Displaced
3
Carmine was gone before Goodwitch finished saying the word to begin. She re-materialized, at least that's the way it appeared to the students watching, to Qrow's left, cracking off several rounds at him. Her uncle was ready for it, having swung Harbinger off of his back and into place, using the broadside to block the dust rounds. Glynda blinked at the the opening of the fight.
The young woman was fast, probably faster than anyone she'd seen before, probably thanks to her semblance. The telltale rose petals floated about the stage though the semblance was almost unrecognizable from the young student she knew. It seemed that Qrow had only been able to keep up because he'd seen her preparatory motions, the tensing of muscles and the leading of the eyes that came before planned movement. It was what full fledged hunters often relied on, the speed of hunter on hunter combat often moving too fast for most reaction speeds.
The huntsman responded in kind, his sword drooping at the hilt, exposing the barrels of his ranged weapon, a huge blast erupting from them. Again, Carmine disappeared but he was ready for it, moving in the same direction. Naturally, she arrived first but he was close on her, his sword coming down in a powerful two-handed slash. Carmine smirked and thumbed a switch on both weapons, they whirred and shifted, blades folding out to take the shape of twin hand scythes. Her left came up to meet his blade, diverting it with hers so that it missed while her right flicked out towards Qrow's face. His eyes widened as he pulled his head back but not before the blade scored a line across his cheek, his aura preventing it from drawing blood.
Qrow pulled back a few paces, his sword waving to ward her her off as he scowled at her. Grin in place she twirled her twin weapons in front of him, intricate patterns of silver flashed as she put on a flashy display. Glynda had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at it, though it did display the young woman's familiarity with her chosen weapons. Given the younger version's attachment to her scythe it was odd to see her relying on a different weapon.
"That style's familiar." Qrow noted, his eyes narrowing at his niece, watching her cautiously.
"It should be." Carmine said innocently, "It's the Grimm Reaper's."
Qrow's face reflected the surprise that Glynda almost expressed. The Grimm Reaper was a legendary huntress that disappeared many years ago.
"You say that like you studied under her or something." The older man switched his weapon into scythe form and started circling around Carmine, her doing the same but in the other direction.
"Wouldn't you like to know." She said teasingly before charging at her uncle in a blisteringly fast rush.
Glynda noted how she dual-wielded the weapons. It was a fallacy to try and use both at the same time, one hand parries while the other strikes in rapid succession. Dual weapon styles relied on precise positioning and the creation of holes in an enemy's defense. Such weren't as effective against Grimm as they were human opponents. It spoke of a very bloody past that necessitated the learning of such.
Qrow caught a double overhead slash on the haft of Harbinger and sent a snap kick into Carmine's gut. The young woman surprised everyone by letting go over her weapons to grab her uncle's ankle and his eyes widened for the second time that match as he realized his mistake. Her smile took on a vicious edge as she pulled his leg forward while her own foot flashed out and caught the side of the knee on the leg he was standing on, aura or not the joint buckled causing him to slam into floor.
In a moment she had her hands back on her weapons, now using the curved blades to attempt to wrench his weapon from him, however no matter how strong she was Qrow was a powerful huntsman in his own right and managed recover by tugging his scythe back and triggering the transformation back into a sword. With a twirl and a flip he managed to get back on his feet right in time to block another right handed slash from his niece, this time, though, she got under his guard and her left weapon came with with the barrel against his chin.
At the last second his head jerked to the side as she fired and he felt the wave of heat along his cheek, another narrow miss. Qrow caught a face full of rose petals,. Obscuring his vision as he felt her move to his side. He grabbed for her but met only air as she slipped behind him. Rather than waste time looking, the huntsman stabbed his blade backwards at where she should have been positioning to strike at his back. Again he hit only air before he felt an impact slamming the tip down into the stage and two arms wrapping around him, though instead of a familial hug he felt the two blades of her scythes hook around his throat as she coiled her legs around his torso, locking herself like a backpack against him.
"The match is over!" Glynda called out loudly, knowing that Qrow could do nothing but surrender at this point. Her green eyes slid over to observe the students who sat in silence. To most of them it must have seemed like a brutally short set of exchanges at a blistering speed. Carmine removed her weapons from her uncle's throat and bent backwards into a handstand before ending up on her feet again, holstering her weapons under her jacket once more.
