Yang stood guard at the foot of Ruby's bunk, where the girl herself, curled up in a trembling ball, had lain since being carried back to their room by her sister. She was in Weiss' bed; Weiss and Blake themselves were not present, however. She sneaked a glance back over her shoulder. "You awake?"
"Hrrrrm."
"Let me look at your eyes."
Ruby unfurled just enough to make that happen. The sclera were still stained with crimson, but her silver irises had regained much of their luster. She squinted adorably, a clear sign that her vision still wasn't back to normal.
Yang waved a hand in front of her pallid face. "Can you see me?"
"Still kinda fuzzy." Having exhausted her willpower, she curled back up. "I'm scared."
"I know." Yang returned to her post and crossed her arms. "Just hang tight for now, I guess."
"Hnnnnnnnh."
"Yeah. I don't know what's taking so long either. Maybe it's a good sign." Yang looked at her Scroll for the time. "Actually, maybe I should help you get dressed. They might go ahead and send you into Vale for a checkup." She continued to stare at the device, her stomach tying itself into knots. "Figured someone would have called by now, though…" Knocking at the door startled her so much she almost dropped it. Seeing who waited in the hallway scared her even more.
Glynda patiently waited for a stiff, wide-eyed Yang to move aside before trying to enter the room. "I apologize for the wait," she mumbled after getting inside. "I've been speaking to Professor Ozpin and Olivine Duprix. I wanted to deliver the decision myself." The absence of Blake and Weiss made her tilt her head. "Where are-?"
Ruby sat up, but stared into her lap instead of trying to meet Glynda's curious gaze. "Yang made them leave."
"Whatever for?"
She slumped over. "In case it happened to me again and I accidentally… um…"
"I see." Her next question went to Yang, though not in the form of words, but a quizzical expression instead.
"I don't care what happens to me," she replied with a shrug, "but if anyone else gets hurt..."
"Say no more." Glynda used her Semblance to move a chair over so she could sit near the ailing Ruby. "Ozpin isn't willing to wait for an examination." She glanced up when Yang turned on her, fists clenched, but her attention remained on the trembling girl in bed. "We have no idea what this second ability of yours is or does. You could – accidentally, of course – end up hurting other students. And even if that doesn't happen, he has concerns about you being armed. You've already pointed your weapon at someone."
"I-I didn't mean to…" she whispered, hugging her legs tightly.
"I know, but whatever is happening to you seems to have escalated incredibly fast. We may already be out of time."
"Wait, what?" Yang asked. Beads of sweat were already gathering on her forehead. "Does that mean…?"
Glynda's voice became as soft and sympathetic as they'd ever heard. "Ozpin and Duprix have recommended that she be separated from the general population."
The language struck her as euphemistic – and it caused her blood to boil. "Say what you actually mean, damn it!" she snapped, teeth bared.
"They wanna kick me out."
Every molecule of air left the room. No one, not even Glynda, could find the power to speak again for several moments; she finally had to break that silence herself. "For the record, I was against it. However, the fact that you misled us about what happened didn't help your cause – any of your causes, in fact. You are all in some amount of trouble. That said… I don't want to see any of you go. You're good students. You might be some of the best freshmen we've ever had." Her glasses came off so she could rub her eyes. "And you're good people too. If I could buy you time to figure things out, I would. The ultimate decision isn't up to me."
The lack of response from Ruby or Yang caused her to look up. Qrow was leaned up against the closed door, arms crossed and listening with a frown. "There's nothing we can do?" he asked.
"When did you get in here?"
"He's pretty sneaky like that," Ruby muttered through her knees. "I guess I should get packed."
"Not yet." Qrow stood up when someone pushed on the door – the second he moved, a worried Nora poked her head in. When she saw Glynda, she disappeared back out of sight. "I got a feeling this party is about to get bigger."
"Damn it," Yang threw her copious mane back over her shoulder, grumbling with defeat. "Is this what you feel like when I don't do what you ask?"
"Yes," Qrow and Ruby said in unison.
Seconds later, Pyrrha led them inside, with Blake and Weiss right behind her. They struggled to find some room to stand once Ren entered and shut the door; eventually, Ruby's team ended up around her bed, while Pyrrha chose to face Glynda head on with her own crew loosely gathered nearby. "I'm going to assume this isn't good news," the redhead muttered, noting the tall blonde's melancholic expression.
"Ozpin wants me to go," Ruby confirmed weakly, still hugging her knees.
"You're gonna make her leave without figuring out what's going on?" Nora asked, hands on her hips. "That's not right."
"I couldn't agree with you more, Miss Valkyrie, but our expulsion policy is roughly the same as Vale's. Actually… it's even more stringent. We are on our own up here, much more vulnerable to the Grimm than the city is. We experience a higher level of tension on a daily basis as it is, but since we've welcomed troops onto campus… suffice it say, the staff is asking questions and, thanks to Opher Riese, we have no answers to give. If that unease builds up so much that soldiers start getting killed, well, then we'd have to answer to the Queen." She stood up, finally slid her glasses back on, and threw up her hands in defeat. "We do not want to answer to the Queen. I'm sorry. I don't think there's anything else I can do."
"You know Yang is going to go with her," Jaune pointed out.
Qrow paced around the room as best he could, hands shoved into his pants pockets. "Even if she didn't, she'd probably end up out there anyway 'cause of the bereavement protocol." He stopped to look at Glynda. "Ain't there anything we could give him to delay this?"
"Hold on, what if she just goes home?" Yang shrugged when the attention fell on her. "Dad lives pretty far away from the port. I think she'd be okay there until she can see some kind of doctor."
"We tried that." Glynda stared out the window at the students walking by below. "The authorities weren't willing to allow her back on Patch without more details about the other ability."
"Then throw my name in the mix."
"Qrow, I mean this with all due respect, but if you still had that sort of pull with your family you wouldn't be in this profession," she replied, as gentle as they'd ever seen her. He said nothing in response, but the look on his face was so despondent that Yang moved over to give him a hug regardless.
"It doesn't hurt people, though." All eyes went right back to Nora, including Glynda's. "Remember the trial? Ruby was right next to all of us when it went off that first time. If it was gonna do damage, it would have then. I'm not even sure it did anything to us."
"That's right!" Pyrrha said, clapping her hands once. "I recall being warm, but… in pain? No. Not at all."
"Not Ruby-related pain, anyway," Jaune noted unhappily.
"Are you certain about this?" Glynda rubbed her chin after their concerted nodding. "Hmm… that may help solve one problem, but Miss Rose—Ruby's illness is still the bigger concern."
Yang swallowed her terror and blurted out, "We just need some time! If she does something, then… then… I'll take the blame."
"No!" Ruby snapped back at her. "And you shouldn't come with me, either, dang it, think about dad! You're gonna be all he's got left!" She blinked when Weiss sat down on the edge of her bed, then cleared her throat. "Huh?"
"If Ruby is being made to leave, then I'm going with her."
While all of them were taken aback to some extent, Ruby's display was the most open; she slammed her hands onto the sides of her head and screamed "Are you actually crazy?!" at her teammate. "You can't say things like that, Weiss! You have to stay here! This has nothing to do with you!"
Weiss assumed a proper attitude, legs closed and hands in her lap, as she looked back. "You're my team leader. It has everything to do with you." Her next words were addressed to Glynda. "We're just asking for a chance. If Ozpin has a problem with that, he can exile me and explain to my family why."
