Presenting: RWBY - Team RNJR & Qrow VS Tyrian
After the roller coaster of emotions caused by the last two viewings, everyone decided to take a break from their marathon of watching different multiverses, parallel universes and alternate realities. From a tragic rescue mission with a heartwarming end to a hot mess full of laughs and guffaws, Ozpin and the other adults in the room decided it would be good to just take a breath and relax for a few minutes.
While many grumbled, the students eventually conceded to the Headmaster's point and decided to bide their time, either talking to their friends or catching up with relatives if they had the chance. A few left to use the restroom and others, specifically a certain redheaded sugar freak, decided to shovel snacks into the bottomless pit they called a stomach.
You can guess which redhead I meant.
Ozpin himself took to a discussion with Ironwood and Glynda. He would have liked to speak with Qrow as well but ultimately decided it would be better to leave the man be, allowing him to converse with those around him, those being Ruby, Winter and even Torchwick to some degree. Quite frankly, it was amusing to him how Qrow hadn't yet realized that his dreaded semblance hadn't done a single thing in the time he was here, which was only a little over half a day mind you, but that was more than enough time for something to happen.
After that girl, Penny Polendina, activated the supposed "Friendly-Fire" feature, which was something that still utterly baffled Ozpin as to how it was possible, he took to going through the device while the others were enraptured with the screen and found another toggle not too far underneath it.
"Disable Semblances" It read and the feature itself was subdivided into categories and there was even a function for if only certain individual's semblances were to be, to put it bluntly, turned off while they were inside the theater. As soon as he'd found it he'd quite literally, if only temporarily, turned off Qrow's semblance. He had no illusions that as soon as they'd leave this theater, whenever that may be, Qrow's Misfortune would come rushing back to him but that was then and this was now.
Regardless, he was getting off topic.
"My question, Oz," Ironwood started, garnering attention from the Old Wizard and the Vice-Headmistress. "Is what should we do next? We've already seen that this theater possesses a highly advanced artificial intelligence. It was able to show us a parallel universe at the mere suggestion of one by Miss Valkyrie."
Ozpin didn't bother to correct the General and even then he wasn't sure if the General was entirely incorrect in his assumption. There was still so much he didn't understand and still so much he wanted to learn. The Being, as he had no other way to refer to it aside from the ridiculous name it introduced itself as when they had first arrived here, didn't seem like an AI. but that didn't mean it wasn't, nor did it mean that The Theater lacked such a thing. It was impossible to tell at the moment.
"What we do is obvious, James." Glynda spoke up in a hushed tone. "We're in a theater that can show us anything in existence. The past, the future, parallel dimensions and timelines, alternate universes altogether… What we should do, clearly, is pick another universe or reality to view in the hopes of gaining information and, if nothing else, I suppose entertaining ourselves is something to consider as well."
"That is the obvious part, yes." Ozpin cut in. "The problem, however, is choosing what to watch. With quite literally endless possibilities, so too is our decision endlessly difficult." The white haired professor said with a sip from his mug.
Ironwood nodded as he scratched his chin. "Entertainment is all well and good but if we can use this place to show us something, anything that might give us an advantage against Her…" Ironwood whispered, his eyes darting around to see if anyone had overheard before continuing. "I think that's a chance we shouldn't waste."
Glynda raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you're considering such a thing." She said but there was nothing but curiosity in her tone. Absent was the stern intimidating mask the woman used. "We have many people here, some privy but most are not. We even have several unknowns." She finished, her eyes flicking from Qrow, to the students and Winter, before her eyes landed on Torchwick and Neo with a hint of a glare cracking through her calm expression.
"Yes, it's a risk." Ironwood said, running a hand through his hair, indicating his trepidation. "With so many unknowns, students or not, it might not be one that we can take. But I just can't feel like I can turn away from the slightest of opportunities, the smallest of chances, that we might be able to finally get the upper hand."
"I believe I have a solution, or a suggestion if nothing else." Ozpin spoke up with a small smile. "Would it be unreasonable to assume we can get some kind of information about the matter at hand, without disclosing any information on said matter, or at the very least as little as possible?"
"I fear," Ozpin continued, a sudden tiredness clamping down upon his being that didn't go unnoticed by the other two. "that hiding the truth in it's entirety will be impossible. For better or worse, everyone who is present has already gotten a glimpse not even half an hour ago." He said, referring to the glimpse into the Vault during the RWBY Chibi universe.
James let out a shuddering breath but nevertheless nodded, agreeing with Ozpin. "Then what do you suggest?"
"For now?" Ozpin asked as he began tapping away at the Theater Scroll. "We start out small." He finished as the scroll beeped in affirmative, the screen brightening and priming, ready to show whatever universe Ozpin had suggested or asked for.
Then the "New Arrivals" door chimed, the sign above it lighting up briefly before Ozpin exhaled air through his nose in an irritated huff. "Excellent timing…" He mumbled as the theater collectively stopped what they were doing and looked over.
Just as they did so, the door practically flew open as a figure tumbled through, as if thrown, while laughing his ass off. The figure gave off a masculine sounding "Oof!" after they slammed into the wall on the opposite side of the theater before proceeding in their hysterics.
"You dumbass!" A second, much more feminine, voice shouted as the second figure came through the door with a scowling visage and glaring red eyes. Short dark green hair framed the young woman's face, only serving to highlight her anger. "I told you to shut your mouth!" She shouted.
The first figure, clearly a young man upon quick examination, just burst out laughing all over again as he curled up on the floor with his hands clutching as his sides. Short gray hair shook along with the head it sat upon as chortle after chortle escaped the young man's throat with tears crawling down his cheeks.
"I SAID SHUT UP!" The young woman shouted as she slammed her foot into her partner's side. Immediately, the laughter stopped, replaced by a loud "Ow!" followed by some hissing. "Dammit Em, why do you have to take everything so seriously?" He asked as he sat up with a wince, his eyes opening to reveal orbs a shade of gray to easily be mistaken for silver.
The now named Em, nearly launched into a tirade, presumably full of insults and language that would make a sailor's face light up like a Christmas tree, before she paused as if she'd finally realized where she and her… friend? Enemy? Frenemy? Frenemy, had ended up in.
Her grey haired frenemy noticed her lack of hurtful shouting and looked up at her, only to notice she was staring at something to her left. He looked over and quickly noticed that he was not where he was previously. They were inside a movie theater with a bunch of huntsman trainees, some Atlas personnel, even Headmaster Ozpin himself and that one guy that nearly found them out when he had taken on the Fall Maiden with Cinder and Emerald, but all of that didn't bother him nearly as much as one small thing.
"Oh great…" Torchwick muttered as he and Mercury Black locked eyes. "It's the kids again…" The thief snatched Qrow's hard liquor out of his hands, tipped his head back and downed it before throwing the glass to the side and slumping in his seat, a second glass filled to the brim already in his hands.
"This is turning out just like the divorce…"
As Ozpin and the two new arrivals talked, everyone that was sat around Torchwick, even Qrow, balked at the sheer amount of drink Roman had managed to put away. He was down several bottles of the hardest stuff The Theater had managed to spawn with bags under his blood shot eyes and he showed no signs of stopping. And you knew if Qrow was gawking at the sheer amount of alcohol someone was drinking, then you knew that someone either had a drinking problem the likes of which the world had never seen or had something that they absolutely loathed to remember. Though, with Torchwick currently… indisposed… they couldn't exactly ask him.
So they turned to the ice cream in human form that was sat next to him.
"Hey, ice cream girl." Qrow spoke up, earning a glare at the nickname from Neo. "What the hell is up with Torchwick?" The Branwen felt a sense of familiarity from the two but didn't really care enough to go asking questions. He was comfortable enough in his seat with a drink in his hand.
Neo softened her glare, before a sign materialized in her hand. It read, "Let's just say that me and Roman have met those two before and that he hates them with a passion." Neo narrowed her eyes for a moment before a second bit of text appeared. "Maybe even as much as he hates Ruby now that I think about it."
That caused Qrow to wince. He'd gotten here at the exact same time as Roman and he'd been forced to watch the criminal rant and rave about how "He wasn't going to sit in the same room as Red for any length of time for any reason!" or something like that. That got the red-headed thief on his bad side at first but since he didn't really do anything to be worried about and was fun to talk to, Qrow decided he'd started to like him.
In the end, Qrow just patted Torchwick on the shoulder, which earned him no response, and mentally wished the thief luck. He'd probably get over it sooner or later.
With Ozpin, things were progressing fine.
"Hell yes/The hell we aren't!" Well… There were a few hiccups here and there he supposed.
Emerald stood beside Mercury with a snarl which contrasted the young man's eager grin. When Ozpin had laid down the situation for the two, they'd accepted it much quicker than most of the others currently in the room for one reason or another, but when he'd asked if they'd like to join him and the rest, he'd gotten two wildly different reactions.
Mercury, with a personality not too dissimilar to Sun or Neptune, eagerly accepted his offer with an excited gleam in his eyes. Emerald on the other hand didn't take too kindly to it.
"Oh come on, Em! There's literally no reason not to stay for a bit. Besides, with how seriously you take everything, I say you need to loosen up a bit." Mercury said to Emeralds rising anger.
The girl pulled tensed and seemed ready to snap, before turning towards Professor Ozpin with an extraordinarily impressive fake smile to mask her fury. "I'm sorry but could you excuse us for a second?" She asked with a small chuckle.
"Of course. Please take all the time you need." He said, before the two walked off, or rather one marched off while dragging the other behind them, to a secluded corner of the theater.
"What an interesting pair." Ozpin muttered, recalling the file he had received from Lionheart about the two for the upcoming Vytal Festival, although he wondered where the other two members of their team were.
When Emerald and Mercury found themselves far enough away from the rest of the audience, she opened the flood gates. "No, no, no, no, no! How stupid do you have to be to even think staying here is a good idea?!" She hissed, keeping her voice quiet enough so no one else would hear her. "Especially with that black haired huntsman here! He almost found us out last time!"
"You think I don't know that?!" Mercury interrupted with an equally irritated hiss. "Look, just hear me out, Em. If you want to go back to licking Cinder's boot like the good dog you are, be my guest, but staying here has it's perks."
Emerald blushed and narrowed her eyes at Mercury's words but didn't dare acknowledge them. "Like what?" She challenged, crossing her arms over her chest.
"First off, I know that staying here has it's risks, but no one here, aside from Roman, should recognize us aside from being some goody two-shoes huntsman from Mistral coming in for the Vytal Festival. If we stick to that background, we'll be fine. And second, if what that Ozpin guy said was true, considering the way we even ended up here I'd like to take his words at face value, there might be something we can learn to bring back to Cinder." Mercury fought off a smirk as he put the finish touch on his sales pitch.
"Besides, I'm sure Cinder would reward you if you brought back some useful info." He damn near broke into laughter when Emerald's eyes widened.
"You… you think?" She asked, hopeful.
"I don't think so, I know so." He said, cringing on the inside as the words left his mouth. It felt like an eternity when Emerald finally came to a decision.
"Fine… I'll do it... For Cinder." She relented, causing Mercury to cheer on the inside, thankful that she'd bought the frankly bullshit excuse he'd come up with. Honestly, he just wanted to get away from Cinder, aka: Hot, Murderous and Completely Insane, for a little while.
Emerald was already regretting her decision almost immediately after sitting down.
"Oh wow! Are those your weapons?! They look like revolver sickles! Oh my god they look so cool! How do they work, what are the made of, oh, oh, what kind of bullets do they fire?! Do you prefer Burn Dust or maybe Lightning?! Lightning's pretty fun-"
'Deep breaths, Emerald…' She whispered in her mind as she weathered the barrage of words directed at herself. 'Just take deep breaths and smile...' She did exactly that, plastering an incredibly fake smile which seemed completely genuine to most outside observers. Fortunately for her, anyone who might have noticed her mask wasn't paying her much attention.
While Emerald was regretting her life choices, Mercury was sat next to Sun and Neptune.
"Hey! I'm Sun and this guy here is Neptune." The monkey faunus introduced as Neptune gave a wave and a charming smile. "You're Mercury right?"
Mercury grinned back. "That's me!" He chuckled.
"Nice to meet you then!" Sun replied as the two shared a fist bump.
It was then that Coco spoke up. "Alright, now that the greenies have sat down, love the outfit by the way," The brunette flashed a wink at Emerald who's smile became slightly less fake. "can we get started?"
"Might be a good idea…" Qrow spoke up. "I feel like Torchwick's gonna drink himself to an early grave if we don't…"
Neo nodded sagely in agreement.
Everyone else in the theater stared.
Qrow blinked, then groaned. "Yeah, yeah, I know how ironic that statement sounds. Sheesh, guy can't even drink his sorrows away…" He murmured the last part near inaudibly as he took a swig of his drink in sync with Roman which caused Neo, Ruby and some of the others in the theater to burst out laughing.
"Just a question," Yang interrupted with a lifted finger. "What are we gonna watch next anyways?"
Ozpin responded by pressing a button on the Theater Scroll. "Why don't we fine out?" He asked as everyone settled into their seats with food and drink.
"This better be good…" Mercury murmured as he tossed a potato chip into his mouth.
The screen lighting up gave way to a view of a dark, gloomy and cloudy sky before revealing the ruins of a small village somewhere in Mistral.
"Mistral, huh?" Qrow murmured as he took in the sight.
"Oh! So we're watching something from Remnant then?" Neptune asked with a grin, before an uncertain look crossed his face. "Well… Our Remnant I mean."
"Looks like it." Blake responded with a slight frown. "The atmosphere is kind of… depressing though."
Not long after, Lie Ren, in a new outfit, slowly walked forwards, followed by Nora Valkyrie, Jaune Arc and finally, Ruby Rose, all of them in new outfits just like Ren.
The sudden silence was quickly shattered by a high-pitch squeal, courtesy of Nora. "Look Renny! You look so cool!" She screamed as she shook Ren back and forth.
"You all do!" Yang added with a proud look, before she sniffed suddenly as moisture gathered around her eyes. "My little sis looks all grown up…!" Ruby herself tensed, predicting and preparing to dodge the incoming bear hug tackle.
"Eh… Ruby's outfit could be better."
Everything immediately froze, as if the scratch of a record player stopping cut through all noise in the theater. Ruby, Yang and anyone else who gave a damn, those mostly being the students, swiveled their heads to see their resident fashionista looking far from impressed, next to an embarrassed Velvet from the sudden attention directed at her partner.
It took her a few seconds to realize that everyone was looking at her. "What? The color of the sleeves doesn't contrast well with Ruby's skin tone, I can barely tell where the shirt ends and her skin begins, and there's a very unnecessary amount of belts and buckles everywhere." She explained, with each word like a punch to Ruby's gut.
"I mean, really, what do you need like five different belts on a boot for? And even then, why do you have so many on one boot but don't have nearly as much on the other? If it was at the very least consistent or symmetrical then I'd be okay with it but come on!" She continued, growing more and more exasperated as she went on. "And why do you need belts on sleeves?! WHY?!"
The only sound in the theater were the quiet snickers of some of the more rebellious students, namely Sun and Neptune, along with Mercury who was shoveling potato chips into his mouth as if he was watching the greatest thing he had ever seen.
"She kind of has a point…" Jaune conceded, rubbing his head awkwardly.
