Here we go.

Cover Art: Aristeo Storm

Chapter 56

Qrow would be lying if he said he thought his actions through.

Twenty years, he'd been a professional huntsman. Twenty years of trusting his instincts and the fruits of years of hard labour and training. For a huntsman, those who ignored their instincts died.

The same could not be said for a time-traveller, it turned out.

He realised the difference in his new body's capabilities and his old when the faunus sensed him and turned at a point where Qrow had only covered half the distance. If he was his older self, he'd be on her already, catching her flat-footed, but she had the time to sneer and jump back so she could keep both him and the other huntress in sight.

"What's this!?" she spat. "A child helping? So much for the vaunted grim reaper!"

This is embarrassing, thought Qrow. A professional knew better than to talk in a fight – but this wasn't a failure on her part. It was a glaring pointer to the fact that she didn't consider him enough of a threat to take seriously. Worst part is, I'm not sure she's wrong!

It was too late to back out. Qrow lashed out with his sword and caught one of hers, making sure to track the other out the corner of his eye. Her response was quick, if uninspired, a sudden slash across at neck-height. Fast, enough that it would have overwhelmed most people his age, but not exactly clever. The woman was acting like he was chaff to be dispatched with a single blow.

Locking his sword and hers, Qrow displaced the dagger and caught the second sword, surprising her for half of a second before he felt his feet leave the floor. Her blow was too strong – and he too small. Qrow let himself flow with it, focusing on keeping her blades away as he discharged his shot from the sword not with any hope of hitting her, but just of firing a dust round right up in front of her face.

Like him, she had instincts drilled into her, and hers was to flinch back and disengage, even though she was winning. The faunus jumped back even as Qrow was launched the other way. He landed in a roll and flipped back onto his feet. One pass, one exchange, and it was already clear he was outmatched.

I hate this body! I was the strongest huntsman in Vale and now look at me!

"Run..." croaked the huntress he'd come to save. The woman staggered to her feet and took a step between Qrow and the faunus. "Get out of here."

"I can't," Qrow said, with reasonable logic but unreasonable calm. "We're in the middle of nowhere. If I run, she kills you and then hunts me down. Our best bet is fighting together."

"You're a child!"

"Death doesn't discriminate."

"Ha ha ha!" the faunus boomed, one hand on her thigh. "Oh wow, I like you, kid. That's a good one. But I'm a little behind schedule so I'm going to have to clear this up." The woman reached down to a clock on her waist and pressed the top. "Sixty seconds is all this will take."

Qrow readied himself, only to lose balance when his own ally pushed him aside and out the way. The faunus hadn't even gone for him! His ally shoved him down and raced in to deal with the fight on her own, leaving Qrow to scramble from the unexpected move. Being underestimated sucked, especially when he was older than this damn huntress was! Biting back his anger, Qrow forced a breath. He'd berate the idiot later. For now, he had to help without becoming a burden because, like it or not, his body wasn't yet in its prime.

Without knowing how his "ally" fought and having any teamwork with her, the two of them getting in close to double-team the enemy was a bad idea. They'd just get in one another's way. Instead, Qrow skirted the fight and tried to get behind the faunus to give a psychological advantage. No one liked being flanked, and the faunus would be forced to adjust in an attempt to keep him in view.

Such was the idea, anyway. Qrow got behind her and right in her blind spot, and yet she flat-out ignored him. Didn't care at all. It was the first time he'd ever come across it, and it spoke of either supreme confidence or insulting arrogance.

He wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Kneeling, he took aim and placed his shots from a short distance, being careful not to unload and accidentally hit his ally. The first shot struck the faunus right in the middle of her back. Even with aura, there should have been some reaction to a dust round hitting and exploding. The impact alone should have knocked her off balance and given his ally an opening, to say nothing of the distraction caused by the pain or muscle spasms. He'd just shot a damned bullet into her spine for crying out loud; there should have been some reaction.

There was none.

The shot struck and exploded but she acted like she hadn't felt it, and the second did the same right at the base of her neck, in what was sure to be a delicate spot for even the most hardened huntress. The third round hit her left shoulder blade to similarly empty results, and it was then that Qrow realised it wasn't just him.

His ally managed several shots in the rapid melee with her twin weapons, some of which blasted right up into the faunus' face. The blades found their marks as well, and yet never seemed to leave a mark. Tellingly, the faunus didn't try and deflect any of them, and had turned into an all-out whirlwind of attacks with no thought for her own survival.