Carmine flounced down onto a chair in the adjoining office to the combat room, one reserved for Glynda's personal use. If the blond haired woman showed any ire at her chair being taken, she didn't show it but moved in to stand between the two full-fledged hunters as Qrow took a seat in one of the chairs reserved for visitors or, more often, students in trouble. Despite the stern face she could tell Glynda's eyes were dazzling; whether that was because she'd overwhelmed Qrow or had displayed skill well above her age she wasn't sure.
"I knew you were fast kiddo, but hell that was something else." Qrow finally got out after sipping from his flask. The man really hadn't changed, or at least hadn't changed yet. Time travel did weird things to your perception. It had been such a long time since she had seen her favorite, and only, uncle but it put Carmine in a great mood.
"Oh I'm more than just fast. I've got the stamina to last too." Carmine wiggled her eyebrows at him and got a barking laugh from the older man and a roll of the eyes from Ms. Goodwitch, "Believe me now Uncle?"
"Heh. Yeah I do. Semblances are like fingerprints and that's definitely Ruby's." He leaned forward and stared at the woman with intense interest and motioned to her weapons, "When'd you learn those? The Ruby I know would die before learning something other than her scythe. What changed?"
The young silver-eyed woman smiled bitterly, "That's part of what we need to talk about, Uncle Qrow."
"Ozpin told you, when you arrived, about Miss Rose's circumstances?" Glynda chipped in.
"Yeah, as much as I thought he was pullin' my chain. Somehow the Relics sent you back in time while you were fightin' Salem." Qrow shook his head, aghast, "You really don't do anything by halves, do ya."
"When Yang's your sister, you can't afford to." Carmine smirked, earning a chuckle from the man, "But that was more of a desperate move, more than anything."
She continued when he raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. With a sigh her face fell and Carmine got serious with the tone of her voice shifting towards grim, "Salem was winning. Atlas and Vale had fallen, Mistral on the precipice and Vacuo, the last bastion, overflowing with refugees. My team… my team dead and the only friends I had left were Jaune and Oscar. So a plan was drawn up between us and the headmistress of Vacuo. Utilizing three of the relics Jaune and I would face off against Salem. Use destruction to weaken her and then creation with my powers to seal her away, forever."
"And then something went wrong." Qrow chimed in, guessing where the story was going.
Carmine nodded, "We were losing. She was so much stronger than we anticipated. She took my eye and our plan ended in shambles. With it gone, my powers are weaker and the both of us were on the verge of death. Jaune took a blow meant for me and then… then I was here. Or, well, Forever Fall. But yeah, you know the rest. As for these guys," She patted her jacket where her weapons were holstered, " I named them Bloom and Scatter. I built them after I realized that while Crescent Rose is the best weapon ever, that's at slaying Grimm. I needed to learn something else to fight the more… human enemies. Unfortunately I left them behind with Oscar before our fight with Salem."
"I know of Mr. Arc but I'm afraid I don't know this Oscar Pine you mentioned. He's not in the student database at any of the four schools." Glynda spoke up from the side.
"You wouldn't. Right now he'd be on a farm in Anima."
"A farmhand was helping you save the world?!" My. Goodwitch's eye grew wide and Qrow started snickering.
"Like Jaune's different?"
"What do you mean by that?" Her eyes narrowed dangerously and then Carmine remembered that Jaune had falsified his transcripts. Oops. She apologized to Jaune in her head and tried to distract Glynda from finding out exactly what she had meant.
"Oscar was Ozpin's next incarnation."
This abruptly brought attention from both the other individuals in the room, "Oz died?" Qrow's face twisted in discomfort.
"Yeah a long time ago. Well, for me. I knew Oscar a lot longer than Ozpin. Kind of." Okay, so time travel was really weird, especially when you knew a nigh immortal wizard. Glynda was rubbing her temples and looked like she was trying to stave off an impending headache.
"Alright I think I get the idea but why ask for me, specifically? I mean, I know I'm awesome but I was kinda in the middle of something and if things are going the way you're saying then all the more reason to have me out in the field."
Carmine exchanged a brief glance with Glynda before turning back to Qrow, this was the biggest reason she'd asked Ozpin to call the man back to Vale, "Because I already know most of what's about to happen. We need you here, the threat's coming to Beacon. Everything that happens in my future starts here."
"They're after Amber, Qrow."
Qrow's light red eyes hardened, "So, they tracked her here huh. Guess we weren't as clever as we thought we were."
"As such," Glynda continued, "Ozpin is using the information Carmine has provided to come up with a plan of action."
