We are back with another chapter in the story. As always RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and its associates, as always my characters are my own so let's get to the story.
Jaune was next to Cardin overlooking his team when Cardin shoved a jar of tree sap into his chest, "alright Jauney boy you're going to throw that jar at your partner. Then you're going to release all these Rapierwasps that you collected, that'll teach her to make a fool of me." Jaune stood up backing away, "Cardin I don't think," Cardin gave Jaune an intimidating look, "if you don't do this I'll tell Ozpin about you fake transcripts and you'll never be a hunter." Jaune held the jar conflicted on what he could do.
Magnolia led Omar deeper into the forest, looking around he could tell from the breeze that was getting stronger that they were nearing a cliff. When the cliff came into view he saw a lawn chair with a beach umbrella shielding someone from the sunlight, a small table with a glass sat next to the chair. The person sitting in the chair raised the glass shaking it, "Magnolia the glass is feeling a little light, mind fixing that." Magnolia cleared her throat as Omar stood next to her, "Sir your nephew is here." The man put the glass down turning in his seat sitting up, "right you are, hello nephew I'm your Uncle Eligos. Or if you prefer, Uncle Eli, my you have grown since the last time I saw you not including the cave debacle." The sunlight was making it difficult for Omar to get a clear look at the man, until he was suddenly in front of him fixing his sweater.
The way his uncle moved the distance he did in the time he did made little sense, he could usually see when someone moves at high speeds, it's what Mavis trained him on intensely. But for this man to do so and escape his vision should have been improbable, even at her top speed Omar could see Ruby move as if she were jogging. As the blood drained from his face he felt sheer terror as he finally saw the man's face, his Uncle was completely nonchalant as he fixed Omar's clothes. His hair was short and styled in a messy fashion, he had the same cold piercing black eyes as his mother, and there was a slight scruff that was slowly turning into a beard on his chiseled face. Eligos leaned back inspecting his nephew, he had a lean build that resembled his aunts, which if it was anything to go on meant that he was far stronger then he looked. Eligos wore a plain white casual beach shirt, a pair of khaki shorts and casual slip on shoes. Nothing about him should have been intimidating or terrifying, but the current fear he had rivaled the time Donna found out he accidentally spilled water on her tablet ruining it. His uncle having felt how tense he was patted him on the back, "come now nephew, no need to be nervous. Magnolia fetch another chair, we have much to discuss." Magnolia nodded pulling out another chair for Omar as she also served him some iced tea.
Eli went back to staring at the scenery in his chair as Magnolia finished setting up, seeing his nephew hesitate he waved him over, "Come now nephew, I'm not going to hurt you. We have much to discuss and catch up on." As Omar walked to the chair he reflexively put his hand on his sword, "oh before I forget, you won't be needing that." His uncle held up his hand holding his sword, looking down he saw that he was holding the glass of iced tea. Taking a step back he almost dropped the glass, Magnolia was behind him placing a hand on his back and one on the glass preventing him from dropping it and backing away. Calmly she took both of his hands and wrapped them around his glass bringing it up to his chest, "My apologizes young master, I should have warned you that you uncle can be…eccentric. Please have a seat he means you no harm." His body was covered in a cold sweat, 'how the hell did he grab my sword? What the….when did he switch the glass and the sword? Who the fuck is this guy?' Eligos sighed sitting up, clearing his throat he turned to Omar and spoke in a clear voice, "Nephew please sit, you don't need to be scared of me. I am your family member, I mean you no harm." As he spoke those words Omar felt almost compelled to follow them, swallowing back his heart that was in his throat he nodded walking over and taking a seat next to him.
