"The common enemy unites us, while the positive values each of us are defending actually divides us. Therefore, we should emphasize what we oppose."
- Alexander Dugin
If Percy hadn't been clear about how much he detested formality, he was confident the way he showed up in Vale clarified his stance on the issue.
One of the three ships came in to moor at Vale's docks once they'd arrived, taking an aggravatingly long time to be processed despite the fact that he'd made sure Vale's council was aware of his arrival before he'd even set off. Ordinarily there might be a large procession of bands, goose-stepping soldiers, politicians, and flags when the head of a foreign kingdom officially visited Vale. At the very least, a large column of neatly marching soldiers preceding him was to be expected, and then he'd stroll out through an armed procession of royal guards wearing flowery robes of expensive silk.
Instead, Percy stood on the prow of the ship as it came in to dock. He wore jeans, combat boots, a t-shirt, and a light jacket to buffer the winds on the open ocean. Once the ship was close enough that they'd pretty much slowed to a stop, Percy casually hopped down the dozen-odd feet from the deck of the ship to the large concrete pier it would soon be moored against.
"Sup, Qrow." Percy rose to his feet, shooting the man a grin even as he nodded to the council members standing beside him. There was no media there, he was glad to see. He'd contacted Alfred — the chairman, that was — ahead of time and asked to keep things quiet. Normally that might've been for some shady reason or the other, but this time around it was just because he wasn't a fan of the attention.
"Perseus!" the chairman greeted loudly, but respectfully. Recalling what Shiro had told him before he left had Percy wincing — now that he was looking for it, he could definitely hear that the man was using it as both a name and a title.
"Alfred." Percy nodded to the man, accepting his hand to shake. A small procession of other council members came to shake his hand as well, but Percy didn't recognize a single one.
Qrow, who was standing just behind the group looking like he'd rather be anywhere but there, nodded to him once distractedly before he resumed staring at the ship Percy had come in on. The guns were covered with large canvas tarps — no need to scare anyone more than necessary — but even without its armament the large warship cut an intimidating sight.
He rolled his eyes and played nice with the council for a few minutes before he made his excuses and joined his oldest friend towards the shore end of the pier.
"See something you like?" Percy teased.
Qrow pulled his flask off his belt, upended it for several seconds, and then reholstered it with a cough.
"I am so not gonna be the one that has to explain this to Oz," he said eventually, turning from the ship and walking away.
Percy caught up with a laugh. "Don't worry, I was planning on it. It's half the reason I brought em'."
"And the other half?"
He shrugged. "Experience."
Qrow eyed a — relatively — small dent in the side of the hull with a shake of his head. Small for the hull, however, meant both Percy and Qrow could fit inside it with room to spare.
"Yeah, that tracks."
He could have dealt with all the Grimm himself if it came to it — they'd only been in deep waters for a day or so between the coasts of Anima and Sanus — but if there came a time when Percy wouldn't be there to protect them, he'd rather the crews have experience fighting off Grimm.
So he'd killed off the stronger ones that likely would've led to someone dying before they got to the surface, and let the ships deal with the others. Once or twice he'd had to interfere to stop the Grimm killing someone, but on the whole it had gone pretty well and his men were more experienced as a result.
"What's got you in a mood?" he asked to fill the silence on their walk. To the bullhead docks, he guessed.
Qrow rolled his eyes. "I'd gotten used to not having you around. I almost forgot your ability to nullify logic in the most aggravating way possible."
Percy snorted. "Well, get used to it. Only a couple months till I'll be here for the Vytal festival, and then you'll have to put up with me full time."
Qrow shot him a look. "You planning on coming yourself for Vytal?"
He shrugged. "The entire point is to encourage peace and cooperation between the kingdoms, right? I'm the best person for that."
Qrow shrugged back, but Percy figured he got his point.
"Either way, I won't be here for most of that," Qrow said. "I'm not usually in Vale, work means I spend most of my time in the frontier."
"You're here now," he pointed out.
"I had today off," he grunted, and Percy winced. So that was why he was in a mood.
"Sorry," Percy said, only half meaning it. He was sorry Qrow had to come fetch him when he was supposed to be off the clock, but it wasn't like Percy had requested him — or asked to be met with an escort in the first place.
"I didn't intend on visiting until tomorrow," Percy told the man to fill the silence. "We got here a day early, but I figured I could occupy myself in the city till then."
Qrow shot him a raised eyebrow. "Comin' for Ruby's birthday? Should've figured. Nah, old man wanted to invite you up to the tower before you were busy with the kiddos anyways."
Percy hummed. "Any idea what about?"
Qrow shrugged. "Beats me, bit above my head. But knowing you two, I'd be surprised if Beacon's still standing by the end of the day."
