Chapter 2 Uncovered
Laying in the snow I couldn't help but feel my racing heart against my ribs. So, now Salem has put a bounty on my head and others like me... only bigger stronger and smarter are after me. But what the hell was with the smoke sinking into me, I knew that while I was Hades killing off smaller Grimm made it stronger but I had never killed another Grimm Shifter before, as far as I knew I was the only one around.
"Great! This is just great! We're stranded, we've lost a third of our party, and gained a random Huntsman and a defenceless old lady!" Yang grunted pulling her bike out of the snow, I sat up and rolled my shoulders, grabbing my discarded bag and walked into the car we crashed on. Inside I found some more dust, Grimmgash who laid on his side and a "break in case of emergency" box with an axe in it.
Smashing the glass, I took the axe and whistled turning on Grimmgash, the stag snorted as it got up and followed me out of the car and back into the snow, my boots crunched as I sank a little down, Grimmgash stood on top of the snow.
"My name is Maria Calavera, and I am not defenceless! I'm just a little hard of hearing. And blind without my eyes, that are in desperate need of repair." She said tapping at her prosthetic eyes.
"Okay, I'm starting to see your point." She said I sighed as I watched.
"I'm Cole Chalk, a Huntsman from Atlas, I got convinced by said old lady to hop in that car, by the way, that deer thing is terrifying." The Huntsman introduced himself.
"Yang, knock it off will ya? If we lose our cool now, we'll just be inviting even more Grimm." Qrow grunted trying the defuse the situation.
"Does it even matter? Apparently, we've been attracting Grimm ever since we left Haven." Blake argued, I walked through the group and handed Ice the dust I had found.
"Oh, and how could I forget that?" She snarled turning to Oscar. "What happened to "no more lies and half-truths"?" She barked at him.
"Yeah I think it's time we got an explanation..." Oscar hissed as he switched controls. Ozpin scowls at the accusations.
"I did not lie to you." He said.
"Bullshit!" I snapped feeling my temper rise, I could feel the crystals in my pocket rumble, Red wanted back into my head.
"Well you certainly didn't tell us everything about the Relic." Weiss hissed.
"Please, now is not the time." Ozpin tried to explain.
"No, we're past that! I wanna know why you're still not telling us everything!" Yang yelled at him.
"It is true that the Grimm are attracted to the Relics. It's faint, but undeniable. I believe it has to do with their origin, but I'm not entirely sure. Regardless, I feared that making you all aware would only add anxiety and negativity. It seemed like the safer option." He continued.
"Have you MET me?" I yelled at him.
"I'm nothing but a bottle of hate, and now as I've learned I've got a bloody bounty on my head that all Grimm seem pretty keen on getting." I snarled at him.
"You know, I'm getting really tired of people choosing what's best for me." Weiss said agreeing with Yang and I.
"Is that why you chose to lie to everyone about Lionheart too?" Yang asked, the situation was so tense you could cut it with a knife.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I believed the Kingdom of Mistral deserved better than the truth. And I believed Leonardo deserved to be remembered for his lifetime of service, and not for the unfortunate missteps he made in his final years." Ozpin tried to convince us.
"Missteps?" I said my grip on the emergency axe tightened.
"What Professor Lionheart did was reprehensible. I am not here to argue differently, but does one lapse in judgement truly negate all of his good? Do we not all have regrets? You may have met Professor Lionheart, but you never met the man he was before Salem found him." He argued I only showed my teeth.
"You're right, we didn't, but Ruby and my team knew me before "the incident happened" and if anything, my anger issues have just gotten worse." I snapped.
"Look, we're supposed to be in this together. You can trust us! We're not gonna turn our backs on you." Yang said getting us all back on track with the proper conversation.
"Okay, can we just all calm down this is getting us nowhere." Cole interjected.
"Oh, shut up will ya? This has nothing to do with you, so stay out of it." I yelled at him.
"Do you really think Leo was the first?!" He yelled we all jumped at our old headmaster raising his voice.