"I assume you have questions, yes?" Omar nodded, "how is Magnolia still alive, she said you had the answer?" Eligos taking a sip from his glass nodded, "right better explain that one. Well as I'm sure you know Magnolia here went on a mission with your sister and received a fatal blow that seemed to have killed her instantly, something that your sister stands by. Well she is not wrong, but it would have seemed that she had forgotten in that moment what Magnolia can do with her semblance." Magnolia chimed in, "I do not blame your sister, during battle she could not dwell on my safety without putting herself in danger." Eligos continued, "Well Magnolia here due to her semblance has complete control of blood within her body as well as blood within a variable radius. And because of that control she can make her blood flow throughout her body without the need of a beating heart for a variable amount of time, very handy when she needs to play dead."
Omar tilted his head remembering that day, Mavis had come home devastated that she had to bury Magnolia. She had confirmed her dead after 30 minutes of trying to resuscitate her, but here Magnolia stood right next to him as if nothing had happened. Eligos continued, "Now to answer how she's here at this very moment, I am solely responsible for that. I was in the area deciding whether or not to pay a visit to your mother when I heard the fighting, while I could have helped my relationship with Sakura is all but nonexistent. So I stayed back and waited for a chance to help without being noticed, that's when I saw Magnolia go down and your sister go mad with rage. After that I left to not get caught up in the excessive collateral damage. When I came back she was gone and Magnolia was buried, but I could see that she was still alive, barely. She had no aura and was quickly on the verge of dying for real, so I had no choice but to link my aura with hers. It seems like she can't turn off her semblance so she is stuck residing within a certain radius of me as to not lose her supply of aura. And before you ask going to your mother would have ended with both me and her as atomic dust, as I've said before our relationship is nonexistent at best."
Omar drank his iced tea processing everything his uncle had said, looking at his sword he asked, "What do you know about this sword?" Eligos leaned back in his chair, "well your father wielded this sword before you, and this was back when I was on tense speaking terms with your mother. I believe it was before Mavis was born, they were just finalizing their plans to expand the growing village. I have everything he managed to discover detailed in the book I gave you, you have read the book right?" Omar looked away from his uncle when he asked the question, "I have it somewhere." Eligos sighed, "Well in your father's notes he discovered that the sword carries a piece of someone's soul, I believe it was the blacksmith who forged the weapon originally." Running his hand over the hilt he asked, "I watched the video from the cave mission, why did I say slaughterscape? I don't know where that even came from." Eligos took another sip of tea, "from what your father could figure that word is a sort of passcode, something to wake up the soul in your sword. Though if anyone else were to wield the sword I really don't know what would have happened, but since you have his semblance you were able to access the 'armory' as he called it."
After Magnolia refilled his glass Omar asked, "Were you and my dad friends?" Eligos shook his head, "absolutely not, I hated the man entirely. But I did respect his strength, which was probably the main reason why I knew Sakura was pregnant with Mavis, he would just not shut up about it. While I have yet to speak to any of your sisters I do care about their wellbeing as they are family. Anything else?" putting down his glass Omar asked, "You said something about my dad having access to an 'armory', what does that mean?" Eligos sighed giving Omar a smirk, "alright since it seems like you have no intention of reading the book I'll give you a short summary." Eligos sat up prompting Omar to do the same, "the 'armory' as he put it is a collection of various weapons that are stored within the sword, the most likely reason for the large collection would have to be that whenever the sword would change hands the new owner would feel compelled to reforge the weapon into something they were familiar with. The trick with the weapon is that you can 'swap' between each weapon, I do not know if that is possible with the other swords. Though to even gain access to the armory is extremely difficult, your father couldn't do it right away but with years of practice and a little finesse he could interchange weapons between attacks."
Omar sat looking at his sword as Eligos studied him, "there was one thing that I wanted to mention to you." Breaking his concentration Omar looked to his uncle who had a look of concern, "what is it?" Eligos sighed, "I heard that those Jaeger people that you and your friends fought have decided to hire a team to take you out. I don't know who it is but they apparently have a reputation for completing their missions with a 100% success rate, I'd be careful if I were you. If there is anything else that I can do to help do not hesitate in calling." Eligos gave Omar a piece of paper with a number written on it. Putting it in his pocket he got up when his uncle urged, "It might do you well to put some pep in your step, it seems like an Ursa Grimm has found your friends." Omar nodded closing his eyes to concentrate on finding which direction they were, Eligos returned the sword and gave him a pat on the back. Turning in the direction of his friends he took off through the forest leaving his uncle and Magnolia standing on the cliff edge.
