Standing on the cliff staring off he let out a hum, today was the day that the first years were beginning their first missions. He was exempt from such a thing due to his position as a single man team. Calmly staring off the edge he stopped counting the trees that made up a sea of green and turned back towards the school. He was going to have a talk with Glynda and see if he could manipulate her a bit, if not he could learn more about the school.
(o)
Entering the near empty classroom he began to make his way down the steps towards her desk, looking up from the stack of papers she looked him up and down
"Sephiroth... why are you here? Shouldn't you be deciding on a mission?" she questioned resting the paper in an empty spot on the desk
"I see no reason to venture into the world quite yet, I believe a more domestic mission would be a better choice, as you can probably tell I am not as well versed in such subtleties as the others. Making a weakness into a strength as it were." he explained standing calmly before her his eyes never once leaving hers "I believe that working with you would be beneficial for myself, given the ease in which we have functioned before." he explained earning a hum from the woman, looking over the papers for a few more moments she sighed
"I don't normally take on students, I prefer to keep the teacher student dynamic intact." she denied quickly earning a slow nod from the man
"I understand, watching the people you attach yourself to is difficult. I understand all too well... it hurts even more when they fail you." he said the smile on his face fading into a frown Glynda seemed to recognize the look in his eyes and her eyes softened as she looked into his
"Who?" she asked as he took a few steps to the left removing himself from the light and stepped into the darkness
"One of my closest friends... Genesis, he was always jealous of my power and ability... after a particularly rough training session we learned that... that he stopped healing, his wounds wouldn't close and he began to decay. He believed that made him a monster. He went crazy. Killing everyone and everything that got too close... I was forced to put him down before he killed anyone else, but I failed horrifically. I was the only survivor of his rampage... Angeal fell first... not even Zack was spared his rage. If you ever need to identify a similar monster... keep your eyes open for a single black wing." Sephiroth said in a slightly shaken tone, of course he lied about it, he wasn't beyond manipulation to achieve his ends, the only thing that gave him any true joy in this moment was the future when all was said and done he would get to look in her eyes and see the pain of betrayal and realization on her face.
"I'm... so very sorry. No one should have to experience such suffering." she said placing a hand on his arm, allowing her such a blessing it allowed him to farther his ends "I am allowed nothing but suffering, if Genesis is to be believed." Sephiroth said and again looked away from her
"I... lost my team. We were doing a routine search and destroy mission but the number of Grimm was far far larger than we anticipated... I was the only survivor, it broke something inside me, so now I teach... I'm sure you understand."
"I do... perhaps we have a few things to learn from each other." he offered earning a slow nod from the woman
"Perhaps we do... Alright, I'll talk with Ozpin and have you assigned to me, for now enjoy the time you have to yourself." she offered earning a slow nod from the man, as he slowly turned and walked out of the room a smile on his face.
Glynda sat down and opened up the file she had on Sephiroth, he was a general mystery but she had begun to take down notes on him, he seemed sadistic and controlling but what he had just told her flipped that thought on its head, perhaps such acts of cruelty were meant to push people away from him, he and Ruby Rose have a growing friendship if their training sessions were to be believed, from what she could tell he was quick to act and straight forward in all aspects, if he wanted something he would do what he was able to accomplish that end but seemed to have a soft spot for those who are survivors.
(o)
A few hours had passed and he was proud to say that he was finding it easier to claw his way into Glyndas' mind, while she found it easy to hold everyone at arms length once they were within she placed a great amount of trust in those people, add in the subtle manipulation from a small amount of mind control and she was practically a puppet, unfortunately he was unable to force her to do anything without outing his intentions so for now he was just planning to use her to influence Ozpin if he could.
Walking down the hall he stopped and stared off at the docks, his eyes caught sight of Ruby making her way onto an airship which very quickly took off towards an unknown location with a hum he reached out to her mind, unprotected and easily accessed
(o)
Ruby let out a sigh as they flew along, it was gonna take them about twenty to thirty minutes to reach Mountain Glenn, so it was gonna be a bit of time before they got their briefing looking to her left at Blake she noted that she was significantly better kept, apparently sitting her down and explaining how much effort she herself was putting forward after beating her was good enough to get her to take it a bit slower, and after what happened at the dance she was more than happy to have the team at full strength.
