"Ozpin."
"Qrow, please-"
"It's been a month already."
"I am aware of that-"
"Then WHERE ARE THEY, OZ?!"
There were few times Glynda Goodwitch or Ozpin could say they had seen Qrow Brawnen be truly angry. The man's lackadaisical attitude was borderline legendary, even back during Team STRQ's time, and regardless of his stellar prowess in the field as a solo Hunter. Really, they could be counted on one hand. But today, the second hand started being used.
Because right now, Qrow Brawnen was standing in the middle of Ozpin's office, face utterly apoplectic, and one hand hovering over Harbinger's hilt in what Glynda hoped was merely a reflex.
And he was not the only one in the room. Along with the elder Brawnen, the room was also occupied by James Ironwood, completing Ozpin's usual inner circle meeting group, plus one more woman none of them ever expected to see. The room had been more occupied before, but the other "guests" had retired to the rooms Beacon Academy had provided for them during their prolonged stay.
Said "guests" included the Arc family, Pyrrha Nikos' mother, Taiyang Xiao Long, Winter Schnee, and the Belladonnas plus their White Fang escort.
In summary, all the family and close associates of Teams RWBY and JNPR... who were, as of that day, missing for over thirty days.
"Qrow, we're doing everything we can-" began the Beacon headmaster, but his answer was immediately cut off by Brawnen scoffing quite loudly.
"Don't give me the same crap you gave them, Oz, it ain't gonna stick," said the Huntsman with no small amount of spite. "'Everything you can' has been more like 'running around like a headless chicken' from what I've seen, and so far you haven't given a single result beyond that!"
"But it is the truth, Qrow. I am doing everything in my power to find an answer, as the others can attest."
"I've sent teams scouring every inch of the cities and surrounding villages, and AceOps has gone in many raids into Grimm-infested territory looking for the missing students," pivoted in Ironwood, the man seamlessly pulling his scroll from within his coat and using it to open up several holographic images into the air, depicting said patrols and searches. "We've also been trying our best to analyze the site of their disappearance, but so far, there've been no leads." And indeed, along with said images, one more was displayed prominently in the middle, far larger than the others: it was footage of the day RWBYJNPR had disappeared, with several technical read-outs pointing to things, such as the eight youngsters themselves... but also, the other things present in the picture, like the other two occupants of the ice cream shop RWBYJNPR found themselves in: Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan, two of the most dangerous criminals in all of Vale.
But primarily, it focused on the large, gaping purple hole that suddenly opened beneath their feet, swallowing up all ten occupants of the store in scant seconds, before disappearing just as quickly, leaving no trace of itself or its victims behind.
No one in the room took joy watching the footage yet again, least of all Qrow, who seemed ready to strangle the next person to speak up as he glared daggers down at the screen.
"You're sure this isn't her handiwork?"
Which just so happened to be the one person who had yet to utter a single word until this moment, and who, again, no one expected to even show up. And of course, this only made Qrow's anger spike further as he turned towards the speaker, his gaze growing even more incensed. "And why precisely would you care, dear sister?"
"Because, dear brother," replied Raven Brawnen just as calmly as her previous statement, barely sparing her sibling a glance as she eyed the yawning void, "like it or not, I do like to keep an eye on my little hellspawn. And as you can clearly see..."
Without preamble, Raven unsheathed her sword and slashed the air with it, bringing forth her Semblance, Kindred Link... only for the portal to fizzle out the moment it came into existence, Raven's Aura shattering a moment later, to the surprise of all the others present.
"I cannot reach Yang or Summer's little tyke, no matter what I try. I simply don't have enough Aura for it, and that should only happen if they had somehow left the planet, or something was blocking me in some way. And the latter seems just like the kind of trick she would pull."
At those words, Ozpin couldn't suppress the sigh that escaped his lips, nor the urge to press his hand against his forehead, because for once, he was forced to admit Raven was completely right: it certainly could be a plot prepared by Salem, even if it seemed too... random, even considering some of her usual schemes. While kidnapping Ruby Rose made some sense, considering her silver eyes, but the others wouldn't have much to offer in terms of usefulness, unless they had been taken as hostages to ensure her compliance. Not to mention that the Grimm attacks across the planet had mysteriously diminished, to the point only a few random hordes had been spotted out in the wilds.
