A Grimm Huntsman

Chapter 24

-Harry-

Moving stiffly, Harry entered into the small teacher's office that Ozpin had told him to go to. The headmaster had been very upfront about his intention to make Harry talk to someone about the various events he has gone through, a decision his entire team had supported entirely, leaving him outvoted on the matter.

Stepping inside, he saw a woman who looked like an older version of Weiss "Ah, hello Harry." She nodded to him as he now vaguely recognized her from the Hospital. He had decided to trust her being able to know given her presence with Ozpin, only ordering that doctor away after the man had ignored his decision not to be sedated for surgery.

"Miss Schnee." He kept his tone politely neutral, doing his best not to judge her by how her sister acted.

"Winter, please." She smiled and gestured for him to sit, a pot of tea resting on a table between what was clearly meant to be his chair and hers, "I would prefer you be comfortable if we are to have any modicum of success with these talks. Before we begin though, I wish to offer you the apologies of my family on behalf of my sister's actions." Her tone at the end and the small downward twitch of her lips conveying the silent 'because Weiss won't do it herself'.

"You don't need to apologize." Harry sat down, still feeling sore despite the healing he had gone through, his energy drained from what he had spent just keeping himself alive "I don't judge people based on what they're family has done…or at least I try not to." He frowned as he remembered Snape and the man's petty biases.

"I appreciate that." Winter nodded to him, "Now, what are you expecting from these meetings?"

"Me laying on a couch, staring at the ceiling, and being forced to talk about how sad and miserable my life is." Harry responded with a dry deadpan even if part of him expected that cliché form of therapy.

"Then I'm sorry to disappoint but no," Winter shook her head "this isn't actual 'therapy' as most would think of it. Ozpin wanted you to have a soldier to speak with and help you with any past experiences. I'm closer to your age than other soldiers Ozpin might have trusted so I was selected by Headmaster Ozpin and General Ironwood. I want you to trust me and feel comfortable opening up to me so, at least for now, these will just be us talking over tea. I do want to help but just pushing you will only make you crack. I'm not going to coddle you, or treat you like a child, but I'm also not going to try and force you 'fix' yourself. I promise not to lie to you and to only push if needed, I might not tell you everything, but I won't lie. Can you work with this?"

"I. I can try." Harry relented, taking a sip of his tea and wondering if he could have some of his Firewhiskey while he as here.

"I do have one rule though." Winter gave him a steely look, "No drinking in my office." Damnit.

-Hazel-

Standing by the window, Hazel watching the rising column of smoke that came from what used to be the previous base he had been using. "Hey big guy, got someone here to see you." Roman called from the doorway, the thief whistling cheerfully while twirling his cane. At his side was a large man in a nice-looking suit, "This is Hei Xiong, he's my contact who agreed to get the kid to show up to the card game."

"The famed Junior." Hazel turned to study the man. Roman had already warned him of the information broker coming and, given that he couldn't hide his face at the poker game, he saw no point in not meeting with the mafia boss, "Roman speaks highly of you."

"I would hope he would." Junior snorted dryly, "I've saved his life too many times for him to do anything else."

"Ah, that's right, you both were on the same huntsman team weren't you?" Hazel nodded, remembering another fact of the thief he intended to fully recruit into Salem's council, having learnt what he could after he began working with the man.

"That was a long time ago." Junior frowned, "Anyway, I hope you're able to make good on the promise Roman made. I had to give up some high-priced information to convince the kid to 'do me a favor' and attend the game again, he seemed to not be a big fan of the idea of going again so soon, I even had to fund him for the game. Roman promised me some information that was more than worth those losses."

"And he's telling the truth." Hazel sat down in a large ornate leather armchair that Neo had procured for him from…somewhere, "Tell me Mr. Xiong, you are aware of the woman who has recently procured Roman's services?"

"The woman with gold eyes and two mouthy tagalongs?" Junior frowned, "Yeah. I looked into her and found nothing. No family, no history, no records. Before this school year she didn't exist."

"I am aware, I was there when her forged papers were made." Hazel felt no qualms in revealing this, "She is seeking a valuable item in the kingdom of Vale as well as a way to increase her own power, but I feel she is likely to go further off the deep end and I may have to intervene to deal with her. The information I offer is in part, a guarantee of a warning when her plans begin to approach a point where staying in Vale would no longer be safe. I will also provide contacts of my own should you need help relocating to a new kingdom."

"Relocate!" Junior's nostril's flared as the man growled, looking every bit the angry bear that was his symbol, "Vale is a fucking shit hole but it's my fucking shit hole. I stood my ground through every gang war this town has tried to throw at me and I'm not running because some jumped up prom queen didn't get hugged enough as a kid!"

"Then perhaps you would be willing to entertain a different offer." Hazel drummed his fingers on the armchair, "You already control a portion of Vale's underbelly and, while it's not an overly large territory, you do keep a tight grip upon it. I offer you my aide to expand your territory and grip. I will help you get contacts and resources far beyond what you have now. In return you, like Roman, shall work for me." His mistress had commanded him to find more recruits amongst the students at the Vytal festival but why stop there? With Roman he had an inn with Junior and the man had potential to be a potentially useful ally, not to mention those he could meet at this poker game. "I don't expect an answer right away Junior, but I do expect you to keep these details to yourself." Hazel saw how stunned the man was, "Talk it over with Roman, those twins of yours as well if you must. But do try to have an answer for me soon."

-Cinder-

Keeping her broken wrist clenched in her unbroken hand behind her back to hide the injury, Cinder waited for Mercury to return. She was keeping Emerald with her to use the girl's illusions to help hide any sign of the healing injury while Mercury was sent out to find more tools and pawns for her plans. He had sent her a message that he found someone that might make a good muscle, or at the very least someone to send to cause a commotion for a distraction at some point.

"Boss, I'm back." Speak of the Grimm, Mercury entered followed by a large teenage boy in extravagant armor with a massive fanged mace. The swaggering peacock looking entirely too full of himself, but Mercury was right in that the fool might have some use.

"So, Cardin Winchester." She purred, trusting Emerald's semblance to have an illusion of herself sashay over to the giant oaf, tenderly stroking his face, "Mercury tells me that we might be able to help each other." Men, so easy to bend to her whims, to her plan "why don't you tell me more of how we can be of…service to each other." The lummox smirked, too easy.

AN: So thus ends the story's arc for what was season one, next chapter we begin the season two arc and get more into the roman and the drama and everything else for this story. I'm not gonna lie, I'm probably having way too much fun writing all the different factions and their spiderweb of alliances and rivalries with each other.