"That he didn't say those exact same words to me? I'm sorry, but you have to understand that my behaviours are backed by experience. I'm not saying that I have reason to think you will betray me. I'm saying that I have reasons for the things that I do, the secrets I keep, the reason I..." He froze as he placed his hand on his hip expecting the relic to be there.
"Where is the relic?" He asked, Ruby stepped forwards.
"Right here. It got scattered in the crash." She said holding it in her hands.
"Please, hand it over." Ozpin asked I growled angrily my Grimm senses told me to keep it away from him at all costs.
Ruby hesitated, I looked back and locked eyes with her only for a split second.
"So, all those times you talked about having faith in humanity, that was just for everyone else?" She asked I turned to face Ozpin again this time pulling my shotgun out as well.
"That's not what I meant to suggest. Miss Rose, the Relic is a powerful item and I simply feel as though it is my burden to bear." He quickly replied, I could feel he was hiding something, the scent of worry was rolling off of him.
"But you said it couldn't do anything right now." Ruby said staring into the Relic.
"Why does it matter who carries it?" Blake snapped.
"I need you to listen to me-" He froze.
"Oz?" Qrow asked, taking this as my chance I pounced pinning Ozpin to the ground while Oscar tried to fight back control.
"Hurry... he's... trying to stop you!" Oscar cried out.
"Stop her from what?" Yang asked now worried.
"He's afraid... you'll find out what he's... hiding!" Oscar explained as his body grew limp beneath me, I kept my grim in case Ozpin tried to throw me off at a moment's weakness.
"Her name is Jinn. Say her name to summon her." Oscar explained. I turned to the others.
"Hurry up Ruby, not sure how long Oscar can keep old Oz back for!" I called over I could feel his aura swirling ready for an attack.
"Jinn?" Ruby asked the relic, the now raging snowstorm froze, as if time itself had stopped.
"What?" Qrow looked about confused, I felt Ozpin's aura suddenly hit me hard in the chest, I hit the snow hard but I was soon back on my feet, I pulled my weapons from the snow as a warning.
I turned to watch the Relic get covered by cyan smoke, just before I could see what the Relic truly looked like Neo covered my eyes with her hands.
"Hey!" I yelled trying to shake her off my back.
"Wonderful, it's been a while since I've last seen a Grimm Shifter with their mortal face still intact." She poked fun at me.
"Tell me, what knowledge do you seek?" She asked us.
"I am Jinn, a being created by the God of Light to aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. I've been graced with the ability to answer three questions every one hundred years. You're in luck, as I am still able to answer-" By this point Neo had let me get a look at Jinn and while she is impressive, I'd much prefer my little Ice Cream or the Demon Queen hiding from the cold inside Naniele.
"That's enough!" Ozpin snapped now back in control.
"Shut it!" I yelled back at him.
"... two questions this era." She finished, we all looked back at Ozpin.
"You went and lied again Oz..." I snarled Jinn only chuckled.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, old man." She jokingly said.
"Ruby, please... Don't." Was all he said, Qrow glanced at him and took a step towards us.
"Hey." Was all he managed to get out before Weiss, Yang, Blake, Ice, Neo, and I pointed our weapons at him.
"Do whatever you think is right, kiddo." He finished stepping back in fear we would all stab him.
"Jinn... What is Ozpin hiding from us?" She asked.
"No!" Ozpin yelled getting up and lunging for her, I moved to intercept but suddenly everything disappeared and I was alone surrounded by white... A blank canvas.
"Neo? Ice? Naniele" I called out hoping that one of them would hear me.
"Once upon a time." I heard Jinn narrate.
"There stood a lonely tower." She continued as the scene came to life in a blue wisp of smoke.
"That sheltered a lonely girl." A mirror and a young woman appeared beside me, I went to walk around to get a look at her face but she soon turned around herself, and something about her face shape seemed familiar to me.
"Named... Salem." My heart dropped into my boots.