Yo!
Welcome back to Grimm's Evolution. It's been a while, but what can I say? Life has been keeping me busy. Anyway, I have an interlude chapter for you today. Something to shine some light on what happened after the last chapter and explain a few things going forward. I am mostly happy with this chapter, although Neo's pov is a bit underwhelming.
With that said please enjoy and remember to check out the AN below the chapter. I have a few things to say.
Chapter 26. Interlude - After the Strom
"Qrow, I need you to come to Beacon, now. It's about Taiyang and Summer. Take the girls with you if you must. A Bullhead is already waiting for you in the village."
It was a short message. Qrow didn't even get a word in before Ozpin disconnected the call and left the Branwen standing like an idiot in the middle of his temporary bedroom. Yet, when the whole message finally registered in Qrow's mind, he knew he had to act.
Ozpin just didn't call anyone like that. And even when he did, the headmaster's tone was usually soft and welcoming. Well, not this time. Remembering the steeliness and the lack of emotions in Ozpin's voice, flared every possible alarm in Qrow's head.
As such, he flew out of his room to find Roby and Yang. It wasn't easy to explain to the two girls what was happening, but with some bribing, everything was possible. Then he just had to drop the kids at Carmen's and once again explain what was happening, which, in hindsight, wasn't too easy.
After all, Qrow still had no clue what was going on, and he didn't want to ponder on Ozpin's massage too much. Overthinking things had never led to anything good; his sister was a perfect example of that...
Even then, as Qrow sat in the Bullhead, his knee jumping constantly and fingers tapping on the armrest, he couldn't stop his thoughts from straying. He knew the danger that came with being a huntsman, but Tai and Summer were veterans, some of the strongest in their generation. There was no way a simple reconnaissance mission could prove problematic for them.
They must have found something. Qrow took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Yes, that must be it. Probably found Umbra or something similar...
Nonetheless, when the Bullhead settled down, and the exit opened with a hiss, Qrow didn't wait for a second. Aura settled against his body as he dashed through Beacon's courtyard. Eyes followed him from every side, yet Qrow paid them no mind. Hell, he didn't even stop when some students blocked his path, choosing to jump above them all.
Qrow's heart threatened to burst out of his chest as he sped through the various corridors of Beacon Academy. Just when his eyes fell on the lift leading to his destination, a hand snatched his arm tightly.
He reeled back, barely catching himself from falling to the floor. As soon as the world around stopped spinning, Qrow spun around, ready to kill the intruder with his glare alone.
"Qrow," a stern feminine voice called out sharply. Suddenly, all the fight left Qrow's body when his gaze connected with Glynda's green eyes. The woman nodded and let her hand fall. "Keep quiet and follow me."
Qrow opened his mouth, ready to ask questions, but stopped midway and followed the woman with a sigh. He knew better than to argue with Blondie; besides, he was overreacting, just like he had promised not to.
Thankfully, they didn't have to walk far. They stepped into Glynda's cozy office, and Qrow quickly dropped into one of the chairs standing by the blonde woman's desk.
When the noise from the hallways suddenly died out, Qrow glanced at Glynda, who, for some reason, was still standing by the door.
"What is going on, Glynda? Why did Ozpin call? Where are Summer and Tai?" Qrow shot out, the silence almost killing him.
Glynda sighed heavily, heels clicking as she collapsed into her seat on the other side. "Just wait, Qrow. Please," she spoke softly, and he finally noticed the dark bags under her eyes. "Ozpin will be here in a minute."
The Brawnen gulped. "Wh..."
"Qrow, please," Glynda's voice rose, yet he couldn't miss its defeated tone. It was just so unlike the strong and stern woman he had known for years.
Almost crushing the armrests in the grip, Qrow nodded, teeth clenching. If he had been worried before, now he was downright terrified. Not much could move Glynda, and to see her like that... Please, let me be wrong just once. Please.
Every single second felt like an hour as the two sat in silence. Qrow kept his gaze glued on his knees, fearing what he would do if he let his mind wander again.
The door then clicked open, and Ozpin walked in, his posture almost slouched. Gone was his usual small smile and a cup in his hand. Right now, the headmaster looked like he had aged twenty years since Qrow had last seen him.
"Qrow," Ozpin nodded, his tone not dissimilar to that of Glynda's.
The Branwen took a deep breath, the twisting in his stomach worsening with each second. "Ozpin. What's going on?" he asked, meeting the headmaster's gaze. When silence met his question, Qrow snarled. "For fuck sake! Say something!"
Glynda almost rose to her feet, but a single hand from Ozpin stopped her. "Forgive me," the headmaster whispered. "The last twenty-four hours have been exhausting, and I fear this conversation and the following one won't make it any better."
Slowly, Ozpin sat down, shaking his head. "Yesterday, sometime after the explosion in Forever Fall Forest, I received information about a dragon Grimm flying above Ironforge. With its new destination easy to predict, I informed one of the standby teams along with Summer and Taiyang about it."
"They all flew towards Vytal. The team was about two hours behind Summer and Taiyang. As such, they were supposed to scout ahead and then wait." The headmaster sighed, slumping just a bit in his seat. "Of course, something had to go wrong."
