Alright, so about last chapter, Fanfiction apparently sent the story alert way, WAY after it was published, so keep an eye out ye?
With that said let's just get on with it, ye?
While Qrow, Bai, Alistair and a handful of soldiers took the wounded to the infirmary, the remaining warriors had taken to simply staying in the courtyard. Ling found herself looking at the people walking around in their strange clothes, some holding weapons that looked ridiculous in her opinion.
"That blade has so many things wrong with it…" she muttered to herself with a shake of her head.
"Too top heavy, yes, guard is too small as well." Added Thorne with disapproval in his voice.
"The weight isn't necessarily a bad thing, and the guard you could maybe work with, my real question is why would a dao need a serrated edge? It's pointless!" Ling said with no small amount of disgust. For her, the dao was more than just a weapon, it was an extension of herself, like another limb, so to see that same unmistakable blade be butchered like this? Sacrilege.
Ishikawa nodded with a grunt. "The wood of the handle is splintering, and the metal is beginning to rust, hazubeki (disgraceful)."
The tiandi and warden, even though they couldn't really understand what that last word meant, couldn't help but nod in agreement.
"We have returned." The three turned to look at the voice, it was Alistair, who stood noticeably more at ease. Behind him was Bai, who waved at them with a small smile.
Thorne took off his helmet, looking at the golden lawbringer with a hopeful look. "Will our men make it?"
Alistair and Bai nodded. "They'll survive, but will have to remain here for a few weeks to fully recover."
The three vanguards released a breath they didn't know they were holding. They spent a good minute in silence, which was broken by Ishikawa. "Where is Branwen?"
"He said he had his own things to attend to, and told me to tell all of you-" he began to speak louder, addressing everyone. "To feel free to wander around Beacon."
The soldiers of all factions glanced at each other, but didn't move, it wasn't until Tranquility silently walked away that the chain reaction began. The warriors shared a look, shrugged and took off into the building or into a random direction.
As the previously tightly packed group took off in small groups, Alistair firmly took hold of Virgil's shoulder and shook his head. "Not you, recruit; you're coming with me."
The thin girl swallowed nervously, her throat feeling dry. "W-what did I do?"
"Only thing you need to know is that you and I are going to have a chat, now follow." The lawbringer took off without saying anything more, he briefly glanced back to the still standing girl, Virgil shrunk at his gaze and quickly followed.
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Ozpin set the paperwork on his desk aside the moment the elevator door opened. "Ah, Qrow, I hope you've brought our mystery group with you,"
The man slumped down on a chair with a sigh. "Yeah, I did..."
"So, what are they doing now?" asked Ozpin.
Qrow groaned and sat up straight, cracking his back. "Wandering around probably," he said with a shrug, taking a drink from his flask afterwards.
Ozpin took a sip of his coffee and glanced at the camera monitor, Indeed, they were simply exploring the campus. The old wizard hummed with, taking particular interest in how rather than looking like a single organized group, they seemed more like a mishmash of several ones. He turned away from the cameras to regard Qrow once more. "Tell me everything you've learned."
Qrow leaned forward with a sigh, taking a long drink from his flask before beginning his recounting of the events of the past week, once he finished, Ozpin hummed and got his scroll.
"I will call James, gather our mysterious friends and bring them to me, it's time to see who they really are."
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Virgil was panicking. She thought she'd done everything right! She never questioned orders, she never tried to flee, so why was Alistair taking her so far away from the main building?!
Her eyes darted left to right, looking for anything or anyone that could help her, but there was nothing, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and no one that could help her. She was completely at the mercy of the man, if he even knew the word.
Alistair suddenly stopped by the side of a large tree, and looked back at her, taking off his helmet. Virgil froze in place. He didn't speak and she didn't dare move, her hands were tightly clenched into fists and her whole body was shaking.
"Conscript," He said as his hand grew closer and closer to her, she closed her eyes and bit her trembling lip, waiting for the pain to come, but it never did. She jumped at the touch of his armoured hand on her shoulder, she opened her eyes and looked up to the blonde man. "Well done."
"H-huh?" She tilted her head with confusion.
