Disclaimer: RWBY belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth and Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo. I own nothing of either of them and make no profit from them. I am only playing in the worlds they gave us.
Welcome to the latest chapter of I Have No Idea What The Hell I'm Doing. Also known as A Chance Encounter.
I had no idea what to put in this chapter, which is why I took the time to write A Spartan Encounter. When I finished that...I still had no idea. This wasn't an easy chapter to write and it didn't help that my head isn't in a good place...I won't bore you with the details.
So, I have no idea if this chapter is worth a damn or not but here it is. Enjoy and feel free to leave a review.
As always, trolls and idiots need not bother.
A Chance Encounter
Chapter 13
"They're finally going to admit that they're aliens!" Nora exclaimed happily as she skipped down the sidewalk.
"I'm beginning to think that you might be an alien," Weiss groused.
"That's silly," Nora scoffed. "If I was an alien then that means Ren would have to be an alien too." She turned and began walking backwards while looking at the boy in question. "You're not an alien are you Ren?"
"No Nora," he answered with his usual patience and a small smile. "I'm not an alien."
"See?!" She planted her hands on her hips and puffed her chest out as she turned back around and kept walking. "Told ya. Definitely not an alien."
"Maybe you're the alien Weiss," Yang smirked.
"There is no such thing as aliens!" Weiss huffed.
"That's exactly what an alien would say!" Nora exclaimed.
"There you go," Yang said, as if it had been confirmed. "You're an alien, an alien Ice Princess."
The group of eight was making their way through Vale to the waterfront cafe for lunch with their teachers. All were dressed in their general combat gear, minus their weapons, except for Pyrrha and Jaune. They decided that their armoured accessories wouldn't be that comfy for a relaxed setting like the cafe and had worn their school uniforms instead. The lot of them really needed to invest in some casual clothes for things like this.
They were all looking forward to their lunch with their favourite instructors and they were hoping that they just might finally get something out of them over the mystery they seemed to present.
"And you would be an alien boob monster," Weiss shot back.
"Hehe, boob," Ruby giggled quietly. It sounded so funny to hear that word come out of Weiss' mouth.
"Don't be jealous now Weiss," Yang chirped.
"As if I would be jealous of that," Weiss shot back. She wasn't jealous. Not in the least. She was perfectly fine having a chest that might be even smaller than that of her partner...who was two years younger than her. No, she had no problem with it at all.
...And the Grimm were cuddly, friendly creatures too.
"What about you Blakey?" Yang said, picking out her next target. "You a cat planet cutie from beyond the stars?"
"I could make it so that you're seeing stars," the Faunus drawled.
"Yeesh, put the claws away." Yang spun and circled around so she could get behind Jaune and Pyrrha, draping her arms over their shoulders. "I bet Pyrrha's an alien here to study our culture and is going to use her charm and beauty to lure in some poor, unsuspecting rube and abduct him to do all kinds of freaky experiments." She then ducked back and pushed them together, laughing as Pyrrha's faced turned bright red. Mission accomplished.
Jaune retained his mostly clueless demeanour but Pyrrha's imagination took over and began to lead her into uncharted territory. If anything she began to turn an even deeper shade of red.
"Well if there is anyone who would be most likely to be abducted by aliens, it would be Jaune," Weiss cracked.
"Hey!" he protested feebly.
Nora turned to the redhead, a knowing and mischievous look in her eyes. "Oooh, what kind of experiments are you going to do on Jaune-Jaune?" she asked excitedly. "Can I watch?"
If you looked really closely you just might see steam escaping the tall Mistralian's ears.
"Do you think they're really going to tell us anything?" Ruby asked, unintentionally saving her friend and bringing seriousness back to the conversation.
"You think they're just messing with us?" Yang asked.
"I don't think that's the case," Blake said. "They haven't been doing anything to get us to stop but they haven't been egging us on either. If anything they seem kind of amused by the whole thing."
"Like they're letting it play out to see where we take it," Weiss said.
"That seems possible," Ren agreed. "Remember the conversation Pyrrha had with Yoruichi."
Pyrrha, now recovered enough to participate picked it up from there. "She seemed more interested in our theories than offering one of her own and she definitely seemed amused by it and in a way that made me think that she knew something we certainly didn't."
"So what could that be?" Jaune asked. "No offence, but I mean how likely is it really that they would actually be immortals or aliens?"
"And we all agree with the idea that the accounts are referring to multiple descendants doesn't work," Blake added.
"Well lets look at what we do know," Weiss suggested. "Even if it does lead us right back to the same questions. There have been numerous occasions where they have said things that make us think that they would have to be a lot older than what they appear to be."
"Their level of skill in combat lines up with that," Ren said. "We have fought against them and even at eight on two we couldn't touch them, and we've seen them spar. Even if they are prodigies that began training as soon as they could walk they show a level of skill and control that seems impossible to attain without a lifetime of practice."
"Remember the video they sent Ruby?" Blake asked. "The power that Yoruichi used shouldn't be possible. She destroyed a Goliath by sheathing herself in Aura and punched it dead on in its head armour and she destroyed its head like it was an overripe melon. Then she sent a lightning charge up the spine of another one and destroyed it."
"And she didn't even do that when she axe kicked the first one and drove its head into the ground," Ren said. "That was pure brute strength."
"If that lightning attack of hers isn't a Semblance but Aura manipulation, then how the heck long would it take to be able to learn that?" Yang asked.
"We haven't even seen what Ichigo can do yet," Ruby added. "I mean, we saw him use his big sword against the Goliath's, but we haven't seen him do anything else. He hasn't even drawn his small blade and Yoruichi said that attack he has that's like Blake's would be too dangerous to show us in the arena."
