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Scene 2:

Opportunity Strikes

A/n:

I don't usually do an A/n before the chap, but this is a special case.

This chap goes to a dark place, which involves child abuse.

If you want to skip it, then when someone says "Dad", run.

It'll be explained next chapter so don't worry about missing anything.

You have been warned.


Glynda pov

A few hours later and Torchwick was sitting in a jail cell, awaiting justice and an interrogation, and the girl was sitting in a hospital bed.

The doctors aren't sure what exactly caused the nosebleed, but whatever it was it was fixed now, likely due to her aura healing it.

In addition, due to the injury on her shoulder, as well as a fractured wrist, her arm was placed in a cast and sling.

After she arrived we quickly identified her as Ruby Rose, who despite evidence to the contrary, was actually 15, not 12.

I had called her father over to try and shed light on this subject, but he would be a while. Right now I was speaking to Ozpin about the girl.

"So, Glynda, what are your thoughts about her?" He asked me, taking a sip from his mug.

"I think, for a child with no formal training, she's incredibly skilled." I answered truthfully.

"But?" He said, reading me like an old friend.

"But…something about this whole thing doesn't sit right with me. She shows evidence of extensive hunter training, but she isn't in any academy." I said, answering his question.

"Her mother was a huntress, and her father and uncle are both skilled hunters. Her uncle even works at Signal, where her sister just graduated from. While her mother passed before she was old enough to teach her anything, the rest of her family could have taught her all she needed." He supplied

"These weren't just some basic self-defense techniques. This was extensive hunter level training, she could go to Beacon with this level of skill. Why give her this much training and not enroll her in Signal? They certainly had enough pull in the school to make it happen." I countered.

"Perhaps she didn't want to be a huntress? Maybe she didn't want to pursue the family business?" He offered.

"I don't thinks so. You didn't see her fight out there, Ozpin. She was born to be a huntress. She has real talent and skill. As much as I hate to acknowledge it, if it wasn't for her, Torchwick would've gotten away. She didn't interfere with me at all, and used me as a distraction to perfectly incapacitate Torchwick in one blow." I paused.

"As much as I am unhappy about her using me like that, it was…effective."

"Just because she has talent in becoming a huntress, doesn't mean she wants to be one. She could have a talent for it, but not a passion for it." He argued.

"Maybe…" I conceded "But…"

"The scythe?" He guessed.

"The scythe." I agreed.

"That scythe is shoddy simply due to a lack of materials. Whoever made it put a lot of time and effort into it despite a lack of suitable materials. It was literally made of junk and spare parts, but is certainly effective. If she put that much time and energy into making scythe out of garbage, why not make a scythe out of hunter-grade materials? Her family certainly has the connections to do so." I argued.

He sighed in defeat. "I don't know, Glynda, I don't have an answer for that." He said, a tired look on his face.

He looked down at his mug, taking a sip of his still steaming black tea. He then abruptly looked up, staring me in the eyes with a look sharpened to a razor's edge.

"But, I am concerned about that blood on her blade." He said sharply

"As am I, but unfortunately we have nothing to go by, other than her and Torchwick. Everything else was either destroyed in the explosion, or the fire that came after. All we have are seven unidentifiable bodies." I answered, feeling tired and frustrated.

"Yes, we certainly have a lot of questions for Ms. Rose and her father." He said, adjusting his glasses sitting on his nose when he was done.

I sighed, seeing where this was going.

"You want to try and convince her to enter Beacon, don't you?" I asked

"Oh? Whatever gave you that idea?" He said, grinning while his glasses reflected the light, hiding his eyes.

"Because you're a manipulative bastard." I muttered.

"Why Glynda, I'm hurt. I simply don't want the talent of such a skilled youth to go to waste." He said, mocking hurt. It was ruined by the fact he was still had a scheming grin on his face as he took another sip of steaming hot tea.

"Sir?" I said, getting his attention.

"Yes?" He responded, his glasses back to normal as he looked at me with a sweet smile on his face.

"You are a terrible person." I answered calmly.

He just chuckled and said, "I know Glynda, I know. But if that's what it takes to keep humanity alive, I'll do what I have to." He said, his smile taking a sad, yet serious tone.

