Chapter 7: The Decision
Remnant, Beacon Academy, RvB Compound
POV: Tucker and Grif
Premise: "Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die."
Kai laid in a hospital bed, stripped of her armor. After her injury at the hands of Cinder, her armor took the brunt of the damage, leaving nothing more than small bruises on her chest.
Doc was examining her body alongside Dr. Grey, while Tucker and Grif were watching from a window.
It was then that Ozpin, Glynda, and Ironwood showed up.
"How is she?" Ozpin asked
"She'll make it." Tucker replied, "Her armor took the brunt of it, nothing but light bruises."
"And the Maiden powers?" Glynda added
"Still intact." Grif answered, "Cinder couldn't even take a shot glass' worth before I destroyed her glove."
Ironwood nodded before speaking, "So, Temple's resurfaced?"
"Him and the Blues and Reds." Tucker replied, "They've been supplying the White Fang with weapons and tech."
"They're planning a second attack…" Glynda muttered with a hint of fear, "Do you know where the ships went?"
"No, it was either Kai or the Bullheads." Grif answered, "My sister was more important."
"The Fall Maiden was more important." Ozpin corrected him, "Now our second maiden has been compromised."
"You talk like Kai was an asset rather than a person."
"She is the Fall Maiden." Ozpin continued, "One of few people in this world who can wield magic. The power is no longer safe in her care."
"She'll be better in time." Grif retorted, "Kai is strong, the power is still safe with her, just give her time."
"Alright break it up." Tucker intervened, "This bullshit's pointless, we're all on the same side."
"Are we?" Grif questioned, "What are you hiding? Is this what you do when trouble arises? Find someone new?"
"Girf." Tucker hissed, "That's enough."
With that said, the two soldiers walked away.
POV Change: Mark Temple
Temple gazed upon the canisters of Grimm hybrids Merlot had worked on for so long. He sighed louded before speaking.
"Everything I have done, was in your memory…" he whispered while putting a hand on one of the pods, "All you wanted...was to go home...when this is over...we will return home...to a new Earth."
"Temple!"
"GAH! What!" he stuttered upon hearing someone call him, "What is it Gene?"
"I just wanted to let you know, we prepared the portal." Gene said to him
"Its ready?" Temple questioned, "Good to hear. And of the...experiment?"
Gene then sighed, "Harder than we thought. Look, with all do respect, isn't this a little unethical?"
"It's not unethical Gene." Temple retorted, "It's fair. Do you understand?"
"...Yes sir."
"Good." Temple muttered darkly, "Be gone with you."
POV Change: RvB Compound
"So that's it? Have Kai retired for someone new?" Wash said out loud to the rest of the Reds and Blues. The entire group was inside their compound discussing what Ozpin said to them.
"Apparently so." Tucker sighed in frustration
"I mean, I get where he's coming from." Doc spoke up, "On the medical side of things, Kai will be good to go. But she's still hurt, and Cinder could just attack her again."
"But Oz referred to Kai as if she were an asset." Simmons argued, "That raises the question: How many other women were at the first sign of trouble?"
"Quite a few" Sarge added, "But my gut ain't feeling right on another topic."
"Which is?"
"It's what Temple said to us before he escaped." Sarge explained, "Oz just suddenly accepts us without hesitation? Granted, it could've been because he was impressed with our detective skills. But I smell something fishy."
"You don't, Oz hired us so we don't keep sneaking around, right?" Donut asked
"That's exactly what I was thinking." Sarge replied
"Thinking of what?"
The soldiers turned to see Qrow standing nearby leaning against the door, his flask in one hand.
"Ozpin." Tucker replied simply
"Well, allow me to ease your worries fellas." Qrow said before entering the room as he took a sip from his flask, "I've known Oz for a long time, even before I joined his little group. My huntsmen team-"
"Team STRQ." Wash muttered, "We know about you guys. You, Tai, Summer, Raven…"
Qrow sneered slightly at the mention of his sister's name. He also noticed Grif looked down slightly.
"...You met her…" he said to him, "Did you."
"Did exactly hit off." Grif shrugged, "We have her locked away."
Qrow nearly choked on his sip of alcohol, "You have her!?"
"We do." Carolina answered while standing up to calm him down, "She was a problem for us, so we have locked in a place only we know about."
"She could escape you know." Qrow retorted
"Where she is. I highly doubt it." said O'Malley
"Why, you wanna see her?" Sarge questioned
"Hmph, not in the slightest."
