…
Paige woke up in her bed.
No casts.
No stitches.
No bruises.
No pain.
Damn it. Another fucked up nightmare loading segment before life tears me back, right?
She checked around for some indicator to tell the time.
A finger settled on a hair clip, and grasped it.
… Wait. This… What's this thing doing on her side table?
This isn't a clip.
The "thing" in question confused her, until she eventually slid over some raised segment.
Shi-
A soft blue light emerged, and Paige winced at… her computer? Weird. I didn't think I plugged it in last night. "Heeeeeeeigh. Gotte emell."
Her head hit the wall touching the bed a second later.
"I'M UP CAS-FUCK."
Uuuuuugh. Walls hurt. Don't lean so far back next time. Paige reached to the back of her head, trying to feel for the injury site.
Pain. I felt pain.
…. She smiled with pure joy.
"Sorry, Cass! I'll watch my language around Nyx!" she shouted out.
… Paige opened her eyes blearily. She noticed the walls weren't the normal coloring.
...
…
Wait.
There was also, besides the light walls, a slightly disturbing lack of a hand painted drawing. The not-there drawing in question had been of a little purple star, placed in between a figure with white stripes for hair, and a weapon wielding individual fending off twisty shadow creatures.
Paige was, as noted before, slightly disturbed by the fact that it was gone.
While looking around, she started to hear a small keening sound from a distance. Is there a fire alarm elsewhere? she wondered.
Paige stood up, slowly, and checked her computer.
She had an email.
Her hands tightened in fear, and she tried to discover the contents of the email as best as she could without selecting it.
[Hello, We are notifying you about your absence from the academy. Please contact us with your location.-]
Phew. It's safe to say this is an acceptable mail to read. Actually? It's a great mail!
"Hey! Cass! Did you re-apply to that one teaching position at Nyx's school?"
… Silence. Paige smirked.
"You're tryihg to get back at me for sleepin in, Eh?" she whispered in a mumbling voice.
She prepared to enact a stealth assault for her intended revenge, an incredibly malicious and dangerous tactic that involved three intricate steps invoking all her skills learned in her long and varied career path:
1: Sneak up on Cassandra.
2: Show affection.
3: Bask in her flustered glory.
Paige prepared her first strike carefully, silently walking to the door of the bedroom, listening for any sound.
There was very faint breathing. Nyx, two doors down, in her room.
Paige slowly opened the exit, looking left and right down the hallway to spot her target. She instead walked directly into a tall figure, which she hugged vigorously.
"Ha HA! You have fallen for my stealth assault!" she crowed victorious.
"Mrs Woods. If you excuse my language… How the fuck are you here?"
…
Rough voice.
Paige's eyes slid up to the black hair.
She also noted the broad shoulders.
The voice that gave no shots, shits, or shouts for anything she did that he found problematic. He just spoke like sandpaper and gnawed at her feelings until she got things done right.
"Brandon? What the hell are you doing in my house?"
…
He glared at her.
"You died."
"Whaaaat? Nooo! Phsaw. I'm fine! Fit as a-"
… Paige froze as her head synched back into her body.
Qrow stared as he saw her face fall open with a silent look of… something sad, before slowly pulling itself into a still gaze.
She leaned back, and started to sneakily return to her room.
...
...
...
"Hiiii Qrow."
"We're meeting the headmaster. Now."
…
"I'm going to get dressed first."
"You only have one pair of clothes."
…
Paige reloaded to her emotional save a few talks back and went to a mixed degree of professionalism.
Point taken.
The two of them began to walk to the headmaster's office.
"You missed two lectures with Port."
"Don't guilt trip me. I didn't know your nieces were that broken."
She waited for his smug expression to fade, and it did. Just… annoyingly.
"Care to explain how in the world you escaped your infirmary bed with two broken legs, a destroyed arm, and a crushed spine?"
"… Qrow. You know my ability."
"Which one? You keep making up so many, it's like you're an encyclopaedia of weird semblances."
"First one."
… He grew silent at that.
"Then how did you do all this?"
…
…
"Would you believe if I said…"
She took out her hands in a swooshing rainbow gesture.
"Wooooooooh! Magic!"
…
"Nope." he said, popping the 'p' sound.
… Ah. That sucks.