"Oh, like you have an amazing sense of fashion Mr. Pumpkin Pete's hoodie!" Yang snapped at the blonde, much to his chagrin as the theater burst out laughing.
When they reached the village square, Ren slowed and then stopped before reaching a hand out, indicating for the other three to halt. They did so, albeit with some hesitance at the unexpected action.
"Uhh… That doesn't look good…" Jaune spoke up.
"Why? What's wrong?" Velvet spoke up, one of her ears twitching to convey her confusion.
"Ren has always been able to sense things with his aura better than most. We've learned to listen to him if he gives us a warning." Pyrrha explained to the second-year.
"Oh." Velvet said, before turning back to the screen with a hint of worry.
As Ruby, Nora and Jaune gazed around at the ruined buildings, Ren closed his eyes and focused, letting his aura out to scan his surroundings.
"Now that I think about it," Weiss spoke up. "why is Ruby with Team JNPR instead of Pyrrha?"
"I… I don't know." Pyrrha said, blinking dumbly. "Anything could have happened, I suppose. We don't really know when this is either. Just that it's in Mistral."
"That does beg the question of where you are, though." Coco spoke up as she took a sip of her ice coffee. "And, there's also the matter of where the rest of Team RWBY are."
"Uhh…" Ruby did the only thing that came to mind. "Professor?" She asked nervously, like a child who wanted to look up the answer instead of figuring it out themselves.
Luckily for her, Ozpin was just as curious. "Very well, Miss Rose." He replied, like a father giving in to the whims of their child.
However, their response wasn't what they were expecting. "It… It doesn't say…" He muttered worriedly.
"What?!" Nora yelled in surprise as her gaze flew towards the professor.
"I apologize Miss Valkyrie, but aside from it informing me that this takes place around a year from now in our universe, any other information refuses to be divulged. We'll have to solve this mystery another day." Ozpin replied. Reluctantly, they turned back towards the screen with a pit forming in their stomachs.
The screen cut to show the lower half of a figure running on a cobblestone path on the village outskirts with brown boots, a brown cloak and white pants but nothing else was visible. The figure giggled to themselves as they strode forward.
Neo blinked, before holding up a sign. "That's not good." It read.
Qrow couldn't disagree. "No, no it's not…"
"But who is that?" Winter asked, leaning forward slightly to try and get a better look.
Back in the village square, as Ren focused, he reached for StormFlower. Seeing this, the other three did the same, Crocea Mors, Magnhild and Crescent Rose all unfurling, and took combat stances as they returned their gazes to their surroundings, scanning for whatever may have alerted Ren.
"So we're gonna be fighting, huh?" Jaune asked dejectedly. If his combat ability in the viewing was even remotely similar to his current self then he wasn't going to be having a good time.
"Well, we don't necessarily have to jump to any conclu-"
"WE'LL BREAK HIS LEGS!" Nora screeched, cutting off Pyrrha's moderate approach.
Emerald glanced at the rest of Team JNPR with a raised eyebrow and bewildered look.
They shrugged.
Emerald sighed, resisting the urge to slam a palm against her face.
The view cut back to the running individual with a chilling piano tune to accompany it, this time with his whole hunched over figure visible but his flapping black hair and wild movements made it difficult to make out any details.
Yang couldn't keep herself from audibly shivering. "Oh my god that is so creepy…" She said as her arms automatically wrapped around herself.
"You can say that again…" Velvet muttered, her ears twitching in discomfort.
Mercury swallowed a chip. "I wasn't expecting there to be music." He noted.
"Oh, right." Blake spoke up. "Every now and then this place likes to play music with the things we watch. I'm not really sure why but I'm not really complaining."
Mercury grinned and chuckled. "It does make this a lot more entertaining so I'm all for it." He said, earning a nod of understanding from the raven haired faunus.
In the village, Ren's eyes snapped open and he turned to his right, just in time for the man in the brown coat to leap over one of the taller buildings to the groups right, flipping majestically in the sky, before landing in a crouch in front of the group. The man's wrist blades snapped out as he shouted "A-ha!", his predatory yellow eyes widening with glee.
Even Roman, who was the complete opposite of sober, couldn't miss how Neo violently shivered. He raised an eyebrow at his partner in crime, a wordless inquire to see if she was alright.
"Okay, what the hell?" Qrow asked himself as he leaned forward to get a better look at the guy. "Who the hell is this guy?"
"James?" Ozpin asked as he glanced at the man but he received a shake of the head in response. "Well, hopefully we'll find out."
Not even a moment later, the man sprang forth, sprinting towards the group with unbelievable speed.
"He's fast…" Winter noted as her eyes widened slightly. She glanced between the four kids on screen and their real life counterparts with concern. 'There's a good chance they're outclassed, even if the battle is four to one in their advantage.' She mused in her mind.
It was impossible to miss Jaune's audible gulp. After Pyrrha glanced in his direction, she couldn't help but wince at the visible nervousness in his eyes and the beads of sweat on his brow. She placed a hand on his shoulder and, instead of a kind smile, gave him a determined nod. The blonde faltered for a second, before returning her gaze.
Ren jumped forward and intercepted his charge, slashing with StromFlower to no avail as the attack was blocked with a dull clang which was immediately followed up by a high kick and a burst of fire from his submachine guns, all of which to no effect.
Their assailant counter attacked, putting his weight behind a downwards slash that made Ren's legs buckle, causing him to just barely avoid a kick to his face by flipping himself over on the ground. He jumped to his feet but was unable to avoid the strike to his chin which sent him flying. With Ren out of the way, their amber eyed attacker continued his charge.
"Ren!" Nora yelled as she jolted up. A hand on her shoulder reminded her that Ren was beside her but this was different. This was in their universe, with a man who really existed. This could still happen and that thought scared her.
"Ow..." Jaune winced as he rubbed his chin. "That's got to hurt."
He was in front of Ruby before she could blink, her only option was to jump backwards but her reaction was too slow. The man jumped into the air just as Ruby hit the ground and a kick to her chest threw her off her feet, although she managed to recover from the blow.
"Hey!" Yang snarled as her eyes flashed Red. "Get your hands off of my sister!"
"Yang…" Ruby whimpered, half thankful and half pleading but the message was received.
"I- I know, I'm sorry Ruby, I just…"
Ruby just wrapped her arms around Yang and squeezed, her blazing red eyes cooling to their usual lilac instantaneously, The blonde let out a shuddering breath before she returned the embrace.
It took all she had to defend from the man's savage assault, his wrist blades striking at every opening they could find but he paused for a second and his eyes looked away with a giggle, as if he had spotted something out of the corner of his eye.
"Okay, we established that he was creepy right of the bat but this guy is beyond weird…" Sun mumbled with an uncertain look on his face.
"It wouldn't surprise me if he was insane with the way he was acting." Weiss spoke up with a sniff as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Well… He's definitely… umm… eccentric…?"
"Look, P-money, I love you," Coco spoke up, drawing Pyrrha's attention and flustering her due to Coco's bluntness. "But there are some people in this world that don't deserve your politeness. You should learn to be a bit meaner honestly."
Pyrrha could only duck her head with flushed cheeks as Velvet grabbed Coco by the shoulders and shook her back and forth furiously in exasperation.
Nevertheless that small pause was nowhere near enough for Ruby to regain her bearings, barely ducking under a kick to her head as the man's focus returned to her. He spun around and slashed at Ruby, throwing all of his weight into the attack. Ruby cried out as she tried to block it but failed which resulted in the blades cutting deep, time slowed and her red aura crackled from the impact of the blow.
"Ruby!" Several different voices shouted in tandem, those being the rest of her team, Jaune, Nora and her Uncle Qrow.
'Slow motion?' Emerald thought as she watched the battle. 'First music and now this? Just what the hell is this place?'
'Ow.' Neo thought with a wince. Then a drunken giggle made her head turn towards Roman. She looked back between the screen and Torchwick several times before coming to a realization. He was laughing at the Ruby on screen. She couldn't help the humored sigh from escaping her lips, followed by a soundless giggle. 'He's hopeless...'
No sooner was Ruby down before the man spun around, leaping up and latching onto Jaune's shield which the blonde had tried to slam into him. The man stared down at Jaune who glared in return, before the man broke every rule regarding personal space and brought his face mere inches away from Jaune's and made a disturbing "Oooh!" of childish interest, his eyes peering at the blonde as if he was searching for something before Jaune flinched away from the uncomfortable action.
Jaune couldn't stop himself from flinching along with his on-screen counterpart which caused a few giggles scattered around the theater. He realized how silly he must've looked and laughed along softly which lightened the atmosphere a bit.
Ironwood, however, was not in a mood for jokes. "This can't be all we can do." He growled out quietly as he turned towards Ozpin. "Does that scroll you have say anything? Anything at all?"
"Let me have a look…" Ozpin said as he tapped away. A small beep and a relieved smile told James that Oz had found something, but that same smile was immediately wiped away, a small frown overcoming his features.
"Well?" Ironwood pressed, trying to mask his impatience.
"It's… There's a file here but most of the information is… blank or corrupted. A picture and a description on appearance but that's all there is."
"Damn…!" James snarled as he clenched his fist.
"Calm yourself, James." Glynda spoke up. "We have all the time in the world to figure this out. I think it's safe to assume that more will reveal itself as the battle goes on." Begrudgingly, James accepted her words.
Nora was quick to charge in, Magnhild raised high but as if he knew she was coming, the man leaped off of Jaune's shield and landed on Nora's hammer, before springing himself across the village square and slamming into a tower, the rotted wall caving in under his weight, causing ruble and dust to fly in various directions as he wedged himself inside the structure.
"Wheeze- Wait, I'm sorry- Hahahaha!" Coco burst out laughing at the admittedly ridiculous maneuver. The guy was creepy, insane but also pretty funny to watch, or at least she thought so.
"Coco…" Velvet whined, indignant.
"I- I'm sorry…!" She ground out in between chuckles. "But it's funny! Come on, when's the last time you've seen someone launch themselves into the side of a building like that?"
It was Blake who reacted first, a small snort escaping her nose. "Okay, that's fair." She said with a small smile.
"Heh…" Qrow chuckled. "Her sense of humor is better than yours, Fire-Cracker."
Yang, who had also joined in the laughter, froze. "YOU WHAT?!"
That got everyone laughing.
Ruby stood up as she glared at the hole the man had crashed into before rejoining Jaune and the others. It was then that Jaune spoke up.
"We're not looking for a fight!" He called out warily.
"Who are you?" Ren added.
The entire audience leaned forward with anticipation, eager to finally get some answers.
The dust cleared, only to reveal the man's smirking visage as he looked down from his perch. A second later and the man had relaxed his stance, causing him to tumble out of the tower with a flip before he landed in crouch with a flourish, as if trying to make a grand and flashy entrance.
"Hmph." Qrow grunted. "The guy has to be insane," He said, subscribing to Weiss' opinion on the guy. "But he knows how to make an entrance."
"That's what you're focusing on?" Winter asked incredulously. Qrow opened his mouth but Winter stopped him before he could respond. "Never mind, I don't want to hear it."
Qrow snorted. "Suit yourself."
The man giggled and stood to his full fight as a chilling piano tune began to play. "Who I am matters not to you." The man replied as he pointed at Ren. "Or you," He continued, pointing at Nora. "or…" The man paused as his gaze landed on Jaune. "Well… You do interest me." He admitted, causing Jaune to take a step back as he sucked in a startled breath.
"Oh my god, he even sounds creepy!" Yang couldn't help but whine with a shudder.
"And that music again…" Blake muttered as her ears twitched in discomfort. "Why's it always have to be a disturbing piano tune?"
"But why would Jaune interest him?" Pyrrha asked fearfully as she turned towards the blonde sat next to her.
"I- I'm just a normal guy!" He said, his voice thick with anxiety. "There isn't anything interesting about me!"
Pyrrha wanted to refute that but recognized that now wasn't the time. She placed a reassuring hand on Jaune's shoulder and turned back towards the screen.
The man chuckled at his reaction before moving on. "No, I only matter… To you." He said, pointing a finger at the last of the group. Ren, Nora and Jaune turned their heads only to see Ruby with confusion written all over her face.
"Me?" She asked with a squeak.
"Huh?" Ruby squeaked out, not dissimilar from her on-screen counterpart.
"But- But why?!" Yang asked as she pulled Ruby in close and wrapped her arms around her. The younger girl was too spooked to resist.
"Shit…" Qrow muttered to himself as he took a glance at Oz. The four of them, including Ironwood and Glynda shared a look and nodded, one word going through their heads.
'Salem...'
Right as that thought passed, a ding from Ozpin's Theater Scroll alerted him to a change. The file on the man on screen had revealed a small amount of information. "-,he is an associate of Salem and part of her inner circle." with the rest remaining unreadable.
With worry for his youngest student written all over his face, Ozpin did the only thing he could do in this situation. Watch and wait.
There was a beat of silence as a bewildered expression crossed their attackers face before a chuckle left his lips, which turned to laughter and then full blown cackling as he placed his arms on his knees to keep himself upright before throwing his head back as his mirth got the better of him.
"You- you haven't the slightest clue, do you?" He asked before placing a hand on top of his head. "Oh, how exciting this must be!" he said as he got his laughter under control.
"The slightest clue to what?" Weiss asked with irritation written all over her face.
"Exciting?" Ren asked, incredibly disturbed. "Terrifying is a better word…" He mumbled.
Ruby however was undeterred and glared at him. "What do you want?" She asked with steel in her voice.
Most of the students couldn't help but blink, the tone and expression on the Ruby on-screen coming across as unexpected.
"That's… that's different." Jaune noted warily.
"Yeah… You don't sound like that…" Blake added, looking at the screen curiously.
"If all this stuff is happening a year from now…" Sun began. "Then… what happened in between now and then for Ruby to act so differently?"
Ruby, to her credit, broke out of her shock and glared at Sun with a pout. "Hey! What's that's supposed to mean?" She asked.
"I mean… You sound a lot more mature on-screen but uh… Well… Now you're, uh…" Sun tried to explain but couldn't find the right words.
Roman put it aptly. "You're a kid. A brat." He said with a drunken giggle.
"Hey!" Yang snapped her gaze to the thief. "Ruby isn't- I- I mean she's… Uh… That's not-…" She paused for a moment, the sudden silence being unbearably awkward for the silver eyed girl. "Okay, I guess she is a kid…" She finally decided, to which Ruby blushed furiously.
Despite the tension, several people couldn't help but chuckle at Ruby's pouting expression. "Why do I keep being bullied…?" She mumbled, recalling the Pickle Jar Fiasco from the last viewing.
The man placed a hand on his heart and sucked in a breath as if he was struck. "The rose has thorns!" He declared, like a playwright performing for an audience. "My little flower, I'm here to whisk you away with me…!" He stated with a flourish.
Nora shivered violently. "STRANGER DANGER!" She yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the man on screen.
Despite Ruby's earlier indignation, those words struck something deep inside of her and suddenly, she felt so, so scared. "G-guys… I- Uh… I'm kind of scared…" She mumbled as her pupils dilated slightly.
"Ruby…" Qrow muttered, standing up and crouching beside Ruby's seat and placing a hand on her head, softly ruffling her hair. That, combined with Yang's near motherly embrace helped keep her grounded, but she was far from calm. "You'll be just fine. I won't let anything happen to you."