Blake, sensing her plan, walked over and sat on Ruby's bed as well – together, they formed a barrier between their ailing leader and Glynda. "And he can do the same for me."
"What the heck are you doing no no no no stop!" she gasped, grabbing both girls by the arm and trying to shake some sense back into them. "No! No way! No!"
"Live as a team, die as a team, I suppose," Weiss mumbled.
"No, fuck you, quit acting stupid," Yang countered unhappily, pointing at each girl in turn. "You're staying here if I have to knock you out."
"Ideally, we're all staying here." Pyrrha wandered over to stand next to Ruby and her protective wall, hands clasped behind her back. "Ruby and Yang were willing to die to help us and we hardly knew each other then. I can't stand by and do nothing when they're the ones in need. Ozpin can exile me too." She glanced over when Jaune, Nora, and Ren came over to stand by her side.
Yang's horror increased. "Are you all insane?!" she exclaimed, motioning wildly as she came around to face them. "What are you doing?"
"The right thing," Jaune replied. "I think, anyway."
"But…" She whirled on her boot heel a bit too late – they all saw the tears pouring down her cheeks.
While Glynda respected their show of solidarity, the truth dimmed her green eyes with well-worn sadness. "You can't resist him like this. He will exile all of you. Ozpin isn't known for bending the rules."
"Like Weiss said, we're not trying to fight him, we just want some kind of chance to figure this out," Pyrrha said quietly. "Can you convince him to give us any breathing room at all? Could we? I'll be happy to talk to him myself."
"If we knew more about Ruby's ability, that might be possible, but…" she trailed off when Pyrrha's face lit up with an idea. "Do you know something?"
"I know someone."
"No!" Yang growled while turning to face them, red-eyed and sniffling. "I am done fucking talking to him."
"Then one of us will do it." Pyrrha looked back up at Glynda. "Twenty-four hours. I'll keep Ruby's weapon, and if the Grimm harass the patrols, send me out to help fight."
"Send us out," Nora corrected her, arms crossed and wearing a rare frown. "Ren will calm her down himself if he's gotta, right?" That frown became a grin when he nodded. "There we go."
Their unity finally swayed her; hopeless as it seemed, Glynda found herself unable to deny their collective resolve. She glanced out the window and released a subtle sigh. "Act fast. I don't know how much time I'll be able to give you." With that, she strode to the door, but on the way out threw a smiling "And good luck," back at them before she closed the door.
All of them deflated with relief except a sobbing Ruby and Yang, whose anger bubbled right back to the surface. "You're all stupid," she grumbled through her tears. "What the hell are you thinking, seriously?"
"It's a calculated risk. The influence of our families combined might just be enough." Weiss stood up and brushed off her white dress. "If we give Ozpin pause, some time to think, I'm sure we can reach a good conclusion for everyone involved."
"I wouldn't bank on that, kid," Qrow advised on his way to Pyrrha. "Who were you talkin' about just now?"
"Ah, well, his name is Opher-"
"Oh, yeah. I met him once." Part of Qrow wondered if the threat of Ruby's imminent doom was punishment for his transgression of speaking to the lanky courier that night, but he set that question aside for later. "You think he knows something about the light, too?"
"He claims he told us everything he knew," a grumpy Yang mumbled. "I don't think we could trust anything he said even if he did give us more. I'm done with him anyway. We're all in trouble for covering for his ass. Blake was right. We should have talked."
"Forget about it for now," Blake replied, her clingy leader hugging her from behind. "He might be the only chance Ruby has. We have to take it."
"She's got a point… and there's no time to play Scroll tag. You keep an eye on my girls. Make sure Ruby stays here. I'm gonna go handle this myself."
"Wait… you're going to Vale? Is it safe? I thought the teachers-"
He cracked a grin at Jaune. "I wouldn't be going if I wasn't good to go. Don't worry." After issuing hugs to his nieces, Qrow departed their dorm room on urgent steps and dashed down the hallway. A pair of unpleasant thoughts plagued him all the way out of the building. No wonder Oz and the ladies wanted to keep it quiet. He scowled; if this was what pushed Ruby over the edge – in more ways than one – there would be hell to pay at some point.
Even if someone else had to collect that debt, since the other worry was somewhat more personal: What are the chances he just kills me on sight?
Those odds were certainly higher than zero. Once outside, he searched for a good takeoff spot – this meant avoiding the wide-open courtyard and airship pads, as there was too much of a chance someone would see him transform. Instead, he headed for the south part of campus at a speed just slow enough to avoid attracting attention, but fast enough to make the trip quick. Once he reached the warehouse near the south gate, he ducked around the corner, pressed himself up against the wall, and folded his body into its crow form. After a few hops to get his bird legs under him, he spread his wings and bolted for Vale, traveling as fast as his magic would allow.
Droplets of crystal clear fluid hung in orbit around a bewildered Winter as she followed Opher around Schwarze's apartment – spheres which flew away when he needed them to rain down into one of the pots which constituted Schwarze's artificial interior jungle. They were replaced by more flicked idly from his hand as fast as he used them up. "And you're using this power to water plants," she eventually remarked, hands on her hips.
"To be fair, if she didn't have so damn many I'd just use a pitcher," he said idly. That wasn't the whole reason. A display this quiet likely wouldn't pique the sisters' interest unless they were actually in the city – almost right on top of him, in fact – and whether or not they chose to engage him because of it would provide a clue about how rogue they really were. It was effectively a little test. "Also, what's wrong with watering plants? Have you ever met a farmer?"
Her nostrils flared with a displeased sigh. "You know what I meant." That grumpiness fled in favor of a grave stare at his back. "Not a word from the police or the military?"
"Nope." Opher twirled on his sneakers, bringing magical hydration to one of Schwarze's prized ferns that hung near the glass doorway which led to the unit's balcony. "I don't think they know what to do with me – and that is completely fine."
"No it isn't. So long as the Army is holding a potential interview over your head, you can't easily travel to Atlas." She met his gaze head-on when he turned to look. "What?"
"I wasn't going anyway."
Another nostril-flaring sigh. "At some point you're going to have to realize the picture is bigger than those two." His expression changed – now he was looking at her like she was stupid, so her face creased with disdain to match. "Don't look at me like that, you know I'm right."
"It's less about the size of the picture," he said quietly while watering a geranium, "and more about what I might do if something happens to them. I killed a whole disaster out of sheer curiosity the other night. Now imagine me when I'm upset."
A silent Winter glanced away, then clasped her hands behind her back as she regained her usual stately posture. "Point taken, but mine still stands too. I understand that you care about-" She went quiet when Opher's head snapped toward the windows. "What?"
It was the faint, airborne ping of magic – someone had taken his bait. "Someone's coming. I think it's a Branwen," he warned her, recalling all of the true art's rain into his flesh. He glanced back as she produced a pistol from a thigh holster hidden underneath her black skirt. "That isn't gonna help you if it's her, but if it's him… you probably won't need it." A black crow flashed past the balcony outside. "Get out of here or out of sight, up to you."
"I'm staying. I want to hear this. Just try not to start a fight." Winter looked for an appropriate spot to disappear. Fortunately, Schwarze owned a big, leafy taro plant in a huge decorative pot that occupied the corner opposite her windows; its plentiful green fronds would easily hide her. She ducked behind it as Opher went outside onto the balcony for a look around.
The bird came back and alighted on the steel railing next to his hand. "I know it's one of you," he said. "Go inside and show yourself."
