We are back with another chapter in the story. As always RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and its associates, as always my characters are my own so let's get to the story.
Delilah walked into the morning class with Blake and Ruby following close behind, it had been two weeks since she had been discharged from the hospital. Carmine, and Levina were still not ready to be discharged as their injuries were not healing as fast as they normally would. Omar's condition still had not changed, Yang would still visit if only briefly. When Delilah entered the room everyone in class still stared at her, Weiss waved her over to the seat next to her giving an icy stare to everyone else in the room. Professor Port nodded to Delilah as she walked in, most of the teachers had been told what had happened and were more accommodating to Delilah with her limited ability to take notes and complete assignments. Team RWBY and JNPR had taken on the role of body guards during all hours of the day, Delilah was never more than a few feet away from two or three members of the two teams. A fact Cardin was still recovering from when he made the mistake of insulting Delilah and purposefully bumping into her injured arm. It took nearly six upper classmen to pull Nora and Yang off of Cardin as Pyrrha, Weiss and Ruby had formed a defensive circle around Delilah in case someone else tried anything. Eating lunch was not easy as any big or quick movements brought immediate pain, and it did not help that Delilah felt eyes watching her ever since she was discharged.
Wān yān sat in a tree looking into the cafeteria with a pair of binoculars, licking his lips he grinned widely as he looked around Delilah. One of the shadows in the tree formed a face as it spoke, "Wān yān what are you doing, you were supposed to have found a time in which she is alone and kill her. We only have another day or two before Beatrice comes back fully prepared to teach at the school. If she is here we won't have another chance, as it is most of the Sanzaki family guard the hospital." Wān yān rolled his eyes, "calm down Schwartz, I'll get around to it. Delilah has a few runts following her all day and night, they take turns watching her sleep. Look I know you have a rule about not letting anyone other than the target get hurt, and I know that day was an exception. But can I just go in and kill her? It's not like the runts can do anything to stop me." The shadow stretched before returning to its shape as Wān yān felt something press itself against his neck, "we are professional hitmen, and we abide by certain rules that the clients see us as the more favorable option when picking hitmen. Hush, Dian, and I followed the rules when we went after our targets. You nearly broke that rule, now I will not have this conversation with you again. Find a time you can kill her while she is alone, then you can receive your portion of the reward money." Wān yān begrudgingly sighed as he agreed, the shadow retreated leaving Wān yān in the tree by himself again.
Delilah would alternate sleeping in team RWBY and JNPR's rooms during the night, Glynda and Ozpin were on speed dial if anything happened during the night. Team CFVY and FRZE had been released a week after Delilah, they were frequent visitors as they recovered a bit more quickly than the rest of Delilah's team. Her parents would visit the school every day they could, the producer would call them every day asking when they would go back to filming and their answer was always when their daughter was feeling better. Carmine had team SLVR and his parents visit every day, the same with Levina and her foster parents.
Omar was standing still as Sengo was drawing a pattern on his back in ink, "Sengo remind me again what this is for." Sengo dipping his brush into the nearby well of ink said in a calm tone as he resumed his work, "this is your personal key to this place." Looking around the small space, "You mean the workshop?" Sengo poked him in the side, "No, to this realm. You are the second person I have given this privilege too." "Who was the first?" Sengo pointed outside, "just look for the oldest headstone, but in a moment, I am almost done." When Sengo finished he pointed Omar to the door, "just walk outside you'll find it, I still have some final things to do on the gauntlets." Nodding Omar walked outside, there was a vast open field stretching out to what seemed like forever with trees scattered around provided places of shade. The tree next to Sengo's shop was a cherry blossom tree, the petals were falling in a perpetual state as the tree never seemed to run out of petals. And the petals that fell seemed to just disappear as they touched the ground, it was a very tranquil sight that was interrupted as Sengo called out, "Your father made that tree, it is a replacement for a headstone if that is what you were about to look for."
Omar looked at the tree, in almost perfect writing the tree had formed the letters of his father's name. Lightly touching the writing he took a deep breath, stepping out from the shade of the tree he looked around and saw as the petals slowly dispersed the field became clearer. There were headstones everywhere, each spaced five feet apart, stretching over the horizon. Omar started walking down the rows looking at a few of the headstones, names from the book his dad left him would pop up on some of the stones. As he walked further and further away from the workshop he could see the headstones become older and more worn away, looking up he saw a large mausoleum get closer.