Ruby just sniffed in response.
Emerald, however, just watched the whole spectacle with uncertainty. A hint of empathy bleeding into her eyes. She crushed the emotion immediately.
Nora was quick to place herself in front of her friend. "Well what if she doesn't want to go with you?" She asked with Magnhild raised high.
"Yeah!" Nora shouted in support of her friend. "Team RWBY and JNPR stick together!"
A pout crossed the man's face as his arms dropped to his sides. "Well…" He began as a contemplative look crossed his face. "I'll take her."
"Like hell you are!" Yang snarled aggressively, her protective grip around Ruby only tightening.
"We're not going to let you do that." Jaune swore as he raised his shield and joined Nora, his eyes filled with determination.
Pyrrha's eyes beamed with pride. 'He's grown so much…' She thought as she looked on. But suddenly, a sinking feeling formed in her core as she looked at his eyes. It was hard to see, but she could see so much pain in them. 'What happened to him…?' She asked herself.
Oblivious to Pyrrha's worry, Jaune also cheered out. "That's right! We won't let anything happen to you, Ruby!" Even if he knew that he'd still hold his team back in an actual fight, he knew it was the thought that counted.
Luckily, Ruby seemed to appreciate it. "Thanks guys…" She mumbled, giving them a watery smile.
Mercury, looked on with an uncharacteristically calm smile. 'This might be a nice change of pace.' He thought, sipping on a lime soda he'd obtained. 'Mmm… Damn that's good.'
The man sucked in a slow breath and closed his eyes, before his disappointed look morphed to mad excitement as his eyes snapped open. "Good…" He purred with a smirk.
"I want to say that I wasn't expecting that…" Sun said tiredly. "But I'd be lying if I did…"
"Pretty much." Neptune agreed.
Faster than anyone could react, the man blurred and appeared right behind Jaune with his wrist blades prepared to rend flesh. It was Ren who was the only one able to do anything in time. "Jaune!" He shouted as a barrage of gunfire saved the blonde from the blades about to tear into his back.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha screamed as her hands flew to cover her mouth.
"Look out!" Sun yelled out instinctively with a wince, realizing that his words could do literally nothing.
"Save him Renny!" Nora added, fidgeting in her seat.
Bright green rounds flew towards the man, some of which ricocheted off of Jaune's shield but all had little effect. The man lunged at Jaune who crouched and raised his shield, only for the man to spin on top of the shield with his legs spread, using only his wrists blades to keep him stable, as Ren continued to try and shoot him.
"This is crazy…" Velvet muttered as she watched. "Who fights like that? It's all just a game to him… It's so disturbing…!" She hissed.
"If this was any other situation, I might have been laughing…" Neptune commented as he stared at the screen with a grimace. "Not for this though..."
"Hey, Velv," Coco leaned in with a hand raised to her mouth. "Why don't you take a picture?" She suggested.
"I-I don't think I want to…" She admitted nervously, but she reached for Anesidora regardless. "But I guess I should…" A quick camera snap later and both members of team CFVY were refocused on the fight.
Ruby dashed in and raised her scythe but a quick kick to the face threw both her and her plans out a metaphorical window as she was sent flying. She slammed Crescent Rose into the ground and skidded to a halt before landing on her feet.
Jaune, still crouched, gripped the handle of his sword and swung at the mans neck but it was ducked under easily, as if it was seen coming a mile away. The man flipped onto his hands and spun, before slamming a heel down on Jaune's head, which allowed for another kick to throw him away.
"Nothing's working…" Jaune noted as his eyes scanned the screen. "Anything we throw at him doesn't do anything… I get that I'm not exactly the best Huntsmen trainee out there but he's throwing all four of us around like rag dolls! Just how skilled is this guy?"
"Incredibly so, Mr. Arc." Ozpin said with a solemn calm as he sipped his coco. "I'd hate to put a dampener on things, but there's a very good chance that you are all being toyed with."
"You're kidding…" Yang muttered as she and the rest of the students stared at Oz with wide, alarmed eyes.
"I'm afraid not. I don't believe there is anything other than his own whims that are stopping him from achieving his goal of kidnapping Ruby." The Headmaster explained.
A rough sigh escaped Qrow's mouth. "This is a mess..."
With the rest out of the way, his gaze landed on Nora before he took off sprinting.
"Hey!" Mercury said, catching Nora's attention with a potato chip smacking her in the back of the head. "You might wanna look out!"
Nora turned towards the screen and here eyes widened, but instead of fear, there was excitement and more than a little anger in her eyes. "Oh no he doesn't! I said it once, I'll say it again! Those legs will be broken by the end of this!" She shouted.
"Admirable confidence, Miss Valkyrie. But make sure you do not underestimate your opponent." Goodwitch warned sternly, causing Nora to almost snap to attention.
On the other side of the square, Ruby smirked before looking through her scope. The view cut to the clip inserted into Crescent Rose, which had a lightning bolt symbol on it. Then she pulled the trigger.
At the series of events on screen, a wide grin split Jaune's face in two. "That's so clever!" He shouted as he smacked his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that?"
Nora, who had seen what the Ruby on screen was doing, mirrored Jaune's expression. "LEG BREAKING TIME, YES!" She yelled.
"Wait, what's happening?" Coco asked with a raised eyebrow directed at JNPR.
A bullet enveloped in electricity screamed forth, crackling with energy. Time slowed as the bullet passed the man who had turned just in time to see it fly by his face, before striking Nora in the chest, throwing Magnhild out of her hands and knocking her off her feet and into a wall, a cloud of dust rising as she came to a halt.
The seemingly shocked silence was shattered by hysterical laughter, courtesy of Roman Torchwick. "What was the point of that?!" He yelled as a few tears dripped from his eyes.
"I mean…" Mercury added with a snort. "If you know you're beat, might as well make it easier right?"
"Jokes aside," Ironwood spoke up. "What was the point of that? You were fighting an enemy that was well above your league and you've just incapacitated one of your allies."
Nora whirled to the general and pointed at him with a stern look. "You just keep watching Mister!" She shouted. Ironwood was too bewildered by the action to do anything, let alone respond, and so he settled for blinking dumbly.
Their attacker paused and blinked dumbly, before bringing a hand up to the side of his face and dragging it down as he began to giggle. It wasn't long before he threw his head back and let loose a mad cackle, his braided ponytail thrashing around wildly as he tossed his head back and forth. In the background, Ruby only smirked as she lowered Crescent Rose.
"Well he sure seems to agree!" Torchwick chuckled, his mirth had lowered considerably but hadn't dissipated, leaving him a mess of giggles.
"I mean, yeah but… I don't get…" Yang started, before her eyes widened. She then proceeded to screw them shut before slapping her forehead with a mighty thunderclap. "Holy crap I'm dumb!" She shouted before bursting out laughing.
"There has to be something we're missing…" Winter spoke up before turning to Qrow with an inquisitive look.
Qrow stared back blankly. "You've got the wrong guy if you want answers. I'm just as lost as you are. What about-" He stopped dead upon turning towards Neo who was looking at him with an even blanker expression that practically dared him to finish that sentence.
"… Yeah, she doesn't know either." He finally said after a beat of silence before Neo facepalmed.
Finally, the man began to get his laughter under control, lifting a hand and wiping a stray tear as he did so. "Well… If that wasn't ironic!" He said as he struck a pose and smirked, unaware to the electrical discharges originating from the dust cloud behind him.
Smiles broke out on Pyrrha and Ren's faces, beaming with triumph as Nora cackled near-maniacally.
"Well… That explains why Ruby took the action that she did… Is it something with Miss Valkyrie's semblance?" Ironwood asked, turning towards JNPR. Sadly, all he got was an affirmative nod with no further elaboration.
Blake couldn't stop herself from chuckling with relief. "I can't believe I forgot about that… This entire thing was so nerve-wracking, it completely slipped my mind."
As the dust cloud thinned, before dispersing altogether, Nora slowly stood, Magnhild in hand.
Coco whistled in appreciation. "Looking good girl!" She said with a wink towards the original Nora.
Nora just chuckled bashfully as she rubbed the back of her head.
In the back, despite herself, Neo couldn't help the pout that formed on her face.
A triumphant glint appeared in Ruby's eyes as Jaune and Ren also realized what had just happened, each giving off their own smirks.
"Come on… Come on…!" Jaune chanted quietly with clenched fists, his tone of voice brimming with anticipation.
"Get him, Nora!" Weiss cheered in tandem.
"You can do it…!" Ren added with a hopeful gaze.
It didn't take long for the man to realize something was wrong, his cocky smile fading into a frown and then a scowl as he grunted in confusion. Behind him, Nora's lips stretched into an evil grin as her eyes narrowed.
"YES! GET HIM FUTURE ME!" Nora screamed as the entire theater leaned forward in anticipation.
"BEAT HIS STUPID FACE IN!" Ruby shouted but her voice was so raw with emotion that it sounded more like a squeak than a yell. There was silence for two seconds before laughter, Torchwick's loudest of all, was heard throughout the theater. Ruby's blush was furious.
Nora launched herself at the man who had just begun to turn around but as he did so, Nora flew by on his other side and ended up behind him. Time slowed to a crawl as Nora leaned back, before swinging her hammer with all her might and weight put into the strike.
As the blow connected, a large shock wave of pink electricity kicked up a dust storm, obscuring the area and causing Ren, Jaune and Ruby to brace and cover their faces. As the wind died down, they looked up and their hopeful gazes fell, giving way to surprise.
"YES! YES, YES, YES!" Nora cheered as loudly as she could. "That's what you get for trying to hurt my friends!" Her words were followed by loud, boisterous and relieved laughter.
"God damn…" Mercury muttered quietly as the rest of the students cheered along with the resident ball of hyperactivity. "That was a good hit."
"What did you do exactly?" Emerald piped up next. "Can you absorb energy and redirect it or something?" Her eyes held a well hidden malicious curiosity.
"Nope!" Nora said as her laughter died down. "But close! I can absorb electricity and then use it to fuel my muscles!"
"That's a pretty good one." Qrow spoke up, hiding a bitterness to his tone. "Unlike mine…" He hissed under his breath.
There Nora stood, at the epicenter of a large electrical discharge with their assailant casually holding back Magnhild with a scorpion tail that had been hidden until now. The only evidence of strain was the slight trembling of the man's stinger.
"Wait… WHAT?!" Nora shrieked in disbelief.
"How did he survive that hit?" Ren asked with wide eyes.
"He's holding Magnhild back so casually…" Pyrrha added warily. "His... tail... is barely showing any strain…"
"It was a smart decision to hide it..." Ozpin muttered with a sigh. "Some faunus traits are deadly weapons, a scorpion tail chief among them… If I wasn't worried before, I definitely would be now."
The man giggled as Nora finally realized her attack had no effect before he raised his palms and wiggled his fingers. "Surprise!" He squealed before two kicks to the face knocked Nora away. The man leaped back into the air and tore his coat away as he flipped, before landing on a roof, revealing the white vest underneath. He stood to his full height and chuckled.
"Nora!" Ren couldn't stop the shout from leaving his throat but he immediately forced himself to lean back in his seat to relax.
"I'm okay, Renny." Nora said with a small smile, but he could see that it didn't reach her eyes. She was scared.
And, admittedly, so was he.
"He's… a faunus…" Ren stated, his submachine guns dropping slightly from the surprise.
"Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious!" Torchwick drawled with a chuckle.
"You know…" Neptune spoke up, looking back at the thief. "You're kind of a dick."
Roman chocked on his own saliva before bursting out laughing. Even Neo couldn't hold her own mirth back and joined him soon after, which was quickly followed by the other less mature members of the audience, even if most were giving Torchwick the stink eye a minute prior, the atmosphere did lift somewhat.
Ruby stepped forward, her expression letting everyone know that she had reached her limit. "What is this about?!" She yelled. "The White Fang? Roman Torchwick?!"
"Oh!" Torchwick, while still fairly drunk, snapped to attention and mild alertness as he sat up, his interest firmly captured. "There's a name drop." He noted.
"So something had to have happened right?" Yang spoke up next, grabbing everyone's attention. "If Ruby's dropping names like that, then there had to have been some kind of bigger confrontation aside from what happened at the docks or that fight with the paladin we watched when we first got here."
"Paladin?" Ironwood asked, turning towards the blonde.
"Oh uh… Well… We fought Torchwick inside of a stolen Atlesian Paladin that was being used by the White Fang." Yang said quickly, like it wasn't a big concern.
"You-" Ironwood gasped before whirling to meet Torchwick's mirth filled eyes with his own fury filled orbs. "You STOLE an Atlesian PALADIN?! AND THEN GAVE IT TO THE WHITE FANG?!" He roared, before turning towards Oz and Glynda. "Why wasn't I told about this?!"
Ozpin opened his mouth but, surprisingly, it was Penny who spoke up first.
"Sir, If I may, considering that you tried to shoot Mr. Torchwick after we first arrived here, followed by the revelations of the theater being able to let us watch whatever we wanted, again followed by that universe where Friend-Winte- I- I mean, Specialist Schnee was captured, again followed by that Chibi universe where Friend-Coco said something about a sex-" Yang's hand snapped her mouth shut faster than Glynda could start shouting obscenities.
"Maybe… Don't mention that again?" She suggested with a bead of cold sweat traveling down her brow, the blonde being almost hyper aware of Goodwitch's gaze drilling into the back of her head.
"Umm… Okay…?" Penny muttered before continuing where she left off. "Uh, as I was saying, after all of that, wouldn't it be understandable that it might have slipped Professor Ozpin's mind?" She finished with a small smile. To some, it was blinding.
"Ah! Too pure!" Coco and Neo hissed while flinching away as they tried in vain to shield their eyes.
Qrow snapped his gaze to Yang. "You corrupt her, you're grounded for life." He said simply.
"What?! Why do I-"
"Yang-"
"You're not even my dad, I-"
"Did I stutter?" He asked with a dead serious tone he seldom used. Yang gulped. Ruby giggled softly. Winter and Weiss looked on with approval, their respect for the drunk having risen once more.
"Okay…" Yang finished lamely as she averted her gaze.
Blake, the filthy smut reading heathen that she was, suddenly became very, very still and tried to make herself seem as small as possible. Luckily for her, it mostly worked.
Ironwood blinked before sighing. "I suppose you make a good point. Very well…" He said before turning to Oz. "But we will discuss this later." Ozpin happily nodded.
Then, a thought hit Jaune as he turned to Weiss. "Wait, did Penny almost call your sister Fri-" A hand smacked Jaune with the force of god and he was immediately still and silent.
The entire audience stared with muted horror.
Penny smiled cheerfully.
"Yeah… She's not normal…" Mercury muttered with a slightly concerned, but mostly intrigued look on his face.
"Plastic soldiers and pawns!" The scorpion faunus replied, gesturing with his hand as he did so. "My heart and body belong only to our goddess!" He declared with a bow before raising his arms to the heavens.
"Now I wanna shoot 'em…" Roman slurred as he grabbed Melodic Cudgel with narrowed eyes. "Just gotta aim, pull the trigger and then…"
"Wait- TORCHWICK NO!" Qrow screamed with laughter building in his throat but it was too late.
A Dust round erupted from Roman's cane and flew towards the screen, smashing against it and throwing up a cloud of dust and smoke.