"And don't forget that his sword can go right through someone's Aura," Nora chimed in. "And Pyrrha's Semblance couldn't even affect it."
"We know that they haven't shown us their real strength," Jaune said, actually looking a little pale. "So just how strong do you think they really are?"
"They purposely hunt the biggest and most dangerous of Grimm," Ren reminded them. "Unless you're a fool you don't do that unless you know you can defeat them and we all saw how effortlessly they did that on the video."
"If they weren't so nice I think I'd be scared," Ruby said. They could all agree with that statement.
"And as I suggested we're right back to our original questions," Weiss said. "Everything about them seems unlikely at the very least and defies the most rational explanations. The only explanations that makes sense are the most unlikely ones and that just can't be possible."
"And I think they know it," Pyrrha said. "Otherwise I don't think Yoruichi would look so amused by it."
"They better give us something, " Yang said, "Otherwise we're going to drive ourselves crazy trying to figure it out."
"So...aliens, right?" Nora asked hopefully.
Beacon's Main Combat Arena:
Her class space didn't see use on the weekends, but Glynda was more than willing to make an exception this time, considering who wanted to use it for a little practice. She didn't even mind being there to oversee things and make sure no one attempted to intrude. When Professor Ozpin had told her of the conversation he'd had with his own soul she had been rather stunned, both by the revelation of who his soul had been and by the story that it had related to him.
Given Ozpin's very nature, she had often wondered what it was like to converse with another soul inside of yourself. She couldn't help but think that it must be a very disconcerting thing and during conversations that they'd had Ozpin admitted that at times, and especially at first, that was indeed the case. Sadly that aspect had gotten easier to deal with but it was clear from his demeanour as they talked that the thing that disturbed him the most was when that other soul completely became a part of his own and ceased to be individual and singular.
This was a bit of a different case however since the soul that had once been Kisuke Urahara was Ozpin's own soul and along with that came a whole lifetime...and a rather long lifetime at that...of accumulated knowledge and experience to add to Ozpin's already considerable reserves of the same. It could prove to be an invaluable addition to their arsenal when it came to dealing with Salem, just as the return of Ozpin's own strength would. Salem was certainly aware that he had weakened himself when he created the Maiden's but she wouldn't be expecting him to be able to return to that level of power or even beyond it.
Today was the first stage of that, getting back in the swing of using the power he had, becoming accustomed once again with wielding it with some level of strength and purpose. What Kisuke had done to remove the partitions that had been sapping that power had returned a great deal of his strength but he wasn't back to the level he was at when creating the Maidens, not even close. Like all expenditures of Aura it would take time for him to recover and rebuild it and it was the same with his magic.
Using it and practising with it would help rebuild it, just like exercise would help one physically. Getting those energies flowing and working again after such a long period of non use and attempted conservation would bring back a natural flow to it and help it replenish and grow.
Thus, a number of human sized training targets had been set up around the arena. Some were smouldering, some were scorched, some were covered in ice and others were dripping water. Ozpin stood perhaps thirty feet away from them, breathing heavily. His coat was off and his sleeves were rolled up. A light sheen of sweat was showing on his face.
"Well, it took some time to get the range right but in the end at least I was able to start hitting the targets consistently," he mused with a half smile.
"Are you alright Professor?" she asked him as she approached and handed him a towel.
"Quite," he answered, accepting the towel. "Thank you." He took off his glasses and mopped the sweat from his brow. "A bit winded but it felt quite invigorating. It was less strenuous by the end and was coming to me much more easily." He smiled. "Just like riding a bike, you never forget how but you might become a bit rusty when out of practice."
They moved to sit in the front row of seats and she handed him a bottle of water. "Does that go for your physical combat skills as well?" she teased gently.
He chuckled lightly. "I like to think that my many lifetimes of using them hold me in good stead but it has been a while since I've been in battle. It wouldn't hurt I suppose to tune those up a bit as well."
"A notion we should all pay heed to, to be truthful," Glynda conceded.
"Perhaps the staff should gather on at least one day a week to spar with one another," he suggested. "Fodder for our next staff meeting. It wouldn't hurt to at least throw the idea out there."
"I'm sure no one would be against it in principal," she said. "But finding the time to do it may be another issue."
"True," he agreed. "And I suppose I will be spending all of the free time I can find working on using my magic once again as it rises back to its former strength. Perhaps some combat practice as well."
"I am still a bit confused as to how magic even works," she admitted. "Is it separate from one's Aura or a part of it and does it have its own limits as to how much of it you have?"
"Hmm, I guess I never really have adequately explained how it works, have I?" he mused. "The quantity or capacity of one's magical power is a mirror to the amount and capacity of their Aura. Just as one can grow and strengthen their Aura through usage and training, the same can be said for magic. Aura is the catalyst that makes it work. Back when all people could utilize magic it was only those who used and worked with it the most that were capable of significant levels of power. Many simply used it as a tool to help make certain tasks in their day to day lives a little easier or even for simple entertainment and amusement."
He created a ball of flame in one hand and a swirling ball of cold in the other. As he had been doing all day he released them at a pair of targets. One was engulfed in a flash of flame, the other was coated in ice. "The average person could do this quite easily with a bit of learning and practice, but those who served the various Kingdoms of the day in the capacity of their military or more specifically their elite guards could do a great deal more, as could many adventurers, of which I was one. I would offer up a more powerful demonstration but that will have to wait until I recover more of my power and make sure that I am able to control it properly, otherwise you may have a great deal of damage to repair."
"I thank you for your consideration," she said with a slight smile. "I noticed that you were using the elements of fire and ice. Is all magic element based."
