Disclaimer: Still don't own it
This chapter was written in a hurry so please excuse any errors I have made though I did my best to pre-read as best I could. Please point out any you find so I can try and fix them quickly. Also, I am announcing that after this story is completed, I will be releasing a series of short stories detailing Team RWBY's adventures during the War in an effort to expand the universe of this fic. Again, a huge thank you to all those who continue to follow this story and appreciate any reviews you give!
Salem had done some terrible things during the War.
One of those things was now directly in front of Qrow was a summon of an enemy that Weiss had defeated all by herself.
To this day, no one was sure on how Salem was able to create her Hybrids that used the templates of people Team RWBY had known in the past. Given that Salem was long gone and had taken her secrets to the Void, some mysteries were probably never going to be solved. The long term affects that the creatures had on the four women still haunted them to this day given that some of the Hybrids had been people of great importance to them. Ruby and Yang had borne the brunt of that devastation in the forms of their own mothers whom they had to fight in the darkness of Salem's palace. Weiss and Blake had been there to fight alongside them as well as offer comfort when both sisters had come crashing down emotionally when the creatures had finally been defeated. However, it also was a great motivator for the four to finally put everything they had into finally defeating the Queen of the Grimm for good though the scars of that day will always remain.
As for Qrow, he had not been there but only heard what had happened afterwards. For him, having to face the Ozpin Hybrid was already causing a stir of emotions in him. To say his relationship to the Beacon Headmaster was complicated was saying very little. In all honesty, Qrow had considered the Ancient One more of a parental figure than anyone else had been in his entire life. Ozpin had been there when Qrow's team had fell apart and was even a confidant for the deepest secrets that the Hunter had to keep from his other teammates including his own sister Raven. He had given the Hunter purpose and even divulged some of the biggest secrets to Qrow including the fact that he was a lot older than he looked. Even to this day, Ruby's and Yang's Uncle was loyal to the Headmaster and even worked under a younger version of him at the newly rebuilt Beacon Academy. While the world knew the Headmaster as Oscar, only a few knew the real truth.
"Part of me thinks this is a rather low blow for you," Qrow said to Weiss with a slight tone of anger in his voice. So far the summon, which bore the old Ozpin's face perfectly except for the Grimm parts, had yet to attack with it standing in front of Huntress; who was now sitting with her eyes closed.
The summon charged him with his cane with sudden speed that Qrow had been caught completely by surprise. The weapon slammed into Qrow's aura in the chest area, the bottom of the cane in what was a thrust attack, and sent the Hunter flying back towards the edge of the sparring area with great force. Landing on his stomach, he had to move quickly in order to dodge the next attack as the Hybrid came at him again. The way the thing moved, it almost seemed like it was the real Ozpin with the creature in the same attire though the Grimm featured face was also highly visible. Unlike past summons, it seemed that Weiss had somehow learned to make hers reflect the realism of the fallen foes. The Hunter almost had to admire the younger Schnee since it was becoming apparent that she had learned to even surpass her older sister Winter in that regard. As the cane came at him again, Qrow parried it with his scythe and tried to slash at the Hybrid. It dodged quickly and jumped back, standing there in combat stance and seemed to be letting the other Hunter make the first move.
There had been very few times in the past that Qrow had seen the old Ozpin fight; which had been back when he was a student at Beacon. The time that most stood out in his memories was when all four of Team STRQ had faced the old man in a sparring match during one of their year one classes. Their usual teacher had an emergency mission to do and there had been no subs around at the time. In their youthful cocky attitude, both Qrow and Raven had mocked the Headmaster for teaching the class and even questioned his legitimacy as a Hunter; which had been a pretty stupid move back then. Only Summer had been apprehensive at the time when all four of them had been ordered to face Ozpin in the sparring area, still getting used to her status as team leader, though she would later admit that she wanted to fight him as well. The match hadn't even lasted five minutes with the Headmaster moving so quickly that he had his cane knocking Raven out of the area before she could even react as well as depleting her aura. Qrow and Summer fell very quickly after that though Taiyang was the only one fast enough to land a blow which didn't do anything.