"When these... Grimm attacked us, you could've fled and I would have been powerless to stop you or give chase, yet you stayed, and more importantly; you saved a fellow warrior's life," he said with a slight tinge of approval in his voice.
Well, this wasn't what she was expecting at all, so she finally released the breath she was holding with a sigh of pure and absolute relief. She really thought she was dead meat at that point, she'd never been so happy to be proven wrong in her entire life.
"You did well, conscript." He patted her shoulder, then narrowed his eyes. "However…"
Virgil yelped as Alistair pushed her to the ground, dropping his helmet and grabbing his halberd in a combat stance "Defend yourself!"
She stared for a second with wide eyes before standing up, fumbling with her sword and shield before settling on the combat stance captain Blackwall had taught her. As soon as she was ready, the lawbringer began his assault, attack after attack, leaving her no room to even attempt a counterattack. Her shield arm hurt with each strike she blocked, it begged her to let it rest, if only for a second, but she was too afraid of what would happen if she did and so, strike after strike, she refused to let her guard falter. Throughout his onslaught, she sought his eyes, he only looked at her with indifference.
Virgil blocked the attack coming from the right with a wince, the heavy hit was strong enough to make her stumble backwards, she managed to get back into her stance, just in time to see the large, ornamented blade come down towards her. "Ad mortem inimicus!"
Her eyes went wide as plates at the sight of the attack that came down with such strength that even thinking of blocking it was laughable. In a puny attempt at defense, she raised her shield above her head and hid behind it.
The blade, rather than splitting her in half, stopped and hooked her shield, the lawbringer pulled hard, her already weak grip was no match for his strength and so, the shield went flying out of her hand. She didn't have time to react as the shaft of Alistair's weapon connected with her face, her nose cracking loudly as it was broken. Virgil fell to the ground while clutching her nose in pain, and before she could even think of getting up, the spike of the halberd was pointed threateningly towards her throat.
She gulped nervously and stared at the man in complete silence. After a few moments, Alistair nodded and removed the weapon, offering a hand instead with a shake of his head. "You're not hiding, you're holding, otherwise it's useless."
Virgil stared for a brief moment before taking hold of his armoured hand, after which he pulled her up on her feet, she stared at him with confusion. "What was that for?"
"When we fought these… Grimm, I saw your charge, it made me wonder if you actually knew how to fight and now I have my answer," he said as he looked down at her. "How did a child like you survive as a bandit?"
"I never fought anyone, I just stayed behind and did the shit no one else wanted to do or hid behind the others," Virgil said with a sigh. In truth, she wouldn't have been a bandit had she any other choice, but Oum just seemed to have other plans for her.
Alistair nodded with a hum. "It is decided then, you will cease training under captain Blackwall and will instead report to me."
"W-what?" Virgil looked at Alistair like he'd gone mad.
"If you are to be of any use to us then Blackwall's training won't be enough, he is decent but only that, and him sending you off as his errand girl isn't going to do you any favors, so I will take over and grind your flaws to polish. Is that clear conscript?" He said with a stern voice.
She immediately straightened up at his tone. "Y-yes sir!"
"Good." He picked up his helmet and began to walk away, patting her shoulder as he went past her. "You're dismissed."
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Tranquility wandered around the halls, looking around the halls with no small amount of awe. No faction in Heathmoor had the knowledge to even begin constructing anything that could resemble Beacon.
She hummed to herself, so quietly that one wouldn't have heard her voice unless up close. If she had been here under different circumstances, would it be to destroy this place, steal the plans, or both? It didn't matter anymore, but it was in her nature to ask herself these types of questions, it kept her midly entertained.
She was interrupted from her thoughts when something, or rather, someone slammed into her, knocking the peacekeeper to the ground with a grunt.
Tranquility glanced down at the bundle of red that rested on her chest with curiosity. The red hooded child groaned and stood up, faster than Tranquility could process it.
"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I didn't see you standing there, I didn't hurt you did I?!" The girl's speech was also fast, so fast that if it were anyone else, they'd have trouble fully understanding what exactly she was saying.
The girl stood there awkwardly, Tranquility only looked at her for a moment before getting up like sne usually did; by rolling backwards on her back. The caped girl giggled nervously "So uh, nice whether today, huh?"