"It is not," he answered. "But that is the way that many tended to use it. Fire, ice or water, and even wind tended to be the easiest to learn at a basic level... after such things as displays of light like you and James saw me using in my office or simple kinetic force. Some people seem to have an affinity for certain types of usage but truly what can be done with magic is governed by imagination and power. Two cases in point would be my gift of power to the Maidens and giving the Branwen twins the ability to turn into birds."
"Those two things took a great deal of your strength," she reminded him.
"It did," he said. "And because of that I believed that my capacity for magic was finite and that large expenditures such as those could not be recovered but what Kisuke discovered and what he has done have proven that assumption to be incorrect. Now that the partitions within my soul have been removed and are no longer siphoning off the energy I needed to recover, I should be able to return to my former strength."
"That is something that Salem will not be expecting," she said.
"I am hoping to add something else to my magic arsenal that she wouldn't expect but it is not clear yet if it will be successful," he said.
"What would that be?" she asked.
"Kido. The magic of the Shinigami," he answered. "At some point Kisuke and I want to see if it is possible for me to use it. It operates differently than my existing magic does."
"How so?"
"Kido is derived strictly from one source of energy, the power of the user's soul," he explained. "According to Kisuke students of the art are taught how to gather the energy required for the spell within themselves in the appropriate amount and must visualize the designated form and effect of the spell. They also recite an incantation as an aide to them. There are two reasons for this. One is that it acts like a timing and visualization aide. As they learn they can use the chant as a device to bookmark when they should have reached a certain necessary action such as how long it should take them to draw the energy, at what point they should have it in place and ready to use, and then forming its final state in their minds eye just prior to releasing it."
"The second aspect according to Kisuke is that in the world of the Shinigami, the name of a technique or ability, all names actually, meant a great deal. An experienced and powerful user can cast a Kido without its incantation, but it may not be as powerful. It is even possible to cast it without even calling its name but to the same detriment. Only the most powerful of their kind could do either of those things without the spell losing much of its power. Reciting the incantation and calling the name of the spell would release it to full effect, and the more powerful the user, the more powerful the effect could potentially be."
"Taking the time to recite a chant in the midst of battle would be problematic," she mused.
"With practice and experience a Shinigami could recite the chant as they fought and not be distracted from either task," he said. "It is even possible that the incantation was meant to be an aspect of the name itself and is the reason why it means as much as it does to the spell's power so it would be a necessary element for many users."
"Do you think you will be able to use it?" she asked.
"Unknown," he answered. "Though Kisuke speculates that it is possible, but how powerful my spells would be is just as much of an unknown. Even if I am only able to use a couple of low level spells it may prove useful even if only for something like a distraction or to enhance some other attack."
"Any new or enhanced ability would certainly not be unwelcome," she said. "All the better if it is something she won't be expecting."
"Our two new teachers certainly fall into that category," he said with a slight chuckle. "Now that the layers of my soul that Yoruichi detected are gone they will get quite a shock the next time we see them."
"Given what they told us I would say that might be an understatement," she returned.
"And after that, I can tell them what I have yet to," he said much more quietly. "I did promise them full disclosure, which I have not yet provided. I am quite sure, as is Kisuke that they know that to be the case."
She frowned. "But you told them everything that you told myself and James and the others who are in the know. Are you saying that there is more to it all?"
He sighed. "I am. After speaking with Kisuke I came to realize that holding back any information, no matter how uncomfortable or distressing it might be for me personally, is not a workable situation, especially when it comes to those two. Their reasons for helping us even without full disclosure are their own, and I am grateful for it, but to hold anything back would only complicate matters."
"People may not always like the cold realities of the truth," she began. "But when armed with it one is always better able to form their own perspective and choose the path they wish to follow with certainty."
"Well said," he breathed, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them and displaying a new level of resolve. "In deference to your friendship and loyalty I will tell you first what I have yet to tell anyone else in regards to Salem. Trust is a matter of faith, a faith that more than a few have broken over the years and I fear that Leo may be the latest and that is one of the reasons why this is difficult. But I most certainly have faith in you Glynda and I am feeling a great deal more hope for the future than I had been."
"You make it sound like you had lost faith in this fight," she observed worriedly.
"I did," he admitted, shocking her. "And I have no one but myself to blame for that. My task had always been a monumental one and a few setbacks along the way certainly did not help. I will give you the short version of things, a deeper more detailed explanation will have to wait until we meet with Ichigo and Yoruichi...and James. He will be rather difficult to deal with I fear when he hears it."
She sighed. "Yes, I suppose he will. Perhaps Yoruichi can perform that spell again and tie him to his chair."
He chuckled slightly. "Yes, that may be advisable." He took a breath. "Even with the short version you may well be shocked and dismayed by what you hear and may also very well find yourself disillusioned in regards to myself and my actions."
She gave him a serious look. "Allow me to judge that for myself. I am more open minded than what my students may think me to be."
He nodded. "Alright, you are of course familiar with the fairy tale of the Girl in the Tower."
"Certainly," she answered. "A young woman was held captive in the tower of her father's castle for reasons that were never made clear, other than the implication that he was a cruel man."
"This tale is also true," he said, not surprising her. "As with a number of tales no names were given to the protagonists, they were simply the lonely young woman and the adventurous hero who rescued her. The adventurer was named Ozma," Glynda's eyes widened. "And the young woman...was Salem. The happily ever after at the end of the tale though was of a...limited duration. Two years later, I became ill and passed away. Despite her long captivity she was quite a wonderful young woman at the time, a far cry from what she is now, but her emotions were underdeveloped and she had not learned the harsh lessons of life that everyone else had or how to cope with them."
"When you passed she did not take it well I would imagine," Glynda speculated as she tried to wrap her head around this revelation.