Just then, one of the nurses opened the door.

"Uh, Professor Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch?" She asked

"Yes?" Ozpin responded

"Mister Xiao-long is here about his daughter, you wanted to know when he got here?" She answered.

"Yes, we'll be right there." He acknowledged.

When she left he turned to me and said, "Well then, I guess we'll be getting those answers after all."

"We'll see." I responded skeptically.

We left the room, walking through the hospital before we ended up in the lobby. When we arrived we saw Ruby's father, Taiyang, with his shockingly yellow blond hair, pacing back and forth.

"Mr. Xiao-long?" Ozpin asked, getting the man's attention.

The man turned around, showing his worried face. He had a slight beard matching his blond hair, and purple eyes.

"Yes?" He asked, confused at our appearance.

"Could you come with us? We have a few things we would like to talk to you about your daughter, Ruby." Ozpin requested in an even, inviting tone.

The man looked perplexed and concerned, but relented, and followed us as we made our way to a private conference room we had reserved. The walls were soundproof and no one else was in here, giving us all the privacy we needed.

The second I closed the door behind Mr. Xiao-long, the dull roar of the hospital was snuffed out. The room was filled with a tense silence. But it wasn't too silent, now that it was quiet again I could hear that odd buzzing sound from earlier, like it never left.

Ozpin motioned for Mr. Xiao-long to sit down, which he respectfully declined. Ozpin took his seat on the opposite side of the table, while I took my place standing behind him and to the left side of him.

"Is my daughter alright?" He asked, is tone slightly shaky.

"Yes, Ms. Rose is just fine." Ozpin answered, assuaging his fears.

The man visibly relaxed, letting out a tense breath as he felt himself calm down.

"However…" Ozpin began, taking a pause to sip from his mug.

This brought back the man's attention, as he looked at Ozpin sharply, wondering what this was all about.

"Ms. Rose was involved in an…incident…" He began to explain.

"An incident?" Mr. Xiao-long asked tensely.

"Yes." Ozpin answered, gesturing to me.

"Early tonight there was an attempted robbery at the Dust shop, Dust till Dawn, led by Roman Torchwick." I explained.

At this, the man paled once again.

"Is Ruby alright?" He asked, fear in his voice.

"Once again, Mr. Xiao-long, Ms. Rose is fine. She incurred mild injuries and passed out from exhaustion, but is otherwise fine. Thanks to the healing properties of her aura, Ms. Rose should be back to full strength in a day or two." I said, trying to comfort his fears.

Instead, it only served to feed them.

"What do you mean exhaustion? Why would she be exhausted?" He asked, growing more and more concerned.

"It seems your daughter, despite not being enrolled in any hunter academy, even Signal, has received exquisite hunter training. Due to her efforts, Mr. Torchwick was successfully apprehended." Ozpin explained, setting up for his line of questions.

However, the second Ozpin mentioned that Ruby had hunter training, Mr. Xiao-long paled considerably. He broke out into a cold sweat, his eyes widened.

Frankly he looked terrified.

"She what?" He asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"Yes, it seems as if you taught your daughter quite well. Though, there are some odd discrepancies, especially regarding her weapon." Ozpin continued, his face blank, yet serious.

"Her weapon?" He muttered again, his eyes widening even further.

It seemed with every word out of Ozpin's mouth, Mr. Xiao-long just seemed to be driven deeper and deeper into horror.

"Yes, she had this scythe with her." Ozpin began as he pulled out Ms. Rose's scythe from under the table. "We had to clean it off, but it seems to be quite well made despite the low-quality materials used."

When Ozpin brought the scythe out Mr. Xiao-long just stared at it in horror, like it confirmed his greatest fears, but when Ozpin said they had to clean it off, his head snapped back up to Ozpin.

"You had to clean it off?" He asked

"Yes, there were some bloodstains on the blade, but-" Ozpin began to explain before Mr. Xiao-long cut him off.

"People died, didn't they…" He interrupted, his terrified voice a whisper, and his face filled with horror.

"Um…yes, there were seven bodies found in the burning remnants of the shop. During Mr. Torchwick's attempted escape he blew up the shop." Ozpin explained, slightly caught off guard, not only by Mr. Xiao-long's statement, but by the way he said it.

