The distinct lack of a Zeus to zap him out of the sky had not particularly eased Percy's nerves. Logically, he knew that the risk of anything happening on a plane was next to zero without divine intervention, but for the entire flight his hair stood up and goosebumps covered his body regardless of his brain knowing it was entirely illogical.
For the first hour or so Qrow had been in the bathroom, although judging from the occasional muffled conversation he heard he guessed that he wasn't actually on the toilet the entire time; he doubted Qrow had gone to the bathroom at all.
After about an hour, Qrow exited the bathroom, one hand still placing his scroll back in his pocket as the other was opening the door. He slowly made his way over to Percy, walking with a wide and slow stride, before sitting down.
"Alright, green-eyes, just got off the phone with Ozpin. Here's the plan." Qrow took a swig from a flask, and a deep breath. "You, somehow, are already good enough with a sword to beat the average student at Beacon. Unfortunately, you're probably not up to snuff enough with what you know about history and the grimm, because you haven't spent years learning like all the other applicants have."
Percy looked down at his feet, then back up at Qrow. "Yeah, I figured that was going to be an issue."
"However," Qrow spoke again before he could go any further, "We could get you set up with an apartment in Vale for the next few months until the school year starts, and he's willing to personally set up a curriculum that should get you caught up. I'd be delivering some books to you, and testing you on your reading every week or every other week."
Well, the only obstacle to that would be his dyslexia, but in time Percy hoped he could overcome it. He looked at Qrow and nodded. "You said you guys would be giving me an apartment?"
"Yeah, Oz will get one sorted out, and you'll get a budget of some lien for food and whatever else you want to do while you're in Vale."
Oh. That meant he might have free time, time to get settled in and really… understand this world. Maybe he'd also be able to find Riptide—or he could just show Qrow now. It might make him slightly more suspicious, but if he just claimed it was a family heirloom, he doubted it would amount to anything.
"Well before we go any further, Qrow, I figured I should let you know I already have a sword."
Qrow glanced over. "Oh, yeah? Where is it then?"
Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out Riptide, and flicked the cap off the pen. It transformed in his hand, the familiar feel of the hilt one of the only consistencies left in his life. "Here."
Qrow barked out a laugh. "Oh, that's a nice one. Where'd you find something like that?"
"Family heirloom."
Qrow raised an eyebrow. "Really? You sure you didn't nab this from those rich assholes you worked for?" A moment passed in awkward silence, as Percy debated whether to confirm or deny his accusation, before Qrow continued. "Even if you did, it's no skin off their back, and no skin off mine."
Percy let out a sigh of relief and nodded. "Thanks. Now, when we set down do you wanna give a spar a go?"
Qrow laughed again. "I like you, kid. We can get to a park in the city and destroy some grass if you really want."
Percy eyed the enormous sword on his back and snorted. "Yeah, with something like that I'm sure you'll cause a lot of collateral damage."
Qrow patted him on the back, and they settled into a comfortable silence as the bullhead continued through the sky.
As they walked into a surprisingly empty park near the edge of the walls surrounding Vale, Percy brought Riptide out and uncapped it. Qrow responded by grabbing his sword off his back, and taking a combat stance.
"Alright, green-eyes, let's see what you've got!" Qrow didn't wait to start the fight after that, immediately rushing towards him and unleashing a flurry of blows, all parried or blocked by Percy. The force put into them was immense, almost as powerful as the attacks from Pyrrha that he couldn't block, but having his Aura unlocked had noticeably improved his strength.
He waited for Qrow's attack to run out of steam, and turned the tides on him, unleashing a flurry of his own. He could feel the power from his Aura helping him, and as he attacked the world seemed to slow down—he noticed that Qrow's defenses had a consistent but small weakness which left about an inch uncovered around his ankles—and feinted for Qrow's torso before driving his sword down, scoring a hit on the huntsman.
The world sped back up, and he pressed his advantage, almost scoring another hit, when Qrow seemed to have had enough.
His sword transformed into a scythe, and he sprung forward, driving Percy back the other way. The man was almost as good as Kronos with the scythe, and if he didn't have experience fighting against a scythe-wielder Qrow might've stood a chance.
Unfortunately for Qrow, however, Percy did have that experience. As he fell back, and allowed Qrow to continue attacking, Percy recognized the exact pattern of attack he was using—gunshots rang through the air, emanating from Qrow's scythe which had transformed into a shotgun.