"Indeed she did not," he confirmed. "In her distress she sought out the aid of the God of Light, imploring him to bring me back. He refused of course so she sought out his brother. The God of Darkness had no compunction about granting her request, irregardless of the sanctity and balance of life and death. When he found out however that she had only come to him upon being rejected by his brother, he undid his deed. Salem cursed them and they sought to teach her a lesson about the importance of the balance of life and death. They made her immortal. She would walk the lands of Remnant, unable to pass on until such a time as she had learned that lesson."
"They gave a grieving and desperate woman with underdeveloped emotions immortality as a punishment?" Glynda was incredulous. "That's...that's..."
"Impulsive and short sighted?" he suggested. She nodded. "Quite so and as you may expect it did not go well. After a period of time where she did indeed try and failed to kill herself numerous times, she began to scheme. Feeling that the Gods had shown themselves to be anything but infallible, she went to the various kingdoms and proved her immortality to their rulers and convinced them to rebel against the Gods. In time she amassed a force of kings and mighty warriors and marched to the territory of the God of Darkness, looking to gain her revenge. They attacked but the God of Darkness stopped their magical barrage with little effort and turned it back upon them. In doing so he killed not only them but every human being on Remnant, with the exception of Salem."
Glynda went pale and looked like she might be sick. "They killed everyone!" she gasped.
"Indeed," he said gravely. "Then they left, leaving Salem as the only living human on the planet until such a time as life once again returned to the world. The broken moon was a parting gift from the God of Darkness. Salem tried one last time to end her existence, figuring that if being immersed in the waters of the God of Light's domain had given her immortality, then immersing herself in the dark waters that spawned the Grimm in the domain of the God of Darkness would surely end her. She was wrong. Instead it altered her into the being that I have described to you all previously.
At some point after this I was visited in a place between the realms of existence by the God of Light and he made me an offer. He regretted the actions of his brother and wanted me to become immortal myself and find a way to guide humankind upon their rebirth into a race of beings that would live in harmony with each other and the world. I refused at first, not wanting to go back to a world where the woman I had loved was no longer present. He told me that Salem was still alive, but that she was not the same woman that I knew, that I would find only pain. I ignored his warning, barely heard his words actually and accepted immediately. I thought that if we were together again that everything would be fine. If something was wrong, I could fix it whatever it might be.
He left behind the relics and told me that when the four of them were brought together it would summon him and his brother back to Remnant and mankind would be judged. If we passed mankind would be made whole again and they would live among us once more. If we were not in harmony and still fought among ourselves then all would be destroyed."
"You loved her enough to take on that impossible task?" she asked.
"A highly foolish decision, I know," he acquiesced. "Especially considering that at the time I had little idea of what had transpired during the time that I was dead. I suppose I was also an enemy of my own nature at the time as well. I had spent the entirety of my life fighting injustice where I saw it and trying to make the world a better place. The foolish idealism of youth. One person can make a difference in the world, but they cannot change the world on their own."
"You thought the two of you could do it together," she surmised.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. " I did. We reunited but we both held a certain amount back from each other. As the only two in the world still capable of using magic and thus having a measure of power, she felt that we could shape and guide humankind in place of the absent Gods and I allowed myself to be fooled by what we were trying to accomplish. It was made all the easier by the fact that we had a family then and I was further deluding myself into believing that what we were doing would make a better life for our children."
"You had children?!" Glynda gasped.
He smiled wistfully. "Four girls, all with silver eyes and at least one had inherited our ability to use magic. We were actually quite happy for the most part even if I was almost constantly being gnawed by doubt." He frowned. "One day Salem suggested that in order to bring humanity together we needed to spread our word and destroy those that would deny it. I suddenly realized that I had been playing God while thinking that I was making a difference when all I was really doing was blindly following along and playing a supporting role to her lead. So I told her about my deal with the God of Light and she said that it didn't matter anymore. Why spend our lives trying to redeem humanity when we could replace them with what they could never be?
I finally realized what she was becoming...or more accurately, what she had already become and I could not continue on as we were. That night I gathered the girls and tried to sneak out of our home but Salem found us. We fought. We destroyed our home and...we destroyed our children. No matter how grievously I wounded her or how many times I killed her she simply came back to life. She killed me and I resurrected into someone half the world away."
"Professor...I don't know what to say," Glynda said, a quaver of emotion in her voice.
"You may do well to say that I was a fool," he offered sadly. "And you would be right. The Gods may have set the events in motion that created a monster, but I was too blind to see the monster she was until it was far too late. All I could see was the woman I used to know and love before my death, even as altered as she was. I wanted to believe that she was still the kind and gentle woman I rescued from the tower but there was no overcoming what countless centuries of isolation in her immortality had done to her."
"So from that point on you began to work against her," she said.
"Not initially," he said glumly. "I wasted several lives living in misery. Some spent in mourning, some spent just trying to forget but eventually I finally pulled myself together. I even had another family. I began searching for the relics and finally found the Relic of Knowledge. You could ask it three questions and then it would remain unusable for a century. I asked where the other relics were and what they did. With my third question I asked, 'How do I destroy Salem?' The answer was... 'You can't.' "
"What!?" she asked in breathless disbelief.
He held up his hand to stop her. "I've already despaired enough about it for all of us and once again I allowed myself to be a fool and it was Kisuke that made me see what should have been obvious to me even back then."
"What do you mean?"
"The question and the answer were very specific," he explained. "How do I destroy Salem. Not, can she be destroyed, or anything specific to another individual trying to do so. The answer was just as specific as the question. You can't. I felt a certain amount of responsibility and saw it as my burden to put a stop to her and that answer struck me with so much despair that I completely overlooked the specificity of both the question and the answer. Every effort I had made and every idea that I had in mind for how to stop her died on the spot."
