Early the next morning, Ozpin was boarding a small airship that would take him to the base of the mountain range at the edge of Vale's territory. A few hours later the pilot landed the bullhead in a clearing close to the mountains to let the headmaster disembark. Once the pilot had taken off and Ozpin was alone, save for the few wild animals prowling through the forest around him, the grey haired man began his trek towards and up the mountain before him, his trusty cane in hand.
The hike to his destination halfway up the mountain's slope gave him time to contemplate what had led him here for the first time since he became the headmaster of Beacon. Not only had one of his most promising students been forced to reveal her nature as a half Grimm to the public, but she had also presented him with evidence that Salem was indeed still alive, and maybe even behind a few of the problems the Huntsmen Academies were facing from within and without.
About two hours later, Ozpin arrived at his destination, a cave entrance about twice as tall as the headmaster. Despite the worn down and weathered appearance of the Cave, Ozpin knew that it had not formed naturally. It had been carved into the rock by its occupant millenia ago, before Vale was even a tiny fishing village on the coast of Sanus.
A few hundred meters into the cave, Ozpin arrived in a wider cavern, in its center a table and a pair of benches formed by the same rock as the ground.
"Greetings Fafnir" Ozpin spoke loudly as he sat down on one of the benches facing deeper into the cave. This was followed by loud grinding and rumbling sounds deeper in the cave, before the darkness before the old man parted to reveal the glowing red Iris of a Grimm half the size of the cave itself.
"Hello Ozpin." A voice echoed through the cave, it's sound reminiscent of boulders being ground to gravel. "Can you tell me why Summer and her little pup haven't visited me once over the last decade? They used to come visit at least twice a year before."
Hearing these words, Ozpin was surprised, but a moment later he realized something. 'Of course he doesn't know, Summer and I were the only ones who knew where to find him.'
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news." Ozpin began, his face filled with a frown and his gaze avoiding Fafnir's eye. "Summer died about 12 years ago on a mission."
As the words reached the ancient Grimm's ears, the giant eye before Ozpin began to fill with tears while the Fafnir's low sobbing caused the whole mountain to shake slightly.
"Please tell, *sob* that her little one is still alive." The dragon Grimm barely managed to say between his sobbing. "I don't know how I could go on with nothing left behind of my little Rakka and my Rose."
"Ruby Rose is in good health for a teenaged half Grimm, at least as far as we can tell. She is also one of Beacon's most promising first year students."
Like a switch had been flipped over, Fafnir's demeanor changed immediately, blinking away the few tears still in his eye that began to shrink slowly.
"In that case I will have to accompany you back so I can see the little Beowulf again." As he continued his eye closed and his now visible maw stretched into an approximation of a smile. "I can still remember how the little pup was chasing after her own tail a few times during their visits. I wonder how much she has changed."
Pulling out his scroll, Ozpin decided that telling Fafnir about Salem could wait a little longer, he looked for what pictures and videos he had of the half Grimm.
"See for yourself." The human suggested as he held out the scroll so the ancient Grimm had an easier time inspecting the pictures.
As the originally titanic Grimm continued to shrink, not taking his eye, and a few moments later both of them, of the screen.
"Look at her, just as adorable as when she wondered why biting her own tail hurt." Fafnir said, his voice starting to sound more and more human.
A couple of minutes later Fafnir stepped closer to Ozpin, now close to a human in size, his skin as white as the bones covering most of his body like a knight's armor. Only his head was fully uncovered, his sharp fangs poking through the pure white hairs making up the beard that fell half way down to his waist.
"But knowing you there was something else you came here to tell me." The now surprisingly human like Grimm said as he sat down opposite of Ozpin.
"Yes, I actually wanted to show you something else." Ozpin said as he looked up the video Ruby had shown him the evening before.
"Ah so little Salem is still alive as well? That is great news indeed, I can't recall the last time I met the little bird." The ancient Grimm commented, a hand stroking through his beard before standing up again. "If that is all, let us move out. After all Vale is many miles away and we can talk more along the way."
With a short nod, Ozpin rose as well and moved to follow the ancient Grimm out of the cave.
"So how are the young women you cursed with unimaginable power doing?"
"We lost Fall not long ago and we have yet to find the Winter maiden once again after Summer died."
At the second admission, Fafnir let out a hearty laugh.