Qrow obeyed, shedding his crow body in exchange for the human one as he passed the threshold into Schwarze's living room. "Damn, you've got a lot of houseplants," he remarked while glancing around.
"If you're planning to attack me again, you'll make great fertilizer." Opher closed the door behind him, his sight never leaving the old Huntsman.
"I ain't here to fight. Had my fill of that already. Actually, I'm hoping we might put our, uh, differences aside so you can help me with something." He raised a hand when Opher started laughing at him. "Now wait a damn minute-"
"You want my help? After you and your sister tried to kill me? That's a level of desperation I didn't think was possible, holy shit." Qrow's surprise caused a little smirk. "It's funny what you can learn with a little investigating. Raven gets around pretty good for a corpse." He turned his back on the old Huntsman and folded his arms. "I'd love to know how she attained that power, by the way. Let me guess: does it have something to do with the reason her family would rather list her as dead instead of exiled?"
"We don't—they don't have time for this," Qrow replied, teeth bared as he stood his ground. "The kids are in trouble. Ruby, Yang, Pyrrha, all of 'em. The administration is already mad because they kept your role in the trial quiet – like you asked. Part of this is on you. No, wait… I got a feeling most of it is on you."
Opher squinted back at him – the redhead's name caught his attention more than Ruby's did, but it was the placement of blame which confused him most. "Excuse me?"
Anger helped him grow bold, even if his instinct warned against a heated argument with the guy that made a mockery of his dangerous sister. "You hid the truth about remote priming. You never told those kids what it could do to them. Now Ruby's mind isn't right! She's seeing things!" he growled, moving to stand nose-to-nose with Opher. "They're gonna exile her. And Yang, and Weiss and Blake, and Pyrrha Nikos and her whole damn team too!" Qrow expected wrathful denial in return, but got soft, silent confusion instead – an outcome which formed a pit in his stomach. "Don't you get it? They're all gonna sink together 'cause you didn't give them the whole story!"
"What truth about remote priming?" he asked at length.
"That…" He hesitated, unsure whether Opher was genuinely perplexed about the subject or preparing to lie again. "That it damages their Auras like Grimm exposure does, obviously."
"It doesn't."
"Oh yeah?" Qrow took a few wary steps back from his would-be adversary. "Sounds like you know you've doomed these kids and you don't-" The anger he expected finally materialized as Opher seized him by the throat and lifted him right off the ground. "Oh," he choked out, both hands around the arm suspending him, "must've hit a nerve."
"I want to know where they heard this shit." No immediate response caused his grasp to tighten. "Now!"
Qrow held his nerve until the corners of his eyes began to dim. "The Army told them!" he coughed.
"Give me a name!"
"I don't-" He could resist no longer and flickered into his avian form for a moment to escape. "I don't know!" he said between gasps. "I just know they went to GHQ... the other morning and heard it… from whoever they saw there."
Opher stared at the hunched-over Qrow, face shadowed by anger. "I still have no clue why I shouldn't just turn you into a bloody smear on the floor, much less help you with anything. Your sister threatened to kill my friends too, if you recall. You'd be lucky if I only told you to pound sand."
"I know that, but I swear, it ain't about us," he replied, still rubbing the pain out of his bruised neck. "It's about a man from Patch, who has nothing to do with this – he just loves his daughters more than anything on Remnant. It's about those daughters. It's about their friends and those families. Look… maybe it's hard to understand if you don't have kids, but-"
"I did once." The old bastard was right; he could no longer maintain his choler and turned away to hide what replaced it: pain. "Even if I said yes, what is it you want me to do?"
"I dunno. The way you handled being abducted, I'm sure you'll think of somethin'." The dizziness eased enough for him to stand up straight once more. "I can't do anything for them but this. My sister wouldn't do anything even if she could. But you? You already have. You could have let them die in that clearing. You didn't. They need that kinda help one more time."
Opher wiped his eyes with a long sleeve and sighed. "Remote priming doesn't hurt people. She never would have taught us how to do it if it did."
"I believe you. What about Ruby's magic? Is it possible that-"
He looked back over his shoulder. "Absolutely fucking not."
Qrow felt safe enough to walk back into conversational range. "Are you sure? I've never felt any like it before."
"Does the sun rise in the west? I'm sure." He motioned out at the Valesian skyline, bathed in the noon sun. "I can't fly to Beacon manually in broad daylight. Can your magic change me too?"
He shook his head. "No. Only works on me. I sure can't carry your ass as a crow either."
"I'll have to figure something out, then. Can you stall them for that long?"
"Just watch me. I'll try to make the kids stay in Ruby's room in Dormitory 3. Meet 'em there. If they're still there." He held out his right hand for a shake, which Opher reciprocated only after some time. "And thank you."
"I haven't done anything yet," he replied. "By the way, if I pull this off, you owe me so hard."
"I meant thanks for not killing me, and… well, how about I buy you a drink later?" One snarky grin later and Qrow was on his way, fluttering out as a crow the moment he got the balcony door open.
Opher tracked his departure via magical radar as he retreated to the east – and as Winter emerged from her leafy shelter, rubbing her face in disbelief. Her Scroll was in her other hand. "When were you going to tell me that the true art lets you turn into animals? Is that something you can do? Gods… now every bird could be a spy."
"No, I can't do it – and given the current state of the art, I wouldn't worry too much about flocks of spies." His green eyes narrowed to slits. "I'd hoped her teachings just got lost, somehow, but apparently they spread far enough to be actively suppressed. I really don't like where this is going."
"Yes, I think we both want to know what Qrow knows. Just one more reason to help him besides the obvious." Winter tapped at the device for a moment. "Is there something we need to know about remote priming? Any ill effects? Now would be the time to tell me."
"Absolutely not. Carmine knew how to do it long before she taught me, and that was years ago. I never heard her complain about using it." He ducked his head to hide his sadness with the wide brim of his hat. "She loved everyone she met. There's no way she'd teach something that would cause harm. I wish I knew what happened to her… why she never got the chance to help Remnant at large."
"Perhaps that task now falls to us."
When his gaze met hers, there was just a little more sparkle in those dull green irises than normal. "I need some way to reach Beacon."
She waved her Scroll at him with a smile, then went back to tapping furiously on its screen. "What do you think I've been doing?"
"You work fast when your sister is in trouble," he quipped as he wandered over to observe her in action. "What's your plan, exactly? Gonna use the Schnee family airship to carry me out there?"
"You think we only have one? How cute." Her fingers darted across the screen, swiping and tapping so fast he couldn't keep up. "My superiors have staged a few… we'll call them assets, to assist in my mission. Assets which they authorized because you're giving us useful information. The more forthright you are, the more we can help each other."
"Huh. Do I get to make actual requests, then?"
She gave him a little side-eye. "If you don't ask for the Moon."
He let out a little snort. "I'm desperate for some gravity Dust, but it's all so damn expensive. It sure would help me do a little investigating. Maybe your boys can use some of whatever I find."
"That can be arranged." Winter finally completed her work and put her Scroll away. "There we are. It's amazing what you can do when you shift a few freight manifests around."
"I'm a courier again, aren't I?" he asked as they walked toward the door.
"Technically, you're part of the cargo." She stopped before entering the hallway and looked back at him. "I'd like to know what sort of plan you have in mind. You don't exactly carry the authority to overturn a potential exile order and you certainly can't fight the Headmaster of an Academy."
"There's no need to fight. I know more than one way to back someone into a corner," he said, unable to suppress a smile.