Moving to get his scythe into position to do a slashing strike if the summon came at him again, Qrow watched as Weiss called forth her signature knight to guard her as she continued sitting on the ground with her legs crossed. By now, she had moved to the edge of the sparring field with her back against one of the walls with the knight directly in front of her. This gave her the advantage since if even managed to get past the Hybrid, he still had to contend with the other summon in order to get to the young woman. As it stood, only by taking her out could he hope to win this match since from what he understood from Ruby, Weiss had the ability to keep summoning those she defeated into battle until her were worn out first. While the Schnee weren't exactly forthcoming on their special ability, it was known to a few that the power came from within and did not seem to be connected with their aura. They could still exhaust themselves and the summons would vanish once they were incapacitated though Yang did state that one didn't when Weiss had been hurt during a fight.
The Ozpin copy went at Qrow again though the Hunter was able to parry the strikes from the cane a bit more easily this time. The advantage that the Uncle had this time compared to what happened years ago was that his weapon had a better reach. Back then, Qrow had been using a slightly simply curved sword like Raven before building his signature weapon. Even though the cane was a surprisingly powerful weapon, its range was rather short and forced the user to get into close combat, exposing the wielder. That had been evident when Taiyang had managed to get his one hit on the Headmaster back then since the blonde was a master of close combat which had earned him the respect of the team as a whole. After parrying the cane a second time, Qrow used the other end of his scythe to slam into the Summon's side and managed to knock it back though he doubted he did any major damage. The Hybrid seemed to snarl at the Uncle and went at him again though it's speed seemed to have picked up, forcing him back on the defensive. He managed to meet each thrust with a parry but the returning strikes prevented Qrow from hitting his opponent again.
When the creature came at him again with the thrust of his cane, Qrow leaped over the head of it and swung the blade end of his scythe as quick as he could. Before the Summon could effectively block the strike, Qrow managed to pierce the left side of the Hybrid and even managed to pierce a small part of its flesh. The thing let out an painful scream and used it's other arm to try and bat the Uncle away. While it wasn't bleeding even though there was now a gape in the side of it, it was obviously in discomfort as it glared at him. Before Qrow could even smirk though, the other arm warped into a large tentacle and then took a long swipe at the Hunter in an effort to try and crush him. He leaped back just at the appendage came down hard on the ground which kicked up dust as well as debris. Moving back as quickly as he could in order to give himself some distance, the Uncle watched as the tentacle almost seemed to get even larger with the rest of the body now warping somewhat. While the face of Ozpin was still there, the Grimm part was now more than evident now and practically covering the body.
It was then that Qrow wished he had asked his nieces on how they ended up defeating the things in the first place since the knowledge would be helpful right now. Given that the fight had taken its emotional toll on all four of the girls, he had decided to let the matter be. After all, Salem had been defeated and the War was over though it would take a few more months for a true peace to be established on Remnant. Come to think of it, there was a lot that still remained unsaid from the conflict that the four women never really talked about. While he knew the details of several key moments like his sister's death or the loss of a dear friend of Team RWBY as the Second Battle of Beacon, it was the endgame that still remained unspoken to all those involved. The only thing that he did know was that in the moments after the final fall of the enemy, Blake and Yang had practically became soulmates. Ruby and Weiss's relationship had also evolved somewhat though not at the level as the other two; though only Taiyang and Qrow knew that Ruby had fallen in love with her partner that day.
However, as the thing began to stalk towards him, he was starting to see that its fighting style had changed dramatically. Instead of acting like his mentor now, it was acting like a Grimm and was even no longer using its cane to come at him. It snarled and hissed at him all the while waving both its arms that were now both tentacles, flailing wildly like a true beast. It was then that Qrow did smile since it was now more than evident that the Hybrid was acting like a true Grimm as well as giving into its bestial nature. Changing tactics and knowing he now faced a monster instead of an intelligent being, Qrow moved at the creature as fast as his older body could take him. The thing now seemed to be slower and its appendages did not have the same speed to fight him as before, thus the Uncle was able to dodge the swipes while getting in close with his weapon. Swing his scythe once he got in as close as he could, Qrow aimed for the right tentacle and managed to slice it right off with little effort. The limb fell to the ground and dissipated quickly in a lightshow, exploding into nothing. As the creature screamed in pain again, the Hunter came up with his weapon and stabbed the Summon in the chest. This time, it didn't scream but exploded in what could be described as bright white confetti.
"You'll have to do better than that," Qrow haughtily yelled at the Schnee though he was feeling worn and knew his aura was starting to be spent. As Taiyang had told him on many occasions, the Uncle was getting older with the residual effects of being an alcoholic still with him.