Percy rolled his eyes dramatically. He could admit he and Ozpin could get pretty testy verbally, but physically? Percy hadn't so much as sparred the man. Beacon would be fine.
Probably.
"Speaking of levelling Beacon." Percy grinned, earning a deadpan stare. "It's been too long since we had a spar. Care to brush off some dust after the meeting?"
Qrow didn't answer immediately, but when he did it was with a resigned sigh. "You know there'll be brats everywhere, right?"
Percy's grin widened. "Well I thought we'd just leg it into the wilderness and duke it out there, but now that you mention it…"
Qrow scowled. "You really are a pain in the ass."
"I'm not hearing a no."
"Like you'd let me live it down if I ever said no to a chance at kicking your ass." he rolled his eyes.
They arrived at the bullhead docks and hopped onto a bullhead that Qrow pointed out for him. Soon enough they'd arrived at Beacon in a companionable silence, Percy taking in the aesthetic of the stone towers.
"She's a beauty." Qrow noticed him looking as they stepped out of the bullhead, taking a quick swig of his flask.
Percy nodded, agreeing with the sentiment. "It reminds me of Atlantis a bit, to be honest."
Qrow shot him a blank stare.
Percy blinked, "What?"
"You're fucking with me." he deadpanned. "You aren't trying to convince me that not only does Atlantis exist and you've been to it, but that a school for huntsmen looks similar enough to remind you of it. The word gullible had to be redefined when Summer was born but she wouldn't have fallen for that shit."
Percy felt a laugh bubble to the surface, ignoring the namedrop of Qrow's dead teammate. "I'm serious!" he protested, quickening his pace to catch up with Qrow suddenly walking ahead. "It is real — my dad lives there."
Qrow walked faster.
"I mean sure Beacon reminding me of it is probably just me being a bit homesick, but there are enough similarities. The architecture of the central tower kind of looks like my dad's- oh come on!"
Qrow flipped him the bird — there was a joke in there somewhere — and continued onwards unabated.
Rolling his eyes, Percy relented. "But yes, I'll admit that Beacon is impressive."
Qrow dropped his hand and kept walking, but his pace slowed slightly.
"For mortals," Percy mumbled.
If Qrow heard him he didn't show it, and they walked the rest of the way to Ozpin's office in relative silence. He tried to keep his head down, but to reach the headmaster's office they had to walk through the entirety of the school, early in the evening when students filled the hallways.
Combined with his above average height even when compared to huntsmen and the fact that they were some of the only ones in the hallway not in a school uniform? Percy had managed to avoid the spotlight fairly well considering his station, but he hadn't done that good a job.
Students stopped and stared as they passed, starting with only a few before their friends noticed them staring and looked themselves.
The hush that descended over the hallways was gradual at first, but soon enough it was a rippling effect stretching far enough that entire corridors had gone silent before they'd even turned the corner.
Percy, while not used to this kind of reaction per se, had gotten better at ignoring the attention. It felt worse when people kneeled or bowed — then it felt like he was saying they weren't worth his attention instead of just trying to act normally, and he found himself thankful that nobody was doing that here.
Gods, he really hoped he hadn't just jinxed that.
Qrow, on the other hand, was the most uncomfortable Percy had ever seen him. The normally cocky huntsman's gaze flitted nervously, hands fidgeting by his sides.
Percy didn't bother hiding his smile.
The surprise was probably the only thing that saved them from being mobbed. It hadn't happened before, but usually crowds that caught him in public were too busy prostrating to rush him.
In Vale, he guessed he'd be treated far closer to a celebrity than a figure to worship, which meant the swarming and — hack — autographs that came with it. While he really wished that 'neither' was an option, that ship had sailed and he'd take what he could get.
Ozpin's assistant was waiting for them at the bottom of the elevator to his tower, the area being mostly — but not entirely — clear of students.
"Perseus," she greeted.
"Glynda, right?" he asked with a friendly smile, extending a hand for her to shake. They'd met on a small handful of occasions now, but he couldn't remember having shared more than a small handful of words. "Please, call me Percy."
"As you wish." she shook his hand rigidly, and stepped aside to gesture to the elevator. "If you would please, Headmaster Ozpin awaits."
Percy shared a quick glance with Qrow, who made an unreadable expression. Whatever it meant it wasn't a shrug, so Percy decided to interpret it as 'I'll tell you later'.
Ozpin was waiting for them when the elevator reached the top, greeting them from behind his desk with a tired smile. He wasn't alone, however, and Percy's eyes were immediately drawn to the man standing next to him.
"Perseus," Ozpin greeted, and Percy suppressed an eyeroll. "I believe you know my colleague, Leonardo Lionheart."
