"An unknown individual is traveling with Amber?" one said.
"Two unknown individuals," the other corrected with a frustrated sigh.
Ozpin sighed as he leaned back in his office chair. His hot cup of coffee was nothing more than a source of warmth for his palms, keeping him centered.
Somebody was with Amber, unknown people were with Amber.
"Do you know who our... acquaintance's travel companions are?"
Qrow plopped himself onto a chair with a tired sigh.
"Not a clue," he answered succinctly, reaching into his coat's pocket and pulling out his flask. "Whoever they are, though... They're dangerous, just like Amber."
An eyebrow quirked, interested.
"Elaborate."
"The green kid's semblance is ridiculous." He began only to pause and take a sip from the alcohol in the flask. "Saw some of it at the end of his and Amber's run-in with those people. I'm sure the kid's a monster in human skin."
Another sip.
"Then there was the brat on his back." Here, Qrow hesitated, as if recalling an unpleasant memory, before continuing. "That brat... there's something wrong with 'em. Something really, really wrong."
"Bit of an overreaction to a child, don't you think?" Ozpin asked, eyebrow rising yet further in curiosity.
"Trust me when I say this, Oz, there's something wrong with that kid if you saw the look in his eyes, you'd understand." He said seriously. He'd seen those eyes after all, staring back at him every day in his younger years when he'd interact with his sister.
It was the eyes of a person whose greed knew no limit.
"Can't argue with that," the Headmaster conceded. "Still, I have a hard time believing that these children travelling with our little runaway are as unnerving as you have made them out to be."
The obvious distrust Ozpin had for Qrow's report was obvious, as it wouldn't be the first time the man relayed the wrong information regarding relatively unimportant information like this.
Amber was the main priority after all, not the people travelling alongside her.
"Besides that, what is Amber's current status?" He asked.
"Amber's fine and from what I can see, she's stronger than before," Qrow admitted, a slight hint of pride in his tone.
Ozpin ignored it, "So she's further acclimated to the power of the Fall Maiden." He said, more to himself than anyone else. It was fascinating, really, how quickly Amber adapted the powers of the Fall Maiden, faster than any other Maiden he could remember in... well, ever.
Steepling his fingers in front of him, Ozpin closed his eyes to ponder his next course of action, meanwhile, Qrow slumped in his seat as he guzzled down the rest of his alcohol.
They needed Amber to return to Beacon in order to protect her from Salem and her agents. However, considering her mindset and views on the shadow war and on himself, he was well aware of the fact that Amber didn't exactly have the most stellar opinion of him, not that he could blame her mind you, but she had an important role in this war, regardless of whether she liked it or not.
But with these new variables on the board, Ozpin was at a loss for what to do.
Ozpin could live with Amber hating him; she wouldn't be the first, but it was what was best for her in the long run, seeing as she was one of the main persons of interest still out in the open.
Fria was hidden away in God's know where with the protection of Ironwood.
Raven was still hiding away from the world with the Spring Maiden. And the Summer Maiden...
Ozpin's eyebrows furrowed at the thought of the missing Maiden. Even after all these years of reincarnation, not once had Ozpin been able to track down any of the Summer Maidens after the original Maiden had passed on.
With that said, Amber was, metaphorically, a prime stake in a wolf's den.
However, now with the knowledge that others were traveling with Amber and who cared enough about her to fight alongside her, it made his plans to return her to Beacon more complicated than they already were.
Having to face a Maiden was already stressful enough as is, adding two other individuals with unknown powers into the equation turned an already stressful and difficult situation into a complete nightmare.
"Keep monitoring her."
"Excuse me?"
Reopening his eyes, Ozpin looked at Qrow, his gaze serious.
"I'll need you to keep observing Amber and her companions." He said. "They could prove to be a threat."
"I thought you didn't believe me?" Qrow queried, surprised by the man's willingness to at least heed his words to some capacity.
"I don't," Ozpin answered honestly, an amused smile on his face. "You speak about these kids as if their power is on par with that of a Maiden's, which I don't believe." He finally took a sip of his coffee before staring into Qrow's eyes.
"But that doesn't mean they can't be a different kind of threat."
Mistral was beautiful.
The city that seemed stacked atop itself painted a breathtaking scene that entranced her.
Seeing the awed faces of her companions out of the corner of her eyes, she knew she wasn't the only one.
Little Tenko looked like he practically had stars in his eyes while Deku looked absolutely dumbstruck.
She understood the feeling. Having lived in Vale for the entirety of her life, seeing the majesty of one of the four kingdoms in person rather than just hearing about it or seeing it online was something different entirely.
"Amber-Nee-Chan, Nii-san, can we go to that city pleeeeaaaaseee." Little Tenko begged as he practically bounced in place on Deku's back.
