Where have I been?
Recording #196
July, 22981 AEA
"Ugh. I. Am. Exhausted! Seriously, who do the Council think they are, coming down here and interfering with my research? I'm already working myself to the bone everyday; these recordings should be more than enough for them to analyze! Honestly, demanding so much from me each day isn't too bad, and I can weather the magical kickback from probing the Veil constantly, but I really can't handle the Council themselves. So much sneering and snobbery, how do those two handle it?"
Beacon Academy
April, 79 AGW
The soft ticking of the clockwork was all that kept Ozpin company as he sat in his office, Scroll in hand. Sighing softly, he finished encoding a message for Headmasters Theodore and Lionheart, before turning his attention towards the rest of his paperwork. It seemed another sleepless night was in order.
In all honesty, this wasn't unexpected. He already had his hands full with several unprecedented situations, and that was before factoring in the upcoming Vytal Festival tournament. Hopefully the other Headmasters would be able to spare a few more Hunters for when Amity Colosseum went up. Ozpin was confident in Vale's own Huntsmen, but it wouldn't hurt for his security force to embody the spirit of the Vytal Festival itself.
Giving his to-do list a once-over, he shuffled a large stack of mission reports from the first years onto his desk. Normally this would be Glynda's job, but she was busy assessing every incoming student from the other academies, as were the rest of his staff. Plus, the first-year missions were particularly interesting to him for obvious reasons. Now then, which report should he focus on first…
The obvious one would be Team SAPR's mission, which he had specifically kept confined within Vale's walls. With Her agents still at large, it would have been foolish to suggest otherwise. Additionally, both Qrow's report and the incident at the dance further convinced him to keep a much closer eye on Ruby and by extension, her team.
It was troubling how little he knew about the enigmatic girl, even after six months. Having Qrow and Glynda monitor her during her free time revealed nothing, and he had eventually sent Qrow back out into the field to gather more intel on their enemies as a result. In their frequent meetings, he'd constantly made inquiries as to the truth behind the circumstances that allowed her to survive undetected by any of the four Kingdoms and their surrounding villages. This, of course, was met with the same response each time, and Ozpin was left with no choice but to humor her every time her somehow completely undiscovered race of superhumans came up in conversation.
He ended up learning much about the Eternal society as a result, and Ruby's place within it; it was information which she was quite forthcoming with as she attempted to convince him it was the abject truth. Her explanations of how her people integrated magic and technology into their culture did not escape his notice, and he couldn't help but draw parallels to his own world—the one that preceded Remnant.
Of course, it was far more believable to Ozpin that Ruby had forged this imaginary world as a way of normalizing her Maiden powers. He occasionally used his meetings to temporarily break their deal and ask for demonstrations of her control over the elements—away from prying eyes, of course—and it was clear to him that her abilities far outstripped that of Amber's. Such skill implied she'd received them at quite a young age, though of course Ruby always insisted that her people had access to magic from birth.
Thus, it was clear to both parties that they stood at a frustrating deadlock: Ruby had nothing to indisputably prove the existence of the world she so vividly described, and none of Ozpin's alternative theories were reconcilable with her own. And as much as Ozpin wanted to believe Ruby, it was too much of a risk to simply take what the girl said at face value, not with the threat of Her lurking in the background.
His Scroll alerted him of an upcoming appointment with the girl in question, interrupting his thoughts. Despite having established the aforementioned deadlock early in their relationship, he still made an effort to converse with Ruby several times each week, often on a daily basis, even if just for a moment.
Shuffling the rest of the mission reports to the side, Ozpin brought up footage from the dance to review while he waited for the telltale chime of the elevator door.
"Ozpin." She was tense, for some reason. Did something happen? The headmaster couldn't recall anything out of the ordinary on their report, so what could it be?
"Miss Rose. How have you been this past week? Not too stressful, I hope?" He probed.
"Not particularly." She averted her gaze. "Is there a specific reason you called me up here? I'm kinda busy…"
Ozpin chuckled. "I promise I won't take up too much of your time, then. I simply want to know how the dance and your team's mission went for you."
