/==/ Chapter One /==/
Emerald lay sprawled sideways on the floor of the group's safe house. Her right hand pressed against the right side of her jaw and cheek. Emerald stared up at Cinder, trying to understand why she had been so viciously backhanded by her. She couldn't fathom what she had done that had so enraged the woman she owed her life to. Emerald tried to hide the hurt and betrayal in her eyes as Cinder glared at her. In the background, Mercury stood quietly. His arms folded over his chest, a cruel smirk crossing his features.
"So months of work and all you can tell me is that her name is Jaune, she's a dyke, and is only seen once a month?" Cinder's amber eyes blazed with barely contained rage. "Explain! Are you just lazy or incompetent?"
Emerald wanted to yell back at Cinder. To scream at her about how hard she was trying, and why Cinder wasn't seeing that. Emerald was spending hours a day over the last couple of months trying to dig up anything on the enigmatic blonde woman. There was just nothing to go on.
Emerald scoured the student and staff databases for the name, only getting a match to one Jaune Arc, a rather worthless looking man, whose first name and hair colour was all that he had in common with Emerald's target. It was driving Emerald almost to tears when she would have to report to Cinder about her lack of progress. There was just nothing showing up in the databases or Social Media.
"I'm trying my hardest." Emerald muttered, completely afraid of what may happen if she really did scream all her bottled up frustration back into Cinder's face. "None of it makes sense. None of it."
"Lazy then." Cinder growled, as she squatted down and placed the tip of her right index finger under Emerald's chin. "I don't like failure, but l loathe laziness, so what are we going to do… about this situation?"
Emerald hissed in pain at the sudden searing of the flesh under her chin. She wanted to cry, tears of physical and emotional pain welling up in the corners of her red eyes.
"Well?"
"I'll… I'll look harder…" Emerald gasped out, as she fought the urge to swat Cinder's hand away. "I'll do better."
"Make sure that you do." Cinder responded with a contemptuous tone as she removed her finger from Emerald's chin and stood up. Cinder took a moment to smooth the front of her fetching red dress, before looking down on Emerald once more. "I expect results, Emerald. I need results."
Emerald nodded in agreement as she bit her lip as she focused her aura to the point that Cinder had burned.
"Good." Cinder turned and made her way to the table that she was using as a desk, "I have things to take care of. Both of you leave."
Mercury just snorted and walked off, passing by Emerald without even a thought of helping her to her feet. Gathering her scroll from the floor, Emerald regained her feet and made her way out of Cinder's room. Heading straight to her own room, Emerald, closed the door, and locked it behind her.
Once she knew she was secure and out of sight, Emerald allowed all the strength to flow out of her body, as she slid down the door to the floor. Dropping her scroll to the floor, she brought her knees up to her chest and sat there. Her mind trying to make sense of why someone emerald felt so drawn to, so attracted to someone… who could treat her in such a manner.
After a few shuddering breaths, Emerald reached out and picked up her scroll from the floor. She swiped to the left, bringing up a screen showing a single thumbnail picture Tapping it with her thumb it opened fully, to reveal a picture of Jaune and Coco sitting side by side, Jaune's head on Coco's shoulder, a soft smile decorating both their faces.
Emerald sat there staring at the saved picture, her heart aching and her mind wondering.
"Why can't we be like that?" Emerald whispered to herself.
She sat there for quite some time, considering that very question. Of course in her heart she knew the answer, it was her mind that was resisting that very real revelation.
/==/
Once Ozpin had returned to his office, he abandoned the wheelchair and set himself to his task. He needed to discover the reason for the failure of the ritual, and how to correct his error. Trying to do so from the confines of the wheelchair would have complicated the task. Ozpin needed to be standing, to be able to scan and review multiple resources at the same time.
Spread out before Ozpin, covering every available part of his large desk, sat tomes with yellowed pages, manuscripts whose paper cracked when touched, and his own chicken scratch notes. To his right, a looped video of the failed ritual played. Snatching up a page of his handwritten notes, he studied the words and formulas before turning his attention to the book opened before him on his desk.