"What do you mean?"
"Remember what you told me the first time we met? About what your goal is?"
Winter needed an instant to hunt down those four words before her eyes lit up. "Yes. What about it?"
Opher's grin increased. "Wouldn't it be interesting to have a real-world test case?"
Ruby sat on the oaken bookshelf, her back to the window, cross-legged and trembling as her brain creaked under the weight of… everything. Next to her left knee was a black, leather-bound book with a highly-stylized gold X on the cover – a copy of the same scripture from which Opher quoted to Winter.
If I go, and Yang goes, then dad… and Uncle Qrow...
The doom of four people centered on her, but she was too frazzled to dispassionately blame whatever addled her racing mind. "It's my fault," left her lips and entered the empty room. "It's my fault..."
Yang, Weiss, and Blake were gone. Pyrrha and her team were also gone – save one. Ren emerged from the bathroom, waving his hands to dry them off as he returned to his original spot: seated next to Ruby on the wooden bookcase. His posture was that of meditation – legs crossed snugly in the lotus pose, spine straight, and hands lightly resting upon his knees. He looked upon Ruby with a ghostly frown. She was so tense. "Ruby." Even the way she directed attention toward him was fearful. "Just be."
"Be… what?" she asked, her tear-streaked face askew with confusion.
"Just be."
She grabbed and hugged her knees in search of comfort that was as far out of reach as the sun above. "I don't think I understand..."
"Copy me, if you can."
"Uhhhhhh…" Ruby, slowed by deep reluctance, eventually released her knees and tried to arrange herself as he did – though her legs weren't quite as cooperative thanks to the amount of time she'd spent either hugging them or being crammed into the fetal position. Her breaths would not slow to his pace, no matter how many seconds passed. "I know you're trying to calm me down and everything and I really do appreciate it but this isn't going to help-"
"Ruby."
Despite his volume never eclipsing a mumble, she felt compelled to stop and heed him anyway. "-ehhhhhhh. I should be quiet."
"Not at all. Speak your mind."
"I'm too scared to think."
"I've been there." Ren turned his eyes toward the door in response to some perceived motion, but he saw nothing amiss and looked away.
"What? I don't think I've ever seen you be afraid of… like… anything." Ruby could no longer be still and slid off the bookcase to pace around. When she looked back at him, a gentle urging smile was her reward. "If I go… Yang goes. If Yang goes, like, dad already lost mom and he's gonna be next. Then Uncle Qrow…" She clutched at her messy hair. No, it was worse than that now: Blake, Weiss, Pyrrha, Jaune, Nora, and Ren were on that list too. Ten people, six of whom she was damn sure had nothing, or should have had nothing, to do with her plight besides simply being present to witness it. A sudden headache caused her to grimace. "I know what Pyrrha said, but… why? Why are you guys trying to negotiate for me?"
"Why did you risk your life for us?"
Ruby snapped up straight and stared at him for a long, quiet moment. "I had to. I made a promise to help."
His smile grew just a little. "Not all promises are spoken."
She emitted a long, warbling groan and moved back to the bookshelf. "Oh gods I need air. More air," she complained while opening the window. As the cool breeze flooded the room, it brought with it noises which, at first, she couldn't identify. She stuck her head out to listen. "Do you hear that?"
The awful, piercing crack of some kind of gun reached their ears, echoed over a great distance. Then it came again, bracketed by the groaning roar of Grimm. Ren noted the stress returning to Ruby's posture and lost his smile. "Perhaps we should…"
"Hide me!" she hissed at him, convinced it was her doing. "Ren! Hide me!"
After a brief hesitation, he obliged, placing his hand on her shoulder and activating his Semblance. The color left her face, her skin, even her eyes and clothes – this grayscale Ruby strained to listen to the results, eyes wide with terror. Unfortunately, it seemed to have no effect – the report of that loud weapon repeated several times, interspersed by the howls of unseen beasts. He released his hold, allowing her color to return, just as Nora poked her head around the door.
"Hey, how's it-" she asked, cut off by Ruby's bulged-eyes terror. "-never mind." A few skipped steps got her to the open window. "What's going on?"
"It's me!" Ruby insisted, hunched over and hugging herself. "Oh gods where's Yang." She darted away to yell out the door for her sister. "Yang! Yaaaaang! Come knock me out!"
Nora easily pulled her back with one hand on her arm. "Ruby, no, it's not you. Remember all that stuff Glynda said?"
"I'm still part of it!"
The door flew open; Yang arrived, panting for air, with the whole horde of their friends in her wake. "Ruby!" When she saw the open window, her first instinct was to run over and close it. "No. Don't listen to that, you've got enough on your mind." Her next act was to grab her sister in a hug that lifted her feet right off the floor.
"At least let me go fight!" she yelled into Yang's chest, legs swinging furiously. "It's my fault! You're all going to die and it's my fault!" Even augmented by emotional turmoil, she lacked the strength to break her sister's powerful clutches. "Let me go! Let me go! Let me-"
Yang adjusted her right hand and balled it up into a fist, then roughly tapped the back of Ruby's head at the base of her neck. Silence followed the subtle metallic clank as she went completely limp in Yang's arms. The blonde regarded their horrified stares with a stony face.
"Was that really necessary?!" Pyrrha blurted out first, hands on her head.
"She did kind of ask for it," Nora pointed out with a shrug.
"I wouldn't have done it if I didn't need to." She put Ruby to bed, using Blake's bunk this time, then spent several moments carefully arranging her and covering her up. Their stares bored holes into her back, but she paid them no mind until satisfied with her work.
Weiss was the next to comment. "You shouldn't have…" she breathed through her fingers. "Yang… no."
She pushed through their number to sit on the opposite bed. "We can't catch her if she dashes outta here." At last she returned their gazes. "Not easily, anyway. She'll be fine."
"Isn't knocking her out still a bit too much?"
Yang cast one more glance at Weiss before burying her face in her hands. "Dad used to do the same thing to mom."
"Excuse me, he what now?" Jaune exclaimed.
"Calm down, it was her idea. I'm not saying it was a regular thing, but sometimes… look, someone needed to stop mom. She didn't know when to quit." A long look went toward Ruby from between her shaky fingers. "I'm not gonna let her run herself into the same position. I can't."
"Gods…" Nora mumbled, rubbing at her hair. She sat on the bookshelf and copied Ren's pose in search of some desperately-needed serenity.
"It'll be fine." Blake smiled back at their unsure looks. "There's absolutely no way Professor Ozpin is going to exile us just because we're concerned about Ruby."
"Surely not," Weiss agreed at length with a nod. "It wouldn't happen in Atlas. I'm certain it wouldn't happen here, either."
"Yes." Pyrrha steadied herself with a deep breath – Jaune's hand on her shoulder helped bolster that calm. "All we need to do is stand up and be reasonable. Given all we've offered, I don't see why-"
"You guys are morons."
All three girls looked toward Yang, but only Weiss spoke up. "What are you talking about?"
"Our rules are blind," she noted tonelessly. "Names mean nothing. Wealth means nothing. That's the whole damn point." She revealed her face once more, lilac eyes as hard as iron for an instant before her expression mellowed with regret. "I'm sorry. I know you mean well, and I'm grateful. I really am. But we don't have ice and tundras and oceans on all sides like you guys do at home. Vale is a sitting duck on a wide-open plain. The rules have to be tougher here."
