XXXVIII - Frost Crack

~~~(XXXVIII)~~~

"Just how far did they go?" When he saw Weiss and Ruby leave him to see this "her", he thought they'd be at the landing pads. They were, in a way, just not the ones he was thinking about. They didn't meet this person in the arena, but down in Beacon.

He'd given his praise to both JNPR as well as SSSN. Though he definitely cracked a few jokes at Jaune's and Neptune's expenses. Really, the two had left themselves far too wide open for him not to, the nine others seemed ready to poke fun as well. Poor Scarlet… the guy had a real unfortunate elimination, halfway at the fault of his leader.

Once that was over, and not seeing them on the colosseum pads, he snagged a ride back to campus and once he landed, he saw a rather confusing sight. Two people began duking it out in the middle of the courtyard; he managed to avoid any stray attacks as he got closer to the action. Then he recognized the man currently engaged in battle with a very Wess- looking woman.

"Is… Is that Mr. Branwen?" As he moved closer to the fight, he knew he was right. That same hairstyle, same weapon, same drunken look. It was definitely the huntsman who had brought him out of the wilds and into the Kingdom of Vale. Oxon owed this man everything, even if he eventually got caught up in some un-huntsman-like activities. He also noticed the broken Atlesian bots on the ground. Was he fighting one of the Atlesian soldiers?

He absentmindedly picked up one of the heads, it had been cleanly severed and its face screen was cracked. Why Qrow did that confused him. Didn't he say the kingdoms of Vale and Atlas were allies now? And close ones at that. His thoughts were interrupted by two familiar voices.

"Kick her butt, Uncle Qrow!"

"Teach him respect, Winter!"

There they are. What happened to sending a text to me Ruby?

"Pardon me, sorry, 'scuse me, coming through, move it." Making his way through the thick crowd, he eventually found the two girls. Each was cheering on a different combatant. He definitely heard Ruby refer to the older man as her uncle. Qrow? He didn't see the resemblance outside of hair color, even then, the colors weren't all that similar.

"Weiss! Ruby! What in the brother's name is going on here!?" The two turned to him and the severed head tucked under his armpit, they stared at it questioningly for a moment. If he wanted a state of the art paper weight, who was going to say no? Atlas, probably.

"Ruby's uncle has gone crazy! He just started fighting my sister!" Her sister? Well, the resemblance definitely made sense.

"My uncle Qrow is kicking butt!" Yeah, the elder man was holding his own, though neither looked injured. The two seemed matched in skill, it was definitely an impressive showing. It was mostly contained, they were avoiding getting the spectators caught in anything.

"Oh, Goodwitch is gonna be pissed." Qrow had wrecked the courtyard and one of the decorative pillars. He didn't want to be him when the deputy saw this. "Weiss, why would Mr. Branwen attack your sister? It doesn't make any sense for someone like him."

"I'm not sure eith- wait, you know this miscreant?"

"He's not a miscr-whatever! He's the best uncle ever!" After her defense of her relative, Ruby also realized what he'd said. "Wait, how do you know his last name?"

This seemed like something he didn't need to lie about, so the truth flowed freely. "When I was… wandering the continent after I… I left home, I ran into that man there. I thought he was a bandit at first due to his appearance and attacked him. Needless to say it didn't go to plan. He was the one that brought me to Vale, so in a way, he's responsible for me being alive." And now he was at Beacon for some reason. He was definitely curious about why the man was here, to cheer on his nieces?

"Wait, what!?"

"Classic uncle Qrow!"

"Yeah, he seemed like a decent guy, so this is definitely a surprise. Though, I only knew the guy for half a day." Oxon wished he'd stuck around the hospital instead of trying to be independent. Stupid, stupid, stupid, he wouldn't have gotten stuck where he was if he hadn't. "I wonder if he will remember me, I was pretty emaciated last time I saw him."

"Right." Weiss looked strangely at him for whatever reason. "Your time out of the kingdom was a long one, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, a few months."