It was all very much suspicious, and it filled Ozpin with dread to think this could all be some kind of ploy by Salem to throw them off whatever trail led to her schemes.
But that came second. Right now, the safety of his students came first. After all, Ozpin was still the headmaster of Beacon Academy, and the eight students were his responsibility first and foremost. He would get to the bottom of this conundrum, regardless of how strange it seemed on the surface, or how his old experiences back in his original life were almost screaming at him that this somehow involved magic, even if there had never been magic this strange or powerful in many centuries on the face of Remnant.
So, taking one last moment to collect his thoughts and surreptitiously gaze at all the people present in the room, Ozpin straightened his posture and stood up from his chair, walking around his own desk as The Long Memory tapped against the floor of his office, until he stood right in the middle of the haphazard group. "Qrow, I understand your frustrations, I do. It's why I ask that you trust me when I say this: no matter what happens, nothing will stop me from finding these students and bring them all back to us, safe and sound."
As if the world wanted to prove him right, in that exact moment, several things rapidly happened in sequence.
First, a yawning blue void, not dissimilar to the one that had caused this entire debacle, opened inside the office right above the group's head.
Secondly, a large tangle of bodies crashed down the floor, eliciting a flurry of squeaks, yelps, shouts, grunts and swears from said mass, including Qrow Brawnen, who found himself buried beneath the pile of people.
And finally, just as quickly as it had arrived, the portal vanished with only the faintest of pop! sounds.
"Ow my butt!"/"Ah, Ruby, get off of me!"
"Hey, mind the sword!"/"Yang your hair is gonna set my clothes on fire!"
"My back..."/"J-Jaune, I'm so sorry!"
"Hey, I landed on something soft!"/"Yes... you did, Nora..."
"Huh, you're right, the ground is quite soft here..."
It was amidst this cacophony of complaints and comments, even as the rest of the people present went for their weapons and prepared to fight these unexpected intruders, that Ozpin slowly but surely took note of exactly who had just landed in his office... and apparently, at the same time one of them came to a similar realization.
"... Miss Rose?"
"... Professor... Ozpin?"
-O-
THE NEXT DAY...
Naturally, while the return of RWBYJNPR was kept as secret as possible, this did not extend to their families, which meant that after some time to come to terms with the fact the disappeared young adults had just as randomly come back, and also to guarantee this wasn't yet another inscrutable scheme prepared by the Queen of Grimm to infiltrate his ranks, Ozpin had called up all the relatives staying at the school to see their children.
This did have the side-effect of causing a rather awkward reunion between Blake Belladonna, her parents and their escort, apparently an old childhood friend of hers, but thankfully nothing truly major came of it.
That is not to say, however, that no issues occurred.
Because while RWBYJNPR had certainly returned, they had not returned quite... the same as before. In more ways than one.
Ruby Rose was covered in glowing golden cracks that seemingly ran the entire length of her body, but seemed centered particularly around her eyes, and several unknown runes made of light constantly scrolled atop her skin, as if a projector was using her as a canvas.
Yang Xiao Long had just as many markings on her body, though these were more akin to flame tattoos, and glowed like magma instead, her lilac eyes now glowing golden and with red sclera, not to mention her equally magma-colored hair cascading down her back. And perhaps appropriately, heat seemed to naturally exude from her, to the point Ozpin felt compelled to turn on his office's air conditioner.
Blake Belladonna had cat eye-like tattoos surrounding her eyes, and streaks of white hair ran through her now-formerly-monochrome black hair like angry lightning bolts, contrasting quite heavily with her now-uncovered Faunus ears, one of which had a clear slash scar on it.