"It's cloudy," Tranquility pointed out, tilting her head, quietly asking herself why the girl would ask that. Even she didn't enjoy cloudy days.
"Oh yeah, didn't notice, crazy right?" She said with a nervous giggle. It was there that the girl noticed her sword and dagger, gasping. "Are you a huntress?!"
The peacekeeper blinked a few times, surprised by the sudden change in attitude. Tranquility opened her mouth to speak but found herself interrupted by the suddenly exited girl.
"What do your weapons do? Do they burst into flames, is there a gun hidden inside?!" the caped girl looked at Tranquility expectantly, wearing a big smile on her face.
The peacekeeper simply tilted her head even more. "No."
"Really?" her smile faltered a little. "What do they do then?"
"They cut." the answer Tranquility gave clearly didn't impress the girl, which she found to be strange. What was a blade without an edge, a tool without a purpose? A weapon was just that; a tool. It needn't be more than one thing, a wielder with skill shouldn't need anything else.
"Oh, well the classics are nice too I guess…" after that, the both of them stood in complete silence, the girl was uncomfortable with it if her constant fidgeting and looking around were any sign.
Just then, a white haired girl walked past the corner to the hallway. "Ruby, I told you to not to run ahead of me, I know you're excited about movie night with JNPR but you shouldn't… run… in the halls…" her voice slowed down as she came closer, looking at Tranquility with visible confusion.
"Weiss, you're my savior!" Ruby hugged the white haired girl, and the latter looked at her friend with a skeptical look.
"I don't want to know, do I?" said Weiss.
"Nope!" Ruby stepped back with a smile, before looking at Tranquility. "So uh yeah, sorry for bumping into you, see you around maybe?"
Tranquility tilted her head and began to walk away. "Perhaps." As she moved forward, she could hear Weiss berating Ruby for her actions, and as she kept walking the sound eventually faded away. Before she could made it further away, Qrow appeared around the corner.
"S'up." He said with a drink of his flask. "Need you to come with me, my boss wants to meet you all."
Tranquility tilted her head. "All of us?"
Qrow nodded and waved for her to follow him. "Yeah, the rest are already there, only one we're missing is you."
The peacekeeper hummed and followed his lead, staying completely silent throughout their small walk towards a hall which looked like a dead end. Before Tranquility could question it, Qrow pressed a round metal circle, what followed was a sort of ding as the apparently dead end slid open, revealing that behind it was some sort of metal box. Tranquility stepped inside and began looking around the inside, finding nothing of interest other than the metal plate next to the entrance which held several circles like the one outside, Qrow stepped in right after her and pressed the circle at the top and what happened next was one of the strangest sensations she'd ever felt, though quickly found herself used to it, finally, another sensation got to her, which made her slightly loose her footing.
The metal doors slid open, and indeed, all of the heroes were there, standing around the small room with their arms crossed or leaning against the wall, patiently waiting for her to step out, and so step out she did alongside Qrow, who immediately approached the gray haired man sitting on the desk with a nod.
The man nodded back and gave them a once over, as he did, Tranquility took a moment to glance around the room, taking notice of the blonde woman who stood next to the man dressed in green with her hands behind her back, however, if there was one thing that caught her attention it would be the mirror like object with the face of a man, she would've assumed it to be a realistic painting were it not for the soft light that came from it and the fact that the man in the mirror was moving, his eyes glancing around, looking at them with a steely gaze.
It was then that finally the man spoke. "Greetings warriors, I hope you've found Beacon to your liking so far."
Alistair nodded, ready to speak for them. "Of course, it is a most impressive-"
"Oh please, I am far too old for this, just cut the pleasantries and get to the point," Said Aquila, interrupting the lawbringer mid sentence.
The grey man chuckled. "Of course, of course, but before that I'd like to ask all of you to please take off your helmets, I wish to see your faces."
The warriors shared a look and shrugged, doing as the man asked, taking hold of their hoods, hats, masks and helms and removing them, all but the peacekeeper. Tranquility always hesitated to remove her mask, no matter the circumstance, being without it was unsettling, she felt naked.
