Well, well, well, here I am again. I just graduated from basic training last week on Thursday, spent a few days up to a week acclimating back to civilian society, and now here I am again. It's good to be back, sorry for keeping all of you waiting for so long.

The Blind Huntsman

Volume 5, Episode 5

Chapter 117- Blooming

According to her namesake, she was a flower. Orchids were all over Remnant, her mother once told her that she named her after them because of how varying in beauty and color they came in. In Vale, they bloomed a hot pink or magenta in spring, in Vacuo an orange-yellow, Mistral an eye-catching amber, and in Atlas a striking white or blue. That didn't mean that there weren't several other subspecies of orchids, however, they came in almost any color. Which gave her some comfort when she thought of her condition; multiple personalities, as she likes to call it because the scientific name wasn't so kind on the ears. She too came on many different variations. Sometimes she was smarter than she realized she could be, knowledge of the world she has accumulated throughout her life and teachings all coming back to her with a pair of glasses and a light blue color. A berserker red, the part of her that was always angry, envious, and jealous of everyone and everything that she put all that negative energy into dual-wielding destruction. Exotic green and culturally fascinating, where she would speak a different language she didn't know she knew and adopt an ancient swordplay style. Then there was her favorite; normal magenta or pink, depending on what she decided to wear that day. That was her favorite self, the self that she believed was the original who was born first out of all of them. She could be wrong but she didn't like to think about that, so she had made up her mind.

She was content with all of these versions of herself. Some were less pleasing compared to others, but she had soon accepted that they were all just her, just with a range of tolerance toward different kinds of emotions that dictate how they behave and act. She had long accepted it, Kai had once told her that no matter what, she would always be Orchid, no matter what color her semblance made her clones and no matter how she spoke or thought or fought. What all of her personalities had in common was that they were all the same person at the end of the day, they were all Orchid, and they were okay with that.

But lately, she has been experiencing a different kind of shift when she felt a change or shift in personality. It happened rarely but still occurred almost as much as her most introverted of personalities. Sometimes she didn't feel like Orchid, but deep down she knew that she was the same. The power of the Spring Maiden made her become a different kind of person, she expected that to occur, she always knew that magic always had its downsides and side-effects. Cinder was the prime example of that. She let the magic transform her, change the way she acted and behaved, and turned herself into a monster. She knew it was different, her kind of magic compared to hers may as well be considered complete opposites. Cinder had Salem bless her with her own dark malignant magic, after all. Where she only had the better good magic that Ozpin had explained come from him during ancient times of desperation. Originally the maidens were meant to be protectors, now she just felt like a key for vaults that neither side could afford to get into the wrong hands. At least she still was strong because of it, and she felt that she was on the right side.

She opened her eyes and leaned forward. Meditating was hard, she often found herself thinking about these things rather than leaving her mind empty. She couldn't help it though, she could keep one mind quiet but when ten others start thinking she could do nothing about it. When she opened her eyes though, she didn't expect to see Oscar standing in front of her, although she knew it wasn't actually him. The way he stood with one hand behind his back with the other on his cane told her that he was Ozpin at that moment.

He smiled gently at her. "Miss Rosa," he greeted softly. "I do believe that we should share a word."

"I… sure," Open to a conversation with an ancient immortal wizard, Orchid gestured to the empty space before her. Ozpin took her up on the offer by coming nearer and sitting down, crossing one leg over the other, and even had the tact to look graceful doing that. Everything he did had a degree of grace in it, she quickly noticed as she took a hobby in studying his behavior when he took over Oscar's body. She could tell that this boy here was the former headmaster of Beacon just by the way he moved. "What did you want to talk about."

"You, for one." Ozpin bluntly replied.

"M-Me?" For that split, the second Orchid wondered when Oscar got so brave.

"Yes, I've been advised that I should speak with you from Qrow," Ozpin explained. To which Orchid suddenly came to an understanding. "I think we both know what he told me."

"Ah…" Orchid coughed into her fist and looked off to the side. "I keep telling him that I'm fine…"

"Miss Rosa, my time as a teacher alone has given me the experience required to know when a student of mine is not well, physically or otherwise," Ozpin said. "I know to trust these days is a scarce thing, but I can assure you that anything shared between us will remain confidential."

Orchid scoffed. "Even from Oscar?"

Ozpin winced. "We both know that not even I can control that. But yes, I admit that he will know what we speak of."

"Well, at least you're honest about it." Orchid sighed. "Sorry… this is a touchy subject, I don't like talking about it for a reason. At least not with… I do trust people knowing about it, hell, I don't think anyone in our group doesn't know about me and my condition right now."