When he stood in front of it he could see heavy chains wrap around the building, large metal doors bolted into the stone making the mausoleum look like a stone prison cell. As he walked closer he could almost hear something breathing, walking cautiously up the steps he leaned his head closer to the door when the whole structure shook as something massive roared. Stumbling back he caught himself on one of the headstones, picking himself up he could still see the stone prison shake. A voice behind him caught him off guard, "it's been awhile since someone's come this far into the graveyard." Sitting in an old wheelchair was an ancient man, the wispy white hair was combed back underneath a dark straw hat. He looked to frail too move around but he seemed to wheel himself around the rough ground just fine. The wheel chair was fairly ornate in its design even by modern standards, the old man wore a brown leather jacket and trousers, what looked like the remains of a tattered mantle and a red scarf.
Looking back at the mausoleum then back to the old man Omar asked, "What's in there?" the old man looked between the two giving a faint smile, "an old enemy that smells new blood." Turning his wheel chair the old man beckoned, "Come I would like to speak with you." Omar nodded pushing the old man's chair in the direction that he pointed, looking around Omar could see a small cottage crest one of the many hills. Chuckling and shaking his head Omar laughed, "Man this place gets weirder and weirder." The old man settled into his chair further, "this 'place' has only gotten bigger, thanks to you, because of the unique nature of your aura and semblance. Most people that wield the sword only have access to the workshop, very few have gotten to step outside and explored the rest of this place." Reaching the small cottage Omar pushed the old man up the little ramp on to the porch, the old man wheeled himself over to a small table with a jug of tea and two glasses. Pouring the tea into both glasses the old man offered one to Omar as he motioned for him to sit.
Looking out over the field Omar began to relax as the old man asked, "You must have questions." Omar nodded as he put his tea down, "I take it you're the first person Sengo gave the key to?" the old man laughed, "Well to put it in more simple terms, I am the first one to help Sengo create this place." Holding out his hand Omar could see a shimmer of air before a small stone started to form, much like how he creates objects. Looking at the old man again Omar asked, "Who are you?" The old man smiled placing the stone on the table, "just a very old family member who wanted to see his descendant, you seem to have grown well. That is good to see." Omar sat back into his chair taking a drink from his tea, "you're my however many greats grandfather?" the old man nodded taking a sip from his tea, "yes I am, I also met your father when he was around your age. In fact most of the graves here are distant family members of yours, the sword has stayed within the family for centuries but there are a few graves which do not belong to our family they were friends of the family or warriors who earned the right to wield the sword." Omar rubbed his temple, "you make it sound like the sword is some crazy ancient weapon." The old man nodded, "you can call it that yes, but to be truthful it is actually a prison for the thing you heard in the mausoleum. It has been our family's duty to stand guard over the beast for as long as we are able, should the beast be freed and reunited with its master then it is no exaggeration to say that the world of man would fall." Omar cocked his head to the side as he asked, "And who is its master?" The old man grew a dark expression on his face as he brought his hand together resting his head on them, "Salem."
Omar was even more confused, "who is Salem?" the old man sighed as he rested his head further into his hands, "The self-appointed queen of the Grimm, she is darkness and evil melded together into physical form. She has been alive since I first started my career as a hunter, it was only later that someone else received the same gift of immortality that she had a constant foe to contend with." Omar straightened up turning his chair to face his ancestor, "and who is this person?" the old man leaned back placing his hands on the arm rests of his wheelchair, "he has had many names but recently he has started calling himself Ozpin." Omar almost laughed, "Ozpin, Professor Ozpin, the guy that runs Beacon Academy? You have got to be kidding, he can't be some ancient immortal warrior." The old man nodded, "his immortality is different from Salem's. She draws her power from the Grimm so she does not age, Ozpin is but a man whose soul cannot cross over until Salem is defeated." Omar closed his mouth as he remembered how Levina told him, during her break in at his office he was able to see her while she was completely invisible which was something he couldn't do. Leaning back in his own chair Omar asked, "So how is it that I am able to talk to you? I haven't seen anyone else pop up yet." The old man broke from his dark mood into a lighter one, "that is because you touched my gravestone, touching the gravestone of one of the many sleeping warriors brings them forth. Every gravestone signifies that the warrior had a weapon made and a piece of their soul embedded into the sword. A tree signifies a warrior that held the sword but did not have a weapon made or leave a piece of their soul, so I am sorry but you will not be able to meet your father here." Omar sighed drinking the last of his tea.