"Even so, there's no way Ozpin would…" The hopeless expression on Yang's face ripped the breath from Blake's lungs. "There's… he wouldn't. He wouldn't."
"Don't… don't bet your life on it."
Horror sank into the marrow of her bones; Blake turned her back on them and shuffled into the nearest corner to wrangle with that fear in silence. "But I thought… I…" She looked up when Weiss arrived to check on her. "I can't get exiled, I'm the heir to the…"
"It won't come to that," she whispered.
She allowed Weiss to take her by the wrist and bring her back to the party. The frigid, uncomfortable silence lasted several minutes; chiming from a pouch on Yang's belt was the sound that finally ended it. Once she read the message on her Scroll, she stood up, re-energized, and moved back to the window. "He's back," she told them. Sure enough, after a moment she saw him coming from the courtyard on rapid steps, threading his way through loose clumps of nervous kids listening to the echoes of war. "There he is!" Nora and Ren opened them for her so she could yell down. "Yo!"
"Hey, kid, I'm coming up," he shouted back once he got close enough. "I'm not gonna stay long, though, I need to find Ozpin."
"Please tell me you have some good news," Nora called.
"Just might. I'll explain in a minute."
He disappeared out of sight on his way to the entrance and, true to his word, arrived in short order at their open door, sweaty and gasping for breath. He glanced at the slumbering Ruby. "Thank the gods she's asleep."
"I had to clonk her."
Yang got an understanding look as the old Huntsman closed the door, then moved to close the windows again and silence the continuing fight outside. "Was she about to pull a Summer?" he asked. "And what the hell is going on outside?"
"Yeah. I think the Army's fighting the Grimm aaaand Ruby wanted to go help." She shrugged weakly. "How'd it go? Did you find the asshole, or what?"
"I did." Qrow mopped his brow and collected his thoughts. "We had a… spirited discussion, but he insists the priming thing ain't responsible for this. He says the light she creates wouldn't do it either. Take both as you will, I guess."
"So it's his word against the military's?" a shaky Nora asked as she left her bookshelf seat with Ren in tow to walk over.
"That's useless!" Yang growled. "He's just calling the Army liars now? Like anyone would believe him over the fucking military."
"If all goes well, it won't only be his word."
"He's coming here?" Jaune crossed his arms. "What good is that gonna do? If Miss Goodwitch couldn't convince Ozpin, there's no way he could."
The redhead was a little more receptive to the idea – but only a little. "Unless he tells them everything… about everything," she said, green eyes lidded.
"Oh, yeah, 'cause he has a great track record of that shit, doesn't he." Yang could sit no longer; she got up and checked on Ruby again, lightly placing her hand on the girl's forehead. "It's over. We're completely screwed."
"I don't feel like givin' up yet." Qrow made for the door once more. "Hang tight, I'm gonna go stall Oz-" he said while swinging it open… to reveal Ozpin himself, cane in one hand and Scroll in the other. The Headmaster wasn't alone either; an exhausted Schwarze, still in uniform, was at his side with two gloss black, long-barreled submachine guns on her hips. She squirmed in her combat boots.
"I believe we have wasted enough time on this matter, Professor Branwen," he said on his way into the room.
Everyone backed away from him except Yang, who put herself between Ozpin and her unconscious sister. "Sir, please…"
He looked at Pyrrha, Weiss, and Blake instead. "Glynda relayed your offer and your ultimatum to me before she left to reinforce the soldiers trying to keep us alive. I have rejected both. Under the powers granted to me by Article One, Section A, I hereby eject Ruby Rose from this campus."
"She's not even conscious, you asshole!"
Qrow's outburst only earned a brief glance. "Miss Xiao Long, you are not required to join your sister, but…"
"I'll get packed." Yang swallowed her terror, then moved to the closet immediately and pulled out her suitcase. "What happens to our dad?"
"That decision lies with Patch." Ozpin's gaze fell upon the rest of the horrified students. "I ignored your failure to report Opher Riese's interference in the second trial. I clearly made a mistake." A tap on his Scroll caused the Army's local communications traffic to spill from its speakers.
Cinzia Vespa was the person they heard best through a catastrophe of screaming and gunfire. "Sir! Sir, we need air support!" she pleaded with someone they couldn't hear. "We don't have the firepower to hold the west gate!" The ear-splitting crack of some incredible rifle followed her words. "Fall back! Find Goodwitch!"
Ozpin allowed them to listen to the running battle until Schwarze, too agitated to stand still, glanced over and asked, "Sir, is this really necessary? I'd rather be out there helping-"
"You are helping," he assured her with an amiable smile that vanished when he looked back at the students. "I want them to hear the consequences of their actions. Had you reported his interference as required, he would have been dealt with and the incident would not have taken place. There would not be soldiers on our campus, nor people asking why." The shattering report of Indigo's gun came and went again. "There are already casualties, so I will show you the mercy Her Majesty shall not. I hereby eject you all under Article Three, Section F. Sergeant Voss, you are to ensure they leave campus at once – by whatever means you deem necessary."
"In the middle of an attack?!" she countered. A suddenly-wobbly Blake stumbled for a moment, then fainted dead away; Yang was the first to reach her fallen teammate. Jaune looked ready to drop himself – all the color drained from his face. "Oh my goodness!"
"You can't make us go back!" Nora screamed at him, clutching a startled Ren in her mighty arms. "We didn't do anything!"
Weiss, numbed by disbelief, approached him with a polite smile. "There must be some sort of mistake," she said. Ozpin only gazed at her. "Surely you…" The longer he remained silent, the more infuriated she became. "For one incident?!" she snapped, motioning firmly. "One? Are you insane? You cannot do this!" More silence. "Gods damn it, I'm a Schnee!" she screeched.
"I tried to warn you," Yang mumbled, gently shaking Blake in order to wake her up. She glanced up when Qrow knelt down next to her.
"Sir!" Pyrrha gasped desperately. "You… you can't do this! Ruby just needs help! Please!"
"I can, and I have. Perhaps you might draw the Grimm away from people that are actually worth saving." As Ozpin turned to leave, however, the soundtrack of war from his Scroll suddenly dulled to silence – without his killing the audio feed. "Lieutenant Vespa? This is Ozpin. Why did your channel go quiet?"
At first, a cacophony of static and shouting was his reply – confused shouting, not panic. Vespa's nasally reply arrived seconds later. "Ah, sir? West gate is secure—hold on. Uh… what? What do you mean the Grimm are gone from the whole perimeter, that's impossible!"
Ozpin cut in the second he found a chance. "Is Glynda with you?"
"No sir, but, uh… we did make a friend!"
"What friend?" The connection went dead. Qrow rose to his feet, grinning to himself. "Why are you smiling?"
"You just got here Oz, stay a spell," the old Huntsman said through that smirk. "I know you hate making decisions without all the info."
That got Ozpin to turn and face him. "What are you talking about?" He looked over as a wide-eyed Pyrrha moved to the window, flung it open, and looked down. The sounds of battle were gone, replaced by the mild uncertainty of a few kids wandering between their classes and some birds singing in the golden-leafed trees along the walkway. He moved over to gaze out the window himself, but he saw nothing of note and turned away shortly after to stare at the kids. "You have one hour to pack your belongings and vacate your rooms. That is all."
An obstacle appeared just as he reached the doorway – a remarkably Opher-shaped impediment which drove him slowly back into the room until they occupied the center of it. Erstwhile courier and stoic Headmaster became locked in a staring contest so intense that almost everyone backed away from both men, leaving them loosely arranged near the walls. One curt snap of his left wrist slammed the door shut with wind Dust. "Hi, I'd like to report an attempted kidnapping," he said to the old man.
