"So, this is an Arcus Unit?" Ozpin held the device he had been given by Ruby close to his face, examining it throughout.
"And these things allow you to use magic spells?" Winter asked sceptical. "I'm sorry, but this entire story sounds like a fairy tale to me."
"But what would they gain from lying, especially after the entrance they made." Qrow scoffed, not happy with the Atlesian specialist doubting his nieces. "There story can be verified by a simple test. A failed demonstration would expose their story immediately."
The four girls of team RWBY nodded. They had expected such a demand.
"Professor Ozpin, would you kindly open a window?" Weiss requested, standing up to prepare herself for the demonstration.
"Please hold on a moment." Winter intervened. All eyes in the room turned towards the older Schnee sibling. "I request that another one of your teammates performs the demonstration."
Multiple voices of displeasure got loud, but the headmaster silenced them with one handwave. "May I ask for the reason of your request?"
"Yeah." Qrow threw in, disregarding the disappointed look that Ozpin was giving him. "Don't you trust them even a little? Not even your own sister?" The venom in his voice was clearly heard.
"Weiss is my sister," Winter agreed before continuing ", but this story is so much bigger than anticipated. If we want to learn the truth, we must exclude any disruptive factor that could call the result into question." A colourful glyph appeared beside her. "And as you all know, the Schnee family has a powerful Semblance that allows the manipulation of the elements themselves if used correctly." A gust of wind blew threw the office, coming from the summoned glyph. "And a well trained Schnee can even influence the size of the glyph." As Winter explained, the Glyph got smaller, but the breeze continued to fly through the office.
"And you think your sister is going to cheat with her Semblance." Qrow wasn't convinced. "Why?"
"Because the entire timing seems suspicious. Think about it, four girls getting wished away into another world before a big fighting tournament just to return with enough time to compete?" Winter closed her eyes. "It simply fits too perfectly."
"You didn't answer my question." Qrow shot back.
Winter wasn't disturbed. "I think you know how gambling works, right?" the specialist asked without opening her eyes. "Do you know, how much you can win by betting on a newcomer team participating for the first time?"
"Enough to get me drunk for an entire week." The male huntsman muttered.
"That's the case if you bet only 100 or 200 Lien. Increase the bet, and you can live without a care for multiple years." The older Schnee sibling explained. "And to make sure that your bet works, you can try to influence the tournament in advance, by simply making an unassuming team much stronger than their competition. In these criteria, Team RWBY actually fits the needed criteria pretty well: four talented young girls at their first Vytal festival. Nothing too impressive to their names while also not too bland, making their chance of winning not completely obvious but not impossible either."
"You seemed to have thought this through, Miss Schnee." The headmaster lowered his head, before continuing. "As such I agree with you. Please, let somebody else of you team do it."
The girls looked at each other, before Weiss sat down and Blake stood up. "May I get mine and Weiss' Arcus?" Seeing the confused looks she was given, she continued "We prepared Weiss' unit with weaker spells to prevent any property damage while demonstrating Arts. If she isn't allowed to do the demonstration, I need to prepare my unit accordingly."
The three adults looked at each other, before Qrow gave the device he had gotten from the Faunus girl back to her. Weiss and Blake opened their Arcus Units and with trained hands, changed a few small, round objects called Quartz. After some seconds the speheres lit up for a second and Blake nodded. "Everything is prepared." she announced and moved towards the window.
Closing her eyes, she took a breath and activated the machine in her hand. "Arcus activate!" Multiple rings appeared around her, shocking Qrow and Winter, while Ozpin looked closer. "Air Strike!" Strong winds erupted inside the office for a moment, before they were condensed in what appeared to be a ball and shot out of the office window. Before one of the adults could say something, Blake activated her Arcus again. This time the Faunus used "Aqua bleed", which resulted in water being drawn out of the air and being used in a similar fashion as the air bullet before. In one last demonstration Blake summoned fire and shot it out.
After finishing the third spell she turned around. "Is this proof enough?" she asked.
"Yes. I have no objection." The older Schnee sibling answered. During the third spell she hadn't looked at the casting girl, but at her sister. Only after seeing her doing nothing to support her team mate, she was satisfied.
"I can't believe it. This is magic." Qrow stuttered. "There is no way this is natural."
"Nope." Yang corrected her uncle. "This is science. Couldn't believe it ourselves when we first witnessed it, though." The blond brawler lent backwards into her chair. "And believe me, against real magic this is just a parlor trick."
"Wait!" Ozpin threw in "Does this mean you four witnessed real magic?"