Percy spared a nod for the man, who nodded kindly back. He didn't have the best history with the former headmaster of Haven Academy. It mostly consisted of Lionheart being pressured into sending huntsmen after him until Ozpin intervened, and then Percy being 'pressured' into removing him from office once his corruption became apparent.
"Perseus," Lionheart greeted. "It's a pleasure to meet you again. There is no ill will on my end, I assure you of that. I understand you had to make many difficult decisions."
Percy hummed. "Likewise."
"Leo is a professor of Beacon." Ozpin stepped in. "He was offered a position here after his untimely departure from Haven. He has been a close ally of mine for many years, and I can guarantee his discretion." Ozpin said, inviting Percy to sit in one of the two chairs laid out before the desk.
Glynda went to stand beside the desk and Qrow ignored his chair entirely in favor of leaning up against the wall next to the elevator.
Uncomfortable with everyone else in the room remaining standing, Percy did the same.
Ozpin sighed, though did nothing more than take a seat himself.
"I asked to meet ahead of your visit so that we might discuss the threat that faces humanity," Ozpin said with a strained smile. "This room contains all of those within my employ who are aware of the greater conflict we find ourselves in. I trust each of them implicitly, and should you find I am unavailable I assure you each of them are capable of assisting you with whatever it is you may need."
Percy gave him a diminutive nod. Qrow stood against the back wall staring a hole into his flask, Lionheart avoided his eyes and shifted awkwardly near the corner of Ozpin's desk, and Glynda was glaring at the side of his head from the other end. Percy stood leaning against the back of one of the chairs Ozpin had provided, and Ozpin's smile strained
Awkward didn't even begin to describe the atmosphere.
Ozpin cleared his throat and forged ahead. "Regardless, I feel it is best for us all to work together, as has been done with those of considerable influence who were… aware in the past. Since we know what the true threat is, we can put our differences aside and work towards our common goal."
Percy raised an eyebrow. He was convinced Percy would ally with him against Salem? Why the sudden change?
Following Ozpin's gaze just slightly past his own, Percy found Qrow doing his best to look like he wasn't paying attention to the conversation.
Ah. Qrow had spoken up for him. That was… unexpected. Not unappreciated, but unexpected.
Turning back to Ozpin, Percy nodded his agreement. He had to admit he was weary around the old man, but if he was willing to treat with Salem it would be downright stupid to refuse to work with Ozpin, even assuming everything Cinder had told him was true.
In fact, Ozpin might not even be all that bad a guy. Sure he'd hidden behind humanity, using them as literal human shields if Cinder were to be believed — which he now cast in a heavy layer of doubt — but… well, Percy could understand. He'd known immortals, some of which he'd called friend. Some of which, he'd called family. The idea of living an eternity of being constantly hunted, without rest until you were finally tired enough to give in, die, and then wake up moments later in a much weaker body?
Well, eternity was eternity. Everyone would break eventually. Everyone had a limit. It didn't mean his actions were alright, or even all that forgivable, but they were understandable. And, just as understandable, was the desire to then protect humanity from what he'd subjected them to.
From that perspective, even if Cinder was telling the truth then Ozpin and he could be on the same side.
But wasn't it just as understandable to want to hunt him to the ends of the planet for murdering your children? Wasn't it just as understandable what Salem had done, in creating the Grimm?
He pursed his lips.
It didn't matter. Salem or Ozma, good or bad intentions, ally or enemy, the fact remained the Grimm themselves were a problem. Maybe he could stay out of this war between the two entirely, only seeking to limit the damage to innocents. Even beyond that, there was RWBY to think about. Whatever it was, Salem, Ozpin, and the Grimm played second fiddle. Even the relics were less of a priority — a sideshow.
He could decide what to do then, but not a moment before. Returning his attention to Ozpin, Percy nodded again. "I can agree to that. Humanity's survival comes first."
A relieved smile broke across Ozpin's face, and Lionheart relaxed slightly as well. Behind him, Percy could hear Qrow ever so slightly slouch against the wall.
"I'm relieved to hear that," the headmaster said, and Percy believed him if only because it couldn't have been more obvious if it were branded to his forehead.
"I'm glad we can clear the air between us as well," Percy said honestly. "I look forward to working with you in the future, Ozpin."
How much they'd be working together exactly remained to be seen, but at the very least he certainly didn't intend on acting against the man.
"And I you. I'm sure you're weary from your long journey, however, and would like to rest. I believe we can call it here, for today." Percy nodded, not missing the inferred promise of future meetings. Those would prove to be interesting, he was sure.
"I'll walk ya' back out," Qrow grunted, joining him in the elevator.
It was silent for the first few seconds, but Percy couldn't keep the knowing grin off his face.
"So… really went out on a limb for me back there, huh?"
Qrow scowled, trying — and failing — to put any heat behind it.
"Shut it, brat."