"Oh! We should totally talk to him!" It seemed like it was as good a time as any, the fight suddenly halted at an intervention from the general of Atlas. James Ironwood strolled up to the two with a less than happy look.

"General Ironwood, sir!"

Ironwood seemed fairly unhappy about one of his own causing very public property damage. "What in the world do you think you're doing?"

"He started the altercation, sir!"

Qrow, seemingly lying through his teeth, spoke up casually, arms behind his head. "That's actually not true. She attacked first."

"Well that's bullshit." Oxon had the severed head to prove it too. Though at the pause in conversation, he realized the three were looking at him. They'd heard him…

Ah shit.

"Uhhhh, I mean, technically he attacked the knights first… uhhhh, General Ironwood, sir?" He held up the head as proof. Sadly the very intimidating general took it from him as evidence. The man inspected it and shook his head with a sigh.

Noooo… my paperweight! Damn my mouth.

Qrow scowled at him, making Oxon flinch back a bit. He didn't mean to be heard… The general at least didn't seem as upset at Weiss' sister anymore, though now his ire was primarily focused on his savior. Oops.

"Thank you for the information, son." The large man turned to a now unamused Qrow who was mouthing the word "traitor" at him. "And you, what are you doing here?"

"I could be asking you the same thing."

"I-"

"Now, now, everyone." Ozpin to the rescue it seemed. He strolled up casually like the destruction wasn't out of the ordinary. "There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the corner at the Colosseum, that I can assure you has better seats... and popcorn."

Goodwitch seeing the destruction that occurred seemed none too pleased at the extra work. "Break it up, everyone! We will take care of this mess." Yeah, she was definitely pissed.

Ironwood motioned for the elder Schnee to follow him into the school. "Let's go."

Once they were gone, Ruby shared a wave with Penny before she blasted off towards her Uncle, latching onto his arm.

"Uncle Qrow!" The small girl was dangling from his outstretched arm like a kst in a tree. "Hi. It's so good to see you! Did you miss me? Did you miss me!?"

"Nope." He and the girl grinned at each other at the likely regular family joke.

"Qrow! A word, please." Ozpin looked moderately upset at the man. Oxon wondered what it would take to see the headmaster crack. It will probably happen soon…

"I think I'm in trouble."

"You did kinda tear up our courtyard."

"Yeah, I did." He definitely didn't seem repentant about it. "Catch ya later, kid." He began walking off before turning to give Oxon a questioning look. "So you found a place after all, I got a few questions to ask you later."

"Ooh! What does my uncle want with you? Is it some super secret mission?" She got a bit closer than he was comfortable with. "Is it about a plot to save the kingdom!?"

The opposite, actually.

Weiss came to Oxon's rescue as she walked up to Ruby after the man walked off. "And suddenly, your recklessness makes sense." Yeah, he agreed.

Ruby was not affected by the words and continued to grin. "You're just mad because he whooped butt."

"That was a draw, at best!" Her attention turned to him looking right into his eyes. "Right Ox?"

"Uhhhh…"

"Ox definitely is on my side! After all, he was saved by my uncle!" Her silver eyes fought for attention against Weiss' blues.

"Well…"

"Winter was doing her job as a Specialist when he accosted her and her troops, clearly Oxon won't side with someone like that." The two shuffled closer to him, each trying to out puppy dog each other. He looked between the two in complete loss. He didn't want to seem ungrateful to Qrow, but at the same time, the girl was Weiss' older sister.

"I'm going to have to agree with Weiss, I think Winter did well?" Weiss preened at the praise and Ruby groaned while staring off into the distance.

"Stupid Weiss and her stupid wiles…" the other two laughed at Ruby's grumbling. It was true, if he wasn't as close as he was to the girl, he'd probably have supported Mr. Branwen. He just hoped whatever questions the man had, he could explain without giving anything away.

"Glad to know you can understand what a true huntress looks like!" The girl put her arm through his as the group walked back to the school. The teams were going to be meeting up for dinner soon. The first day of fighting had gone well, tomorrow would be the doubles, and thankfully nothing was planned for that day as far as he knew.

