RAVN
Chapter 7
Falling Out
AN; This chapter is the start of the first major diverging point from canon. The events of this chapter are inspired by Celtic Phoenix Productions and Unicorn of War's Fixing RWBY Volume 1 videos on Youtube.
I apologize profusely for the long wait. I've been extremely busy, I had to shut down my internet connectoion and my hotspot connectivity is unreliable at the best of times.
Also I'm lazy... I have no excuse for that.
Anywho, please enjoy my mad ravings.
Raven sighed in exhaustion as he sat down in his chair, thankeful for the gap between the seat and the backrest that allowed him to slide his tail through. If the staff of Beacon had not thought to accomadate potential students with tails or wings or other such exotic features, then his time at this collage would be very uncomfortable.
After leaving Prof. Port's class early this morning, team RAVN had attended three more classes, Huntsman Regulation and Law, World History and Infrastructure. The class that they were starting now was the last class of the day, Advanced Weapon Building.
One thing that stuck out to him throughout the day was that teams RWBY, JNPR and CRDL were always there in the same classes. For whatever reason, be it the luck of the draw or a scheme by some higher up to put the three teams in closer proximity (though he doubted that being the actual reason), he still cursed his luck.
Why couldn't the world just leave him alone? Being stuck with three boys was fine, that he could deal with. It was better than being stuck with three girls. Were that the case, he was sure he'd either die of heart failure or end up killing himself or them. He was fine with being put on a team, he could adjust.
But being in such close proximity to three other teams of four? For his entire life, the world rejected him and he rejected the world right back. To go from that to being forced to socialize with so many people he didn't know?
He already had enough mental problems, he didn't need more when they inevitably rejected him.
Shaking his head to clear it of thoughts, he focused instead oon his class schedule. Tomorrow would be four different classes, those being Mercenary Economics, a topic he had spent several years learning already, Psychology, Sociology, and finally Sparring and Team Building.
The day after that would be focused on a single extra long class, that being Survival.
They would alternate between these three schedules every day, with additional periods held the rest of the day and on the weekends (for those who chose not to rest on their days off) for indapendant study and electives.
Raven did not know what electives were available yet, as they were not avaible to first years until a quarter into the school year, but he would sign up to as many as he reasonably could. He was a team leader now, and he had to devote his all to it.
Not like Ms. Rose. The girl had straight up slept through their first class (not that he was any better in that regard, although he had apologised to the Professor and had been issued a detention with him), goofed off in their second class and drew in her notebook in their third.
Mr. Arc was slightly better, as he had been attentive, albeit a little too tightly wound. The boy was obviously intelligent, but not all that well versed in even the basics of what being a huntsman meant.
Mr. Winchester on the other hand was someone he knew he would not get along with anytime soon. He was certainly attentive in class, and sharp as a razor to boot. He was lazy though, and arrogant.
He needed a serious attitude adjustment and a reality check. He wasn't totally irredemable though, despite all of his negative traits the thought of using his strength for evil purposes had never even crossed his mind, and he instead wanted to be a huntsman, to devote his life to fighting grimm and keeping people safe. His reasons for doing so weren't entirely altruistic, true, as fame and glory were a big part of his decision, as was living up to the Winchester legacy, but he highly doubted his instructers would let him get this far in this field if they didn't see some good in him.
Focusing again on the lesson, he listened to the Professor rant about dust. In this class they would be learning, in addition to sparring and team building excercisis, to further costumize their weapons to better fight against the grimm, how to build new and more complex weapons to further their repertoir and skill sets, and how to utilize dust and integrate them with their weapons.
Once again his mind fell to Ruby, and how this knowledge could apply to her. He could be wrong, but her possible applications of this knowledge would be... limited at best. The girl could always learn new ways to use dust in conjunction with her weapon, but...
The girl used a high impact sniper rifle and a war scythe. Both of those were highly unweldy and greatly specialized weapons that required immense amounts of skill to use properly without hurting oneself or others, so in terms of possible weapon costumization and furthering her skill set, she was pretty much tapped. Her potential on that front was spent. Other students with more simple weapons had more room to grow, but her?
What she was doing right now was what she was going to be doing for the rest of her life.
He idly wondered if she realized that, and if so, if the idea scared her. She seemed to enjoy fighting the way she did, and she obviously loved her weapon. But might there come a day where she became bored or her enemies figured out her attack patterns and developed specific counters to them, and wanted or needed a change, only for her to be unable to adjust?