She raised an eyebrow at him, but conceded. "The dance was entertaining. It's fascinating watching other cultures at work."
"Does Eternal culture not have school dances?" He smirked.
"We have dances, of course." She replied with a wave of her hand. "But even if our cultures were carbon copies of each other—which they aren't, by the way—it would still be different. I'm sure you don't need me to explain how."
Ruby nodded to herself and settled into her seat before continuing. "Anyways, I was going to leave halfway through, but I ran into a student from Haven. He was the one I sparred with earlier in Glynda's class."
Ah, yes. It was quite a memorable day, as he recalled: Glynda had burst through his office door, Scroll in hand, excitedly showing him footage of Ruby actually successfully participating in combat class for once. Ozpin was relieved no one had come to him with complaints about Ruby's lack of participation before.
"For the record, Miss Rose, I appreciate your participation in all of Beacon's classes. Do continue."
"I'm sure you do." She scoffed. "So, Mercury and I talked for a bit, I offered to upgrade his cybernetics, he pulled an Ironwood and refused, and then I left along with everyone else. It was fun, though, and it only lasted a single night, so I can't complain too much."
From behind his desk, Ozpin discreetly reviewed footage of that night. True to her word, she attempted to leave halfway through the dance, only to run into the grey haired boy from Haven. The two of them disappeared from the camera's field of vision after that, but forensics revealed the CCT intruder operated alone. Ironwood wouldn't be able to use this against her.
"I'm glad you enjoyed the dance. It's quite an important tradition among the Academies." With that issue resolved, he quickly switched topics. "And your team's mission? If I recall, you shadowed a police investigator in the heart of Vale, correct?"
Ruby's frown twisted into a scowl. "I really wanted to explore those ruins with Doctor Oobleck…"
"I'm afraid you and I both know that mission wasn't available for first years—"
"Like you haven't bent the rules enough around me already!" She snapped. "Listen, Ozpin, I'm not stupid. I know whatever's going on behind the scenes isn't exactly 'ordinary' for you people. I know you want to keep me at Beacon for as long as possible, and I know you're all scared of some nebulous 'Queen' no one's ever heard of…"
Ozpin flinched violently. He intended to keep Ruby away from their war for as long as possible, but it seemed that he'd made a mistake again somewhere. Her phrasing and attitude were especially worrying.
"Miss Rose, how—"
"Nope!" She cut him off. "I'm not done talking. Like I was saying, normally I wouldn't be bothered by stuff like this. But it seems I am also inexplicably involved in this mess… somehow." She waved her hands awkwardly, apparently lacking any specific talking point to go on.
"Frustratingly, and despite you giving me access to nearly everything on campus, I don't have all the facts. All I have is one meeting's worth of information and the words of some fairy tale." Another flinch escaped him. "So let's make another deal."
Ozpin clasped his hands together, his mind racing. "Very well. What do you propose?"
"I'll give you the same time period you did for my supplies, until the end of the Vytal Festival, to tell me everything: Who the 'Queen' is, precisely what Maidens are, what your relationship with General Ironwood and the other Headmasters are, and everything else you've been hiding from me."
"If you don't," Ruby crossed the room in an instant, stepping into the elevator. "I'll leave Beacon, regardless of the state of my weapons and tools, and seek out this 'Queen' for myself. Oh, and no more of these random meetings. Call me if you need something from me, not if you want to know how my day's going."
The doors slammed shut, and Ozpin took a deep breath. The situation was bad, but salvageable. Despite Ruby's words, he could tell she still cared about securing the resources he'd intended to procure for her. It was simply a question of whether or not it would be responsible of him to reveal the truth to the girl. After what was done to Amber, he was certain Salem would spare no mercy towards Ruby, and he was just as certain that Ruby would approach the Queen of the Grimm with the same callous disregard as any of her other 'mortal affairs'. A meeting between the two of them would undoubtedly be a catastrophic, disastrous affair.