~~~(XXXVIII)~~~

A clash of light and steel resounded throughout the training room. He was in a new level of training bots and it was a bit much for him, he'd just barely blocked the heavy blow with the informed Virginiana. Slipping under the construct's guard, he let off a shot from Patris into its jaw, destroying it.

Now free of that close engagement, he could swing Bulls Breath into a leaping enemy that used twin daggers. Its speed was impressive, and it scored a few hits on him before he grabbed its head and slammed it into the floor. It burst into motes of light after a stomp of his boot.

Only one left.

This one had its fists up in a boxer stance and was approaching him menacingly. It could not possibly be harder than Yang, he thought. He dodged back from a few quick blows and scored a light slash on its arm, not enough to do much though. These things were incredibly annoying in his mind, they couldn't be messed with or disarmed like regular foes. It made for good training, but not for his specific style.

"Fuck it." Hopping back further, he decided to not try anything fancy and just blast the thing apart. It took seven rounds to break it, it seemed higher levels were more durable than he realized. He'd need to think a bit more strategically for the next time. Wiping sweat off his brow, he failed to realize there was someone in the room with him.

"Oxon Adhmad of Haven Academy, correct?" He whipped around, training Bulls Breath's still smoking barrel at the intruder. In front of him was Specialist Winter Schnee, who had a hand on her saber. He quickly put his weapon on his back and raised his hands, hoping to diffuse the situation.

"I'm so sorry, I just got a bit spooked is all!" Not a great first impression, aiming a gun at a military officer… She still seemed cautious, but she thankfully took her hand off her weapon and clasped them behind her back.

"It is fine, I did startle you after all." He didn't know how to react to her, her face was stern and calculating. Also, why the hell was she talking to him!? He didn't do anything that she knew about? Right?

"It, well, I uh… Don't worry about it?" He was beginning to sweat more, and not from his training. This was not doing good things for his heart, and he'd been doing so well recently too.

"I have heard about you. You showed up in Vale roughly two years ago. You have no known past, no papers proving your identity, and a sudden enrollment into Haven Academy, without even seeing the school beforehand." Shit, fuck, hellllllll! Why did this have to happen NOW!?

"Uh, I'm not from one of the main cities, I-I escaped from a Grimm incursion that destroyed my home and wound up in Vale. You can ask Mr. Qrow, he brought me here after all!" It seemed bringing up the man was not something she liked. Her hawklike eyes narrowed and face frowned slightly. "A-and as for the huntsman thing, I just happened to help someone and get scouted, there was this team that needed a fourth. So I got placed on theirs, I met them when they came for the festival."

"Yes, it's been confirmed by a hospital on Vale that someone matching your description was discharged two years ago after a quick inspection." She looked him up and down with a critical eye. "You are now a part of team CMOS, led by Cinder Fall of Mistral. You have a middle of the road combat record and less than average classwork scores."

Why did she have to bring that up? I know I suck, but come on… His shoulders slumped at the critical way she described him. It wasn't exactly wrong, but not something he needed reminding of.

"Though your class scores are not glowing, you have shown outstanding bravery in the field. You, Oxon Adhmad, have been credited with the saving of many civilians during The Breach. Your willingness to help others at the risk to yourself is admirable."

"Ah, thank you?" This emotional whiplash was straining his soul. From critical to praise, he was even more lost than he already had been.

"I've heard much about you from my sister, Weiss." Like there was any other white haired girl he knew. "She thought you were curious at first, but then that changed. You have become something, else, to her."

"I-"

"I will be frank, Mr. Adhmad, What are your intentions with my sister?" Well, if she'd asked him a few months ago, she'd have just been a target for Intel, just a job. Now though, it was much more complicated.