Slowly, her hand took hold of the cold metal and removed it from her face, Tranquility kept her gaze downwards and tugged on her hood, hiding herself from view.
The man either didn't notice her or didn't care and smiled at them. "Thank you, now to get to the point; Qrow informed me of your group and what you've done since he encountered you, and so we," He gestured to Qrow, the man in the mirror and the blonde woman. "Have several questions, for all of you."
Ishikawa grunted and crossed his arms. "Ask your questions then."
Qrow immediately took the opportunity to ask the one thing that had been bothering him since that night. "Why execute the prisoners? They'd already surrendered."
"We didn't have the means to care for them, even on the way here we barely managed to make food for everyone, now add prisoners on top of that? They would've been dead either way, and simply releasing them was not an option, not for me."
No hatred, no fury, only the cold voice of duty came from Alistair as he said that. Qrow frowned, the woman did so as well, the grey man was passive and the man in the mirror nodded with understanding.
"Not an action that I would take, but I understand where it comes from, taking care of prisoners isn't easy." Said the man in the mirror.
"Yes…" said Alistair, staring at the projection.
After the brief silence that ensued, the grey man asked his next question. "How did you managed to respond so quickly to the bandit attack?"
At this, the warriors grew silent, the man waited patiently for an answer, it was at this time that Frea, the valkyrie, took initiative. "Coincidence mostly; we woke up in the forest and saw the fires, thought we should lend a hand."
The woman raised an eyebrow at Frea's words. "Woke up?"
Torbjorn sighed, scratching his beard with a grimace. "That one's gonna be hard to explain…"
"Indeed," Haruka, the nobushi, said with a shake of her head. "A story better left for another time."
The room once again fell into silence, this time it drew for longer and the two sides simply stared at each other. It was clear the man wanted an answer and wasn't planning on letting them leave without one and so, to everyone's surprise, it was Tranquility who broke the quiet. "We aren't sure of everything, and we need time to sort it out, but if you must have an answer, then all I can say is that we died and next thing we knew, we were here."
The green dressed man raised an eyebrow. "That is a bold claim, can you prove it?
Tranquility nodded and stepped closer, then pointed to her neck, showing him the mark. The man however, didn't seem to quite notice it. "I'm afraid I can't see anything, you'd have to remove your hood for that."
The peacekeeper froze for a moment before slowly nodding, he needed prior of her words, and of course he would, the mere suggestion of what she'd told him was madness. She bit her lip and her hands began lowering her hood, once it was down the blonde woman gasped and looked away at the sight of the burnt skin, Qrow sighed and the man frowned ever so slightly, the reaction from the other warriors? She did not know.
"My proof is here," she ran her fingers across her death mark to show the man that it was real. "I was beheaded."
The man stood up and ran a hand across the mark with a hum. "It looks like as scar, but I don't feel any difference between it and the skin around it…"
After a moment's inspection, he stepped back, muttering to himself, then, he addressed the woman at his side. "Glynda, would you kindly take our friends to the auditorium and hand them bedrolls?"
"Of course, Ozpin," Said Glynda with a sigh before turning to face the warriors. "Follow me please."
As the heroes stepped into the elevator, Qrow and the general shared a look. "Ozpin, is that wise?"
The headmaster turned around to look out the window into the night. "I do not know, James, but now that I've met them I've become more interested."
Qrow raised an eyebrow. "You planning on recruiting them?"
Ozpin hummed and took a sip of his ever present mug. "This meeting has not answered everything, but at least we are now certain that they do not work for her, so to answer your question? Perhaps, they'd certainly be a useful ally."
James grunted. "Can't help but feel that you also want to satisfy your own curiosity."
Ozpin chuckled. "That is also the case, but as they said, it will be a story for another time, I wish to observe them until that time comes. Qrow?"
The old bird sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know."
Ozpin smirked ever so slightly as James ended the call and Qrow took the elevator down. "An interesting year indeed."
That last bit took me so LONG to make, I did like 5 re-writes before finally settling on this, not sure if I totally like it but whatever, chapter's done, I'm gonna go get some coffee, adiós.