Chapter 10:
Bad Paths
Qrow made it to Ozpin's office and walked out of the elevator. The headmaster looked up to see Qrow. "Did Glynda send you here because of Cardin Winchester? Because she told me that she was not going to bug you about it."
"No Oz it's not about that. We got that handled. Although Glynda and I did have a little chat about why you act differently around Ruby."
Ozpin winced at hearing that. "So she knows that…?"
"That Ruby is your granddaughter and my daughter. Yeah you've been kind of out of it since you got to see Ruby again. So, might as well tell her now instead of her asking Jimmy which would have been fine. But if she asked the rest of our little secret group and if the mole was still with us."
Oz nods. "Then Salem would know for sure. I get that but if it's not Glynda or Winchester then what did you come here for?"
Qrow puts his hands down on the desk and sighs.
"Ruby inherited it."
At hearing this Oz frowned. "Which one are we talking about Qrow? Ruby has many things she can and has inherited."
"The Branwen shift-mix semblance."
At hearing this Ozpin's eyes widened. "You mean Raven's and yours hereditary semblance. Which involves some short of shape shifting and then something else that corresponds with it? Like you turning into a crow and because you can turn into a crow you have bad luck."
"That's the one."
"But how? She got her speed first and normally a Branwen will find their shifting form before finding the other half. When Ruby activated her speed I thought she wouldn't inherit the Branwen shift-mix semblance. What happened today that makes you think she inherited it?" He leaned forward eager to know.
"Well as you know today I decided to go one on one with my students and Ruby was the first one to go. So as we fought something happened, and well… You know that when Ruby uses her semblance to run she leaves behind rose petals?"
Ozpin nodded his head and Qrow kept on going. "Well we had our scythes clashed at each other's. Ruby tried to use her semblance to get out of there but instead of her running and leaving behind rose petals. She literally turned into rose petals. Then said petals split into two different groups and they moved fast behind me. But as she remerged from the rose petals she fell and landed on her butt. I was scared half to death after that happened!"
Ozpin's eyes were wide and his mouth was wide open in shock. "I don't even know how I should respond to that."
Qrow took out his flask and began to drink from it. "Look I'm fine with her inherited it. In fact I'm proud that she did. But if she sees me turn into a crow or someone tell her about how Raven and I can turn into birds. As well as tell her it is hereditary… She is going to start asking questions. Questions that will only lead her to the truth."
Ozpin sighs. "It maybe for the best that this has happened."
Qrow looked confused at Ozpin. "Oz? What do you mean it might be for the best?"
Ozpin stood up and walked to his window. "I've been thinking about the best way we should tell Ruby."
"And?"
Ozpin turned around and looked at Qrow. "I hate to say this but, it might be best if we only tell her the truth a little at a time. Like first reveal one of us to her and as soon as she has fully accepted one truth we add more. We'll leave Salem, me being the wizard, and her eyes for last. We will just give her the info about us being her family. I just didn't know which one of us should go first."
Qrow widen his eyes at hearing that. "You mean you want me to tell her I'm her real dad. But leave you, Salem and the rest of it out for now. Oz! Ruby has a pretty good idea that someone killed Summer! She is going to ask who it was, how am I going to get her to not bug me about it?! As well as not tell her that you're her Grandfather?!"
"Just tell her that that information is not yet allowed to be given for her safety."
Ozpin sighed, pinching his temples. "If I remember correctly Ruby is not the type to keep looking when she is told not to. Just like her mother and Lunar to a T that one. At least as long as Yang doesn't talk her into it at least. As she said she is willing to wait for some time. I think she will be willing to wait for the rest if she is at least given something."
At hearing that Qrow rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah I guess, but I'll need some time to do it. I kind of thought that she was going to get it all in one go and that you'll be telling her all of it. With me filling in some parts now and then. So I don't know how I'll go about it yet."
Ozpin went back to his seat. "That is fine Qrow. Just let me know before or after you tell her as well as let me know what you told her so I can plan what to tell her next."
Qrow nodded his head. "Alright I will, sounds like a plan, night Oz."
"Good night Qrow."
…
A few weeks have passed since Qrow spoke to Oz about how they would go about telling Ruby the truth. Qrow still had no ideal on how he should tell Ruby that he was her real dad. Team RWBY and Team JNPR were eating lunch at the time. Team CRDL was picking on Velvet once again by Cardin pulling on one of her ears again, to the point that she was in tears. Yang took a picture and send it to Qrow which Russel saw that. "Hey Yang! Taking a pic of us having fun?"