"I don't really understand what you mean? I enjoy being around her, and thankfully she seems to enjoy time with me as well."

"She has spoken well of you in her letters, yet I can not help but feel she is being taken advantage of." Well, she wasn't wrong, but not entirely right. He'd tried to keep his teammates away from her and her team as much as possible. "We Schnees have to remain on guard constantly, otherwise people will try to take advantage of us, our name, or our money."

"I, well I guess that's fair?"

"So, if you understand that, then you can understand why I do not trust you. Someone of your background is a liability, a risk I would rather remove." Again, he completely understood. If only she knew...

"I mean, I don't know what I can say to make you trust me. I understand where you are coming from. But I do care for Weiss. The last thing I want to do is hurt her, you can believe me." He'd managed to keep her out of Cinder's path so far, mainly by throwing Pyrrha under the bus.

"I'm sure you understand when I say I can not." Yeah… "Personally, I would prefer it if I could convince you to "break up" as I hear it's called. You will be leaving for Mistral soon enough, so there is no need for you to continue to be so close with her. "

"What?" Was this really happening?

"It's simple, I hear kids these days get together and split apart rather easily." This was not what he was expecting, an interrogation sure, but this? "I would appreciate it if you could do that sooner rather than later. Before she gets too attached."

He crossed his hand in the timeout sign. "Hold up, you're asking me to break up with your sister?"

"Yes. I thought I made it clear?" Her expression hasn't changed since she'd come in, other than narrowing her eyes occasionally. It made this whole situation a bit more unreal. Like it was something natural for her.

"It, I, huh…" he wasn't sure how to tell the woman just how unlikely that was. The girl had chased him down. "Your sister, she asked me out. I've tried turning her down, twice, but she kept trying. I don't think she'll accept me suddenly breaking things off, she's pretty stubborn."

Not like I want to either. I'm happy damn it. Let me have this.

"I'm sure she will come to terms with it eventually. This is in her best interest after all."

"Now hold on a moment, are you really going to decide for her? She's told me a lot about the rest of her family, how controlling your father is, and how she respects you more than anyone else. I know she came here to be free, not controlled."

"I understand my sister's desires more than anyone, but I can not allow her to commit to a risk such as you. For all she knows, you could be conning her, like others have tried before."

"Look, I too think she's much too good for someone like me. I get that, really I do." The older girl tried to capitalize on his admission, but he interrupted her and kept going. "But for whatever reason, she's decided she wants to be around me, and I like having her around me as well. So no, I can't do what you ask, try and talk to her about this if you want, but I won't be making any decisions for her. She's told me not to before."

Winter didn't look happy to hear him say that, but it's not like she could do anything. She doesn't know about his efforts in the school, so she can't touch him. He didn't want to be rude to her, but he had some happiness, and he was going to hold on to it until the end. Moving past her to take a shower in the lockers, he held her gaze before leaving. If she wanted Weiss to be "risk free" then she could talk to her herself about him. If Weiss agreed, then it was her choice, and he'd accept it, whatever it was.

"After everything that she's told me about you, I can't help but be disappointed."

