Qrow walked into the kitchen massaging the side of his head, Akame was sat in the living room with Oscar but she had yet to say anything to him, Neo greeted them at the door with a smile which quickly turned into a scowl when she looked at him. He didn't care and he needed something to get over his hangover with.
"Welcome back Qrow." Ren greeted from the table where he was drinking some tea, Qrow nodded at him
"You should grab the others and head into the living room, we got a few things to talk about." Qrow said earning a nod from the boy, he stood placed the drink in the sink and left to join Akame in the living room, poring himself a cup of coffee he turned to find Ruby. If he was a betting man he would guess she was on the training grounds, walking down stairs he heard nothing, no sounds of fighting or training
"Ruby?" he called reaching the bottom he found her leaning against the railing sleeping peacefully with a sigh he nudged her with his foot causing her to jump
"Wha... uncle Qrow?" she asked as he knelt down and held the coffee out to her, taking it she took a drink of it and gagged
"Ew! How can you drink that black!?" she asked earning a chuckle from him
"Come on, we got a few things to talk about, and someone to introduce you all to." Qrow avoided walking towards the stairs "So why were you sleeping in the arena?"
"I got tired after a few exercises so I decided to relax... maybe a little too much." Ruby answered with an awkward laugh
"Don't push yourself too hard, remember you need your rest. How have repairs on Crescent Rose been coming?" Qrow asked as they walked up the stairs
"They are coming... but I don't feel the drive anymore. You know like how I used to get all excited about upgrading her. I don't feel that anymore." Ruby answered in a tired tone
"Well. That might just be a part of growing up, or maybe you don't wanna fix the firing mechanism again, how many times did it take you to get it right last time again?" Qrow snarked as he pulled the door to the kitchen open
"Shut up! Yours is a shotgun that's way easier to make than a sniper!" Ruby quickly defended
"That's debatable, at least I didn't blow up the barrel of my gun." Qrow snarked earning a playful growl from Ruby
"Shut up! My girlfriend could beat you up!" Ruby shouted earning a laugh from Qrow
"Probably, but my daughter could kick both our asses." Qrow commented earning a hum of disapprove from Ruby even if it might be true
(o)
With a sigh Yang sat down on the side of the road
"My feet hurt~ why do I always deal with this~ I need~ new shoes." Yang sang as she wiped sweet from her forehead, after resting for a while she stood and began to walk down the road she was still on, the hope of running into a building or something was still in her heart
"I hate singing~ but I don't have anything else to do~ so I might as well~ sing~." Yang sung again, she found that it was good for complaining to no one and provided some form of entertainment, walking along she groaned not being able to talk to anyone, "It's part of my mission to remain mostly unknown to all civilians but I've been constantly on my own for almost a month, But I wasn't really prepared for the isolation but if Weiss can sing about it I can deal with it"... she then realized that she was talking out loud
"Great, now I cant distinguish between my thoughts and what I'm saying... how am I going to hold a conversation anymore?" Yang questioned as she walked towards a small building in the distance
(o)
Leone groaned as she was tossed into the cell, the guards then walked away, she predicted correctly, she was deprived of her boots, sleeves, and pants, sitting up in the cell she glared at the guards
"Coulda warned me that this place was a kennel." Leone commented as she stood and looked around the barren cell, it was a cage and three sides with a stone wall at the back and a single door in front of her, the ceiling was also formed of cage but it had some chains on it with shackles on those
"Quiet human." ordered the guard earning a snort from Leone
"No, you toss me in a cell then want me to not complain? HA! If there's anything I can do it's complain about my current situation. Fuck off." Leone quickly complained earning a growl from the guard
"I said QUIET!" He shouted slamming his fist into the bars earning a chuckle from Leone
"Can I at least know where you took my clothes?" Leone asked pacing in the cell
"No." he answered earning a hum from Leone, she began to knock on each of the bars of the cell, each let out a dull metallic clanging
"Stop, now." the guard ordered earning a hum from Leone as she continued to knock "I said stop it, now." he growled
"Well I'm bored, so... no." Leone denied as she continued knocking on the bars
"I could shoot you." he said earning a hum from Leone who continued to knock on the bars
"Be my guest, you'd shoot yourself first." Leone laughed coldly, it frightened him
"Is that a threat?" he asked turning towards her