"Knowing and understanding are two different sides of the same coin." Ozpin whimsically replied. "Though I do believe I can say that I understand what you experience on a daily basis, though perhaps not to the same extent. No," he shook his head. "Certainly not to the same extent. When I reincarnate, the most I've experienced is two different minds in the same body."

Orchid leaned forward, showing that she was interested in hearing about this side of Ozpin. For the first time she was seeing him open up about something she didn't know he had so much trouble with, even though she should've known about it already, she always thought the headmaster could never suffer from such problems. Besides, she had been getting sick of explaining the same issue over and over with the only difference being telling different people about it. She wanted to be the listener, for once. Sensing that was what she wanted, Ozpin was happy to continue.

"Not all of my reluctant hosts grow as fond of me as Oscar has. I've lost count of how many lives I've been forced to absorb, but in a way, I become them just as much as they become me over time." Ozpin explained. "In that way is why I think that you and I are not so dissimilar."

"I can see why you say that," Orchid said with a fond smile. "I can't imagine what you've been through… You've been alive for thousands of years, I think it's safe to assume. All those personas you've taken throughout this time, I bet you've forgotten what your first self was all that time ago."

"Indeed." Ozpin smiled. "I remember my name, and the important memories of my first life as Ozma, but only just that. The man I am now compared to the man I was then is very different from one another. That is why I do not go by the name Ozma today, because to put it bluntly, Ozma died a long time ago, with his children."

"Children?" Orchid's eyes widened greatly. "You had kids!?"

Ozpin smiled softly. But it also looked sad, and distant. "During my first reincarnation, yes. I did sire children. I had four daughters, and we named them after each of the four seasons. But… things did not go well. I made a terrible mistake that cost them their lives, mine along with it. My greatest regret is that I could not join them in the afterlife."

"I… I didn't know, I'm so sorry." Orchid was aghast at the revelation.

"Those are scars that have closed long ago," Ozpin waved her off dismissively. "Nothing to be depressed about in today's age. There are greater things to be concerned about than an event that happened thousands of years ago in a long bygone era. In any case, would you care to then explain to me some of the things that you experience?"

After what she had just heard, Orchid didn't feel that it was fair to hold back any longer. She let herself rant, talk about things that she would normally save for people she trusted. But Ozpin was someone that she could trust, she learned as she watched carefully how he reacted to the things that she told him. He did his best to understand everything, from the explanation of how it felt shifting between personalities so violently at times, how the trembling impacts her mind. It was never painful, it just felt weird. At first, it was shocking, she didn't know what was happening to her and when the doctor told her about her condition she was terrified. Thankfully, her mother had come to her rescue, helping her through it every step of the way. However, she still felt ostracized by society, especially by other children her age. She didn't know how to control herself at the time, and for a long while, she grew really lonely. That was of course until she met Kai. She felt her face heat up when she saw the knowing smile that grew on Ozpin's face when he heard her talk about him. When she first met him, and he accepted her so easily, and then introduced him to his friends all in the same day she was ecstatic. She didn't admit it outright, but she knew that was when she most likely first fell for him, right then and there. It was a young crush that was to be expected of a young girl being accepted by a handsome and awesome young blind boy. But it grew and grew, from the time they were the old Team KO to the time they were both parts of Team KRBR. It went without saying that she missed him. She was worried about him, and Ozpin could tell just from the way she talked about him. When she realized that she had spent the last ten minutes talking about Kai rather than herself, she felt blood rush to her face and she dropped it into her hands, embarrassed.

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." Ozpin laughed when she groaned.

When she recovered she continued her tale all the way up to the point where Vernal sacrificed herself in an attempt to take down Cinder. On her deathbed, which was a rueful pile of rocks, she took her hand and told her that she would become the next Spring Maiden. She did her best to be brave about it, hiding behind a mask as Vernal's bloody hand wrapped around hers, even as she felt the transfer of aura and magic being pooled into her body. She never told anyone, but that was when it first started happening. She personally believed that this foreign personality that she had been thinking and possessing herself into was a direct inspiration of Vernal. She had been a part of her life for several years before she died, after all. She said this to Ozpin to see what he thought. If anyone would know how magic worked, it would be him.

"I think your theory bears some fruition," Ozpin explained. "But I don't think it is as dire as you fear it may be. Yes, you may have developed a new personality based off of poor Vernal, but I don't think it is her. I understand where the fear came from, when I gave the power of the Fall Maiden to Sienna, her soul was completely replaced by Amber's, but that aura transfer was much more forced than the transfer Vernal instilled unto you. It wasn't forced, but willing, and I dare say that the only reason this new development of yours only happened because of your condition."

"That…" Orchid paused to take a sigh of relief. "That is relieving. I mean… I still kind of feel bad. I feel as if I could have somehow brought her back through me, and we can somehow agree to share my body, but at the same time I feel guilty. Guilty because I don't think I would have liked that, ironically enough."