"One unprecedented situation after another…" He murmured.
Working quickly, he fired off several messages to the members of his inner circle. There had to be a way to placate Ruby, while simultaneously keeping her safe inside Beacon. There had to be…
'Soldering iron, a Dust transceiver, and a spare Scroll chipset…'
Did she make the right decision? Or did she overdo it?
'Reroute, reinforce, reseal...'
What was Ozpin thinking right now? Was he going to make life difficult, or easy?
'Carbon steel plating, Dust-infused Tungsten alloy—'
Ruby paused, and set her tools down carefully.
'...Footsteps behind me?'
Whirling around, she saw no one near the arched doorway that led into her lab. Curious.
"…Do you need something?" She called out.
Two blonde heads sheepishly poked out from the door frame and made their way into the room.
"Hey, Ruby! What are you, uhhh, doing here?" Jaune asked, glancing furtively at the various hardware strewn across the floor.
Yang marched up to her. "This building is supposed to be staff only. How did you get in here?"
The Eternal turned back around and picked up her tools. She could talk and work at the same time.
"I could say the same for you two. But to answer your question, this is my lab, if you haven't already noticed."
"Oh! Um, in that case, we'll be on our way then!" She could see Jaune trying to slip away in her peripheral vision.
Yang grabbed him by the hoodie before he could make a clean getaway. "Whatcha building?"
"Tracking device. The CCT might work as intended for you people, but its range is a bit… lacking for my purposes. And before you ask," Ruby held up a hand. "I can't make a proper global communications system for everyone without certain materials that we don't have. To be honest, I don't even know if this will work."
She put the finishing touches on both the transmitter and receiver, and switched to an adjacent table. A small drone whirred to life, and she attached the transmitter to it.
"Guess we'll find out in a few weeks." She smirked at the blonde duo's surprised expressions as the drone flew out of the lab.
Yang recovered first. "You know, I thought you were joking when you told us you had a private lab. How the hell did you manage this?"
Ruby hummed noncommittally. Didn't she already tell them that one time? Actually, she vaguely recalled leaving out her interactions with Ozpin during that night. Best to keep quiet about that for now; she didn't want to involve any other mortals outside of the ones who already knew.
"Yang, I really think we should be leaving. Ruby's fine if she's got special permission to be here but we—"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Yang looked a bit peeved for a moment, but quickly covered it up with a cocky grin. "Up for a spar, Ruby? You know you owe me one."
She blinked in surprise. "Do I? Must've forgot. Let me clean up, first."
The two blondes shared a look of concern.
"Okay, what's going on?" Jaune asked.
"W-what do you mean? Nothing's going on, I assure you." She panicked.
"Oh, c'mon Rubes. I've been pestering you for weeks about this and you've always turned me down. There's no way a genius like you would forget about that for no reason."
"Yeah, plus, you've kinda been all over the place these past few days." Jaune added.
"Of course I'd be all over the place." Ruby retorted. "My lab is halfway across Beacon, and our team's mission sent us all around the city of Vale."
"I meant up here, Ruby." Jaune tapped his temple. Oh.
"Your concern is appreciated." She plastered on a smile. "But it's really not any of your business. I'll be fine, I promise."
Honestly, she really was touched by how considerate her younger allies were. But she wasn't about to request their support in this matter. Plus, she already had her own team to work with! Kinda. Maybe. Ruby still had her doubts. Perhaps if Ozpin had been more forthcoming from the start, she'd be better able to assess the situation. Still, she couldn't blame him. She was a rather suspicious individual back then, and even now, according to some of those more pompous mortals.
"Anyways, I suppose I should give you that spar you've been asking for, Yang." Ruby continued.
"Oh, no foolin'?" The blonde's eyes lit up immediately.
"Yeah," She finished putting away her tools, and walked the pair out of her lab. "Call it my apology for worrying you two."
Thinking back to her earlier conversation with Ozpin, Ruby felt as though there weren't any flaws in her demands. She had a right to know, since it involved her, and clearly the only reason the Headmaster withheld the information in the first place was because he didn't trust her. Surely six months of living at Beacon should have changed his mind.