"Where is it you're going?" a new voice came from behind her causing to jump a foot in the air and twist around seeing the large man standing behind her, a permanent smile causing her to freeze a bit, whenever she saw him like that it scared her, like he was... looking through her
"Miss Rose?" Ooblecks voice came from the other side, turning around she noted that everyone was looking at her like she was crazy, looking back at Sephiroth he was gone, reaching a hand out into the spot she felt around a bit and found nothing "I... he... no one else saw him?" she asked looking over everyone else in the bullhead none of them recognizing the question
"Who?" Yang asked placing a hand on her sisters shoulder calming the girls nerves a bit
"Sephiroth! He was right there, he asked where we were going, you guys didn't hear him?... or see him?" she questioned earning shakes of the head from everyone
"Miss Rose, if you aren't feeling well we can turn b-"
"NO!... I mean- I'm fine. Just a little spooked when he keeps popping up out of thin air like that... and apparently only to me." she said with a quick and not at all insane laugh tacked on the end
"Hmm..." taking a step forward Oobleck took his glasses off and looked Ruby dead in the eyes "Are you certain you can continue this mission?" he asked his eyes searching hers as she answered
"I am absolutely certain." she answered causing him to place the glasses back on his face "Alright! Now than time to brush up on history-"
(o)
After the sun had set Sephiroth made his way to Mountain Glenn, landing on one of the destroyed buildings he stared down at the devastated cityscape, a smile worming it's way onto his face, soon all the human settlements will look like this. His eyes quickly caught the sight of faint fire light, dropping down from the building he slowly descended roughly a hundred stories and landed lightly and silently, making his way down the street towards the camp...
(o)
Staring off into the distance Ruby sighed, the Grimm seemed to thin out and were now just rarely coming close to them, a single Beowolf was getting close but was mainly just looking around a bit before turning and walking away as it moved it's head fell from its body and Ruby dropped her sight from the scope and looked around her eyes locking onto its fading corpse as the flames behind her dimmed, quickly turning around she stoked the flames, standing she turned back and nearly yelped when she saw the man standing where she was just sitting, tall and with long flowing white hair his eyes practically glowing in the slowly retreating darkness, his black clothes doing little to ease hear fears, the smile he wore seemed tired and his eyes sunken as he stared into hers the two stared for a few moments, no movement, turning his head he looked down below
"Meet me down there." he ordered and moments later her vision faded and quickly returned and he was gone, turning she grabbed Crescent Rose and bolted off to catch up with him
(o)
After she had left Sephiroth made his way over to Yang and placed his hand on the side of her face, causing her eyes to snap open, before she could utter a word he covered her mouth, and leaned next to her
"She will die because of you." he whispered and forced her back into unconsciousness, her mind now flooded with fear as he left nothing but a black feather behind, as Ruby reached the bottom floor she looked around and found the man walking down the middle of the street, quickly chasing after him he made no effort to show that he heard her quiet calls to wait.
Stopping in the middle of an intersection he turned to her and smiled, instinctively she smiled back.
"Why are you here?" she asked as he looked down at the ground
"Tell me. Ruby Rose, of your mother. Do you know her love?" he questioned earning a somewhat somber look from Ruby
"Well... I don't remember much. She died when I was little. What about you?" she quickly answered and Sephiroths smile grew more... disconnected
"My mothers' name is Jenova. A greater being. The apex of existence. Persevering over all other life." he answered before turning his gaze to the starry skies above "While you humans suffered and toiled in the muck and grime of your worlds she claimed lives, she evolved, absorbing all the traits of the hardy bodied races, and the superiority of intellectual races forming her wondrous makeup. I am born of her, and my will is my own. I am greater than her and this world..." he gestured around him at the ruins "This world is the next step after Gaia. Feel pride in knowing that your people will one day become apart of Jenova." he explained in a fervor causing Ruby to take a step back at the ground collapsed before she could fall though a hand grabbed her wrist, looking up at the figure she noted one thing, he held nothing but hatred in his eyes, and his smile was sewed from false promises if it wasn't unfeeling.
