Chương 1081: 23
Chapter 22-Forever Fall V
With Summer's group
As Harry and his group worked to calm Lily and Cardin, Summer took her half of the group and stood fast against the ten-foot tall Minotaur Grimm. The Minotaur roared loudly and charged them at full speed. The group broke up and circled the beast. Summer stood firm and braced herself. The Grimm swung its massive axe, and the Huntress raised Hunter's Moon to meet it. The clash made the air ring loudly, and Summer sunk into the rock as her legs buckled under the powerful strike.
Before either could do anything, the students rushed it. Yatsuhashi swung his massive blade the Minotaur's back, making it snarl as it arched its back away from the unpleasant pain. As that happened, Yang appeared at its head and slammed both fists into the side of its cranium, firing off two explosive rounds. It roared again as its head flew to the side before being sent back the other way by Ragnar's weapons, two Wrist Mounted-Dust injection Dual horn gantlets called Shatterpoint, in a similar way to Yang's attack.
The Grimm roared in anger as Coco Adel appeared in-between it and Summer and sent her Gatling Gun purse Deadshot flying carelessly into the Minotaur's chin, making its head fly straight up with a loud grunt of pain. At that point, Hunter appeared above the Grimm with his massive war axe raised high. He let out a roar of exertion and slammed the unrelenting steel blade against the Grimm's head. The Minotaur snarled again as its head was forced back down, before it swung its axe around in a wide and wild circle, hitting everyone around it except Summer, who jumped out of the way as soon as she was able.
Coco got hit first, she cried out in surprise as she was lifted off the ground and sailed into Ragnar, who grunted as they collided and flew away from the Grimm. Yatsuhashi was next, though he was able to place his sword against the axe in time. He grunted and was sent flying into Yang. The blonde brawler cried out from the suddenness of the hit, and the two went flying as well. Hunter got hit last and was sent into the wall of the sinkhole. He grunted as his Aura flared to protect him from the damage. He slid down the wall with a groan.
"Ooooh! That looked like it hurt!" a snarky voice in Hunter's head remarked, making the youth grit his teeth.
"Shut up, and be helpful, Atomsk!" Hunter growled viciously as he stood up and rejoined the fight.
Blake appeared around the Minotaur and slashed at its sides, before using her semblance to phase through its axe. This allowed Fox to appear and slash at is other side. The Grimm growled but before it could attack him, a metal clad foot slammed into its snout. It grunted before a mane of red hair appeared and slashed its eyes. It roared in pain before stumbling backwards. It looked up and glared at two humans, both with red hair. The female…just vanished while the male landed a round house kick to the beast's chest, making it grunt, while the female slashed at its face again. But this time, the female vanished in time for two shields to slam into its head, making it snarl as it was pushed back.
Pyrrha and Jaune landed lightly and smiled at each other. The moment was ruined, however, by a bored, "Get a room, you two. We're on the clock here."
"Yes. No need to make googly eyes at each other in a life or death situation here," another voice commented. The two blushed and turned to the speakers. They looked similar, what with their red hair and blue-green eyes and similar facial features, despite being male and female. The male was had a build similar to Ren and wore a grey shirt, jeans, shoes and a double-breasted coat. The girl was built like Nora, in contrast, and wore a white corset under a dark red jacket with blue jeans and combat boots.
Suddenly, the Grimm was on top of the four before Ren appeared and hit it with a concentrated shot of Aura to the torso, making it grunt as it stumbled away. Hunter reappeared and slammed his axe into its head while Coco and Yatsuhashi stuck the Grimm in its chest, making it fall to the ground with a loud thud.
Hunter landed and growled, "Lazy twins! Quit distracting everyone and help!" He jumped away as the Minotaur got back up and slammed its axe into the ground where he had been standing. Yatsuhashi and Coco ran up and grabbed its arms, trying to force it back to the ground.
The male Lazu twin, Tenn, grunted. "Oh, fine," he moaned as he jumped back into the fray.
"And I was enjoying the chance to catch my breath, too," the female twin, Marion, lamented before joining her brother.
The Minotaur growled and tried to swing the two off of itself, but Yang jumped on its torso and began slamming her fists into its face, letting blasts of kinetic energy chip away at its bone mask. Blast after blast struck its face, irritating the beast until it had finally had enough and reared up and head-butted Yang off itself. She grunted in pain as she sailed away and into Blake, who caught her with a grunt.
The old Grimm then lifted its arms and slammed Coco and Yatsuhashi into each other, making them cry out at the force of the hit. The bipedal Grimm stood and then swung itself around in a circle, forcing the disoriented huntsmen to let go of its arms and fly back to the ground hard. They groaned in pain as they landed.
The Grimm turned back to them, but it proceeded to roar in pain as a powerful slash to its back forced it to turn back to see Summer glaring at it. The Minotaur, to the shock of the students, hesitated.