…
…
They went through the grounds, and in a quick fashion that included a quiet elevator trip, ended up in front of the headmaster without difficulty.
..
"Hello, Mrs Woods. It's been some time since we had a talk."
He smiled slightly. "Is there anything you'd like to discuss first, or should we be into the main discussion now?"
Paige gestured a go-ahead, then slumped into a chair that was probably brought up just for this. It looked jarringly modern.
"It has come to my attention that you were, according to all medical science, killed from internal complications after a fight with some of my students. Yet, here you sit. Do you care to explain how that is possible?"
..
You… smarmy orator.
"I came back. I have things to do."
He sighed. "How?"
"I told you the first time we met. I, being "the kid", can't die."
"This is your… actual semblance, then? Or are you suggesting you used Aura and healed yourself from eight injuries that would require medical miracles to remedy… in three days."
"If I just wave my hands and say 'I believe in magic", can I be excused?"
"No."
Well, it was still worth a shot.
"Will you explain why you are choosing to remain here in Beacon?"
Paige muttered, "Nowhere else to go."
"What is, to clarify now, your Semblance?"
"I have a semblance of giving two fingers up to death."
Paige made a little "v" by holding up the first knuckles of her middle and pointer fingers.
…
Nobody reacted badly. Weird.
"Yet my students killed you."
… Yeah, yeah they did.
"It's technically because I was handicapped.. Practically, I'm a normal person with magic powers. I can't throw a bomb miles into atmosphere unless I use magic, unlike this freak here."
She added a comment. "But besides that, it's fun to learn about your lackings in experience. They're skilled kids compared to the wreck I was before getting spontaneous freakish powers."
Ozpin watched her.
"How old did you say you were?"
"23."
"This magic. How old were you when you acquired it?"
"20."
"How did you get it?"
…
You killed me and took my power.
You killed my sister and took her power.
You killed my wife and took her power.
Paige tried her best, but it seemed a bit too out there for her to say that she fought and killed the previous (albeit insane/evil) possessor of this "magic."
…Can she even say she's safe to work with this academy if her abilities were stolen through murder?
… Paige. He's watching you.
I say you're fine! I like keeping you alive!
…Paige. I don't think you really stole all your power. Blair's working with you willingly.
….
"Mrs Woods?"
"It's…hard to… explain."
"I think there's very little that would surprise me, Mrs Woods." Ozpin smiled.
Paige contemplated that. Or… the voices in her head contemplated it, and she listened:
Really? Is he sure about this?
…Isn't he really old? I mean… they seem young, but I also seemed young and I was three hundred and something from Angie messing with me.
Woods. Hardys. You three fought undead animals, met and fought a girl who it is said turns into petals, a magic swordswoman, and a woman who seemed to be an Angeline fan girl. He's probably honest here.
Paige sighed a long laborious sigh and told the truth.
"I, a 20 year old untrained librarian, was hunted by some woman that had a magic power, and I inadvertently took it from her when I killed her."
…
…
…
…
Paige could have sworn she heard someone say "Interesting." but she couldn't entirely tell who, or even if anything was even said, so the silence stretched on further.
"People!" Paige cried out "That's weird as hell! Why are you all not saying anything in response?"
She just proceeded to sit there as they looked at her, then each other.
Then the headmaster focused on her, and even if she wanted to speak further, which she did, she chose not to.
Ozpin's look could have silenced an entire library. You just knew it was serious.
"That event is why you believe in magic?"
Paige shrugged. "Yeah. Also, remember I had my feet frozen in place three days ago? Or that I explained I've been hunted by evil demon creatures for thirteen years of my life? You all found me in a forest I cleared out single-handedly? I used a spell on this man here, and you all SAW it happen?
"You used your Semblance on me."
She turned to stare at Qrow.
"Y… It's ALL magic! You fight magic creatures! I teach about magic creatures! I think magic is real, because it's been ruining my life until I found out how to use it!" she frantically tried to get the words out of her mouth, watching them like they were insane.
She breathed in, exhaled, did this twice, then straightened herself.
… "It seems we are confused about terminology. Next question, please."
"If we're confused, I'll try to clarify the terms. Your ability to share your experiences. You are, in a way, sharing your soul with others?" Ozpin said.
Page looked at him gratefully. "Thank you. Yes. That's exactly what it is."