"There is nothing wrong with wanting to keep your body to yourself." Ozpin remarked. "Nothing at all. Vernal would forgive you, I'm sure. She trusted you with this power for a reason."

Orchid scoffed. "She gave it to me because she knew I loved Kai." Saying it so bitterly didn't even get a flushed reaction out of her like it usually would. "Not because she trusted me."

"I can't say I know what Vernal was thinking of in that moment," Ozpin said. "But she had other options, that I am aware of. I know you told me before that Miss Xiao Long wasn't chosen because Raven specifically forbid it, but Miss Belladonna was there as well, and she may have been a good choice as well. But she chose you, and whatever reason it was for, you were still the one she picked. Instead of torturing yourself with the thoughts of what ifs and why's, you should prepare yourself for your role. I am here to help you, whenever you may call upon me."

"Do you think I can beat Cinder?" Orchid asked suddenly. "If it came down to it, or rather when it comes down to it. I know I am going to have to face her one of these days, its destiny. In my core I know I have to fight her, or at least be involved in defeating her."

"Not even I could defeat her." Ozpin pointed out. "Her ability to siphon magic is incredibly dangerous to anyone who may possess even a fraction of it. However," he nodded his head. "She is not invincible. She is not invulnerable. Cinder may be a maiden, she may have been blessed by Salem herself, but she will never not be human. She is prone to mistakes, to emotions, just like everyone else. Just like you and me. We can't beat her alone, but together," Ozpin held up a fist. "She can be overwhelmed, and defeated."

Orchid smiled, agreeing with her former headmaster.

"Yes. I know we can do it, I think I just needed someone to tell me that it was possible after all."

Everything was in place.

Cinder Fall sat wondering on the top of Haven's tallest tower. It was empty now, thanks to Lionhearts efforts to make sure every single capable huntsman was in the city helping the efforts in training up Mistral's first standing military since the end of the Great War. She had to hand it to them, such a big political move like that was not something she expected of the once trade-focused kingdom. Mistral always had its huntsman and huntresses, but soldiers were abolished here for a reason. Before the Great War, Mistral's military was the most corrupt. It's officers openly taking bribes to look the other way and then committing the same crimes themselves once they realized that the law did not apply to them the same way as any normal Mistralian citizen. Even the enlisted got big heads, and the only thing that the military was good for was providing a last layer of defense to a Grimm invasion that they didn't know would never come. Then the war happened, and their ally in Atlas had to carry them through the war almost every step of the way as they could barely stand against Vale alone. After the war ended in defeat, and a council put in place, Mistral abolished its military for a more culutarly acceptable small army of quality hunters. It was still a breeding ground for crime and schemes, but much more tame than it ever was before.

Now it was louder than it had any right to be. Cinder could scarce go a night without a loud bang or the distant sound of constant chatter reaching her ears. But as much as she disliked it, it provided the perfect cover for her to slip right into the heart of Mistral and all the way to Haven. Lionheart called her a special guest, and hired huntsman and paid them not to pay any heed to anything suspicious about her. All she had to do was cover her Grimm parts with her clothing and a mask, comb her hair over one part of her hair, and play the human woman that she hated to be. That was the last part of her plan that needed to be put in place. Salem made it very well known that she wouldn't be helping her a second time, and so she was on her own this time. Well, not completely alone when it came to Hazel, Tyrian, and Watts. But Watts was on his way to Atlas already, Hazel on his way to her, and Tyrian still lost in the woods in the game that Salem sent him blindly playing. The only one that could stop her at this point was still missing, lost in the woods, and hopefully presumed dead. Though Cinder knew better than to hope for something so vein. Little Kai Matsuoka wouldn't go down so easily, if everything he has managed to accomplish so far had anything to say about it. Ozpin was dead, his reincarnation probably somewhere across the world, and the Spring Maiden was vulnerable. She couldn't attack yet, however. She couldn't risk a failed assassination attempt, one mistake and all that was in Haven still would come crashing down on her head. She couldn't forget the main goal; acquire the Relic of Knowledge, and then return to Vale and give it to Salem. The only other option was shame, and punishment.

She sat down, looking over Haven, and further out over to Mistral, her eyes wandering from one landmark to another. She morbidly thought about what the city would look like on fire and under siege and sacked by Grimm. Would it look the same as Vale did? Buildings crumbling, ghost towns every which way, the smell and sound of silent death. She sighed out of boredom, dashing the thought aside.

