Chapter 40
Robin blinked and blinked again. The warm, azure sky stared back at her and she felt a wave of confusion wash over her. There was a weightlessness to her body and everything felt… different. What? The voice that echoed her thought wasn't human and was reminiscent of a chirp. Her mind swam in more confusion. She turned her head and a chest of mixed red, white and brown feathers invaded her vision and panic surged through her. Then, she was falling again and another twist of her body gave her full view of the Nevermore that slowed its descent to glide and turn, wings beating up heavy drafts. Her mind raced as the Nevermore came back for round two and there was a flash of silver that caught her attention. When she glanced to her left she could see her human arm again, weapon held out and ready. "The hell?" she whispered and in the next moment there was a caw in her ear as the beak of the Nevermore started to pass her. She grunted, twisted her sickle up and gritted her teeth as it started to slice through the underside of it. Tawney was still in its claws and Robin stretched a free hand out snag one of Tawney's and she clung on for dear life. Her momentum carried her through and dragged Tawney down with her, her body slipping free from the bird's grasp.
Tawney grinned, "Took you long enough!"
"You're welcome!" Robin yelled back as her sickle finished carving through the Nevermore, its body turning to black ash around them. She tightened her hold on Tawney and sheathed her weapon away, wrapping her other arm around Tawney's waist. "You good?"
Tawney hugged her tightly, face buried in her neck and legs wrapped around her waist. "Better now that my birdy's here!"
Robin chuckled and she glanced down with a frown. "How much of that did you see?"
"Huh?"
"How much of that did you see!"
"Not much! There was a giant bird in my way, trying to squeeze the life out of me!"
"Right!" Robin hummed.
Tawney pinched her cheek as the floor got closer. "Where's your stupid boyfriend!" There was the sound of fabric tearing and they looked down to see a purple dust infused arrow lodged in Tawney's skirt. The green haired girl grinned as she tugged the arrow free, wrapped her hand around the crystal slot and turned her attention to Robin. "He's the best."
"He's going to lecture us."
There was a flash of green as Tawney's aura crackled before she burst the crystal in her hands, the effects of the gravity dust infused crystal encompassing them in a soft purple glow. Their descent started to slow and Tawney sprinkled the remnants of the dust crystal into the air, wiping her hands clean on Robin's jacket. Eventually they reached the ground and Tawney jumped down to retake her weapon from Yahto's hands. Malcolm stared at them, brows raised with disappointment written across his face. "You two need to stop doing that."
Tawney pouted, "But it's an awesome team move!"
"And you," he rounded on Yahto, "need to stop encouraging them!"
He shrugged his shoulder. "I'm just the enabler."
"That's exactly my point!"
Robin rolled her eyes and couldn't stop the small smirk on her face. "We're fine aren't we?"
"Yeah, only because I was there."
"That's the point of being a team," Tawney spoke slowly and she made a heart in the air with her two index fingers.
Malcolm stared at her with a glare before he sighed and hung his head. "One of these days I'm going to veto you two from the team and my life." Tawney stuck her tongue out and Robin's smirk widened. After several seconds he released a breath and sighed, "Go get some rest."
Tawney offered him a mock salute, "Yes sir," before she hooked an arm with Robin's and dragged her away.
Robin threw Malcolm a tight smile over her shoulder, "Give us a call if you need us." Yahto turned and fired a shot at a jumping Beowolf as Malcolm readied another arrow and turned his back on the girls. She turned back to their path and tugged her arm free from Tawney. "You good?"
"Yeah," she patted herself down, wincing as she got to her waist and she lifted the hem of her shirt. There were a few blue bruises and scratches marring her skin and she sighed. "I'll be fine."
Their peace hadn't lasted long, maybe two hours before they were being asked to back up the two boys and Robin scratched at the bandage Tawney had wrapped around her shoulder as she put her scroll away. "I might be crazy, and you can disown me for this comment, but I swear that I was awake and I was a bird. A damn robin. Please tell me I'm crazy," was the message she'd sent to her Dad and she'd spent the rest of the day and early hours of the night taking care of any Grimm. Whenever she had a few spare minutes she couldn't help but to glance at her arms and turn them over with a frown, half expecting them to be feathered wings again.
It was several hours later when her scroll buzzed in her pocket and she sliced through the few Ursa that tried to surround her before she pulled her scroll out to see a waiting message from her Dad. There was another roar and she sighed, put her scroll back and continued with the fighting.
