Dragons in Remnant-27

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked, marching up to Qrow, never having met him before, unaware of his status with Winter and Ironwood. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

"Sssshhhh, not you." Qrow said, drunk off his ass.

"Hey." Weiss said as Qrow pushed her to the side.

"You." Qrow simply said facing Winter with at least twenty feet of courtyard between them.

In the distance, crows began cawing before they took off.

"Saw that gaudy ship of yours in town. I guess you're here to." Qrow said as Scythe joined the gathering circle.

"I'm standing right before you." Winter stated.

"So it would seem." Qrow said after squinting his eyes for a bit.

"You realise you just destroyed Atlas military property?"

"Ohhh, I'm sorry. See I mistook them for some sort of… sentient garbage." Qrow stated.

"Careful man, those terminator movies might be on to something." Scythe stated.

"I don't have time for your immature games, Qrow." Winter glared.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Weiss asked.

"Weiss, come over here." Scythe sighed grabbing her shoulder. "That's Ruby's uncle. Works with Ironwood and Winter on certain missions that can't be done by either one of them alone."

"Geez, you Atlas specialists think you're so special don't you?" Qrow asked.

"It's in the title." Winter stated.

"Well, you know what you really are?" Qrow asked. "A bunch of sellouts. Just like your boss."

"I'm not sure what you think you're implying but I've heard enough." Winter stated.

"Oh I heard to. I heard old Ironwood finally turned his back on Ozpin." Qrow stated.

"Ozpin?" Weiss questioned.

"Weiss, I think you should stay out of this." Scythe exclaimed pulling her back.

"What?"

"Listen to him Weiss." Qrow stated. "The adults are talking. But Winter would protect you, just like Atlas is going to protect all of us."

'What are you insinuating Qrow?' Scythe mentally asked.

"If you won't hold your tongue, then I will gladly remove it for you." Winter stated drawing her weapon.

"Alright weapons are coming out, this is getting a bit out of hand." Scythe sighed.

A slight purple light warped around his hand momentarily before dissipating, with the only one to notice it being Weiss.

"Alright then." Qrow said, sounding amused. "Come take it." He smiled combing back his windswept hair with his hand.

(Que Music… Ain't no rest for the wicked: Cage the elephant)

There was stillness in the air before Winter went lunging at Qrow with a speed only Scythe could follow with lightning magic in his eyes.

Winter lunged at Qrow immediately after stopping in front of him. The drunkard dodged the blade, left, than right, under the blade, under again to the left, with a fake mock expression as Winter nearly cut mark of his hair. Winter lunged several more times, each on Qrow dodged with feyness and precision before bowing.

Winter struck down, hitting Qrow's sword. Qrow pulled the lever on his weapon, extending the blade to its full length. He removed the weapon from his back and faced it towards Winter.

Winter recognized this as a duel and took the proper stance, before the tapped their blades together, signaling the start of the battle. Qrow spun around and swung his sword down knocking Winter's momentarily down.

Qrow continued to swing his weapon at Winter, who kept back flipping out of the way before she blocked it with her blade.

"What's going on?" Ruby asked as she came running up beside Scythe and Weiss.

"Your uncle came by and started attacking my sister." Weiss said.

"She attacked first Weiss." Scythe sighed. "Schnee arrogance will be the fall of Atlas."

"Kick her butt uncle Qrow." Ruby screamed.

"Teach him respect Winter." Weiss shouted.

In the crowd Mercury came walking by, and backtracked when he spotted Qrow before running off.

The battle between Qrow and Winter raged on as Winter's anger grew steadily. She slammed the hilt of her weapon into Qrow's face, which only acted to sober him up a bit and make him deadlier than he was. Qrow raised his weapon to slam it down on Winter. The former Schnee heiress used her semblance to jump back, avoiding being part of the crater Qrow made.

With blinding speeds Qrow raced to where Winter was landing, and cut down a lamp post as Winter dodged the attack. Said soldier jumped over him, hitting his weapon, before landing on the other side with a slight scowl. She jumped up and back avoiding a swing from Qrow's weapon, and landing on the flat end of the blade, before jumping off, while at the same time, kicking Qrow in the face.