"-In your seat," Professor Stark continued, snapping Raven out of his revery, embaressing him further as he realized that once again he was neglecting his classes in favor of psychoanalizing his felow students. "-along with some Dust crystals. Before we tamper with it, we must understand what this substance is.
"Aside from outliers such as Energy, Gravity, or Lightning Dust, the four primary forms of Dust are Fire, also known as Burn, Water, Earth, and Wind. These types can be alchemically mixed together to create other forms of Dust such as Volcanic, Steam, and Ice. However, you must never mix Fire and Wind Dust, as when the two come together, their reaction is…"
In the front rows, Ruby was goofing off once again. This time she had grabbed some Dust vials and was pressing them against her face in an attempt to mock the Professor's facial hair.
Their young Professor stylish white dress shirt, a thin black leather belt with an elagent silver buckle, and black dress pants tucked into black leather boots, and finishing his outfit was a pair of black gloves. The man had fair white skin, and short black slicked back hair with well groomed sideburns, a thin mustache and a neatly shaved, downward pointing goaee.
In the back rows Raven rubbed his chin in envy, because of his glandular problem he would never grow hair like that.
Back with team RWBY, Ruby was making faces with the vials against her face, drawing a short chukle out of Weiss. The caped girl, overjoyed that she managed to make her partner laugh, giggled with her. But in doing so, she accidentally dropped two of her vials.
A red one and a green one.
In the back rows with team RAVN, Raven looked at his teammates to see that Vergil was playing with his Dust vials, just like Ruby. The boy was standing them up in a row like dominoes, worrying his leader, if he knocked them down the results would be disasterous.
Luckily that's not what the young faunus had in mind, as he went about rearranging them in different patterns in the desk according to some play scenario going on in his mind.
It was only a matter of time then, before he dropped one of his vials. Next to him, Agni gasped at the sight of the falling vial and Raven tried to grab it, but the moment his metal hand closed around it, it shattered in his to-tight grip.
It was a lucky thing then, that his prosthetic arm could not channel aura, and the Dust simply laid dormant in his hand.
Raven cupped his hand to save as much of the Red powder as he could. "Sorry," he uttered sheepishly, holding his hand out to Vergil who simply smiled and replied "no problem, I know it wasn't your fault."
Raven's breath hitched as his world stopped.
Your fault.
The snake faunus' breathing started to speed up as images began flashing rapidly behind his wide, serpentine eyes.
Your fault.
"Raven?" The confusion and panic in Vergil's voice drew Nefartem and Agni's attention. They previosuly attributed the heavy breathing sounds to someone inhaling Dust, but now the team was looking in confusion and slight fear at their leader.
Your fault!
Raven gripped his head in pain, the claws on his right hand digging into his scalp and drawing blood. "Raven!?" Vergil grabbed the older faunus' shoulders, now officialy frightened.
Your fault. Your fault. Your fault! Your Fault! Your fault Your Fault YourfaultYourfaultYourfault!
YoUrFaUlTYOurFAUltAoUrFaUlTyoUrFaultYOuRFaultYoUraUULtyOUrfAuLtYoURFAuLTUourFAuLTYoURFaUlT!!
Raven's hands fell limp from his head as his body fell forward. Vergil cried out and grabed him and Agni and Nefartem stood up in shock, crowding around their now unconsious leader.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, before anybody noticed the drama with the team in the back rows, a massive Dust explosion erupted into being in the front rows. Shocked screams echoed among the studenes as the sounds of auras being activated to protect them from the coming blast rang forth in the chaos of the lecture hall.
The entire lecture hall was white for a whole minute as the blast had rendered everyone in the hall blind and deaf, and in the minute it took their eyes to adjust everyone slowly rose from the floor, grabbing for their desks for stability only to fall again as the desks had been destroyed in the blast, their own Dust vials getting caught up in the explosion and in turn making the explosion bigger and more powerful.
When Ruby could see again she looked to see Yang laying on top of her, shielding her from the blast with her body and aura. Good thing she did, as Ruby had not activated her aura, so surprised was she when the chaos started. Similarly, a feew feet away was Blake with her body curled arount the Schnee heiress, the wide eyed gibbering girl held tightly in the arms of the other girl.
Like herself, Weiss was so surprised by the blast that she had not thought to activate her aura and had to be protected by her teammate.
