Legal Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, Red vs. Blue, or any of the shows' characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.
Chapter Thirty-Nine:
"No fucking way." Tucker's disbelieving voice cut through the thick, oppressive air following Oscar's declaration.
Nora let out a shocked gasp, her hands tightening around Magnhild, "That can't be true! Can it?" She asked, turning to Jaune and Ren with wide eyes. Her two teammates could only shrug helplessly in response, unsure of the answer themselves.
"How is that even possible?" Simmons questioned, his green eyes glancing over to where Grif watched Kai approaching a rather upset-looking Penny and Oscar with growing concern. Ruby was already placing her hand on the redhead's shoulder, glancing over at her uncle in worry, "Uncle Qrow..." She trailed off, unsure of what else she could say at the moment.
Qrow remained silent, staring at the strange-looking Grimm that Oscar had declared to be Clover with a clenching feeling building in his chest. The creature looked back at him from beneath a bone mask before quickly darting its head away, as if it was ashamed at being seen at all.
The dark-haired Huntsman swallowed dryly and stepped forward just as Kai and Ruby went to check on Oscar then, though Cinder's taunting voice broke through the heavy shock permeating the area not a moment later, "Why are you all so surprised?" She asked, her tone snide, "I told you before that Captain Ebi had been reborn, though I suppose I can see where there could be some confusion."
"You can't be serious!" Yang choked out, her hands clenched into fists at her sides, "This is beyond messed up."
"Only from your perspective, really." Salem spoke up then, the woman practically gliding down the few steps from her throne. Her red-eyed gaze landed on Clover for a moment, a slight smirk crossing over her face as she raised a pale hand up and purple-black energy began swirling all around the appendage, "Thanks to my Inheritor becoming a Grimm, I now have access to all of my previously sealed away abilities."
"So she's fully reborn now?" Grif let out a loud, exasperated sigh, "That's just fucking great."
"Cloves." Qrow finally said, stepping forward and reaching out for the Grimm who painfully flinched from the motion as if he'd been physically struck.
Cinder's monstrous arm flew at the light red-eyed Huntsman and Qrow barely had time to block the strike with Harbinger's broadsword form as plumes of flame began encircling the group, the shadowy figures of other Grimm dancing throughout them. "It's pointless!" She haughtily called out, "As a newly born Grimm, all Captain Ebi cares about now is his hunger." There was a malicious gleam in her eye as she added, "And only Salem and other Grimm can help appease that."
"That can't be true!" Weiss protested vehemently, the others nodding their heads in staunch agreement.
Wordlessly, they could only watch in horror as Salem somehow produced a brackish liquid over her glowing hand, the floating blob coming to rest in front of the Grimm who was Clover. Almost instantly, the Grimm lifted its head to feed.
"Captain Ebi." Ilia said, her voice laced with disbelief and shock.
Cinder smirked, pointedly looking at the gaping Qrow in particular, "You see?" She asked nastily, "Your precious Clover doesn't even seem to care that you're here."
Qrow let out a strangled cry, diving forward to face Cinder along with his nieces and their friends, the fighting now beginning in earnest.
As he continued eating the "food" that his body seemed to desperately crave regardless of what the rest of him wanted, Clover watched the fight happening all around him as nothing more than a spectator.
Tucker, Nora. Ren, Jaune, Kai, and Kimball were doing their utmost to keep the encroaching Grimm at bay, while Ruby, Penny, Ilia, and Weiss were busy trying to contain Cinder along with Qrow while shielding a rather stunned-looking Oscar. Blake, Yang, Grif, and Simmons were focused on fighting Salem, relying on Donut's flickering shielding to keep the more powerful of her blasts at bay.
Clover couldn't escape and he couldn't join in the fighting, not while his body was in the shape it was in. He'd never felt more helpless. By his side, the injured Nevermore was still cooing its mind-numbing lullaby even as Salem's focus turned temporarily away from her pets.
Apparently, the noise emanating from the large Grimm was something of a nuisance to Cinder while she fought, because she snarled over at the avian Grimm not a moment later, "Can't you just die quietly?"
Fire suddenly enveloped the Grimm, the creature's faint lullaby turning into a cacophonous shriek as its feathery body disappeared into ash. For a brief moment, however indirectly thanks to Cinder's hasty action, Clover felt a piercing moment of clarity within his skull. He blinked, suddenly no longer compelled to remain there and eat quietly. Salem and Cinder were apparently too preoccupied to notice his sudden change in demeanor. But...
There was a flurry of black feathers all around him in the air then as Qrow shifted back into his human form, his arms enveloping Clover's now monstrous Grimm body, "Cloves," he got out in a raspy, desperate voice as his embrace tightened all the more protectively around the younger man, "I said I wouldn't leave you a second time and I meant it."
Perhaps due to a combination of Qrow's semblance and his own, a stunned Clover found that his tail suddenly separated into two legs again, just as Salem bellowed in rage on the other side of the throne due to her body losing some of its lucidity.
"Qr—Qrow!" Clover managed to roughly get out, and the heartbroken smile that Qrow directed towards him nearly seized up his own heart.
The moment only lasted for a split-second, however, when Clover's ears picked up the snarl emanating from Cinder directly behind Qrow. For the first time since his transformation, Clover felt his body move of his own accord, suddenly shoving Qrow out of the way of the dark-haired woman's furious assault, only to take the painful blow of claws and fire in the Huntsman's stead.
As Qrow's body hit the ground, his mind was still reeling from the revelation that Clover still had enough of himself left in control that he could take a dangerous hit meant for him instead.
The fighting was still going on frantically all around them, with Ruby and the others effectively corralling Cinder once more, but all Qrow could really see just then was Clover's Grimm form lying motionless on the floor. Time seemed to still and despite the frantic battle raging on, Qrow felt like he was in a vacuum devoid of sound.
He approached the younger man on shaky legs just as Jaune ran over, having apparently caught wind of what had happened and realizing that Clover needed his medical assistance. The blond grit his teeth as he knelt down over him, the transformed Clover's arms wrapped tightly around his chest as if he was in immense pain, "I can try to boost his Aura and heal him, but I don't know if my Semblance works on Grimm or not." He informed Qrow quickly, already setting out to do just as he said.
Qrow nodded, clasping a hand on Jaune's shoulder briefly as he looked down at Clover's prone form with a lurching stomach, "Just do what you can, kid. Please." He murmured before he reluctantly stood up to go and join the others in their fight once more as it didn't seem nearly as one-sided as before thanks to Clover having momentarily broken through Salem's control.
"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to offer my assistance as well."
Qrow and Jaune both started at the sound of Oscar's voice, though something about it and the way the teen was purposefully carrying himself as he strode over to them seemed off somehow. Oscar looked directly at Qrow then, a green light flickering through his hazel eyes and Qrow started, realizing that it wasn't actually Oscar who was speaking to them at the moment. It was Ozpin.
Ozpin, in control of Oscar's body, walked over to where Jaune was nervously hovering over Clover and knelt down, reaching out with his hand towards the black and white Grimm form. Green energy began swirling from his fingertips, enveloping and seeping into Clover not a moment later...
Just as the area all around them was enveloped in a blinding flash of white and silver, Salem's piercing scream of rage cutting off almost as soon as it began.
Author's Notes: Just one more chapter to go! Thank you so much for reading. Friendly comments are always appreciated! :D