A New god of Remnant

Chapter 25

-Ghira-

"Oh, come on Marrow, you haven't even met her." Kali cajoled the Atlesian Specialist who'd been assigned to guard them, one who had stopped a second attack from Adam's forces and even intervened when some drunk humans tried getting violent. The fact that those same humans were off the clock Atlesian soldiers and were still punished gave him some hope in regard to both the young man and the General.

Chuckling quietly, and pointedly not looking when the young man sent him a pleading 'save me!' look, Ghira checked his watch "They should be here soon Kali." He commented. Some might take that as him saving the young Marrow as Kali would have to prepare for their meeting.

Those people had clearly never met kali Belladonna.

Moving over to the kitchen to make himself a drink, he chose to ignore the sounds of Kali doubling down on her matchmaking. Poor Marrow, he'd have felt bad if it wasn't so entertaining. Hearing the knock at the door, he pulled up a security camera first to see who it was, not taking any chances after the assassination attempts. On the other side he saw five people waiting, two of which he thankfully recognized as General Ironwood and Deputy Headmistress Goodwitch.

"Password?" Marrow was instantly all business, any fluster from the teasing and attempted shipping buried under training, the man's weapon ready.

"Alpha Mike Zulu Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Charlie Echo Six five two nine seven." General Ironwood rattled off without missing a beat as Marrow nodded and relaxed.

"That's them." Marrow confirmed as Ghira gratefully opened the door, the five guests entering.

"Excellent work Specialist." The General nodded to the young man who'd been guarding them "You go take a break. We will let you know when you're needed back."

"Sir." Marrow saluted and hurried out before Kali could make any final attempts to set the boy up on a date. Once the young specialist was gone, the room grew tense as the expressions of their guests became serious.

"The General said you were going to be reading me in on the situation with whoever is pulling Adam's strings?" Ghira rumbled out as he sat down beside his wife.

"That and more." The tired looking headmaster of Beacon sighed, "That and much more. The secrets you're being read in on are ones that I have only entrusted to seven other people in the world outside this room." Or ones that were still alive at least, if the grave tone implied anything.

"The woman behind Adam Taurus' attack is one Cinder Fall." Ironwood set down a photo of the woman, "Those 'elemental powers' that you were told about? Those were abilities she stole from this woman." A second photo was placed down, of a dark-skinned young woman whose face was heavily scared as she was attached to an IV.

"This Fall woman can steal semblances?" Ghira felt revulsion at the concept, an ability to steal souls was a horrendous power.

"It's not a semblance." Ozpin sighed as he held out a hand free of any sort of dust device, the palm suddenly filled with flames. Said flames were rapidly extinguished and replaced with lightning. Then the man transformed a magazine on the table into a kitten that Kali started cooing over. All in under a minute, "It is magic."

If Ghira hadn't already been sitting down, then he was sure his legs would have collapsed under him. A semblance to create and control flames? That was easy enough to write off. A semblance that could create and control flames and lightning? Harder to write off but still potentially just a rare and powerful elemental semblance. The Ability to create and control flames and lightning while also being able to turn items into living animals? That was impossible as a semblance. He wasn't even sure if the last one by itself could ever be a semblance.

But the bombshells just kept coming. He was told of gods, of Maidens, of a woman cursed by the gods and commanding the Grimm, of Ozpin's ancient struggle to try and save humanity and Faunus both.

He was also told of Ozpin's mistakes, the things he had kept hidden, the things he was trying to fix.

"The Headmasters of the other academies know all this as well." Ozpin sighed once the man finally finished unloading all the bombshells, "And it was James' suggestion that you be read in given both your positions and your history of working towards peace as well as the greater good of your people."

"And them?" Ghira nodded to the scruffy looking man as well as the young one he recognized as the same professor his daughter had been butting heads with, "You mentioned those running the academies as well as the Maidens were in on the secret."

"My old team and I were Oz's agents out in the field." Qrow grunted, "Salem has her own agents, like her." The scruffy man tapped the photo of Cinder Fall "So he had us tracking them down and countering their operations."

"Were?" Ghira frowned at the past tense.

"Our team leader is dead, my best friend retired to look after his daughters, and the third is my sister who went bandit." Qrow looked conflicted on the last one, "I'm the only one left going out into the field these days."

"And you?" Kali's eyes were focused on the younger professor, narrowed in a way that Ghira recognized. Kali had a bit of a reputation back on Menagerie for being motherly to anyone she felt that needed it and always seemed to be able to 'sniff out trauma' on those she felt especially needed it.

"I'm a…recent addition to Ozpin's council." The young man, Professor Jackson, seemed to pick up on Kali having figured out something and was on edge, apparently not willing to open up about the details to them yet. Unfortunately for the boy he, and Kali, both recognized the signs of someone who grew up abused and someone who was a child soldier. It was something they were hauntingly familiar with.

He and Kali shared a subtle glance, holding a silent conversation in an instant. They were already on board with joining this council, the benefits for their people alone would be worth it even without the threat they'd be helping prevent. But now he could tell Kali wasn't going to rest until she found a way to help the boy.

At least he didn't have to worry about him trying to seduce Blake.

-Mercury-

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shiiiiiit!" Mercury tried to pull up but failed, momentum carrying him hard into one of the walls of Beacon's parkour course.

"Shit, Merc!" he heard Emerald run over, his partner having been a lot less bitchy and a lot more fun to banter with lately for some reason, "You alright?"

"Noooo." He groaned, still buried in the wood somewhat as he worked to pull himself out "I'm just peachy. Can't you see how comfortable I am?"

"Guess I'll just leave your ass there." the fact that he could hear Emerald rolling her eyes was admittedly impressive, that took talent.

"Shit dude, how the hell did you get up there?" a new voice he didn't recognize shouted from the door as he grunted and gave a shove, managing to get himself out of the Mercury shaped hole in the wood, floating in the air.

"That answer your question?" he asked, spitting out a couple of splinters. While it was great having his flight semblance back, having to learn control sucked.

"Duuuuuude!" the new girl floated up on a gods damned hoverboard, "That's sick!"

"Hell, yeah it is!" Mercury grinned, high fiving the new girl as he once again reveled in having his complete soul back as well as his power of flight.

"How fast can you go?" the girl zoomed all around him, at one point even hanging upside down from her hoverboard without a care in the world.

"As fast as I can run." Mercury smirked, "And I can run damned fast."

"Duuuuuude." The girl had a wild grin as she flipped up into a proper stance on her hoverboard, "Race ya!" with that the girl took off.

"You're on!" Mercury laughed, shooting after her, one exasperated Emerald left behind them face palming.