At this, Mr. Xiao-long let his back hit the wall as he put his head in his hands.

"No no no no, this can't be happening. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. She wasn't supposed to be able to do this." He said, muttering to himself.

Ozpin and I looked at each other in confusion. This was most definitely not the reaction we had expected form the man. Maybe some rage at the fact that his daughter almost died, pride at her being instrumental in apprehending a criminal, or concern at her condition.

Not…terror.

"Uh, Mr. Xiao-long?" Ozpin asked, trying to get his attention.

The man looked up at him, his eyes wide and dilated, yet bloodshot. He looked like he had become consumed by horror, and wasn't quite there anymore. But there was something underneath all the fear, something I couldn't quite identify.

"She killed them." He stated quietly.

The two of us were taken aback at that. We hadn't even suggested she was involved in the deaths of the seven men, and he had just accused his own daughter of murder because she was there.

"Uh…Mr. Xiao-long, I think you're being a bit rash. There is no evidence, at all, to suggest your daughter had anything to do with their deaths, at least, intentionally. She could have simply injured them with her blade before Mr. Torchwick blew up the shop." Ozpin said in an effort to defend the girl and calm Mr. Xiao-long down.

"And even if she did, in fact, kill several men in there, Ms. Rose will likely be fine, seeing as she was defending herself against potentially seven armed men who threatened her life." I threw in, hoping assuage his fears of his daughter being arrested and charged with murder.

"As much as the idea of a 15 year old killing someone irritates me, if she did it in self-defense I cannot do much to fault her for it, other than to instruct her in several, non-lethal, methods for taking down a group of people." I continued in an effort to insert my own opinions to defuse the tension in the air.

"Oh no, you don't understand, she liked it." He said, his mania quickly growing.

"What do you mean?" Ozpin asked, frowning as his voice grew cold.

"Ever since she came back, she's never been quite the same." He began, a twisted, humorless smile growing on his face.

Came back from what? I asked myself. One glance at Ozpin told me he was thinking the same thing.

"I saw it in her eyes, the way she acted, the way she moved, the way she thought." He raved, tapping the side of his head for emphasis

"She had become a killer." He revealed quietly.

Ozpin opened his mouth to speak, but the man once gain interrupted him.

"I tried to deny it, to suppress it. I tried to keep that killer in her locked away, that's why I didn't let her enter Signal, you see? Why would I give a killer tools and training, all to help her kill? I wouldn't enable her like that." He explained, falling deeper and deeper into madness.

As he spoke, the buzzing in my ears grew louder and louder, turning into a dull static filled roar in the background.

I felt my irritation and disbelief grow. On the one hand, how could he say such things about his daughter? No father should ever speak about his own daughter in such a fashion, let alone any child!

And to think, Ms. Rose had to live with this, her father calling her a killer to be. I can't imagine what it would do to a child. On the other hand…

…What if he was right?

I didn't get to see much of Ms. Rose, but what I did see unnerved me. I don't really know why, but when I looked into those hollow silver eyes, I felt like she was gazing into my very soul. Then there was the way she fought, ruthlessly and without hesitation. She may have simply incapacitated Torchwick, instead of killing him, but what if that was just because I was there?

What if, had there been no witnesses she could not silence, she would have killed him without a second thought?

Then, there was what he was saying about her training. Apparently her family hadn't given her any training as a huntress, because, according to her father, they didn't want to teach a killer how to kill, and give her the tools to do so. And yet, she was so dead set on this course that she went behind their back.

It certainly explained her scythe. Her uncle Qrow used a scythe, and if she admired him at all, maybe he was the only one nice to her, then maybe she tried to take after him. She had to make the scythe in secret, using the only parts she could come across without alerting her family to what she was doing, scrap and junk.

Though it does raise the question, she couldn't just be self-taught, she was far too good with something far too complex for that. Someone must have taught her, or at least, helped her along. But who? And why?

And I have to wonder, what could have driven him to think like this? What could have happened to cause him to think like this?

Both my and Ozpin's thoughts were brought to a sudden and violent stop by one word. One, innocent, fearful word.

"Dad?"