"It's a promise." Leone corrected walking up to the bars in front of the man with a sadistic smile on her face
"You..." he stuttered out but quickly cleared his throat "Step back." he said cocking the gun on his belt Leone leaned closer to him
"Why don't you?" Leone countered causing him to take a few steps back, Leone scoffed at him then went back to knocking on the bars
(o)
Qrow let out a sigh as Ruby sat down next to Jaune, all four of them; herself Jaune Nora and Ren were staring at the boy in front of them, he was dressed like he just got off a farm
"So who is this?" Ruby asked first, he was somewhat familiar to her but she couldn't tell from where
"My name is... Oscar..." he said seemingly losing track of this sentence "Oscar Pine!" he quickly added "But you four may know me better as... Oz... pin." he struggled out, Ruby looked to Jaune who was already sharing looks with Ren and Nora
"I don't believe you." Ruby said coldly earning an awkward chuck from the boy
"I wish it weren't true either." he said with a slight slouch after a few seconds he perked up and spoke "Are you sure?... well... I don't know... fine, fine." he conversed making him sound far crazier than he already seemed "Just so you guys know... I'll still be here." the was then engulfed with a golden glow, that caused Akame to place her hand on Murasame
"I will say, it is good to see you again students." he said, his voice sounded far more confident and refined than earlier, the slight double up with Ozpins' voice helped too
"What are you?" Akame asked coldly drawing the blade but not pointing it at him
"I'm merely-" he began but was quieted by Akame pointing the blade at him
"No. I want the truth, not the lies you are content to tell everyone else." Akame interrupted, Qrow walked around towards her side
"Akame-" Qrow began but was cut off by Akames' eyes darting to him
"No." Akame said again, there was no room for argument here, and she wanted answers now
"I am a man who wants nothing more than to protect this world. I failed in my previous lives, I will not fail this time." he answered with convection in his voice
"You were a charred corpse last time I saw you. You are abnormal, wrong, you have cheated death. Gone against nature... I will work with Father and Ruby, but you... I will never take an order from you." Akame said disgust in her eyes, it was surprising to see Akame with such rage in her, Ruby wanted to know why she snapped at him, Qrow had a few guesses, the others were just completely confused
(o)
Akame stormed into her room and slammed the door behind her, Neo bounced off the bed in shock
"Why, why, why, why, why, why, whywhyWHYWHY!?" Akame questioned and punched the wall causing it to crack, looking over to Neo who was peaking around the side of the bed
"What?!" Akame asked anger burning in her eyes which she quickly noticed and recomposed herself "I know you were listening in... what do you think?" Akame asked as she sat down on the bed, Neo shrugged as she leaned in front of the girl and held her hands in a scale like manner than pointed at herself then Akame
"I guess it doesn't matter when you haven't lost too much... I guess you haven't had much too lose... right?" Akame asked earning a nod from Neo
"I guess it doesn't matter to you so long as were together right?" Akame again guessed correctly, earning a nod from Neo "While I am happy about that... … maybe you should go... I... have such a hard time keeping myself in check around you... I don't know if it is love or lust but... If I have to choose between you and father... I wouldn't want to choose... so if you left..." Akame said her voice was emotionless but was a little shaky, Neo looked very unimpressed with her words
"It just makes-" Akame began but stopped when Neo held her hand up stopping her, Neo walked over to the door and locked it, she then grabbed a chair from the desk and set it down in front of Akame and sat down crossing her arms and legs, then gestured for her to continue "... sense... I have watched too many of my friends die to keep you so near." Akame finished, Neo raised an eyebrow and transformed into Ruby "She can take care of herself, she has a Teigu!" Akame reasoned, Ruby then transformed back into Neo and stood grabbed Akames' tie and pulled herself into a standing position and grabbed her wrists and held them together then pushed her, Akame was surprised that her wrists were locked together looking back to Neo she saw Due Process aimed at her, looking past it at Neo she looked angry as she lowered the gun and returned the gun to the holster on Akames' belt
"Neo-" Akame began but was shut up by Neo hand covering her mouth, she seemed upset but she didn't let her go, Neo continued for a hold that position for a few moments then shoved Akame onto the bed, Akame couldn't understand why the illusion on her wrists was still there, she knew that she could break them if she wanted to but... she didn't want to...
