A Grimm Huntsman

Chapter 13

-Glynda-

Face set in a firm frown she looked at the six members of the Stonewall unit as they sat in front of Ozpin's desk. They were currently doing an investigation of the Forever Falls incident, mainly about how Miss Schnee and Miss Belladonna had abandoned their male teammates, injured a member of the Blackbriar unit, and caused the main weapons of another member of that unit to be useless for the fight.

"Now…" Ozpin began, sipping from the coffee mug her boss always kept on hand, seemingly calm but she could tell that the headmaster of Beacon was actually furious "tell me what happened."

"We were in Forever Fall doing the assignment of collecting jars of red Sap." Miss Schnee spoke up instantly, the girl not giving her team leader a chance to speak. "We were mostly finished when the Ursa Majors showed up, likely drawn by the scent of the sap those three," Miss Schnee sent a condescending look at the male members of the unit "hadn't bothered to seal up. The Ursa attacked Pyrrah first and rendered her unconscious. Given that someone of Pyrrah's skill hadn't been able to detect or protect herself from the Ursa Blake and I grabbed Pyrrah and ran for Professor Goodwitch."

"Is that so." Ozpin said, his tone having a hint of frost to it "Mr. Bronzewing, do you have anything to say?"

"Yes Headmaster Ozpin." The leader of the unit said with a nod "We hadn't sealed up the jars of sap as we were smelling them and making sure there no impurities in the sap that could affect our grade. We didn't detect the Ursa until it had attacked Pyrrah. Pyrrah was able to dodge enough to not get killed instantly but the attack did knock her out while also destroying our packs that contained my weapon along with those of Russel and Sky. The second that Pyrrah was unconscious Blake and Weiss grabbed her and ran, abandoning us, even knocking us down as they ran past us. We tried to fend the Ursa off using our aura but we were overwhelmed. We fled a little way away but we had taken too many injuries and collapsed near the Blackbriar unit. If it wasn't for Ren, the three of us would be dead." Miss Nikos, still slightly unsteady from her recent concussion, looks upset about the situation while Miss Belladonna and Miss Schnee are clearly trying to retain their dignity.

"Miss Schnee, Miss Belladonna," Ozpin began with a scowl "why did you abandon your teammates?"

"Those Ursa took out Pyrrah easily!" Miss Schnee protested "Blake and I wouldn't be able to handle them if they were that strong and those three are useless. I don't even get why you allowed them to stay here." The last sentence was muttered but she and Ozpin still heard it.

"I allowed them to stay here," Ozpin said with a cold tone that made the black and white themed girls flinch "because they earned their position. You two however are one more big mistake away from expulsion. Also, those Ursa Major were something that you should have been able to fight at your levels, even if only one at a time but that would have given enough time for help to come."

"But…but Pyrrah-" Miss Schnee began to protest.

"Won her tournaments more because of her semblance than any superior amount of skill." Ozpin cut off "Yes miss Nikos does have talent but her semblance, being Polarity, allows her to redirect an opponent's metal weapon or armor. The fact that she never reveals her semblance to the public makes her seem invincible and makes her opponents nervous." Pyrrah looked down in embarrassment while the rest of the team looked surprised at the revelation, something which Miss Nikos should have taken the time to explain already. "Now, you two not only abandoned your teammates but injured a member of the Blackbriar unit in your fleeing. If either of you," Ozpin gave Miss Schnee and Miss Belladonna hard looks "are caught doing something of this level again then you will both be expelled. Am I understood?"

"But-" Miss Schnee began only to let out a small whimper when Ozpin flexed his, truly titanic aura, making all six students shake

"AM…I…CLEAR?" Ozpin roared, eyes alight with fury that was rarely seen from the usually calm man.

"Yes sir." The two girls squeaked.

"Then you are dismissed." Ozpin said, the six bolting for the elevator the second he said the words.

"Ozpin," she said slowly once the six were gone "you said they injured Jaune…but I thought with his healing semblance he'd have been fine."

"Yes, his semblance did repair the damage from their trampling rather quickly but what if he didn't have that semblance or if they had trampled one of the others? They needed to understand that what they did wasn't anywhere close to being acceptable."

"Very well. Also, I've been compiling a list of councilors to help young Lie Ren with his…trauma."

"There's no need," Ozpin told her with a sad smile, the fire leaving the man's eyes "he already has someone to help him."

"Wait what?" Glynda asked surprised "Who?"

"Harry." Ozpin told her, "I'm hoping that along with helping Ren…this will also help our young dragon."

-Harry-

Sitting within his bedroom of the Blackbriar dorm he opened his trunk, pulling out three specific items. The first was his invisibility cloak, the second was the resurrection stone that he had lied about dropping in the forest, and the third were the splintered remains of the Elder Wand he had destroyed. Harry knew that Ren needed closure about his family to be able to use the aura roar without fear but the stone wouldn't work for this, the shades brought back were designed to make the summoner want to go to death and 'join them'...but it did give him what was needed to summon the entity of death.

Draping the cloak around his shoulders he touched his magical focusing device with his right hand, his left hand clutching the stone and shattered wand. "Death," he intoned softly, his magic rolling around the room "I speak to thee, I summon thee, I call thee for a bargain to be struck. Do you hear me and will you listen?"

"How…interesting." a new voice hissed out as he looked up to see an entity leaning against his wall. The entity was constantly shifting forms, first a skeleton in a hooded cloak, then a beautiful woman with silver hair, then a strong man who looked like he could crush an Ursa with one hand, then a woman with day of the dead face paint, even a Grimm like entity at one point. Finally, the figure settled on the form of a woman with blood red hair and eyes with both the sclera and the iris a solid black.