Qrow threw his weapon at the white haired woman as she landed on the broken lamp post, before she jumped back again, avoiding the weapon entirely. She landed on the railing to the balcony before jumping off, and dodging a bullet from Qrow's transformed weapon.

Winter jumped and impaled her weapon into one of the towers preventing her from falling. Qrow scowled before he went running, matching Winter step for step, firing off multiple dust bullets. He jumped up onto the opposite end of the arcs forming around the courtyard and began racing along it, while firing more rounds at the former heiress.

A large plumb of white smoke appeared in Winter's place before she jumped out, and across the ledge, ready to strike Qrow with her weapon as she split it in two, with the longest one directed towards him.

Winter struck Qrow's weapon with enough force to knock them both back to where they started, and to shatter one of the arch-ways, specifically the one Qrow was standing on.

This in turn created another crater in the courtyard, only in the grass area. They continued to trade blows, Winter now using her weapons dual function, though it proved to be of little use as Qrow was fast enough to dodge them.

Winter knocked Qrow back, with enough force that he had to slam his weapon into the ground to slow himself down.

Once Qrow was stopped he drew his weapon and held it behind his back, ready to reveal its final form.

"Why the hell are they fighting right now?" Scythe growled. "Don't they realize they're putting innocent lives at risk?"

Using her family's lineage, Winter summoned dozens of small Nevermore's and smiled as they distracted Qrow. Winter removed her weapon from the ground and began to charge up her semblance.

Qrow saw that she was planning to go all out, and decided to do so as well. He pulled the second lever on his weapon and the gears began turning within the weapons main body. Qrow made a, come and get me, gesture at Winter and that was all she needed to lunge forward ready to strike him down.

"ENOUGH."

(End Song…)

A violet flash of energy flashed between the two fighters right as Winter was within striking distance. The energy knocked them both back with a small explosion, and standing at the epicenter of it, was Scythe, in a slight squatting position with his arms crossed with his palms up like he was blocking something from both of them, a purple energy flowing around his arm.

"Don't you see what the two of you are doing?" Scythe shouted standing up. "Not only are you destroying school grounds, you're setting a bag example for the students, for your niece, and your sister." He stated, pointing to Qrow then Winter. "You're putting the lives of everyone here in danger all for what, him saying something you didn't like? Ironwood will hear about this."

"I've seen it all."

Winter turned around to see Ironwood, and Penny walking up to them.

"What in the world do you think you're doing?" The general asked the Schnee girl.

"He started the altercation sir." Winter stated before receiving a smack to the back of the head. "Who do you think you are?"

"She started it Ironwood. I was here for the whole thing." Scythe explained, ignoring Winter's question.

"Is that right?" Ironwood asked looking at Winter.

The Schnee woman tried to come up with an excuse only to fail.

"And you."

Qrow looked at him a bit surprised before pointing a finger to himself as if asking if Ironwood was talking to him.

"What are you doing here?" Ironwood asked walking up to him.

"I-"

"Now, now everyone. There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the colosseum, that I can assure you has better seats, and popcorn." Ozpin smiled as he a Glynda approached.

"Break it up everyone." Glynda stated. "We will take care of this mess. Scythe, I'm proud of you for stepping in like you did, but don't ever do it again."

"Yes mom…" Scythe said, whispering the last part.

"What was that?" Glynda asked pulling his ear.

"I said yes mom." Scythe stated saying the entire thing with his full voice, in which several students chuckled at the big bad Guardian having just been scolded by his mother.

Ironwood, Schnee, and Penny walked off, past the head master, with the remaining Atlas soldiers following close behind. Penny turned back and waved at Ruby before running up and catching up with the rest of the group.

"UNCLE QROW. Hi." Ruby smiled hugging his arm.

"Hey there short stack, what's with the outfit?" Qrow asked, raising his arm, and his niece off the ground.

