Ollo
REAPER IN RED
Chapter 48
Qrow Branwen. That was his name. I watched, panicking silently as he strutted up to the front of the classroom, reaching into his belt to put out a silver cannister, taking a giant swig from it. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, running up into the crux of his elbow. Screwing back on the cap, he placed it back onto his belt.
"Hi kids." His gaze swept over us all. I averted my own eyes. "Yang."
I jumped up, turning to Yang. "Sup, Qrow." She gave a little wave.
What? How? Those two knew each-
Wait.
Qrow. Qrow was the name of Yang's uncle. How had I not put that together? I wanted to scream. Was it a scream of annoyance, anger, anguish or fear? I wasn't sure yet. All I knew was that I really wanted to scream and maybe hit something, but I was sitting in the middle of a class, surrounded by huntsmen-in-training, directly across from an expert huntress, as well as a huntsman who was apparently the elite of the elite.
More importantly, he was a murder. An evil, heartless murderer who killed my mother.
I was furious. And scared. My heart pounded in my chest, filling my head with static.
Qrow hopped up onto Professor Goodwitch's desk, earning a scowl from her. Go Goodwitch. Get angry at him. Kick him out of class. No! The school. No! Just kick him. And then send him out of the school.
"So, what did Ozzy want me to talk about again?" His voice was light, even with the gravelly texture. It was very off-putting.
"The Headmaster wished for you to discuss your path to becoming a Reaper Hunter. And once more, I must remind you that this isn't Signal. Please refrain from taking up more than your allotted time?"
Qrow Branwen shrugged, scooting back further onto the professor's desk. I didn't like -or maybe I did?- the look Professor Goodwitch was giving to the huntsman right now.
If looks could kill.
"Well ya see, students." The expert huntsman took hold of his cannister, fiddling with it in his hands. Not so much going for another sip of whatever was inside, but definitely thinking about it. "I want you to throw out whatever stupid, little, preconceived notions you have in your fat heads about Reapers. Because trust me, they are probably all wrong. Actually, no. I'm kinda curious what people are taught these days. Glyn, can I call on your kids?"
"Professor Goodwitch," the professor corrected. Qrow nodded.
"Thanks Glyn. So, tell me what you lot know about Remnant's favourite people killers?"
I'm not sure if I was imagining feeling my desk crack in my grip.
"There there," Qrow said pointing at us. "The dude with the pink hair stripe."
"Lie Ren, sir." Ren said as he stood.
"Just Qrow is fine. No need for that 'sir' mumbo jumbo. I kill things for a living."
"All we have learned about Grim Reapers thus far comes from discussions on the Battle of the Plains of Araguba. Killing Reapers consists of slices to the neck and possibly the use of fire, though it's unsure if fire does real damage or not."
Qrow growled, pawing his cannister. He twisted and then untwisted the cap of it.
"Good enough I suppose. A cut to the neck is a sure-fire way to kill one of them. The sure-fire way to kill them. Nothing else works from what we've tried. Oh, and don't even bother striking their cloaks. Nothing you do is getting through it. Don't matter how hard you hit it and from whichever angle. Tire yourself out on that piece of fabric and you're a dead man. And don't even bother try to remove one from a Reaper either. Those things are attached to them. It makes them near impossible to kill from any direction except the front. The perfect position for them to kill you first."
"Mr. Branwen. That isn't what you're here to discuss." Professor Goodwitch voice seemed to have risen a pitch or two. Maybe it was because all my friends seemed to be going wide-eyed at the man's description of us.
Our cloaks weren't that hard, were they? Impenetrable, sure… But they were so soft and comfortable! And they looked so nice. Made out of pure shadow. Did they think that our cloaks were, what, a part of us? Like skin? No! That was crazy. Cloaks were cloaks. It's just, why would we take them off?
Then again, I've never actually tried to take it off before. It just wasn't something I've ever thought about trying. Huh, maybe something to think about in the future.
"Fine, what was it again? You wanted to know how I got to where I'm at now?" Qrow smirked, coughing out a hoarse chuckle as he downed another swig from his cannister. "Started out as an ASCO for maybe half a year with my team. We all did pretty well in it before my partner got asked to do a mission in the small town of Desuvu Ari. Forester mission and all that. Don't bother looking it up. It don't exist any longer. We 'failed' and all that. Us and about two other teams. We got out pretty lucky. Only lost one of our own. Anyways, we all worked together a bit longer in the Forester gig. My teammates retired and hooked up." He held his cannister out towards Yang who ducked and held her face in her hands.
"My semblance doesn't like that sort of thing; being in happy, peaceful towns. So I had enough experience to become a Grey Huntsman. Did that for far too long. Then took the Reaper examinations and here I am."
"Excuse me, what's a Grey Huntsman?" Pyrrha Nikos asked.
Professor Goodwitch gave him a dirty expression. He rolled his eyes. "You know how sometimes there are bad people in this world? Thieves and drug dealers and crap? Well, sometimes those bad people have huntsman training and experience. And sometimes those bad people are a little more bad than others. So us not so bad people are sent to make sure the bad people go sleepy-poo for good."
I heard Weiss suck in a breath.