Yang only smirked. "Oh I did take a picture of you guys picking on Velvet and sent it to my Uncle Qrow. And just so you know he hates racial discrimination. Which our next class after lunch is with him and he just got done with the last one on one fight from our last class. So I wonder who will be the first group fight today."
At hearing that Cardin let go of Velvet's ear his eyes began to widen at the thought of fighting with Qrow again. Let along Qrow being mad at him again. *Aw rats, I should've known that Yang would have his number. And I don't have what I need to beat Qrow down yet, this is not good.*
…
After lunch everyone went to Qrow's class only to see a box that had some rabbit ears in them. "Ah Team CRDL. I got Yang's pic of you guys picking on Velvet so I got something for you four so come here."
They did as they were told and walked up to Qrow. Qrow picked up one of the rabbit ears and put some of his aura into them then he put them on Cardin. Once he was done he repeated the process until each one of them had rabbit ears. "Alright I'm done; all you have to do is where they until I take them off."
At hearing that Cardin smirks. "Yeah right! Like I'm going to be walking around with these things on."
Cardin then tried to pull on them to get them off when all he got was. "Ouch! Hey what gives?!"
He tried to take them off again only to feel pain. As if the ears were real and were a part of his head. The rest of Team CRDL tried to do the same but all they got was pain as well. Everyone in the classroom was both shocked and confused as to what was happening. Qrow only smirked at the boys. "Ah see that those ears aren't normal toy ears. Ruby's mom invented them, they are fake ears that if you put aura into them and place them on someone's head. They will stick on to them as if they are born with them and the only way they can come off. Is if the one who puts aura into them take them off. Patent and all schools have permission to use them on human students who are being racist. The sad thing is half the schools do it because most teachers either don't know about it, can't use aura, or racist themselves So as I said until I take them off you are stuck with them, and if people do pick on you for it I won't bother. After all this is your chance to see and feel what it is like to be judged for having animal ears. Now take your seats."
They did as they were told. "And don't try cutting them off, you will feel it, and you will bleed, and it is your blood!"
Needless to say Cardin is furious, and his teammates are a mix of confused and shocked. They can do nothing but walk away for now.
At hearing the class all smiled happy about getting to skip class for the day. Qrow picked up a pile of papers. "I just want to give you all your battle evaluation."
Everyone just looked at him wondering what she was talking about. "These evaluations are from me about how I thought you did when you fought one on one with me. I will give these to you from time to time but they will normally be given to your team leader. But since I did one on one each of you has one for yourself. I will call out your name you'll come up take it and then you can go."
Everyone was a little nervous at finding out what they got. "So let's get this over with… Jaune Arc!"
Jaune walked up to Qrow and the new teacher gave him a sheet of paper that read. {You and your partner go straight to my office we need to have a talk. My room in the teacher offices is room 173, and if you need to know where that is. It is the room that is by Ozpin's office elevator room 003. Only bring your partner no one else.}
Jaune paled at seeing that and headed for the door.
…
"Pyrrha Nikos!"
Pyrrha walked up next and took hers and looked at it. {Hey make sure you and your partner comes to my office right away. He might try to get out of it by not bringing it up my office is room 173 in room 003. You can find room 003 by Ozpin's office elevator. Now about my thought about you. You are a great fighter around the same level as Ruby; I almost used my scythe forum on you. But you do have a few week points' the biggest is holding back on your semblance.
Look I know that yours is polarity and since most weapons can be affected by that you may think it is cheating. Which I don't care everyone who fights uses their semblance. So if you don't use yours, you are just letting them cheat on you. This school is meant to help you all grow and be ready for the real world. I had a classmate who had the same semblance as you. No joke, polarity has happened before and someone is borne with that semblance at random times.
Yours and his being the closest time gap with each other. Anyways he always felt like using it was cheating so he held back at school. Do you know what happened to him? He was sent out on a mission in this ghost town that had a factory in it that had a lot of metal in it. He got attacked by someone who was a better fighter and got killed. The only reason he was killed was the attacker's semblance was fire and he could use his semblance to the fullest. When my old classmate was not as good because he held back in the past.