"It's my Guardians uniform." Ruby blushed. "Did you miss me, did you miss me?" Ruby questioned.

"Nope." Qrow smiled ruffling her hair.

"Qrow." Ozpin called. "A word please. You come to Scythe, your team is already in my office."

"I think I'm in trouble." Qrow whispered to Ruby.

"You did kinda tear up our courtyard." Ruby smiled.

"Yeah, I did. Catch ya later kid." Qrow smiled fist bumping Ruby before following Ozpin, Glynda and Scythe off to the main building.

"And suddenly your recklessness makes sense." Weiss sighed folding her arms as she stood next to Ruby.

"You're just mad he whooped butt." Ruby smiled nudging her teammate with her elbow.

"That was a draw at best." Weiss argued.

"Nope, Qrow won." Scythe shouted as he walked with Ozpin, and the others.

In Ozpin's office, Winter was pacing, while Ironwood was standing patiently, for them to arrive, Amber was sitting in the corner reading a newspaper. Gajeel, Wendy, and Natsu were already waiting in the office, chatting up about Scythe and Gajeel going to the doubles round, before the elevator binged and all four people came, Qrow leading the way, with a smug smile on his face.

"What were you thinking?" Winter questioned.

"If you were one of my men, I would have you shot." Ironwood stated.

"If I was one of your men, I'd shoot myself." Qrow stated taking out a flask.

"Ditto." Scythe, Gajeel, and Natsu stated.

"Good thing none of us actually work for Ironwood." Wendy smiled with a sweat drop.

"Glad to see you're still as lively as ever Qrow." Amber smiled putting the paper down.

"So it's true. Scythe did bring Amber out of her catatonic state." Qrow smiled.

"Well I wouldn't condone his behavior, retaliating like you did certainly didn't help the situation." Glynda said bringing them back on topic.

"He was drunk." Winter argued.

"He's always drunk." Glynda, Amber, and Team KNHT countered.

This fact was proven as they heard him drinking alcohol from his flask.

Qrow stopped when he noticed all eyes on him, and stopped, shrugging his shoulders as if asking, why not?

"Qrow, why are you here?" Ozpin asked with an exasperated sigh.

"You've been out of contact for weeks. You can't just go dark like that in the field." Ironwood stated.

"Does he always treat life like a military operation?" Wendy asked Amber.

"As far as I know." Amber smirked.

"I'm not one of your special operatives Jimmy."

"General." Winter corrected.

"Whatever. You sent me to get intel on our enemy, and I'm telling you, our enemy is here." Qrow stated.

"We know." Ironwood stated sitting down and leaning against Ozpins desk.

"Oh! Oh you know. Well thank goodness I'm out there risking my life to keep you all informed." Qrow said irritated.

"Qrow…" Ironwood started.

"Communications a two way street pal. You see this, that's the send button." Qrow growled.

"Scythe weren't you supposed to send him a message saying that we know the enemy is here?" Glynda asked.

"I sent the message. I don't know how he didn't get it." Scythe defended. "Hold on, Qrow was your scroll dead about a week ago?"

"Yeah, it was dead all week. I was only able to charge it at the bar right before the fight with Winter."

"There you go, scrolls don't receive messages when dead, not even when they're recharged."

"Qrow, show a little more respect to the general, and your commanding officers." Winter stated.

"And I keep telling you I'm not one of your little toy soldiers miss heart of ice. Seriously who invited her?" Qrow asked pointing his finger at her.

"Schnee we'll discuss this incident back on my ship." Ironwood stated.

"But sir…"

"Winter. Leave." Ironwood ordered.

"Yes sir." Winter stated saluting him.

After leaving, Ironwood encouraged Qrow to continue.

"Your little infiltrator isn't just another pawn. They're the ones responsible for Amber's former condition, before Scythe healed her apparently."

"What?" Glynda asked.

"Hmm. Come to think of it, the woman I fought in the tower. She seemed to be able to create glass from nothing. I didn't notice it at first, but thinking back on it, she smelt like she had a tiny fraction of magic in her."