Everyone looked to the corner of the room it came from. Standing there, in her hospital gown with her right arm in a cast and sling, was a frightened and fearful young Ruby. She was looking up at her father with a mix of fear, trepidation, and hope. Like, while what he said hurt her, she was hoping he didn't mean it, and that just one look at her would cause him to take it all back.

Upon seeing his daughter standing there, looking at him, he broke into a real smile, not the tense, manic one earlier. He seemed to calm down, and relax, like he suddenly realized something. He slowly, and calmly walked over to her.

"I'm sorry Ruby, I didn't mean it. I was just…confused, and angry that you got hurt." He apologized to her earnestly.

At this, Ms. Rose relaxed, breaking into a bright, if small, smile.

"Don't worry Rubes, daddy loves you. I love you with all my heart." He said as he walked up to her, reaching down to ruffle her hair.

"But…" He began, and that's when I saw it.

There was something dark lurking under that smile.

"You're not my daughter." He finished calmly

In a flash, both of his hands were wrapped around her throat, choking the life out of the small, young, girl. Her meager frame was helpless as his madness came back with a vicious vengeance. She choked and struggled for air, but Mr. Xiao-long wouldn't give it to her. He seemed to enjoy watching her struggle, to see her suffer.

I was frozen in horror, unable to truly comprehend what he was doing. I couldn't believe that Mr. Xiao-long would do something like this to his own daughter. As we stood there, helpless to our own shock, and Ruby staring at her own father, terrified, he spoke.

"I realize now, I've been wrong all these years!" He shouted at her. "I've been fooling myself, trying to believe you're her, but I was wrong!"

He then leaned in close, looking her in the eyes as she fought for life, struggling as her lungs were deprived of oxygen, and her brain of blood.

"No, you're just a monster that tried to trick me." He spoke in a whisper, loud enough for us to hear it. His tone filled with insanity and hatred. "You came back, wearing her skin like a rag, walking around like her, but you couldn't do it right, could you?" He asked.

He slammed her head into the wall behind her, hitting it with a resounding THUD.

"Could you!" He shouted again.

This snapped me out of my shock.

"Mr. Xiao-long, what the Hell are you doing?!" I boomed at him in a voice that terrified student, teacher, and adult alike. It was filled with enough fury and force to make even the most arrogant man submit.

But Taiyang was too far gone in his bloodlust.

He laughed, laughed, at me.

"Why, Ms. Goodwitch, I'm doing what I should have done years ago. Killing a demon." He said, with a deranged smile as he looked at me.

As he did, he loosened his grip on his daughter for a second, allowing her a brief reprieve. She coughed and sputtered, trying to catch her breath as she tried to regain focus.

And then, just like that, he brought his attention to her once again. He pulled her back before slamming her head against the wall again, with even more force than before. Her skull slammed into the wall, breaking the surface with a resounding CRACK!

He resumed strangling his daughter, and continued his monologue.

"This monster spits on the memory of my beloved Ruby! She's dead, but it just won't let her rest! It wants to kill, and murder, all in her image! I know it!" He yelled, each sentence punctuated by slamming her head into the wall again, and again.

Blood began to pour from the back of his daughter's skull as her eyes rolled up into her head. As I saw this father, lost to madness, brutally strangle, beat, and try to kill his own daughter, his own flesh and blood, something in me snapped, and I saw red.

Next thing he knew, he was blasted across the room as I held my riding crop at him. I huffed as I felt fury fill me. As much as people might think the contrary, I loved children, I wouldn't work at a school if I didn't. I simply believed that discipline and order was important, else they would run wild and miss out on reaching their potential. In my career as a huntress, never had I seen something that infuriated me so much as to lose control. But seeing this…insanity, this madness…it was too much.

"Mr. Xiao-long! This is your daughter! You will calm down and we will talk about this like Sane, Rational, Adults!" I boomed at him once more.

"No! I told you! That's not my daughter! My daughter is dead! That demon bitch is just walking around in her skin, pretending to be her! But it's just a monster! Just like the Grimm! And like Grimm, it needs to die!" He roared, his aura flaring in rage. In righteous, mad, fury.