"I didn't know you cared about me so much," Percy lilted. "Something you wanna tell me?"
The elevator doors slid open several seconds later to the sight of Qrow attempting to grapple Percy, who bobbed and weaved out of his grip in the limited space while laughing like a madman.
Percy dodged backwards out of the elevator out of the way of Qrow's swipe, sweeping around the person nearest to the elevator and grabbing their shoulders to use as a human shield.
"Hey Ruby, your uncle's trying to kidnap me," he explained, ducking low to peak over the head of the much smaller girl.
"Eep!"
Said girl yelped at suddenly finding herself in someone's hands, and boisterous laughter from Percy's left told him her face had turned a bright red.
"Hey Yang." He waved.
Qrow let him escape with a scowl, snatching his flask and taking a swig. Because he'd been looking for it, Percy noticed the slight upward twitching of the man's lips.
"What are you squirts doing here," he grunted, releasing his flask to go back to hanging off his belt.
The girl Percy was holding perked up and wiggled out of his grip. "That's right! You two didn't tell us you were here!" she turned, rotating her pout from her uncle to Percy.
Gods, those eyes could kill. If he didn't know better he might've thought she was a dog Faunus.
"We only found out because everybody was talking about how they saw you." Yang chipped in helpfully. The grin she wore told him she knew exactly what she was doing.
Laughing nervously, Percy spotted Qrow failing — badly — to hide a smirk out of the corner of his eye.
"Well," he began, his own smirk growing. "I arrived early and planned to come visit you, but your uncle dragged me off for a meeting before I could."
"Oh, you motherfu-" he was ambushed by a red blur, now under the full force of Ruby's cute ray. Percy let her distract him for a moment, turning to the rest of their audience.
He was pleasantly surprised to find Winter's little sister among the group, standing next to Yang. Maybe they were on a team together? That would be a fun little coincidence. As his eyes continued roaming he was unsurprised but glad nonetheless to find Pyrrha waiting for him with a bright smile. He shot her a wink before he came across the boy standing next to her.
Tallish, blonde, and a nervous smile. At first he didn't think he recognized the kid, before he remembered where he'd seen that nervous grin and his eyes narrowed. He'd been the one to fake his transcripts — the one that Percy wasn't aware of.
He was seconds away from manhandling the blonde kid away to have a little chat when his gaze found Ren next, standing next to him.
Percy nodded imperceptibly, reminded that he'd asked Ren to keep an eye on the mystery infiltrator. Intentional on Ren's part, no doubt. They could talk about that later, but for now it was a reassurance that if he posed any danger to Pyrrha, Ren would've removed him at the first opportunity.
Nora, Ren's friend with the orange hair, emulated the blonde's nervous smile on Ren's other side. It was good that he wouldn't need to remind her that they didn't know each other — Ren had done that for him, no doubt.
He looked around briefly to see if he could find Blake, but shrugged internally when he caught no sight of her. It's not like he expected her to seek him out, exactly. He didn't have a problem leaving finding her to tomorrow.
Not that finding her would be particularly hard, either, considering his and Ozpin's new — albeit shaky — alliance. He could ask him where Blake was and promise not to do anything other than talk to the girl, and Ozpin would tell him so as to not be the first one to break the good faith between the two. Percy would keep his word — he didn't need anything more than words to have the girl on the next flight home — and it'd serve as a small test of their mutual willingness to work together.
But he was getting ahead of himself.
"How're my favorite kiddos doing?" he smiled widely, reaching out to tousle Pyrrha's hair.
She dodged out of the way with a muffled 'eep!', face burning, and Percy laughed. She usually let him get away with a bit of roughing up her hair. He was convinced the reason she didn't this time had to do with not wanting to be embarrassed in front of her friends. Most people in his position would be a bit sad, but he'd gone through the same recently enough that he was just glad she was making friends worth being embarrassed over.
"Weiss," he let Pyrrha recover, turning to his best friend's little sister with a friendly smile. "good to see you again. We'll have to catch up sometime."
She curtsied in typical Schnee fashion. "It's an honor to greet you once more, Perseus." Luckily her curtsy had her looking down, so she didn't notice Percy failing to suppress an eyeroll.
"C'mon ice queen, none'a that." Percy didn't have to say, because Yang had beaten him to the punch, grabbing her by the shoulder and lifting her up straight. Weiss looked mortified, but Percy just chuckled at their antics. He hadn't thought about it before, but Yang would be especially good at getting the younger Schnee to open up. Maybe he should sic her on Winter. Now that was an idea…
"Hey Yang." Percy met her high five, indulging the girl. "Yang's right though, there's no need to be so formal Weiss. And I told you, call me Percy."
She nodded deeply. "Of course."
Percy sighed. Well, progress was progress.