"You too will join the lifestream of this world. Then you will join my grand crusade." he said causing Ruby's blood to run cold "Don't worry... … the dead don't object, as you will soon learn" he added, and without hesitation released her
(o)
Sitting up Ruby quickly looked around her heart was beating ungodly fast, placing a hand on the side of her head she let out a whine, that was such a vivid dream but what did it mean? Maybe she needed to stop spending time with Sephiroth, he was popping up in her dreams and due to stress she kept seeing him. Looking around a bit she noted that Yang was sitting up still, she had bags under her eyes and seemed to be drifting to sleep, looking over she smiled at Ruby
"Glad to see you're still here." Yang muttered resting her head on her knees and went back to staring off into the ruins
"Of course I'm still here. Why wouldn't I be?" she questioned lying back down, admittedly she feels far more tired than anything else right now
"Sorry... I just had a nightmare last night, couldn't sleep after that." she answered vaguely letting her eyes close for a few moments for some consideration of rest
"Well girls, I hope you've rested plenty because we have another long day ahead. Lets go!" Oobleck ordered darting down and the out of the room, earning a groan from Yang, Ruby stood and move to wake the others, Blake was already awake and Weiss complained a bit but was ready to go. Making their way down the building and began to expand their search Ruby found a familiar area, a crossroads with a large hole in the center, walking up she looked down into the darkness
"Professor-"
"Doctor. What?" Oobleck questioned popping up next to her and following her finger downward into the darkness his mind instantly going into over drive
(o)
Resting calmly at the desk all the work Glynda had been assigned as complete and she had time to spare... and no idea how to spend it. Sephiroth and her had quite a well working relationship, he knew just what to say and completed the work she gave him very swiftly and with no mistakes, a few obvious oversights but he was no where near as experienced as she was at such a thing, and with a few moments to spare she added said corrections
"I take it that my work is satisfactory?" he questioned from his place before her desk, he seemed out of place in such a situation but coped extremly well
"Completely. With this the way it is we're prepared for all students to participate in the tournament." she said with a smile which quickly faltered when she looked up at him
"No need to worry. I never had an interest in showing off." he waved off earning a scoff from the woman
"You take on at least a team every time you walk into combat class. I think that is quite the show of showing off."
"I'd like to at least be challenged while I'm here."
"Actually that reminds me, what did you come to a combat school? For all intents and purposes you could very well take the exam and pass, no need to waste the years at school."
"I did think of that. But clearly I have a hard time providing conversation and comfort. I believe that this place can teach me such things." he said earning a nod from the woman, it made sense, he did have rather poor communication skills when it came to damage control, it seems that he leaves that to others, while he presses ahead and slays his foes.
"Tell me. Why did Ozpin employ you? Of all his choices you were the only one to be a single year out of schooling, and the other candidates were all well versed in teaching as well as discipline? So why you?" he questioned completely catching her off guard, that was such an old and forgotten question at this point
"W-Well... I was never quite sure. He never told me. But if I were to guess I would say my semblance. Similar to yours I can use Telekinesis but I can use mine to repair broken objects and the like, unfortunately I can not use mine to fly."
"Few get the chance to experience such majesty, but even still I have never seen it as anything more that breathing." he said with a shrug, earning a look of jealousy from the woman
"Not everyone can fly for most their lives. I personally feel that free flight should be something anyone can experience. A bit of freedom to ignore the worlds worries with." she voiced again, recognizing her annoyance he bows his head in a deep nod
"I suppose that is understand able, but if everyone could experience such a phenomenon it would lose it's luster." he reasoned earning a begrudging nod of agreement from the woman "Power should be protected." he added as he walked towards the exit of the room "If you need me, I will be in the library." he added before vanishing, with a hum Glynda mulled over his words, perhaps she should take to Ozpin about inviting him into the brotherhood, he was discrete, disciplined, and followed orders to the letter. Somewhat similar to Qrow, excepted that he tells them when he completes what he was asked to do, but then there was the whole situation with Shade... they should probably learn a bit more about him first.
(o)
Okay, things could be better... but they could also be a heck of a lot worse. Kicking a grunt off the train she twirled Crescent Rose behind her blocking a strike following the motion through as she spun she knocked the man away, leaping back she narrowly avoided a slash from quite a few of the grunts that were racing to meet them
"Miss Rose! With me." Doctor Ooblecks voice came as he easily danced through attacks and landed on the other side of the enemies and with a quick swing of his club knocked them all off the train
"Got it!" she called chasing after him, turning back to her team she shouted" You guys get in the train, disarm the bombs if you can and get up front as quickly as possible! Remember this is a race!" she called back turning and sprinting after Oobleck, as she ran she kept flourishing Crescent Rose knocking the grunts that Oobleck missed off the train as she followed after him. As she made her way closer she focused her Aura into enhancing her eyesight, looking down the track she noted that they have about one or two minutes before they struck the barrier between Vale and a very larger horde of Grimm, with a growing anxiety in her heart she began to move faster, ignoring more and more of the grunts as she rushed along, soon catching up to Oobleck who was dealing with a pair of Atlesian Paladins, rushing past him and sliding under the legs of one, she quickly stood and flipped into the air and landed on the arm as it spun to strike down at the man, kicking off quickly she used the momentem of the swing to launch herself farther a head, landing hard she rolled a bit before finding her footing again.