"I will," Weiss said loudly and there was a tone in her voice that struck an alarm in Qrow as she opened her eyes. That was when he noticed his nieces and Blake now standing with their faces full of worry as well as what could be panic.
That concern grew when he noticed that the Schnee's irises were now glowing red.
"No Weiss! You have to stop!" yelled Ruby as she leapt onto the sparring field along with her other two teammates. As they did so, another summon began to form onto the ground with it starting off as a blob of sorts.
With the other three women at his side now, Qrow was about to ask what was wrong when the Summon became formed and he recognized it instantly. While he had heard from his nieces that the final battle to defeat Salem had been a joint effort by Team RWBY with all four landing the final blow together. He supposed this was how Weiss was now able to bring forth the Queen of the Grimm as her own summon right now with the cold gaze of hatred now staring into his very soul. As all four of them now getting into combat stances though only the Uncle had his weapon, the summon suddenly vanished in a puff of light as Weiss collapsed onto the ground. Qrow was perplex until he saw that it was the Knight that had knocked the Schnee out as if it had turned on its own master. Before the Hunter could even ask what had happened, Ruby used her semblance to rush at her fallen friend while leaving a flurry of rose petals in her wake. Blake and Yang also quickly made their way to the Schnee while the Knight then dissipated.
"She good?" asked a very concerned Yang as Ruby held Weiss in her lap and was using her powers to see if she was injured. It was one of the many abilities that the younger Huntress had learned during the War as part of her silver eyes.
"Yeah, she is just exhausted and needs to sleep," Ruby answered in relief as she soothingly ran her hands through her friend's silver hair. Both the other two women sighed in relief since things could have gotten worse.
"What was that?" Qrow almost demanded to know as he ran up and stared down at the two women. He had a feeling that there was a deep story behind all of this and his curiosity was getting the better of him.
"You had no right to taunt her like that," the red-cloaked Huntress said to her Uncle with a snarl and glaring at the older man. Now only was he caught off guard by the tone, he also became surprised by the glares he was getting from the other two Huntresses.
"I was trying to help the Ice Princess blow off steam," Qrow defended and becoming annoyed on how they were defending Weiss as if she were the victim. After all, it was she that summoned both the Ozpin Hybrid and Salem.
"Call her that again, you will regret it," stated Ruby as she rose with Weiss in her arms. The tone in her voice was full of anger and rage which was something that she rarely displayed towards the man.
She then left silently to take the Schnee back to the compound.
"Did I miss something here?" asked the Uncle who was now more than confused. For the first time in a while, he wasn't sure what was going on at all and it bothered him.
"It's complicated," Yang said as she looked around and saw that the crowd of students was starting to disperse. No doubt that they were all confused as Qrow was though she hoped none of them would start asking questions.
"That is more than simply being complicated. No one told me that Weiss Schnee could summon Salem and I think that was pretty important news to share," the Beacon Teacher told the two women with his arms crossed. Even to this day, the mere mention of Salem caused people to become fearful and had to be reminded that she was gone.
"Drop it Qrow or else," threatened Blake as bother she and Yang left the man standing there with a surprised look on his face. He was so astounded by her words that he ended up processing it for a good five minutes while deciding on what he was going to do.
By the time Blake and Yang reached the compound, Ruby already had Weiss tucked into bed white sitting at her side. Leaving Yang to sit in the other chair next to the bed, the Faunus went to grab some tea from the kitchen while mentioning to her mother that Weiss was sick and needed to be at rest today. While the mother sensed something was wrong, she simply nodded and went about her business with nothing really going on today anyways. There was only one thing left to really get done for the wedding though that part was set up for an appointment tomorrow. Thus, today would be a great day off for everyone and a chance to enjoy the peace until the wedding in a few days. Blake arrived back in the room with Weiss still sleeping in the bed with Ruby now holding her hands. The Faunus handed everyone a cup including Ruby, also putting one on the table next to the bed for the Schnee once she had woken up. Weiss would definitely need it given the toll she had taken on her body today.
"She pushed herself too much and almost lost control," Ruby said suddenly in concern, breaking the silence in the room. The other two nodded and knew that something that was supposed to remain buried now needed to be talked about between the four.
After all, the things were complicated as it was without having to deal with Weiss's abilities hindering the issue.
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