He charged at the girl, fist pulled back and ready to cave in her skull. I moved in front of him as time seemed to slow. Tiyang was infamous for his power, and even if he was unarmed, I was worried I wouldn't be able to stop him entirely, not with him charging at us with this much fury fueling him. If I really wanted to stop him, I could, but it would likely level half the building in the process.

Nevertheless…I could not just stand there and watch as this man, lost to his own insanity, grief, and hatred, tried to kill this little girl, regardless of whether or not it was actually his daughter.

Just before his glowing fist reached my barrier, a loud Crack echoed through the air once again. Something flew forward in a blur, and penetrated Taiyang's aura shield, digging into the skin in his outstretched arm and causing blood to spurt out of the wound. The sheer force of the impact sent his arm flying off to the side, towards the wall, and offset his entire balance. In order to keep from falling over, Taiyang had to stop his charge, and re-orient himself.

He paused, standing and looking at his arm in bewilderment and pain. A simple fountain pen was sticking out of it. It was buried in at least an inch, with blood slowly leaking out of the wound. With his aura, the injury was hardly something to be concerned about, but the pain shocked him out of his rage.

We looked over to see the source of the pen, and found Ozpin standing there, one hand on his cane, the other on his mug of tea.

His glasses once again gleamed in the light, hiding his eyes. He had a smile on his face, not one of mirth, humor, or any pleasantry. This was the smile he purely reserved for when he was using all of his willpower to keep from killing someone.

His hands were clenched around his specially reinforced mug, and cane. Had they been ordinary, they would have shattered under the sheer pressure he was applying to them. His aura was flaring darkly, and it was quite clear to both of us that if he wanted to, he could have killed Mr. Xiao-long with that pen.

"Mr. Xiao-long." Ozpin began, his tone light, but filled steel and fury, "I think it best if you leave."

"But-" Tiyang began, trying to defend himself.

CRACK!

He was cut off by the sound of Ozpin loudly cracking and breaking the floor with the force he was applying to his cane. Despite the smile on his face, it was easy for everyone in the room to see that he was absolutely livid.

"Now." He insisted.

With that, Mr. Xiao-long wisely left the room like a wounded animal with his tail between his legs. When he shut the door behind him, I turned my attention to Ruby, who was laying on the ground unconscious.

She lay there in heap, blood trailing down the hole in the wall where her father tried to crush her skull, all the way to where blood continued to seep from the open wound in her cranium. She looked…broken…and lost. Her eyes had rolled up into her head, and tears were streaming down her face. She just lay there, like broken and discarded doll.

I quickly ran over to her, terrified that we might have been too late, that her father might have succeeded in ending his own daughter's life. I was relieved to find a steady, if weak, pulse. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I relaxed.

For just this moment, I allowed myself to stop being Ms. Goodwitch, headmistress of Beacon, and became just Glynda Goodwitch. I sat down next to her, leaning my back against the wall. For just an instant, I let my guard down, I let myself be just a woman again.

I looked over to Ozpin to see him re-adjust his glasses once again, and sighing. "Well then, what to do now." He said to no one in particular.


A/n:

...

I'm not sorry.

...

In case you're wondering, though, Taiyang isn't-well, no, he IS crazy, but...

It isn't his fault, kinda.

hmm...

There IS a good reason for what happened.

I DIDN'T just make Taiyang evil, okay.

Or crazy.

I am a fan of cause and effect based relationships, events, and stories.

This was supposed to be normal, cannon RWBY, but something happened that derailed that, something caused a small change which eventually turned into this.

Butterfly effect stuff.

So, following the butterfly effect, things are going to be different.

How different?

Well, I'd say Taiyang suffering a psychotic break and trying strangle Ruby to death is a pretty good example of how different.

If you want more, then see chap 9, that shows how different things are going to be.

Side note, sorry if Ms. Goodwitch and Ozpin seem OOC. I'm trying to stay in character, but go deeper into their characters.

That being said, that thing with Ozpin and the pen, I totally feel like Ozpin's such a badass he can kill people with everyday office supplies, or innocuous things a headmaster of a prestigious school should have.

It's why he carries sharpened fountain pens, and has a reinforced cane and mug.

I also feel like Ms. Goodwitch is actually a caring teacher who loves teaching, she's just strict and believes in order.

Hope I didn't fuck up.