"You don't have a plan to defeat her, do you?" she looked horrified and crestfallen all at once.
"I didn't," he admitted sullenly. "Until Kisuke made me see what should have been obvious. Just because I could not destroy her, did not mean that someone else didn't have that capability. Thus far I have been trying to keep abreast of things that would seem to fit her methods and of people she may be employing...with limited success it seems, and to ensure that the relics remain out of her reach. I don't wish to make it sound like an excuse, but since she prefers to operate in a quiet and subtle manner it is hard to determine just exactly what course of action to take. That doesn't excuse me however for my lack of action. If she has not left a hole to exploit, I should have found a way to make one."
"So does this mean that you have a plan now?"
"Not coherently, but we have things to work with," he answered. "Once the others are filled in we can put together a strategy to deal with what we have surmised is coming. As for Salem herself, that is something to be played by ear I'm afraid. But, even if I cannot destroy her, there are a couple of other options."
"Are you referring to Ichigo and Yoruichi?"
"Yes, and most specifically Ichigo's Zanpakuto," he said. "The very role and purpose of such a weapon is to deal with souls. While the afterlife as this world once knew it no longer exists, souls do still reincarnate, directly it seems without lingering since they claim to have never seen stray spirits wandering about. It is entirely possible that Zangetsu could destroy her even with her immortality. Yoruichi and Ichigo claim to be far stronger than even Salem is and I have seen no reason to doubt that. While their form of magic also still works, there is no telling though how many other principles of the former worlds still exist or operate as they did."
"If it works or does not, what is the other option you spoke of?" she asked.
"The silver eyes," he answered. "They represent the power of the God of Light and it may or may not be something that he left behind after making the deal with me. It could be intentional or it could be due to the genetics of someone capable of using magic. Maybe a combination of both. Since I don't believe Salem had any more children after our own, the lineage would have to have come down through me and the properties of my soul since I did. Sadly it is also a curse since Salem has hunted down anyone with the silver eyes that she could find. Miss Rose could very well be the last."
"Unless Salem has done so for no other reason than hatred they must pose a real threat to her then," Glynda surmised. Uncharacteristically she slumped back in her seat. "You have given me a lot to think about Professor."
"And sufficient reason to lose trust in me as well," he lamented.
"As I said earlier, allow me to judge for myself," she scolded. "From the beginning of the story where you rescued her to the point where you fought, you had been guilty of little more than being in love with someone and allowing it to lead your actions. You may have allowed it to blind you to what you were doing but you are not the first and you certainly won't be the last to be guilty of that. Immortal or not."
"I was playing God Glynda..."
She cut him off. "Did you choose to do so or were you dragged into the role? I may not have been there but I believe that I know you well enough to say that you did not seek to be worshipped by the people. If they did so it was of their volition."
"I didn't move to stop it either," he countered.
"Fine, give yourself a failing grade for that then," she continued. "I also know that you would not have done anything to harm those people either. Your feelings helped set the circumstances for what was happening and you got caught up in it and swept along. All that really proves in the end is that despite your immortality, you are still human. The scale may be larger, but the story is still a romantic tragedy."
She stopped and took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment and when she spoke again her voice was stern. "However, while I understand why you did so, you led us to believe that we could defeat Salem when you yourself were convinced otherwise and never even had a plan to deal with her. The possibility may exist now but that doesn't undo the damage. This wasn't just a lie, it was a deception, one that has endangered many and cost the lives of others who believed in the cause."
"Believe me, I am all too well aware of the mistakes that I have made and the toll they have taken," Ozpin said sadly. "I am constantly aware of that cost. Lost hope and my fears led me to not only make those mistakes but to compound them and it became a cycle I did not know how to break. I am sorry that I have broken your trust. That was not my intent."
"I know that," she said more gently. "And as I have said I understand why you did it. I may not like it, but my trust is not broken. Bruised, maybe even badly so, but it is not broken yet. I am not unfamiliar with making mistakes and then making them worse, it's what led me to become the way I am today in an effort to not ever do so again."
"Thank you Glynda," he said with utmost sincerity. "I truly am sorry and I will do my best to not further damage that trust."
"Well, someone has to be around to keep an eye on you," she chided gently. "And I do believe you'd be lost without me as your right hand so I can't very well leave you to your own devices now can I?"
"No, I suppose you can't." He let out a sigh. "I just hope that my error doesn't alienate Ichigo and Yoruichi. Kisuke does not think that it will, but I can't help but worry about it."
"I may not know them that well but I don't believe that it will," she said. "James on the other hand...I'm afraid that is going to be difficult."
"Yes, his reaction may well be the worst that we will see," he lamented. "And things may not go that well with Qrow either."
"Have you tried contacting him?" she asked.
"I sent a brief message this morning but I do not know if it went through or if he hasn't been able to check," he answered. "I will try again later."
"Obviously, we can't risk getting in contact with Professor Lionheart," she said. "And Shade's headmaster is rather flighty and always difficult to reach."
"I think for now we will have to leave them both in the dark," he said. "Especially since our immediate concerns seem to be centred here."
"If Qrow were here right now I might just steal his flask," Glynda said, as she sat back and let out a long breath. "I find that I could really use a drink right now."
The Dockside Cafe
"Are we early?" Yang asked. Two tables at the end of the outdoor patio where they had been seated the last time were set and ready with a reserved sign on them, but there was no sign of their teachers.
"No, we're right on time," Weiss answered, consulting the time on her scroll.