"I don't understand."
With an exasperated sigh, he set the page in his hand back on the desk and fell back into his office chair, letting the soft padded leather cradle him as he continued to rack his mind for answers.
"Everything was as it should be. The runes and circles were perfect." He reached up, removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yet still the magic refused to flow… like it was fighting me."
Standing up again, he returned to his research and studies. Moving from the book before him, he picked up a manuscript with pages so fragile they threatened to turn to dust when he touched them even though he had treated them with magic over several lifetimes to keep them from disintegrating.
He sighed again at the sad fact that every treatise, every theory and every formula was something he had personally penned over his eons of existence.
It was all his own work, yet so far removed from the time that such abilities and skills had been of use.
'Maybe…" setting one book aside he grabbed another, "Was it her aura? Could that be the… no it wouldn't be Glynda had unlocked her aura weeks before the first ritual."
Turning his attention back to the looped video of the ritual, he adjusted the playback, reducing the speed to frame by frame. After all he had considered, it left only one probable cause. The runic symbols he had transcribed on the floor. He navigated the multiple feed display and brought the overhead view forward to fill the whole terminal screen.
Carefully, he advanced the footage. Paying particular attention to the lighting up, or activation, of each individual rune. It was then he saw it. One rune flickering faintly, not glowing brightly like the others. Pausing the video feed, he returned to his collection of reference materials, specifically those that detailed individual rune construction.
"You fucking moron!" Ozpin cursed at himself. He had found his mistake. "You utter twat!"
He had located the problem, it was his mistake. It was clear as day what had gone wrong. Ozpin had worked on the assumption that he just needed to reverse the runes, swap them for their opposite, and that was what he did.
"The origin rune… I shouldn't have changed it! Fuck!" He had overlooked, or forgotten, the fact that Jaune's original form, or sex, was female. He had transcribed the rune as male. "I shouldn't have touched it, no wonder it caught me, it was trying to revert her back to a male!"
It was then another thought crossed his mind. When everything took a turn for the worse, he had bled the power of the ritual through his own body, in an attempt to ease Jaune's suffering.
"No." Ozpin whispered, just as sharp lancing pains tore into his body. He stumbled away from his desk, knocking over his chair as the urge to vomit rose up his throat, but just before he did, he managed to snatch his private scroll from his desk.
Biting his tongue, Ozpin fell to the floor, as agony ripped through him. He could do nothing to ease his own pain, and in an instant deep regret flooded his thoughts. This was what Jaune had gone through each and every time she changed. As the rising pain threatened to cause him to blackout, Ozpin managed to hit the emergency call icon on his scroll.
He never heard the call being answered as a wave of blackness swallowed his mind, rendering him completely unresponsive.
/==/
It took Peach specifically to arrive at Ozpin's office in about fifteen minutes. Due to recent events involving Jaune, Ozpin had two emergency icons, as did the others in the know about Jaune's situation. I was that button he had activated, meaning Peach would answer the call instead of the general staff of the infirmary.
"Ozpin?" Peach called out as she entered the large office, her medical bag in hand. "Ozpin? Are you here?"
Receiving no response and not immediately seeing the headmaster put Doctor Peach on edge. Swapping her medical bag to her left hand, she reached under her lab coat and with drew her weapon of choice. With a flick of her wrist the collapsible shock baton was extended and ready for action.
Slowly she moved further into the room, letting her eyes examine every viewable place, in case that the headmaster was unable to respond to her queries. Cautiously she moved deeper into the dimly illuminated office. Slowly closing on the headmaster's massive desk.
Peach snorted as she tried to maintain her professional decorum as she found the unconscious form of Ozpin behind his desk. Taking a second to suppress the perverse sense of justice that was rising up within her, she then moved forward and proceeded to do her duty as a physician. Crouching down she first checked Ozpin's pulse, before turning him over and making sure he was breathing.
Pulling a penlight out of the breast pocket of her lab coat, she proceeded to open the Headmaster's eyes and check his dilation response. This of course caused Ozpin to flinch and rouse himself.