"But you showed me a picture of her today. You did pass Summer's weapon down to the little pup, didn't you?" The ancient Grimm asked his old friend, causing Ozpin to stumble on the trail down the mountain.
"What would Summer's weapon have to do with the Maidens?" The headmaster asked confused.
"All these years it didn't strike you as strange that the Winter maiden was always a descendant of Rakka?" Fafnir asked carefully, stopping next to him for the moment.
"Not really, the others passed their powers down along a family for a few generations from time to time." Ozpin replied, curious as to what his companion tried to allude to.
"Well I did not know about that." The ancient Grimm admitted. "Well you see after she was banished from her village for receiving and using the powers you cursed those girls with, Rakka came to me asking for help. Not long after she attached the powers to a blade she forged, so no one else would be forced to recieve them after her death."
"How could she manage to do something like that?" Ozpin exclaimed surprised, his eyes widened form the mere idea.
"Well the blade was made from steel alloyed with all the dust we could find and my own blood." Fafnir answered before continuing more quietly, his face filled with guilt. "And I might have let her use the artifact of creation." His gaze fell to the ground as he admitted that he had let a human use the Artifact he had been protecting all this time.
"Great so the powers of the Winter Maiden are part of the blade passed down by the Silver Eyed Warriors, which was lost alongside Summer Rose." Ozpin replied carefully, pressing his index finger into Fafnir's chest.
"If you had told me about this sooner, we could have had the new Maiden trained and ready a decade ago!"
Hearing this accusation, Fafnir let out a deep sigh before he replied.
"Well that depends on if you think you could teach a six year old, I think, half Grimm to wield the powers and shoulder the responsibilities of a maiden."
"So it's at least not possible for anyone to access them just by holding the blade?" Ozpin asked hopeful.
"As far as I am aware only a descendant of the last wielder can access the powers." Fafnir admitted as the pair began to move down the mountain once again.
"Well then let us hope we can find Summer's old blade soon."
Ruby was currently lying in her bed, bored beyond measure. All morning long she and Blake had fought against Weiss and Yang so they could further improve their teamwork for their tournament fight the next day. They had trained in the Forever Fall forest, with Ruby's pack of Beowolves making sure no one could spy on them. But when the rest of her team had moved on to study what information they had on their potential opponents in the library, the half Grimm had declined, instead she had retired to their dorm and laid down to relax her sore muscles for a while. Now well rested and eager for something to do, the wolf tailed girl couldn't decide what she wanted to actually do when a short knock came from the door.
"It's open, just come in." The redhead said as she slipped out of her bed and down to the floor. As the door opened, Penny stepped in and curtsied towards Ruby before she spoke up.
"Lady Rose, Knight Schnee sent me to escort you to her, as she and Knight Fall have received something they are supposed to hand over to you."
"Okay? Also, Penny I'm still just your friend Ruby, no need for all this 'Lady Rose' stuff." Ruby replied as she began to follow Penny out of the room, her paws nearly silent on the floor.
"If you wish, Friend Ruby." With those words Penny began to lead the half Grimm out of the dorm building and across Beacon's campus. Soon they had entered Winter's airship and moved to a part seemingly closed of from most people on board. When they stopped before a small door, the android motioned for the half Grimm to go first.
Inside the room behind the door, Ruby noticed Winter Schnee and, if her memory was right, Cinder Fall standing at attention on either side of a jellyfish like Grimm, which held something the redhead couldn't quite make out in its tentacles, while the black dome showed the image of Salem, sitting in a black throne.
"It is an honor to finally introduce myself properly to you Lady Rose, I am Knight Fall at your service." Cinder introduced herself, but once Ruby recognized the sword rifle held by the Grimm before her, she began to tear up slightly, ignoring the three other people in the room completely.
There in the thin red appendages of the creature was Thorn, her mother's black and white blade, crisscrossed by red veins. Without any words Ruby stepped forward and gently took the swords handle, hefting the weapons weight as it was meant to for the first time in her life.
"Greetings my niece, I hope you like the second gift I had prepared for you." Salem began to address the girl, who looked up from the blade, revealing her tear stained mask to the woman talking through the Oracle.
"Th-thank yo-you, this we-weapon meant so so much to mom." Ruby barely managed to say between the tears and slight sobbing the reminder of Summer Rose caused the little half Grimm.