"That's your Semblance. The manifestation of your Aura, or soul."
…
She closed her eyes. "Then what do you call magic? That seems pretty magical to me."
….
Ozpin gestured to Qrow. "Branwen, if you please."
He glanced at him after a moment, and raised his eyebrow.
"You're going to have to clarify what you want me to do, Oz. Am I starting story time, or something el-"
…
..
..
.
Ozpin raised a hand.
"Ah. You could have just said that."
Page tightened their forehead and palmed their face. "Is something meant to be happening here?"
…
...
..
They opened their eyes, and were face to face with a very disgruntled corvid.
…
Blair lost her mind for a bit, and Paige groaned from the sound of cheering and weeping in joy.
CORVUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSS!
Shut. It.
She groaned, and clutched her head like a hangover. "How does that…? Please explain."
"Magic."
"You sure the guy named Qrow Branwen has no good reason to turn into a bird?"
In a moment, she had some clarification in the form of a man leaning on the desk and talking.
"I have a semblance of unluckiness." He explained with a smirk.
"You literally turn into a crow, mate. Of course you're unlucky."
Qrow frowned. "My semblance is literally bad luck."
…
…
"I… asked you to…."
"Sure did."
She spat out a reply. "Fucking hell."
He grinned. "I was the worst person to ask."
"Still fails to prove your point. You turn into a crow, and so your ability passively grants you bad luck. That's just a cleverly planned way to hide that you're a shapeshifter."
"Why do you think I'd want to hide this if it's just my Semblance?"
"Oh, I don't know…" she muttered. "Because it's useful to not let people know that you can just turn into a bird? Flight, stealth, disguise, you can just steal shiny shit easily, superstitious folks avoid you… it's incredibly useful."
….
Ozpin glanced back from the window as their banter concluded.
Well, she does have a fine point there. I suspect we need to reveal a more… indisputable piece of evidence.
"That makes some sense, except people cannot have multiple Semblances." Ozpin explained. "That's like saying that a person has multiple souls. It just doesn't work."
… "Multiple personality disorders?" she offered.
"You are still, at heart, one person then. Your mind just believes you're multiple people, you aren't actually multiple souls in one body.. It's very different."
…
"What's the difference then? They're basically the same thing. What distinguishes semblance and magic?"
…
"I presume you actually have an example that isn't a joke on nominative determinism, Headmaster."
"It's not."
Ozpin began. "Have you ever heard the tale of the maidens?"
…
Page stared with wide eyes.
"Maidens." she whispered.
He chuckled softly at her reaction. "Many children's tales often hold some small grain of truth in their origi-"
Qrow interrupted.
"Ozpin. At this rate, you're going to give her an aneurysm. She looks terrified. Can you just reduce this so I at least don't have to hear it again?"
…
The wizard looked at the man who was exasperatedly holding back his annoyance at the ensuing history lesson. He also saw the woman watching him with a look of surprise that did appear to be starting to careen into horror.
"Mrs Woods. To put the truth very simply, the maidens are real."
… "-and you… ahem…killed one."
She said nothing. He originally would have called her face one of a person facing death, but he knew that she had faced it already, and then was acting like nothing weird had happened.
It was astonishing to him that Atlas had ever let this young woman out of their possession, but that was going to be discussed later, with more relevant people and research.
So, despite all you must have faced…. why are you so frightened?
…
…
…
The cataclysmic shifting of this young woman's entire worldview must have been horrible. He waited for the questions to begin, and he was willing to answer them all, within reason.
…
…
…
Ozpin started to feel that dropping such a thing on a person was not an excellent idea so early. He began to restart the discussion.
She breathed out before he could even begin.
"How many?"
"Four."
…
…
….
Fuuuuuuuuuck.
"Just… recap the story again?" Paige slowly asked.
Qrow groaned quietly. "Okay. Four girls. Each represents a season. They get magic. If they die, the magic goes to whoever they last thought of. Got it?"
"… Yes."
…
Paige looked up.
"Wait a moment. You said seasons. So… "
She counted it out with her hand. "Maiden Winter, Maiden Spring, Maiden Autumn, Maiden Summer?"