Around the room people started to get up from their positions on the floor, moaning in pain and auras exhausted.
In the back Agni, Nefartem and Vergil rose from their position shielding their leader. In the entire hall, Raven was one of the only unconcious students, and now everyone would just assume that he failed to get his aura up in time rather than realize that he had a mental breakdown.
When everyone's ears stopped ringing, Professor Stark continued his interuppted speech, podium destroyed but the man himself entirely untouched with not a strand of hair out of place, "-destructive. Thank you for that demonstration, Ms. Rose, Ms. Schnee!"
"Did you-!" Yang yelled, getting up from her place on top of her sister, "did you nearly let them-"
"Relax, Ms. Xiao Long." The bearded man assured the angry blonde in a calm tone, gesturing with one hand to placate the girl "I knew you'd come to her aid. Although while I did expect Ms. Rose not to activate her aura, Ms. Schnee's actions do surprise me."
Still held in Blake's arms, the heiress fumed at the proffesor's words.
"Excuse me!?" The girl yelled, standing abruptly and roughly pushing Blake away from her. Weiss was enraged at her so-called professr, that this plebian would dare imply that she, a Schnee, was unprepared for a simple Dust explosion and in the same league as Ruby. "You!" she started, but her words became an impotent growl when the man simply raised a groomed eyebrow at her.
Unable to take her anger out on her Professor, Weiss turned instead to her ill fated 'leader'. "You!"
Ruby yelped and lept into her sister's arms with a loud gulp.
"I will have everyone here know that I know more than my fair share about Dust." Ruby let out a relieved sigh when the heiress moved past her to address the lecture hall at large. The white haired girl put her hand on her hip and posed dramatically, with one hand on her diminutive chest. "I'm a Schnee, after all. This lecture is useless to me anyway."
"If that's what you believe, do you care to prove it, Ms. Schnee?" Their Professor replied calmly.
"I would be glad to!"
The Schnee girl and the Professor glared at eachother and the man simply walked away, "very well."
The man stomped on the floor once, and a hidden compartment raised from the floor and he withdrew a sword.
It was beautiful and elagent, the handle was short and meant to fit a single hand, the pommel shaped like a fluer-de-lis, and the guard looked as if an expert calligrapher had designed it, two prongs elagently wrapping around a crystal orb before extending to the sides in a pair of angel wings, and two blades sprang forth from it and tapered to a fine point.
The Professor reached in again and withdrew a second blade, this one a translucent blue with no handle, and then he turned and posed elagently where he stood, with the pommel of his sword at shoulder hight with the blade pointing toward the floor, as he lowered it down, sliding the translucent Dust blade into the hollow area between the two blades of his sword.
Once the Dust blade was fully embedded in his weapon, it clicked and gleaming white runes spreng into existance all over his silver sword, and Weiss gulped, thinking that she may have once again bitten off more than she could chew.
Weiss, now in her battle clothes and armed with her rapier, stood acress from her Professor, still in his professional attire, save for a loose belt from which hung three more dust blades, silver sword in hand and standing with his off hand behind his back in a classic dueling pose.
The students were now occupying the stands overlooking the sparring arena, the unconsious ones taken away to the infirmary of course, and whispering exitedly. Some were exited at the prospect of seeing the Schnee brought down a peg or two, and some were exited about their fellow student showing one of these arrogant adults what their generation could do, other still were merely exited at the fight itself and wanted to see someone get beaten up, not particularly caring as to who.
"Now, show me what you can do Ms. Schnee."
The girl breathed in to calm herself and replied confidently "I'll show you that a Schnee can never loose in a Dust battle!"
She pulled the trigger of her revolver hilted rapier, and it shifted to a red cylinder, allowing for the fire dust to flow into her blade, hilighting the intricate runes in red.
"Very well" the Professor said dissmisively and simply held his blade at the ready. "No using your glyphs, this is a dust exhibition, nothing more.
"A simple, albeit unexpected, addition to you lesson plan for today."
Weiss inhaled sharply and rushed at him, but once she got in close he flicked his blade sending an ice sickle shard at her. She doged the weak attack and rushed in from a different angle, but he flicked his blade again and she was forced to move out of the way.
He flicked his blade again, but this time she swiped her rapier in front of her and melted the shard in a stream of fire.
"Very good, dodging is important, but never forget to counter attack."