Qrow could hear the well-hidden worry in the headmaster's voice. He had been working with Ozpin too long not to notice it. And he could understand him perfectly. In Remnant there were only four possible magic users. If they encountered one, that could mean one of two things. Either they found one that Ozpin was looking for or they had a run of with the one that had stolen her power. Qrow prayed that it wasn't the latter. Unlike Winter, who seemingly accepted the story of his niece and her team, he wasn't completely convinced yet. The short demonstration of the Arcus Unit was convincing, but the huntsman also knew how quick technology could advance. It could be possible that these otherworldly devices were going to pop up everywhere after the Vytal festival, once Team RWBY had demonstrated their usefulness in practical combat. "I really need a drink." He murmured, trying to stop his thoughts from spiralling out of control.
"It's true." Blake, who had just sat down, restarted the conversation. "We witnessed magic first hand. We know how powerful it can be."
"Who was it?" Ozpin asked, hiding his fear behind a mask of fatherly curiosity. Similar to Qrow he feared for the girls. If they had contact with a maiden, they could also be known to her. Maybe they were even working for her, unknowingly.
"Emma, our class president. She is a witch." Ruby answered. Suddenly she noticed how that sounded and added hastily "But she is a good witch, not a bad one. She was always nice and helpful."
Suddenly Ozpin started laughing. "It's nice to see that you haven't changed, Miss Rose." he admitted after calming down, his black thoughts being banished for the moment. "But you don't need to worry. We won't judge her just because of the title she holds. If you say, that she is a good witch, then I believe you."
"At least she isn't a Goodwitch." Yang threw in, but was met with silence. "Come on, that was funny."
"Miss Xiao Long, I appreciate your effort, but please hold back further jokes regarding my colleagues. I'm sure Professor Goodwitch has prepared more than enough work for you to make up for the last few weeks and I don't want to increase her workload." The headmaster leaned backwards. "You know how she can be. Are we clear?" A cold shiver ran over Yang's back and she nodded quickly. "Well, then let us return to your story, please."
"Wait a moment before we continued." Qrow suddenly spoke up. "You said, that Emma was a good witch. Does that mean that you also met evil witches?"
The four girls looked at one another. It was Ruby who answered. "Yes, there was one." She admitted. "Unlike Emma however, her identity is related to something huge. Telling you without the proper setup would make the entire story even more complicated than it already is, that's why we didn't mention her before."
"But this Emma doesn't?" Qrow asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Emma was always with us." His niece continued. "And even though she hid her status as a witch, she didn't impact our journey all that much before revealing it. As such, there is no harm in revealing her now."
"And the second one?" Qrow pressed on.
"Do you want us to go on about Zemurian politics now?" Yang threw in annoyed. "She is connected to one big organization, that has it's hands in practically anything big happening in Zemuria. That is the short version."
Before Qrow could give a response, Ozpin intervened. "We understand. It's just not everyday that you hear about witches becoming real." He leaned forwards. "Please continue."
Ruby nodded and started. "As we already told you, we received our Arcus units and trained with them the rest of the week. During these days we also got our school uniforms. All in all you can say, that everything went fine for four girls who just jumped into another universe. But at the upcoming trip we all got our first real taste of Erebonian politics."
xXx
And welcome to the next chapter. It's a return to Remnant and how Ozpin, Qrow and Winter received the story up until now. Just to make one thing clear: these three aren't stupid or antagonistic towards Team RWBY. It's just that a story about travelling to another world sounds very unbelievable.
There also is a reason to the difference in reaction towards the Arcus from Qrow and Winter. Qrow for example knows about technology which doesn't seem to be public knowledge (like the Aura Transfer device). For him it is possible, that these Arcus Units were developed by someone in Remnant and given to RWBY for some purpose (like marketing). Winter on the other hand knows about the military technology of her home kingdom of Atlas. She knows that something like an Arcus Unit doesn't exist there. At the same time she is military specialist. In this role I doubt she would simply buy any story told to her, even so one of the story teller is her sister Weiss.
Thanks for everyone who liked, followed and commented this story. It's always a blast to see you guys. And for Dcraus personally, here are my actual standpoints on certain parinings for Team RWBY:
Ruby Rose - Rean Schwarzer (potential): As of now, I don't have decided which girl will end up with Rean. Ruby can be an easy going counterpart to Rean's more selfconscious side and her Silver Eyes could develop an interesting reaction when combined with his Ogre Power. I simply must see, how I will continue the story to see if Miss Rose has a chance with Rean.
Weiss Schnee - Jusis Albarea (sure): Similar backstory, but both grew differently when faced with their hardship. Yet, I can see them complementing each other.
Blake Belladonna - Machias Regnitz (sure): See Weiss Schnee - Jusis Albarea.
Yang Xiao Long: I can see Yang working well with two potential characters. On the one hand we have Gaius. Both are the older sibling, who care deeply for their family, but them combined are like a raging fire and a calming wind. They support each other and I think that it would complement Yang more if she has someone who isn't so over the top. On the other hand there is Angelica. It is Yuri, but there love for unarmed combat as well as a more free live style can connect them. Similar to Ruby I will have to see how I will continue the story to make a final decision here.
Thank you for reading and have a nice day.