Weiss Schnee, compared to the others, had her change concentrated solely on one point of her body, specifically, her hands. From her elbows down, rather than "normal" arms, the young Schnee's limbs were made of some strange, otherwordly material, one that faintly glowed silver and had small veins of ice running down their length. And most curiously of all, they seemed to phase through her legs rather than rest atop her lap.
Lie Ren had not changed much, bar for a long scar now running diagonally across his face, but this only made the changes Nora Valkyrie had undergone even more apparent: her right eye was now mechanical, the iris glowing a faint cyan color, and her right arm was equally prosthetic, with a clear steampunk aesthetic to it, and an oversized gauntlet surrounded by vials carrying a glowing blue liquid inside them.
Jaune Arc had barely changed in terms of physical appearance, but in terms of emotional and psychological, Ozpin could see MUCH had changed. Gone were his previous nervousness and insecurity, replaced instead with calm and focus that seemed completely natural to him, his posture relaxed and (Ozpin couldn't help but smile softly taking note of that), one hand resting over Pyrrha Nikos' own.
And speaking of young miss Nikos...
The changes the young Mistralian champion had undergone what Ozpin called the most worrying change of all. And it was not the fact her skin had lost its familiar tan in place of an almost cadaveric pallor, nor that her eyes had become colored jet black with crimson irises, or even how cold her mother had said her daughter felt like.
It was that all these things, along with medical exams, painted the picture that the young woman was clinically dead, something Miss Nikos had despondently admitted was correct. To her mother and those present, it had been a horrid shock. RWBYJNR, however, had only sadly glanced away from everyone, which had only confirmed, to Ozpin's horror, that this was something that had befallen Pyrrha quite some time ago.
And speaking of time...
Ozpin had been subtle when staring at his returned students, but even with a cursive glance, one could tell that these eight students were... older. Emotionally as well, yes, there was an air to them that Ozpin had only seen in veteran Hunters or survivors of long Grimm sieges, but the eight were also older in the physical sense: all of them, bar none, no longer looked like young adults (or, in the case of miss Rose, teenaged). They had grown up, their physique was more aged and built, and some even were taller than before, even Ruby herself.
All of these pointers made their changed wardrobes something of a minor point at best, even with some of them, namely Ruby, Pyrrha and Jaune, wearing very ornate armors and clothes that wouldn't look out of place in the knightly stories of old, or even during Remnant's more medieval times.
"Growl..."
Not to mention the... baby dragon currently laying atop Yang Xiao Long's lap, sleeping without a care over either the situation, regardless of the bewildered stares aimed towards it.
"Ooo, how salacious~"
Ah, yes, and also the... additional company the eight had brought along.
One of them was a raven-haired woman wearing an extravagant lab uniform, two mechanical arms mounted behind her shoulders and rainbow-colored goggles atop her head, currently perusing through his book collection without a care in the world for either anyone in the room, or the outright incensed glares Ironwood and Glynda had aimed at her.
The fact she had also taken possession of one of his favorite mugs, and of his treasured '32 Aunt Anisia Cocoa that Ozpin kept for special occasions, only served to make the headmaster question this entire situation even more.
"Notha, please behave..." suddenly whined Ruby aloud, the young girl eyeing the unknown woman with what could only be classified as overwhelming exasperation, her expression almost a pout. In return, the now named Notha simply looked over her shoulder and gave a shrug.
"But Ruby, this is such a wonderful moment! An entire world without the interference of any higher powers? It's like all my Frostvals came all at once!" With that exuberant declaration, the woman took another swig of her pilfered hot cocoa, only to suddenly grow contemplative the very next moment. "... Granted, I hope this doesn't mean I'll miss out on all my gifts the next few years... maybe I should talk to the Frost Moglins about it, I do have quite a few things I'd like to ask for the holidays..."
"Nooooothaaaaaaaa..."
"Yes, yes, of course, something to ponder later."
And so, the woman returned her chosen book back to its original spot, before calmly returning to sit herself right beside Ruby, all the while still sipping from the commandeered mug, returning the room to the level of awkwardness the return of RWBYJNPR seemed to bring to it.