With that, he left the specialist alone in the room. He debated whether or not to tell Weiss, but decided against it. He didn't want to contribute to straining her last solid familial relationship.

~~~(XXXVIII)~~~

Back in Cinder's room, their bitchy boss was pacing back and forth in front of him. She had been set off when he brought up the courtyard fight at their nightly meeting. "And you're sure?"

Oxon nodded his head. "Strange fashion sense, used an overly large sword-gun thingy, and smelled like my coworker at The Club after a long night. No way I can forget him." Not after what the man did for him.

"And he doesn't seem suspicious that you are a student all of a sudden?"

"No, he knows I'm a student now, I don't think he ever saw me as a threat, he probably wants to talk to me about why I did not wait at the hospital for him. If I didn't try and go my own way, I'd probably be on a team here. Or maybe set up with a more legal job."

Emerald seemed worried about the guy. She was the only one. "What do we do?"

"Nothing. We stay the course. They have no idea who we are, so we have no reason to worry. Especially since dear Ox has the trust of Branwen, he won't suspect us. Besides, the last of the heavy lifting is being taken care of thanks to our clever little friend." She paused to smirk broadly. "Speaking of which... it appears we have a new access point."

Oxon could see the face of General Ironwood on the back of the clear screen. So they'd bagged someone that important in their little hack. If not even someone like that was safe… shaking his head, he resolved himself that it doesn't matter. Whatever goes down, goes down. All Oxon has to do is make sure he survives. And maybe look out for some of the others if he can.

"Anywhere good?"

"You could say that. Go to your rooms. I'll prepare everything for tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Got it."

"Sure." The three left and headed off to their dorm. Thankfully none of them talked to each other l the way back.

Damnit, he really wished he didn't walk out back then. but if he had, he would be just as clueless as the rest of the students. Even if he wanted to, there wasn't much he could do without implicating himself…