He somehow intercepted three of the shots, but two painful bullets hit him in the shoulder, and Qrow returned to having a scythe and picked up his offensive. Percy decided to gamble on the first strike, stepping forward into it and catching Qrow's scythe on the inside of its blade.
As Qrow made to reverse his scythe and free it, Percy pulled against Qrow, and just barely got the handle in range for his waiting left hand. He grabbed the scythe, and the battle turned into a tug of war which Qrow quickly decided was useless, letting go of the scythe and moving forward to engage him in hand-to-hand combat.
Percy dropped Riptide and obliged, but it became clear quite quickly that Qrow had the upper hand in an unarmed melee. For every blow Percy landed, the elder huntsman landed two or three, and after a minute of this Percy stepped back.
"Alright, you win the fistfight, old man!" Percy exclaimed, sighing immediately afterwards.
Qrow smirked before his face grew more serious. "You're damn good with that sword of yours, and disarmed me mid-attack. I don't know what in the gods names you've been doing with your time, but you rival any swordsman I've fought." He paused. "However, you're only above average at throwing hands; I might be willing to work with you on that occasionally."
Percy nodded. "Sounds good to me, I just wanted to avoid getting pummeled any more." He thought for a moment. "Y'know, I smelled alcohol in that flask of yours earlier… you get into bar fights?"
Qrow snorted. "Perhaps."
Their conversation continued as they tried in vain to fix the grass and dirt they had splayed everywhere with their spar before they began walking towards the center of Vale. Qrow took the lead as they got closer, leading him through several side streets before coming up on a relatively drab apartment building.
They took the elevator up to the third floor, and as Percy followed behind Qrow the huntsman turned and tossed a key at him.
"Room 311, down the hall on the right." Percy nodded, taking the lead and marching towards his apartment. As they entered, Percy noticed it was a relatively small space, with one bedroom, one bathroom, and a joint kitchen/living room. Nothing he wasn't used to, though.
"Alright, kid," Qrow started, "You'll find some basic clothes in the bedroom, and Professor Ozpin decided to be generous and give you 50,000 lien for the months before school. Should cover the basics, and allow you to get some better gear. Obviously you've got the sword, but take a look around for a shield or a secondary weapon."
That was… generous. "That's… more money than I've ever had, truthfully. Thanks. I appreciate it."
Qrow snorted. "You're thanking me now, just wait until you see the amount you've got to read." Qrow walked into the kitchen and opened up one of the cabinets. Inside, there were at least twelve textbooks. "Alright, so I'll need this one done in a week, and you'll need to read the first five chapters of this one…"
Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon, sipped coffee from his office located on the highest floor of Beacon Tower, the tallest building on campus. As he set down his cup on his desk he heard the elevator on the far side of the room ding, and as the doors opened he spotted a familiar black-haired, red-eyed friend of his, Qrow.
"So, what are your first impressions of the boy?" Ozpin inquired.
"Nuts. He outfought me, sword to scythe, and only lost when we went hand-to-hand." Qrow took a sip from his flask, approaching the desk. "That's not just raw talent, Oz. He has experience fighting, and experience against scythe-wielders, at that." he paused for a moment before continuing.
The gray-haired man sighed. "Well, as far as I can tell his records indicate a lifetime of domestic servitude at the top of Mistral. Even her agents can't infiltrate the government of Mistral, and I haven't been able to make inroads either." Ozpin stood, grabbing his cane. "We'll have to keep an eye on him when he comes to Beacon." Ozpin started walking towards the elevator on the far side of the room.
Qrow moved to follow, elaborating as he did. "Alright. He seems like a good kid. I wasn't able to tell anything else yet, so I'll keep an eye on him on my visits. Report to you about him, the whole thing. Should help when you need to sort them into teams."
"I appreciate it, Qrow."
Percy took a couple days to shop and get a feel for the kingdom of Vale. Frankly, it felt quite similar to America, with the center of the kingdom being a New York of sorts, and the countryside around protected from Grimm attacks by the walls manned on the outskirts of the city.
He'd acquired some new clothing, going mostly for a set of semi-formal looks, albeit with some T-shirts and shorts purchased for when summer came in a few months and he needed to stay cool.