Weiss' eye twitched. It felt like she was fighting Winter! She clenched her teeth, she couldn't believe that she just compared this lowlife with her older sister! Winter was worth ten of this plebian!
For Winter's honor, she would break this man's teeth!
Enraged, Weiss rushed at the Professor and pulled the trigged of her weapn until it settled on a yellow cylinder, but before she could unleash hell on her plebian opponent he slashed his blade at her and a torrent of ice rushed out to meet her.
"Weiss!" Her teammates yelled, jumping out of their seats to catch the flying girl, unconsious and entombed in a prison of ice.
"Weiss!" Yang called, catching the girl and activating her semblance, melting the ice with her fiery aura.
"Weiss!" Blake shouted in concern, that last attack looked painful and the girl was turning blue.
"Come on Weiss!" Ruby tried to encourage her partner back into consiouness, uncaring that she was mad at her.
"What!?" Weiss screamed, her blissful unconsiousness interuppted by the harping of three annoying girls and her extremely cold body.
"Ms. Schnee." Weiss looked up at her teacher in fury, but her last memory of him making her bite her tongue and look at the floor.
"Ms Schnee, look." Weiss looked up to see that the man had removed the dust blade, now crystal clear, from his sword and now held it out to her, the other three removed from his belt and held in a fan formation with the clear one.
One red Dust blade, one purple, and one green. But none of them were translucent, they were opaque. Her eyes widened as she understood. The older man had delibrately held back against her, he chose a Dust blade that was used up and almost entirely spent of its power.
Had he chosen a newer blade she would have been obliterated in a blink. It wasn't even a fight. He simply used small, weak attacks that wouldn't even kill the smallest of grimm to divert her attacks off their course, and when she grew angry and impatient he used up the last remaining energy in that Dust blade in a single burst of power.
"Do you understand? You may be a Schnee, but you have much to learn. Even when it concerns a subject matter with which you have an intimate familiarity."
Weiss was silent as Professor Stark lectured her in his suave, charming voice.
"I... understand" the white haired girl quietly acquiesced.
She understood that where she had spent years simply throwing away her Dust when she could no longer get powerful, flashy attacks and simply buying newer Dust afterwords, he saved what Dust he had, even if it was weak, until the most opportune moment presented itself.
Her method of doing things was decadent and wasteful.
"Wow!" Ruby uttered in silent awe.
"Yeah, a chilling defeat" Yang agreed, only for Blake to slap her upside the head "hey!"
"No!" The bow wearing girl stuck her finger in Yang's face like one would a newspaper to a cat that had just pooped on the carpet. "No puns!"
"Spoilsport" Yang pouted.
'Raven would have laughed.'
Suddenly, they heard a slow clapping coming from the door at the far end of the hall, and when they looked they saw Professor Ozpin standing there, watching as events unfolded with his ever present cane and lazily sipping from his iced coffee.
"How did he clap his hands with one hand on his cane and the other holding his coffee?" Blake deadpanned, "I don't know, maybe he's just that awesome?" Yang responded confusedly.
"I am glad to see your first day has been… interesting." Ozpin said jovially as he walked down the steps, almost paraphrasing his remark from the previous night.
"Sir!" Professor Stark straightened up and saluted his employer, and Weiss recognized it as an Atlesian salute. He was a specialist? Then he was...
Wess' features screwed up in mortification at her previous thoughts reguarding the man.
But then, why was he teaching at Beacon?
"P-Professor Ozpin?" Weiss gasped in embarassment that he had witnessed her humiliation.
"How long were you there?" Blake asked the headmaster when he was within range, her bow twitching. She was surprised she had not hear dim enter, she normally had such good hearing.
"Would you young ladies care to join me in my office?" Ozpin asked, ignoring the bow wearing girl's question.
Even though he phrased it in the form of a question, his tone left no room for further discussion.
The members of team RWBY all glance at each other in confusion.
"I have to say I am impressed" Ozpin said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, his hands pouring each of the girls a cup of tea.
His tone was kind and genial, but still the students felt uneasy, like there was a guillotine blade hovering over their heads.
"Blowing up a Dust lab on your first day is no small feat" the old man said in a gentle manner, his tone making light of the subject, but they could read the harshness of the statement even so.
Oh, how they wished he would just lose his temper and scream at them.
His kind words and gentle eyes were more cutting than even the sharpest of blades could ever hope to be.