Schwarze was the only one unaware of the tension between them. "Cutie!" she said, arms raised happily above her head, though she resisted the urge to hug her greeting. Her expression suddenly became quizzical. "...cutie? What are you doing here?"
"I'm killing some time between jobs. Thought I'd say hello while I had a minute – didn't think I'd run into you or the old man, though." He glanced over at Ruby, then at Blake as she began to stir, and finally over to Qrow before his attention went back to Schwarze. "Your soldier friends are fine... at least the one we care about is. They're coming back with Goodwitch, I think."
"You son of a bitch," Yang growled at him. "I will kill you."
"Easy, Yang," her uncle chided gently.
He stared into those fiery purple eyes, only to realize she wasn't the sole source of ire in the room. Schwarze's face alone was halfway friendly – even Pyrrha regarded him with caution. "Nice to see you too. I assume I missed something?"
"I suggest you wait your turn to be dealt with," Ozpin interceded first, "unless you'd like to be exiled now. It would save us all some time."
"I think I'm more afraid of her," he said, motioning toward the angry blonde. "Well? I'd like to get a slightly better idea of what I walked into."
A seething Nora provided a summary. "Ruby just got booted because she keeps seeing things and the rest of us just got booted because everyone's super-tense about the Army being here and asking questions, 'cause you didn't say anything about the kidnapping or whatever? And… if we had reported you like we should have that one time you saved our butts, then maybe that wouldn't be going on right now."
He gazed at her until she stopped speaking, emitted a quiet snort, then walked around Ozpin toward the open window. "I'll take some of the hit on that one – but I won't be thrown under the airship for the rest of it," he stated directly to Ozpin. "By you or anybody else."
Schwarze waved her hands, smiling anxiously. "Aaahh—um, Opher? What's going on here?"
"Let's find out together." One deep breath entered and left through his nostrils before he alighted on the bookshelf. As before, his Aura shrieked a silent warning in Ozpin's presence, but this time he felt slightly more in control of its impulses. "You want to know what happened to me that day? All right. I left your tower to finish up distributing the shipment. This lady comes and asks me for help with some outgoing cargo. We go to the warehouse at the south gate, she opens the shutter, and the second it closes I get jumped in the dark. The funny thing? This person wasn't on your staff even though she told me she was. Don't the gates scan for IDs? If she doesn't work here… then how'd she get in?"
"It ain't just the gates," Qrow noted, "it's the walls, too. The tops have sensors. Any invalid ID or lack of ID altogether sets off alarms in Beacon Tower."
Meanwhile, Ozpin, stone-faced and absolutely still, said nothing.
"How odd," Opher commented while getting comfortable, eyes glued to the old man.
The students glanced between both men, then among each other with murmurs of confusion – or dizziness in Blake's case, as she struggled to keep her feet under her even with Yang's help. "Someone could have forged an ID?" Schwarze offered as she bounced anxiously on her feet. "It's…" She hesitated, staring at him with a slightly screwed-up expression. "...not unheard of."
"With a matching entry in Beacon's database? Unless it uses the same one as Vale's." He looked to Qrow for guidance.
"Nah, we've got our own 'cause a lot of the staff can't enter Vale," was the answer, dispensed after the old Huntsman took a drink from his steel flask. "And ours is a lot smaller. Much harder to hide a false entry."
Proceedings were derailed a bit as Ruby tossed and turned back into consciousness. She sat up, noticed Ozpin, tried – and failed – to scream, saw Yang and her suitcase, then broke into fits of weak sobbing as she put two and two together. She only noticed Opher's presence because Schwarze wouldn't stop looking at him. "Wh—what's going on? Are we gone?"
Ozpin's voice became almost sympathetic. "Yes, Miss Rose, I'm afraid-"
"They don't look very gone to me. Besides, I want them to stay and hear the rest of our little chat."
With that, the Headmaster's patience was exhausted. "Sergeant Voss, this man is no longer welcome on my campus. Please escort him to the airship pads, then return here to see off our former students."
"Very well, sir," she replied with a light frown. "Let's go for a walk!"
"No."
Now the staring match had three participants. Schwarze cocked her head. "Cutie, you heard him. You have to leave now."
"Why?" Opher asked as he got more comfortable on the bookshelf, smiling at Ozpin all the while. "Because he can't push me around like he can push these kids around? I'm beginning to wonder if we're all scapegoats. Distractions from the fact that your campus security is so full of fucking holes that you needed the Valesian Army to come patch them."
The grip on his cane became tighter. "Beacon's affairs are none of your concern. I will not warn you again. Leave."
"They became my concern the moment Indigo and this dope were deployed here." He glanced over as Schwarze unlatched the leather straps securing her guns in their holsters, but moved nary an inch.
"Let's not do anything rash," Pyrrha said, one hand raised toward each side of the conflict. "Everyone just calm down."
Schwarze continued to draw closer, hands now rested on her weaponry. "Bitte lass mich dich nicht vor diesen kindern erschießen," she begged him quietly. "Ich verstehe nicht, was passiert, aber ich kann ihm nicht ungehorsam sein."
Atlas' mother tongue spilled forth without him missing a beat. "Mach dir keine sorgen," he assured her lowly. "Niemand wird dich so oder so beschuldigen können." A wink followed.
Weiss alone understood their chat – although Schwarze's terrified posture set many of their nerves on edge, especially Ruby. Out of sheer instinct, Qrow pulled her from the bed and shielded her with his body, along with Yang, just in case. "Versuchen sie den einfachen ausweg zu finden?" the heiress asked him.
That tugged a smirk across his lips. "Do I look suicidal to you?" Figuring the point was now well and truly made – and not wanting to perform another demonstration in front of the teenagers – Opher disarmed Schwarze with a few bored flicks of his wrist and the whispers of gravity magic they commanded. He moved her hands aside, then extracted the guns from their holsters and let them rest securely in his lap. "Oh no, she's unarmed and can't possibly follow her orders without the risk of serious injury. Whatever shall she do?"
"G-give those back!" she squeaked, flailing adorably. "I'm going to get in trouble if I don't do what he says!"
"Sergeant… it's all right." Ozpin calmed her with a hand on the shoulder. "Please wait outside."
"I'm keeping these, by the way."
"Hey! You can't have my guns!"
"Why not, you've given me everything else." He relinquished the weapons after she whined once more. "Oh gods, don't make that face at me. Fine. Take 'em." Once Schwarze was out of the way, he regarded the nervous Ruby with a blank face – her bloody eyes caused him to squint with thought. "I don't know what's happening to her, but I know what isn't. I didn't show them anything dangerous."
"And why should I take anything you say at face value? Or assign it any value at all?"
Ozpin got a considerably chillier stare. "Because I stopped a Grimm attack in forty-five seconds that Indigo and her soldier friends had apparently been struggling with for half an hour – maybe I know what the hell I'm talking about. And I spent most of that time making fun of how tiny she is compared to that gun of hers." He finally stood up and stretched his arms. "If someone wasn't sneaking around on campus that day… then I saw something too, which is really curious considering it hasn't happened before or since. One person hallucinating is one thing, but two..."
"Then she was right!" Yang growled at him. "It does affect your Aura! You asshole!"
"There's one way to be certain," he replied, arms crossed and smiling. "Let everyone stay here and we'll sort this out. Together."