"Well." Percy turned back to Pyrrha expectantly. "Gonna introduce me to your friends?"
Pyrrha coughed, a bit of red returning to her cheeks. "Right. Percy, this is my team, team Juniper. From left to right is Nora, Ren, and Jaune, our team leader."
Nora waved cheerily, and Ren nodded respectfully. Jaune lifted a hand in greeting with a nervous smile. "Nice to meet you!"
"This is Percy." she turned to them. "He's my… mentor, and the one who trained me. He's the reason I'm as good as I am."
Percy didn't stop his eyes from rolling that time either, reaching out to flick her lightly on the side of her head. She yelped and dodged back, avoiding the blow. "Don't listen to her, I trained her for a summer when she was twelve, and I've been an infrequent sparring partner at best since then. Her skill is the result of her hard work, nothing else."
"I improve more in a few days of you sparring with me and giving me tips than weeks in normal lessons. I owe-"
Yang coughed loudly, interrupting her friend. "Look, as much as we'd all love to sit here and watch you two fight over who's more amazing, some of us have lives to get back to, so…"
Pyrrha flushed once more, but Percy just laughed at the blonde's antics.
"Fair enough. Your uncle owes me a spar anyways, and I don't have all night. Care to watch me pound his face in?"
"Ooh~ can we?" Ruby was suddenly before him in a flutter of red petals, bouncing up and down on her heels.
"Gee, what a show of faith," Qrow muttered with a roll of his eyes, meandering up to the group. "Dick move, by the way," he added, rubbing his upper arm where Ruby had latched onto him.
Percy snickered at the man's misfortune. "You know what they say, better you than me."
"That's not a real saying," Qrow deadpanned.
"Says who?"
"Says everyone."
They continued their bickering all the way to the arenas, Percy following Qrow's lead and the rest of the group following them. Percy hadn't expected any differently, but it still felt weird to have so many parts of his life in one place. Qrow next to him, in Ozpin's school, his less well-known activities in the form of Ren, Mistrali politics in the form of Pyrrha as well as the girl herself, Tai's daughters, Winter's sister, and even Raven's daughter. All he needed was Blake and someone from the Asturias' — Hades, the Asturias' themselves were young enough — and he had everything significant he'd done in Remnant wrapped into a neat little teenager-sized package.
Blake was here somewhere, but alas, nobody in Beacon had a connection to anyone he knew from Vacuo.
Ruby was the first of them into the room, dashing ahead with a flutter and leaving Percy to enter after. The room was clearly meant for more people, with room for dozens of audience members. As it was they had two combatants and half a dozen-odd spectators, so the vast majority of the room remained empty. Even the spectators they did have didn't bother to take the seats, behind tables and desks as they were. Instead they stood near the ring, or sat on the desks before the first row of seats.
Weiss spoke animatedly with Yang and Ruby while Nora gushed at Ren and Pyrrha explained something to her teammate, Jaune. She wasn't quite as energetic as the others, but Percy could tell she was enjoying herself.
He smiled at the adorable sight, glad the kids were happy. He was pleasantly surprised Weiss was seemingly fitting in so well, able to drop her formality for Yang and Ruby. A month seemed like such a short time now, but at that age especially spending all your time with a group of people for that long could go a long way.
Speaking of which, he was curious just what the team assignments were. If Weiss was on a team with Ruby and Yang, who was their fourth partner? A student he hadn't met yet, he assumed. He recalled they were teams of four and Pyrrha had brought her team, but he supposed there was nothing wrong with Yang, Weiss, and Ruby not bringing their teammate — and that was assuming they weren't just busy.
He mentally shrugged. He'd meet them tomorrow, he was sure.
Taking off his jacket and tossing it onto a nearby seat, Percy leaped over the barrier into the arena as Qrow did the same on the other side.
Uncapping Riptide, he loosely swung it a few times to warm up his muscles while Qrow armed himself with his own weapon.
Percy raised an eyebrow at seeing him wielding the sword form. Usually Qrow avoided it with him in favor of his scythe, all the better for aiming — at least, with Qrow's unique way of using his weapon's recoil to propel him to keep distance.
Looks like he wanted to try something different this time. Well, he wasn't the only one. Absently, Percy adjusted his watch.
He readied himself with a grin, the countdown beginning its march to zero. Ordinarily Percy would rush at Qrow who would pepper him with shots from a distance, and Percy would tank the damage in hopes of landing the one massive hit necessary to bring an end to the fight.
As the timer reached zero it wasn't Percy that rushed forward, but Qrow.
Qrow brought his sword up and pulled the trigger, but the blade was pointed backwards and the shot was fired to aid his momentum. Percy's eyes tracked his opponent as he rushed through the air even faster than normal, feet barely glancing the ground once he reached a certain speed.