"Professor, I can pay for the damages. I assure you it this was no fault of-" Weiss tried to bargain and mitigate her involvement in this.
"It is indeed your fault, Ms. Schnee. All of yours. And this is not a monetary issue, but rather one of attitude. As a team, you are expected to shoulder the burdens of all of your problems as a unit. Should any one of you stand on your own and fall, the team will surely crumble away with time."
Yang repeated Weiss' earlierstatement in a baby voice to mock her, attempting to introduce some levity into the situation. This was their first meeting alone with Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon. This was supposed to be a grand occasion.
But instead they all felt smaller than children, the gravitas of this man bearing down on all of them like some dissaproving god. They couldn't even rightly argue back, as this was truly their own fault and they were being admonished for it by a man so far above them that he might as well be a god.
Ozpin would allow no levity to lighten the mood however, as wth a raise of his hand he effortlessly shot them down.
"Professor," Blake managed to ask, the tension in the air was so thick she felt she could choke on it, "if I may ask… why are all the students put onto teams?" Blake barely managed to keep her gaze level with Ozpin's eyes as she continued her line of questioning "Aren't there plenty of Huntsmen in the field who work alone?
Ozpin closed his eyes and smiled, but none of them felt relieved by it.
"Some Huntsmen may indeed carry out their missions on their own, Ms. Belladonna, but there are many others who fulfill their duties in partnerships or teams, some even larger than groups of four. But that does not matter. Not to you as students, at least."
Ozpin set down his coffee cup and leaned back into his chair.
"Ms. Rose?"
Ruby stuttered at being so suddenly addressed. Unlike the other three she was young and sheltered, almost oppressively so.
In her previous meeting with Ozpin, he seemed like a kind and gentle grandfather, but now to have this oppresive air bearing down on her...
"Y-yes" Ruby stuttered, a sprinkling of tears in the corners of her eyes.
"What would you say the duty of a Huntsman is?" he asked, his eyebrow raised slightly as if he had access to some secret knowledge that none of them were privvy to, and an incorrect answer could spell doom for them all.
"T-To, uh… to fight the Grimm?" Ruby stuttered nervously.
Ozpin silently regarded her for a few long, drawn out secnds before he moved on.
"The rest of you? Would you say the same as Ms. Rose?"
Without hesitation they all nodded. Ozpin sipped his coffee and sighed.
"Wrong." The four girl's breath hitched as they all felt like they were about to be struck down by lightning.
"Remnant is an incredibly dangerous place to live, and in the face of danger our darkest emotions surface themselves. Fear. Anger. Blame. Hatred. Despair. And it is these precise emotions that bring the Creatures of Grimm clawing at our realm's walls. How do you think we prevent this kind of crisis from happening, Ms. Xiao Long?"
Yang stuttered at being put on the spot.
"M-Me?"
"Did I stutter?" Ozpin asked calmly with a raised brow.
"Uh…" the blonde was silent for a full moment before she answere with the only thing she could think of "inspirational speeches?"
Ozpin smirked amusedly and Yang shrank in on herself, mortified.
"The Huntsmen and Huntresses, in the eyes of the people, going about their lives as if the Grimm do not exist.
"Huntsmen and Huntresses are their guardians. They bear the burdens of our world so ordinary folk never have to. It is this mutual trust and respect, along with our ingenuity, that allows mankind…
"And Faunus…" Ozpin's eyes shifted to Blake, who gripped the arms of her chair tightly.
"To stand united against the Grimm. Truth be told, the randomized process of creating teams is actually controlled by me."
At that, the girls instantly forgot the weight that had been crushing down on them this whole meeting and jumped to their feet.
"What!?" Yang, Weiss and Blake cried while Ruby remained silent in her chair, dwelling on what this new revalation meant for her and her team.
"To observe each student—analyze their background, strengths, and weaknesses—and partner them with others who would challenge them as people. If I were to partner you all with students who agreed or got along with you, it'd make for a rude awakening when your comfortable bubble is popped upon graduation.
"It is only through these conflicts that you will either learn to grow as people… or realize this path is not the one for you.
"Do you all understand?"
"Yes, Professor Ozpin." The girls answered too quickly.
No, they did not understand. They were too young, blinded by teenage arrogance, to see the bigger picture.
But they would learn.
"Well, you will one day." The tension immediately dissapeared from the air, and the girls breathed a sigh of relief at being able to breath freely once again.