When he was out of earshot Magnolia asked, "Sir was not your original goal to claim the sword?" Eligos wagged his finger mockingly, "now, now let's not get hasty. It would seem like there can be only one person wielding the sword at a time, when I took it from him I confirmed this. No it would be much easier to simply bring him over to our side and let him use the sword for us, telling him about the assassins and the book has created a small bond of trust. All we have to do now is just wait and be the good reliable people he sees us to be." Magnolia nodded as she began cleaning up the chairs, "and what of his sisters? They will not be as trusting." Eligos smiled, "we just need to convince the one and that's what I have you for." Magnolia froze and she whispered a name, "Mavis," Eligos quickly put a hand on her shoulder leaning into her ear, "you are dead and she does not remember you. You are mine is that understood?" Magnolia stood up straight with a blank look, "yes master." Eligos sighed, "I'll have to limit the amount of time you spend away from me spying on him."
When Magnolia had finished Eligos stared out into the vast forest below, "you know Magnolia I've heard stories of how my Great Grandfather started the Great War. A little misinformation and misdirection and he had Mantle eating out of the palm of his hand, suppressing an entire country of emotion and calling Grimm control was far easier then imagined. But in this age you have to be far more cunning if you want to start another world war, my Grandfather started the Great War with a single bullet. Magnolia can you believe the amount of money our family made off those 10 years? Even counting the money Sakura stole to start her village, we still had enough for that to be a passing thought." Magnolia nodded while holding the chairs and small foldable table, Eligos taking a deep breath exclaimed, "Let's return home, I've had my fill of sunshine." Magnolia nodded again as she followed Eligos along the cliff edge.
Carmine stood next to Levina and Pyrrha as they watched Jaune pick himself up after defeating an Ursa Grimm. Sheathing his sword he walked over to Cardin helping him up, with a quick jerk of his arm he brought Cardin in close as he said something to him before walking back to the group. Ruby stood with practically stars in her eyes as Jaune asked, "you were so cool!" before she could burst Pyrrha put a hand on his shoulder, "see Jaune if you apply yourself a little more you could be a great fighter." Jaune blushed slightly as Carmine smirked, "true but that's still a long ways off, Jaune you could have won the fight sooner if you had a better stance, you grip on your sword was tighter, if your breathing," Levina jabbed Carmine in the side, "I think what he's trying to say is that you did good but could use some help to be better." Jaune nodded sheepishly as the group made their way back to Glynda.
When everyone was grouped up again Carmine noticed that Delilah had two jars of sap, "why do you have two jars?" Delilah gripped the jars closer, "you know Omar's probably screwing around like usually and forgot to fill one up." Carmine sighed nodding in agreement as Glynda began counting the students, "I need everyone to form up into your teams, I may have miscounted since you are all moving about." As everyone grouped up and gave some space in between for Glynda to count she had a stressed expression, "we seem to be missing two students, class do not move from this spot. I will see if I can not located the two myself." As Glynda walked past the class Ruby burst through the forest panting, "Wait for me, don't leave yet!" she was jogging while trying to hold her jar.
Glynda sighed, "That would be Miss Rose accounted for, all that leaves is Mister Gulo." Weiss putting her hands on her hips berated Ruby, "you know for some whose semblance is speed you can be pretty slow." Ruby jogging closer to the group apologized, "I'm sorry, I couldn't find a tree that gave enough sap." As Ruby continued to jog she failed to notice the large shape that was following her. When she almost fumbled her jar the large shape seemed to stand up before letting out an ear splitting roar, a massive Alpha Ursa Grimm burst through the tree line charging Ruby.