"What, we can't just go and take 'em out?"
"Ozpin wants to hold off on that, for now. He seems to be of the opinion that we should wait for the right time to tip our hand. If we act right now we may gain a win immediately but may lose in the long run. Catching a few of her pawns won't stop Salem."
Qrow didn't like the thought of letting people like that run around doing what they wanted, that much obvious from the deep set frown on his face, but he trusted Ozpin enough to defer to the man. It struck Carmine at how different Qrow was from the man he had become in his last days. The revelations about the man he trusted and admired had not gone well, even up until he died. Losing his ability to trust others he'd thrown himself into protecting their generation like martyr and had died like one.
The elder Rose shook her head to clear away from reminiscing about the past. This was a chance to make this up to her friends. She'd failed before but it seems destiny had handed her another wouldn't mess this up.
"So do we have a plan of action, then?" Qrow asked.
"For now we will wait, build up our forces. Prepare our students." Glynda continued, "To that end, Carmine, Beacon welcomes it's newest professor."
This was great news to Carmine, she'd been hoping for this and kind of expected it really. It was one of the things she'd suggested to Ozpin and the man had seemed all for it barring a practical exam. Which had just been unwittingly administered by her uncle. Ozpin was a shrewd man, organizing not only a test but a way for her to quickly prove herself to Qrow that she was who she said she was.
"Professor? Her?" Qrow looked between the two incredulously to which Glynda gave an exasperated roll of her eyes.
"They made you one so why not?"
"Heh, touche." Qrow grinned, knowing it would get under the woman's skin.
"Don't worry Glynda, I won't sleep with too many of the students." Carmine couldn't resist having a laugh as they both stared at her in shock.
"Ruby… you…" The man was so shocked he didn't even use her new name. No doubt imagining how his sweet, young niece could make such a joke, "That is a joke, right?" He added with a desperate need to know the answer.
"Ahem." Glynda coughed while sending a glare towards the younger woman, "Putting aside any proclivities you may have." Her glare threatened her that it had better have been a joke, "You will be teaching a second part of combat class, an extension of my own. Where I critique the students based on peer-to-peer sparring you will working on the foundations that they build upon. Ozpin will be giving you free reign to teach how you will but just know this," Glynda leaned in, emerald eyes flashing, "I will be paying close attention to your class, Miss Rose."
Woops, Carmine may have pushed too far with the stern woman though she did make not of the slight dusting of red on her cheeks. The young huntress put up a win in her corner, even if she didn't dare push it any further.
"Sure thing Glynda." Carmine responded with a nervous laugh before glaring at her uncle when he made a whip cracking sound accompanied by the motion.
Like you're one to talk. She mouthed at the huntsman but to her chagrin he merely shrugged her point off. That's it. She decided, she wouldn't let her uncle get one up on her, consequences be damned. If she was going to have Glynda's ire then she might as well go all the way.
"Looks like you're jealous Glynda." Carmine smirked, "You can still bend me over a desk if you want? Unless you wanna be the one doing the bending."
The look on the older woman's face was almost worth it there. The deputy headmistress gaped like a fish on land struggling to breath before turning away with a cough. Carmine noted her cheeks reddening even further and her shit eating grin to Yang level proportions. Qrow leaned away from the blond woman in a vain attempt to get any space further away from what he was sure to be an eruption of the most epic size.
It was to the both of their surprise that Goodwitch left the office with a flimsy excuse of checking up on the students. Once they were left alone the niece and uncle stared at each other in wonderment.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack there, kid. Didn't they teach you not to prod sleeping Ursa? Especially when your favorite Uncle is in line of sight?"
"Not like you have much competition seeing as you're my only uncle." The smirked at each other. Carmine was pleasantly surprised to find out how well they got along now. It was an easy relationship they hadn't had in her timeline. At least not by the end. The revelation with Oz had changed the man but the one in front of her was her fun loving uncle once again. Not for the first time since she'd come back to the past she was wondering if she could have gone even further back and helped her mother. Carmine would have loved to meet the woman as an adult, the woman she had idolized as a child and teenager. But again she had to shake the thought away, it was enough that she'd come this far back, especially unintentionally.
"Brat." The older huntsman shook his head, "How you got corrupted like this is beyond me."
"Really?" Carmine said, unable to resist another jab at her uncle, "The man who did it smells like booze and can turn into a shitty bird."
"Hey! I'll have you know that crows are noble avians."
"Keep telling yourself that Uncle."