She lost track of time before she fell down against a tree, sickle lodged into the floor and her breath coming out in quick pants. With another deep breath she grabbed her scroll and opened up the message her Dad had sent to her, "Bad news, you're probably not crazy. Good news, we have something to bond over."
"That's not helpful."
The reply was a few minutes later in the form of a phone call and she glanced up at her surroundings before she answered it. Her Dad spoke before she had a chance to open her mouth, "Hey, Little Bird. You got a few minutes?"
Robin raised one brow, "Maybe? We're on the North coast of Vale dealing with a huge Grimm problem. I might ditch my scroll."
"Noted," there was a pause before he sighed and she could hear ice clinking in a glass. "Listen, you're not crazy. I just, I don't know how that happened to you."
"Elaborate."
He let out a breath, "Years ago, Oz, he, he's told you about magic right?"
She shrugged, "He said back in the day or something."
There was a small laugh, "Right. Well, Oz is that old he still had a little bit of it. Thanks to him I can turn into a bird too, a crow, funnily enough."
"I'm not laughing."
She could hear his eye roll, "I don't know why it happened to you. Maybe it's some residual effect of his magic or something being passed on to you. You really want to know the specifics? Ask Oz, until then, I got nothing else."
Robin's lips twisted into a small smirk as she said, "Did you call to tell me you're useless on the information front?"
"Hey-"
"Or because you missed me?"
There was silence for a minute before he said, "You're lucky I love you."
She grinned, "Love you too, Dad." She let out another breath and sighed, tipping her head back to look lean against the trunk of the tree and stare up into the sky. "Hey, Dad?"
"Hmm?"
She licked her lips as she felt her throat start to tighten, "I think something bad is going to happen."
The silence was deafening and Robin chewed on the inside of her cheek as she waited for her Dad to talk. After nearly a full minute he sighed and she could hear the ice clinking in his drink as he took a gulp. "How bad are we talking? Any idea on the who and where?"
Robin shrugged a shoulder and stared back down at her feet. "Beacon. I keep seeing Grimm and decapitated robots in the school grounds. And there's this woman I keep hearing, she clearly has something to do with whatever it is or thinks it's the best thing to have ever happened."
"Have you spoken to Oz about this?"
She snorted, "Not yet. I told my friends I'd do it when we got back to Vale but I'm still trying to piece something together." She let out a sigh and closed her eyes, "I never told you but during the last Vytal tournament, we were in our four versus four match and I saw a Nevermore, which clearly wasn't there. That was two years ago."
"Did you definitely see it in Amity?"
She shrugged, "I think so?"
"You've been wrong before."
"True."
He sighed, "I honestly don't know kid."
Robin hummed, "Story of my life."
Qrow let out a short laugh, "It's not that bad."
I can't wait to hear you scream. Those words had been on repeat in her head and had woken her more than a handle of times. She'd never heard that voice before and they sounded like they knew her or knew of her, which terrified her just as much. She shook her head and let out a quiet breath,"Where are you?"
"End of Mistral, trying to track down some of Salem's associates."
"Having any luck?"
"It's slow."
The bushes to Robin's right rustled and she sighed as a growl followed the rustling. "I got to go. Are you going to be there for the Vytal tournament? It'll make Yang and Ruby happy."
Qrow chuckled, "I'll be there. Think you'll win it this time?"
Robin grinned as she stood up, tugging her sickle free from the ground and swinging it to settle it on to her shoulder. "Definitely. See you."
"Bye."
She disconnected the call, put her scroll away and looked up as three Ursa pushed their way through the bushes and into the same clearing that she was in. She let out a breath, pushed her hair out of her face and grinned, "Alright, who's first?"
A/N: Tawney and Robin will be the death of Malcolm. I hope you enjoyed! (FYI Robin's semblance is still developing (I have got something fun and interesting in mind for later) and she can hear 'future' converastions before they happen. Doesn't mean it happens often or that she knows when)
bjenk4: I know right ;) And I didn't quite want Tawney or anyone from team Myrtle to know about it just yet... for now...
Diego Silver: Maybe the storm will be next chapter...
xenocanaan: Thank you!
Xellos1: Well, I'd like to think Qrow's doing his best to find the funny side in all of this. And with Yang that is yet to be seen ;)
Sabert00thsa: I am also a fan of Yahto's gun and again, if the same thing will happen to Yang... I won't tell! I think it's just Magic? Until someone confirms otherwise, it's magic with a 'c' to me. And that voice who threatened her with a great time... yeah... FYI Robin's semblance is still to develop.
KDBloomfield: Nobody's ever ready for Tyrian (But I do love him) and yes, Robin turned into a robin...