"Easy, don't try and move just yet." Peach instructed him as she put away her penlight. "Your system has suffered a severe shock and it will take a little bit for your body to normalise."
"What, hap…" Ozpin stopped speaking as soon as he noticed the definitely higher pitch of his voice. "No."
"Apparently yes."
Ozpin let his eyes look down to discover his dress shirt had burst open revealing the milky white flesh of a set of breasts. Ozpin instantly truly understood what had happened, and now had an intimate knowledge of what Jaune had suffered through.
"I'm going to need to get you to the infirmary. There are tests I'm going to need to do."
"I understand, but…" Ozpin bit his lip, as he forced himself to sit up, as he became aware that not only had his shirt burst open to accommodate his new modest breasts, but his slim fitting pants had also torn to make room for his wider hips. "I can't be…"
"I can give you my lab coat to cover up with." Peach offered, as she assisted the now Headmistress of Beacon to her feet. "Easy now. Don't push yourself. If my experiences with Jaune are anything to go by, your body has been severely tasked by this change, and it will be a little time before you are fully capable of moving around on your own."
"I understand."
"So what happened?" Peach asked as she helped Ozpin to his chair. "Does this have anything to do with the ritual you forced Jaune… to suffer through?"
"Yes, it does."
"Care to explain?"
"I had transcribed one of the runes wrong." Ozpin started to explain, "the origin rune to be specific."
"Origin rune?"
"It dictates to the magical energies the original form of the subject. Instead of keeping it the same as the first ritual… I had come to the understanding that I needed to invert some of the runes, but I mistakenly did that to the origin rune…"
"Meaning you set the spell to attempt to change Jaune back to male?"
"Exactly."
"So what about you?"
"When the ritual started to fail, in order to try and prevent any more suffering to Jaune I bled the energies through me… which obviously caused the ritual to affect me…"
"I understand… or rather I see, but why the delay in the transformation? When you first subjected Jaune to it, the result was instant."
"Most likely due to the fact I was not in the main circle, and hence the primary target."
"So it took time for the magic to do its work?"
"It does seem that is the case."
"Will this have any effect on Jaune?"
"I don't know, to be honest. Maybe, but now that I know my error, I can fashion a proper reversal." Ozpin looked up at Peach and noticed the lopsided smirk she had on her face. "What?"
"Kind of Poetic, don't you think? A little taste of your own medicine." Ozpin could tell that Doctor Peach was trying very hard not to burst out laughing at his current situation. But he could concede to that point.
"I think I should do as you suggest, and get to the infirmary. Can I have your lab coat?"
"Of course… Headmistress."
"You're enjoying this a little too much." Ozpin sighed. "Whatever happened to your empathy for a patient's suffering?"
"Oh, it's still there, and I do want to make sure you are physically alright but…"
"This serves me right for what I put Jaune through?"
"Exactly." Peach replied, her small smirk growing larger.
/==/
Glynda was roused from her place resting on a cot next to Jaune's bed, when Peach had returned. Sleep rather quickly left her mind when she saw Ozpin's condition.
"How? What? How?"
"The ritual." Ozpin replied using that one statement to answer all three of Glynda's questions.
"I don't understand?" Glynda responded as Peach set about checking Ozpin's vitals.
"I found my mistake… and because of my screw-up when I bled the magical energies away from Jaune I caused the ritual's effects to manifest in me."
"Explain."
"I miss-transcribed… no that is the wrong word. To undue the ritual I had to reverse some of the runes, but I fucked up, and reversed the one rune that should have remained the same from the original ritual…" Ozpin took a breath, "The origin rune."
"Origin Rune?"
"It dictates to the spell what the subject's natural form is… I had swapped it from female to male…"
"And caused the spell to attempt to revert Jaune to a male instead of female, correct?"
"Exactly."
"So what now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well one you can't suddenly be running Beacon or attending staff or council meetings as a woman, and two what does this mean for Jaune?"