Look I'm only saying this because I don't want a repeat of that if I can help it. I don't care if you have to go one on one with me once a month to work on your semblance. If it means you'll use it more to get better at it then fine. Your other weak points are not that big right now that I don't need to point them out right away. So I'll let you try and figure them out on your own for now and if you can't find them I'll bring them up on a later date. Other than that good work and keep it up.}
Pyrrha looked at it one more time before going after Jaune.
...
Qrow kept on calling out names. "Weiss Schnee!"
Weiss walked up and grabbed hers as she walked out of the room she looked at it. {As I told you in class that it is okay to use fighting styles that your family uses. But at the same time don't just copy them and become a fighting clone of them. Take what you learn from your family, friends, teachers, and even enemies. And make what you take from them your own.
Your enemies are not robots that fighting one way are going to work. Every fight will be different so treat it as such, also here is a dust trick I picked up you may not know about. Take a little of fire, ice, water, and a lot of wind dust and hit your enemy with it. Grimm or not they will hallucinate for half an hour. Just don't try it on me it won't work my sister used it on me so many times that I became immune to that dust trick.
Also since you're my favorite Schnee here's a warning: Watch out for your dad, if you think your sister gave up her title as heiress. Then you have another thing coming your dad took it from her when he thought he couldn't control her anymore. And he will do it again if he sees that you are no longer in his control and give the title to your brother.
If he calls, talk to him but always change the topic. When it comes to him asking you to come back home or having you go to Atlas instead. If you must lay to him as if your life depends on it. Just make sure they are that you can make him believe for the rest of his life. And above all else do not ever talk about the company at all. I mean don't tell him that he is bringing the company down or he is ruining the family name. Make him think that you are on his side but you are just trying to do so hear at Beacon I hope to see you grow more.
Also you might want to copy the dust trick down and burn this paper. Don't want your dad ever seeing this, now do we.}
Weiss reread the part about her father and thought it might be best to send him a letter. Telling him that she is doing well and that she is working hard to make him proud. Just so that he won't get any ideas of doing to her as he did to Winter.
…
"Cardin Winchester!"
Cardin walked up only to get the biggest packet of papers in his life. "What the dust! What is all this?!"
Qrow gave a stern look. "That is a list of all the things you need to improve on. Just be glad that I waited until your team was the last people here. Since all four of you have the biggest packets in the class."
"That is not fair! I saw Arc only getting one sheet of paper and he is the worst fighter here!"
"That is for me to know and you to not care about. He is not in your team so don't worry about it. Just focus on your own team and yourself. Now get and study for Ports test."
Finally this makes Cardin snap and he bashes the nearest wall and absorbs the stone debris into his arms before anyone can even react. He tries to punch his combat teacher in the face, but Qrow is far faster on the Draw, and this time Cardin does get a blast of military grade Fire dust buckshot. It's so powerful not only is Cardin thrown off his feet, but though the wall into the next classroom.
Cardin is still hacking and coughing when Qrow enters the classroom where Glynda WAS teaching. She just glares at Qrow and points to the door when he comes through the hole Cardin made. The message loud and clear he drags the still dazed redhead out the door. He grabs the would be huntsman by the collar and leers at him "Could you care to explain that outburst just now?" "I am not a racist, so take these godsdamned cursed ears the FUCK OFF ME!" he screams indignantly. "Explain" Qrow says. "I just wanted a fair fight between me and her after I saw her semblance the first day, but NOOOO, stuck up second year bitch is too good for me and has refused me every time I have asked!" Cardin bellows insulted. At this Qrow cracks up and begins laughing. "What's so funny?" "You are bullying a girl because she refused to fight you; this is the most 'Winchester' situation I have ever heard! HA-AH-HA HA AH!" Qrow continues laughing in absolute hysterics until Cardin interrupts him "Now could you please take the ears off? They're chafing my head." "HA-Ha-No, you need to learn respect Kid, specifically what the word "NO" means, it doesn't mean "harass and bully until my target says yes! Jackass" Qrow quips. "Oh but do keep the antics up, you become my favourite source of entertainment this semester!" Qrow says with a laugh. "Gee thanks, as fun as this has been I'm gonna be late for my next class, so see ya later Mister Branwen" Cardin says with Venom as he runs off. "Don't forget the Long Range Weapon next time!" Qrow yells at him. I won't, and when I do, you won't be laughing anymore Branwen. Cardin thinks angrily to himself, fists clenched.