Ozpin openly scoffed at him. "So they can can continue to attract Grimm and put Her Majesty's troops in danger? What kind of fool do you take me for?"
"...what Grimm?" he countered, pointing toward the open window and the peaceful sights and sounds beyond. "Everyone includes me. I clearly can't trust your walls to keep Indigo and Schwarze safe – so I'll do it. By my own damn self if I must. I'm staying here on campus." Silent disbelief caused him to look around. "You've all seen me fight." He waved at Qrow. "And this guy knows exactly what I'm capable of. So does Ozpin. He's got video."
"What?" Ruby, clamped to Qrow's side under the safety of his old red cloak, looked up at him. "What's he talking about?"
"I ran into him and his lady friend on their way out of the forest after the airship crash," he replied, thinking fast. "Oz, he's right. We sure could use his help."
"Assuming this is all about the Grimm, I don't see how you can turn me down." Opher tried to stand eye-to-eye with Ozpin – it didn't quite work out, thanks to the Headmaster's abnormal height. "And if it isn't, then they have a right to know the truth. Ruby is someone you'd want on campus for that kind of emergency anyway. I wouldn't have been able to save them without her. Not all of them."
"Y-you… wh-what?" she stammered quietly. "Are you serious?"
"And we're pretty sure she can't hurt anyone with it," Jaune added quickly. "I dunno if Glynda told you, but-"
"Yes, Mister Arc, she did. Vehemently." While it complicated one problem, he balanced that against the fact that it would be much easier to keep tabs on the bigger issue – and help Salem's Maidens remain a little safer – if Opher happened to be right under his nose. It would certainly make some things easier logistically, too. All things considered, it was nice to have a halfway decent opponent again – Ozpin couldn't help but admire his resolve at gunpoint, even if the literal scenario had been avoided. "Perhaps I acted too hastily, but, to be honest... I have no desire to attract the Queen's wrath, either. Every soldier we lose here means Vale's defense is weakened – she takes those losses extremely personally," he said, the iron gone from his tone. "What exactly are you offering?"
"A world without Grimm. Well… a Beacon without Grimm, anyway." Opher waved around at the students. "No need to exile anybody if there aren't any monsters to fight. Besides, once we figure out what happened, maybe you won't need the Army and my friends can go home. Everyone ends up happy."
"That's impossible," Pyrrha breathed. "One person can't keep the whole campus safe from the Grimm."
"It won't just be one." Ozpin glanced once more at the three girls who so clumsily tried to wield their families' influence. "You may all remain here – with certain conditions."
"Name 'em. I will do literally anything," Yang assured him, her hands clasped.
"First, Ruby Rose is to be unarmed while within Beacon's walls." He found some hidden amusement in her uncomfortable frown. "Second, you will be partially responsible for maintaining the safety you very nearly compromised. Starting from tomorrow night, your teams will be tasked with the overnight patrol."
After they exchanged looks, Nora shrugged and said, "That's not too bad, I guess."
Blake – who had finally remembered how to breathe again – grabbed the nearest bedpost to hold herself up. "We're… we're all good, then?"
"Don't get too comfortable. I reserve the right to have you all removed if… when this fails. And I do mean all of you," he said, looking directly at Opher. "Unless you die in the field. At least then I can tell your families that you fell as heroes." After one last short-lived staring contest – plus an incredibly pointed look at Qrow – Ozpin took his leave.
Qrow emitted a lip-vibrating sigh as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "That went pretty good."
Decompression occurred mostly in hunched-over, measured-breaths silence after that, with one exception. "Why on Remnant would Ozpin ignore the three of us but cave to you?" Weiss blurted out, too agitated from the experience to keep her mouth shut. She jabbed a finger in Opher's direction. "You're a nobody! It doesn't make any sense! Blake is almost literally the princess of the Faunus, Pyrrha's family might be the richest in Anima and I am a Schnee, but noooooo, you waltz in here and change his mind?!" The longer he peered down at her with those dead green eyes, the less emphatic her posture became. Eventually she shrank with regret. "I… I didn't mean to put it that way…"
"There's a saying in Argus about the mouths of gift horses," Pyrrha warned her. "I suggest we take its advice."
She had a point; Opher wondered if the Headmaster knew more about him than he was letting on – and if that was the case, how did he find out? He flicked the brim of his hat and turned back toward the window. "I see she still has a very strange way of saying thank you."
"Then I'll do it right. Thank you. All of you, for standing with Ruby," Qrow said to the kids. "You didn't have to do that."
"And you shouldn't have!" she growled, jumping in place and waving her arms. "Dumb! Dumb dumb dumb! But… um, yes, thank you."
"Yeah, well, now we're even," he said, plucking a book from the shelf that caught his eye. The cover art featured four women standing next to each other; his brow creased thoughtfully. "I guess we're about to be real good friends."
"How'd you end up out here?" Jaune asked. "Were you on a job? 'Cause, man… the gods must really love us if that's the case. Talk about luck."
"Let's just say you have more people looking out for you than you think." Opher fired one more glance at Weiss as he put the book away.
"Hey, um, were you covering for me?" Ruby asked him, walking around the bed to approach before she clarified herself. "When you said you couldn't have saved us without me, were you trying to make me look good for Ozpin?"
"Nope." He bent down to more closely examine her face. "Why did it go off?"
"She was hallucinating a ton of Grimm," Yang explained. "Does that matter?"
"It does. It was trying to protect her – real threat or not." The way she squeaked when he gently seized her by the chin caused a smile; he didn't hold her for long before standing back up. "How much Aura did it use the first time?"
"It broke her Aura," Weiss said, still trembling on her way down from the adrenaline rush. Like Nora, Jaune, and Blake, she visibly regulated her breaths.
"Not this go around. It used a lot, but it didn't break her."
He nodded once at Yang. "Yeah, well, it works like anything else; gets more efficient the more practice you've had. And before you even ask, it doesn't affect the mind."
"And we're just supposed to believe you? About either thing?"
This wasn't Yang speaking, but Pyrrha. Opher met her steely gaze, though he didn't reply right away – that steadfast, almost protective demeanor, especially toward Jaune, who stood beside her, reminded him too much of the girl from centuries past. "Say it was true, for the sake of argument. Why would I bother coming out here and going through all this trouble? If you get exiled – if you die – that just covers my tracks." They had no quick answer for this despite some mumbling among themselves.
"But if you're right, then Miss General Zhen wasn't," Ruby noted. "Maybe she didn't know any better, or… or she lied. That's—there's no way. The military would never, like…" So alien was the idea – or perhaps it was the effects of the lingering migraine – that she couldn't even find the words to communicate it. "No. It can't be. They're our protectors. If they say it's bad for you, it has to be bad for you."
"Perhaps someone was lying to her…" Weiss surmised. "Who could even do that?"
"I don't give a fuuuuuuuuck right now. I just want to sleep." Yang took the bed her sister once occupied and stretched out. "After he tells us everything he knows about whatever it is Ruby can do. And we still need some way to get her checked out, too."
"Yeah… that's a good idea," Qrow said. "What's goin' on with Ruby?"
"And why does it hurt my eyes, like, ow, I don't want it if it's going to make me go blind," she complained, rubbing her face with both hands.