After some time Omar felt his back tighten up, as he tried to reach back the old man stopped him, "well I guess that is all the time we have to talk, with the key now having been set you should go back to Sengo." Omar stopped trying to reach his back as he nodded, "if I want to talk to you again will I have to die to come back?" the old man shook his head, "no you should be able to just feel yourself arrive, though I would suggest you do it in a location where your body will not be disturbed. No death but your body will lose all function while you are here so be warned about that." Omar nodded again as he made his way back to the workshop.
Sengo had a table cleared off and a trough of water off to the side of the forge, Sengo was stoking the flames as he walked in. As he passed one of the counters Omar grabbed a bit wrapped in cloth, Sengo turned around wiping his goggles. They both nodded as Omar put the bit in his mouth as he started breathing heavily, Sengo fanned the flames to the point of the metal turning white hot. Flexing his fingers Omar braced himself as he stared at the gauntlets, "Now remember kid, when you put them on don't pull back, lift up and carry them over to the water. Got it?" Omar nodded as he gave a roar driving his hands into the metal, he could feel his bones and his very core set ablaze as the metal molded and melted onto his arms, it was the single most painful thing he could ever remember feeling. Lifting up he took the five steps over to the trough as he dunked his arms into the water, he had never felt more drained than he did at that moment. As the metal cooled so too did his core, dropping the bit from his mouth Omar wheezed as he kept his hands submerged. Sengo walked over rubbing his shoulders, "Sorry kid, it is part of the process of binding the weapon to you. Only two other people have had me make them gauntlets, and it was just as bad for them. Go ahead and stay here for a little bit, I need to get my soul pick to complete the final process." Omar nodded weakly as Sengo dug through his tool box, after some searching he pulled out a glowing chisel.
Removing his arms from the water caused the metal to sizzle and audibly creek as the metal began to set. Pulling himself onto the table he laid down on his back as Sengo strapped his legs and arms into the binds. Sengo washed the bit off and put it back into Omar's mouth, "Kid I am warning you now, what is about to happen will be the absolute last thing I need to do ok. I have been doing this for centuries and no one has died from this, I need to take a chip off of your soul core. It won't cause permanent damage, but I need a piece to keep here. Are you ready?" Omar nodded as Sengo lined the chisel up to the center of his chest. Omar looked down confused, "why there?" "Because that is where the core is located, I hit anywhere else and it'll hurt like pulling the gauntlets out of the fire but a hundred times worse." Omar grew pale as he straightened out and laid as perfectly still as he could.
Sengo and Omar synchronized their breathing as Omar exhaled Sengo raised his hammer and drove it straight down onto the chisel. The straps nearly tore with how hard Omar was thrashing, the bit in his mouth was on the verge of shattering with the extreme pressure he was applying with his teeth. Sengo raised the hammer and brought it down again, he did this until half of the chisel had been embedded into Omar's chest. Raising the hammer one final time he struck the chisel and both could hear a loud crack, Omar slumped onto the table as Sengo grabbed a different hammer and began lightly tapping the chisel slowly moving it ever so slightly.
After several minutes Sengo removed the chisel and pulled a pair of tongs off of a nearby table, carefully he sunk the tongs into the hole and pulled out a glowing piece of what looked like stone. The way it shimmered in the light casting off a feint gray light was almost mesmerizing, Sengo placed the stone shaving into a small crucible as he pulled out another small chunk. Sengo pulled out five small chunks from the hole in Omar's chest as it slowly started to close up, reaching for a bundle of clothe Sengo dipped his finger into the cloth and pulled out a large glob of dark amber gunk. Sengo applied the gunk to the hole and the edge of the gauntlets where the metal met flesh, Omar felt immediate relief as Sengo was finishing up. After laying on the table for what felt like hours Sengo patted him on the shoulders, "I seem to have chiseled off more than necessary, my apologizes." Sitting up Omar shook his head, "well since you already removed it no use it crying about it." After thinking for a moment Omar had an idea, "Can you craft the excess material into something? Like something I can bring back with me?" Sengo nodded, "Yes, what shape would you like it in?" Having feeling return to his hands was an odd experience, the gauntlets didn't seem to add any extra weight or sluggishness to his movements. Turning to Sengo Omar thought for a moment, "How about you keep it safe until I can figure it out ok?" Sengo nodded as he led Omar toward a door.