"Something is up here. The way she's fighting makes no sense – there's no defence, only offence. That's not sustainable. You can't make every fight a matter of aura reserves." Qrow racked his memory but this person didn't come up. "Must be a Semblance. The clock, maybe? Time control? No, that doesn't make sense. But it must be related..."

Qrow licked his lips and dashed in. He came in low, sword stabbing up into the woman's side. As he expected, it hit true but skirted off with no noticeable damage – not even a sucked-in breath from the impact. It wasn't that she was ignoring the pain; it was that she felt none. The woman glanced down and saw him, bared her sharpened teeth and lashed out with a violent knee, catching Qrow in the chest.

He was thrown back once more, and the "grim reaper" pushed her moment to try and protect him. Landing on all fours, Qrow shook his head and looked down at his left hand.

With a smirk, he got back up.

Hopefully, this'd work out.

/-/

Maria knew she was in a bad spot even before the kid intervened. Her escape toward Vale had been thwarted by this bitch, and she was certain she was working with Salem. Ozpin's information network was failing if he hadn't forewarned her, and she'd be having stern freaking words with the guy when she made it back.

When, not if.

Because if Maria Calavera was going to die then it wasn't going to be to some freak who sharpened their own damn teeth! With a snarl, she managed to catch both swords on one of her scythes and lash out under into the faunus' stomach.

Not for the first time, the faunus simply grinned as she took it.

This blasted Semblance of hers! There has to be a weakness! Invulnerability simply doesn't exist!

Maria ducked as the swords came for her head. She wasn't used to being on the defensive for so long. The benefit of two weapons and being a silver-eyed maiden was that she had a lot of offensive tools at her disposal. Enough that she could usually go on the offensive from the start. Aura helped with that, too. Her twin scythes were also just poor weapon for blocking, given the wooden handles and curved, sickle-like blades. They weren't thick or straight like a sword designed to catch another weapon and hold against it.

Worse yet, the brat.

He came in again under Maria's arm and struck his sword right up between the faunus' legs as if to give her a steel enema. Even the most hardened huntress (and especially huntsmen) would flinch at that, but the faunus ignored what should have been searing pain, aura or no. The kid stabbed again, right up into her crotch, but she just kneed him in the face.

When one of the swords went for a stab, Maria had to shoulder the faunus away to stop it. The woman stumbled, giving Maria a chance to grab the boy's collar and throw him back.

"Get out the way!" she roared. "You're not ready for this!"

He shouldn't even be out here in the ass-end of nowhere, but here he was. Assuming he wasn't a runaway, she could only imagine she'd somehow strayed close to a student from Beacon roaming far for training. Gods, she hoped not. This was going to be a bad enough meeting with Ozpin without explaining she got one of his brats killed.

"She doesn't defend!" he hissed. "Her Semblance must be resilience!"

"I bloody well know that!" she snarled, with but a brief moment to realise it was smart of him to have figured it out so soon. "She can't be harmed – all the more reason for you to—hngh!" Maria almost buckled under the mad assault, gasping as a sword nicked her shoulder. "Damn it!"

"Time to talk?" mocked the faunus, leering down on her as she hacked and slashed. "I think not!"

Her aura was running on fumes and her legs buckled. Maria squeezed her trigger and hit the bitch right in her stupid face, but she didn't flinch back. The faunus drove her blades down and kicked savagely with her leg, causing Maria's knee to buckle out with a horrific snap. A ragged cry was torn from her lips as she fell.

"Nighty-night!" hissed the faunus, raising both swords high.

Maria's aura fizzled.

With her last bit of strength, she flung her arm wide and tried to bury one of her scythes in the woman's ribs.

A shadow fell in front of her.

The brat – the damn fool – leapt before her and brought his sword up, one hand on the hilt and the other on the flat. Twin swords struck down from a great height, and the stupid idiot thought he had the strength to hold it. To hold a fully-grown huntress who had the advantage of height and strength.

He did not.

His arm buckled and his sword fell, bracing against his shoulder and breaking something. The sound wasn't unlike dry twigs snapping, and the kid grunted. That was it. Less of a cry than her. Using his shoulder, he forced the swords off him and to the side, twisted his own and stabbed at the faunus.

The faunus made no attempt to block it, of course.

Why should she?

That was why it was such an apparent surprise when her body flashed and flickered, her eyes widening briefly before the kid's sword pierced into her sternum, and Maria's scythe punched into her flank, right beneath her ribs. Their weapons practically met in the middle of the criminal huntress.

Blood splattered from her lips onto the kid's face. "W—What...? But how...? I still—"

"Have time?" mocked the boy, twisting and wrenching his word free with his one good hand. It was an uncharacteristically violent motion for a kid his age. He let the sword fall and pulled something from his pocket. A golden stopwatch on a chain. "You lost track of this – and with it, your time limit."