There were also some pretty nice weapons shops—he had found a nice shield, a bit smaller than Pyrrha's, which could compact itself down into a watch, similar to the one Tyson had given him those years ago…
Shaking that thought from his head, he had also picked up a pistol and a holster to carry on his left side. While the shield would be preferable in any close combat, and sometimes at range, the utility a gun represented wasn't something he was willing to pass up.
After those two days Percy had thrown himself into the reading, which turned out to be much easier than expected. Somehow, the bulk of his dyslexia had disappeared. It still occasionally acted up when he read newer words, but as he continued even that issue slowly disappeared.
Finally, after a week, Qrow showed back up at the door. After Percy let him in, they both sat down at the table. Qrow reached inside his jacket, and grabbed a packet of three papers.
He slapped the packet down in front of him, and placed a pencil on top. "Alright, green-eyes, if you've been reading this should be a piece of cake." Percy grabbed the pencil, looking at the test for a moment before beginning. It was mostly multiple choice, on basic Grimm identification and on fairy tales, which had been a focus of the first week's readings for whatever reason.
Percy finished it in five minutes flat, setting down the pencil and sliding the papers across the table. "Alright, old man, how'd I do?"
Qrow flipped through the pages before handing him back the paper. "Nice. You've got 'em all right." The older man paused for a moment before continuing. "By chance, what held you back from attending a combat school? You've obviously got the talent for it, and you're no academic slouch either."
"Well," Percy began, "Until recently, when my Aura was unlocked, I had dyslexia. Once it was unlocked, that went away."
Qrow put a hand on his chin. "Hm… I've spoken to a few huntsmen and huntresses with dyslexia, and they reported something similar. I'm not sure exactly how that works, but I certainly don't think you'll be complaining."
With that, Qrow stood up. "Well, I've got other business to go sort out. I'll leave you to it, green-eyes." Percy watched as Qrow walked towards the door, exiting and closing it, before getting up himself and walking over to his kitchen window and looking outside.
Qrow was certainly a character, but he was pleasant enough to be around, answered questions, and was a damn good swordsman. The only downside seemed to be how often he was downing drinks, but he did seem to be well in control of himself regardless, unlike his former step-father…
Speaking of Earth… he grabbed the windowsill, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. There was no chance of seeing them again… and that wasn't even because he came to Remnant. He'd made that decision at the Doors—he had to grieve the loss, at least a bit. To remember the good times, and hope they had succeeded.
All the loss, going back to the Titan War… he had to keep moving. Keep studying. Maybe he should take a trip outside of the walls of Vale, see if he could fight some Grimm. He already knew basic identification, and fighting monsters between the wars had always been good at getting stuff off his mind.
Percy turned from the window, grabbing his keys and quietly exiting the apartment, rapidly descending through the stairwell and setting off at a brisk pace from the building towards the walls.
Fighting Grimm had been quite therapeutic. He had come across some lesser Grimm, with the largest being a few beowolves. All were easily dispatched by Riptide, and he had gotten some target practice in with his pistol, although it still felt a bit unnatural.
That reminded him, he needed to name his pistol and shield. He'd think of something at some point…for the moment, he didn't have anything particularly compelling.
Regardless, he wouldn't be having any problems with most Grimm. Nevermores might be annoying if they stayed high up, because his gap-close wouldn't be ideal unless he exercised control over the weather. Speaking of his powers…
During his time working as a servant, Percy had given them some thought. Frankly, as far as he had seen about semblances in his readings, they tended to be rather minor, weak compared to the power he could exercise over the ocean and earth. It would be prudent, for the moment at least, to keep it secret. If he ever found himself needing to win a fight…
He'd have an ace up his sleeve.
A/N: I think this chapter was a bit awkward, honestly, but it's necessary for the progression of the plot I'm looking for, and hope you guys enjoyed it. As for why Pyrrha was able to beat Percy, I think it's a bit clearer with the description of his Aura being unlocked—as far as I could tell, in RWBY Aura provided a significant strength boost, which helps, especially because Pyrrha was shown to be exceptionally strong physically in the show as well. Using Riptide would've been too suspicious at that point—supposedly random dude getting a good sword? Bad idea. But Qrow is unscrupulous enough to let it slide, and Percy is able to read enough of that to let Qrow come to his own conclusions.
Until next Tuesday,
KoP