Ozpin replied. "An… interesting way of talking about them. We'd say Fall Maiden, Summer Maiden, Winter Maiden, and suchlike, but that's not the real point. The actually important thing is that, as the rule goes, you are now one of these individuals."
….
… She paled like a ghost.
Ozpin smiled slightly, but it wasn't entirely a comforting smile. It was more a subtly confused expression.
… This begs the question… which one are you?
"Four."
"Yes."
"Four maidens."
"Maidens, the number of which are four, correct."
Ozpin couldn't tell which she was, and this unnerved him. So, he asked directly. Or, he would have, if the young woman didn't cut to the chase.
"Do you have the names of them all? I need to know which one was Moon, so I can curse her name properly."
…Moon?
"Moon. As in the celestial body?"
"Moon. Called herself Maiden Moon. Tall woman, white skin, white hair, red eyes, the whole albinism. Made big lights and burned alive an army of shadow creatures because she felt like it and roamed the Earth without dying for however many centuries because she was in the worst place at the worst time and gives me third degree burns Maiden Moon. Which one was she?"
"To my knowledge… I can't help. That person isn't one of the maidens I know, since maidens don't share physical appearance and names. However, I would presume she was the Summer Maiden, for obvious reasons."
…
Page was silent, then quietly spoke. "Ah. From all the fire and light and stuff. That… makes some sense."
He watched the young Page slowly inhale.
"I apologize for my unprofessional behaviour. I just don't like learning I have to take responsibility for accomplishing her idealistic "Save Everyone" goal."
"You have no forced responsibility that comes with the dying wishes of the previous maidens. If the previous maiden gave you a request to complete her own personal goal, you have no magical obligation to fulfill it."
"Okay. Good to hear that I'm not going to be held to her impossible self standards and expectations."
She stood up. "May I be excused? I have lecture research and lessons to be getting back to."
Ozpin let her go.
"Qrow. Please help her find her coworker?"
He walked out and quietly looked at him as they went into the closing elevator.
We're going to talk later. was the obvious message.
….
…
…
"Oz." Qrow spoke calmly as he walked back into the office and leaned down on the hardwood chair.
"Be honest to me here. How much of a problem do we have on our hands right now?"
…
"It depends." he replied in a polite voice.
"On? We have no information that Summer died, and this person who we so coincidentally find just so happens to know Salem by name, just so happens to be the inheritor of the abilities of the one maiden we didn't know the identity of? THAT seems pretty bad, so-
"This is not Salem. I would know if she was active, Qrow."
… "What?"
"I don't tell you everything. You know this. But, I can tell you one thing for sure. This isn't her. There's far too much that could have gone wrong in this."
He watched Qrow calmly.
…Qrow sighed. "So we have two maidens, now?"
…
Ozpin stood up, and walked to the side of his office. He watched out over the academy, as Qrow flickered around the room, unamused at what appeared to be the introductory segment to yet another monologue.
"It does appear to be that our academy is the landlord to yet another maiden tenant. It's rather interesting how they keep coming when you least expect it, don't they?"
…
"Is this a problem, or not?
…
…
…
"Ozpin."
He turned away from the window, dawn sunlight illuminating his form in a gleaming hemisphere.
"How much of a problem is having a fifth maiden?"
…
…
…
Qrow's face fell into a flat stroke.
"Oz. You're bad at jokes."
…
…
…
He watched Ozpin's unchanging expression.
"You're serious, aren't you."
Ozpin smiled.
"As serious as our current Summer Maiden. It turns out that when I called her while you were walking Mrs Page to meet her colleague, I had perfectly timed my call so I interrupted a wedding proposal today."
Ozpin tilted his head slightly. "She was not pleased."
…
Qrow snorted. "Okay. Thanks for the hilarious clarification. I was going to go ahead and get knocked out for a week there."
"I would advise you to not drop your maiden supervising role. You remember how it went last time."
He looked at the headmaster.
"Firstly, that's also not a clever joke. That's an insult. Secondly, we have a homebody maiden here. She's done… what, one trip to Vale, two lectures, two spars, and only eaten a bread roll. This may be the easiest time I ever had to supervise someone."
"Then please, I give you permission to head off and do said supervising."
…
"Ozpin. I'm not going to do this halfheartedly. Standing around in her classes is pretty suspicious. I'm tracking her scroll, weapons, coat, shoes, the whole thing. I won't be here all the time, though. I still have a huntsman job to do."