Maria's eyes widened. The fuck—?

"Wasn't sure if it was important or not, but you activated it before using your Semblance. Only reason you'd do that was if keeping time was important to you." He laughed hoarsely. "Such as if you needed it to warn yourself when you need to switch from all-out offence to defence. Bit of a risk to steal it, but you were too focused on her and too quick to dismiss me as harmless."

The faunus' eyes widened as well, as did her smile, bloody teeth shining. "What a cheeky brat..." she whispered. "Well played..."

She fell back, dragging Maria's weapon out her hand as she hit the dirt. Dead.

Killed by which one of them, Maria wasn't sure, and it was most likely a combination of both her and the kid. Maria swore in her head, cursed herself as a failure for letting a kid stain themselves like this for her sake.

I knew I was getting old but this... this is too much. I need to up my training.

But for now it was time to make sure the kid wasn't about to break down.

"Hey..." Her voice came out gruffer than she meant it to, mostly because of the pain. "You okay?"

"I'm fairly sure my shoulder is broken or dislocated," he replied. "But, aside from that, I'm fine. Aura is at a good level. You?"

It was a terser response than she expected. Clinical. Professional. The kind one huntsman might give to another in the field to save time. "Alive," she replied in kind. "Aura low, not critical. No noticeable injuries."

"What about your leg?"

The reminder had the pain coming back. Maria hissed. "Scratch that. Might be broken or dislocated as well."

"Great. Looks like we might have one whole person between the two of us." This was too surreal. Shock, maybe? She was going to go with shock. Maybe it hadn't filtered into his head what he'd done yet. "So, you need to ID this one or shall we leave her to rot?"

Or never mind; he was apparently very aware and very callous.

"I'll take a photo," she said, accepting his help in getting up. Maria fished out her scroll and snapped one. Ozpin could look it up later. "Otherwise, to hell with her. Now what is a kid like you doing out here?"

"Field trip."

"Field trip?" Maria spat, for a moment assuming he was mocking her, taking the piss, but his deadly serious expression had her pausing. "Field trip...? Seriously?"

"Yep. Beacon field trip. My team is camped nearby."

Huh... well... That was a thing. It was a miracle she hadn't put more children in danger then. Maria winced at the thought, and again at her leg. It felt dislocated to her, in need of someone to set the bone, which meant no trekking off on foot.

"You say camped..."

"Yeah. Hang off my good shoulder and I'll help you hop there, grandma."

"G—Grandma!? I'm not that old!"

"Old enough to almost get killed by a younger huntress."

"Cocky brat!" she hissed. "If your shoulder wasn't ruined, I'd make you eat dirt for that one!"

/-/

Gretchen had always known her partner was strange but not even she expected him to come back from what Peter told her was checking animal traps supporting an injured woman and covered in blood.

"What animals did you trap!?" Nessa cried. "And how did they kick your ass so badly!?"

The woman snorted. "Your team?"

"Yep. We got any fish for an old grandma?"

"Fucking brat!"

While the team would have loved explanations, there were far more pressing concerns. Peter and Nessa hurried to help the woman to sit on a sleeping bag dragged out a tent, and then hovered around Qrow, unsure what to do with his shoulder. It looked awful. The arm was bent back at a funny angle. Gretchen thought she'd be crying if it was her. The woman's leg wasn't that much better, either.

"Did Grimm do this?" asked Peter.

"I'm not so old a Grimm could do this to me!" snarled the woman. "Look, just call your teachers or whatever. I'm not in the mood to join your camping trip."

Oh. Right. That sounded like a good idea. Gretchen didn't know why she'd thought they might have to look after the two of them like this when this obviously counted as an emergency. Gretchen hurriedly tapped in the number while Peter offered the woman some cooked fish.

"Ozpin speaking. I trust this is an emergency situation, Miss Rainart."

"Y—Yeah. We kind of have a huntress that's crippled, and Qrow has a broken shoulder, and they're covered in blood and—" Gretchen pulled the scroll from her ear to ask, "Is there anything else I should tell him?"

"Tell him the one responsible is dead," said Qrow.

"—and we have a dead body!" Gretchen reported, a little hysterically.

There was silence down the line. And then, "What...?"

"Give him here." Qrow waved with his one arm. Gretchen obediently handed it over. "Hey Ozpin. Yeah, it's me. Been one of those days. We've got this old grandma here – I think she's foreign, because she doesn't seem to understand how to say `thank you for saving my life` in our language."

