Chapter 55

Here we go, this is roughly at the end of volume 4. Also, I finally got around to changing my username, considering my old one has a severe case of Chuunibyou, and rightfully so since I made it when I was like, thirteen or something I don't remember.

'Wow…I uh, don't know what to say.' Jaune muttered, running a hand through his hair. Jaye shook his head at the jumble of friends. Ruby was crying in the corner already, Ren and Nora were giving him sympathetic looks, Qrow had isolated himself in the other corner and the now Ozpin Oscar was looking at him with an unreadable expression. Kamina and the twins were standing behind Jaye's chair, and Artemis placed a hand on his shoulder.

'You don't have to say anything.' Jaye said, patting the girl's hand. 'Just take it as information and move on.'

'If you, uh, don't mind me asking.' Qrow cut in, stepping forwards into the group. He held out his flask to the raven-haired boy, who accepted it quietly. 'How did this Indigo…do that? Aura doesn't take a physical form, other than certain special cases or semblances, and from what you've told us her semblance is the exact opposite of physical. How on earth did she do something like make a blade out of it? That's practically unheard of!'

'It was her secret weapon. She almost never used it, that helped with the whole secret bit, and the targets she did use it on were a little too dead to tell the tale.' Jaye explained, taking a swig from the flask. 'Aura blades are the deadliest weapon on earth. No matter how strong your Aura is, there's no way the density of your body shield is stronger than an Aura blade. That means it's a weapon capable of killing anyone regardless of whether they had any Aura left or not.'

'That certainly is a fearsome weapon.' Ozpin/Oscar said, placing his hands atop his cane. 'Why would she not use it to save herself?'

'Damian was our teammate. He knew about the blade.' Jaye spat, glaring at the tabletop and running his thumb over his knuckles. 'Indigo probably knew he would be wary of it when fighting her, so she baited him into a false victory to lower his guard. It was a brilliant strategy, but far too costly. And she paid the price.'

'She never successfully taught it to us.' Kamina said grimly, scratching his ears. 'Not that she didn't try mind you; we just didn't have the same kind of control over her Aura that she had. We got close, but not close enough. We never achieved it.'

The room went quiet for a long moment, and Jaye broke the silence by clearing his throat. He handed the flask back to Qrow, thanking him silently, and shook his head.

'Sorry we had to talk about this so suddenly. I guess it's a little much for one night to hear this and learn about someone with two souls.' He glanced at Ozpin/Oscar. 'Ozpin, did you do something to your legs? I could've sworn you were taller.'

'Very amusing.' The headmaster chuckled. 'Now that the air has been cleared, I apologize for having to bring us back to solemn matters. The first thing we must do is ensure the safety of the relic of knowledge, and to do that we must first find the Spring Maiden.'

'Who is with the Branwen Tribe.' Qrow sighed, placing a hand on his forehead. 'How we're going to get ahold of her with Raven in the way is a mystery to me, but I guess we'll find a way.'

'This is perfect!' Nora exclaimed. Jaye jumped at the sudden noise, and even Kamina raised an eyebrow at the over-excited girl, 'We were stuck at a dead end, but now, we can just take little cute boy Ozpin to Lionheart and have him set things straight!'

'Please don't call me that.'

'I think it fits perfectly, little cute boy Ozpin.' Jaye smirked, and Ozpin/Oscar gave him a hard look. Qrow sighed, reclining on the sofa.

'We're not sure that's the…best idea.' He said, waving his hands at the girl. Nora groaned, stomping her way over to Ren and plopping down next to him on the couch. Ren raised a hand in question.

'But I thought the headmasters all took their orders from you?' He asked, and Ozpin/Oscar placed a finger on his chin in thought.

'That was the intention. Four lieutenants I can trust, especially during times of reincarnation. But Qrow told me about your meeting with Leonardo.' He got up from the armchair, pacing forwards across the room. 'He isn't just behaving irrationally; he's disobeying specific instructions I had left him.' He gazed up quietly at a portrait of Mistral hanging on the wall above him. 'Something's wrong. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I don't want to rule out any possibilities either.'

'Sound argument.' Jaye said, folding his arms. 'Caution is your greatest ally in troubling times. And these are troubling times.'

Ozpin nodded to the boy. 'No one outside of this room knows that I've paired with Oscar. I think it might be best to keep it that way.'

'Play things close to the chest until we get a better hand.' Qrow explained, leaning forwards onto his knees. Ozpin turned to face the group, his wary expression reflected in their own.

'Precisely.' He said, crossing his arms behind his back. 'Now, we have two steps ahead of us.' He raised a finger in the air. 'The first is enlisting the help of more Huntsmen.'

'But the Mistral council —' Ren began, but Qrow cut him off.

'Doesn't own every Huntsman in the kingdom.' He interjected. 'And I've been here enough times to know where we can find some more.'

'So long as they're trustworthy.' Ozpin/Oscar said. Qrow snorted.

'You can trust them to put up a good fight. I'll throw together a list tonight.' Qrow kicked his feet up onto the table, lurching forwards as the table leg gave way under his foot and his coffee rolled to the ground.

'Good luck with that.' Nora peeped, and Qrow growled in frustration. He leaned forwards to clean up the mess, and Ozpin/Oscar paced back to his armchair.

'After that, we can move on to step two. Getting you four into fighting shape.' He raised his extended cane into the air, wielding it like a sword.

'But uh, we already know how to fight.' Ruby said, making a sound of alarm as Ozpin/Oscar thrust his cane into her face.

'You can only fight so long as you have Crescent Rose, but you're still lacking in hand-to-hand combat.' He turned the can onto Jaune. 'Mr. Arc. I'm glad to hear you've improved, but sorry to say you've yet to unlock your semblance.' He turned his gaze to the four in total. 'All of you still have a ways to go before you're ready to pose any real threat to Salem and her forces, And though Oscar can give me temporary control, he'll need to strengthen his body and his Aura.' He spun the cane down to the floor. 'He'll inherit my muscle memory in time, but practice will expedite the process.'

Ruby raised an eyebrow. 'But if Qrow's out looking for Huntsmen, then who's going to teach us?'

Ozpin/Oscar did a graceful double back twist back onto the armchair behind him, spinning his cane leisurely in hand. Jaye raised an eyebrow at the headmaster.

'You're going to dirty that chair.' He pointed out, and Oscar/Ozpin ignored him.

'Well, I believe that I was the headmaster of Beacon Academy.' He said, smiling at them. 'We have approximately one month before classes resume at Haven. If Salem were to plan an attack, it makes sense that it would occur prior to the students' return.' He made a face at them. 'It's not much time, but it's better than nothing. Just don't expect me to go easy on you. Mr. Ryder, I expect you to assist me.'

'No thanks, little cute boy Ozpin. I'm good.'

Ozpin/Oscar's eyes glowed, and the confident look on his face immediately turned to one of panic and confusion. Oscar wobbled, losing his balance, and fell backwards off the chair, hitting the floor with a loud groan and taking the chair with him as he went. He glared at the cane lying above him.

'You've got to be kidding me.' He groaned, and Jaye raised an eyebrow at the boy.

'You said it.'

We're starting to catch up, sort of. Not really. Yeah, I'm slow I know. Don't judge me, I'm just a careful writer/gamer. Okay I'm lying, I've been playing games a lot. But hey can you blame me? Plus, young justice season 3 has aired quite a few episodes by now, so I'm down to binge it as it comes.