Percy stood his ground, footing shifting to a form far more familiar than he was used to, as oxymoronic as that sounded.
When Qrow reached him he obviously expected Percy to try to take advantage of his momentum with a heavy swing, only to be surprised when Percy took Qrow's blade on the flat of his own, stepping past his once-teacher and spinning to regard him.
Qrow eyed him warily, wondering what the trick was.
There is no trick. Percy smirked. There hadn't been an opening, so he hadn't taken one. He would've tried to force one before, using his superior stamina, strength, and aura to whittle Qrow down.
Qrow came in for another bout, surprising Percy by using the strength of his swing alone rather than the momentum of his body as he so often — no, as he always did.
Percy's smile widened. This would be an interesting match.
Percy pressed his sword to Qrow's crossguard and began applying pressure downwards, but was forced to use the positioning to shove Qrow's blade to the side when the older man pulled the trigger and sent a round screaming off to the side of the arena.
The round flung him backwards and he disengaged, parrying the jab Percy sent and firing again to send him careening backwards out of Percy's reach. A move like that wasn't ordinarily necessary — only a swipe of the sword to ward off any follow-ups while he regained his footing. But past experience had taught him Percy wouldn't care about that — he'd charge right through and hit Qrow twice as hard.
Percy didn't bother correcting him.
Qrow glanced at the aura readings, and Percy used the opportunity to launch himself at his — albeit briefly — distracted opponent.
"Cheap," Qrow snarled, but his grin told Percy he wasn't all that upset.
The clash was quick and Qrow managed to fall back, but not before Percy had delivered a short slash up the huntsman's forearm.
Qrow narrowed his eyes, glaring at Percy suspiciously.
Percy smiled back.
He'd gotten inside Qrow's guard to deliver that blow, but couldn't do more without letting Qrow wreak havoc on his side. That wouldn't have normally stopped him, and as far as Qrow knew it had never stopped him.
The bout continued like that. He never won another skirmish by Qrow being distracted, but there were openings all the same. He took them with ruthless efficiency, punishing each with precise cuts and slashes.
He hadn't looked to the aura readings but knew Qrow must have been getting low for how he fought. It was a desperate dance, taking more and more risks in the hope of earning himself a single opening, even leaving himself vulnerable in return. Percy denied each attempt.
They had swapped tactics.
Eventually Qrow must have decided he didn't need an opening to attack, and so charged directly into Percy's guard with no regard for himself. Riptide dug into his shoulder viciously, but he pulled a move more characteristic of Percy and refused to stop his charge.
His sword came around to stab just under Percy's armpit, but Percy was ready. His left hand was there to grab the end of the blade, stopping it from digging into his torso. If Qrow had just been meaning to stab him he would've allowed the sword to carry him into a spin and heavily reduced the damage the blade could do to his aura. Instead of a stab with the force of a huntsman behind it, the only damage done to his aura would be by virtue of the blade's sharp edge pushing him into a spin he was already executing. With the force Qrow had put into the lunge, he wouldn't have been able to take advantage of the moment and Riptide would use the momentum of the spin to come around and end the match.
He'd run through the scenario in his head, sure of the result if Qrow didn't do something to alter it.
A moment later he adjusted his plan when Qrow's finger fell to the trigger on his sword. He dismissed it for a moment. It would drag his aura down a few percent, but wouldn't change anything.
No, he scolded himself. No more holding back. No more using aura as a crutch.
He activated his watch.
He was sent flying less than a second later, barely registering the fact before he felt an arm impact the ground. It was on instinct alone he adjusted to recover, turning the skid into a roll and ending up on his feet.
Qrow was on him the next moment, once again using the recoil of his gun to cross the arena at breakneck speeds.
Percy was more ready for it than he must have hoped for, and he pressed the flat of his blade to Qrow's, using the massive opening provided by the desperate move to punch Riptide's crossguard just below Qrow's sternum and send him sprawled flat onto his back with a gasp.
The arena rang out to signal the end of the match, and Riptide was away a moment later.
Percy crouched by his friend with an unapologetic grin, shards of ice crunching under his boots as his feet adjusted to lower him.
He didn't offer his hand immediately, instead just waiting patiently as Qrow regained his breath.
They were beset upon before he could, their audience having made their way down into the ring one by one. Yang was the first, he was unsurprised to realize, with Ruby following shortly after her and Nora dragging Ren after them. The rest hopped over once they were in the minority, some more reluctant than others.
Percy met the outgoing blonde with an easy smile. "Enjoy the fight?"
"Hell yeah we enjoyed it! You kicked his ass!"
Qrow coughed on the ground and leveled a glare at his niece, immobile but neither unconscious nor deaf.
Percy grasped the man's forearm once he made to get up, hauling him to his feet.