(o)
"What was that about?" Ruby asked a few moments after Akame slammed the door
"Akame watched everyone she loves die, it became second nature to hear the news of their deaths, I don't know if she even... you know, feels it anymore, of course she still cries and morns but... I don't think it hurts anymore." Qrow said staring at the door, he wanted to say something but he did see Neo in there so... he wasn't gonna touch that door nob until he knew one of them was already out here
"Okay but why is she angry?" Jaune asked as they heard the door click shut
"She has watched everyone she loves die, she watched Ozpin die, and now he's back. So it's probably a massive shock to her." Qrow clarified as Ozpin reentered the room with a mug of coffee
"I understand her pain... to lose so much..." Ozpin trailed off as he sat down in the chair left open for him
"I will say, that while it is nice to see you again... why are you like that?" Ruby asked gesturing to Oscars' body
"Oscar has merely handed me the 'controls' for the time being, if that's what you mean. My body was destroyed, I was unable to survive so my soul found a new like minded host, I have been cursed for a very long time... thousands of years at least. I had hoped that I was the only one who suffered after my death." Ozpin said looking down at his hands, he then looked over to Ruby and spoke again "Though I wished that you all would still hold some of your childish nature to you."
"Did Akame ever have much childishness?" Ruby asked looking to Qrow who nodded, he was still looking at the door with a down expression on his face
"I was referring to you miss Rose." Ozpin clarified earning a double take from her "I can see a deep anger in you, I am sorry... you shouldn't have experienced such hardships." Ozpin apologized placing his hands in his lap
"Of course I'm angry, Cinder destroyed everything I ever wanted, and Salem needs to burn for the deaths of so many." Ruby said crossing her arms, this was one of the only things that she stood firmly on, everyone who served Salem needed to die in horrible pain, Qrow finally turned and began to watch as she angrily played with her fingernails
Ozpin sighed as he slouched a bit "I understand... but you aren't the only one cursed with power Ms. Rose, Akame too has such a curse, as does Qrow." Ozpin said earning a nod from Qrow
"So... whats the plan?" Nora asked sitting up from her spot on the couch
"For now you all rest, relax, and train with Ms. Rose and Ms. Branwen. Me and Qrow will catch up on current events and we'll go from there." Ozpin answered earning nods from Ren and Ruby, Jaune raised his hand and spoke
"I wanted to ask after Akame left, why is that criminal you guys told us about here?" Jaune asked, Ruby and Ozpin looked at Qrow, Qrow looked at them and sighed
"When a woman and a woman love each other very much, they fuck." Qrow answered earning a quick chuckle from Ozpin, Ruby groaned and covered her eyes, she knew what was going on but Qrow was really blunt about it
"Oh... um... how-"
"Jaune please stop asking questions, I don't want to know how they do it." Ruby quickly cut of as she stood and began towards the stairs that led up to their rooms
(o)
Blake had felt sick, she has felt sick ever sense she resolved to capture the white fang operatives by any means necessary, Sun was currently out searching for some of them, she had assumed that they would be sloppy due to this being a place of only faunus so they would have no reason to keep at the top of their game, but she was wrong, most of their networks were down and they were keeping quiet, she needed a way to stir the pot a bit, get them to act...
"Dad?" Blake asked, she and her father were in his office the room itself helped her to think
"Yes, dear?" he asked looking up from his work to her
"I think we should announce the information on the scroll, it might just make enough waves for us to act." Blake explained earning a hum from her father
"I don't know much about spy tactics but if you think that's what we need to expose them then I will stand with you, I'll make the announcement of a town meeting tomorrow." he said in a warm tone "It should take around two days for everything to get ready." he added earning a smile and nod from his daughter
"How do you think Leone is doing?" Blake asked after a few minutes of quite
"I'm sure she's fine, you should have seen the reports of the people who tried to cheat her, if there was one thing that everyone knew around here it was that Leone should be respected and never flirted with." Ghira commented with a quick laugh
"That seems like a couple strange rules." Blake commented it was a carefully placed probing statement
"Yeah, everyone respected her because if you needed her to do something all you would have to do is buy her a drink, and if you tried to court her... well... it was best that you didn't have anything glass nearby. She may be a kind person but after sighing off on seven assault charges one of which resulted in near blindness due to her smashing a bottle in the persons face. Weirdly enough she never had a boyfriend or any real family for that matter, she was... on one of the trade ships that showed up here one day... which isn't abnormal, a lot of children from affairs end up here... but Leone was the only human."
