Chapter 7
Catch Up
The 3 groups of teams were all sitting around a small table talking.
Shade and Dawn were at the edge between Ruby and Yang while Hiroki was at the other edge between Nora and Jaune.
"How do you lose your map at a time like that?"
Yang asked Jaune.
"Believe me i've asked myself the same thing ever sense."
She looked at Shade.
"Weren't you a hunter for a bit, why didn't you guide them?"
"Have you tried hunting in woods you're not familiar with? I can track things I don't always know where to go."
The group chuckles.
"So wait you trapped a Queen Lancer in a spider web?"
Ruby asked Dawn.
She nods.
"Mhm, it's a little trick I was working on during the Vital Festival, did not perfect it till recently though."
Dawn moved her fingertips around.
Suddenly Nora fell on her back.
"Whoops."
Dawn said sarcastically.
Hiroki just shook his head.
'Here I thought Erika was the silly one.'
Team RNJR began to talk about the fight with the giant grimm.
"Ren was out of control."
Ruby said.
"I'm sorry i may have lost my temper momentarily."
Ren stated
"No out of control as in awesome."
"Ohhh, Thank you."
The group laughed a bit again.
"Oh and you should have seen Shade, he made a giant version of his gauntlet shield from shadows from inside his arm, it was amazing!"
Ruby shouted.
Yang Dawn and Hiroki looked at Shade.
"I didn't know you could do that."
Yang said.
"Neither did i."
The group looked at Shade curiously.
"It's something i've been working on since we got to Haven, i'm not really sure how to control it yet."
He smiles.
"But when i do no one can stop me."
He clenched his fist under the table.
'Especially not her!'
He shouted internally.
Hiroki decided to talk about his past with Raven.
"So you trained under one of the most dangerous huntress around just because you wanted revenge?"
Weiss asked.
"That sums it up, though i was a child so it was only natural i didnt think logically. In any case scenario she helped me use my semblance in ways I didn't know were possible."
"Like what?"
Nora asked.
"Are you super fast? Can you teleport? Are you Psychic?"
Hiroki floated above her.
"I can do this."
This caused Nora to fall back.
Hiroki landed back in his seat.
"So how does that work?"
Shade asked.
"From what I can tell the concentrated aura from my semblance reacts differently when focused on some parts of my body, when channeled through my legs or even the whole body I gain access to flight."
Yang started to talk about her new arm and launched Nora into a wall.
She laughed and put her arm back on.
Shade waited till Yang stood up.
"Heads up!"
He shouted before throwing a punch at Yang who countered by punching his fist with her metal arm.
"Now this was a real test to see if it's like the original."
Shade said with a smile.
"I wouldn't expect any less from you."
Yang smiled back before they both stepped back.
"Good to see you're back to fighting condition."
Shade said.
"Nice to see you've finished your second gauntlet."
Yang looked at Shade's arms.
"Yeah, i had a bit of inspiration to get it done."
Jaune started to bring dirty dishes into the kitchen.
Shade was leaning against a wall with Dawn and Hiroki while the others sat at the table.
"I think this is the first time in a long time i've felt calm."
HIroki said to his teammates.
This made the two give Hiroki a questionable look.
"I've had to make a long journey back to my home village dealing with more Grimm than usual because of my semblance, there was no chance for a break, especially during my training."
Shade looked a little concerned at Hiroki.
"What were you training for?"
Hiroki looked at Shade.
"To make sure that nothing like before happens again."
Shade could tell that Hiroki was sincere but had a feeling there was more meaning to this.
Qrow walked in.
"How can kids possibly make so much noise eating dinner?"
He asked as Oscar walked in with him.
One Explanation Later…
Ozpin was explaining the Salem situation.
Hiroki and Dawn didn't have any visible reaction but on the inside they had thoughts.
'A being of pure evil. Was that who Mom died fighting?'
Dawn thought.
'Just who is this Salem?'
Hiroki asked himself.
"Is this more or less what Raven told you four?"
Ozpin asked them.
Yang was silent.
"For the most part."
Weiss responded.
"You forgot something."
Yang said
"You forgot to tell everyone what you did to Qrow and my mother."
She said with an angry look.
Dawn nods at this.
Hiroki just looked at Ozpin.
"That's not a secret, I thought she would give up so easily."
Ozpin said.
Your mother must trust you a great deal."
He sighed and began to explain that he, like the maidens, had magic, and he gave the Branwens the ability to turn into birds.
Ozpin chuckled a bit at this.
"Rather ridiculous when said out loud."
This made everyone a bit surprised.
"Is that true?"
Shade asked Hiroki.
"She turned right in front of us."
Hiroki responded.
"Why would you do something like that?"
Yang asked Ozpin.
"I mean what is wrong with you?"
Shade looked a bit confused.
'Isnt the ability to turn into a bird nothing but useful?'
Shade thought.
Qrow then said that he and Raven made the choice and wanted this.
Ozpin walked towards Yang and explained that he did this in order to get more information on Salem and the Maiden's hosts, he also explained how he sacrificed a great deal of magic to create the first maidens.
"Miss Xiao Long, it was never my intention to lie to you, to any of you. There are just some matters that I prefer to play close to the chest."
He looked at Qrow.
"I believe that is how you phrased it."
"Yeah."
Qrow stated.
"Everyone has a choice"
Ozpin said
"The Branwens chose to accept their powers and the responsibilities that came with them and later one of them chose to abandon her duties in favor of her own self interest. Now all of you have a choice. If anyone wishes to leave now is the time. There is no shame or disgrace in abstaining, only in retreat."
Shade looked at Hiroki and Dawn who looked at him and nodded.
He nodded back and the three looked at Ozpin.
"Very well then."
Ozpin said before Yang stood up.
"If Ruby sticks around I will too. If there's one thing I know about her is that she always knows the right thing to do.But if we're going to help, if we're going to keep risking our lives, no more lies."
She looked at Ozpin.
"No more half truths."
"Understood."
Yang sat back down.
Ozpin then stated with the rough road ahead that they take today to rest.
He put his hand on Yang's shoulder.
"Enjoy this moment."
Suddenly he switched back to Oscar who jumped back in response causing some of them to chuckle.
While this was happening a group of Salem's forces including Cinder Emerald Mercury and Watts were approaching the Branwen camp.
AN:What makes these chapters difficult is how much of certain things I can use in said chapter or how much I want to put in and in a chapter this short there's not much I can do. This chapter is important though we have the proper reunion of several people not just the three from SHDE. So yeah shorter chapter this time, sorry this took so long to get out, personal life was tiring lately, i'll probably be more inspired to write the further we get to the end but until next time.