"Yeah, firecracker? let's see you go a round." Qrow scowled, brushing his back off of the pile of ice he'd been laying in.
"Oh, can I?" The girl looked to him. If Qrow was expecting Yang to wilt at the prospect he didn't know his niece very well, and Yang's excitement was palpable.
"I'm afraid not, miss Xiao-Long."
Ozpin's assistant, Glynda, made herself known near the entrance of the room. She stood with her arms crossed, and her impatience was clear.
"You all have homework to complete and tests to study for. You have had more than enough time to say hello, but now it is time to return to your studies."
Yang wasn't the only one disappointed at the news. Faces fell, and Percy shared a small frown.
"But I've already finished my homework!" Weiss looked absolutely affronted. Maybe at being made to leave without having a chance to talk over the fight, or maybe at the idea she hadn't already done her work. Percy thought it might have been a mix of both.
Percy thought it was a pretty good argument, but Glynda just sent her a sharp look. "Then study for Doctor Oobleck's exam next week." Weiss opened her mouth to protest but was cut off. "Or I can give you additional homework to complete, if you'd prefer."
"Yes, Miss Goodwitch." the girl sagged.
Percy himself scowled. That seemed… harsh. Unnecessarily so. He was no stranger to strict teachers, but he'd never been fond of them. He didn't think that was a problem he'd have to deal with once he was done with school, but he'd clearly been wrong.
Ruby inched towards him, pout directed at her teacher. "We can't leave now, Percy just got here!"
"I'll be back tomorrow," he told her, resting a hand on her head. It rested there for a single moment before the girl ducked out of his reach with a petulant huff. "I'll be here for your birthday, and I'll make time to swing by this weekend, too."
"Promise?" Ruby stared up at him with glistening, wide silver eyes.
"Promise," He affirmed, letting himself be targeted by the WMD attached to Ruby's skull if only to savor the moment the watery gaze turned into a bright smile.
That seemed to placate the group enough to file out under Glynda's glower, the woman leaving shortly after without a word to either of them.
"The Hades was that about?" Percy muttered to his friend as soon as she was gone, still watching the door they'd left through.
"Goodwitch is usually strict, but that was a bit much even for her." Qrow sighed, lifting his flask up for a swig. "She and Ironwood were close."
Percy hummed his understanding. "Not my biggest fan, then."
Qrow snorted. "Yeah, guess not. But enough about her, what the hell was that spar?"
"I could ask you the same." Percy rubbed his sore left wrist.
"I was trying something new." he shrugged.
"Yeah, well so was I." Percy grinned.
Qrow scowled. "That stance you were using was the same one you used the first time we fought."
Percy raised an eyebrow. "And here I thought that head didn't have anything but feathers."
Qrow's hand reached for his weapon and Percy leaped back, laughing. "Alright, alright! Guess I'm going first. Well, remember when we first met and you gave me some training with aura, when you told me to disregard damage because I had enough aura to tank it and enough strength to deal more back?" At his nod, Percy continued. "Yeah, well it was shit advice."
Percy laughed again when Qrow's face shifted to an offended glare. "I took it to heart. Fought with nothing but aggression for the last few years, and for the most part it worked out. My change of heart came about after the battle of Mistral. At first I fought with that mindset — it was like six on one or something so I didn't get much chance to push an advantage, but I still tried — and ended up all the worse for it. I lost my aura before I could defeat them. That was more the artillery barrage than them," he granted, quickly moving on before Qrow could ask about said artillery barrage. "But when it was over and I was left without aura, I had to fight again. Same group, and a lot more — including Ironwood and some reinforcements. I couldn't afford to take one hit for the entire fight, and I didn't because it wasn't an option. That was partially because I didn't take them seriously before," he admitted. "But also, it made me realize that if I'd been trying harder in the first place I could have won without taking a hit."
"Like you did against me," Qrow grunted, and Percy followed the man's finger to where the aura reader still displayed both of theirs. Qrow's was in the red, but Percy's was basically full.
He almost argued that Qrow had landed a hit on his hand, but surrendered the point. It wasn't ideal, but it would've been a viable move without aura when the only alternative was being stabbed in the vitals.
"Guess so. In a one-on-one all that matters is you run out of aura before me, but real life isn't like that. There'll be more than one of you — and when that's over, there'll be more after that. Since I've had aura — since the last time I had to fight for my life, I forgot that," he admitted.
If he acted as though he didn't have aura, every hit he took to it would have killed him otherwise. That meant that in order to defeat him — to actually kill him, an opponent would have to strike a killing blow on the Percy Jackson that had defeated monsters, gods, titans, and giants alike a hundred times over.
He would not give them the opportunity.