"Did she ever asked about her parents?" Blake asked paying a bit more attention to his voice
"No, she never asked about anything like that, she never asked about her parents or why she wasn't like everyone else but she when we told her that she didn't have ears or a tail she did seem kind of disappointed, but apart from that nothing." he answered as he read over his speech
"Oh... so... she just accepted you all and her differences?" Blake said, it was phrased more like a question than a statement
"That's right, she never asked about our differences, she didn't even know the term faunus until she was eleven." he added earning a hum of surprise from Blake
"I know that not all humans are bad... but I always thought they were different." Blake muttered under her breath
"And that's what the White Fang teaches now. It teaches that we are separate and incompatible but that is vastly untrue, while we have differences it is what strengthens us, we may look different and some of us act different but we are all the inheritors of this world, killing each other over simple differences will just end up killing us all." her father finished, after thinking on his words she felt that he was right... but the image of Esdeath in her mind told her otherwise, she doesn't care about differences but if they can be used to cause war... then she will use whatever tool available to her
"I want to say that you're right..." Blake finally said her voice shook a little as she spoke "But there is one human... one who is far more frightening then the Grimm because she knows what she is doing is evil and she does it anyways..."
"Everyone has a reason to protect the ones they love. They probably need a little push to remember why they fight." he commented, he never knew Esdeath she was pure evil in every sense of the word
(o)
Akame sighed as Neo rolled off of her with a smile, she placed her hand on Akames cheek
"I'm... sorry- I don't- I- we..." Akame awkwardly trailed off trying to keep her emotions in check but it was far harder to do than normal, Neo rolled her eyes and she began to run her hand through Akames' hair, Akames eye twitched and she stood out of bed and broke the cuffs Neo had her in
"I have to go." Akame said as she began to dress herself, Neo stood to stop her but froze when Akame pointed Murasame at her, she looked horrified "Leave me alone- Stay here- I don't care. Just leave me alone." Akame quickly said as she put her shirt on and began to leave the room, Neo stepped in her way, Akame was shaking quite a bit she then turned and smashed out the window and leapt out, Neo blinked a few times then unlocked the door and exited
(o)
Qrow took a drink from his flask and let out a sigh, looking over to the doorway and began towards the living room
"Um... Qrow? Can we talk?" Oscar asked looking over to him he nodded, walking outside into the training grounds
"Whats up kid?" Qrow asked leaning on the railing
"Why did you become a huntsman?" Oscar asked
"I didn't choose, it was forced onto me and my sister..." Qrow trailed off as he began to think about Raven
"Oh... I guess that's... I'm sorry." Oscar apologized earning a sigh from Qrow
"Don't worry 'bout it kid." Qrow waved off as he drew his flask "It ain't your fault so you have no reason to apologize. The only people who can apologize is the Branwen tribe."
"Oh... you're a tribal? You don't seem that way." Oscar commented, it was usually a surprise for most people to hear that Qrow was originally a tribal, he was rather acclimated to normal society
"Yeah, but I don't believe any of that dumb hokey voodoo magic bullshit." Qrow added, a lot of tribes did believe in magic like that but most were just bandits, the Branwen tribe was a mix of both
"Oh... um... that's... pretty cool." he commented earning a chuckle from Qrow
"Not really, most people just want to see them all burn." Qrow commented
"How did you and Ozpin meet?"
"You should know this already." Qrow answered a little coldly... he seemed to realize how rude that sounded because he apologized "Sorry... I didn't mean to sound rude. We just kinda... started working together one day. He had me run missions for him constantly, and one day he brought me into the fold with the maidens and magic... it was me and my sister back then... it's a bit of a sore spot." Qrow explained earning a nod from Oscar "Why do you ask?"
"Well... I want to help people, but I also want to know why everyone else is here, Ruby wants to get revenge for Beacon, Ren wants to avenge his family, Nora wants to help Ren because he saved her, and Jaune wants to be someone others look to for help." Oscar explained folding his hands "I just wanted to see how ridiculous my reasoning sounded... sadly it seems to be rather normal for you guys." that caused Qrow to laugh a bit
"I guess you kinda do fit in 'round here." Qrow commented earning a laugh from Oscar, the sound of footsteps drew Qrows' gaze he was greeted by a half dressed Neo with tears in her eyes
(o)
Akame ran, until she knew she was away from that place... why did she run?... she didn't know why, she suddenly felt the urge to get out of there, sitting down she let out a sigh, the entire time she was with Neo she was happy... until it ended... then she was greeted with the memories of all the people who broke their promises... all the people who told her they would stay, but broke that promise; Tatsumi, Leone, Cornelia, Guy, Gin, Green, Tsukushi, Lubbock, Chelsea, Bulat, Sheele... she wasn't blaming them for dying, she would never blame anyone for a mistake... but she hated that she let so many people into her heart again, she knew that this always ended badly but...
A/N Chapter 2, chapter 2, how do you do with chapter 2. hope you enjoyed this chapter, and prepare for the next one too as I have said before I want to try and get the battle of Haven at about chapter 8 or 9 then use the remaining chapters as a little bit of catch up and set up