A Grimm Huntsman
Chapter 26
-Glynda-
"Now." Glynda narrowed her eyes at the assembled members of the Stonewall Unit as they were all gathered in Ozpin's office, the Headmaster seated at his desk and allowing her to take control at the moment, "Do you all know why I've called you here?"
"I do not ma'am." Miss Schnee replied instantly, her posture as rigid and straight as always, expression showing nothing, a skill she likely learned from her father. The rest of the Stonewall Unit, while lacking the perfect poker faces of their teammate, looked just as confused apart from the nervous Blake Belladonna.
"Have the six of you heard of the incident at the docks?" she asked as they all nodded.
"I haven't learned the details, but I did hear some of our classmates and a couple pros dealt with a white fang raid down there. If it's true are they alright? The rumors mentioned injuries." The young Mister Bronzewing asked, the man having matured greatly under the burden of leadership.
"Yes, the Blackbriar Unit was returning to Vale and arrived in time to encounter the raid." The professor explained, "There were injuries, but they have mostly recovered now, your concern is noted however."
"While that is a relief, I'm not sure what that has to do with our unit." Mr. Bronzewing shook his head in bewilderment.
"The night of the dock raid, you reported your teammate, Blake Belladonna, having gone missing after an argument with Miss Schnee." Glynda's expression showing that she had already been informed of the matter and that it would be wise for neither of the mentioned girls to make a comment on the matter. "This footage, was recovered from the docks." With a press of a button, a screen in the office showed Blake Belladonna having also broken into the docks by herself, confronting Roman Torchwick whilst trying to hold him hostage via the flat spine of her blade, and then being forced to flee, not even bothering to stay and help the group that had shown up only moments later to fight. Glynda made sure to cut off the footage before it showed any of Harry's Secrets, Ozpin having acted quickly to get the footage secured so the knowledge wouldn't leak.
"You're a Faunus?!" Miss Schnee seemed to take that as the main focus of the video they saw, "Wait, Brother and Sisters of the White Fang…you were a member!" Miss Belladonna seemed ready to run or fight, most likely run given her track record. "You terror-!"
"ENOUGH!" Mister Bronzewing snapped, giving hard looks to both girls, "The Headmaster and Professor Goodwitch called us up here. They didn't have Belladonna drug up in chains meaning there's likely more to this than we know. Either way you will leave any consequences to them, got it?" the young man's iron gaze was enough to make Miss Schnee's mouth remain closed, for now at least.
"Mister Bronzewing is correct." Ozpin decided to speak up at last, "Miss Belladonna, what you did was incredibly stupid and in violation of multiple rules and laws. First, did you know the White Fang would be there?"
"No, I didn't." she shook her head firmly as Ozpin questioned her.
"Then why were you there?"
"Everyone was blaming the White Fang for all the dust robberies when people like Roman Torchwick were still at large. I wanted to prove that the White Fang weren't behind them, that it was just people accusing them because of prejudices against the Faunus. I heard about a big SDC shipment coming in, so I staked it out, intended to catch the actual thief to prove it wasn't the Fang."
"Except that it was." Miss Schnee snapped, although her anger at it being her family business being robbed was at least understandable "They're terrorists, murderers, liars, and thieves."
"The White Fang are just misguided right now!" Miss Belladonna snapped back, glaring around Miss Nikos much like the Schnee Heiress, "They stand for fighting for Peace and Equality, my people deserve that respect!"
"Miss Belladonna, the White Fang are guilty of multiple acts of terrorism and murder." Ozpin gave her a hard look, the man apparently running out of patience with the girl who was refusing to open up and change her ways like had been intended when she was accepted into the school "They are to be held accountable for their crimes, as all should be. Now, you broke into private property at the docks and there wasn't even a crime going on there when you entered, you just thought there might be. You lack a huntsman license and were not accompanied by a professional, so this is even more damning. Added to that you fled and refused to stay and help the people who arrived after to deal with the Fang you had riled up."
"To begin with, you are being placed on probation." Glynda decided to pick up as Miss Belladonna finished wilting at the Headmaster's words, "For the remainder of the year, at minimum, you shall only be allowed to leave campus for specific reasons such as mandatory missions, other factors of your punishment, and emergency incidents where all hands are needed. You'll need to wear an ankle monitor to ensure that you don't break this rule to sneak off campus."
"What?!" Blake gaped "You're going to lock me away like some sort of animal in a cage?"
"You're being punished for breaking the law so it's this or prison time." Ozpin deadpanned as Miss Belladonna looked like her world shattered, "Next is that you yourself are forbidden from participating in this year's Vytal festival, even if your team can still enter without you. Next you shall be performing mandatory community service, seeing a psychologist about these apparent tendencies of yours, and you shall be sharing any other information you may have in regard to the white fang organization. Failure or refusal for any of these will result in your expulsion and a period of prison time for breaking an entering, trespassing, and acting without a license. I'm already considered your expulsion regardless after your warning with forever fall."