"He actually-" A series of hacks and giggles interrupted Mercury but he eventually got himself under control. "I wasn't expecting him to actually do it!" He snickered.
After a minute of giggles, coughs and Neo unceremoniously slapping Torchwick out of pure exasperation as she trembled from barely restrained laughter, the smoke finally cleared, revealing an undamaged screen.
"You might want to release your nose, James." Ozpin suggested as he took a sip of cocoa. "You'll have a nasty bruise after today."
"I don't want to hear it." The general replied, using all of his willpower not to explode at the red-headed crook.
Down below, Ruby's fist clenched. "Cinder…" She growled with narrowed eyes.
Emerald's eyes snapped wide open and she shot a look towards Mercury. Her partner also seemed surprised, but much less concerned and alarmed. 'If these kids know Cinder, then did that mean her plan worked?' She asked herself, before shaking her head. It was too soon to say for certain, but it was something to keep in mind. Almost as an afterthought, she chucked a glance at Torchwick but he was too out of it to react, let alone be aware of what was happening.
"Wait, who?" Blake blurted out before she could stop herself.
"I don't think we know anyone with that name…" Pyrrha mused with a contemplating look.
"That's another name…" Glynda whispered to Ozpin. A subtle chime from the Theater Scroll alerted her and the other two headmasters to an update.
"Cinder…" Ozpin murmured as he glanced at the new file.
"Cinder… what?" Ironwood asked.
"That's it." Oz replied.
Ironwood's eye twitched violently. "That's it?!" He hissed.
"That's it. There is literally no other information. There is no image or appearance, there is no description on personality or affiliations. We don't even have a last name. It's all blank. We can assume, speculate and theorize all we want but we have no definite answers." Ozpin explained as he handed the scroll over for Ironwood to browse through.
Seeing nothing, James handed the scroll back to Oz. "Dammit…!" He muttered under his breath.
To her surprise, the faunus only scoffed. "Only in her wildest dreams!" He shouted, before launching off of the roof.
'I hate him already…' Emerald hissed inside her head. A chuckle from Mercury caught her attention and she realized that he was looking right at her. A hint of red crept up her neck and dusted her cheeks before she averted her gaze, only earning more chuckles from her partner. 'Dick…' She thought.
In an instant, he was among them and combat had resumed. His tail lashed out and slapped Crescent Rose aside before lashing out with a kick which was just barely dodged. Ruby countered with a swing from her scythe but the faunus just bent backwards, letting the blade sail over him. An uppercut to her chin was all he needed to put her down.
The faunus turned and immediately began assaulting Ren, his stinger stabbing wildly with the boy just barely managing to dodge the attacks by a hairs breath.
"Is that it?!" Yang asked herself with a growl. "Is there nothing they can do?" She asked herself, pleading for someone to tell her otherwise.
"I don't know…" Blake answered with her ears flattened on her head. "The Headmaster already said that the guy's skill level is way beyond ours… I haven't seen anything to disprove that either…"
"But… but…" Yang tried to find some words but the longer it took, the more despair crept through the cracks, letting it show on her face. "She can't… Ruby…" After a moment, sorrow and anguish was joined by an overwhelming amount of rage. "I won't let him!" She yelled but the fire inside her died almost as soon as it was lit, the angry snarl replaced by a wobbly lip and wet eyes.
"Calm down, Yang." Weiss said as she placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Even if they can't find a way out of this now, they'll be prepared for it later. We can train harder and use what we see here to our advantage."
"That's right." Blake added with a nod. "You said you won't let any harm come to Ruby and neither will we."
It took a minute, but as she wiped her tears and took a few calming breaths, Yang gave the two girls a beaming smile. "Thanks guys..."
The view cut to the forest on the village outskirts as a crow, furiously flapping it's wings, flew towards the ruined village.
Even if his semblance might have been disabled, that didn't mean bad luck's touch was forever absent. Just as the scene shifted on screen, Qrow was in the middle of downing a glass of scotch. That, combined with what he saw on screen gave way to the Huntsman choking violently on his drink, sputtering and coughing up drops of liquid.
"Woah!" Sun yelped, whirling around to face the drunk. "You good man?"
"No- I-" A few more hacking coughs and the clearing of his throat later and Qrow was as good as new. "I'm fine… Just realized something…" He said, and to the confusion of many, he had a relieved and semi-excited smile on his face.
"I didn't know you were into birds…" The slurred admission would have made a lesser man erupt onto a ferocious blush. Fortunately, Qrow was not a lesser man and thus only had a mild tint of red on his cheeks.
"Hey, screw you, you god damn chain smoker!" The underwhelming insult only had Torchwick cackling like only a drunk man could.
Ren slashed at the faunus but a dodge followed by a kick sent him sprawling. Jaune was quick to rush in but was forced to block a sudden kick which forced him back by several meters. Nora stepped in to take the heat off but her swing was intercepted by the faunus' tail which threw her away.
Ren, who had recovered, charged back in but abandoned any thought of attack as he was forced to dodge another round house kick, before he leapt away to avoid a follow up attack. The faunus, taking his chance, went after Ruby.
"You're all down…" Neptune noted, causing a sense of dread to crash down on quiet of few of those in the audience.
"There's nothing stopping him from going after Ruby…" Velvet added.
Neo, who was done with any and all shit, just raised a sign. "Was nice knowing you." It read. Surprising many, however, it earned a soft giggle from the silver-eyed girl.
Ruby wiped a stray tear that trailed down her cheek, before turning to smile at Neo. "Thanks… I needed that…"
An unreadable expression crossed Neopolitan's face for a few seconds, before a small smile curved her lips and there was a look in her eye that reminded some in the audience of their older siblings.
Yang was suddenly incredibly jealous, but didn't dare upset Ruby, and so she opted to glare at Neo silently.
As soon as Ruby turned back to the screen, Neo stuck her tongue out at Yang and giggled silently, leaving the buxom blonde to fume.
"Children…" Glynda sighed tiredly, having seen the entire exchange.
Once again, the view, now zoomed in, cut back to the black crow which was revealed to have dark red eyes. It's wings carried it through the village gate and into the streets as it neared the ensuing battle.
"Okay… There is something going on with that crow… and I don't know what it is…" Ren said carefully as his eyes scanned the bird on screen.
Winter immediately turned towards Qrow. "You nearly spit your drink up when you saw it. I think you know something, don't you?" She asked, her accusation barely hidden behind the polite inquiry.
Qrow threw a glance at Ozpin but didn't keep his gaze long enough for the Headmaster to do anything. In the end, he just grinned. "Yep."
"Would you care to share?" Winter asked with a hint of irritation.
"Nope." Qrow replied, popping the P for no other reason than to piss Winter off further. Before she could retort, Qrow spoke again. "Besides, you're gonna find out in a sec anyways."
"Don't spoil the surprise." Neo's sign read. Qrow gestured to the ice-cream girl, who in turn gained a smug look. Winter just growled and averted her gaze.
The faunus threw punch after punch at Ruby who could do nothing but try to defend, her aura crackling and sparking with each devastating hit, before a tail slamming into her sent her flying across the square.
"He's done playing around now." Ironwood said, before noting the pleased smile on Ozpin face. "You have a lot of faith in him, don't you?"
"He's one of my best." Ozpin replied quietly with a small nod. "I have faith the situation will be handled, perhaps not without some difficulty, but handled it will be."
Ironwood grunted. "Let's hope you're right."
The faunus rushed forward faster than Ruby was falling and ended up where she was about to hit the ground. He raised a leg and as time slowed to a crawl, slammed it into Ruby's abdomen with a sickening crunch as her aura flared, working to restore the damage. That didn't save her from being launched through the air.
"Ooowwww…." Ruby groaned, or perhaps whimpered, quietly. "Even over here I could feel that…" She mumbled, rubbing her abdomen to alleviate phantom pain.
"I'm going to kill him!" Yang muttered with a simmering anger in her tone. "If I ever meet him, I'm really going to kill him!"
"I'd like to tell you to calm down again…" Weiss muttered with a frostiness to her tone. "But I think I might let you simply do as you please..."
Again the view cut to the crow which was flying fast and low through the village streets. Eventually it passed by a crate, and when it emerged, the crow was gone and in it's place stood a raven haired and red eyed drunk with a large sword strapped to the small of his back.
"Woah!"
"Hold on!"
"HUH?!"
"Wait, WHAT?!"
The barrage of surprise exclamations hit Qrow's ears at once, before everyone in the theater, aside from those who already knew, was staring at Qrow with nothing short oh shock.
"You can turn in to a bird?!" Ruby shouted with shock and awe, everything else in the moment forgotten.
Qrow's reply was quick and to the point. "Yep."
"That's awesome!" Yang shouted with glee. "Why didn't you ever tell us?!"
"Because~" An involuntary shiver ran down Yang's spine as he said that word. "It was useful for keeping an eye on you and Ruby and for making sure you kept out of trouble."
"Oh…" Yang muttered with a sudden bout of depression that almost had Ruby and Qrow laughing like mad. "So that's how Dad always knew if I did something I wasn't supposed to…" She was already slouching before Qrow even responded.
"Yup." That broke the damn and suddenly uncle and niece were sharing a nice long laugh at Yang as she rethought all her life choices. Her expression alone was enough for the others to join in.
Suddenly, Nora had an epiphany. "Oh, I get it!" She shouted, before whirling and pointing at Qrow. "Qrow? You're a bird!" She shouted with a laugh, before a very satisfied smile crossed her face. "Cracked it!"
"Heh…" Roman chuckled. "Birdbrain…"
"I hate all of you." Qrow mumbled as the laughter returned two-fold.
"You know…" Ozpin murmured with curiosity in his tone. "They took it rather well…"
"Was there any reason why they wouldn't?" Goodwitch asked with a cocked eyebrow. "You gave Qrow and Raven a choice about it, the process was painless and it doesn't effect their lives negatively… Am I missing something?" She wondered with a finger raised to her chin.
"No, no…" Ozpin reassured before chuckling to himself. "I suppose I'm just getting worked up over nothing..."
Qrow landed and stumbled, throwing a hand forward to stabilize himself before he took off sprinting, his arms and legs pumping as he ran as fast as he could.
'Come on… Come on!' Qrow yelled in his mind. 'I can make it! I have to!'
The scorpion faunus slowly approached Ruby who had a hand placed to her abdomen. He giggled with each step he took before his stinger raised itself above his shoulder, his eyes changing from their normal yellow to a venomous Tyrian purple color.
"Oh… I forgot about the fight, what with the whole turning into a bird thing…" Coco murmured sadly. "Wait, how do you even do that?" She asked.
"Magic." Qrow said.
"What?"
"You heard me."
Coco blinked. "You know what, I'm not going to question it. That's not even the craziest thing I've heard all day."
"Uncle Qrow is coming!" Ruby piped up full of hope. "We'll be okay right?! He said he wouldn't let him take me!"
"He's saved us once…" Yang murmured, recalling a night more than a decade ago out in the wilderness of Patch. "He can do it again…!"
Nora watched with horror, her arms wrapped around Ren who was in no better shape then Ruby and Jaune could only grit his teeth, close his eyes and look away at Ruby's impending demise.
"Come on, Birdbrain…" Sun murmured, leaning forward in his seat with his fists clenched.
"He can make it." Blake said, although her tone of voice said otherwise.
"He has to!" Weiss spoke up with an assured look in her eyes.
Qrow couldn't stop the doubt that slowly wormed into his gut. Every second that passed, that feeling grew stronger, and his certain expression cracked more and more. 'Can I make it…?' He asked himself in his head.
As Ruby looked up, terror in her eyes, the faunus' giggling turned into maddened cackles once again before his stinger launched forward and Ruby ducked her head and braced.
Right before the attack could land, the wall on the second floor of a nearby building exploded outwards and instead of the sound of a stinger piercing flesh, the sound of a stinger banging against cold, hard steel was heard.
"Holy shit, he made it…" Torchwick muttered, his shock having completely purged the alcohol in his system. He didn't care to question it.
"Uncle Qrow…!" Ruby whispered in relief as she teared up, a beaming smile splitting her face in two.
Everyone else stayed quiet, with not one soul daring to tempt fate by speaking up.
As a soft, somber tune began to play, Ruby looked up only to gasp at the sight. There stood Qrow Branwen, Harbinger held behind him holding the stinger at bay with his eyes screwed shut. The faunus only chuckled, making no move to attack the Huntsman.
Ruby's fear melted away into a warm, happy and relieved smile as she stared up at her uncle who opened his eyes, glanced down at her, smirked and said one word. "Hey."
It was Coco who broke the silence with a snort. "You have one bad ass uncle, Ruby."
"I am pretty cool, huh?" Qrow asked with a look so smug even Neo was impressed.
"UNCLE QROOOOOOW!"
"Oh god- UGH!" Qrow shouted as a red blur struck him with the force of a Boarbatusk charge. The wind was knocked out of him, leaving the drunk hacking a coughing.
"I knew you'd make it!" Ruby shouted as he wrapped her arms around him. Then she frowned before her gaze landed on Yang. "YANG! Get in here!"
"Oh no… No, no, no, NO, NO-" Instead of being struck, it felt like a wall of steel decided to fall on top of him. Instead of the wind being knocked out of him, Qrow's seat actually broke and he, Ruby and Yang were all thrown to the floor in a tangle of limbs.
"You have a nice family, Qrow." Winter muttered with a glint of amusement in her eyes.
As Qrow got his hacking under control, his eyes met Winter's as his arm's wrapped around his nieces, both of whom had relieved tears in their eyes. "Tell me about it… OW!" He hissed as Yang slammed a fist into his ribs. Nevertheless, he only chuckled. "Wouldn't trade em for anything in the world though. Now come on, this thing ain't over yet."
It took a minute, but eventually, the girls released their death grips and took their seats again.
As the faunus' tail coiled, Qrow twirled Harbinger and turned to glare at the one who'd dared to attack his niece, his weapon ready to strike at a moments notice.
The faunus merely chuckled and spread his arms wide in a welcoming manner. "As I live and breathe! Qrow Branwen… A true Huntsman has entered the fray!" He finished with a bow.
"He knows you?!" Jaune yelped in surprise.
Qrow only shrugged, looking unbothered by the fact. "It's not that big of a surprise. I am the top Huntsman in the Kingdom of Vale after all, and one of the best on Remnant. It's not unusual for Huntsmen to know other Huntsmen."
"Wait, really?!" Nora asked with a wide, curious smile.
"So we knew he was cool…" Sun spoke up. "But we didn't know just how cool…! Awesome…"
"If only Ice Queen here would recognize that." Qrow moaned with faux hurt, earning an exasperated groan from Winter.
"Oh come on, you love me!" Qrow said with a chuckle.
"Not in a million years…!" She seethed, earning chuckles and giggles all around.
Qrow, thoroughly confused, raised an eyebrow and turned to Ruby, who only shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know, this guy's weird!" She said. Qrow simply turned his glare back towards his opponent.
"Oh! Wait, I know this one!" Penny spoke up with a bright smile. "Is this when you say, mood?" She asked with a head tilt.
Coco just erupted into a fit of snickers and giggles. "Attagirl!"
"Look pal…" Qrow began as the faunus took a step forward. "I'm not sure who you are… But you need to leave my niece alone." He declared with narrowed eyes.
