"Come in." Ozpin said. General Ironwood entered.
"Ozpin." Ironwood called out.
"General." Ozpin returned.
"Please, drop the formalities." Ironwood said. "It has been too long." He said, clasping Ozpin's extended hand with both of his. "And Glynda, it has certainly been too long since we last met." He added.
"Oh James." Glynda said, "I'll be outside." She added to Ozpin.
"She certainly hasn't changed." Ironwood noted.
"So, what in the world has brought you here down from Atlas?" Ozpin asked. "Headmasters don't typically travel with their students for the Vytal festival."
"I love Vale this time of year, and with you hosting - I wouldn't miss it for the world. I also wanted time to catch up, with you." Ironwood said.
Ozpin inclined his head, going to grab a teapot and two Beacon mugs. "I enjoy quality time between friends, but the small fleet has me quite concerned. I hope that you do not plan on bringing all of Atlas academy to the Vytal Festival." He said.
"Well. Concern is the reason I brought them and myself here." Ironwood said. Ozpin sighed.
"We are at a time of peace. Shows of power like this are just going to give off the wrong impression." Ozpin stated.
"I didn't bring all those men just to show power. Ruby Rose is a threat, Ozpin. We don't know what it's capable of. A hybrid is completely unpredicted, and for all we know, it may just be a preclude to what Qrow was warning us of." Ironwood said.
Ozpin's eyes narrowed very slightly from behind his pince-nez. "Ruby Rose is a student under my care, Qrow helped raise her himself. Miss Rose, although of a dark heritage, should not be seen as a threat. You have already attempted to capture her once before, I suggest you do not try again. The Vytal Festival is a time to celebrate peace, not to try and scare the population to death with a nonexistent threat." Ozpin said evenly, but there was a darker undertone to how he said it.
"I'm just being careful." Ironwood said "Because you don't know if it will turn on us."
"As am I. And that is why we will continue to train the best Huntsmen and Huntresses we can." Ozpin replied.
"I am. But tell me, do you really think you can keep a half-Grimm in a school full of Huntsmen and Huntresses to-be. But more importantly, can you trust it to stand alongside your children and help then to win a war?" Ironwood asked, walking back to the elevator.
"I hope they never have to." Ozpin said.
Ruby grinned "Yang Xiao Long - I challenge you to a war!" She declared. Her sister pumped her fist
"Bring it on, Rubes!" She cheered.
"I deploy the Atlesian Airfleet!" Ruby announced, Yang gasped, hand over her heart "That means I get to fly over your Ursai and attack your walls directly!"
"You fiend!" Yang cried out
"Aaand since Atlas is part of Mantle, that means that my repair time only lasts one turn!" Ruby informed her.
But her victory was early, as Yang giggled, and it turned into a cackle "Haha, pretty sneaky Rubes. But you just activated my trap card!" She gloated. "Giant Nevermore! If I roll a seven or higher, fatal feather slice your fleet in two!"
Ruby gave a low laugh "But if you roll a six or lower, the Nevermore will turn on your own forces instead!"
Yang leaned over the table "That's just a chance I'm willing to take." She rolled the die. An eight.
"NOOOOO! My fearless soldiers! You'll be avenged!" Ruby cried out.
They played a bit back and forth, before a strange blond boy came "Hey Blake."
Ruby was curious "You are..?" She asked. The boy seemed a bit taken aback, and Yang caught on. She put her deck down face up and looked like she was going to stand, but Weiss beat her to it.
Thump! Ruby jerked her head around and glowered at the heiress who's heel just stomped on her foot.
"Sun Wukong, at your service." He introduced himself. Ruby saw how he looked to Blake, and her hackles started rising. Thump! She whipped her head around again and resisted the urge to snap at Weiss to stop. Instead she stood up and announced
"I guess I'm done playing. Sun, you can play if you want." Sun looked taken aback and took her seat. Satisfied, she stalked from the library.
She sighed, but then she had a sense in the back of her mind. She ignored it and kept walking. Rounding a corner, she felt the sense grow stronger. She tried to think about it and got so lost in thought that she accidentally bumped into someone.
The mint haired girl looked a bit surprised "My apologies! I uh, didn't mean that to happen." Ruby apologized.