"For Jaune it means I know my mistake, and can properly create the reversal ritual… as for me…"
"Oz you'll need to step away."
"Officially yes… but unofficially I'll continue my duties behind the scenes out of sight."
"But who will act as your proxy?" Glynda asked, "It has to be someone who knows of all this mess involving Jaune, so that rules out Peter or Bart."
"You will."
"I can't."
"You'll have to. You are the only one I can trust, or who has the skills and knowledge to act in my stead."
"But my classes, Jaune… the extra paperwork!"
"I will do the paperwork, as for your classes… I'll call in a favour from Ironwood. See if he can spare a member of his Ace-Ops to act as a substitute while I am… indisposed."
"That is rather risky." Peach commented as she finished her preliminary examination and proceeded to ready a set of vials for blood tests. "You've been keeping Jaune's existence hidden… from everyone."
"It can't be helped. We need assistance, and James is the only one I can see as having someone he could spare."
"And if whomever he sends, if he agrees and sends anyone, discovers Jaune and the truth about her?"
"We'll cross that bridge if or when we come to it." Ozpin replied.
"I feel we should be more proactive than just taking a wait and see approach." Peach commented as she finished drawing blood from Ozpin's exposed arm. "I think it would be much better if we have a plan in place, an active one to prevent having that situation arise."
"Peach has a point. I'm more than a little hesitant to expose Jaune anymore than she has been." Glynda crossed her arms over her chest as she watched Ozpin roll down the sleeve of his borrowed coat. "We made a conscious effort to keep Atlas, Haven, and Shade from knowing that we have the Summer Maiden."
"I agree with Glynda. I know we've kept Peter and Bart in the dark, but if they were to discover the truth, we could mitigate it. They would understand."
"And you both feel someone from Atlas or another school wouldn't?" Ozpin asked.
"I do." Glynda answered.
"As do I." Peach added.
"I'm willing to entertain other suggestions if you have them, but in lue of such ideas I feel we only have one recourse." Ozpin countered
"Qrow." Glynda offered. "He already knows. He would be a much better choice."
"True, true, and I could arrange for him to be temporarily transferred from Signal to Beacon without too much difficulty. Plus there would be fewer questions as to why."
"'So we have a prime candidate then." Peach commented as she finished organising and labelling the various vials of blood she had drawn.
"But only if he is willing." Ozpin mentioned, "And he might require the particulars as to why we need his assistance."
"I agree, though he is aware of Jaune's situation," Glynda eyed Ozpin's new form, "Yours will need to be explained."
"Not something I'm looking forward to." Ozpin commented as he pulled the lab coat tighter around his new rather shapely form.
"I don't know," Peach gave Glynda a devious smirk, "I think we can find a way to make you look rather… fetching for that meeting, couldn't we Glyn?"
"Yes," Glynda uncrossed her arms and tapped the index finger of her right hand against her lips, "Yes, we could."
"Ladies?"
"A little eye shadow, some blush, maybe do her hair up in a bun?" Peach suggested as she moved to stand next to Glynda.
"That would work, but we need to find the right outfit." Glynda offered.
"Ladies?"
"Don't forget the heels, and stockings, a Lady of refinement must have stockings."
"Of course she must." Glynda agreed.
"No! I refu…"
"Hush now Headmistress." Glynda chuckled, cutting off Ozpin's objection. "I think I have some older outfits that should fit without needing many if any alterations."
"I can go into Vale and get anything else she might need." Peach offered with a mirthful grin plastered on her face. "Of course we can't forget the basic womanly necessities."
"No, we can not."
"Please?" Ozpin whined, in a vain attempt to curry favour and maybe sparing himself from being turned into a living dress up doll.
/==/ Authour's Note /==/
So... I have decided to start releasing chapter of Vol2 while I'm still working on it.
This is an attempt to push myself to continue working while to stay ahead of my posting schedule.
I have several chapters already written, so even if things get busy in RL I have a few weeks of posts for a buffer.
Anyway... every Tuesday, expect another chapter. Hope you enjoy. :)