"Why friend, my name is Tyrian!" The now named Tyrian said with a giggle. "And I am afraid that is not possible." He added as he clasped his hands together.
"Well, we have a name now…" Blake said. "But we don't know why he's doing what he's doing…"
"Neither does Mr. Branwen by the looks of it." Pyrrha added, only to flinch when a shout of "Hey!" from Qrow was directed at her.
"None of that Mr. Branwen crap!" He said with a look of mild annoyance. "Just Qrow is fine."
"What? You feeling old, Birdbrain?" Torchwick asked with a cackle. "I am never going to let you live that down!"
"I will shove my sword up your ass!" Qrow snarled back.
Yang burst out laughing at the interaction while Ruby looked mildly horrified.
"My assignment from Her Grace was to retrieve this young girl." He continued, gesturing towards Ruby. "Sooo… that is what I must do." He said in a seemingly resigned tone. "One does not upset the Queen…"
"A… A Queen?" Neptune murmured uncertainly.
"Who is that even supposed to be?" Velvet asked slowly. "If it's not this Cinder person, then who else could it be?"
It was Penny who spoke up next. "It is most likely someone that we have not seen or have interacted with yet. Although it's most likely a nickname or some kind of cover title due to the lack of a monarchy on Remnant for nearly a century, or rather not since the end of The Great War."
"Well… Yeah…" Yang began cautiously as she tried to find the right words. "But… You didn't really need to give us a history lesson…"
Penny froze and blinked, as if processing the information. Eventually, the awkward moment ended and she smiled. "Then I'll endeavor to shorten our interaction next time!" She said, practically radiating positivity.
"Queen?" Ruby inquired, evidently confused. However, Qrow only glared harder, now on high alert. "Salem…" He hissed as the dots connected themselves in his head.
"Who?" Ruby asked, thoroughly left out of the loop.
"Yeah, what Ruby said." Weiss spoke up with a mild glare leveled at Qrow. "Who?" She parroted.
"Uh…" Qrow mumbled, suddenly seeming very uncertain. "Look kids, I don't think it would be a good idea to-"
"Oh come on!" Coco groaned, silencing the huntsman before he could finish. "We're watching a future scenario where your god damn niece might get kidnapped by a person you apparently know and you won't even tell her?" She asked with a glare.
"Well… I don't know if everyone would want to know the answer to that…" Velvet spoke up softly, earning a wide-eyed look of disbelief from Coco.
"There is bliss in ignorance." Blake spoke up with a nod of understanding. "But I think we're past that. Besides, wasn't the reason we're all here is to get information specifically to prevent stuff like this? What's the point if we find something genuinely important and the only people who know something don't tell us?" There wasn't anger in her tone, she'd be a hypocrite to be angry. She had more than enough secrets of her own after all and the ones that had been revealed were dragged into the open kicking and screaming.
"That's…" Qrow paused mid sentence and mulled over the words. "A fair point…" He conceded with a groan but hesitation was still painted over his face.
"Pleeeease, Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked with the classic pleading eye look.
"You can't- Uuuuugh..." An irritated groan from Qrow told everyone in the audience that his resolve had broken. "Fine." He said as he flicked Ruby's forehead, earning an "Ouch!" from the young girl. "But I'm not going to tell you everything. Not yet."
"Why not?" Yang asked, with a hint of annoyance crawling up her tone.
Qrow wasn't having it. "Because, if I were to tell you everything I knew, a lot of it would involve our family!" He forced out, earning two shocked looks from Yang and Ruby. "And that's not something I'm comfortable telling just anyone, especially not Chain Smoker and Ice Cream Girl over here." He said, pointing his thumb towards the duo.
"I'll have you know I take offense to that!" Torchwick responded and an indignant huff as Neo crossed her arms and pouted beside him.
"The plot thickens…" Mercury whispered from his seat, earning a snicker from Sun and Coco.
"Dammit, might as well get this over with…" Qrow muttered under his breath before shooting Ozpin a look. "You good with this Oz?"
"By all means." Ozpin replied with an all too eager smile, earning a glare from the scythe-wielder.
'Dick…' Qrow hissed in his mind. 'Way to throw me to the wolves…' Qrow sighed and shook his head to get rid of the last of his jitters. But then, an angel in the form of a red-headed and green eyed girl came to save him.
"Umm… Mr. Bran- I- I mean… Qrow…" A small blush forced it's way on to Pyrrha's cheeks due to the mistake. "If it's that serious, we could wait until after we're done watching this."
"I'm down for that." Sun agreed with an easy going smile. "Besides, the way this is going, we're going to see a serious ass-whooping." That drew a snort from the raven-haired drunk.
"I am pretty cool, hu-" Qrow tried to parrot what he'd said earlier, but a jab from Winter forced a hiss through grit teeth, stopping his words dead. "Don't push it!" She glared.
"Meh." Yang shrugged. "Alright, fine. But you better not hold out on us when we're done!" Yang said, as she glared at Qrow before a light bulb went off in her head and a shit eating grin forced her lips into a curve. "I'll corrupt Penny if you do!"
There was a sharp intake of breath from Qrow but all, bar Penny who blinked in absolute confusion, could tell it was faked. "You wouldn't…"
"I would."
"Don't you dare…" There was a tense silence as uncle and niece stared at each other.
"Snrk-" Ruby struggled to hold back her laughter, breaking the tense silence and causing laughter to bubble up in the theater.
Before Qrow could even think to respond, Tyrian cleared his throat. "I think we've had enough talk now, don't you?" Before he settled into a crouch, his tail curling up, ready to strike.
"That's one thing we can all agree upon." Ozpin spoke up with a chuckle as he set his mug of cocoa to the side.
Glynda turned and, yet again, raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you're more interested in the battle between Qrow and this Tyrian than anything else we've seen with this viewing."
"There is always one thing that has never grown stale through all of my years, Glynda." Ozpin spoke up with a reminiscent look, before a small but excited grin turned his lips. "That one thing, is a good old fashioned fight."
"You took the words right outta-"
"YA-HAH!" Tyrian leaped into action before Qrow could even finish, his wrists blades slashing wildly as Qrow hastily deflected the attacks.
"Sheesh, they really kicked it up a notch!" Coco said as she leaned forward with wide eyes, her attention firmly locked onto the two combatants.
Mercury through took a sip of soda. "I wonder who's gonna win…"
"Are you kidding?!" Nora shouted with disbelief. "There's no way Qrow could lose!"
"I mean, I guess, but I haven't really seen him fight…" The statement, which was more half-truth than a lie, slipped through his teeth easily. "Besides, that Tyrian guy looks pretty damned skilled. Even if it's against Huntsmen in training, not a lot of people can go four versus one and win, let alone without breaking a sweat."
"What, you doubting me kid?" Qrow quipped with an amused grin.
"Just trying to keep an open mind," Mercury smirked back.
Qrow countered and slashed at Tyrian but a dodge followed up by a leaping attack forced the drunk to dodge in turn, before a follow up strike forced Tyrian to bend over backwards and flip onto his feet.
Tyrian fell into a crouch before lunging as Qrow charged in. Tyrian's downward attack met Qrow's upward slash and a large shock wave blew both combatants away from each other.
"Oh, hell yeah!" Yang shouted, as any earlier trepidation slowly replaced itself with excitement. "Kick his ass, Uncle Qrow!"
"I wish you'd be a bit less crass…" Weiss held herself together for all of two seconds before a similarly excited, but smaller and subtler, grin split her lips. "But I'd be lying if I said I disagreed…!"
"Now that I think about it…" Ironwood said as he leaned back in his seat. "I don't think I've ever seen Qrow fight seriously before… Outside of training I mean…"
"Really?" Ozpin hummed with a small smile. "Well it's not a surprise what with all the time you spend running Atlas and all the time Qrow spends out in the field."
Tyrian landed in a crouch, his wrist blades scraping against stone as he righted himself but Qrow gave him no room to recover as he rushed in, swinging Harbinger with a fury as Tyrian dodged and deflected the attacks, grunting, giggling and cackling all the while.
Eventually, Tyrian was able to lash out, his tail stabbing wildly as Qrow hastily moved Harbinger to block the blows before he leapt into the air and tucked forward, spinning and building up momentum as Tyrian raised his wrist blades to meet the blow with a cackle.
A loud clang echoed throughout the village square as blade met blade. There was a moment of silence as Qrow's feet touched the ground before a rooftop in the distance exploded from the attack's shock wave. Seeing this, Qrow leaned forward and flashed a cocky smirk.
"OH MY GOD, THAT WAS SO COOL!" Ruby squealed with absolute adoration that made Qrow swell with pride. "You were like TWANG and CLANG and, and he was like ZOOM and then you both went BOOM!" There were many, many stars in Ruby's eyes.
Roman, for his part, while annoyed with Ruby's spouting, was more nervous with Qrow. He breathed a huge sigh of relief when he came to a conclusion. "I am so glad that you never waltzed in on one of my jobs…"
"You're just a small-time crook." Qrow said, trying to hold back a grin. "They bring me out for serious threats."
Torchwick scowled as Qrow laughed, but the red-haired thief didn't argue. He knew damn well that Qrow was beyond his league.
Tyrian stared at the blown up roof top before flashing Qrow a grin of his own. A second later, a mechanism inside Tyrian's bracers came to life before two barrels on each arm opened up, a barrage of rapid gunfire following immediately after.
"Why am I not surprised…?" Glynda groaned quietly as she pressed her palm to her face. "These days, everyone insists on having a gun of some kind built into their weapons."
Coco stared at Goodwitch with a blank face, before bursting out into a seemingly spontaneous coughing fit that most could immediately tell was fake. "Riding crop!" She hissed in between forced coughs, causing Glynda to growl with embarrassment and fury.
"What was that?!" Glynda snarled at the chocolate haired girl, with a very subtle, but nevertheless present blush on her cheeks.
"Nothing!" Coco replied with what sounded suspiciously like a squeak, trying to look as unassuming as possible as the other students tried to hide their giggles with varying levels of success.
Ozpin, who was fighting an up twitch in his lips glanced at the leader of team CVFY. 'I'll need to think of a way to get them some extra credit.' He thought.
The two separated and Qrow was forced onto the defensive as he spun Harbinger, blocking the bullets as Tyrian ran circles around him with a mad grin on his face.
"Ah! Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shouted with worry. "We need to help him!"
In response, Qrow stiffened but luckily no one noticed. "I think you should just stay back and let future me handle this one, Kid." Qrow said, hiding his discomfort well.
"Huh?! But why?! We can help you!" Ruby shouted with a pout.
Qrow didn't respond.
Seeing the situation Qrow was in, Nora and Ren readied their weapons and charged forward, planning to pincer Tyrian from two sides. Both of them closed the gap and jumped in but to their shock, Tyrian, with a tongue flapping outside his mouth, bent backwards and stared at them with a chuckle.
"Eugh!" Came the disgusted noise from Yang, who stuck her tongue out and flinched away. "What the hell is wrong with this guy?!" She shouted.
Emerald was surprised at herself when her body shivered involuntarily. 'Yeah… That's a good question…' She thought to herself before her eyes locked onto the faunus' form on screen. 'What is up with this guy? How the hell did Cinder meet with someone like him?' She asked herself.
The two pronged attack was parried easily as Tyrian ducked and raised his blades, before spinning on his back like a break dancer with his legs outstretched, landing a number of blows on the duo. His barrage ended when he flipped onto his hands and threw his entire weight into his legs, slamming against Ren and Nora and sending them flying back towards Jaune and Ruby.
Qrow, in an attempt to capitalize on the opportunity, quickly spoke up. "That's why." he said, referring to Ruby's earlier question. To some, however, the words seemed to have been spoken just a little too quickly.
'What are you hiding?' Winter asked herself as she stared at Qrow with scrutinizing eyes.
"Ok, yeah, that's fair…" Ruby murmured, slightly embarrassed at the pointed look her uncle was giving her.
"I can't say that I'm surprised…" Ren muttered dejectedly. "He really was just playing with us…"
"The break dancing was on point though." Sun pointed out, earning a few snorts and one or two giggles.
Tyrian charged forward with his sights set on Ruby but Qrow intercepted him as the clang of steel crashed into their ears. There was an awkward pause before Tyrian pushed against Qrow only for Qrow to push him back with twice the strength.
"Bruh." Coco and Sun muttered in unison, before sharing a chuckle.
Penny stared at the two with bright, shining eyes, sparkling with realization.
Qrow turned his head and glared at the teens. "Don't come closer!" He hissed before returning his focus towards Tyrian, the fight resuming in earnest.
"I think we figured that out already…" Yang mumbled, slightly bummed out.
"He's not wrong though…" Jaune added with a sullen expression. "At this point, we wouldn't do anything aside from making Ruby's uncle's job harder."
"Just because it's true, doesn't mean it doesn't suck." Yang pointed out, to which Jaune could only concede.
"Fine!" Ruby shouted, before taking off towards one of the ruined buildings on the sidelines. She jumped up onto a ruined shed before aiming Crescent Rose under her feet and firing, the recoil propelling her up onto a nearby tower.
"Huh…" Qrow murmured with a chuckle. "That's a smart move considering the circumstances." He gave Ruby a proud look, which had his younger niece blushing like the school girl she was.
"Tyrian is really fast though." Blake pointed out, before she winced when she realized how doubtful she sounded. "Not to doubt your skill or anything, I know first hand that you know how to use Crescent Rose well, but…"
"I get it." Ruby smiled softly. "To be honest, I don't even know if I could even try to hit him."
She landed in a crouch before spinning Crescent Rose and slamming the blade into the roof, and taking aim. Her sights followed the battle but their movements were so quick and erratic, zooming up and down the village square, that she couldn't get a shot in without risking harming her uncle. She scowled in frustration as she waited for an opportunity.
"Yeah…" The disappointed mumble left Ruby's throat before she could stop it. "That's about what I was expecting…"
"You needn't be so disheartened Miss Rose." Winter said, earning the younger girl's attention. "Despite his…" She paused briefly and scowled as she tried to find a word that didn't sound too insulting. "Eccentricities…" She settled on. "I have faith that Qrow is more than capable to hold his own."
"Wow!" Roman guffawed with a wide eyed look. "From you, that's practically glowing praise!"
Winter glared at both Qrow and Torchwick with a snarl as they chuckled together but the thankful look from Ruby alleviated her anger a bit.
Back on the ground, Tyrian and Qrow were locked into a viscous melee. Where Qrow fought conservatively and only attacked where he could, Tyrian fought like a savage, throwing his entire weight into attacks and jumping around Qrow in an attempt to overwhelm him.
As Qrow charged in, Tyrian vaulted over the Huntsman and then lashed out with his tail, before jumping and crashing down onto Qrow with a downward strike. The blocked attack was followed by a kick before Qrow pushed the initiative, lashing out with several swings of his sword, each of which was dodged as Tyrian ducked lower and lower, eventually pressing himself flat against the floor.
Velvet's mind went blank. "Wha…?"
"Nope." Blake quickly said as she shook her head back and forth. "Nuh-uh. We know he's crazy. I'm not going to lose brain cells over this."
"But…" Ruby mumbled with a look so confused that even Ozpin developed a slight headache. "How?"
"I said no." Blake replied without skipping a beat.