…
Qrow walked to his office and saw Jaune and Pyrrha were standing by his door. He walked up to them and unlocked his door and let them in. The three walked in Qrow closed the door and locked it so no one would walk in, the rooms were sound-proof. So Qrow didn't worry about Cardin and his team, or anyone else for that matter eavesdropping and the three took a seat. "Okay first off Jaune, Oz and I are the only one who knows the truth but I think your partner has a right to know. So either you tell her right now or I will, and no you are not in trouble for it Oz decided to let it slide. But that won't last if things don't change. So start with your partner, you don't have to tell the rest of your team but you do need to tell your partner."
Pyrrha was confused about what Qrow just said and looked at her partner. "Jaune… what is he talking about?"
Jaune looked at her then back at Qrow and side he knew he couldn't keep it up anymore. "I… I faked my way into Beacon my documents were fake. I just really wanted to become a huntsman so badly but my Mom babied me and wouldn't let me train, not with Dad, not with my sisters, no one. So I got fake documents grabbed my great grandfather's sword and left. They know I'm here and they aren't doing anything about it. Because they think that Professor Ozpin will send me home any day now and if he doesn't then they'll just let me be."
Pyrrha was shocked at what she just heard. Qrow looked at the boy and felt bad for the kid, Jaune in a way reminded him of Ruby when it came to wanting to be a huntsman. Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's hand he looked up to see her smiling. "I don't care if you faked your way in. Jaune, Professor Ozpin sees something in you and so do I. I can help you learn how to fight. We can go on one of the roofs of the school and work on your sword fighting as well as your use of your shield. I can help if you let me."
Qrow smiled at what he was seeing. This is what he wanted to see and was hoping for. If Pyrrha helped him then Jaune could make it. But if Jaune didn't take her offer then it was only a matter of time before Jaune would get kicked out. Jaune looked shocked at Pyrrha. "You mean that?"
"Of course, in fact let me help you study for Ports test and then tomorrow we start our private training."
"Sure thank you Pyrrha it means a lot."
"Alright then now that is settled you two can go. And remember no one but Oz and me knows this. If any of the other teachers found out they might make Oz kick you out so I wouldn't tell anyone about this for now. And you might want to wait on telling the rest of your team about it for a little longer. Now go you got a test to study for."
And with that Qrow opened the door and let them go. Truth be told this talk was the real reason as to why he let the class skip. After his fight with Jaune he knew that something had to be done and fast. Qrow winced at that remembering that fight.
…
The last member of Team CRDL pick Jaune to go next just to make themselves look good. So Jaune got up and stood in front of Qrow. Qrow thought that it would be best if he at least look like he was taking Jaune as a real fighter. "All right begin."
Jaune ran up to him and Qrow used his sword to block it, and then he put more pressure to his sword. This pushed Jaune back and made him stumble a little. Qrow ran up to Jaune to hit with his sword. But then Jaune used his shield to somewhat block and just randomly swung his sword. Which the oddest thing happened, his sword accidentally cut Qrow on his cheek. That shocks not only Qrow but the whole class and Jaune. In fact it shocked both Qrow and Jaune so much that when Qrow swung his sword one more time, the sword hit Jaune's shield so hard that it made Jaune fly to one of the walls and knocked him out cold. Pyrrha and Ren had to take Jaune to the nurse's office. Which Jaune was in there out cold for three straight days.
…
Qrow touched his fully healed cheek. *I know that Pyrrha didn't help Jaune in the fight. She hates using her semblance as is for her own fights. So she wouldn't do in in the classroom, plus I didn't feel her semblance kick in until I fought her. No one else could've been able to help him, so he did that on his own.*
At that moment Qrow smirked. "I'm either getting old, or I was careless. Or it was dumb luck which I doubt since I'm a bad luck charm to others, or he does have some huntsmen in him." He says to himself.
…
Weiss got done writing her letter for her father and was heading to the school's post office. She hated that the letter was not about how she really wanted to say to her father. But as Qrow wrote in that now brunt evaluation. If her dad knew how she truly felt about him and how he ran the family business. Then he would just take it from her and give it to her brother. Weiss shuttered at the thought, she could already tell that he was like their father. She didn't want him to ever become the heir to the company.
As Weiss turned a corner Weiss saw Professor Ozpin walking her way and he saw her. "Oh Miss Schnee, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Qrow's class right now?"
