Right like I said over the next few days (and by that I mean by Saturday) three new chapters for Reborn Dragon will be posted. Here's the first one.
"Ok Oz, what's this about?" Qrow Branwen, a man with grey black hair, red eyes and thin scruffy beard asked the Headmaster.
The day before he and his brother-in-law Taiyang Xiao Long had gotten a message from Glynda telling them that Ozpin needed to talk to them about something right away. To Qrow it sounded like it had something to do with the Maidens. To Taiyang, who didn't know of the Maidens' existence, it sounded like his children were in serious trouble.
Both were right.
"Natsu." Ozpin told them to their shock, "I need you two to tell me everything you know about his powers, skills, and personality." He told the two men with utmost seriousness.
After regaining his bearings, Taiyang was quick to ask the headmaster why he needed to know such things.
With a sigh the grey haired man began to explain, "As Qrow already knows several months ago one of… my inner circle was attacked. This in itself is not the problem however, after all allies of mine do tend to be in danger more often than not. No the problem is what was done to her, you see somehow whoever attacked her was able to steal a part of her soul and likely would have gotten all of it had Qrow not intervened."
Here Qrow cut him off, "What does any of that have to do with Natsu? He's not being targeted is he?" The red eyed man asked, his brother-in-law still too shocked about the idea of someone stealing another's soul to form words.
"No, Natsu is not being targeted." Ozpin told them causing both of the other men to give sighs of relief, "Unfortunately I called you here for the exact opposite reason. I believe that Natsu may have had something to do with it." Ozpin told the two of them with the utmost seriousness.
"WHAT?!" Taiyang yelled, "How the hell could my son be involved with something like that? What even gave you such a crazy idea?!" The blond demanded of the headmaster.
Ozpin however was not fazed by the other man's outburst, he had expected it after all. "The one who was attacked, a woman named Amber Autumn, is currently being kept under the school in a secret chamber where she is receiving specialized medical attention to keep her alive." The white haired man calmly explained, "The number of people who should even know of the attack number only a half dozen outside of the ones who committed it. Natsu is not among those that I told yet he has made it clear that he somehow knows not only about Amber being kept beneath the school, but also about her condition. Your youngest has already told me that your son has been known to disappear for days or even weeks on end in the past, I am merely drawing what conclusions I can from the presented evidence and that evidence points to Natsu being involved with the group that tried to steal Amber's soul and is therefore a threat to not only the school but all of Remnant." Ozpin told the angry father.
Before Taiyang could move to strangle the headmaster for accusing his son of such a thing he felt a hand on his shoulder holding him back. Turning his head, Taiyang saw his brother-in-law looking at Ozpin with an expression of barely suppressed rage, "Oz, we've known each other for a long time. We've fought together, bled together, and damn near died together more times than I'd care to remember." The normally cocky sounding man reminded his friend with uncharacteristic seriousness, "It is only because of that that I'm not making a move to break your jaw for what you're accusing my nephew of right now. However you better have a better reason to think like that than 'he knows something he shouldn't'. Natsu has shown time and time again that he has unparalleled Aura sensitivity, I suspect it's due to him feeling the emotions of others through his Semblance that he is as good as he is, and from what you've told us the only thing Natsu seems to be guilty of is being able to tell someone has a damaged Aura which is no grounds to accuse him of being some kind of terrorist." Qrow told the hazel eyed man, his own eyes hard as steel and promising pain.
Leaning back in his chair, Ozpin gazed back at his old friend with calm eyes that silently told how little he actually feared the men in front of him, though weather it was from confidence in his own power or belief that the two of them wouldn't strike him for whatever reason was unclear.
After several seconds of tense silence Ozpin let out a long drawn out sigh. Pressing several buttons on his touch screen desk the headmaster brought up the video feed of the now teams RWBY, JNPR, and Natsu fighting the Deathstalker and Giant Nevermore during initiation several weeks prior, along with Natsu's Aura readings of the time. Gesturing for his guests to watch the video Ozpin began to explain, "As you may have heard during initiation this year nine students were forced to fight two A-ranked Grimm. If you look at Natsu's Aura levels at the before and during the fight you will notice that they jumped when he engaged the Deathstalker and stayed at a level far beyond his original reserves through his fight with the Giant Nevermore." Ozpin told the two, "I don't think I need to tell you that such a thing is not normal by any means. Not only that, but the energy he gave off during the fight had a passing resemblance to Amber Autumn's own." He said.
Not taking his eyes off the video Taiyang still spoke to defend his son, though things looked bad even to him, "What explanation did my son give for this?" He asked his superior.
"Natsu- or Salamander as he likes to be called- stated his supposed belief that our instruments merely picked up on his Aura reacting with Dust of the same nature as his Semblance and mistakenly presented the power of the reaction as his reserves." Ozpin informed him.
"And what are the chances of that being true?" Qrow asked not wanting to believe his nephew could be associated with Amber's attackers
"If the rise in power was only momentary, roughly 6%. However seeing as the increase in power remained for almost half an hour? Next to imposable." Ozpin stated.
Taiyang shook his head and leaned back in his seat, "No there has got to be another explanation. I know my son and I trust him, he would never do something like that. Beat someone to a pulp sure, but to try and steal an innocent woman's soul? No way in hell. The power boost was probably just his Semblance causing feedback to the Aura scanners, or the scanners themselves were faulty."