"I'll leave you all to discuss today's events, and decide where to go from here. You are dismissed."
Ozpin's chair swivelled around and he stood and walked to the window, absently drinking his coffee. The members of team RWBY rose from their chairs and headed for the elevator, not noticing in their ruminations as their team leader was not with them.
"I can't believe this!" Weiss shouted when the elevator started to descend. She knew she should be wondering why Ozpin's mere presence bore down on them all so, but they were all desperately trying not to think about it. "He lied to us all on team formations?"
"Well..." Yang leaned back against the elevator wall, hands crossed behind her head. "I thought he had pretty good reasons."
"That's not the point, Yang!" The blonde raised an eyebrow at the Schnee, her look saying 'then what is the point?'
Weiss blanched and addressed Blake instead. "Besides, why do we even need to be on teams? We can protect humanity just fine individually. Blake, you agree with me, right?"
Blake opened one eye to look at Weiss from her position leaning against the elevator wall opposite Yang, arms crossed over her chest in a defensive manner, and simply closed the eye and lowered her chin to her chest, ignoring the girl.
"Wow, thanks" the heiress sighed, rolling her eyes. "I'm really feeling the support." Weiss leaned back against the elevator door and pouted.
"Hey, uh-" Yang said, looking around the elevator upon noticing that she hadn't heard a peep out of her sister since they left the headmaster's office. "Where's Ruby?"
Ozpin lazzily sipped his his coffee, gazing upon the view of Beacon, the srrrounding countryside and the distant ocean that his high tower offered him.
After a full moment of admiring the orange sun strewn landscape and the sparkling ocean, he spoke over his shoulder to the young girl still sitting in her chair before his desk. "You wanted to have a word, Ms. Rose?"
Ruby didn't respond at first, her eyes were glazed over and looking at the Professor's left leg. It was very subtle, but after watching him walk she had noticed.
His left knee didn't work, and he walked with a very subtle limp. It might have been more obvious were it not for his ever present cane. Ozpin noticed her stare, and he smiled in at her mysteriously.
Blinking her eyes, Ruby stood from her chair and spoke.
"Yes Professor, I... umm, I wan'ted to ask you something."
Ozpin looked down at the little bit of coffee left in his cup "I see, and you could not ask this beforehand?"
Ruby nodded her head and made a humming noise.
"Did…" Ruby lookaed down at the floor nervously, "did you make a mistake? In making me team leader?
Ozpin walked back to his desk and sat down iin his chair, swivelling it so he could look directly at young Ms. Rose with steepled fingers. "That remains to me seen. It's only been one day.
"Ruby," the girl rose her head to meet his gaze at hearing him speak her first name. "I have made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet."
Ruby's face screwed up in confusion. That was... confusing. How could he say he made more mistakes than anyone? There have been a whoule lot of people in his world. Like... millions! So how could he have made more mistakes than all of them?
Unless he was a thousand years old or something, then yeah. Mistakes could really pile up over all that time.
But that was pre... post... popost...
That was silly.
No one was that old.
"But at this moment, I would not consider your appointment to leader as one of them. Do you?"
"N-No, I guess not. I hope not."
Ozpin grinned widely at her, the smile thankefully meeting his eyes this time and making him seem so much more genuinely kind than the menacing godlike specter from before.
"Being a team leader is not just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly. If you are not always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give others to follow you?" Ruby looked down at her lap in guilt that she had spent the day goofing off in class rather than paying attention.
"You have been burdened with a daunting responsibility, Ruby. I advise you take some time to think about how you will uphold it."
Ruby's eyes fell down to her lap as Ozpin's words sunk in.
Then something clicked in her mind, and the girl looked up, beaming at the headmaster. "Thank you, Professor. I'll do my best."
"Good. Perfect time for you to start, as it seems your team is in need of you right now."
"Huh?" she blinked. Ozpin pointed behind her and she turned to see Blake... phasing through the elevator doors? Did her semblance have to do with phasing through objects?
"Ruby!"
"Blake? How did you-"
"Nevermind that! Weiss and I tried to calm her down, but-" Blake's rushed explanation was interrupted however, by a very pissed off Yang who could be heard yelling from whithin the elevator.
"Where Is RUBY?" They heard Yang screaming through the metal doors brfore they exploded and flew into the office with a wave of fire.