"Brat!" the woman hissed. "I will beat you so hard your family will feel it!"

Qrow pulled the scroll away. "He wants to know your name."

The woman snatched the device. "Ozpin, it's Maria. I was located. Yes, it was probably a targeted attack. Alive, but unable to walk. I need an extraction, and this brat of yours needs one as well. Pulped his damn shoulder getting involved in what he shouldn't. What are you teaching your kids nowadays?" There was a pause, and then she scoffed. "Little late for that. We're covered in blood. Stay where I am?" she mocked. "What, you think I'm going to get up and walk off?" Maria hung up. "Asshole."

Gretchen looked to Peter and Nessa.

They both shrugged.

"Adrenaline", Nessa mouthed, as an excuse for why the two of them were acting like they either hated one another or were old best friends. Gretchen had heard people could get chatty after a life or death situation, and Qrow definitely wasn't this casual with people normally.

"You know, your sister and her team are going to freak when they hear about this," said Peter.

Qrow winced. "Shit. You think we can keep it secret...?"

Peter looked at the boy's arm, which would obviously need a cast. "No."

"Damn..."

"Um. Qrow." Nessa crept closer. "Doesn't that... hurt...?"

"Nope."

Her face showed shock. "Really?"

"No, of course not really!" he hissed. "My shoulder is a pulped mess! What do you think?!"

"Ah! Right, right! Sorry!"

"It's what you get for being an idiot and getting involved in something you're not ready for," the huntress, Maria, said.

Qrow's response was to roll his eyes. "That's a long winded way of saying `thanks`, grandma."

/-/

Their airlift came within twenty minutes and took longer because they had to collect stretchers for Qrow and Maria. Ozpin landed first and spoke quietly to the woman before leaving in the direction of the body. When he came back, he was grim-faced but did his best to hide it for the sake of the team.

"Well, you'll be thrilled to know this is the fastest a team has ever failed this exercise."

"Failed!?" Nessa cried. "Surely this doesn't count!"

"Mr Branwen left the perimeter. That counts as a failure."

"Bullshit!" Qrow howled. "I saved a life! If I had two arms, I'd strangle you!"

"However," the teacher said, amused despite the mood. "I'm prepared to let the matter go given the extenuating circumstances. Sadly, this exercise is a necessary part of your curriculum so we'll have to find your team another way to be tested. It won't do any good to let you off this and then find out after you graduate, that you have no idea how to survive in the wild. However, in the interests of fairness, there is an exercise later in the year on battlefield rescue. I'm content to count this as your passing grade for that and then switch that exercise out for a repeat of this one for your team."

The team relaxed. "Thank you, sir," said Peter. "Then we'll be leaving with you?"

"Yes, I rather think so. Mr Branwen needs medical attention, as does Maria, and there is always a risk that companions of the criminal might come to the area."

"What about the other teams?" asked Gretchen.

"Worry not. We shall dispatch teachers to keep an eye on them and the area."

"Don't tell my sister," Qrow begged. "They'll only freak out worrying and poison themselves on mushrooms."

"Oh, they've already done that."

Qrow gaped. "Seriously...?"

"Oh yes. It's not bad poisoning thankfully, and we've decided it's safe to let them suffer the consequences. Last I checked, they were busy playing `pick the scapegoat` and blaming one another for it."

Qrow laughed. That sounded like them. He winced as pain shot down his side. "Ow."

Ozpin sobered up. "I suppose that's our sign to leave. You'll be having a meeting with me in my office once you have been seen by a doctor, Mr Branwen."

"Not Tsune, please. I beg you."

"Whom...?"

"Oh, right. She isn't here." Qrow sounded a little out of it, but threw in, "Some doctor from Mistral. Forgot where I was."

"Lets get you laid down, Mr Branwen. All of you, onto the Bullhead."

/-/

Maria hated meetings, but she hated crutches even more. The fact that Ozpin chose to hold it down in a ground floor office was a mercy, because she figured she'd hate stairs even more, and his usual office was a little higher up.

"And you're sure she was sent by Salem?"

"As sure as can be. You got anything from cross-referencing her face?"

"Yes, a wanted killer known as Tock. Apparently, her Semblance was said to be a time-limited invulnerability Semblance followed by a moment of complete defencelessness. Does that sound right to you?"

"Yeah, it does." Maria grunted angrily. "Any reason your kid would have known of it?"

Ozpin was surprised. "Mr Branwen? No. Not that I can think of. Why?"