A pit formed in Qrow's stomach as Ozpin continued.
"When the standby team arrived at Summer's and Taiyang's last know location, at first, they only found an empty Bullhead. Not long after, they came upon a vast plain where the remains of Merlot's base and a massive crater were waiting for them."
Ozpin took out his scroll and, after a moment, passed it to Qrow. The Brawnen took it carefully, eyes widening as his gaze landed on the displayed picture.
The crater was more than massive; for a second, Qrow had to wonder what possessed the power to pull this off. Especially considering the perfectly smooth edges, almost like someone made them with a precision laser.
Handing back the scroll, Qrow met Ozpin's gaze. "What about Summer and Tai?"
"We are not sure," the headmaster's head fell. "The team couldn't find them, not even their scroll's signals. Qrow, we fear..."
Bile rose in Qrow's throat as he jumped to his feet, the armrests of his chair exploding in a shower of splinters. "Don't say it," Qrow growled, a tear sliding down his cheek. "They can still be out there! No explosion could ki... take down Tai and Summer!"
Glynda rose again, freezing Qrow just before his fist could descend on the desk. "Qrow, stop and listen! Ozpin wasn't finished. Yes, we fear the worst, who doesn't in those situations, but we don't have the whole story. At least not until we talk with Neo."
Qrow gulped, his throat burning. He knew Glynda was right. Hell, this wasn't the first time he lost someone. However, Qrow just couldn't stomach the thought of Summer and Taiyang disappearing... They and the girls were all he had, his family.
Falling onto the damaged seat, Qrow let his head collapse into his hands. So much for not overreacting...
"Neo? Who is she?" he whispered. "What does a random person have to do with this?"
"Everything, Qrow. Everything," Ozpin spoke up again. "They found her not far from the crater. Lying against a Grimm wyvern twice her size. From the few sentences she shared with us, we hope that she will be able to tell us what exactly happened there."
Qrow's head rose. "Wait. A girl? With a Grimm that didn't kill her?"
Ozpin nodded. "We don't know how that is possible, much less how she commanded the Grimm to leave when our team found them. Neo is mute, and she can communicate only with the help of a scroll, which makes this situation even stranger."
Pet Grimm, Merlot's base, dragon. If that's a coincidence, then this world is really stopping to make sense. Qrow shook his head. "Where is she? I need to know."
"She is waiting with Peter in the tower. That's why Ozpin called you. We want you to be here when we speak with her. Until now, we have given Neo some time to rest. Whatever happened there didn't leave her unscathed. At least not mentally," Glynda explained.
Qrow nodded, not surprised at all. If his theory was correct, the girl had also lost someone in that crater. Please let me be wrong. Please.
Fists clenching, Qrow gave two other two a look. "Let's go then."
Everything was blurry after the explosion. Neo collapsed and cried probably for hours on no end, with Bob's whines accompanying her every sob. She really didn't know what else to do.
Umbra was everything to her. He saved her, gave her a new home, trained her, and finally, became the family she always wanted. They were a stranger pair, unnatural, but Neo didn't care as long as he didn't leave her.
Yet, that was precisely what happened.
Neo wanted to be angry at Umbra. Mad that he had broken a promise after barely making it. Yet, she just couldn't. Not when the grief of losing her brother muted everything else. First, her voice, now her emotions.
She barely noticed when a team of four huntsmen approached her, ready to kill Bob and take her away.
Not ready to lose the last link to Umbra, Neo somehow managed to send Bob away. She just hoped the small wyvern would hide in the mountains until she could return.
From there, Neo didn't really pay attention to what was happening. She had no strength left to argue when the huntsmen transported her to Beacon Academy. Neo had given them a few answers when they wouldn't stop bothering her, but apart from that, she didn't care to do anything else.
Everything was numb, and Neo didn't know how to handle it. At least, that was until a particular memory about Bob surfaced in her mind.
Umbra hummed, his eyes darting from left to right as if he was reading something. "Bob is connected to me on a level even I don't understand. If I die, he will probably die too. The same should happen if I released him from my control. But why would I do that, Neo?"
'If I die, he will probably die too.' A simple sentence, yet one that meant much more than any other. It somehow broke through the haze in Neo's mind and gave her the hope she needed. Bob didn't die, so Umbra has to be alive. He has to. Please.
At that moment, Neo vowed to do everything in her power to find her brother. And that was the only reason why she agreed to come to this tower, to recount what had happened yesterday.
"Neo," the grey-haired man with a cane spoke as he entered the massive office with two others. "This is Glynda Goodwitch and Qrow Branwen. Both of them are heavily involved with yesterday's events. I hope you are okay with them joining us."
Neo glanced at the two in question and gave them a slight nod. One look was all it took to understand how involved they were. The man didn't even try to hide the pain in his eyes, and Neo was more than familiar with it.
"Thank you," Ozpin said, taking a seat behind his desk, the other two following behind. "There is a lot we want to ask you, child, but we won't push. If you don't want to answer, you don't have to. However, please consider that what happened yesterday affected a family that all three of us care for deeply. We really need to know what happened to the Huntsman and Huntress you saw."