Neo raised an amused eyebrow and a sign. "Aren't you of all people supposed to be flexible?" Torchwick, Mercury and Yang burst out laughing.
Jaune looked over to Sun nervously. "Is that racist?" He asked cautiously.
"Maybe? I don't know." He shrugged nervously. "I mean, it's still funny." He added with a chuckle.
Tyrian's tail went stiff as another slash raced towards his midriff, the faunus rising into the air with the help of his tail and opening fire as Qrow blocked the barrage before countering with a blast from Harbinger.
The faunus dodged the attack before blurring and appearing right before Qrow, his tail racing for the Huntsman's head. Qrow just barely leaned to the side in time, causing the stinger to sail past him but Tyrian smirked and coiled his tail around Qrow's arm and wrenched Harbinger from his grip. The sword spun in the air before slamming into a nearby wall.
"Oh shit…" Coco murmured nervously.
"Normally, I'd think up a smarmy remark or something but, I got nothing." Torchwick shrugged as he popped a fry into his mouth. "Also, is it just me, or does the way his tail curls and twists about really damn creepy?"
"No, that's definitely not just you." Neptune added before a thought hit him. "Hear me out, but, imagine Deathstalker tails could do that."
"That would be terrifying." Penny piped up with a smile.
Ruby giggled. "Yeah… Deathstalkers are scary enough on their own."
Qrow cradled his wrist for a minute with a grimace, before glaring at Tyrian who only giggled with his tail raised to strike.
Then a bullet whizzed past his face, throwing his hair around wildly. The faunus raised an eyebrow in confusion before looking to the ground where a small steaming bullet mark lay.
"You missed?!" Torchwick moaned with pure disappointment and disbelief. "How?! He was standing still for crying out loud!"
"Oh yeah?!" Ruby snapped back with a furious blush on her face. "It's not like you're any better!"
"I hit you with a flare from across an entire dockyard! I think that at least counts for something!" Torchwick snarled back, his own anger flaring up.
"Well…" Penny began. "It was more accurate to say it was across a single loading bay-"
"No one asked for your inpu- Ah, hey! Stop laughing!" Torchwick snarled as a good portion of the theater, Emerald and Mercury included were laughing at Roman although even Ruby wasn't spared, the spat between the two earning a great deal of amusement.
"What's wrong, Torchwick?" Mercury chuckled. "Your ego doing okay?"
"Oh, go fuck yourself!" Roman snapped back with an unexpected amount of heat to it, which caused Mercury to choke on his drink, to which Emerald burst out laughing.
Tyrian, realizing what had happened and without looking, smirked, began to hum a musical tune and easily blocked the ensuing barrage of rifle rounds with his tail which seemed to thrash around wildly.
"Wait, what?" Jaune blinked as he leaned forward. "Okay, there's gotta be an explanation for this, how is he doing that?"
"It might be because of his faunus trait…" Pyrrha spoke up, but there wasn't any surety to her words. "I don't know much about scorpions though…"
"That's… not a bad guess, actually." Blake blinked with a bit of surprise. "Faunus usually only have one physical animal trait, rarely having two and almost never having more, but all faunus have other more subtle traits depending on what species of animal they resemble." She explained. "I'm a panther faunus, so I have a decent sense of smell and amazing eye sight along with good hearing and night vision."
"So, what, you afraid of dogs too?" Mercury asked without any real seriousness, not noticing how Blake stiffened like a board. "Or is your favorite food fish…? Tuna, maybe?"
There was a beat of awkward silence as Mercury chuckled to himself, before he realized that everything else was dead quiet. He opened his eyes and glanced at Blake, before noticing that most of the others were also staring at her with naked amusement in their gazes.
"…"
"...I'm not legally required to answer that…" Blake mumbled, almost inaudibly if one didn't strain their hearing.
"Wait, you're serious?!" Mercury asked before he burst out laughing.
"Blake! How could you?!" Ruby yelled with the most hurt expression her teammate had ever seen. Before Blake could even begin to respond, Ruby dug out her scroll and pushed it towards Blake who flinched away from fear once she saw what was on it.
It was a picture of a corgi.
"Zwei is adorable!" She shouted with tears building in the corners of her eyes. "How can you be scared of him?!"
No one heard Weiss' squeal that was on a frequency inaudible to the human ear. Blake was too busy trying to not get a heart attack to notice.
Ironwood sighed as Ruby kept shouting at Blake while the latter tried to get the former to calm down and put her scroll away. "Something tells me that having so many different people in the same room at once might not be the best idea…"
"I'm inclined to agree." Ozpin replied casually as he chewed a piece of chocolate.
There was a moment of silence before Ironwood spoke again.
"There are going to be more, aren't there?"
"Oh, absolutely." Ozpin replied, a chuckle hidden in his tone.
As a guitar strum cued the beginning of an upbeat tune, Qrow glanced at Ruby then raised a fist. He stared at it for a moment, shrugged, and then slugged Tyrian in the face with all of his strength, the faunus in question staggering and crying out in pain and surprise as he cradled his face.
"Pfft!" Yang couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing. "Wait, I wasn't expecting that! Hahahahaha!" She held her sides as they began to ache. "That was simultaneously one of the most bad ass and stupidest things I've ever seen!"
"That's just how I roll." Qrow smirked, before a thoughtful look formed on his face. "I like the music in the background though."
"It's pretty good." Coco agreed with a chuckle. "I'd say it fits you too."
"You think?" Qrow asked, before Nora suddenly sucked in a breath.
"Oh! Oh! Wait, wait, wait!" She waved her hands furiously in front of her to get everyone's attention. "What if this is Qrow's theme?!" Yang gasped.
"Oh my god, that's right! This might be it!" She chuckled with a look of eagerness and excitement. "I can't wait for the lyrics!"
"Wait, what's this about a theme?" Qrow asked with interest, but he was shut down by Yang.
"Just wait, watch and listen!" She insisted. With a roll of his eyes, Qrow did just that.
After a second, Tyrian let his hands down only to reveal an absolutely bewildered expression but could do nothing to stop the next punch which struck his cheek before a follow up uppercut raised him into the air. A final kick to the chest sent Tyrian tumbling onto his ass before the faunus flipped over and came to a halt only after he dug his blades into the ground.
"Now he's getting what's coming to him!" Nora cackled madly. The sentiment itself was shared by most.
"Something isn't right…" Glynda murmured, her eyes scanning the screen like a hawk. "A minute ago, Tyrian was blocking and avoiding attacks like it was child's play and now all of a sudden it's as if whatever skill he had vanished… But why?"
"I think I have an inkling…" Ozpin admitted. "But I'll need to see more to be sure."
Tyrian looked up before he grimaced in pain and let his head fall. Qrow, taking the opportunity, calmly and casually made his way towards his weapon, smirking when Tyrian made no move to stop him. The scorpion faunus only growled in frustration as he stayed kneeled on the ground, as if Qrow and vanished from his perception.
"He's just… sitting there?" Ren asked, perplexed. "Why?"
"I have no idea…" Weiss said with a slow blink. "He's just… letting Qrow walk towards his sword."
"He looks frustrated, though." Pyrrha pointed out. "I don't know why, but I don't think he's being idle just for it's own sake."
"Hey, Penny!" Coco shouted, earning the girl's attention. "You got anything?"
Penny lifted a blueberry muffin. "I have this." She said happily.
Coco blinked, before something in between a laugh and a sigh forced itself out of her mouth. "Not what I- You know what, never mind…" She mumbled with a chuckle.
Penny shrugged with a small smile, before taking a small bite. Even if she knew she didn't have to eat, she still could in a sense. It would be weird if she was never seen eating by other students after all.
Finally, Qrow reached his weapon and placed a hand on it's handle, the smallest of clanks echoing out.
Tyrian looked in Qrow's direction and smirked as a look of realization crossed Qrow's face with a frown. Immediately after Qrow leapt onto his weapon still embedded in the wall as Tyrian crashed into the place he'd just been standing.
"Something happened there…!" Jaune snapped a finger out as he leaned forward.
"It seems my hypothesis was correct." Ozpin hummed happily to himself.
"Oh, I see!" Penny said with a smile.
"Wha?" Ruby blinked in confusion. "I am so lost."
"Anyone willing to fill us in?" Coco asked with a frustrated glare.
"Oh, uh, right!" Sun quickly spoke up. "Basically, I'm pretty sure Tyrian is blind."
"…"
"Huh…?"
"How does that have anything to do with… with anything?!" Weiss asked incredulously, looking like she wanted to tear her hair out.
"Cause he's a- Oh!" Blake said as it finally clicked in her head. "It's because he's a scorpion faunus!" She exclaimed. "Simply put, scorpions have horrible eyesight, but they have nerves that are a lot more sensitive to vibrations in the air and on the ground." She explained.
"Oh!" Yang exclaimed as realization struck. "So that's why he's moving around and acting like a weirdo!"
"While crude, that assessment is correct Miss Xiao-Long." Ozpin spoke up happily. "It's also the reason why he was able to block all of Miss Rose's shots, while subsequently being unable to avoid Qrow's punches, among other moments throughout the battle."
"Skin doesn't really send out too many vibrations in the air though, right? Unlike metal which makes a kind of… whooshing sound, I guess…" Neptune spoke up with uncertainty.
"That was indeed correct the last time I checked." Ozpin nodded.
"That's useful info." Qrow added as a smirk formed on his face. "If I can already fight toe to toe with this guy as I am, then there shouldn't be a problem if I actually prepare."
"Qrow…" Goodwitch growled a warning, causing Qrow to raise his hands and roll his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, don't get cocky, I got it…" He mumbled before he crossed his arms. "Sheesh..."
Qrow pulled a lever on Harbinger's grip and the gears inside began to spin, the blade folding into the shape of a scythe as the twin barrels flipped out, aiming at Tyrian's face, the faunus in question startling and just barely managing to avoid the blast which would have taken his head off.
The recoil of the blast sent Qrow, Harbinger in hand, flying upwards towards the roof as he grabbed a wooden beam on the way up. When his momentum halted, Qrow found himself balancing on top of a vertical beam with his legs in the air and only a single hand keeping him from falling.
Coco whistled. "When are you going to stop showing off?" She asked with a grin.
"When I get old and die!" Qrow laughed back.
"I don't know…" Yang spoke up with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "You are kinda of old."
"I'm barely in my forties! That's the prime of my life as far as I'm concerned!" He froze when a soft giggle caught his attention.
Qrow turned to his left with wide eyes, only to see Winter of all people holding a hand to cover her mouth as the soft sound left her mouth. When she noticed Qrow, she snapped back to her usually frown with her hands in her lap.
"Did you just-"
"You're imagining things." Winter insisted. There was a warning to her tone that made Qrow decide it was best to back off.
A second later, Tyrian lunged, the wooden beam shattering and throwing Qrow off, who landed on one edge of the rood while Tyrian landed on the other. Tyrian lunged once again as Qrow spun Harbinger in his grip before the two crashed into one another, time slowing as the two blades slid off of each other, sparks flying everywhere.
"This fight just keeps getting cooler and cooler!" Sun laughed with an excited smile on his face.
Velvet's fascination just kept rising and rising. "I didn't really notice earlier, but this theater is giving us some really good shots!" She said cheerfully.
"Oh yeah!" Coco noticed with a slow nod. "I didn't really notice."
"I still don't know who the winner would be." Ren spoke up with narrowed eyes. "Although who I want to win is obvious, they're both so evenly matched that I just can't predict anything."
"Well… We'll just have to hope for the best." Pyrrha reassured him with a happy smile. Ren's neutral expression did not let Pyrrha know if her words had any effect.
Tyrian backed off before leaping at Qrow who dodged the attack. In response, Tyrian, who had fallen through a large hole in the roof, wrapped his tail around a beam and flung himself into the air before throwing a rain of bullets at Qrow who spun his sword to deflect the attack before the two where in each other faces once more with their blades pushing against the other.
After another pair of heavy slashes, Qrow found himself at the edge of the roof with Tyrian pushing against him. Thinking quickly, the Huntsman spotted a damaged wooden beam not too far away.
"Hold on… Oh!" The realization struck Qrow and he was suddenly as giddy as a school girl.
"Oh… No…" Yang moaned as she trembled with held back giggles. "I can't…"
"Please, fall for it… Please…!" Neptune begged quietly as a grin slowly stretched his lips.
"Come on, there's no way that guy can fall for that! It's way too obvi- and I forgot he's legally blind, never mind." Torchwick corrected himself, doing his best to ignore Qrow and Neo's snickers.
He managed to throw Tyrian off of him before taking off to the other side of the roof as Tyrian leapt after him with a cackle. Qrow stood right behind the beam and, as hoped, Tyrian, who had not spotted the trap, landed on top of the damaged beam and crashed through the roof.
"Oh my god…!" Blake groaned, doing her best not to burst out laughing.
"The sound he makes just makes it even worse!" Sun wheezed, with his tail curling in the air. "He was so confident with that 'A-HA!' and then he just falls through!"
When a snicker forced it's way through Emerald's lips, she froze, before her eyes widened in shock. 'Am I… actually enjoying this?' She asked herself as the others laughed and giggled around her.
Qrow tried to disengage but before he could, a tail wrapped around his leg. Qrow blinked before he was pulled inside, the two combatants taking the roof with them as they fell to the floor in a large explosion of dust as Ruby watched in horror from her tower top perch.
"Welp, that wasn't supposed to happen…" Qrow said as he downed a glass. "Can't say I'm surprised though, considering my luck and all." He grumbled.
"Uhh… Are you okay?" Jaune asked worriedly as Ruby fell into a silent panic fit with Yang having to calm her down.
"Eh, probably?" Qrow shrugged, before Jaune set his eyes back on the screen.
Neo's laughter, had it been audible, would have been heard by everyone due to how loud it would have been. She shook and fidgeted and giggled silently, before wiping a stray tear. Her squirming caught Qrow, Roman's and Winter's attention and she had to wave her hand to get them to wait for her to calm down. When she finally got her mirth under control, a sign appeared in her hand. "I'm sorry!" The sign read and one could practically feel the insincerity in those words. "I just couldn't handle the face you made!"
Unbeknownst to a grumbling Qrow, a proud smirk and a discreet thumbs up from Winter nearly sent Neo into her hysterics again.
The silver-eyed girl narrowed her eyes and leapt into action, leaping onto Crescent Rose and sliding down the roof before a pull of the trigger sent her flying and another slowed her fall, allowing her to land safely. Once she was on the ground, she took off sprinting.
"Pain!
Is your reward for being near me!"
"Oh, hell yes!" Yang yelled out, with an ecstatic smile. "There they are!"
"And it's already dark as fuck, we're off to a great start." Mercury murmured with a chuckle but no one paid him any mind.
"Who's singing these exactly?" Weiss asked herself. "The last one during the fight with Torchwick was sung by a female singer, but this time it's a male…"
"Who cares?!" Ruby yelled, practically jumping for joy. "Uncle Qrow has a theme song!"
Unbeknownst to her, and most others in the room, Qrow had a look of frozen shock on his face, which turned to sorrow as the song progressed.
As she neared the ruined building, Ruby gasped in shock as the wall exploded outwards, Qrow tumbling out soon after. The drunk bounced once, twice, then threw Harbinger which embedded itself into the ground before Qrow crashed into it.
"Fate!
Won't be your friend when I'm around!"