"You're forgetting something," Qrow pointed out. "I told you that was a good starting point. You were being too passive, because according to you you used to be the underdog whenever you fought before. I've tried to beat the mindless aggression out of you, but I can't really do that when I'm too busy eating dirt. I had a plan to deal with that this time," he said, patting his back where his weapon rested for emphasis before scowling at the ground.
Percy's scowl echoed Qrow's. He'd let himself get into the mindset of having the curse of Achilles — it was just that he hadn't ever had something challenge that mindset. At least, not until Mistral. It wasn't Qrow's fault, he couldn't have expected Percy to have past experience being a near-invulnerable warrior.
"But it doesn't look like that worked out," Qrow continued. "Speaking of which, you wanna explain that?" he kicked a shard of the slowly melting ice spread around them.
Percy raised his left arm with a grin, tapping his watch. "Shield. Hard light dust, provides a frame for ice dust."
The hard light itself could work as a shield considering Ice wasn't the most durable of materials, but with his powers it held much better than it would for anyone else. Unlike a light dust shield an ice shield wouldn't require a constant supply of dust to keep it running, which was important considering how small the watch was. Just a quick spurt and the ice was there to stay — or at least until it took a hard enough hit, he amended, looking at the remnants of the shield scattered across the ground.
Qrow rolled his eyes. "Of course the first piece of dust tech you pick up and it bites me in the ass." he pulled a bullet out of a pouch on his belt. "Gravity dust," he explained simply.
Percy hummed. That explained why it had hit so hard, and why his gun's recoil had seemed especially good at bouncing him around.
Together, the two made their way out of the arena and towards the exit.
"I'm supposed to tell you Ozpin offered to put you up at Beacon," Qrow said suddenly. "But considering everything…"
Percy's mind flashed to an irate teacher, and briefly considered living in a place where he'd be expected to defer to her.
"Yeah, no." His snort echoed Qrow's. "Besides, I've got an apartment in the city and won't have anything to do here until classes are over tomorrow."
"Oz mentioned letting you sit in on some classes," Qrow suggested. "It wasn't so long ago you were thinkin' about being a student here yourself. He also said somethin' about it being important for leaders to know what it's like to be huntsmen."
Percy shrugged. "I'll think about it."
Not very hard, though. He hadn't had the chance to spend much time in Vale recently. Some time spent with Junior and entrenching himself more in the underworld here wouldn't go amiss. He had the Malachites ready to replace Junior if it were necessary, but a voice in the back of his head that sounded suspiciously like Foley wouldn't stop reminding him of the possibility of the Malachites and Junior both becoming problems at once.
Backup plans for contingencies for replacements for alternatives for positions held by people who had no reason to do anything other than what he asked. That was the way of the Tammany Hall, and it had served them well — better than any similar institution, to be sure. He wasn't about to shirk Foley's teachings that easily.
Dead or no, Percy was sure the man would never let him live it down.
Qrow and he said their quick goodbyes and went their separate ways, and Percy wasted no time heading back to his apartment as the sun set. Even with a day spent dealing with Junior and Vale's underbelly ahead of him tomorrow, Percy's thoughts kept straying to his visit to Beacon.
He knew six of the kids between two teams, and the blonde boy — Jaune — was the only one he'd met so far that he didn't already know. If anything, that he wasn't interesting at all in such an interesting group was, in and of itself, interesting.
There was one more, though. Ruby, Yang, and Weiss' teammate. Once again he found himself interested to meet them if only to see who he was sure would become a somewhat familiar face.
There wasn't much point thinking on that now, however. He'd be dealing with it tomorrow — after he spoke to Junior and Roman, and after his other business in Beacon was dealt with. Now that he was on decent terms with Ozpin again, he'd have as much access to the campus as he would need.
Yeah, that sounded like a plan. Do some work in Vale, head to Beacon to deal with Blake Belladonna, and then celebrate Ruby's birthday and meet her last teammate.
With a smile on his face, he relaxed into the bullhead. Percy was looking forward his visit to Beacon tomorrow.
He could use a little simplicity.
happy chapter 69 on 4/20 kek. 8k words with no linebreak ftw.
Got finals this week. Next time ya see me, I'll be a free man for the summer. Workin' full time and all that though, so we'll have to see what that does for my writing schedule.
Went to a cat cafe with some friends today. good times. cats r cool. 8/10, would recommend. -2 for my cat allergy (still worth tho). I shall resist the temptation to have percy pet blake, though it is a strong one.
With 13k words in 4 days, ya'll are gettin spoiled out here. Friendly reminder I have a pat-reon if you're interested in supporting me, where I release fairytales one chapter ahead of public. Thanks to my pat-rons for making this schedule possible :)
Das it, hope you enjoyed. Go to cat cafe. iz cool.
Next Chapter May 1