Reaching the front car she quickly hacked open the roof of the car and dropped in, looking around a bit she was greeted by Torchwick who was happily twirling his cane and looking ahead, slowly turning around he noted Ruby with a nod and leveled his weapon firing at her, as he diverted his attention from the tracks to her.
"Stop the train." she ordered "No one has to suffer." she added she really wanted to end this bloodlessly
"'No one has to suffer' she says after knocking so many animals to their untimely deaths, bit cold aren't ya?" he commented rolling his eyes
"Please! If you stop now, I... I'll let you go. I don't want to prolong this any more than I have to." that earned a full blown laugh from the man as he wiped an invisible tear from his eye he spoke again
"One way we have a wall that'll probably destroy this train, and the other a steadily growing horde of angry Grimm, where do you think I plan to go? And if I stop this train how many more 'people' will die, hm? Think of that one yet?" he questioned more out of irritation than anything else "Nah, nah, nah, you can traipse about laughing and giggling about how fun life is, but right now, you got two choices. Let this go through and deal with it then, or I kill ya and make my daring escape afterwards." he offered earning a sigh from Ruby who quickly dashed forward and began her assault, the man clearly had very limited experience against huntsman but he was very elusive, she was struggling to land any major hits and worse yet any nick that she did land wasn't deep enough to cause his aura to drain, and all he had to do was stall
(o)
Left, step back, right, over power, and go for the neck. In his mind he had slay Cloud again, his burning hatred for that man seemed only fester the longer he lived. Such a worthless creature deserves the greatest suffering anything could ever bare. Slowly his eyes reopened and he looked around the arena he was standing in littered in every direction were the shattered remains of different training dummies. Turning on his heel he began to walk as the sounds of an alarm began to blare over head, looking up at it he recognized it as the Grimm insurgence alarm. Making his way outside he looked towards the city and noted that a large pillar of smoke was coming from a far off location. Floating into the air he began to make his way towards the commotion
(o)
Ringing... lots and lots, of ringing. Slowly looking around everything was blurred a bit yet quickly focused, reaching to her side she grabbed Crescent Rose and used it to stand, looking around she felt her heart drop, Civilians, lots of them... panicking. The Grimm began to rush from the wound in the earth like black blood rushing about and assaulting the city and it's people doing her best she began to hack and slash, mere moments passed before she realized there were far too many for her to deal with alone, even though with every movement of her weapon she killed at least two. Slowly rising from the ruble were Weiss Blake and Yang, all of whom were struggling just as she did to recover from the crash, but so long as she was their focus the civilians could get away to the shelters scattered around and wait for the all clear, she just had to keep fighting.
(o)
landing on a nearby roof top he looked down at the creatures, they were mostly concentrated on Ruby but many others were making their way out into the city, unfortunately her team didn't seem to be prepared for battle yet leaving her alone. Smiling he dropped down and impaled a Beowolf, making his way towards the girl he began to cut through swaths of Grimm eventually making his way to her as she finished off a small group, landing in a crouch she quickly forced herself up and looked over her shoulder catching sight of sliver and black
"Finally." she commented sarcastically though deep breaths "Ideas?" she questioned leaping out of the way of a slash from a beast, Sephiroth spun as she leapt cutting down all the creatures that came too close, stopping quickly he twisted his weapon around and pushed it forward piercing the throat of a large bear causing it to quickly fade into dust.
Landing on a large Death Stalker Ruby forced her blade through the armor with a shriek it thrashed around a bit before finally turning to dust, quickly dashing over to her teammates she shook her sister awake, slowly blinking her eyes open she looked up at Ruby but quickly stood and readied herself while attempting to wipe exhaustion from her eyes
"We gotta clear them out and fast." Ruby said looking over her shoulder as a Beowolf was cleaved in half by Blake who looked slightly disoriented, quickly moving to Weiss she shook her a bit causing her to quickly sit up and look around
"Grimm gotta go." Ruby summarized pulling the woman to her feet "Take it slow." she then advised, quickly turning she moved to aide Sephiroth as he casually cut through creature after creature without a worry on his face
A/N Volume 2 is coming to an end so soon we'll be getting into da meat and potatoes of why were all here (Hopefully, if you're not here for what I'm here for then you may not enjoy the next few chapters as much) suffering.