"Anyways," Qrow continued on, waving his hand as if to brush away his last thought. "The Reaper examinations weren't as hard as they sound. The main thing is making sure you have the right movement patterns to handle Reapers. So don't bother training yourself up to be a Reaper Hunter if you don't use a curved weapon. Your muscle memory is pretty much locked down by this point and it doesn't make much sense to switch into a weapon you're far less suited to, just for the small chance of killing Reapers. You need something like a sickle, scythe, or some sort of curved blade polearm. 'course, you always have the chance with any sort of weapon, but you really need to get in there behind that hood and yank off that head in one fell swoop."
He made the sickening motions of jabbing and ripping with his arms. I could feel myself getting a little green. Maybe lightheaded too.
No, I was not in the mood to enjoy my own pun.
Qrow shrugged. "Anyways, you spend about a year or so in a team of four. Just like you lot, I suppose. After, you start going out on three-man missions, then two, until finally you are able to solo your first Reaper."
There was some mumbles from the crowd of students. I could barely hear their whispers about meeting 'such a cool huntsman' or 'soloing Reapers is badass' or even 'he's hot for an old guy'. My heart was just pounding in my ears.
My magic was on the frits. I squeezed my eyes shut as tight as I could make them, trying to get a better hold on myself.
"Any-"As Qrow went to speak, he paused, cocking his head to the side. "Anyways, there are definitely some fun stuff to be learned from Reaper Hunters. Not that I'm going to teach you any. I'm… semi-retired let's say. I do a few missions here or there to help me pay for my drinking problem which I got from going out on missions. And I mostly teach at Signal Academy. Basic hubbub. You just caught me at a good time; just getting back from a mission."
Qrow frowned, scratching at his neck in a way that was eerily reminiscent of Yang. "Or, I guess tall, moody and bookish over there caught me at a good time." He shrugged, scooting off professor Goodwitch's desk. "Anyhoo, I'll be around for the next few days. Relive my glory days at Beacon and all that. Maybe find some monsters to kill. Y'never know when something needs a killing before they kill you."
His eyes flickered over the entire class.
I did my best to make myself small and as unnoticeable as possible.
I glanced over at Blake.
Her eyes flickered away from me, looking even more depressed than she did when she arrived.
"Now class, are there any questions for Mr. Branwen before we end for the day?" Professor Goodwitch said, barrelling through Qrow's insistent outburst of, "Qrow" when the professor referred to him as a mister.
A hand was raised. "Mister Winchester?"
"How many Reapers have you killed?"
"Classified." Qrow said, all too quickly.
"Really?"
Qrow let out a chuckle, waving off the question. "Nah, not really. Just not something we tend to bring up. Like, we don't really know how many Reapers there are, compared to… say… Ancient Grimm. What was the stats, Teach? About fifteen dozen per continent?"
"An estimated sixteen," Professor Goodwitch corrected.
"Sure," Qrow continued with a small acknowledgement to the teacher. "Sixteen dozen Ancient Grimm. So, if we think that Reapers are something similar to them, then it makes sense when experienced huntsmen have only killed two or three in their lifetimes. Now, to pipsqueaks like all of you lot, especially you, Yang-"
"Hey!"
"- who've only really fought regular ol' Grimm and maybe the occasional zombie horde, those sound like rookie numbers. How many Grimm have you killed during your entrance exam? A dozen Grimm? Two dozen? More? Quantity don't matter much when you get to this level. Next question."
He looked around the room. I ducked my head as his gaze roamed passed me.
Yang's hand rose.
"Yes, I do enjoy hearing myself speak."
Yang's hand fell.
"Are Reapers really as scary as everyone says they are?" I could feel Weiss freeze as that question was asked. Even Yang seemed to go wide-eyed at it. I didn't even want to risk looking at Blake's response.
I wished I could have stood up and told everyone that Grimm Reapers aren't scary. We're helpful and kind and we do what we do to help humans. And that there were much scarier things than Grimm Reapers.
Instead, I had to listen to Qrow.
"Yes." His answer was fast, but not so much in a joking manner like Cardin's question. "Reapers are scary. Some of 'em will not hesitate to-"
He glanced over at Professor Goodwitch before continuing.
"-anyways, there is a reason why hunting Reapers isn't for the faint of heart. Nine times out of ten, when we're sent on missions, we won't see any Reapers. Sometimes it'll be a strong witch, or necromancer. Maybe an ancient Grimm or something else like that, that people mistake for Reapers. So, it's not like we see that many. But when we do… let's just say that I'm glad it's rare to find truthful sightings of Reapers within the walls of our kingdoms. And let's leave it at that. I'm here for a bit and I need some shut-eye as well as to find Glynda's liquor cabinet to stock up."
The class shuffled out, chatting away happily at meeting a real life Reaper Hunter. Yang went over to talk to Qrow, while I made a half-hearted excuse about needing to use the bathroom, to dash out of class at record speed.
Thousand Masks - Gotta love those cliffhangers
Alucard45 - There is a third potential option you are missing here. :P
Dragonqueen1993 - So, so, so many hints.
Sonikah - answer points to yes
Dragon Lord Draco - Gonna be a fun next few chapters
firewyrm2 - Wouldn't you?
TM Calypso - To be fair, Blake is still very much in the process of freaking the hell out
Mexicat03 - wise words
lasereye27 - I hope so too!
Guest - hmm, lots of interesting theories you have there
Shadow Walker of Fire - That entire chapter was pretty much written with the express purpose of ending it with a Qrow reveal. :P
Sm0keyPanda - Most definitely
See you all once more for the thrilling conclusion of Reaper in Red!
Ha, no. There's still a whole bunch left to go.