Ruby sank into her chair and whined while Ozpin simply sipped his tea with an amused smirk.
Coughing could be heard from Weiss and Blake... who was still in the elevator, the Blake who phased through the doors having evaporated.
The smoke wafting from the elevator doorwas cleared, revealing the fiery blonde- 'oh my god, did I just make a pun,' Ruby thought, horrified at herself! 'Nooooo!' -wreathed in flame, breath escaping her body in pants and her eyes a wine red.
Upon spotting her baby sister, safe and sound, the fire dissapeared, she grinned from ear to ear and her eyes rturned to their normal lilac hue.
"Oh, there you are, Ruby!" Yang chirped and Ruby sighed in annoyance before turning her head to the headmaster to offer up some sort of pla... tit... plati... to say she was sorry.
"Professor-"
"I am afraid Ms. Rose," he said with an amused grin, "that this is your battle, not mine. But let me assure you, far worse things have happened to that elevator."
Elsewhere in Beacon acadamy, Glynda Goodwitch's lecture was paused by a sneeze.
Weiss, standing in the smoky elevator and taking in all the destruction and what was being said, simply shook her head and muttered "savages" under her breath.
On the other side of Beacon acadamy, Raven Lenoreah was lying, unconscious on a sterile white mattress while the school nurse typed away at her computer.
The nurse, an exceptionally pale woman, though not nearly as pale as her patient, with long ravenous black hair removed the cigarette from her lips and ground it out in the ash tray at her side, sighing and rubbing at her eyes.
The young snake faunus had been carried in here by two other faunus, an wolf and a lion. those two certainly... exuberant. The wolf faunus was all smiles and bright eyes, so sweet he could make anyone's teeth rot from their skull.
Just like a woman she used to know.
The lion faunus on the other hand... He was flamboyant and boastful, and the way he talked... it was so fast and loud that she couldn't understand half of the things he said.
She turned in her chair to face the snake faunus. He was lying in his bed with his eyebrows furrowed together in a troubled look.
Who looked stressed while they were asleep?
The nurse rose from her chair and walked over to the bed, standing only when she was looking down on him. She focused her gaze on the young man, taking in his beautiful face, his long white hair, his prosthetic limbs, his lanky body and strong tail.
She sat down on the edge of his bed and stroked his face with the knuckles of her left hand in a manner that, had anyone been here to witness it, would have set off warning bells. From the bedside table she picked up a syringe and, feeling the the flesh of his elbow to feel the gaps in the metal under his skin, she inserted the syringe into his vein and began to pull back on the plunger.
Once full, the woman removed the syringe from his elbow and held it to her face, her wine red eyes reflected back at her, made darker by the crimson liquid.
Her ruby red lips stretched into a grin as she let out a small chortle before, setting the syringe down, she walked back to the computer to remove her scroll and erase all traces of her being in the system.
Next, she walked back to the beds and threw back one of the curtains to reveal the unconscious nurse, a woman in her twenties with nicely tanned skin and strawberry blonde hair, naked, bound and gagged in the bed with a large bruise on her temple.
Her weapon was lying on the bed next to the knocked ut woman, and she picked it up and stroked it lovingly before unsheathing the sword, the telescopic Dust blade expanding to twice its length and she slashed the air to create a portal.
"Goodye Raven," Raven spoke as she gingerly picked up and cradled the syringe, "I'll see you again soon."
She chortled, and with an evil grin back at the unconsious faunus, the bandit dissapeared into her portal.
And that is that. Sorry for such a short chapter after such a long wait, but now that I have a general idea of where I want to take this story in the immediate future, and Unicorn of War's scripts, I should be able to have the next few chapters up relatively soon if nothing else crops up.
What did you guy's think of Raven's episode? Thu guy's suffering from some pretty major survivor's guilt. I'll give you guys a hind, it has something to do with his prosthetics.
His arm and legs, not his eye. That was something else.
What did you guys think of Raven Branwen? If you guys that that she was being really creepy in her cameo, that's because she was. In my expert opinion, she was built up to the extreme as this great powerful and mysterius villain, but what we got was a generic, and iditic, bad girl.
So I decided that if everybody and their mother wants to call her the worst mother ever, then I will base her portrayal in my story after the worst mother in all of anime... and perhaps even in all of fiction as well.
Hint; her theme song is Blumenkranz.
Please leave a review and tell me your thoughts.