Chapter 4: A Peaceful Morning
Just a peaceful morning for Ren and some painful memories for Glynda.
A sound woke Ren. Intimate familiarity with the partner he'd been not-together together with for a decade told him that the sound came from Nora. Something was grabbing her. Training kicked in, and Ren lashed out. Before he was even consciously aware of the situation, the ninja found himself kneeling on the back of the threat, twisting its arm onto the ground with one hand and reaching for half of StormFlower with the other.
"Owwww, you can have it!"
The aggression Ren expected was absent from the voice, naked fear in its place. Nonetheless, Ren had sworn to protect Nora. He aimed his machine pistol at the threat's neck.
"Explain."
"I just wanted to get Feather's Edge back. I'm sorry, you guys can have it!"
"Explain better."
"Your girlfriend took my halberd yesterday, and I need it for initiatiooooOOOWWW!"
Ren realized he was unconsciously twisting the threat's arm further than necessary. It now appeared to be dislocated from the shoulder.
He assessed the situation.
The threat was disarmed. The threat was crippled. The threat agreed to retreat.
Ren released his grip and stood up. The man – no longer a threat – hungrily sucked in a breath of air. Ren looked around until he saw Nora. "Was he disturbing you?"
"Oh, Renny! You know that I'm always disturbed. But no, Malarky wasn't bothering me. I only swiped his big ole pole so that he'd follow us."
Memories of yesterday flooded back to Ren. This was the man who's weapon Nora had claimed to need for 'circus clown practice.' Shy Malarky? Or was it Sun Malarky? He couldn't remember and didn't want to risk any further faux paus by betting on one over the other. Either way, it was clear that he was not imperiling Nora. Actually, it appeared to be the other way around.
Ren placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "I apologize, Malarky. Nora and I travelled alone on the road for many years. We are not all that used to peaceful mornings where we aren't woken up by Grimm or bandits. Please, allow me to reset your arm."
"It's Sky Lark, not Malarky, and what are you–"
POP!
Ren knew that the pain Sky was expecting never came. Sky rotated his arm a few times as he inspected his shoulder. "Huh. It's actually feeling a lot better. Whaddaya know…"
"That would be my semblance. I can mask negative emotions, moderate pain among them." He turned to his companion. "Nora. Apologize for stealing his weapon."
"But, Reeeeeeennny, you were the one that broke his arm! Besides, we need him!"
"What for?"
"Hehehe…I'll never tell~"
Ren sighed. "She apologizes, Sky."
"No problem, Renny. But, could I maybe have Feather's Edge back?"
"NEVER!" screamed Nora. "Never, specifically, refers to the end of Beacon's initiation."
"Uhhh…"
Ren sighed again. "Her grip is too strong to overcome with force, and I don't have any pancakes with which to bribe her. She should calm down in a few hours. You can have your axe back then."
"B-but… the headmaster called for initiation in 15 minutes!"
Ren sighed for the third time. Were peaceful mornings always this chaotic?
"Then I suppose I ought to welcome you to the team, Sky Lark."
"…will be determined by the first person you make eye contact with upon landing."
Glynda struggled to maintain her neutral expression. Every time she felt good about her decision to retire from the field and take up teaching, the headmaster found some ridiculous way to ruin her spirits. Eye contact, of all things, and after he'd just stressed how important compatibility with teammates was. Coupled with his insistence on the launching of students off a cliff…where was Qrow and the flask glued to his hip when she needed it?
The explanations he'd given her were flimsy at best and rubbish at worst. Yes, students needed to be able to think of landing strategies on their own if they were to attend Beacon, but not informing them in advance put students with convenient semblances or weapons usable for gliding at an arbitrary advantage. Sure, random teams encouraged students to exit their comfort zones, but she'd lost count of times she'd had to dissolve a team because of irreconcilable incompatibilities. Be it a lone Faunus ostracized from a team of hateful humans, a fighter whose weapons and style did not match their team leader's visions, or just general pigheadedness afflicting hormonal teenagers…well, suffice it to say that Ozpin's eye contact method brought more trouble than joy.
Except for two girls. Glynda looked at the two girls who, for the first time in Beacon history, shared a launching pad. Ozpin hadn't so much as batted an eye when she as Deputy Hippopotam –fuckfuckFUCK it was contagious – headmistress informed him that she'd allowed a fifteen year old into Beacon. In his own words, a prodigy should not be turned away over something as trivial as age. However, he'd adamantly refused to compromise when she'd informed him that the same girl had successfully haggled herself into a guaranteed partnership with her sister.
For reasons known only to the wizened old man (and maybe his coffee cup), he'd only given an inch upon learning the name of the young woman. Specifically, her last name. Glynda suspected some manner of favoritism was at play but elected to stay quiet, just this once. Ruby needed to come to Beacon.
Glynda knew her peers were wondering why she, the strictest member of Beacon's staff, had let a child into the school on a whim. Truth be told, Glynda herself would have normally chalked the entire thing down to a momentary lapse in judgement and sent Miss Rose back to Signal the second Ozpin protested. So why hadn't she? Why did she double down and defend her choice?
Because Glynda was afraid.
Glynda could handle Roman Torchwick and the company he usually kept, even if they left a trail of dead huntsmens and huntresses in their wake. It was well known that his guard dog, a short pink and brown haired woman known only as Pint Size by law enforcement, was sadistic with her prey. Police reports with photographs of her victims disabused Glynda of any notions that such a petite thing was as innocent or harmless as she looked. Girls as young as third-years would not be drawing smiley faces in blood if they were.
But the woman Torchwick now answered to was on another level. It was said that she was 'the boss,' so the Boss was what they called her. Beyond her gender, informants either remained ignorant of any personal details or refused to reveal them for fear of her vengeance. The Boss was a cunning, scheming woman with big plans for the city's underground and the raw power to see them realized. She wasn't a rabid animal like Pint Size who craved attention and compulsively needed everyone to see how deranged she was. No, the Boss quietly dug her claws into every crook or gang so small they fell under the radar, pulled them in close, and forcibly united them under her banner. By the time anyone even noticed that the pebbles were missing, she had built a stone fortress. And when Vale could no longer overlook this cancerous growth and sent their best to excise it, the Boss stepped out of the shadows and faced their best head on.
She had killed Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck.
Glynda had answered the distress call that night expecting it to be her last. Instead of nobly meeting an inevitable death, Glynda met a happy little child who'd stopped five criminals and let one get away. Maybe Ruby deserved to be sent home with a pat on the back and a slap on the wrist, but Glynda got carried away in the heat of the moment and rewarded her with a scholarship instead. Now, the only reason she stood by her choice instead of recanting was because she was afraid.
She'd realized it later that fateful night. It may have been the boss piloting the bullhead, it may have been Pint Size, or it may have been some nobody, but whoever it was got away. And they'd seen Ruby.
Glynda was afraid, but not for herself.
"–landing strategy? What do you mean by landing str–!" An alarmed voice broke Glynda out of her stupor as just before the students were launched into the Emerald Forest by the spring loaded platforms.
Ruby…
She would be safe at Beacon, right?
Every day, I grow. I understand more. Bless the Queen for the gifts she has bestowed unto me. The others are mindless and fall upon human blades by the dozen. It is all they deserve. How could I have ever counted myself among them?
Now it is the time for me to repay the Queen. I shall complete the objective for which I was created.
I shall find her.
That which used to be a Grimm trudged off into the woods of the Emerald Forest in search of its target.
Omake
Nora: *tips fedora* M'Larky.
Next Chapter: Frenzy – In which Bronzewing takes the first step, Pyrrha meets her partner, and Weiss tries not to lose her mind.