Looking over to her traveling companions, Amber felt a smile tug at her lips as she saw Deku all but resign himself to carrying out Tenko's demands. Though to be fair, Deku looked interested in what the place had to offer at the very least.
"Relax, Tenko, we're going there anyway, no need to pull your brother's hair out." She said, amused, watching as the tight grip Tenko had on Izuku's hair loosened when the boy finally realized what he was doing.
As they began their trek to the city's entrance, Deku finally decided to voice a question.
"So Amber, what exactly does Mistral have to offer?" He questioned.
"Aside from the view, Mistral is probably the safest of the Four Kingdoms, and because of how much Mistral keeps to itself, it's probably the only place that wouldn't immediately recognize us-"
"And because of that, I'm guessing we're using this as a base of operations until the foreseeable future." Deku finished
"If the foreseeable future has us running away from the law, the white fang, or Grimm, then yes." She smirked, half jokingly. She knew just how rotten her lock could be, and if the encounter with her attackers a few days prior was anything to go off of she wouldn't be surprised if all three caused them to book it out of the layered kingdom.
"Then resources are going to be our first priority," he said, eyes glinting as his mind began to work, "Not only will we need new clothes that can keep us incognito and food rations..."
"Don't forget new gear." She pointed out, lifting her staff to eye level as she examined it, "I love my baby as is, don't get me wrong, but, if we're going to be traveling all over and meeting gods knows who then we'll need something more than what we have to protect ourselves."
"You make it sound like I'm also getting a weapon."
"You are."
Her words were said as an order more than anything else, and she saw Deku entertain the idea of resisting for all of a second before the thought was discarded when Tenko started babbling about all the cool weapons he wanted to see his brother use.
"Wait, we're not staying?" Only now did little Tenko remind them that he could hear their entire conversation.
Surprisingly, though, he didn't sound upset.
"Yeah, we can't stay in a single place for too long because there are a lot of... shady people after us." She said a bit hesitantly.
The people who were after her on Ozpin's side weren't bad people per se, but they weren't exactly the best people either in her opinion. They were trying to drag her back to act as a pawn to an immortal wizard after all.
"Wait, so we're gonna be traveling all over the place!?"
Ok, Tenko's eyes weren't PRACTICALLY stars anymore, they WERE stars.
She laughed at the boy's enthusiasm and ruffled his hair. "Yep, if you think this is impressive, wait till we get to Atlas."
"Atlas... like the Titan from Greek mythology?"
"Titan?" The hell was Deku talking about?
"Ah, i-it's nothing... Just reminded me of something from our homeland..."
He had hesitated just now, eyes shifting slightly to avoid eye contact. What was that all about? Titan? Greek?
Amber was well aware that, outside of her and Izuku's heart-to-heart a few weeks ago, she knew next to nothing about the two
Who were their parents? Why were they in a war? What was their homeland like?
She didn't know, not a clue.
As they came upon the entrance to Mistral's entrance, Deku suddenly stopped, a strained smile on his face.
"Uh, I just realized something." The green-haired boy said, visibly nervous.
"What is it?"
"Well, you're on the run, right?"
"Mhmm"
"And we're not exactly from around here, so Tenko and I don't have any kind of identification either."
"I mean... yeah? So what?"
"SO, how the hell are we supposed to get in and do anything without any kind of identification? "
"..."
"..."
"Crap baskets."
It was just as the two were about to begin panicking, a new voice made itself known.
"Um, excuse me, you two look troubled, do you need any help?"
She and Deku looked at the new arrival and saw a girl a bit younger than them by 2-3 years, give or take, with bright red hair and green eyes.
"Yeah, we can, you think you can help us through the entrance, we're Refugees from a nearby village." The lie left her mouth easily.
She ignored the sideways look Deku shot at her.
"Not a problem." The girl beamed, "Can I know what your names are?"
"Name's Amber." Amber Introduced.
"My name is Izuku Midoriya, and this is my little brother Tenko Shimura." Deku greeted even as little Tenko shrank away behind his back now that there was a stranger here.
"It's a pleasure to meet all of you. My name is Pyrrha Nikos, and don't worry, you can count on me."
A/N: And that's a wrap.
So incase you've been wondering why it took so long to update this story its because I was initially disappointed with how disjointed and messy Chapter 3 was, leading me to hyper-focus on this chapter to not repeat the same mistake. Then it became just what I wanted to do with this story and which characters I wanted to introduce in the first couple chapters.
Like I said, in this fic the Rwby world is gonna be used as more of a sandbox esc world more than anything and while the story is going to be loyal to cannon it's not gonna be for to long so expect shit to start hitting the fan by the end of this first arc.
And yes, this is the end of the first arc.
Hopefully, with this I'll be able to post a longer chapter next time.
That aside, Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and criticism is welcomed.
Edit: Retconned Raven having the power of the Spring Maiden for reasons.