and rescheduled this impromptu meeting.
The elevator stops, the doors opening to an enormous office with a multitude of gears and stuff everywhere. On the far side of the room is a desk facing opposite of the window. Ozpin slowly walks over to his desk and sits down. He, then, motions for me to take a seat in the chair in front of his desk. When I sit down, my breath catches as I see the view out the window. The horizon view is spectacular. You can see the airships come and go, and Vale looks so tiny from up here.
Ozpin clears his throat, bringing me back to reality. "Yes, well. You had something to discuss with me?"
I nod my head slightly. "Yes. Um, I have these friends that have had it really bad for the past couple of years. I was wondering if you could accept them into Beacon this semester."
He clasps his hands together. "And, pray tell, who are these friends of yours?"
"Miltiades and Melanie Malachite, sir. They are childhood friends of mine. They're mother was my first combat instructor." I smile as a small memory passes through my mind.
"I see. Well, do they have any formal training? Why do they want to come to Beacon, and why haven't they applied for themselves?"
"Their mother was an amazing instructor. She taught them much of what they needed, the rest has come from experience. They are superb fighters, sir. They want to come to Beacon to get away from some things that have been plaguing them, and they never really had the money to apply before. But I assured them that I would take care of their expenses if you deem them fit to entire the academy."
He looks me up and down. "That is incredibly generous of you. I didn't think a Schnee would be capable of such benevolence."
I look at him sharply, shock and surprise engulfing my expression. "How did you know? No, wait, that's a stupid question. Of course, you know. You're Ozpin!" I shake my head in dismissal of that train of thought. "And, I'll have you know, I'm not your typical Schnee! I wasn't raised by that tyrannical man of a CEO! He ruined my cousins! The only one I have any hope for is Weiss, and that's only because of Ruby's influence."
He looked at me with wide eyes. "Well, you certainly have your mind made up. I'll see what I can do for your friends." He reaches into his desk and pulls out a small stack of papers. "Here's the applications that they'll need to fill out. Have them back to me by the end of the week." He motions with his hand for me to stand and leave.
As the elevator doors open, and I slide in, I turn to him. "Oh, and I'm pretty sure Weiss and Ruby are dating." The doors close too fast for me to see his expression. 'Dang! A great reactionary sentence wasted!'
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Lunch time in Cafeteria: Ravena
I sit down beside Azura. "Alright, guys. What ya got for me?" I look at my teammates expectantly.
Azura pushes food around on her plate. "Well, my brother is trying to contact his ex in the," she looks around us and drops her voice to a whisper. "White Fang." Her voice returns to normal volume. "He'll get back to me within the week. I'm sure of it. I gave him our deadline."
I pat her shoulder affectionately. "Good. What about you, Jack?"
He shrugs. "I confirmed our mission. A dust mine will be raided and the Faunus laborers freed. The woman at the meeting said that a revolution is about to start. We must stop the revolution, but we must also save the entrapped laborers. We must be prepared for battle, because there will be one. Adam was there. Adam will be the commanding authority over the novitiates of their mission." He growled low and menacingly. "I will rid this world of his evil. He is mine."
His growl gives me goosebumps. I rub my arms as I stare off into the distance. "Alright, Jack. He's yours. Your alpha tendencies, though, give me chills. Knock it off." I sigh. "Alright, well, I have a cache of information that Junior put on my scroll before I had to teach him a lesson. I sent it to you all. The summation is that They plan to invade a dust mine on Mistral's border. They want to start a war and need as many followers as possible and hope to gain these followers from freeing as many slaves as possible. The SDC have been catching Faunus on the streets and collaring them to work in the mines. We need to stop the White Fang while simultaneously freeing the enslaved Faunus. We need to make sure that the White Fang can't corrupt them." I set my face determinedly.
Azura rubs my back in a circular motion. "I get where you're coming from and all, but we should work on one thing at a time. There's not much we can do right now. Let's just plan as much as we can and try to focus on our search and destroy mission first. Then, we can start to unravel the Mistral catastrophe that the White Fang is cooking up. 'K?" She looks at each of us hopefully before we all give our affirmation.
Slowly, my goosebumps go away. I nod at Azura appreciatively as a small knot of butterflies flutter in my stomach. 'That's new. What caused that?' I inhaled slowly, forcing the fluttering to stop. "Hey. Before I forget, I have something for you guys." I reach into my belt pouch and pull out three seemingly identical cards. "These are for you. I set up an account for each of you." I give them the cards that correspond with each of their colors and emblems. "There's five hundred thousand Lien in each of your accounts. These are for you to spend how you see fit. Each of the accounts are tied to my personal account so that they never run dry. I trust you guys not to go overboard. Got it?"
They each give me a disbelieving look. Finally, Jack speaks up. "I can't accept this. It's too much." He tries to shove the card back into my hand. I deflect his hand and stand up quickly.
"You will accept my generosity. You don't have to use it at all, but you will accept it." I cross my arms and practically growl in authority. "Those cards are for you. You are my team, my new family. I know I haven't known you guys for long, but you've come to mean a lot to me. This is a show of faith on my part." My hand goes to my chest, pressing my palm over my heart, as I smile at them.
Jack seems reluctant, but eventually puts the card in a shadow pocket he conjures. "Alright. I'll take it. It's just, the last time someone gave me something that I thought was 'free,' I had to pay them back in the most heinous of way. I had to become a killer, and I didn't like that. Don't betray my trust, Ravena."
I nod, my facial expression softening to an emotion between pity and affection. 'These guys really are my family. I don't think I could lose them now.'
Azura just gives me a curious look before tucking the card away. "I'll take it, but only for you."
"Thanks, Raven. This might come in handy for missions." Zamin flashes me a rare smile. The smile on his face looks so out of place, it's almost creepy.
"Alright, guys. Tonight is team night. What should we do?" Jack speaks up after clearing his throat after that awkwardly emotional moment he caused.
"I think a movie in the room sounds nice. Something calm, cool, and bond-worthy!" Azura makes a semicircular rainbow-like motion with her hands above her head.
I chuckle a bit at her spontaneous reaction. "Sure. That sounds lovely." I smile at my team, my family.
Zamin stands up and gathers all of our trays, taking them away. When he comes back, he pumps his fist into the air. "Yeah! Let the bonding begin."
'It seems his true personality is finally coming out.' I smile as I nod and follow Zamin and Jack out, with Azura on my heels.
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A/N: I finally developed a personality for Zamin! Yay! Follow, favorite, review, guys! Please. If you get to the end of the chapter, leave a review. Please.