"It's fine. Just watch where you're going." The girl replied.
Ruby wanted to chuckle nervously, but kept it down. "Um, I'm Ruby. Are you… new?" She asked.
Then, a voice piped up behind the mint haired girl "Visiting from Haven, actually." And a familiar figure from a night ago walked to the forefront. Cinder Fall. The name rang in her head.
"O-oh," Ruby stuttered, her tail lowered - the woman radiated a presence that could only be Authority. She could remember it from when she followed the orders of an Alpha Beowolf before she had taken over the pack. "I guess your here to fight in the tournament!" She decided. A bit more hesitant she added "Well… these are the student dorms. The visitor dorms are just east of here."
Cinder nodded "Could you show us the way?" She asked. Ruby nodded and started leading the way. Unease settled in her stomach as she walked across the campus. Arriving at the visitor dorm building she stopped
"Alrighty, we're here!" She announced. Cinder nodded, passing her towards the entrance.
":Meet me here tonight when the moon rises.:" Cinder hissed into her ear. Ruby shivered as the woman filled the command with a pulse of Authority.
":...I'll try my hardest.:" Ruby replied softly. Cinder nodded.
"Thank you." The mint haired girl told Ruby, who nodded and started heading back to her own room.
Once there, she saw Yang, Weiss and Blake waiting for her. "Where were you?" Yang asked.
"Going for a walk." Ruby let the half-truth slip out. Yang nodded, but Ruby wanted to deflect anything else her sister would say. "So, how about team bonding? Sparring, anyone?" She asked.
"Sure!" Yang pumped her fist "You don't have your pack to save you now!"
Under the cover of night, Ruby waited for everyone to be asleep. She took her chance and carefully exited, walking silently through the hallways towards the visitor dorms.
Cinder waited for her. ":You came.:"
Ruby nodded ":I did. What did you want to see me for?:"
":I wanted to get to know you better.:" Cinder told her, leading the way to the airfield. A lone ship was there
":Where are we going?:" Ruby asked
":Your facility.:" Cinder informed her.
They got inside, and the ship ride was full of idle chatter and Ruby telling Cinder about herself.
Finally they arrived, masked Faunus were scrambling to move, and Cinder let Ruby exit first. "Commander Rose." The Faunus greeted.
Entering, Ruby saw a familiar face "Captain Berra!" She grinned. Berra smiled.
"Commander Rose, Miss Fall." She greeted, "The Grimm arrived earlier today. Ves subdued them for you."
Ruby walked to the holding cells and her heart stopped for a few beats.
Atlesian Grimm. Saybers, a Sphynx, and Manticores.
"Put the Sphinx in the arena." She breathed.
"Yes ma'am." Berra obeyed. Ruby could feel her heart hammering as she used her semblance to get to the arena. Entering, the sirens wailed as the cage lowered and it swung open.
":Who are you?:" The Grimm challenged, snake tail poised above its head. Ruby discarded her cloak and gloves.
":I am Ruby Rose, alpha to the Grimm you call alpha.:" Ruby told the Grimm.
The Sphinx gave a growling laugh ":Such a little Grimm like yourself can't possibly be an Alpha.:"
Ruby mentally groaned. Nearly every Grimm was like this. Instead of responding, she took out Crescent Rose and got straight to the point, by beating the Grimm in a one-on-one battle.