"And how exactly would Salamander's Semblance cause feedback?" Ozpin questioned the blond.
It was Qrow however that answered him, "Natsu's Semblance is called 'The Flames of Emotion' they feed off both his Aura and his current feelings for power and effect. Normal fire only burns things, Natsu however can use his desires for different things to change the effect of his flames to better suit whatever situation he finds himself in. It was probably his desire for strength along with his fear for his sisters and anger for the Grimm attacking him that caused his Semblance to spike like that, the feedback caused by his emotions being read alongside his Aura- like I said he uses both to fuel his Semblance." Qrow told him. He of course didn't know that the only thing 'The Flames of Emotion' actually did was act as a way to increase his nephew's power and that the change of his flames aspects really were magic like Ozpin had silently been trying to convey to him.
"You will have to forgive me if I remain skeptical of such a thing." Ozpin said, "It is one thing for someone's emotions to cause higher activation of their Semblance- your eldest for example- but to actually increase the levels of Aura that they possess? That just doesn't seem possible."
"And being able to steal someone else's soul is?" Taiyang demanded, "You're basing all of your suspicions on the fact that my son was able to beat some high level Grimm and displayed a skill he has been using since he was a child. What reason would Natsu even have for wanting one of your inner circle's soul?"
Here Qrow and Ozpin exchanged brief glances, Taiyang didn't know about the Maidens, heck he didn't even know the legend about the Silver Eyed Warrior's despite his late wife and youngest child's possibility of being one. Should they tell him the truth, that Natsu could be working with someone to steal the powers of the Maidens the power of magic? Or do they play ignorant and come up with some other reason for committing such an act?
In the end Ozpin decided to go with the second option. "I do not know for sure, but you can't deny that the world is changing. The White Fang is growing more and more violent with each passing day, crime lords like Roman Torchwick are appearing for the first time since the Faunus War, Atlas showing far too many signs that point to them preparing for war. It is possible that your son has joined another group and they are amassing power in whatever way they can, do not let your blood ties blind you from the possibilities Taiyang."
The albino's words only seemed to anger the father of three, "And do not let your paranoia blind you Ozpin. There have been countless huntsmen in the past who demonstrated that they have more power than they should have- hell most Arcs' have more than twice the Aura of other huntsmen, and some of them even more! What is to say that Natsu is just exhibiting some bloodline trait like the Arcs or the Schnees?" Taiyang asked him.
"Are you referring to that old story you used to brag about in school? About being descended from dragons?" Ozpin asked in turn.
"Is it really so hard to believe? Every generation we can trace back in the Xiao Long family there has been at least one person with a fire based Semblance or super strength one. My father had one, my brother had one, and both my eldest children have one." Taiyang stated.
"Then do you also believe that the Arcs are descended from Angles? Or that the Schnees from winter spirits? How about the Valkyries being descended from divine warriors of the gods?" Ozpin questioned the other man, "Many families have stories like yours Taiyang but they don't use theirs as excuses."
"Actually I'm pretty sure the Valkyries use theirs as an excuse to drink more booze." Qrow spoke up while taking a swing from his flask.
"Thank you Qrow." Ozpin groaned. "But that doesn't change the fact that you are hiding behind old stories and legends to try and defend you son Taiyang."
"And it also doesn't change the fact that you have no proof that my son did anything wrong." Taiyang retorted.
For several long seconds the two men stared at each other with hard gazes as if daring the other to start the argument once more. After almost a minute Ozpin finally leaned back with a sigh, "Very well, I will make no move against your son until such a time that I am sure he is indeed in league with those in charge with Amber's attack. I will however be keeping a close watch on him for any signs that he was involved." Ozpin told his guests.
While Taiyang did not look happy about such an arrangement- most likely due to Ozpin still believing the worst of his son- he nodded his consent all the same. It was the best he'd be getting from the headmaster.
Right so we got the meeting between Ozpin, Qrow, and Taiyang over Ozpin's suspicions of Natsu, hope it lived up to your expectations. If anyone sees any errors in this chapter that is my fault, I only sent my beta the first part of this chapter for corrections so I could get it posted faster. Sorry about that.
Now some other things I want to say: 1) For those of you reading my other not shit story 'Dragon of the Hearth' you will be pleased to know I will be posting an update for it some time this week along with the other two updates I promised for this story. For those of you not reading it, please check it out and throw in a review if you can.
2)Over my time reading stories on this site I have read stories that I really liked until the author threw in something that just made me hate the thing, and I'm sure many of you reading this have had similar experiences. In light of this I'm going to try an experiment: A completely fan choice story. On my profile there is a pole where you can cast three votes, the winner of this pole will have another pole set up with plot ideas for a story in that category and the winner of that will have its story posted. Now here's the catch, after every chapter a new pole will be put up where all of those who bother to vote can help choose what course the story will take, the winning choice of each pole will be how the next chapter plays out. Of course there are some restrictions: the choices I put in the poles are the only choices you can choose from, meaning no PM or review requests or suggestions, and it will be a Side Project only until such a time that I either finish this story or it overtakes this one as my most popular so updates will be infrequent. What do you all think of that? (That was rhetorical, if you like the idea vote if not just enjoy what comes out of it.)
Now that that is all said all that is left is to:
READ AND REVIEW!
Wingd Knight out.