'I just have to sit back and wait for the deadline. But hopefully Ozpin makes his move earlier than that.' She thought as they made their way over to one of the training rooms.
It would be a simple enough matter for her to just continue her routine at Beacon for the time being, as much as waiting irked her. But why couldn't she shake the feeling that she had overlooked something?
September, 79 AGW
The glowing nunchucks glanced off of Pyrrha's shield, and once again she found herself unable to influence anything but the chain connecting them. Her opponent, a colorful Atlesian cat Faunus, took the opportunity to turn tail and retreat, prompting Pyrrha to fire off a few shots from Miló. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Weiss barely dodge another deafening blast from her opponent's trumpet using her glyphs, sending her teammate back to her side of the battlefield.
"This isn't working." Weiss gritted out. "The volcanic terrain is full of slopes and curves, giving the Faunus girl a clear advantage with her skates—and the other one's Semblance covers the rest of the open space. We'll need to force them to move on our terms."
"Shall we go for Plan Gamma, then?" Pyrrha suggested, digging her heels into the sand behind them as another soundwave kept the two at bay.
"Yeah, that seems like it would work." She nodded, handing Pyrrha a vial of yellow Dust. "Get those Dust capacitors loaded, I'll cover you."
The redhead drew a couple steps back as Weiss clashed with their opponents once more. Unlocking a small dial on the inside of Akoúo̱, she slotted in the Dust vial as her weapons began humming with energy. Miló reverted back into its javelin form with a snap, and she took aim at her opponents, who had performed another hit-and-run on Weiss and had returned to their defensive position at the center of the volcanic quadrant. It was time.
"Weiss!"
"On it!"
Pyrrha launched her javelin straight at their feet, as Weiss used a significant chunk of her Aura to form a matrix of glyphs all over the quadrant. Before the Atlesians duo could react, she hurled her shield towards the closest glyph while rapidly increasing its rotation speed with Polarity.
Akoúo̱ ricocheted off the glyph, and almost immediately a bolt of electricity arced between her shield and her javelin, which was still firmly lodged in the ground of the volcanic quadrant. From there, the lightning strikes continued as Akoúo̱ continued to bounce at unpredictable angles off each successive glyph, its momentum rapidly increasing thanks to the subtle influence of Pyrrha's own Semblance.
"You ready?" Weiss asked, forming yet another glyph under her.
She nodded.
Their opponents leapt out of the way of an incoming lightning strike.
She launched off of the glyph, pulling Miló and Akoúo̱ back to her. The Faunus girl barely had a moment to react before Pyrrha slammed into her shield first, pinning her on the ground. Switching Miló back into rifle form, she took aim at the other boy, who landed facing her.
"Get off of her—argh!" He stumbled forwards as Myrtenaster struck his back.
Unwilling to give him a chance to recover, Pyrrha dashed forward with her xiphos, slashing away chunks of his Aura as she and Weiss alternated blows. She gave her teammate a quick nod before the duo drove their heels into his stomach, launching him through a nearby pillar of flame. A ringing buzzer signified that he had run out of Aura.
With surgical precision, Pyrrha whipped around and slung Miló over her shoulders, launching it at the Faunus girl. As their final opponent slowed to avoid the javelin, she gripped Akoúo̱ by the edge before launching it at the ground in front of her. The shield bounced off the ground with a well-timed glyph, and then off her opponent's chest before Pyrrha snatched it out of the air with a somersault, tucking her knees in close and planting her feet on the inside of it.
A second buzzer sounded as the redhead stepped off of her shield, and by extension her opponent, and the crowd went wild. Weiss ran up to her panting, while Professor Port announced their victory in the background.
"We did it!" The heiress exclaimed. "That was fantastic work, Pyrrha."
"We did." She agreed, giving a small, but practiced smile. They were still on camera, after all. "And thank you. Your plan was excellent."