"Nice save!" Coco complimented with an amazed smile.
"Uh… Yeah… Sure…" Qrow mumbled absentmindedly, earning a few concerned looks.
"Are you alright, Qrow?" Winter asked, and anger or mirth at the drunk's expense made way for a rare show of genuine concern.
"I don't… I don't know, maybe?" Qrow asked himself with a lost tone.
The blade dragged against the stone before eventually coming to a stop. When it did, Qrow stood atop it with his back straight, like a majestic bird on it's perch, his crimson red aura flickering from the damage he'd sustained.
"Okay, I'm done." Torchwick shouted, throwing his hands into the air and slumping in his seat. "My ego's taking too many hits."
Neo giggled violently beside him, screwing her eyes shut and trying not to draw attention to herself.
"I'm going to have to start taking lessons…" Neptune muttered, wide eyed with disbelief. "I mean, I'm cool, but I can't compete with that..."
"Blame!
Me for the tragedies that follow!"
"Uh…" Blake mumbled as she took a glance at Yang. "That doesn't sound good… Are you sure this is your uncle's theme?" She asked warily.
"I mean… I thought so but I don't get why those lyrics of all things would be used." She replied back with clear concern. "They don't fit him… Or… They shouldn't."
"Ah, poor Qrow…" Ozpin mumbled solemnly as he watched the screen. 'I wonder how he'll handle this.' He thought.
Not long after, with his aura also flickering, Tyrian charged from the rubble with his blades raised high. Qrow flipped off of Harbinger and grabbed it's handle before rushing to meet him.
"Grave!
The situation that surrounds!"
However, to everyone's shock, right as the two combatants were about to clash once more, Ruby jumped between them, Crescent Rose knocking Tyrian's wrist Blades away.
"Wait, what?!" Weiss yelped in surprise, before whirling at a sheepish but also proud looking Ruby. "What are you doing, you Dolt?! You're way out of his league! Your uncle can handle himself!"
"But… I can't just do nothing!" She refuted with a determined glare.
"I don't know, kid…" Coco spoke up slowly. "I think you might wanna listen to Ice Queen over there." Everyone ignored Weiss' eye twitch at the nickname.
"Huh?!" Ruby mumbled, gobsmacked.
"I'd also have to agree with your friends, Ruby." Penny also added, knocking the wind from Ruby's sails. "Your uncle's opponent has already demonstrated his skill and is evenly matched with your uncle. There's a possibility that you might be holding your uncle back and putting yourself in unnecessary danger." The cheer on Penny's face was fairly off-putting.
Qrow, who was going to speak up but was beaten to the punch by the girls, just stared at Ruby worriedly. 'Listen to them, kid. For a reason that you don't even know about yet.'
"Ruby!" Jaune shouted as he stepped forward but Ren held him back.
"Do you wish to be taken?!" Tyrian asked, incredulous, as he spread his arms wide.
"I have a feeling that's a question more than one of us wants to ask." Torchwick quipped, ignoring the glare Little Red sent his way but his grin was immediately wiped from his face.
"Seconded!" Mercury spoke up with a chuckle.
Then Mercury realized who's statement he'd actually seconded and whirled to face a scowling Torchwick with a look of dismay. "No… No, no, no I did not just agree with you!" He said, pointing a trembling finger at the crook.
"Screw you, you two-bit punk!" Roman shouted as Mercury's dismay immediately turned into roaring laughter. Emerald trying to hide her laughter didn't go unnoticed.
A cupcake found itself smushed against the side of her head a moment later. It took her a moment longer to realize what had actually happened.
"You shut your whore mouth, woman! I can end you with a thought!" That struck a nerve and now Emerald was pissed.
"Oh it's on you piece of shi-" Emerald shouted angrily but when she tried to get some food to appear in her hand, it didn't work. She was confused for all of two seconds before a very angry sounding voice cleared their throat. Emerald looked over and terror struck her heart as soon as she saw Glynda Goodwitch glaring at her, Mercury and Torchwick, with the Theater Scroll in her hand. Emerald and the other two quickly settled down, knowing very well that the woman promised pain if they kept going.
"I'm a Harbinger!
I cannot lie!
I will change the color of your life!"
"Okay, so, it is Qrow's theme." Yang stated with a nod. "Harbinger is the name of his weapon."
"That's almost definitely not what's meant here but I can see the conclusion you came to." Blake allowed with a shrug.
"But, if it's Uncle Qrow's theme, then why does it sound so… sad?" Ruby asked with a frown.
"That's… I don't know, Rubes…" Yang admitted, looking a little lost.
"I mean… At least it sounds good." Jaune tried, earning a glare from the blonde, which quickly turned into a sigh.
"No, I… I guess that's fair. You're right." Yang mumbled. Jaune just chuckled nervously.
To her credit, Ruby didn't back down. "No!" She shouted as she glanced back at Qrow. "But I won't stand by and watch someone get hurt!" She declared before she rushed in with Qrow following suit.
Torchwick clicked his tongue. "Idiot." He sneered, the insult catching Ruby by surprise mostly due to how sincere it sounded.
"H-hey!" Yang stuttered from the shock but quickly overcame it. "Don't insult my sister like that!"
"I'm just saying it how it is!" Torchwick defended, gesturing to the screen. "Just watch, she's going to get Qrow injured or worse and the only person she'll have to blame is herself."
"Regardless of how much I want to sock Roman in the jaw," Qrow glared at the thief but Roman just held his arm's up in surrender, before Qrow's gaze moved to Ruby and turned sorrowful. "he's still right. You should have stayed back, Ruby."
"But… But I-" Ruby couldn't get a word out. She looked towards the screen and then back to the real Qrow behind her, before she started to tear up a bit. A sniffle alerted Yang to the impending disaster, who smushed Ruby in a hug as the silver eyed girl turned her eyes to the screen, hoping to disprove Torchwick's prediction.
"What the hell, Qrow?!" Yang snarled quietly, but her tone was full of anger.
"Even if it hurts, she needs to hear the truth, Yang. Isn't that what we're here for?" Qrow replied, but they could both tell that he felt incredibly bad about it. Yang took a few deep breaths and managed to rein in her anger but she didn't lose her glare.
With Crescent Rose from above and Harbinger from below, uncle and niece attacked together but both were blocked and a kick to Qrow's back threw him away.
"See that, Little Red?" Torchwick asked rhetorically. "That was because your uncle was too busy keeping an eye on you to focus."
"Roman, enough! You already got your point across." Qrow hissed with a glare. The thief scoffed and complied but that didn't stop Ruby from feeling even worse, a silent sobbing starting to creep out of the girl's throat.
Tyrian's tail lashed out, followed by a hail of gunfire. Ruby blocked both attacks before retaliating with a swipe at Tyrian's chest. The scorpion faunus deflected the blade with a grin before his tail surged towards Ruby who could only gasp in surprise.
"What did I just say?" Torchwick chuckled bitterly as Ruby and the rest of her friends cried out in surprise and worry, but obviously, he went ignored.
Luckily, Qrow managed to tank the attack, before he and Tyrian pushed against each other in a battle of strength as combat fell into a momentary lull.
Yang let out a giant sigh of relief. "Oh thank god…" She mumbled as tears gathered in her eyes. Ruby was already tight in her hold so all she needed to do was tighten her grip to reassure herself that Ruby was still going to be fine, regardless of what she saw on the screen. "I know I said I wanted to become a huntress for the thrill but this isn't the kind of excitement I was talking about…!" She tearfully mumbled into Ruby's hair.
"That was… lucky…" Blake said softly.
Qrow snorted in bitter mirth and sorrow, earning a few looks but he expertly avoided any social interaction with the quick guzzling of a drink.
"I don't mean to bring you pain!
But I will, just why I can't explain!"
"I think I've had enough of this." Winter said quietly before she turned to glare at Qrow. "Ever since that song came on, you've been acting like a scolded child and the lyrics aren't making it hard to hint at something so just what is it that's bothering you?"
Qrow, turned his head slowly and looked at Winter with a blank gaze. "I'm surprised you care at all, Ice Queen." He said, earning a scowl from the Specialist.
A sign smacked into the side of his head not even a second later. "You're killing my mood." It read, and sure enough, Neo's face was twisted into a frustrated pout.
Qrow blinked, before he exhaled tiredly through his nostrils. "Sorry…" He mumbled. "But there's no point in me saying anything. You two are smart aren't you?" He asked rhetorically as he tipped his head back and took a long drink. "You can figure it out."
"Ruby!" Qrow barked, furious, as he turned his head to glance at her. "What did I say?! Get back!" He shouted but Ruby just glared.
"Wow, he's pissed…" Sun mumbled as a few people recoiled from the anger in the tone.
"I'm wondering why he isn't as angry now though…" Velvet added softly. "I mean, I guess this hasn't really happened yet and none of us are in any real danger…"
"Any family member would be worried." Coco shrugged off easily. "Nothing to be surprised about."
"I guess so…" Neptune agreed with a shrug.
"This is my fight too!" She shouted before rushing in and swiping at Tyrian's legs, the faunus simply jumping over the blade.
"See, it's that kind of attitude that's gonna get you killed." Roman pointed out.
"Torchwick, that's enough." Ozpin said, softly, but with a firm tone to his voice.
Roman, however, was far from intimidated. "What's the matter, Oz?" The crook asked with a chuckle. "If she's old enough to learn how to put her life on the line, she's old enough to realize that life isn't a game. Her actions have consequences, and now she's gonna see em!"
The well hidden glee in those words only made Ozpin glare harder. "I said, that's enough."
Roman hesitated slightly but it was Neo slapping a hand against his side and the disapproving glare on her face that made him stop. He settled back down with a huff.
In Yang's hold, Ruby started to tremble.
"I am no one's blessing!
I'll just bring you harm!"
"No! It's not that, It's-"
"Then what is it?!" Weiss abruptly shouted, seemingly at her wits end.
"Yeah…" Mercury piped up after he swallowed a snack. "If you're not worried about her getting in the way, then what the hell is it? What's so much more dangerous?"
"That's enough, children." Goodwitch said with a glare. They were clearly dissatisfied but realized they might have been pushing it with their questions. The decided to let it go but curiosity still squirmed in the back of their minds.
'Please be okay, Ruby…' Qrow thought to himself as he stared at the screen with fear he hadn't felt for a long time. 'I don't know what I'd do if I lost you too...'
"YAAH!" Before Qrow could finish, a battle cry tore out of Ruby as she charged forward and Tyrian turned to meet her.
Torchwick planned on opening his mouth once more but a jab from Neo ended that train of thought before it really even begun.
Scythe and stinger met each other in a clang but Tyrian was quick to recover, flipping into the air and drop-kicking Ruby away. The girl managed to recover and land on her feet but she ended up right below the very same ruined building Qrow and Tyrian were fighting by earlier. A ruined and very unstable building.
"Shit!" Qrow couldn't stop himself from leaping up in his seat. "Ruby!" He barked, his tone filled with worry and trepidation.
"Please, while obviously not in the best condition, it shouldn't pose…" Winter began but then she paused when a realization struck her. Qrow seemed odd when it came to the topic of luck. Even back with their earlier viewings, she could see it if she looked close enough. And now with the lyrics of the song currently playing practically spelling it out for her, she wasn't even aware of her own hand shooting to cover her gaping mouth. "Oh… So that's it…" She whispered.
"What, what is it?!" Yang damn near yelled as she whirled to face them. "Why are you so…" Then, similar to what went through Winter's head, the song lyrics played through her mind and she turned back to the screen with dread. "NO!" She yelled and might have shot to her feet if it wasn't for Ruby being sat on her lap with her arms wrapped protectively around her.
For the others, any confusion melted away with the next set of lines.
"I'm a Cursed Black Cat,
I'm an Albatross,
I'm a Mirror-Broken!"
"Oh… Oh…" Coco murmured, her realization slowly and surely delving in dread, not unlike most of the other's in the theater.
As if the cause of plain old Bad Luck, the wooden beam supporting the roof collapsed and began to fall down, moments away from crushing Ruby with it's weight.
"RUBY!" Weiss, Blake, Yang and Qrow yelled all at once, with the other's all shouting their own forms of shock, alarm and concern.
"Shit, shit!" Coco yelled. "Move your ass, kid! Move!"
Ruby herself didn't even make a sound. Instead, she stared at the screen in shock. While she should have been horrified at her own impending demise, and she was, she wasn't anywhere near the level it should have been. Instead, there was just a sick and twisted sense of relief that squirmed in her gut, simply because it would have been herself to have died from her own mistake, instead of Uncle Qrow.
Ruby looked up just in time and only managed to gasp before, to her surprise, the beam was cleanly split in two, the halves falling apart at her sides as Qrow landed beside her.
"Uncle Qrow…!" Ruby gasped as her tear fell down her cheeks with renewed vigor. She couldn't stop the soft, relieved sob from escaping her throat.
"What a save…" Mercury mumbled, an awe filled smile creeping up on his face.
Even Ozpin, Glynda and James all breathed quiet sighs of relief, the tension in their shoulders melting away. "It's good to know that even with his eccentricities, he still gets the job done." Glynda murmured, earning a small smile from Ozpin.
Qrow just gulped in a lung full of air, before releasing it in a tired and relieved sigh. A small chuckle bubbled in his throat but he managed to keep it down. He was just glad that Ruby would be okay.
Then his eyes widened with realization and his gaze snapped back to the screen with horror.
Ruby and Qrow both looked at each other with thankful and relieved smiles respectively, but that small distraction was all that was needed.
"Sad to say,
I'm your Bad Luck Charm!"
Suddenly, Qrow gasped in pain as Tyrian's stinger lashed out, cut through Qrow's aura and scraped across his abdomen, leaving a long and bloody cut.
Awe-struck, stunned and shocked silence filled the room as everyone flinched forward, yelped or shot up in surprise, before their brains finally registered what had happen and the froze in disbelief.
"UNCLE QROW, NOOO!" The ear-piercing, watery and absolutely horrified scream from Ruby didn't so much as cut through the silence, rather than obliterate it completely. She buried her head into Yang's chest and started to wail, as her sister brushed her hair and tried to calm her down to no avail.
"It cut through his aura?!" Jaune asked as fear crept into his gaze. "How's that possible?!"
"It's not." Pyrrha said with a look similar to Jaune's. "So long as one has an aura awakened, keeps it active and it hasn't been depleted, there is no attack that should pierce it." She explained, as if remembering a piece of text from class. Then a thought struck her. "Semblance…"
"One that can cut through aura?!" Blake gasped, her ears twitching with trepidation. The semblance itself wasn't so bad, nor was it so hard to believe, if it weren't for the fact who said semblance would belong to. Tyrian was terrifying enough with his mannerisms and personality. Add in his skill in combat and that made it even worse. Add in a semblance that can cut through aura and… "Oh my god…" She choked out as her gaze snapped to Ruby.
Qrow's heart lurched as Ruby's wails reached his ears and he felt like he wanted to cry himself. 'Just my fucking luck…!' He spat in his head as he was overcome with self loathing.
Time slowed to a crawl as Jaune, Nora and Ren looked on in horror while Tyrian, his eyes once again purple, giggled with glee as Qrow's eyes widened when his brain finally registered what had happened.