"Think nothing of it little Ruby, after all the Grimmblade in this sword, and all it entails, is rightfully yours." Salem continued to speak, trying her best to sound cheerful to help the young girl before her, even though her voice was not used to it.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, slowly calming down somewhat.
"Just put one of your hands onto the blade itself and I promise you will soon understand."
Uncertain what the other half Grimm meant, Ruby carefully placed one of her hands on the blade itself, careful not to scratch it with her claws or cut herself on the edge. For a short moment it felt like the blade would suck her Aura into itself, but then the flow of energy reversed, filling the girl with more energy than she ever had, which felt strangely warm and cold, like coming home on a cold winter evening.
At the same time her senses were overwhelmed with a decades worth of sorrow and fear. This, for now unnoticed by Ruby herself, caused her skin to lose all its color until it was just as white as the bone mask covering half her face, while her eyes were soon just like those of every other Grimm, a blood red Iris on a otherwise black eyeball.
'Ruby is that you?'
As everyone else noticed the changes the girl went through and gasped, the redhead thought she had heard her mother's voice for a moment.
"Mom?" The younger half Grimm asked, looking around the bare room confused.
"Knight Schnee could you get my niece a mirror so she can see what happened to herself?"
'I am here my little Alpha'
Once again Ruby thought she could hear her mother talking, this time simultaneous with Salem. Even more confused now, the wolf tailed girl decided to just wait for Winter to return.
When the Specialist returned, she gave the mirror to Penny, who held it up o Ruby could inspect all the changes that had taken place. Seeing herself look that much more like the older half Grimm surprised Ruby a bit, but what really shocked her were the red flames floating around her eyes, a hint of black moving through them from time to time.
She was brought out of her shocked state by the sound of metal hitting the floor before her. Looking down towards her feet, she saw a set of parts that were a perfect match for the bits and pieces making up Crescent Rose's blade, except that they had the same Black white and red coloration as the blade of her mother's sword, which she just noticed was no longer attached to the grip.
With panic filling her voice, the young half Grimm shouted. "What- what just happened to Thorn?" 'It's alright Ruby'
"The Grimmslayer has been passed down in our family since Rakka forged it from Fafnir's blood." Salem replied quickly, hoping to ease her nieces confusion.
'Don't worry I am here for you my little Alpha.'
"And each time it was passed on to the next in line it took the form most suited for its new wielder." The older half Grimm concluded her explanation.
"Okay? But what about this freaky eye glow going on?" Ruby asked, just as the flames began to dim, her newly sparked curiosity about her mother's blade pushed to the back of her mind for the moment.
After a short nod from Salem, Cinder stepped before the redhead and held up her hand, which was soon filled with a small flame as her eyes were flanked by orange flames.
"Tell me lady Rose has your mother ever told you the story of the Seasons?"
Nodding quickly Ruby spoke up a moment later. "Wait, so that is true?"
'Yes Ruby.' Summer's voiced echoed through the half Grimm's head just as Salem began to answer her question as well. 'I'll tell you everything about it later.' "Yes, and with this blade you should have inherited the powers of the Winter Maiden." Salem was interrupted by something the Grimm was not transmitting, before she turned back to her niece and finished. "Sadly I need to see to other things now, but if you do have any questions, Knight Fall can answer them better than I can. It was nice finally talking to you Ruby."
Not long after the white haired woman had finished, the Grimm's surface turned pure black.
"Is there anything you want to ask right now Lady Rose?" Cinder asked immediately, the flame in her hand dying own as the ones around her eyes vanished.
"Not right now. But I would like to talk to you once I have cleared my head and grasped everything that just happened." Ruby replied as she leaned down to pick up all the Grimm like parts for her scythe.
'Install them soon my little Alpha, before you lose some of them.' Her mother's voice seemed to say into her head once more, as Ruby was making her way across Campus, unsure where to go.
'Am I going crazy?' Ruby thought to herself, which was promptly followed by an answer from her mother's voice again.
'No Ruby, I am really here. And I will be for the foreseeable future, I'll explain it all to you I promise.'
'Okay voice in my head that sounds like Mom.' Ruby thought back somewhat sharper than she intended. Even so, she was eager to see how good the new parts would actually work, so after grabbing Crescent Rose from her locker, the half Grimm began to search for an empty workshop she could use.
Now I hoped you all enjoyed, if not tell me why.