"Oh, yes. Would you care for me to help get you some support, or are you not interested? I know of a few skilled unrestricted hunters around Vale currently."
… "May be useful. I'll notify you when I need to head out so you can get some prep time for it."
He waved his hand in a gesture to sign that he was leaving. He was done here.
…But, the elevator didn't register properly, so he had to begin waiting uncomfortably.
Damn Semblance.
A small chime came from behind him.
Guess Ozpin's started on his work. I'll try to leave him to I-
"YOU BASTARD! WHAT IN REMNANT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"
A woman appeared on Ozpin's holographic projector, her face covered by a niqab, and her eyes flaming and furious.
"Hello, again. Mrs… ahem… Alsha."
"Stop the annoying pseudonyms! YOU just interrupted one of the biggest days of my LIFE. WELL! SCREW! YOU! I'm going to book our honeymoon to Vale!"
"I'm glad to hear you're visiting the city. I think you'll enjoy it.
… The eyes flitted to the side for a moment, the momentum lost.
"I do think it's probably be really lovely. We already found some nicely priced places to stay- …But THAT'S NOT THE POINT! I think one of the best moment of the trip is going to be when we do our obligatory meeting in person and I take the opportunity to physically show you I'm in peak condition by kicking you in your insufferable bal-"
Ozpin walked to his desk and turned off the call.
Qrow blinked in shock at the vanishing image.
"Was… that a woman who's really angry at you for ruining her wedding proposal?"
…
"Yes."
…
"And her eyes glow like a maiden's."
… "Yes."
…
Qrow's face was going to smile, but his muscles mutinied in annoyance as his grimace breathed out, "-aaaand she's currently in… Vacuo?"
"Interestingly enough, she is, Qrow."
…
"You were…. serious?"
"I often am when the situation calls for it."
…
"So, I think that means we are facing a massive problem on our hands right now, right Oz?"
…
Ozpin thought for a second. He raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, Qrow. I believe we may be. After all, the significant shifting of a major tenet related to one of the most vitally important secrets in the world must have some kind of ramification, correct?"
…
…
"You know, I don't think I like sarcastic Ozpin that much."
The man in question sighed a long harrowed sigh. "That makes sense. I've worked with one of the best at the art. He can be very hard to endure. You're excused, Qrow."
Qrow tapped the elevator button to head down. Before he left, he spoke.
"I'll do my best to make sure we don't get a second Amber."
"I hope you do as well."
…
Qrow began to head back to his makeshift office room. This.. was going to be a long, long day.
Ozpin returned to his work.
Messages came in after a few minutes.
["If this was just the set-up to a joke… the punchline was … horrible, and in no way worth giving me a panic attack.
"That was, in fact, the current Summer Maiden calling to tell me that she's planning on attacking me. I am not that skilled at setting up comedic timing."
"…Damn it. That's not even funny to me right now."
"I apologise for your loss of humour, and thank you for your continued service. Please break a leg, Qrow."
"…"
"…"
"You know that's just going to" … make me break both legs."
"Apologies. I did not."]
..
..
..
Ozpin turned to some of his paperwork and closed his messages-.
"Why did you call me?"
Ozpin paused and glanced up at his desk, where a holographic screen was floating.
"Mrs Sweetchild."
… "Ozpin. Your pseudonyms are as bad as your humor," the woman muttered through her niqab. "Why did you call me? Also… what's this about me getting married again? I thought-"
"I thought that I said you shouldn't speak unless it was confirmed that you were not compromised. Secondly, I've been rather consistent with Sweetchild, and since the situation requires it, I went with Alsha, and had that backstory prewritten."
Her voice softened slightly. "That was Qrow Branwen here before. You could have… I don't know… told him?"
Ozpin stared like a cliff face.
"I was trying to tell if you were dead."
…
"Why?"
"If I hadn't known any better, I would have said that I just met the new summer maiden. After all, we did have issues with Fall. I didn't want Summer to have been next.
…
That's all you need to know. Stay where you are. Goodbye."
Ozpin turned off his screens to the silent widening of ashen eyes.
… What happened?
Why… did I not know anything had happened?
…
…
Why does the new one not feel the same?
….