"There they are," Ruby said, pointing across the street to the stairs that lead down to the waterside park. Ichigo, dressed in blue jeans and a dark blue collared t-shirt was just stepping up onto the sidewalk from the stairs. Yoruichi, wearing jeans and a pale yellow blouse was riding on his back, her arms loosely looped over his shoulders and her legs hooked around his waist with her sandal clad feet crossed to secure her hold.
"Yo!" Ichigo called in greeting as he crossed the street. Yoruichi gave them a grin and a wave.
"So is this a regular thing?" Yang smirked, looking up at the purple haired beauty.
"Sure is," the were-cat grinned. "I like riding my Ichi every chance I get."
Six got it immediately, one took a moment, and the last...
"You must really like piggy back rides," Ruby said innocently.
...it went right over her adorable little head. She didn't notice when everyone else face faulted behind her.
"Yup!" came Yoruichi's amused response as she hugged her husband tightly. "They're the best, especially with Ichigo as your horse."
"He must be really good then," Yang commented, quickly getting back up. No opportunity for innuendo should be missed after all.
Yoruichi winked. "He certainly is."
Ichigo just shook his head in amusement. "Okay everybody, lets have a seat."
They did so, with Ichigo and Yoruichi sitting at the end by the railing just like last time, while Team RWBY ended up on the left side of the table and Team JNPR on the right. There was also some teasing from a certain sunny little dragon about how her dear little sister just happened to end up sitting right next to Ichigo. Plates of small appetizers were delivered and they all ordered something to drink, mostly sparkling fruit juices. Coffee and tea could wait until dessert.
After a quick toast to all of their hard work... and the hard work yet to come, Yoruichi got down to business. "So it seems that Ichigo and I have presented all of you with a bit of a conundrum." She was grinning of course.
"That is certainly the case," Pyrrha said, surprising everyone, including herself, at being the first to speak. "It has been a very lively topic of discussion."
"That's for sure," Yang said. "We were talking about it again on the way here."
"Come to any conclusions?" Yoruichi asked.
"Just that the only explanations that seem possible are the ones that shouldn't be," Weiss huffed.
"Would you believe that the same stories you've been chasing and discussing are part of the reason why we came to teach at Beacon?" Ichigo asked.
"How so?" Ren asked.
"The day we had lunch with Ruby she told you the story we told her about our confrontation with a giant old King Taijitu," he began. "Professor Goodwitch overheard the part where she described us and Pyrrha recognized those descriptions from a history book she had read."
"We had met both her and Professor Ozpin a few years before," Yoruichi continued. "So she recognized our description. She was curious about the historical reference so she brought it up to Professor Ozpin and they did a little digging and found the same things you did. She came to see me the next morning asking about it and we agreed to meet with Professor Ozpin." She grinned widely. "He told us some stuff that no one else knows, we told him all the stuff you want to know about us and we decided to come and teach."
"Wait, the Headmaster already knows?!" Nora asked. She seemed a little put out that someone had gotten the info before they did, even though they still didn't have it.
"We wanted to become more involved with what's going on in the world and working with and through Professor Ozpin was a good solution," Ichigo explained. "Exchanging some information was a matter of establishing trust between us."
"Does that mean you don't trust us?" Jaune asked. The other's looked at him like he had just said the worst thing possible but their hosts didn't see it that way.
"Anything but," Yoruichi answered. "From the beginning we've intended to tell you about us and about a lot of other things too." She looked to Ichigo and her face took on a bit of a dejected look. "Getting involved in anything without having all of the information you need is not a good thing."
Ichigo put his arm around her shoulders. "And you know Kitten that I don't hold that against you and I never will."
"Um, so what is it about you guys and those stories?" Ruby asked nervously.
Ichigo and Yoruichi looked at each other and smiled, "It's about time," she quipped.
"Took long enough," he returned.
Their guests were a little confused, even more so when they heard Blake groan. "What is it?" Pyrrha asked.
"Guys," Blake began. "With all of the research we've done and all of the discussions we've had, there's one thing we haven't done."
Ren was the first to understand. "No one has just come right out and asked."
They were all silent for a moment before collectively groaning. Their host's just chuckled. "So, are your improbable conclusions the same as what Pyrrha told me about or have you concluded something else?" Yoruichi asked.
"No," Weiss sighed. "It's still the same. Nora says you're aliens and Ruby's going with immortals."
"Well," Ichigo said grinning. "One of them is actually correct."
"...What?!" they all exclaimed.
"And the winner," Yoruichi began, now smiling again. "Is the cute girl in the red hood."
They all went wide eyed, none more so than Ruby.
"Aww, I was hoping for aliens," Nora pouted.
Yoruichi pointed to Ichigo. "I get it. It's the hair isn't it?" He just rolled his eyes and gave a playful tug on her ponytail.
"This...this..." Weiss stammered. "It can't be possible!"
"It's not just possible, it's the honest truth," Ichigo said. "We won't lie to you and we wouldn't make something like this up just to mess with you. Letting you chase those stories around just for our amusement would have been cruel and a waste of your time."
"One of the biggest reasons we let it go on was that we wanted to see how you would attack it and we were impressed," Yoruichi said. "There was something you wanted to know and you started tracking down every avenue that you were able to."
"A lot of the things we may have said that tipped you off a bit actually weren't intentional," he admitted. "But there were a lot of things in our own past experiences that would be useful lessons for you on how not to do certain things and those just sort of came out as we were teaching."
"And, to be truthful," Yoruichi said. "I think were were getting tired of keeping the secrets, of living a life where you couldn't let people get close enough to you where they might find out. We may have each other but that doesn't mean that we don't want to have others that we can share our lives with. Any of you who have lived in the limelight and had your own level of fame or notoriety can probably guess what life might be like if the world knew you were immortal." Weiss and Pyrrha both nodded gravely. "Letting a few people that you trust know about it...well that's a whole different dynamic. One that I think we can live with."