"From what I understand, that should pass. You're the first silver-eyed person I've met so early in their… awakening, I guess? I think this happens to you when it firsts starts discharging. You won't lose your eyesight. It won't be the most comfortable thing you've ever experienced either. And at no point did anyone complain about it fucking with their perception." He took a breath – and the chance to stretch – before continuing. "Your power is everything the Grimm aren't. When you used it, it froze them like stone so I could hit them all. The people I knew with more experience used it to shatter them outright. They could discharge it in a full circle around themselves – and it would stop every Grimm it touched. Species doesn't matter. Neither does size."
"So, like what we can do, just in a 360-degree arc and not one at a time?" Nora asked.
"Not exactly. We can't kill the Grimm. Not even me." Their visible confusion was another testament to how far gone the world he knew had become. "Don't you know why they evaporate after they take enough damage?"
Yang dismissed the question with a wave of her hand. "Does it matter? If they can't attack anymore, that's all I care about."
"You haven't accomplished that, though. They recycle themselves. Only the power of the Lao—the silver-eyed can put them down permanently."
Pyrrha's arms went limp at her sides. "Excuse me?"
"Oh gods, you have a lot to learn." He glanced down when Ruby waved. "Yes?"
"Y-you said you knew more people with silver eyes. How many are there?"
"When I was little, they were pretty common. Now, though…" His face softened. "You're the first one I've seen in a while."
"A-are you sure you've never met our mom, then? I can show you a picture! Maybe you just forgot?" A few sympathetic pats on the shoulder caused her to wilt with disappointment. "This feels like a no."
"I'm sorry. About a lot of things. Okay, yeah, I probably shouldn't have asked you to keep my secret."
"What kinda guy hides two kidnapping attempts, by the way?" Nora interjected, crossing her arms when she got a surprised look. "Miss Stahl told Jaune and Pyrrha. Yeah, we know."
"Because my world and your world aren't the same thing." Opher stared out the window, hands clasped behind his back. "I thought I could run away from the war I've been fighting almost my whole life. I should have known better. I thought I could keep Indigo and Schwarze out of it by being… less than completely truthful." His shoulders began to slump. "That never seems to work either."
"What war? There's no war."
Blake's naivety came so close to amusing him that he smiled for an instant. "I can't even put into words how badly I wish that was true, but… every time someone gets exiled, or an expedition leaves Vale, or a young kid becomes a Hunter, or a soldier… that war is happening. The fight I tried to flee is the one you're all running toward right now."
"You mean the war against the Grimm?" Schwarze – who'd been spying on them from behind the mostly-closed door – smiled and waved as she entered the room. "Sorry. I couldn't help myself."
Opher made a face at her before turning away. "That's part of it. The Remnant Carmine wanted and the one she apparently left behind are so… different. Too fucking different." Pained glances went toward Pyrrha, then to Qrow. "The more I see of it, the worse it hurts. I have to know what happened. To her. To her dream."
"Well," Yang said to break up the uncomfortable silence that followed, "while you're here, you can teach us how to fight. Finally."
"To be fair, my fighting style would get you killed… but I suppose there are a few things I can pass on. Actually, I might be able to help Ruby too."
Jaune cocked his head. "How?"
"Like I said, I'm not the only one looking out for you guys." He nodded toward Schwarze. "Any idea where Indigo is? I'm hoping they're back by now."
"Hmmmm." She tapped the little black communications device on her left shoulder. "I'll find out. Come on!"
They were gone, with her leading him out by the wrist. Qrow lingered, however, still eyeing his nieces with worry. "You want me to hang out here for a while, or what?"
"Haven't you missed enough classes?" Ruby pointed out. "Don't get in more trouble than you already are."
"Port can cover for me just fine. Tell you what, I'll go get lunch for everyone. Who's hungry?" He smirked when Yang's hand shot up. "When aren't you hungry?"
"Oh, hush." The smirk left her face. "Do we trust him? Should we?"
"Do we have a choice?" Pyrrha replied, arms crossed and pacing slowly.
"Probably not." Yang grunted when Ruby fell across her stomach and laid there. "Excuse me, this one's occupied." She didn't move, but Yang was too lazy – and too kind – to try and shove her off. "Fuck me," she groaned, "I guess we owe him another one, huh."
"I'm not sure he's the kind of person I want to be in debt to," a grimacing Weiss mumbled, "but it's better than being dead."
Raven wandered around the giant cavern underneath Beacon Tower out of sheer boredom, using her Scroll light to see – it was so immense that darkness ate the white glow when she tried to figure out how high the ceiling was. "At least Shade's coffin has lights," she complained. "This is just a hole in the ground."
"Graves are holes in the ground, you fool." Olivine walked toward the elevator, filling the stale air with the gentle clanking of her heavy armor. Her timing was nearly spot on; the doors opened and Ozpin stepped out just as she arrived. "What's this about, old man? Why are we meeting down here?"
Ozpin peered up at her over the rims of his tiny glasses, but he addressed his first words to Raven instead. "Emerald is quite industrious. She very nearly got the job done herself this morning."
"Then we finished it, but, yeah, Emmy did most of the work," she said, folding her powerful arms. Her face went blank with confusion when Ozpin shook his head. "What? I thought this was more than enough to push them over the top, what with everything the rich bitch and the Faunus know about Velvet."
"Yes. We were about to solve a whole slew of problems." His dull brown eyes went to Raven. "And then your brother happened."
She palmed her forehead hard. "...oh, fuck, what did he do now?"
"Apparently he loves your daughter enough for the both of you – and her sister to boot. In fact, he loves them so much that he sought the help of the man you two tried to kill. And it worked."
"What?" Olivine snapped, voice echoing harshly around the cave. "When? How?"
"I suspect he abused his powers to get into Vale. I don't know how Riese found a way to campus yet. He just managed to catch me in their dorm room... we had quite the conversation. Long story short, I'm allowing them to stay here – including him."
"Why?!"
He weathered her outburst without expression. "Think about it. We've got a chance to observe him more closely now. Besides, having him in one spot where we can keep track of him means he'll pose less risk to you and that makes Salem happy. As for the kids, I'm having the two teams assigned to night patrols." He looked to Raven again. "I'll need Emerald for a little while longer, I'm afraid."
"Yeah, yeah," she said, waving him off. "Isn't this bad, though? He might fill their heads with all kinds of stories. How do we keep tabs on that?"
"They're so rattled right now that they'll tell me everything if I merely ask. At any rate, they're going to be isolated enough once I'm finished. Lady Duprix, I want you to assume command of the Malachite gang and move them north toward Vytal. Riese came from Atlas. Perhaps they might know more about him on the northern shoreline. Lady Branwen, your tribe will take control of Mountain Glenn so you can continue pressuring our Army friends. Neither of you are to have contact with Riese," he concluded, nailing Olivine down with a piercing stare, "especially not you. Once Cinder has completed her ascension, then we'll have more options."
"Does that include trying to kill him?" Olivine asked.
"Possibly."
Raven chimed in next. "What do we do about the idiot who shares my DNA?"
"Were you a little better at making friends…" Ozpin quipped with a smile. "I'll handle it for now – it should be no trouble for me to use his nieces against him. If more drastic measures become necessary, I would rather let Salem know first."
Olivine wandered away from them a little, glaring her uncertainties into the clammy void. "Why does this guy keep helping them? It can't just be Pyrrha Nikos. Can it? Why even give Qrow the time of day, the fucker tried to kill him. Weird."
"I suspect it is less about the children and more about his two friends. If he'll go this far, we need to tread carefully." He allowed himself a little smile. "Although I would like to push him a little – if I'm going to take his body, we should at least figure out what it can do first."