Ruby, however, was not paralyzed by shock. She hefted Crescent Rose, placed it against Tyrian's tail and pulled the trigger. With a bang, the scythe cut Tyrian's tale clean off as he screamed in pain, the venom inside the tail splashing onto the ground and eating through it like acid.
"Holy shit!" Sun yelped, the rest of the theater having similar reactions.
"What the hell…" Emerald murmured, slightly disturbed due to the enormous difference of the Ruby on screen and the Ruby crying her eyes out a few seats down from her. "She didn't even hesitate..."
Ruby, even as she was focused on crying and trying to calm down, couldn't miss her other selves actions. It made her gape in shock, even as tears kept falling from her eyes, she just stared in horror.
"Ruby…" Weiss murmured with a disbelieving look, a hand raised to hide her open mouth.
"HRAAAAGH! AGH- AAAAH!" Tyrian wailed as he scurried away, before pulling himself up to his feet as his tail thrashed and coiled from the pain. "HHRAAAAGHAAAH- ACH! RRRHGH ARGH!"
Blake's ears twitched and she flinched violently from the screams. Velvet's situation wasn't much better, the grating and frankly horrifying screams causing quite a bit of discomfort.
"You okay, Blake?" Yang whispered to her partner with a worried look. Blake was certain that had this been a less serious situation, she would have made a joke of some kind.
"Y-yeah I'm… I think I'm okay…" Yang just nodded, turning her attention back to Ruby.
Roman couldn't stop the bewildered chuckle from leaving his throat. "God damn… Who knew she had that in her?" Neo could only nod dumbly in agreement.
"You… BITCH!" He screamed at Ruby with hate in his eyes. "Nnngh… RrrRRAAAGH!"
"STAY AWAY FROM HER YOU CREEP!" Nora shouted, tears of her own building up in the corners of her eyes.
Ren didn't bother trying to calm her down this time.
Any desire to lash out at the young girl was quickly put aside when Jaune, Ren and Nora positioned themselves in front of Ruby and Qrow with their weapons raised. Tyrian looked between them, before glancing back at the other two behind them, then seemingly decided it wasn't worth it.
"She'll forgive you…" He mumbled to himself as he took a few steps back, before turning and sprinting away, his tail flapping wildly in the wind.
"It's… It's over…" Velvet mumbled with a far-away look in her eye. "He's gone…"
"I… I guess…" Neptune added, before a tired sigh forced it's way out as he slumped in his seat, his head falling into his hands as his brain tried to process what he'd just seen.
"We have to do something to prevent this." Ironwood said resolutely to Ozpin. "We can't just do nothing with this information now that we have it. Tyrian needs to be found, captured and locked away." James' eyes hardened. "Or killed if need be."
Ozpin just sighed. "We will, James. This isn't something we can ignore…" A hand weaved through his hair as he sat back in his seat. "We'll have to keep an eye out for him, try and catch him unaware..."
As soon as Tyrian was out of sight, any strength Qrow had left drained out of his body as he dropped to his knees. Harbinger clanged loudly as it hit the ground and his hand quickly found itself placed over his wound.
"Qrow!" Winter shouted, alarmed.
"He's… He's gonna be okay, right?!" Jaune asked, the look on his face making it clear he was dreading to hear the answer.
"Of course he is!" Nora shouted, confident and carefree. Everyone could tell that she was lying through her teeth.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shouted as she ran up to him. "Are you okay?!" She asked worriedly with a hand on his shoulder as Qrow took in huge lungfuls of air.
"I- I'll be fine…" Qrow managed to get out in between deep breaths. He removed his hand from his wound to glance at it, only to see it had become stained with blood. "He just grazed me…" He said, before returning the trembling hand to cover the injury.
"Yeah… Just grazed you…" Torchwick chuckled bitterly. "It'd be a graze if he'd nicked you with one of his blades. Not his fucking razor sharp stinger filled with venom. That's a lethal wound you have there my friend!"
"Shut it!" Qrow snarled, his patience for the thief having reached it's limit.
"No, I don't think I will." Roman snarked but by the look on his face, he was far from amused. "I don't know if you haven't noticed but I don't give a shit about filtering my words just because Little Red over there is crying her heart out."
Qrow's glare hardened and he grit his teeth. "Torchwick…!" He seethed, a warning clear in his tone.
"I told you that this would happen, and I was right!" Torchwick snarled right back with a glare just as potent as Qrow's. "It's not my fault that she can't handle the truth, Birdbrain!"
What caught both their attention next was Yang falling to the floor as Ruby activated her semblance and tore out of the room faster than anyone could blink. "Ruby!" Yang shouted as she stood up and ran after her, not even sparing Torchwick a glance.
"You son of a bitch!" Qrow roared as he threw a fist into Torchwick's jaw with a murderous glare. The thief cried out and fell to the floor, landing hard on his shoulder. He didn't know if he'd have gone further or not as Neo put a stop to any more violence with a glare directed at Qrow that was more a suggestion to go help Ruby rather than a warning to stop hurting Torchwick.
He stared for a moment, snarled, and took off sprinting after his nieces. "Ruby! Yang!" He yelled as he rounded the corner after them.
Weiss began to stand so she could run after her partner as well but a hand grabbing her wrist stopped her. "Winter?!" She asked, surprised.
Winter just shook her head. "Let them be, Weiss." She said calmly, full of sympathy.
"But…" Weiss mumbled, before relaxing and sitting back down. Winter released her and Weiss kept her gaze locked on the door, her worry an ever present factor at the forefront of her mind.
Penny stayed oddly silent. If one were to take a glance at her now, they might have truly been convinced that she was a robot instead of a human being. Her expression was blank and her form was unnaturally still but her mind raced in order to understand the empty feeling in her gut. All she knew was that she didn't like it one bit.
"Who was that guy?!" Nora shouted as she ran up with Jaune and Ren in tow.
"How did you get here?"
"Why are people after Ruby?!" Ren and Jaune threw in their two cents as Qrow continued to breath heavily.
"After that…" Blake mumbled, before she exhaled tiredly into a clenched fist. "Ruby's uncle told us he'd tell us when we were done…"
"He did." Pyrrha added, looking similarly exhausted. "But I think he has other priorities now…" She mumbled sadly.
On the ground, Roman hissed as he brought a hand to his cheek. His aura kicked in a moment later and the pain faded but the shock from the unexpectedness of the blow was still present. As he pulled himself into his seat, Neo stared at him. Her expression was neutral in a way that told him that she didn't agree nor disagree with what had happened.
Roman rolled his eyes when his met hers. "Come on, Neo! You know I'm right." Neo blinked once, before she looked towards the door. Her gaze lingered for a moment, during which her frown tightened. Eventually, she looked back at Torchwick and shrugged with a tilt of her head.
Roman clicked his tongue and averted his gaze, hating how judging Neo's eyes felt. He knew he was right but then why did he feel like he'd made a mistake? Where earlier there had been laughs, cheers, jeers and a talkative mass of people, now there was just an awkward and exhausted silence. While he wasn't solely responsible, it was obvious that he'd had a hand in it.
"Shit…" Roman mumbled, rubbing tiredly at his eyes.
When Ruby realized he wouldn't respond, she comfortingly rubbed his shoulder. "Uncle Qrow…" She began slowly. "What's going on?"
After several more deep breaths, Qrow finally glanced up with half lidded eyes and a forced grin on his face. "What's your favorite fairy tale…?" With a deep sigh from the Huntsman, the screen went black.
"Children?" Goodwitch spoke up, turning towards the others. Once all eyes were on her, she spoke again. "Mr. Branwen and Headmaster Ozpin have promised you answers but I believe that would best wait for later."
"Yeah…" Coco mumbled. "Yeah, I second that… Fuck me…" She groaned, leaning her head back against the head rest of her seat.
"We didn't…" Ren spoke up, but paused as the words refused to come out. "We didn't just watch Ruby's uncle get killed… Did we…?"
"There's a chance." Ozpin said, earning everyone's undivided attention. "The wound was shallow... So it's possible the amount of venom injected into Qrow's bloodstream was not lethal… Despite Roman's words." The professor and thief shared a glare, but neither said anything to acknowledge the other. "Then again, there is no way of knowing for certain."
"But then, what can we do, Professor?" Pyrrha asked sadly.
"Prepare." He said simply. "Despite the tension from what we've just seen, I believe it was a good choice to watch this. It will better prepare Ruby and Qrow in the long term, so that this scenario can be avoided."
When no one answered him, Ozpin sighed. "I'll give you the answers you all seek once Qrow and Miss Xiao-Long have gotten Miss Rose to calm down, and then we can continue. Until then, reflect on what we've just seen."
Velvet raised a hand. "Could we maybe… take a break from the gloomy and serious stuff again?" She asked timidly.
Nods of agreement from Glynda and James were more than enough for Ozpin's answer. "Yes. I believe that's a good idea."
When Qrow and Yang caught up to Ruby, they found her curled up next to the wall with her knees by her chin and her head down. Her form shook with loud, heart-wrenching sobs that cut into their ears, causing them to wince.
"Ruby!" Yang shouted, relief clear in her voice as she practically leapt at her sister, landing beside her and wrapping her arms around her again. Ruby instinctually leaned into Yang, the two pressing their bodies against each other.
"You had us worried, kid." Qrow breathed as he got lowered himself to a knee and placed a comforting hand on her head. Ruby's cries only got more intense when Qrow finished his sentence.
"Ruby…?" Qrow asked, his worry increasing by the minute. When she finally looked up, Qrow couldn't hold in the gasp when he saw her face.
"I'm sorry!" She wailed as tears streamed down her cheeks like a river, with eyes that held so much guilt and pain, it reminded Qrow of himself for a second. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
"Calm down, Kid." Qrow tried to comfort her by ruffling her hair. "It'll be alright."
"How can you say that?!" The words came out like a horrified scream, freezing Qrow in place. "Because of me, you got hurt!" She yelled. "Just because I wanted to play hero and got in your way, you were hurt because you were too busy trying to look after me!"
"Ruby-"
"Torchwick was right!" She screamed as she buried her head in her hands once more. "I really am just a stupid, idiotic, childish brat!"
"Ruby…" Yang tried to get a word in but Ruby apparently wasn't done.
"Weiss was right too!" She continued, silencing Yang immediately and causing her eyes to widen in surprise. "I wasn't ready for Beacon! I shouldn't have gotten in! I don't take anything seriously! I almost got her hurt during initiation and now I got you hurt Uncle Qrow!"
"RUBY!" Qrow snapped, earning a flinch from Ruby. He immediately felt bad for it but at least she was listening to him now.
"Listen to me for a second, alright?" When Ruby didn't speak, he continued. "You've gotta stop thinking like that. You're young. You make mistakes. It's expected of you."
"But I-"
"I'm not done talking." He held up a hand, causing Ruby to go quiet again. "Roman is an ass. Sure, he might be right every now and then and yes, it was a mistake for you to try and help but that just proves how good-hearted you are. And you need to remember, everything we just watched hasn't happened yet and now, it might not even happen in the first place."
"Besides, not all of that was your fault…" Qrow breathed, being overcome be a heavy weight as he slumped over slightly.
"But… How can it not be?" Ruby sniffed, calmer, but still from from relaxed. "I was distracting you and because of that you got hurt!"
"It's because of my semblance, Ruby." Qrow clarified, silencing the girl. "I never told you about it because I thought it might have been the safe thing to do, but now I see that was wrong."
Yang blinked. "Yeah… What is your semblance, exactly? I mean… I think I can guess but…"
"Misfortune." Qrow spat the word like a curse, surprising nobody. "It's how I got my name. I bring bad luck with me wherever I go. Honestly, it's mind boggling that this damn theater either found or wrote a god damn song that represents me so perfectly..."
"So that's why you were so nervous about Ruby helping?" Yang asked with wide eyes.
Qrow nodded sadly. "Yeah. Of course, she should have stayed out of the fight to begin with, what with the skill gap between her, myself and Tyrian but it would have been manageable if we didn't need to worry about my semblance." His gaze landed back on Ruby. "All it would have taken was you tripping over a split floorboard and it could have been the end of you."
"I… I love you, Ruby… I already lost Summer." The admission drew strangled gasps from both Yang and Ruby. A few tears gathered in Qrow's eyes as he choked out the next sentence. "I… I can't lose you too..."
Ruby didn't need to say anything. She flew from Yang's grip and crashed into Qrow with Yang right behind her. There they sat, an uncle and his two nieces as they embraced each other like only a loving family could as they shared tears of sorrow.
"I love you too, Uncle Qrow…" Ruby whispered. "Please don't leave me alone…"
Qrow's eyes hardened with resolve. "Not in a hundred years."
"We'll get better. Stronger." Yang promised with steel in her voice. "So nothing can separate any of us from each other ever again."
A/N: Okay, I'm beginning to see why there aren't many react fics that go past Volume 3. Or at least, react fics that have more than the bare minimum content... Oh god, how am I going to be able to have them react to the volume 3 or 8 finale? It's too damn long!
In all seriousness though, I hope you guys enjoyed this frankly long overdue chapter. Originally, I was going to bring in Cinder along with Emerald and Mercury and have the gang react to their fight against Coco and Yatsuhachi, but then I decided to leave Cinder out for now and settled on the Tyrian fight since I thought it was more interesting and because there is only like... One other react fic on this site that's done an episode that isn't Volume 1-3. I can't even find the fic I'm referring to either. It had like 8 chapters or so with half of them being interludes, with RWBY reacting to a single episode from Volume 6 (The episode where JNPR learns about Salem in Argus) and two from Volume 8 (The Hound and Cinder's backstory). It was really good, if short, and it had the quality I try to hold myself to when writing this fic but I don't know if it was deleted or not. If anyone has an answer, It'd be appreciated if you'd let me know.
And when it comes to this chapter... I don't know how I feel about it. There are some segments I adore and others I don't feel too great about, but, all in all, I feel like it's acceptable. The biggest challenge I really had was getting the characters to have... original reactions. You can really only have em say the same thing so many times before it gets repetitive and I had to double check multiple times in previous chapters because I kept asking myself: "Have I written this before?" and it was killing me.
I also hope the length of over 23k words isn't too bothersome. I didn't really feel like splitting this into multiple chapters like I did with Pyrrhic Victory but, if you guys would prefer the shorter chapters, let me know and I'll make sure to split em up next time.
I'm also going to ask on how you guys felt about Ruby in particular this chapter. I tried to make her reactions realistic in a sense and I feel like I did an okay job at the very least. Just a reminder, this fic takes place in between Volume's 1 and 2. There was no fall of Beacon, Pyrrha and Penny are not dead and Ruby is still a little, naive, fairly innocent, 15 year old girl. I feel like her reaction to Qrow getting, potentially lethally, injured, the knowledge that there is someone hunting her for some reason she doesn't understand yet and Torchwick really rubbing it in that she's to blame for Qrow getting stabbed, was understandable.
So yeah, tell me what you think.
After all that, It's just the usual. Follow, favorite, give me a review if you have a suggestion or if you liked/didn't like something, throw something into my PM's if you have a question, etc. One last thing though, who would you guys like me to bring in next? I'm planning to hopefully bring in the entire cast eventually (Well, those who are important anyways.) but I'm a bit lost on who the next person should be, although I'm leaning on someone from the White Fang, like Adam, Ilia and/or Sienna. Well, with that said, I'ma head out. Thank you for reading!