Taking several steps back she scrambled to try and get her scythe out when the Grimm was right in front of her, it reared up on its hind legs raising its paws to strike. Because of how close Ruby was to the Grimm neither Yang or Blake could get a clear shot without endangering Ruby, Weiss was already in the process of creating a glyph to send Ruby flying back toward them. As the Ursa swung its paws down Ruby closed her eyes bracing for the hit when she heard a stabbing sound.
"You know Ruby, I'm not always going to be around to save your tiny butt." Looking up Ruby saw Omar standing on the Ursa's should with his foot in its neck, on the other side she could see a blade sticking out. Retracting his foot and hopping off the Grimm it fell back dead, as it started to dissipate he held out his hand for Ruby to get up. Yang tackled Ruby from behind lifting her up into a big bear hug as she nearly crushed the life out of her sister, "geez I though something terrible was going to happen." Ruby tried to struggle out of her sister's grip futilely as Yang gave her one last squeeze before putting her down. Wrapping Omar in a similar hug she squeezed him, "thank you," stepping back she rough pulled Ruby's hood over her face, "this is the second time she had to be saved." Giving Yang a peck on the cheek he fixed Ruby's hood, "I meant what I said, Ruby every time you're in trouble there's going to be a chance that no one shows up to help." Ruby pouted, "I don't have a tiny butt, and I already know, you don't have to remind me how often I need saving." Glynda sighed loudly as she crossed her arms, "and that would be all student accounted for." After the class returned to the main building Glynda scolded Ruby and Omar for wandering off from the group, as punishment Glynda would double the weights Omar would be training with.
After an exhausting evening the team was back in their room resting for the day, the new weights that Omar had resembled a forearm band, the weights on his legs resembled leg warmers, both sets were extremely heavy considering their size. After Levina helped him out of the weights Carmine sat in his chair looking at the ceiling, "hey Omar?" lying on his back he tilted his head toward Carmine, "what." "How're you feeling?" "Right now I feel like jelly." "Not what I meant." "I know." Carmine leaned his head forward to see Omar looking at the ceiling, "wanna talk about it?" turning his head away Omar answered, "Not really." As they sat there was a knock on the door, Pyrrha's voice sounded on the other side, "Hello can we come in?" Delilah groaned, "It's open." The door unlocked as Pyrrha and Jaune slowly walked into the room.
The team did not move from their spots as Pyrrha and Jaune found an empty spot to stand in. Pyrrha elbowed Jaune in the side to get him talking, "right, sorry…guys I'm sorry that you got in trouble because of me." Omar tilted his head toward Jaune, "you know this all could have been avoided if you had just gone to your friends first, we could have done something." Levina chimed in, "I already took care of his papers, Cardin was the only remaining issue." Jaune looked confused, "what do you mean 'took care of my papers'?" Levina rolled over onto her stomach looking down at Jaune, "I heard you when you first snapped at Pyrrha about you not really being accepted into the school. I wasn't intending to eavesdrop, but I guess I wasn't the only one who heard you." Jaune looked around the room, "wait so the reason you are all I trouble is cause of," "you, yeah. These three somehow found out I was trying to switch your papers with real ones so they created a diversion, all of us got caught but you papers were switched." Jaune looked at the ground with a set jaw, Pyrrha put a hand on his shoulder motioning him. Jaune nodded take a breath, "thanks you guys, I don't know how I can ever make it up to you." Omar managed to raise his hand, "I for one intend to slap you upside the head tomorrow, I think that's only fair." Jaune laughed then when he saw Omar not change his expression he felt the tension, Pyrrha was the one who spoke, "I believe that is a fair trade. Jaune you have no issues with that do you?" Jaune shook his head, "I guess not." Pyrrha had a smile on her face as she ushered Jaune out of the room, "then it's settled, I wish you all a quick recovery."
The effort it took to take turns for the showers and the change was just as bad as the training, their bodies had been pushed to the point of exhaustion some teamwork had to come into effect. As everyone was in their own beds sleep came quickly, except for Omar who had the lingering thoughts of what kind of team was sent after them.