"You trust us all enough to tell us about yourselves and to keep your secret?" Blake asked.
"We do," Ichigo said seriously. "Since we started teaching you we've gotten to know you all a little and see your character. We know that we can trust you."
They were all struck by that. They liked their new teachers and enjoyed their interactions with them both inside and outside of class. Having their trust like this meant a great deal to them.
"Thank you," Yang said quietly and with a warm little smile on her face. She looked to her right and giggled. She pulled Ruby's hood up over her head. Her big, beautiful silver eyes were wide and shining and she was practically vibrating in her seat. "Easy there little sis."
Ruby didn't even complain or pull the hood back down. This. Is. Is..."
"Awesome?" Yoruichi finished for her with a grin.
"Yeah!"
Everyone got a chuckle out of their junior member. She was a formidable fighter who would only become more so and was proving to be a good leader and they all respected her. But she was also that bright light of optimism and innocent good cheer that made the day brighter for all of them.
"Dolt," Weiss lightly admonished through her own smile. This whole thing, well it was absurd and they hadn't even gotten beyond the admittance stage yet. But, she would be lying to herself if she couldn't admit that there was something intriguing about the possibilities they had discussed, even if she never let anyone else hear those thoughts and espoused the exact opposite out loud.
"So what can you, or what are you willing to tell us?" Ren asked.
"We'll tell you everything," Yoruichi answered. "Keep in mind though that it is a very long story so it's going to take more than an afternoon to tell it all and you may well hear things that will be a little overwhelming. We'll start with what's relatively recent history for us but there are going to be things that won't totally make sense or that you won't fully understand until you hear the whole story so remember that for context."
"How far back does this whole story go?" Weiss asked.
"That's a tricky one to answer," Ichigo said. "Since we aren't entirely sure ourselves but it has to be thousands of years."
They were all left with their mouths hanging open. "First bit of 'we'll get to the finer details later' context," Yoruichi said with a chuckle. "This world, Remnant, was not always what it is now. At one time it was a physical world like this attached to a number of other dimensions. We were part of a battle against a being that seemingly had god-like abilities and who wanted to remake the worlds to his liking. Ichigo defeated him, but the damage that had already been done destabilized everything. The world and its linked dimensions crashed together and the end result was Remnant."
For the most part they were all stunned into silence. "You defeated a God?" Nora asked in a near whisper. It was tinged with just a little bit of fear. He could see it reflected in the faces of the others as well.
"It's debatable if Yhwach was really a god or not," Ichigo said, a little downtrodden by that hint of fear. "I had some timely help from a friend that allowed me to strike the killing blow, but while we won that battle we lost the war. Things immediately began to fall apart. Literally. As the dimensions all began to collapse Yoruichi and I grabbed onto each other. We were sure that we were going to die."
"Instead, we woke up on what is now Remnant, in Mistral, something like four hundred years ago," Yoruichi continued. "We have no idea how much time passed in between but as Ichigo said it had to be thousands of years."
"Out of all of the histories you've read most of them were pretty accurate," Ichigo said. "There were a few little embellishments and a couple of stories that were outright wrong or made up, but the most accurate of them all were the accounts written by Stonebridge."
Again, shock all around. "But that can't be right," Blake spoke up. "He claimed that you had a Faunus child, but neither of you are Faunus."
"He also believed that you were responsible for the Five Great Geographical Anomalies of Remnant," Pyrrha added.
"And he was right on both counts," Ichigo answered. "Our daughter Masaki was indeed a cat Faunus and to know how that can even be remotely possible will be explained when we get to some of the more distant past."
"As for the anomalies," Yoruichi carried on, her tone becoming sombre. "When we first awoke and for quite a while after we were not in good shape. Everything and everyone that either of us had known was gone and nothing about this world was familiar. We blamed ourselves. Billions of lives, billions of souls...all of our friends and families...gone, and we were all that was left. We hated ourselves, we argued and fought and nearly drove ourselves insane." A bitter chuckle escaped her lips. "Hell, we may very well have gone insane for a while. Those anomalies were created shortly after we discovered the Grimm and what they were. Soulless creatures that to our senses stank of the pits of Hell. We were barely in control of ourselves and we took it all out on the Grimm."
"Each site of an anomaly was crawling with Grimm and some really big and old ones too," Ichigo said. "Which was pretty understandable since the damn things were everywhere and we were giving off so much negativity that it drew them like an all you can eat buffet. We'd start fighting them and they'd come by the hundreds."
"Since we woke up in Mistral, that's were the first one happened," Yoruichi continued. "Do you remember in one of our early classes when Ichigo mentioned a technique I have called Thunder God War Form?" They all nodded. "It's a far more powerful version of the technique you saw me use against the Goliath's on the video we sent Ruby. In a classic case of overkill I used it on the huge amount of Grimm that were coming at us and I destroyed a mountain and nearly all of the Grimm that were there."
"You blew up a mountain?!" Ruby exclaimed, wonder and awe competing with fear in her voice.
"Unfortunately," Yoruichi said. "After that we just picked a random direction and went looking for more Grimm. It was like an obsession that we used to try and not think of everything and everyone we had lost. Next was what is now Atlas and Ichigo carved the Grand Crevasse with a Getsuga Tensho, then Vale and I blasted out the Vale Deeps. After that was the Glass Scar in Vacuo and the Cratered Foothills on Menagerie, created with other techniques Ichigo has available to him. It was at Menagerie that we started to come to our senses and realized just how messed up and how out of control we were and how much damage were were doing. We may have been killing tons of Grimm but we were leaving nothing but destruction in our wake. The only saving grace was that we were killing the Grimm and not the people."