"We can't fault you for not noticing this detail sooner." Glynda sighed stopping Ironwood from scolding him. "Especially if that detail was too small to notice at first."

"Despite what the world thinks, we're not just teachers, or generals, headmasters, or Remnant Black Ops. The people in this room, the leaders of the other two academies as well as these four other worldly beings."

"Three. If you haven't heard, Scythe is my son." Glynda stated.

"Forgot about that. But back on topic. We're the ones that keep the world safe from the evils no one even knows about. It's why we meet behind closed doors, why we work in the shadows. So you tell me James, when you brought your army to Vale, did you think you were being discreet, or did you just not give a damn?"

"Discrete wasn't working." Ironwood said putting his scroll on Ozpin's table.

A holographic projection of Vale, Beacon, and everything else within the area, appeared in midair in the center of the room. Scythe noticed Ironwood's scroll was still loading, but the question was what.

"I'm here, because this, is what was necessary." Ironwood stated.

"You're here because Ozpin wanted you here. He made you a part of this inner circle and opened your eyes to the real fight that's in front of us." Qrow exclaimed.

"And I am grateful."

"Oh well you've got a real funny way of showing it." Gajeel stated pointing out the window. "As a former general myself, I can tell you that bringing your army to the Vytal Festival is only going to spell disaster and chaos, not peace and protection."

"The people of Vale needed someone to protect them, someone who would act."

"And they have one. They have him." Qrow shouted pointing at Scythe. "He has abilities that surpass a maidens. Time and time again he has proven that he is a one man apocalypse. But he uses those abilities of his for good. He doesn't flash them around wanting fame or attention. In all honesty though he should be thanking me and Winter for our little fight earlier. Because of it, he unlocked his semblance."

"What?" Natsu asked as that gained the attention of everyone who was doing their own thing in the office.

"Show them Scythe." Qrow stated.

"I don't even know what I did Qrow. I just acted on anger." Scythe sighed.

"Just focus, try remembering what you did." Glynda exclaimed putting a hand on his shoulder.

Scythe closed his eyes and focused, reaching out his arm before purple electricity surged through it and a purple swirling mass of energy opened up in front of him.

"Amazing, it's just like your fathers semblance. Only with the color of mine." Glynda smiled. "He was able to create portals to locations he envisioned."

"But how could he have pushed me and Winter back with just a portal?" Qrow questioned.

"Hold on." Scythe smiled bringing the portal to face Qrow before he pushed off with his arm and it hit Qrow, knocking him back.

"A telekinetic portal that also acts as a shield or weapon. Impressive." Ozpin smiled. "You've inherited traits of both your parents' semblances."

"Let's get back on track shall we?" Ironwood asked. "Yes unlocking your semblance is a memorable moment, but we need to focus. Yes Scythe is known as the Hero of Vale, but when the people look to the sky and see my fleet, they feel safe, and our enemies will feel our strength."

"Or they could use it against you." Gajeel added. "We're not just talking about one or two terrorists here Ironwood. We're talking about a woman who has lived for centuries, and probably knows every battle strategy known and unknown to mankind. We have someone in our world like that, and trust me, if she were to get a partnership with him. No one, not even Scythe could stop them."

"He's right, I've faced off with Zeref before, the only reason I survived was because he saw me as some sort of family or something. His scent was so filled with death and decay I didn't give it much thought." Natsu explained.

"You-you think they're scared of your little ships?" Qrow asked, having literally laughed at Ironwoods words. "I've been out there and I've seen the things she's made and let me tell you… they are fear."

"And fear will bring Grimm." Ozpin added. "However, I have a feeling we shouldn't ignore Mr. Blacksteel's warning either."

"A guardian is a symbol of comfort. Which is why we took up that mantel as our name." Scythe exclaimed.

"But an army is a symbol of conflict. There's an energy in the air now, a question in the back of everyone's minds: If this is the size of our defences, what is it we're expecting to fight?" Ozpin quoted.