"Oh Professor Qrow gave our class off today because of Professor Port's test tomorrow. And I thought I drop this letter to the schools post office first before going back to studying."
Ozpin smiled. "I see that was nice of him."
"Yeah it was he also gave us evaluation sheets and what he put in mine was really helpful."
"I see well I should be going, but before I do I wanted to show you something, that I forgot to show you for some time."
Weiss only nodded her head and Ozpin pulled out his scroll and got what he wanted and showed it to Weiss. Weiss looked at it only to see the beowolfs she and Ruby fought during the initiation. Weiss's eyes widened as she saw what was happening just before she was about to make a move. A beowolf did indeed sneak up behind her to kill her and
Ruby did saw it. "Look out!"
Ruby ran up to the beowolf and killed it with Crescent Rose scythe form. Weiss saw herself attack hit the tree with fire. "Hey what was that for?!"
"You mean saving you from the Beowolf that was coming behind you to kill you!"
"That so was not happening!"
"We have to go!"
Weiss saw herself grabbed Ruby by the arm and made a break for it. She saw that once they got away Ruby pulled away from Weiss. "What was that?! That should've been easy!"
"Well maybe if you didn't distract me and caused a forest fire!"
"Well if you would have started to fight right away and not just stand there. I wouldn't have had to save you from that beowolf that was coming from behind you!"
"That didn't happen you are just making it up!"
"I am not you can go to a teacher and ask them since they are watching!"
""Fine I will in fact! Whichever teacher is watching us right now! You can go to Ozpin and tell him to come to both of us and tell us who is telling the truth!"
Ozpin then turned off the video and looked at Weiss. Only to see her eyes wide, her mouth opened wide as well, and her letter on the floor. He put away the scroll and picked up the letter. "I normally don't show student's video clips of their initiation. But I thought I should show you that since you asked me to tell you who was right. Also that was one of the first things that told me you were not leader material."
He handed her back her letter and walked off sipping his mug. Weiss was still in shock, almost in tears, but then shook her head and went on her way. Trying to come up with a way to make it up to Ruby.
...
The Same Evening...
Today just happened to be Cardin's 18th Birthday, which meant the trust, he inherited from his father and mother was now fully his. He wasn't as quite as well off as the Schnees of the world, but he was pretty secure. He walked into the local Tezlaan ready to purchase a brand new weapon. He takes a brief gander at all the weapons throughout the shop. Then he takes out the blueprints he painstakingly created over the past few days, and grins with satisfaction. He then walks up to the cute brunette salesclerk "Hi, welcome to Tezlaan Weapons and Munitions, helping Huntsman, Bounty Hunters, Law Enforcement, Armed Forces all over Remnant and all other Discerning customers meet all their Firearms and ammunition needs in store or digitally since 98 AGW!" she chirps of perkily. "Yeah, I'm here to make a Customized order" Cardin says, handing her the blueprints.
The Clerk's eyes widen "This... will be quite costly sir". Cardin just smiles his most charming smile and hands her his Lien Credit Card "Trust me; money is no object for me". "All righty then!" is her reply as she plugs his card into the reader, and after 10 seconds beeps in approval. "Will that be all sir?" "No, I'd also like one of those Vale 11 pistols you have there, but swap out the metal grip for a stone one" Cardin replies. The clerk was curious, but knew better than to ask personal questions. "Would you like Ammunition with that Sir?" "Yeah I'll take that box of 500 regular rounds right there and about 100 of Dust rounds of Fire, Ice and Wind, Oh and a holster and some Magazines please". Cardin says, satisfied. "That will be all sir?" the Clerk asks him. "Yeah, that's all for now" "Huntsman or-" "Student, first year at Beacon Academy, my Dorm Room is 504, so when can I expect my weapon to be completed?" Cardin asks.
"For something of that complexity, about a week and we provide delivery to Beacon Academy students free of charge, but first I need your Beacon ID, to prove you're a Beacon student" she says. Cardin reaches into his wallet and pulls out his student ID. She beeps it with her scanner. "Done, you'll get you're completed weapon in about a week from now Mr... Winchester" She says.
Cardin has finished putting on the holster and putting the rest of his items in his satchel. "Please, Call me Cardin" he says as he walks out.
"My pleasure Cardin BigSpender, you may have just earned me a promotion" the clerk says happily to herself.
Apologies for this taking longer than I planned, but July was... frustrating. I hope you enjoyed.