"What is interesting?" he asked, wary and confused at what the death of this world would find interesting.

"Sentience." The figure stated, stalking over to him as 'she' ran a nail along the underside of his chin "Before today I was just a fact of existence, nothing anywhere close to sentient but now…upon being summoned-" the entity trailed off with a smirk.

"Are you saying…are you saying I created you?" he asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"In a way but it is more those items of yours," she smirked "I'm not about to call you 'father' though. Now," she looked at him seriously "what do you want?"

"I want to call a few spirits of the dead for a short time," he answered "to help my friends get closure I think they need."

"What spirits?" Death asked with a raised eyebrow "And why should I say yes?"

"The spirits of the dead parents of my friends Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie as well as the dead mother of my friends Yang and Ruby. As for the why…well I did help bring you to life and I'm willing to offer you something."

"Oh?" she looked genuinely intrigued "What is it you plan to offer me?"

"These." He held out the stone and the remains of the wand "The cloak has…sentimental value but I'm willing to trade these for what I want."

Death considers it, "For those and for bringing me to life I will allow the spirits to come back for twenty-four hours, no more, no less. Is that acceptable?"

"It is," he nodded with relief "thank you."

"I'm surprised you don't want to see anyone for yourself though." Death said calmly as she pocketed his offerings.

"I'm not from this world," he said with a sad sigh "my loved ones…they aren't in the afterlife of this world. I accepted a while back that I'd never see them again."

Death looked at him with pity and actually gave him a small hug along with a kiss on the cheek, which he refused to admit caused him to blush, "I'm sorry for you." Death says sincerely before handing him a small glass orb "Smash that when you're ready and the spirits will come." And with that the entity of Death vanished, possibly to go explore her newfound sentience.

Setting the orb down carefully on his desk he began getting out ingredients to make some potion to keep his friends up for twenty-four hours easily to allow them to talk to their family the entire time. Thinking for a moment he made two more batches and bottled them all up. Telling Ozpin what had happened he got permission to take his unit away for a couple days for what he planned, the Headmaster writing it off as therapeutic trip to help Ren with the trauma.

Getting back to his room he found his friends sitting in the 'living room', Ren still stiff and somewhat shaky. "Pack your bags," he ordered them "we're heading out for a couple days."

"What?" Ruby asked surprised "Where? Why?".

"I'll tell you when we get there." He promised, grabbing his bag of essentials as well as the box with the orb and the potions in it "We'll be gone about four days so pack for that." His team were wary but trusted him as they all packed up and followed him to the bullheads, entering one that belonged to Ozpin but had been loaned to him for this trip.

They were almost to their destination when Ruby and Yang recognized the area "We're heading to Patch!" the sisters exclaimed, seeing the small island in the distance.

"Yep," he nodded "your dad and your uncle are expecting us."

"Wait how'd you get in contact with them?" Yang asked surprised.

"And why did you?" Ruby asked, her head tilted in confusion.

"Ozpin contacted them for me," he answered as he approached the landing dock "and as for the why, I'd prefer explaining that only once."

Two men are waiting for them at the landing pad as he touched down, Yang and Ruby rushing to them, jumping out the hatch before he had even touched the ground with happy exclamations of 'Dad' and 'Uncle Qrow'.

After greeting the girls, the two men turned towards him, "So, Ozpin said you had something important to talk to all of us about?" the blond man, Taiyang, said warily.

"Yes but it isn't something to be talked about in the open…and you'll probably need a bit to process what I plan to tell you."

"Oz trusts you so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." Qrow says but he could tell the man didn't trust him "Let's go." They all loaded up in a big van and went to the large house Ruby and Yang grew up in, all of them converging in the living room.

"So," Yang began impatiently "now will you tell us what is so important?"

Sighing he began by looking at his team, "You five…you know of my people and their…gifts right?"

"Just what you told us but yeah," Jaune shrugged "why?"

"I was able to do something that will help most of you get some…closure." Harry began slowly as Qrow narrowed his eyes.

"What did you do?" the experienced hunter demanded.

"I summoned the entity of Death and made a trade to bring back five spirits for twenty-four hours." He told them seriously "Ren's parents, Nora's parents, and Summer Rose."

All was silent before Taiyang and Qrow burst out in laughter, "Nice one kid," Taiyang laughed, whipping away a tear "I almost believed you for a moment."

"I'm not lying." He said seriously as he opened the chest and pulled out the potions and the orb "This orb will summon them once it's crushed and the potions will keep you all awake for twenty-four hours without problems, you'll need one hell of a nap afterwards but you'll be fine."

"Like we're really going to believe-" Qrow began only for his teammates to take the potions and drink them without question.

"Ruby!" Taiyang exclaimed "Yang! What are you doing?!"

"I trust Harry." Ruby said simply before smashing the orb.

Upon hitting the ground, the shards began to dissolve into smoke as the room, despite the fire in the fireplace and the abundant light sources, grew dark, visibility only coming from small motes of light in the air which hug like stars. The part of the floor where the orb had shattered began to swirl like a whirlpool as five spirits rose up, the colors on them visible but faded, almost washed out as they dropped to the ground out of breath as light returned to the room.

"S-summer?" Taiyang breathed in shock before Ruby and Yang rushed the woman.

"Mom!" Yang cried out, clutching the tangible spirit while Ruby buried her face in the specters cloak, sobbing the word "Mommy" over and over again. Similar reunions were happening with Ren and Nora at the same time.

"Remember," he spoke up as he handed the two, living, adults the potions "twenty-four hours. No more…no less."