There was nothing but dead silence and the stunned and incredulous looks on the faces of their students, looks that also seemed to contain more than just a little bit of fear and made them sag in their seats like a pair of marionettes whose strings had been cut.
"This was a mistake," Ichigo said sadly. His hand sought out Yoruichi's under the table and she grasped it tightly. "Why didn't we think that they might be scared of us after hearing this?"
"Because that power is what we have and what we know," she said quietly. "Many that we used to know or fought were powerful and we never thought much of it. We haven't even used our power at that level in well over three hundred years. I guess we were guilty of thinking it would just be seen as some old story. Maybe somehow we didn't think they'd believe it so readily."
"We were rampaging monsters," he said. "Everything was pain and rage and self loathing. Kind of hard not to inspire fear with that story." He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I'm sorry. This isn't what we intended."
"I'm not afraid of you." The soft yet determined words came from his immediate left.
"'Ruby..." Yoruichi began.
"She's right," Yang said cutting her off. "I can't speak for anyone else but it's not the two of you that scares me. The idea that someone can even have that kind of power, never mind being able to use it...that's what scares the hell out of me. We may not have known the two of you for very long but you've never done anything to make us fear you. If anything, it's been the exact opposite."
"You've done nothing but give us reasons to admire and trust you," Pyrrha said. "That kind of power is frightening to contemplate but every Grimm that it has destroyed is a Grimm that wasn't able to kill or terrorize anyone else."
"We weren't exactly in control of ourselves," Yoruichi reminded her. "We barely knew what we were doing and everywhere we went we altered the landscape."
"You said it yourselves," Blake spoke up. "You had lost everything and everyone that you had ever known and you woke up in a strange world. I think it would have been a miracle if you hadn't been badly affected by it. It's certainly not on the same scale but I think we've all lost people and had bad things happen in our lives that have left us broken and doubting ourselves. It's hard not to when the planet is crawling with Grimm."
"The fact that you have both recovered from that trauma to become the people we know and trust is nothing short of remarkable," Ren said.
"And as you also said," Weiss spoke. "You were killing Grimm, not people. If you had truly been out of control, if you really were monsters, you would have killed anything that you saw. You didn't."
"The day we had lunch you said your name means 'he who protects', " Ruby said, looking up at him. "That's what you were doing even though you were hurting so bad. Even if you didn't know it."
"I can be pretty dense," Jaune spoke up. "I know that, but even I get the difference here. The thought of that kind of power does scare the heck out of me too. But after what I've experienced so far with the two of you teaching us, the only fear I have is of disappointing you by not trying hard enough."
"That power is part of us," Ichigo reminded them. "Kind of hard to be scared of one and not the other isn't it?"
"You seem kind of determined to have us be afraid of you," Yang said.
Yoruichi sighed. "Guilt complex. We hold ourselves responsible for the destruction of our worlds so when we feel like we've done something wrong we start shredding ourselves for it by default. It's a bad habit we can't seem to break."
"Yeah well we're not afraid of you and we aren't going to be so you'll just have to get used to it," Nora said like it was really that simple. "That mean's there's nothing to feel guilty about. Even if you're not aliens."
Yoruichi blinked. "...Well, I guess we've been told haven't we?"
"Yeah, I guess we have," Ichigo echoed.
It seemed to dawn on them at that moment that while no one present was in any position to forgive them for what they saw as their failure, it felt like they had been forgiven all the same. Maybe that wasn't the intent, maybe they genuinely saw no reason to fear them despite what they had heard or maybe they were guilty of youthful ignorance...they hadn't been there to witness their uncontrolled display of power after all. Either way, it did feel like they had been forgiven. It made them both ask themselves why it was that after all of this time, why was it that they still had such difficulty forgiving themselves?
If these eight young people arrayed around them could hear what they had and still see them the same way as they did before, why couldn't they just put the far away past behind them and just get on with it? That's why they had decided to finally settle down in Vale to start with wasn't it? Start fresh, start new, and stop alternately running away from and wallowing in the past?
"That's good because all this down and depressed stuff doesn't suit the two of you at all," Yang said with a grin.
"Yeah, you guys are always so much fun to be around and to learn from," Ruby chirped. How could you still feel bad after an endorsement like that from the little reaper herself?
"I take it then you'd like us to continue on with our story then?" Yoruichi asked, still not quite believing what was happening. The unanimous answer was yes.
Soon enough the pothole they'd hit earlier was behind them as they related their story since awakening on Remnant to a very attentive audience. As the afternoon progressed the whole thing began to feel rather familial to them and it wasn't due to the feeling of some familiar souls among them.
Later that night as they sat on the roof of their apartment building watching the moon they would realize that something had changed, or that at least something was really in the process of changing. They weren't the only ones who could claim a share of failure for the loss of their worlds yet the guilt of being the sole survivors made them take the entire weight onto themselves and it was what was keeping it there. After the day spent with their students it felt like that weight was beginning to shift and was beginning to lose its hold on them.
The decision to settle down and stop roaming had been the right one. The decision to come to Vale had been the right one. The decision to join Ozpin's group, despite not getting quite the whole story, and according to a message from the Headmaster that would be rectified on Monday, had been the right one. The decision to become teachers had been the right one. It really was beginning to feel like this was where they were supposed to be and what they were supposed to be doing. There was a rightness about it that they couldn't deny.
It couldn't be as simple as their students having such trust and belief in them when they'd had so much difficulty in believing in themselves, could it? But just maybe that was the little spark they needed to finally get that old wound to close and find their peace.
AN: Hopefully this wasn't as bad as I fear it might be...right now my objectivity is shit so my self opinion means nothing.
Sadly, I have even less idea what to do with the next chapter than I did with this one.