Neo gulped and nodded. She reached for her scroll and quickly found the one thing that could explain their question better than anything Neo could say. She tapped the screen one last time and then slid the scroll across the desk.
The dark-haired man snatched the device, his eyes widening. "A recording..." he muttered, his gaze snapping to Neo. "You recorded it?"
Neo nodded again.
Back then, she thought it would be a pleasant surprise for Umbra, a memory for them to remember how he beat a powerful Grimm. Now, this recording was nothing more than a nightmare, something she wanted to banish from her mind.
The three adults didn't speak much as the video started to play. Occasional gasp or a curse left their mouths, but apart from that, they didn't say a thing.
Everything played out in front of their eyes, from Umbra's one-on-one fight with the winged serpent to the arrival of the two humans. Finally, the Huntsman's death came, followed by the silver explosion.
Neo risked a glance at the trio but quickly averted her gaze when she spotted tears freely falling from the woman's and the younger man's eyes.
"I... I apologize," Qrow stuttered, and Neo saw him stumbling towards the lift after he dropped her scroll on the table.
Turning around, Neo took the device. She stopped the video, which could go for another hour, showing nothing but darkness. Now came the hard part.
"I'm sorry for your loss. If it weren't for that Huntsman, Umbra and I might have died, but now there is still a chance. Both for Umbra and that woman." The synthetic voice of text-to-speech filled the room.
The two adults immediately snapped their heads towards Neo, eyes somewhat wide. "You think that Umbra and Summer might still live?" Ozpins asked as the blond woman wiped the tears from her face.
Neo nodded reluctantly. She didn't want to reveal anything about Umbra's abilities, but she needed their help. "Umbra once told me that if he dies, Bob will die with him due to their connection. And as you two know, Bob, the wyvern Grimm with me, is still alive."
A heavy silence descended on the room, and Neo shuffled in her seat as two pairs of eyes stared at her almost unblinkingly.
Just when she wanted to write another message, anything to break the silence, the woman spoke softly. "Are you sure? This is really important, Neo."
The girl scowled, typing furiously. "Neither Umbra nor I had a reason to lie about it. I want to find my brother, and this is my only hope. Please, you have to believe me."
Those people had the resources, contacts, and strength that Neo lacked. If she had to swallow her pride and beg, then so be it — anything to find Umbra.
A sigh from the older man brought her back to reality. "I have seen a lot of incredible things during my life. A bond between a Grimm and another sentient being might not be one of them, but it is not out of the realm of possibility. Especially not with what we had experienced in the last few weeks. We believe you, Neo, and I hope we can help each other."
The weight resting on Neo's shoulders disappeared when the man gave her a small smile. She didn't know how long it would take, but at least now she had some allies with the same goal as her.
I will find you, Umbra. I promise
"I thought I would find you here."
Qrow snorted, kicking yet another rock off the cliff overlooking the vast Emerald Forest. "Good for you, but I would rather have some time to myself. I thought you could understand as much."
Ozpin stopped next to him, his gaze glued to the forest. "I do. Probably better than anyone else."
"Then why are you here? I really don't have the strength for small talk. I lost the only family I had, Ozpin! Do you fucking understand?" Qrow shouted, chest heaving.
The headmaster sighed before looking him straight in the eyes. "Taiyang is dead, Qrow. Mourn him, grieve, but don't let it consume you. Ruby and Yang still need you. Summer needs you. Don't fail them, don't fail like I did many times before."
Qrow froze, his mind repeating Ozpin's words over and over again. "Summer?" He choked out. "She is dead, Oz. You have seen it with your own eyes."
"Seen her disappear in a blast of silver? Yes, I did. As for her death?" Ozpin shook his head. "That wasn't on the video. And with what young Neo has told me, I think I know what happened during the release of silver eyes."
What the hell is he talking about? Qrow furrowed his brow but didn't say anything as Ozpin explained what the girl told them after he left the office.
"Then where is she?" Qrow almost screamed, the events of today becoming slightly too much.
"My dear friend, you are asking the wrong question," Ozpin smiled just a bit. "Not where, but when."
Qrow blinked. Silver eyes and Summer's semblance. Whatever bullshit powers Umbra possesses and the massive Grimm they fought.
Timetravel.
And that's it.
Thank you all for reading. Now I have a few things to address.
1. Opt-in for email notifications - Apparently, FFN decided to disable this option by default, so you need to enable it if you want to get notifications about any updates via email. Please do that and remember that this option is refreshed every 6 months, from what I have been told.
2. More updates - My life is a lot calmer than it was in the last few months, so you will probably start seeing more updates from me. We will find out in the future.
3. My original story - For all lovers of Gamer systems, post-apo, and evolutions, you can check out my original story on Royal Road. It is called "A Universe of Bloody Evolution".
4. Check out my linktree. You can find everything there, including discord.
Anyway, have a great day/night, everyone, and Merry Christmas.
Linktree: linktr. ee/Chaos65 (Delete the space)
PS: You can fidn me on the Emeral Library discord server: discord. gg/elibrary