Ironwood sighed in defeat and went to remove his scroll, where a black bishop piece flashed on his scroll. This didn't go unnoticed by Scythe as he wasn't sure why he had a bad feeling about Ironwood.

"So then, what would you suggest we do?" Ironwood asked.

"I suggest we prepare our guardian for battle if we are to fight this night." Ozpin sighed. "Scythe, I know Scarlet and Crimzon don't have much time left, go be with them. I'm sure they'll love to watch your next fight."

"Thank you Ozpin." Scythe smiled before leaving, Amber tailing him closely.

"I wanna meet your kids at least once before they… you know."

"Alright." Scythe smiled.

Meanwhile, in Cinder's dorm.

"And you're sure?" Cinder asked.

"Bad hair, used a scythe, and smelled like my dad after a long day. It was him." Mercury stated.

"What do we do?" Emerald questioned.

"Nothing, we stay the course. They have no idea who we are, so we have no reason to worry, besides. The last of the heavy lifting is being taken care of thanks to our clever little friend. A speaking of which, is appears we have a new access point."

"Anywhere good?" Emerald asked.

"You could say that. Go to your rooms I'll prepare everything for tomorrow."

"What about you, how are you going to get your powers back from Amber?" Mercury asked.

"I'm no longer taking just Amber's powers. I'll be taking Scythe's as well." Cinder smirked. "Consider it him paying me back for the pain he caused me."

"Scarlet, Crimzon, you two still up?" Scythe asked coming in.

"Hi Papa." Scarlet smiled, he face pale, with bags under her eyes.

"I brought someone who wants to meet you." Scythe smiled.

Scythe opened the door and stepped aside to let Amber come in.

"Hi there little ones." Amber smiled sitting on the bed.

"Hi, who are you?" Crimzon asked, cuddling up next to his sister.

"My name's Amber. I'm here to see how you're doing. I might not be able to heal you completely. But there's something I might be able to do still." Amber sighed. "Scythe, if we combined our healing abilities, it might extend their lives by another twenty four hours."

"Amber, come here please." Scythe sighed opening the door before they stepped out. "What are you doing? I don't want my kids to have false hope, or to suffer longer."

"If they don't live a little longer, they won't get to see their father fighting in the doubles or singles rounds tomorrow." Amber stated firmly.

"I understand that, but my heart can't take seeing them like this anymore. It was painful enough to see my own sister murdered in front of me, but to see my own kids continue on suffering like this, I couldn't live with myself if I failed them by losing the doubles round." Scythe explained.

"Then don't lose." Amber simply said.

Scythe sighed before he walked back into the room, with Amber following.

"Scarlet, sweetie, I don't want to force you to do something you don't want to do. This is entirely your choice." Scythe explained sitting on the bed by her feet.

"I wanna see you fight Papa, I'll do it. Crimzon to." Scarlet smiled with her sleeping brother lying next to her.

"Alright, now we do this together Scythe." Amber exclaimed holding out her hand.

Scythe held his out beside hers and they both began focusing their energy, focusing on healing Scarlet and Crimzon, their energies combining and enveloping over them.

Once it ended, the mass of amber colored energy mixed with black wind, dissipated and Scarlet looked up, seeming to look a bit better than she did before.

"Feeling any better munchkin?" Scythe asked kneeling down beside the bed, partially to see how she was holding up, and partly because what they just did drained a lot of his energy.

"I'm feeling a little better, yes Papa." Scarlet smiled before yawning. "I can't wait to see your fights tomorrow."

"Goodnight, my little princess." Scythe sighed as he and Amber left the room.

"So where are you going?" Amber asked as Scythe walked off.

"To talk to Qrow, see if he can get me a drink at the bar down in the city. The sun's barely set, I don't think any of the bars are closing soon."

"Would alcohol even affect you?" Amber asked. "Bedside's you're underage."

"I'm hoping it would affect me, the age thing wouldn't really matter, anyways. If you're old enough to kill, you're old enough to drink." Scythe sighed, as Amber stopped in her tracks.

"I need to talk with Ozpin." Amber sighed.