Dodging a fireball, the Sphinx was a lot quicker than Ruby expected - so she had to be faster. Raising the scythe to strike, the Grimm caught the blade and smacked it to the floor while preparing another fireball. Ruby gave a roar and sent a pulse of Authority through the arena. ":STOP!:" The command made the Sphinx shudder and the fireball died in its throat - and throughout the compound all of the Grimm froze in their places, even Baryonyx. But the pulse did nothing but make the Sphinx pause for a moment before the fireball started reforming - rage was clear in it's gaze. Ruby used her semblance to evade the attack and kicked it on the forehead between the eyes, making it stagger back, in the process stepping off of Crescent Rose. Ruby snatched up the blade and continued her attacks until the Sphinx reared up and swatted her aside. Ruby slammed the blade of Crescent Rose into the floor and used it to slow herself. She gave a slow inhale and exhale as the Grimm started to prepare another fireball. She waited, eyes locked on the Sphinx. When the fire was hurtling her way, Ruby kicked up and used her semblance to speed herself up before ramming full speed into the Sphinx - the Grimm flew and the two slammed into a wall. When the dust cleared, Ruby was holding onto Crescent Rose's handle - the rest of the handle was across the Sphinx's throat as it thrashed and the blade buried deep into the wall. Ruby shifted the blade so that it was no longer buried. She couldn't keep fighting - she had to be back before dawn or else Yang would kill her. ":Yield:" Ruby commanded, ":Or die.:"
":I'll never yield to a weakling like yo-:" Ruby closed her eyes and gave a sigh. Finger on the trigger, she pulled it. The gunshot was deafening as the blade of Crescent Rose was propelled backwards by the recoil straight through the Sphinx's neck. Ruby let herself fall to the floor as she watched the Sphinx's decapitated body hit the floor and start dissolving into dust. The head hit the floor soon after, and Ruby looked into the fierce gaze - frozen now by death in a forever mute roar of agony.
She couldn't take her gaze away from the dead Grimm, and after there was no trace, she knelt down in place and whispered to herself ":Forgive me, brother. For you, death was preferable to life under me - I did what was best for you.:"
She went back to her cloak and gloves and put them back on, head hung in grief. Around the compound all of the Grimm of Ruby raised their heads and bayed, as if they too were mourning the loss of life. Ruby sighed and wiped her face - a single tear coming away on her glove. She walked out, tail hanging limply as Cinder waited for her. "Why did you kill it?" She asked.
Ruby breathed deeply before responding "Some Grimm don't want to be enslaved. The Sphinx wouldn't have wanted to live that way. I gave it the opportunity to live under me, and it wanted death." She explained, sadness clouding her words.
Ruby could scent the confusion and disappointment on Cinder "You could have forced it into submission with Authority." The woman stated, Ruby shook her head.
"I tried to - when I used it to make it stop, it barely flinched." Ruby informed Cinder, who nodded at last.
"I'm impressed with your skill. I can help you hone it, if you'd like." Cinder told Ruby.
"I'd like that." Ruby stated.
"Good. We will return here tomorrow night for further training." Cinder agreed. Ruby looked to Berra, who looked as devastated as Ruby felt about killing the Grimm.
As Ruby and Cinder left, a chorus of cries filled the air.
":We mourn the loss alongside you, Alpha.:"
":May they run free in death.:"
Ruby nodded and cast a final glance at the complex before boarding the airship.
Ozpin watched in curiosity as an airship returned. Sipping his coffee, he saw Ruby Rose and Cinder Fall walk out.
"My, my. How friendships blossom." He said to himself. But he couldn't help but wonder why those two had met up in the middle of the night, boarded an airship, and only returned hours later when it was a few hours away from school starting. He knew Ruby Rose didn't need to sleep, but he had no idea of what miss Fall was doing with her.
He watched through the security cameras as the two parted ways: Ruby Rose heading to the student dorms with Cinder Fall heading towards the visitor dorms. Clicking through the cameras, he followed Cinder through the building until she pulled her scroll out and unlocked her door. Then he quickly tapped to the corridor cameras until he found Ruby Rose again. She stopped at her dorm door and hesitated, before opening it and slipping inside.
"Hmm." He hummed to himself, rewinding the footage and following Ruby all the way through. Nothing stood out of the ordinary, until he rewound the footage again for closer examination. The aircraft seemed to shimmer for a moment when it passed by James' ships. He hummed again and wondered if his old eyes were finally playing tricks on him. But no: each time he watched the particular part where the ship came into the camera's vision, there was a shimmer, like a ripple, go through the ship each time it got close to another ship.
"Strange…" He told himself, saving a copy of each recording to his Scroll's memory. He closed the screen down, but found his hand hover over the "contacts" icon of his Scroll. With a small shake of his head, he moved his hand away from that button. "No need to make him any more suspicious of a little girl." He mused, shutting off his Scroll and taking a sip of coffee.
But the question raised by the footage nagged at the back of his head: Why did it seem the two girls were hiding something?