After exchanging pleasantries with their opponents—Flynt and Neon were their names—they met up with the rest of Team SAPR offstage.
"Great job, you two!" Blake praised.
"Nice performance." Ruby said dryly. "I could practically feel the crowd's bloodlust seeping into my bones."
"Ignore her. She's been complaining about the Vytal Tournament this whole time." Blake added.
"All I'm saying is, I don't recall seeing 'Combative Performing Arts' on Beacon's curriculum." She continued hotly. "But it was a good fight. I especially liked that move you pulled near the end. It was quite the spectacle."
"Thank you, Ruby." Pyrrha smiled. "We couldn't have pulled it without your upgrades to Miló and Akoúo̱."
"Aheh, it was a last-minute job, so I'm glad it worked out." Ruby tittered.
"Since we've already decided that Pyrrha will be moving on to the one-on-one matches, shall we move to the stands in order to cheer on our classmates?"
Blake smirked. "You just want to spy on them for Pyrrha."
"I'm merely upholding my duties as team leader." Weiss replied.
"Actually," Pyrrha decided to cut in. "Headmaster Ozpin wanted me in his office after the match. I'll join you afterwards, although I don't know how long the meeting will last, or what it's about, really."
"I see. Well, let us know if it's anything important. In the meantime—wait, where's Ruby?" Weiss looked around for the red cloaked girl, but found no one.
"She probably ran back to her lab." Blake guessed. "C'mon, Weiss. We can meet up with Pyrrha after she's finished her business."
The group parted, and Pyrrha took a ferry off of Amity back to Beacon. She was still dressed in her combat attire, drawing many looks from locals and visitors from other Kingdoms alike. A swarm of people came up to her with praise and questions abound, and the redhead handled it with the same amount of grace and humility as usual. Though, given that the Vytal Festival was an international tournament, there were quite a few more fans and onlookers than she was used to.
As the airship touched down on Beacon's courtyard, her Scroll buzzed.
7:37 PM - Ruby: [Hurry up. I'd like to start this meeting as quickly as possible.]
After Pyrrha confirmed she was on the way, Ruby turned back to Ozpin, who was seated behind his desk as usual.
"I still don't see what this has to do with Pyrrha."
"It would be easier to explain it all at once, Miss Rose." The Headmaster responded, drawing a loud grumble from Qrow.
After months of digging for more information—from both sides, as Ruby was well aware of their group's vigilant nature by now—tensions were running high. Ruby knew it was partially her fault, having instigated the whole affair by spying on the group with her magic, but she wasn't about to sit down and take whatever 'truth' they were selling without knowing all the details herself.
The elevator door slid open, and Pyrrha shot her a nervous look.
"Miss Nikos." Ozpin's voice rang out from across the room. "Thank you for joining us."
"Headmaster." Pyrrha nodded at him. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly did you call us here for?"
The Headmaster was all smiles. "Why don't the two of you take a seat?"
Following her partner, Ruby reluctantly slid into one of the two seats stationed in front of Ozpin's desk.
"What is your favorite fairy tale?" Ozpin began, and Ruby nearly fell out of her seat with a jolt.
Pyrrha looked at her with a mix of alarm and recognition, evidently having remembered their little team exercise a few months prior.
"You can't mean…" Pyrrha stuttered. "The Story of the Seasons was actually real?"
It was Ozpin's turn to be shocked, albeit mildly. "I see Miss Rose has already taken the… liberty of informing you."
"We were just reading fairy tales, as teenagers so often do."
Was laying on this much sarcasm so early into the meeting a good idea? Honestly, the Eternal was past the point of caring.
Ozpin cleared his throat. "Well, allow me to elaborate. Right now, there are four Maidens—not the ones mentioned in the story, mind you—who are able to use incredible powers, without the use of Dust or a Semblance."
Though Ruby already knew where this was going, her partner was caught off guard. "I… beg your pardon? Without a Semblance or Dust? What exactly are we talking about here?"
"It's magic, Pyrrha." Ruby cut in.