"Wait, is team Blackbriar being punished?" Miss Schnee demanded, her anger at her teammate likely concealing her eager hope for the punishment of the others she openly despised.
"No, they only entered the port with the approval and aide of two professional huntsmen after they flew overhead and saw the multitude of criminals. With the open sighting of the white fang there stealing the dust, the two professionals had authority to enter and deal with the situation, as well as approving the Blackbriar Unit to assist." Glynda retorted crisply, not intended to say anything else on the topic. The anklet was soon secured around the despondent Faunus girl, "Now you all are dismissed, we have another meeting about to happen." As she spoke, the elevator door dinged open as James, Qrow, and Winter entered the office. Now they just had to wait for the last two people.
-Harry-
Leaning against the wall, Harry tapped away at his Scroll as he and Mr. Xiao Long waited for the elevator to come back down, heading up to a meeting set up by Ozpin. "What all is this meeting about?" He asked his teammates' father.
"Not a clue, but Qrow said it was important." Tai grunted, the man on edge as he tapped his foot, "I want to warn you though kid, you need to be careful when it comes to Ozpin. The man's priorities don't always line up with those who work for him." Before Harry could ask what the pro meant by that, the elevator door dinged as the Stonewall unit exited, Weiss glaring at Blake, Blake looking mortified as she has a very obvious tracking anklet on. The rest of the group just looked exasperated or awkward. Moving past them with the pro, Harry pressed the button for the door to close while the group gaped at him heading up to see Ozpin for some reason. Reaching the top of the tower, Harry saw Ozpin, Glynda, Qrow, and Winter already there and waiting with another man he didn't recognize but assumed was this 'General Ironwood' person he'd heard about.
"Ah, Harry, excellent." Ozpin nodded as he and Tai exited the elevator and joined everyone else by the Headmaster's desk "Introductions first I believe. Harry, meet General James Ironwood, Headmaster of Atlas Academy."
"It's a pleasure sir." He nodded respectfully to the man, shaking his hand and noting the odd choice of wearing only one glove.
"The pleasure is mine young man." The General nodded, "I'm glad you and Winter are getting along so far. I was impressed by what Ozpin told us about you." Hearing that, Harry glanced at the Headmaster, raising an eyebrow in question.
"It was only the amount you agreed to be shared, less than what you said at the hospital." Ozpin shook his head, "I was hoping you could share that with James while we share some secrets of our own with you. When we first met, I let you look at some of my thoughts and memories so you would know I wasn't deceiving you, but I didn't reveal everything." And so, information was shared, about gods of light and darkness, about relics, about Salem and reincarnation. About a war spanning generations.
"Well, that does explain a few things." Harry shook his head, "I Wondered what Death meant by the Relics."
"…Heh?" Ironwood asks eloquently.
"I encountered the goddess and embodiment of Death." Harry shrugged, "The gods of Light and Dark tried to threaten her, and she asked me to show up to watch her back, thankfully in her realm she could weaken the other two. She mentioned the Relics and told me to ask you all about them."
"I met her too." Qrow nodded, Mr. Xiao Long doing so as well.
"Yes, Harry isn't lying." Ozpin confirmed for those who hadn't met Death. The conversation then went to explaining Harry's lack of a soul, the marks carved into his bones, and that what he could do was magic, so all parties were fully caught up.
"Now, there's one last thing to talk about." Ozpin steepled his fingers, "Many years ago, I gave a portion of my powers to four girls. That power was also affected by my reincarnation and whenever they pass on, the power moves and finds a new host. Before the current semester started the current Fall Maiden, a young woman named Amber, was attacked with a portion of her power stolen. She's currently in a coma hidden beneath the school on life support. We've been unable to wake her up so far and we're hoping your silver flames might have an effect."
"I'll try." Harry nodded, "I won't be able to do it for long." The reason why being obvious "But I'll do it as often as I can. Maybe over time it'll have an effect?"
"Well let's go down to her and find out." Ozpin beamed, gesturing to the elevator as their group descended to the hidden depths of the school.
-Cinder-
Sipping her wine, Cinder debated how to try and salvage her plans that Hazel and Roman had bungled with their incompetence, as well as how to best implement her new pawn. The crimson liquid had barely touched her tongue when agonizing pain shot through her. Having half of the Fall Maiden's Power in her through the Grimm parasite caused her to feel a burning that was like hunger, a sensation that she actually enjoyed. But this, this was as if something inside her had been replaced by burning pitch. In her mind, she heard the parasite, something that had been silent ever since it consumed half of the power that Amber was hoarding from her, screaming in utter agony.
After a few moments of this, the pain vanished as Cinder collapsed to the ground panting, silently thankful her minions weren't around to see her moment of weakness. As her pulse slowed down, she realized the pain was from the parasite itself. That was all she had the time to process before the pain resumed and she collapsed once more.