Considering the glances Yang kept shooting at her uncle and mother, who strangely had yet to leave the room, the sideway glances Winter and Weiss Schnee traded from time to time, the nervous fidgeting from the others (bar Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, who simply kept themselves as close as possible), and the glowering Glynda and Ironwood kept aimed squarely at the still-tranquil there was truly only one solution to this conundrum... regardless of how Ozpin knew this would probably be the start of a long, long period of time. So, with a long and weary sigh that made Ozpin feel his actual age, he turned to the eight students- no... the eight Hunters sitting in front of him, and leaned forward on his seat, resting his hands atop A Long Memory and giving Ruby the most analytical gaze he could muster, while ignoring the stares dripping with naked curiosity that Notha was giving him. "I understand that all of you are likely quite tired from whatever ordeals you've faced-"
"Avatars, that's an understatement..."/"Please don't ruin the moment by bringing them up, lil' dragon."/"Go to hell, Notha."
"- I take it you all understand, that a disappearance of over a month is not something to be taken lightly-"
"Wait, what do you mean a month?!"/"IT'S BEEN A MONTH TO YOU ALL?! WE SPENT THREE YEARS OUT THERE!"
"- not to mention the fact Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan have not returned with you-"
"Didn't we drop them off at Osprey Cove?"/"Yeah, wonder if Neo got to become a pirate after all..."
"- So I believe I speak for all here present... what happened?"
His piece said, Ozpin allowed silence to return, and instead watched as Ruby slowly put her hands against her face, the sound of her sighing barely escaping between her fingers, before the girl raised her head once more to give the headmaster a sad, tired smile.
"Headmaster... what didn't happen?... Uhh, Notha, could you-?"
"Visual aids coming up!"
To the surprise of all present, Notha snapped her fingers, and from thin air a massive holographic screen just seemed to appear, projecting a static screen not unlike that of old-timey TVs within itself, before Notha turned towards Ozpin with mirthful eyes. "Might wanna call up some snacks and drinks, this will take a while. Granted, you probably don't mind waiting around, do you?"
And as Ozpin and the rest of his inner circle felt their blood freeze in their veins over that statement, Ruby cleared her throat and pulled a large book from within her coat, the words BOOK OF LORE stamped in beautiful gold letters on the front.
"Well... it all started when we fell right out of the sky..."
BOOK 1
CHAPTER 1
A HERO IS BORED
~O~
I did this partially just to get it out of my head, partially as a sort of meditation to get me back in the mojo of writing after this prolonged time doing none of it.
These first 10 days of September gave me enough time to finish both Armored Core 6 AND Blasphemous 2, two games I had been quite looking forward to. Blasphemous 2 I wrapped up in just a few days, since it isn't a BIG game by any means, but it felt like a proper conclusion to the Blasphemous duology nonetheless. Wonderful little ending, the bosses were awesome, and the team managed to bring in plenty of amazing set pieces to Cvstodia while still keeping it familiar to the aesthetic of the first game. Kudos to them!
As for Armored Core 6... man, what an EXPERIENCE. The game was exactly what I expected out of it, the story was amazing, and I loved seeing the huge cast of pilots and side-characters alike. The mechanical design was top-notch, the action and soundtrack pulled me in, and the endings... no spoilers, but bittersweet they may have been, it still got me invested, especially the true ending.
The game also made me sweat like fuck, but hey, it's Armored Core, I expected that going in. Hopefully it'll get DLC in the future, so we get to go through even more adventures with our tulpa waifu and the crippled bagged tuna that is C4-621.
Now, with me being back in the mojo, and having gone through a pretty chill birthday (yet another September 11th that made me older, this is not a meme, just like TheRussianBadger, my birthday is on September 11th), I feel pretty refreshed and ready to return to writing the next Titanomachy chapter. It'll most likely be set-up for the next mini-arc... involving a certain spess pirate of great renown c:
Until then, fellas.
PS: I'm glad Warframe has given us The Book of Spells as a new weapon type, cause now I can have The Drifter cast Magic Missile on the Covenant. This gonna be whacko.