By now she'd surmised that being capable of magic classified her as a Maiden, at least in the eyes of Ozpin's group. Something was still missing, though, so she motioned for the Headmaster to continue.
"Miss Rose is correct. Outside of Dust, outside of Semblances, outside of Aura even, there are women in this world who are capable of controlling the elements in the palms of their hands."
"You're serious?" Pyrrha asked, but Ruby was more focused on one part of Ozpin's grandiose monologue.
"Do I look like I'm—"
"Wait. Say that last part again, about what the Maidens are capable of."
Ozpin looked at Ruby disapprovingly, but she ignored him. Couldn't he see this was important?
"For Pyrrha's sake. I can tell she's still a bit confused about what this all entails." Pyrrha, for her part, acted along and put on a bewildered face.
"…As I said earlier, those who hold the power of the Maiden are granted control over the elements. Anything Dust can do, a Maiden can do better, and at no cost."
"And nothing more?" Ruby asked, practically gripping the edge of her seat. "No way to perform other acts, like transforming into a bird, or teleporting, the way a non-elemental Semblance can?"
In the background, Qrow choked on his drink.
"No. Throughout history, Maidens have demonstrated complete mastery over nature, but nothing more." Ozpin affirmed.
The revelation hit her like a falling building.
Foolish. That's what she was. Ruby felt like slamming her head against a wall for making yet another idiotic mistake. Of all things, she never expected a cultural difference to be the roadblock that had impeded her for so long for the better half of the year. She was all alone in a world where even the very definition of 'magic' was not as all-encompassing as she'd believed, where a simple demonstration of non-elemental magic would have proven her words. Perhaps then she wouldn't have been caught up in all of this Maiden business.
And yet, it would have been foolish to show all of her capabilities to what was essentially a stranger back then. And Ozpin wasn't exactly forthcoming with his own secrets. So, was the whole exchange doomed to miscommunication and false assertions from the start? Regardless, this was quite an embarrassing situation she found herself in. Frustrated, Ruby suddenly stood up, catching the attention of everyone in the room.
"Oh, for the love of the Void…" She groaned.
She blinked. Where did that phrase come from?
The elevator doors opened before anyone could react, revealing Glynda and the General.
"Sorry we're late." James announced, scanning the room. "I see things have already gotten a bit… heated."
"Not at all." Ozpin said. "But now that everyone's here, why don't we continue this conversation elsewhere?"
The vault under the CCT was probably the most impressive structure Ruby had seen since waking up, but that still wasn't saying much. The massive, dimly lit vault was no problem for her, revealing an impressive array of emerald pillars and lamps, which sheltered absolutely nothing, contrary to its name. The floors were well-polished, the lack of dust implying that the vault was visited quite often, though Ruby could only see one reason to.
At the far end of the vault, a sinister looking pair of pod-like machines were hooked up to a small terminal. Without casting far-sight, she could just barely make out Amber in the left pod.
"When a Maiden dies," Glynda explained. "Her power leaves her body and seeks out a new host, ensuring that the seasons are never lost, and that no individual can hold on to that power forever."
That made sense. Ozpin did say their enemies were out to kill her for her power. When Pyrrha asked for more details behind the logistics of the power transfer, Glynda's next words finally cemented her suspicions.
"At first, the only thing that was certain was that the powers were specifically passed on to young women."
Ruby forced her mouth shut before she exposed herself even more. If Ozpin and company wanted to think she was one of their vaunted Maidens, she'd play the part, and find another way to get to those rare materials she'd requested from Ozpin. No point in disproving her Maidenhood until after she'd drained him and his group of everything she needed.
As Glynda continued to sate Pyrrha's curiosity, the man in question turned to Ruby. "I hope this explanation has been satisfactory, Miss Rose?"
"Y-yeah, it explains a lot. I can understand why you wanted to keep this from us."
"So why tell us now?" Pyrrha interrupted. "Why not wait until we've, er, I've graduated?"
Naturally, Ruby realized that this is where their 'Queen' fit in. An unknown enemy was forcing their hand, dragging Ruby and her partner into the chaos.
