Chapter 43

Robin watched her fingers as she played with Malcolm's own fingers, interlocking them, pressing her palm against his, pinching the tip of his fingers and letting her fingers dance over his hands. Her back was pressed to his chest as she sat between his legs, his arms around her shoulders as they enjoyed the cool breeze of edge of the Emerald Forest. After several minutes Malcolm nudged knee against her arm and pressed a quick kiss to the crown of her head, "You've been really quiet lately. Everything okay?"

She furrowed her brows and let out a breath, shoulders sagging an inch. The conversation with Ozpin had left her upset, pissed and confused about what she should do, if anything. From her conversation with the headmaster she'd learnt nothing and had been left with more questions. Why did her Dad have so much faith in a guy who didn't listen to reason? Why did he trust someone who seemed so careless with others lives? Her Dad knew what her semblance meant, what the growing chaos of it signified. He'd promised to listen to her and not take her words lightly, and yet Oz wasn't even batting an eye. There was a growing pit in her stomach of fear that something terrible was going to happen and somebody was going to die. "I don't know," she whispered.

"Hey," he whispered, capturing her hands and stilling them for a few moments and she could hear the concern in his voice as he said, "Talk to me."

Robin shrugged a shoulder and frowned at their entwined hands. "My semblance sucks. My Dad's blindly following the headmaster. I think I'm starting to see why my Aunt ran away and something bad is going to happen at the Vytal tournament."

"Okay, okay, one thing at a time." His arms came up to wrap around her shoulders and Malcolm let out a breath. "Okay, your semblance does suck but we can't do anything about it. Your Dad's known Ozpin a lot longer than we have, he's probably in on some stuff we have no idea about."

But I do know about it, that's the problem. Robin bit her lip. Technically she'd not been told to not tell anybody about Salem and the maidens, but then again, would anybody really believe her? It sounded crazy to herself still and she had witnessed some sort of evidence. Kind of. There was the unconscious Fall maiden under the school grounds, Raven knew something about Spring. "I-" she paused, feeling the words on the tip of her tongue. "I-" Screw it. "I kind of know about it. The stuff my Dad goes on his missions for, the why and the what. There's some, some bad people out there who are trying to cause a lot of trouble for everyone. It's some age old, time ago thing-"

"What kind of people?"

She shrugged, "Just, bad people, really bad people."

"And by trouble you mean..."

"Death, chaos, destruction, death, the Grimm. They're probably why I've been seeing so much crazy stuff lately."

She felt him nod and could almost feel the frown he wore as he listened to her. "Okay, we've got some people wanting to hurt everyone, possibly kill everyone."

"Right."

"And you said it's something old?"

Robin nodded her head again. "It's complicated and I don't know the full details, but this dates back to centuries ago."

Malcolm shifted, his arms tightening their grip on her as he tipped his head back. "Okay, let's pretend I understand that. So, there's something that happened years ago or..."

Robin shrugged, "Probably? But these people they're on their way here. I don't know how, or who, but I just know they're going to try to bring down Beacon. In fact, they will and we'll be screwed over in some way."

"How sure are you about that?"

Robin sighed. "Very. I told you that I'm from Vacuo and that my Mom died right? Every night for two weeks before the attack I'd had nightmares about it. My Mom's Inn was popular in Vacuo, a stop over for all kinds of Huntsmen and Huntresses. My parents put it down to me hearing these stories and my imagination getting the better of me. I remember begging my Dad for three nights straight, right before it happened, to come back and take us away. Then it happened and I ended up living in Patch."

"Robin-"

"I lived with my Dad, Tai, Ruby and Yang's Dad, and Summer Rose, Ruby's Mom. It was great for a while, you know? Summer was sweet, caring and kept us all in line. And I remember having nightmares again. In the week before her final mission where she didn't return, I'd had nightmares and begged her to stay."

Malcolm's fingers carded through her hair with a heavy sigh, "Robin-"

"My Dad stopped ignoring my dreams after that. There was one time Yang went to look for her Mom in the forests on Patch. She put a sleeping Ruby in a wagon and took her with her. Tai, he, he'd been all over the place since Summer never returned. Raven, Yang's Mom, ran away and left without a word, then his second wife dies on the job. Guy was broken and I woke up terrified, grabbed the phone and called my Dad. I begged him to come home and find my cousins in the forest before the Griffon's got to them and I sat up on the porch, wrapped in Ruby's blanket that she'd left on the couch and waited until my Dad carried them home."

"Robin-"

"I'd hate to think if I didn't worry about my dreams and didn't call me Dad, that I'd have zero cousins and my Uncle may have topped himself."

"Robin-"

"So I know something is going to happen because it always happens and Ozpin isn't taking it seriously."

"Robin-"

"He knows that these bad guys are on their way, he knows that they may already be here and he's just pretending that nothing is wrong, or- or trying to draw them out-"

"Hey-"

"And according to Raven he spouts lies."

"Stop-"

"Whilst my Dad believes everything he says."

"Stop-"

"I'm sick of watching people get hurt, of watching people die. I-"

Her words halted when Malcolm pressed his hand over her mouth and it was only then that Robin could feel the tremors in her own arms. It was only then that she felt the wet slide of tears down her cheeks and it was only then that she realised she was lost. "Robin," Malcolm whispered and she sniffed. When had she even started crying? He slipped his hand away from her mouth and shifted so that he could pull her around and tug her face against his chest. "Please, just take a few breaths. Breathe for me, just breathe." She screwed her eyes shut and focused on his voice, taking deep breaths as he rubbed soothing circles across her back. There was a gentle press of lips to her temple and she sighed into the simple touch. "Calm down, calm down, deep breaths, that's it."

She didn't know how long it took for her to relax and Robin sat up, wiping at her face with the heels of her hands. "Sorry," she whispered.

Malcolm let out another breath and cupped her face, dragging her gaze to lock onto his and he smiled softly, "Don't apologise. You're allowed to hurt, to get upset, to cry. Things haven't been easy for you and this isn't making things any easier." Robin wrapped her fingers around his wrist with a sad smile and gently tugged his hand away from her face before she looked away, falling against his chest with a heavy sigh. Malcolm hummed as he wrapped his arms back around her shoulders and placed another kiss to her head. "Have you spoken to your Dad about all this?"

Robin nodded her head, "He knows I hate it and that I don't agree with his blind faith in Ozpin." She shrugged a shoulder, "It's difficult to know what's right and what's wrong and what I'm supposed to do."

Malcolm nodded his head. "For now, I'd say see if your lessons with the headmaster helps you control your semblance. In regards to the everything going to hell thing, we'll take it a day at a time. You've got me, Tawney and Yahto and we've got your back. If you think the worst is about to go down we'll listen and we'll think up something."

"I ever tell you you're the best?"

"Sometimes, but it doesn't hurt to hear it a little more."

Robin let out a snort and slapped a hand against his chest. "Don't push your luck."


A/N: We're back quicker than normal. Woop! Enjoy. And please everyone stay safe!

KDBloomfield: Ozpin should've listened...

xenocanaan: Hope you're still enjoying it and thank you.

Diego Silver: Hahaha. And now team Myrtle are getting to know something is going on.

Bcf369: I mean, I'm not going to say that you're wrong. But I'm also not going to say that you're right... Just that Robin is kinda stuck in the middle here...

Sabert00thsa: Ask and you shall receive. (I hope it's what you wanted/expected) Tai does know, I'm sure Qrow would have ranted to somebody about it, but Robin is yet to hear Tai's comments on it all.