~~~(XXXVIII)~~~

Not sure if that confrontation seems natural, hopefully I got what I was going for across. Same with what's next.

~~~(XXXVIII)~~~

Omake: A bet is a bet, but did they snap?

Blake was getting annoyed by her partner. Ever since the break had ended, she'd been stalking their teammate and the guy she was into. Nora at least had three teammates that held the girl back, but for team RWBY, it seemed only Blake was the voice of reason.

"Can we stop this, it's not right to be spying on them."

Of course her partner shrugged it off. Yang was annoyingly invested in Weiss' love life, maybe due to a lack of her own. "This is the third time they have "gone on a walk" in the last week, I guarantee you something is up."

"Maybe they just want to be alone together? They seemed to talk a lot over break." If they finally stopped dancing around each other, then great. If they kept up the Nora/Ren act, then that was their choice.

"Definitely not, I got a feeling you're about to owe me some lien!" Ugh, not that stupid bet… She humored the girl, but she had a feeling that Yang would be the winner. If it was up to Ox, they'd never go anywhere, he was too shy. Not like there was anything wrong with that.

"Hide!" Yang pulled her close so they could hide behind a bush. The pair arrived at a small, secluded pond. Blake had to admit, it was a romantic location.

"So this is your "sacred space" that you wanted to show me?" They could not see the two at the moment, they didn't know if they'd be spotted if they peeked. Not like Blake wanted to intrude. "I tried to find it once before, to ask you to the dance, though I wasn't able to.

"Yeah, I come here every now and then, check this out." There was the sound of footsteps and the rustling of grass. "I probably should have brought you here earlier, aren't they neat?"

"It has a bunch of little fish swimming in it, I'm surprised that the school has something like this and doesn't talk about it." There was a fish pond? How did they not know about it?

"Yeah, I have some fish food with me, if, uh, you want to, that is.."

Yang whispered quietly near her bow. "Five lien he's doing his behind the ear rub thing." She wasn't going to respond, it was a fool's bet after all. Of course he was.

"I would love to." There wasn't much noise they could hear, even her ears didn't pick up much other than faint splashes. Blake heard Weiss giggle as she must have been feeding the fish. "Quite hungry creatures, aren't they?

"Absurdly, I have no doubt that they wouldn't eat themselves to death if they had the chance."

With the likelihood that the two were facing away from them, the black and yellow pair peeked around the corner to watch the white and brown duo. The sun was beginning to set, causing multicolor reflections to flit about the water's surface. As thought, the two were facing the water, kneeling on the edge of the pond, occasionally throwing food to the fish. It was a cute sight, like something normal people did, not warriors against the Grimm.

Oxon turned his head to the right suddenly, causing her and Yang to hide behind the shrub again. "I've noticed you look a bit different tonight. Different makeup?"

"Oh? Is it bad?"

"No, no, of course not! You look amazing as always. It's just, something's missing."

There was a pause from Weiss, likely at the compliment from Ox. "It's nothing."

"Weiss, I think I've spent enough time looking at your face to know there is usually a scar on it. I don't want to be insensitive, but why hide it? I don't think anything of it, really."

Yang let out a low whistle at his words. "Really just admitted to staring at her huh? Maybe you're going to win?"

"Don't guys like girls that aren't damaged? It's something that I've heard many times before, and that I'd be beautiful without it. That it's a stain…"

"Weiss…"

So that's why Weiss was so focused on her makeup this afternoon. She kept her left side hidden until she was out the door, so they never saw her covering it up. Thankfully, Oxon seemed to see through it.

"And besides, it's a reminder that I need to always do better, otherwise I wouldn't have it. If I had better control of my aura then I-"

"Weiss, I don't think there's anything wrong about it. Scars are natural in the life we live, brothers know I have enough. Not all are ones I'm proud of either, though they aren't as visible as yours."

"But!-"

"It's a part of you Weiss, I think it suits the type of person you are. Someone who is extraordinarily brave and not willing to stay down." There was a rustling of fabric and they could hear Weiss gasp. "And as you can see, there's more than a few on me as well. Does that make me damaged goods? Something nobody should want? Exactly, besides this one here is a rather embarrassing one."

Blake risked being caught in order to see what was going on. Her eyes widened at the sight of Oxon having undone the buttons on his shirt, leaving it open like Sun normally does. She caught a glimpse at a few scars on his chest and stomach. She knew that somewhere on his shoulder would be one from the boarbatusk.

He showed off one such discoloration on his hip. "This is something I got from being a dumb kid. When I was younger and mischievous, I wanted to prank a family friend who lived in one of the cave systems back home. I was trying to attach a bell system to the roof of it to scare him, but I hit an icicle instead. I was too surprised to see the massive ice spike falling that I almost forgot to dodge, it almost impaled me, but I moved aside and got a gash instead. I didn't have my aura then so it left this big thing behind." It was hard to see from their distance and angle, but the patch of lighter, rougher skin stood out against his lightly tanned skin.

"I… How old were you?"

He let out a snort at that question. "I was nine. Too old for dumb stuff like that, I know. But it makes for a good story, especially if I can use it to help a certain girl." He subtly dipped his sleeve in the pond as he waited for her response. Why?

"I… Ox, thank you." The heiress inspected a few others on his body before asking about one on his chest. "What was this one from? It almost looks like a hand?"

He paused a bit before putting on a not quite a healthy smile. "Just a foolish accident with a fire, back home I was in charge of the hearth in the winter. Though I accidentally fell on it once a few years back. Got called a clutz more than a few times after that. Haven't been fond of fire all that much since I got it."

"Ah. Well that's too bad to hear, I'm sure your family didn't mean anything by it?"

"They didn't, it is- was more of a me thing. But enough about my less than glowing track record." He moved one hand to her chin, holding it still, the other to her cheek. Blake realized that was the hand with the wet sleeve. "I can't speak about how you feel about it, but I think your face looks perfect, scar and all."

Yang had also peeked around the hedge to see what was going on. The hand on her shoulder increased its grip as they watched him wipe away whatever concealer was on the scar. He looked like he was being gentle, making sure not to get her eye with it.

"Ox…" Weiss wasn't moving, she was too busy staring into his eyes as he worked. He seemed focused on his task of revealing her scar.

"There we go, now that looks much more "Weiss" to me." The two locked eyes after it was done, and Blake began to feel uncomfortable.

That was it, they had seen enough, this was moving well beyond something Blake felt comfortable watching. Moving away from line of sight, she pulled Yang back, she wanted to resist, but if she did, they'd be caught from the noise. With a heavy pout Yang let Blake drag her away, leaving the pair to what should be a private moment. Bet be damned.

~~~(XXXVIII)~~~

Was that any good?