Unacceptable. Perhaps she'd have to seek out this Queen regardless…
They arrived in front of the pods, 'state-of-the-art Atlas tech', according to James. Amber was… unnervingly still, reminding Ruby of when she first woke up.
While Ruby was busy staring at the Maiden, the conversation took a technical turn.
"For the past few years, Atlas has been studying Aura from a more scientific standpoint; how it works, what it's made of, how it can be used. We've made... significant strides. And we believe we've found a way to capture it." The General explained.
"Wait a minute." Ruby caught on. "You're going to purge her?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Purge her. Drain her of all of her magical potential. I used to experiment with purging back in my, aheh, less ethical days. It's quite a barbaric practice." She elaborated, ignoring the alarmed looks shared among Ozpin's group.
"I'm sorry." Pyrrha piped up. "Can someone explain what's going on?"
Qrow recovered first. "The plan is to capture the Fall Maiden's Aura and cram it into something else. Or in your case…"
Pyrrha balked in realization. "But that's wrong!"
Ruby was about to disagree, but she quickly realized that unlike herself, Amber was mortal, and it was likely that the Maiden would not survive a purge. And from Pyrrha's perspective, Mistralan culture regarded the soul as something sacred, and experimenting with it was borderline sacreligious.
The Eternal held back a shudder as she also inadvertently recalled a certain Mistralan myth warning against raising the dead. Yeah, there was no way she would be revealing her true face to Pyrrha any time soon. Restoring herself just became a top priority. With that in mind, she turned her attention back to the conversation at hand.
"You have an important decision before you, Miss Nikos. There's no guarantee this transfer will work. And there's no telling if you will be the same person if it does. I advise you to take time on this matter. But understand that before the Vytal Festival is over, we will need your answer." Ozpin declared.
"I…" Pyrrha looked torn. "Okay. Just one last question."
Everyone looked at her expectantly.
"I know what you want from me. But what does all of this have to do with Ruby?"
Qrow chuckled. "You haven't realized it yet?"
Smirking, Ruby summoned a gust of wind that swept Pyrrha off of her feet and suspended her in the air. She began walking back to the elevator, carrying her partner along the way.
"C'mon, Pyrrha. We need to prepare for your match tomorrow."
Pyrrha stepped into the arena once her name was announced, sending the audience into a roaring frenzy. It should have been a familiar feeling, but Pyrrha felt as if she had entered an entirely different planet. What was she even doing here, as a Huntress? How could she possibly go on with her normal routine, with what she now knew about the world? What was her destiny?
Her opponent saluted her.
"Salutations, Pyrrha Nikos! It's an honor to finally meet you!"
A/N: So, a couple things.
First, it's been a while since I last uploaded. Sorry for that. What's even worse is that being slow doesn't even help me that much when it comes to organizing the story.
Despite that, we've reached 200 followers! Honestly, I didn't expect much when I first released this story, so seeing this was quite a shock. Thank you so much!
I think I let a bit of real-life angst bleed into the previous chapter. Ruby isn't 'trapped' per say, but the situation is needlessly complicated for her tastes and she does want to avoid stepping on as many toes as possible. For now.
Regarding her first conversation with Ozpin, while she was able to glean a bit of information from The Four Maidens fairy tale, it's nothing specific. Without hearing it from the source, she's got nothing but conjecture and loosely linked tidbits from times past.
I'm not sure how to feel about the pacing in this chapter. There's a bit of railroading going on with the timeline that I think I could have done away with.
Hopefully Ruby's mishap regarding views on magic has been adequately explained. I would liken it to two people using the same word, but in different contexts, and neither bother to correct each other because they happen to fit either way (until they don't), like with the word awful, which used to mean 'awe-inspiring'. I will admit it is a bit of a stretch to say that she and Ozpin never elaborated on the subject after their initial talk, so I'll try to do better next time.
Let me know what you think, and what areas need improving. Or don't. It's up to you.
Thanks for reading!