"Yeah well as long as you don't let Tai know I can live to see whether that's true or not."
The young silver eyed woman couldn't help it and burst out laughing. Her uncle was bad, she could see her sister any time she wanted, and she was going to fix things so that they lived happily ever after.
She was in a good mood.
The following day saw their scrolls, all of them, updated with a new message regarding a scheduling change. There was going to be a new class, starting that day, that would alternate with Goodwitch's combat class. Team RWBY was in the throes of speculating what, exactly, the new combat related class might be teaching and how different it would be from combat class in the first place. They were all seventeen, bar Ruby, and were skilled enough to be able to learn from the spars, that was the purpose of the class. If you couldn't improve yourself then you didn't belong in Beacon in the first place.
Blake could admit to curiosity as to the contents of the new class as well. The Beacon rumor mill was ablaze with whispers about the elder Rose and her fight against the huntsman, Qrow Branwen who was also Ruby and Yang's uncle.
And Carmine's too. Her mind supplied.
The whole team was convinced that the class had something to do with the future woman, the whole school even though they didn't know the truth the spar had grabbed the attention of the whole student body. Carmine had become something of a celebrity, especially among the boys. Trying to ignore her own displeasure at that, the disguised faunus made her way through Beacon's hallways with her team. Golden eyes strayed over to her white haired teammate and Blake couldn't help but remember her discussion with Carmine that night.
The White Fang assassinated Weiss, or what was left of it. The fact that the organization was destroyed unsettled her and left the former terrorist feeling conflicted. On one hand she expected they would have it coming, there was a reason she had left. If they kept seeking such extreme tactics then they would be put down, most likely with extreme violence. On the other was the fact that there were still decent people in the White Fang. Misguided? Yes. But many just wanted better condition, for their children not to be hated just for being born a certain way and were willing to fight for it. Assassination though? That sounded like something Adam would do, as much as it pained her to admit.
It was while lost in these thoughts that Blake entered the classroom, only really glancing around once their team had taken their seat next to team JNPR. The whispering was quite above and beyond what was rated for combat class until she remembered the message they had all gotten, this was supposed to be a different class and sure enough standing at the head of the room with Miss Goodwitch was the center of her previous thoughts, Carmine. A silver eye met hers and the older woman winked at her. Since she only had one eye it was an exaggerated affair that made it certain she was in fact winking and not blinking with her one eye.
Blake felt a twinge of heat suffuse her cheeks as she remembered the woman's comment about her faunus ears. The bell rung before her mind could go anywhere else and the class quickly quailed underneath the stern gaze of Miss Goodwitch who stepped forward. Once she was sure she had everyone's attention she addressed the students.
"All of you are probably wondering what this new Advanced Combat Class is about. It has come to the attention of the headmaster and I that sparring against one another is not enough for the speed of development we desire to see in our students at Beacon Academy. Now, don't take this to mean you all are deficient. This is an experiment of a new method, nothing more, to see if we can increase the potential of our first years. To that end, I cannot take on both tasks myself and the reason we decided to try this at all was that a new resource has… dropped into our lap."
Raising her hand to indicate the woman next to her, she introduced the huntress to the class, "As you may already know from yesterday's event, this is Carmine Rose, a professional huntress. As of today she is also a professor of Beacon Academy and the one in charge of the Advanced Combat Class."
With the introduction done Goodwitch stepped back and gave Carmine the floor who stepped forwards and spoke over the excited whispering that had broken out, "That's me. You can call me Professor, Miss Rose, or a combination of the two. Now this class is designed so I can do what I need to to make sure you all have the foundations to take advantage of anything you learn from Miss Goodwitch.
"However," She smiled, and Blake thought it looked a little vicious, "This class is no easy mark. I will be breaking you down to see where you can improve. I will also be teaching you other skills needed in combat. The motto is win. That's it. Winning is survival and the point of this class. I don't want to see pointless flashiness or over reliance on one weapon." She cast a meaningful look over at Ruby who squirmed in place. Carmine stared down all of the students one by one and Blake felt a shiver as the intense gaze washed over her.
"Who's ready to start?" Their new teacher looked to be in a good mood.
A/N: Surprise! An update. It's been a while but I really am fond if this story. I mean I don't like to play favorites but this one is perhaps the most fun for me to write. I know you all probably expected to see Jaune in this chapter but that's a scene that needs more room than I can give it in this update. That or I'm evil and want you all to wait in anticipation.