"First thing he did was steal her stopwatch. It was what she used to keep track of her time limit." Maria was still annoyed at herself for not thinking of it but, in all fairness, she had been a little preoccupied with defending her life. "Either the kid has the quickest mind I've ever seen or he knew her before."

"Hm. Well, Mr Branwen's past did have him growing up with unsavoury sorts," Ozpin said. Maria leaned in but he shook his head. "It's not my place to say. The boy hated it regardless and fled with his sister to Mistral. Either way, it's not impossible his people could have met with or harboured Tock in the past. I'll have to ask."

"Hngh. You do that. Tell me what he says."

"I shall." Ozpin smiled for a moment. "Out of curiosity, what do you make of him?"

"The brat? Cheeky little prick," she spat. It wasn't just the grandma comments; she could look past those. It was how he constantly reminded her she owed him some gratitude. "He's strange, Ozpin. I'd say he's too good but he isn't. He's held back by his body and could do with a little more physical training. But it's just the physical. When it comes to instincts, his must be pretty damn honed if he thought to steal and stop her stopwatch mid-fight."

"He also rushed in to help you."

"No shortage of altruistic idiots in schools, Ozpin. That's not unusual."

"No. Not that. I mean that he identified you as the legitimate huntress in the combat, and Tock as the criminal. From your account, he was instantly on your side. Odd, I'd say, given your... less than friendly appearance."

Maria crossed her arms. "What does that mean?"

"Maria, you were a grimm reaper mask and wield scythes. You don't exactly dress in a way that screams respectable huntress. Do you?"

Great. First she had to deal with a cheeky brat and now she was dealing with a cheeky old man. Never mind the fact that Ozpin, as he was, was younger than her. That didn't matter because Maria had known the old him. The one before this one, who had died of old age and then come back in the body of the man before her.

"My aesthetics aren't what we're here to talk about."

"I know. I know." The bastard chuckled, far too amused with himself. "But it's related. Mr Branwen decided to trust you over her, which was the correct decision but not an easy one. That could lend credence to him knowing Tock from before, but, if that's not the case, then it speaks to him being a rather good judge of character. To be fair, he's surrounded himself with good friends, so that may not be all too unlikely."

"Unlikely. Sure. I'll tell you what's unlikely, Oz. The fact that he killed someone and laughed about it after. Joked with his friends."

Ozpin frowned. "You told me you scored the killing blow."

"I said that in front of the kids so they wouldn't think badly of him," she said. It was a rare moment of compassion from her, and she'd not wanted him to have to deal with it. "But even then I was expecting him to challenge me or said he did it. Or break down. But he agreed. Just up and lied, letting everyone believe it was me who did it. That's not right, Ozpin."

"I know."

"You know?"

"That it's off," he clarified. "And I've known Mr Branwen is unusually mature for his age. Much of that can be attributed to his past – which I'm afraid I am still not telling you. Needless to say, he's been around the sort who would make light of the taking of human life. And he's had to adapt to protect himself and his sister."

Maria sucked in a breath. "Ozpin—"

"To my knowledge, this is the first time he's taken a life, so I'm not suggesting I let a serial killer into Beacon. This implies he might have once before, but I trust it would have been in self-defence. I could ask his sister but I'd worry of losing what trust he has in me. I'd much rather speak with him directly."

"I want to be there."

"I'm not sure..." Ozpin relented as she glared at him. "I shall ask him if he is okay with that but it's not really your place to pry." He paused, adding, "Unless you're taking an interest in him...?"

"I hope to hell that doesn't mean what I think it means."

"I mean that you're not getting any younger and could take an apprentice..."

Maria grunted. "Somehow, what you just said annoys me more than the suggestion I'd have lustful intentions toward a child."

"You're approaching middle age—"

"My fist isn't broken!" she threatened. "I can still lamp you!"

"Ahem. Well." Ozpin couldn't quite hide his smile. "It's something to think on, no? You're going to be grounded for a while given your injury, and if you're that worried about Mr Branwen's allegiance then what better way to keep track of him?"

Maria scoffed. "And this isn't you investing in the future?"

"I'll admit it. The boy holds potential."

"You said that about me."

"I didn't lie. You did hold potential."

"And I don't have any now?"

"You reached it, Maria. But the war never ends and there must always be another generation. There will come a time where your potential is but a memory, and at that point there must be another to take your place."

Growing old sucked, Maria decided, but the thought of taking on an apprentice? She couldn't say she liked that anymore, especially not when it was such a rude and cocky brat. Still, Ozpin had a point that she'd be stuck here a while and bored out her mind otherwise.

"Tch. I'll think about it."

Next Chapter: 23rd November

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