She wondered, how could she be bored with this? She was getting everything she wanted. The world feared her name, she was getting stronger and stronger with each passing feat and she was even starting to get minions of her own already. Mercury, Emerald, Lionheart, soon enough she would deign to let herself recruit more, but none of them could be female. Emerald was the acception, but she didn't want any future female protoge getting any ideas about taking what was hers. Yet even that thought didn't arise any excitement. She blamed it on the fact that she had to wait on Adam and his forces to sneak into Mistral before commencing the attack. A small task force was on the way and would be there in just a few days, Adam told her over the scroll yesterday. The fact that Adam was coming himself just went to show the tight hold that she had over everything. Was things going too well? She ought to wait for Little Kai to arrive, maybe then some actual challenge would surely finally come to her. Cinder had put aside her hate for him long enough that she had now begun to respect his constant defiances. From what Hazel had told her about Tyrian and what he has been doing, she may even be able to call him an extremely reluctant ally one day. If only Salem had told her about that before she tried to kill him several times over. Hm, she should have let the little sister survive, that way if Kai did fall to some tragic accident, there would still be someone Salem could claim to be her heir. She was jealous, she had to admit to herself in certain privacy. She wanted to be the heir, she had already received the blessing, but perhaps Salem was right in saying that she had no concept of what family could mean to a person. Although any family that used to exist for her had long since been dead to her, she could at least understand the feeling of caring for someone.

Maybe that was what it was. Caring? Positive emotion has been easier to grasp on to now that she has been learning to control the Grimm energy inside of her due to her recovered limb and eye, but it was never a strong suit of hers. What drove Salem now was care, she had a goal, a destiny of her own to achieve. Ah… there it was.

"I've gotten what I've wanted already, for the most part." Cinder said, smiling to herself at the realization. "I have power, I have strength, I have presence and I have terror. Nothing can stop me, not Ozpin, not other maidens, not even you, Little Kai." She laughed softly. If there was nothing else for her to reach to, than she just had to aim higher. Yes, that was it, she was bored because she had become too content with herself, too content with what Salem was telling her to do. She respected the Grimm Queen of Darkness, and would never place herself above her, but that didn't mean that she couldn't match her. Grow an army of her own, have subordinates, become not a Queen, but perhaps a Duchess of her own accord. Vale seemed to be open for annexation. She would have to ask permission from Salem first, but how could she say no? She had beaten Mistral during one of their precious Vytal Festival Tournaments, taken the power of the Fall Maiden for herself as was commanded of her, killed Malikai, lost an eye and an arm for her, accepted her blessing and went on to kill Ozpin and destroy Vale and Beacon. Asking for what was left couldn't have been too much to ask. Sure, Salem had made a seat for herself in Beacon's tower, but everyone knew that seat was just temporary. Salem would go flying back to the Grimmlands to secure the Relic of Knowledge. And after that, she would just wait for Cinder to do more of her work for her.

She liked the idea, bathed in it. Power not borrowed or stolen, but grown and made stronger of her own volition. It would be a different kind of satisfaction, she thought. A different kind of conquest that she can truly call her own. Something like this had to come with a lot of work, but she was never one to shy away from challenges. Well, unless she was specifically ordered not to from Salem herself. It would be a shame if she did say no, she would never be able to force her or break away from her for that matter. Salem's mark on her could never be removed. The only way it could was for her to die. That meant that she would aways be inferior to Salem, and if by some terrible outcome she went crazy enough to direct challenge her, Salem could use that mark to literally destroy her soul, rendering her body a husk without anything to control it. The worst thought she had about such an end was that she might still yet be alive, at least physically, but forever a mindless thrall under Salem's control. No better than the Grimm. Kai once vowed to treat her as if she was nothing more than a creature of the Grimm, did he not? She laughed, wondering what he'd do seeing her as an actual Grimm whose only two reasons to live was to obey and to destroy.

It won't come to that. Never. Cinder would play her part as long as Salem needed her to, and then she would be free to pursue her own goals. Even if Salem told her no soon, that didn't mean that she wouldn't entertain the idea some short years down the line. Everything boiled down to time and patience, two things that never seemed to go hand in hand with her. She liked to be fast, to get everything done in the blink of an eye and before her enemies could find out what it was she was doing. It worked remarkably well these past few years, and now she had to sit here and wait for the action to come to her for once.

She would be ready for it. Ready for everything that came after as well. Her next destiny awaited her, and she could only reach for it after completing one final goal.

I think I am starting to like shorter chapters better. Its easier to write, and I feel that the quality is better than if I were to sit here for three extra hours writing another 4k words. Also, Hi! I am back again, I graduated from basic training last week and now I am an official US Army Military Police Officer. Took a lot of work, and at times literal blood, sweat, and tears but here I am. That goes to show that no matter what, if you put your mind to it, you can do anything.

I'll return to my other stories soon enough. Kinda chilling and enjoying normal life again. Well, as normal as it could be Lol.