Tucker then spoke up, "Back onto Team STRQ, we know you all worked for Oz after graduating. Do you know what happened to Summer?"
Qrow took another sip before speaking, "Do you?"
"Only that she disappeared while on a mission." Simmons answered, "No one has seen her since."
"Well, that's all I know as well." Qrow replied, "Oz too."
"How can you trust Oz so much?" Doc asked him, "A man who talks in riddles and sounds like an old man?"
"Oz has been through this for a long time." Qrow replied, "I thought you guys trusted him as well."
"We only trusted him because he's helping us with your nieces." Tucker explained, "That's the reason why we're still here."
"Team RWBY helped us in the past, and now we're paying our debt." Donut continued, "But now, Cinder Fall is still our problem."
"Problem?" Qrow repeated in confusion
"Caboose had a dream, where Cinder killed Ruby and her team. All while Beacon burned." Sarge told Qrow about Caboose's vision, "He still has that dream."
"Every night." Grif continued, "He wakes up, drenched in sweat from head to toe. Haven't seen him like that at all."
"Hmm…" Qrow muttered as he scratched his chin, "I think that'll be all for now...later fellas."
Qrow then left the room until Lopez came in with a message.
"Lopez! Where have you been!?" Sarge cried
"[Going through Oz's private server.]" Lopez answered, "{Like you told me to do.]"
"What'd you find?" Grif asked, "Anything?"
"Anything gross?" Tucker added, which earned him several; glares, "What? I'm just curious."
POV Change: Team RWBY's Dorm
The next morning, the Reds and Blues minus Caboose and Kai, all departed Beacon on their ship. From what they said, they had gathered intelligence that Temple and White Fang were gathering their forces outside the kingdom.
"How long will you guys be gone?" Ruby asked as she and Caboose talked to Tucker and Sarge
"Just a few days Ruby, it shouldn't take too long." Tucker replied
"Yeah!" Sarge shouted, "And you better not finish the tournament until we get back!"
The call then ended as Qrow entered the room.
"Mind if I borrow your boyfriend for a second kid?" Qrow asked his niece
"Oh...um...yeah. Sure." Ruby replied before leaving her dorm room.
Qrow then spoke to Caboose, "Your friends told me about your little dream you've been having. Sorry to hear that."
"Yeah…" Caboose muttered, "It's scary."
"Indeed it is." said Qrow, "And I fear it could still happen...Which is why I'm counting on you. I want you to understand that my niece means everything to me. I'm trusting you with her safety, Ruby, Yang and all of their friends. Cinder's still out there, and we both know she'll come back. Time and time again."
"...Neat." Caboose muttered
Qrow couldn't help but chuckle, "That's right, neat."
POV Change: The Prowler
Grif sat in the cockpit before activating the Prowler's autopilot and quickly joined the rest of his team.
"Did they buy it?" he asked them
"Every word." Wash replied, "We had Kimball put our troops on alert should they figure out what we're up to. Now we can get to work without Oz looking over our shoulders."
"So what'd we find in his private server?" Doc asked
"Almost everything." Tucker replied, "But we found information on one of the relics he told us about: the Relic of Knowledge."
Carolina then spoke up, "According to Oz, the relic grants the user three questions. However once those three are used. It cannot answer anything over the next hundred years."
"That sucks." Simmons muttered, "How questions are left?"
"According to his research, two questions remain." Carolina answered
"Hold on a minute." Locus spoke up, "Why is this relic important to us?"
"It can answer any question the user desires." Sarge explained, "We can use it to discover what's keeping Oz so...Ozzy."
"So where is it?" Grif then asked
"The relic is currently locked in the vault under Haven Academy in Mistral." said Wash, "Which lies the problem."
"Problem?" Donut repeated
"The relic is locked in a different vault, and can only be unlocked by the Spring Maiden." Wash explained, "And we don't know where she is."
"We do have a picture of her though." Tucker added, "Let's put it into the computer to see where she was last seen."
After waiting a minute or so, the computer projected a map of Remnant with a section of it highlighted.
"Hmm, according to this, the Spring Maiden was last seen in a village in Anima." Simmons announced, "She was there around the same time the village was attacked...by the Branwen Tribe."
The Reds and Blues all looked at one another before Wash spoke.
"Grif, set a course for Starseeds." he ordered
"It's gonna be awhile until we get there." Grif replied as he went back to the cockpit
"We know, but it's our first clue."