Shelly was sitting in a chair just outside of Omar's room with a crash cart next to her, she had an almost crazed look in her eyes as it looked like she had not gotten any sleep in several days. Shelly laughed slightly, "Go on, try and die again I dare you. I have all three of your sisters here, and each one of them has given me expressed permission to keep you alive. So go ahead and flat line again, I'll just bring you back like I always have." A few nurses in the nursing station had brought meals and drinks for Shelly, to relieve herself was the more stressful act as she had to go through two doors and a hallway to get to the bathroom. Which in reverse meant that she had to pass through those same doors and hallway to get back to the room. Mavis, Donna and Faye were sitting in the waiting room with a few of their cousins, after Omar had crashed but a few hours ago they were all still a little on edge. When Yang showed up they all agreed to not tell her what happened, Professor Ozpin and Glynda were right behind Yang as the three entered the waiting room.
Carmine and Levina were outside of his room looking in, the amount of machines that cluttered his room nearly tripled from the last time Carmine saw Omar laying in a hospital bed. Delilah had come by the hospital earlier in the day and was currently receiving a checkup, Carmine and Levina had been cleared for release that day. As the team looked in Delilah huffed, "I have to say, I do not envy how his aura works. Yeah he seems to have a useful semblance but the cost seems to be way too high." "Faye has been working on a way to have his aura shield him like it normally should." Mavis was behind the group looking into the room, when the three turned around they all jumped at the same time. Levina was the first to speak, "Brown." Mavis looked confused for a second before lightly touching her eye, "Right, I've never really powered down in front of anyone." Delilah cocked her head to the side, "powered down?" Mavis nodded, "my natural eye color is not gold, it's brown. The golden eye color that you normally see is something my father could do during battle. Both of my parents helped me unlock this power, and my father trained me on how to keep it active. I was going to teach Omar the same thing but I never got the chance, and hearing from Uriel that he activated it on his own is a little disheartening as I wanted to be the one to help him."
After a bit of force Shelly was sitting in the cafeteria with Mavis, Donna, Faye, Yang, Delilah, Carmine, Levina, Ozpin, Glynda, and the rest of team RWBY that had recently shown up. As they were eating Shelly began to relax as Uriel, Iris and Raven were still standing guard by the room. The rest of the family had left to do various tasks Mavis had sent them on, one of which was to find the leader of the Jaegers. About halfway through the meal Uriel, Iris and Raven entered the cafeteria, Mavis when she saw them was not pleased. After a brief conversation Uriel convinced Mavis that they needed a break, the nurses could handle looking after Omar while they ate.
As they finished their meal Mavis sat rubbing the bridge of her nose, "Seventeen years….Seventeen years and the only time he was ever in the hospital was during his checkups. A month at Beacon and he's been in critical condition twice with a team of assassins after him." Ozpin breathing a heavy sigh apologized, "I am extremely sorry Mavis, and it was never my intention to place my students in these kinds of situations." As Mavis took a breath all of the lights in the hospital shutdown before the red emergency lights turned on, Shelly's beeper buzzed nearly out of control. Mavis, Donna, Faye, Ozpin, and Glynda were out of their seats and running down the halls toward the ICU, the rest of the group followed as fast as they could. A security guard was thrown through the doors flying past Mavis and Ozpin, they both ducked as another two were thrown.
Mavis entered the area to see several guards painfully picking themselves up as some of the nurses were holding blankets out on front of them as a shield. Omar was standing in the center of the room with chairs thrown everywhere, as he turned his head rapidly Mavis could see the glowing gold eyes shine through the red flood lights. Mavis took a step forward, Omar disappeared from her view briefly. Donna pushed Mavis to the side as she blocked a punch, Mavis reactivated her power-up as Donna pushed Omar back. Omar landed and Mavis could see that he was rapidly looking around the room not focusing on anything for longer than half a second, even his body was constantly tensing and relaxing as he would sway to one side before jerking back. As Mavis stood up she called out, "hey, Omar it's alright. You're in the hospital, I'm here for you and so is Donna and Faye. So just calm down alright, take a few deep breaths ok?"
Yang pushed past everyone when she heard Mavis talk, standing before her was Omar, but not the same one she knew. This one seemed more alien, his movements were all wrong, the feeling she got from him was that he was dangerous. The way he eyed her made her feel like prey, a feeling she never felt before. Her usual confidence was gone as she could not think of what to do or say, all she could do stand and stare. Her body involuntarily twitched and Omar was standing in front of her immediately cause her to jump back, that motion caused him to wrap his arms around her scaring her. As she squeezed her eyes closed she waited for him to snap her in half, when she felt him draw her in closer she opened one eye to see him place his forehead against hers. Taking deep breaths and closing his eyes she could feel him relax, worming her arms out of his grip she embraced him smiling. "So you're back."