"Let's dance, Big guy!" the silver eyed Huntress growled.
With Harry's group
Meanwhile, Weiss, Velvet, and Isabella were struggling to contain Cardin, while Adam, Harry, and Nora tried to slow Lily down. Adam grunted in pain as he was slammed a wall. Nora and Harry followed suit, but Nora was quick to jump back up and race at Lily. They began trading blows, allowing Harry and Adam to strategize.
"At this rate…" Adam huffed. "We're going to need to be wheeled out of here in a body bag!"
Harry growled lowly, eyes obscured by his hair. "And Weiss and the others won't last much longer against Cardin!" He looked to Weiss's group, and he saw them slowing down while Cardin barreled through them. "We need a new plan of attack!"
"I'm all ears," Adam groaned.
"Adam! Harry!" Ruby's voice made the two young men turn to her. "I've got a plan!" The two looked at each other and nodded as they ran to her.
Weiss, Velvet, and Isabella rushed Cardin, but were quickly pushed backwards. As Isabella helped Velvet up and Weiss flipped to her feet, Ruby shouted, "Weiss! Velvet! Izzy! Over here!" They turned to see her waving at them. At that point, Nora had slammed Maghild into Lily's abdomen, which sent the redhead flying into Cardin. "Nora! Over here!" The four girls nodded and ran towards the scythe wielder.
Lily finally regained her equilibrium and stood, noting that she was standing above Cardin. She grinned. "Back again, I see?!" she asked evilly. Cardin snarled.
"Die!" he shouted and punched her knee.
As they restarted their fight, the group convened for a quick meeting. "What is it, Ruby?" Weiss asked. "And make it fast. Before those two really kill each other…"
"Ok!" Ruby nodded. "I…I think I can distract Cardin long enough for Harry, Adam, and the others to knock him out."
"Anything will help at the moment," Isabella commented. "Let's hear it."
"But someone's gonna need to be Lily's punching bag for a while," Ruby said with uncertainty lacing her voice. "I don't know how long I need, and whoever distracts Lily might end up really hurt!"
"We're Huntsmen," Adam grunted. "It's an occupational hazard."
Harry frowned and looked from Ruby to Lily and Cardin, who were taking some sort of sadistic pleasure in beating each other into the ground. "Best guess on the time, Ruby?" he asked to her shock.
She began mulling over the parts of her plan and frowned. "M-Maybe five minutes? Might be more," she answered.
"Just enough," he mumbled before opening a compartment on his jacket and pushed out a vial with a golden substance in it. He grabbed it and handed it to Ruby. "Drink that, and you'll get the job done." Ruby blinked at him and stared down at the vial.
"A potion like you gave my mom that one time?" she asked.
"Sort of, but this potion is special," he explained. "Suffice to say, this will give you all the time you need to knock Cardin out while I go after Lily."
"NO!" Ruby shouted, waving her hands in front of her. "We need your strength…!"
"And someone needs to be able to hold up against Lily's!" Harry rebuked. "Look, I've got a plan in regards to Lily, but you guys need to handle Cardin and if you think you can do that, I'll take care of my partner and get her to see sense."
Ruby looked unsure, but Weiss came to her side. "He has a point, Ruby," she said. "Harry's the best out of all of us to hold Lily off. It might help knock Winchester out soon with his help, but with this, we can deal with less injury to ourselves."
Ruby contemplated that, before looking back down at the vial Harry handed her. Her resolved steeled. She nodded. "Ok!" she said. "Now, here's what we need to do…"
Lily, at that moment, had grabbed Cardin's shoulders and threw him into the wall, making him cry in shock before she shoulder rammed him further into the wall. "Having fun, Cardie?!" she teased.
Cardin snarled. "Once I cave your face in, I will be!" he shouted, trying to free himself.
Lily giggled crazily. "Sorry!" she mocked. "But…"
Suddenly, she was grabbed by Harry, who threw her into the air, grabbed her legs, and then swung her hard through a tunnel, the one Velvet, Whitley, and he came through. She cried out in surprise as she went sailing through the air, only to collide with Harry as he raced at her again and slam into her side, and the two vanished down the tunnel.
The others raced into positions around Cardin while Ruby took a deep breath and uncorked the vial in her hands. "Bottoms up!" she whispered and quickly downed the potion. She swallowed the golden concoction and suddenly felt giddy. Empowered.
Like she could take down a Death Stalker and a Nevermore at once by herself.
She grinned like a champion and raced forward until she was in front of Cardin. Feeling like she was the hero of her own comic, she spoke in a loud, confident voice: "Cardin, please, just hold up and listen to me for a sec!"
Surprisingly, Cardin did stall his attempts to exit the wall and gave Ruby a snarl. "Get out of my way, Rose!" he shouted. "That little twerp Lily needs to be brought down to size!"
Ruby blinked, but she quickly took that in stride. 'Ok! That was…odd…and really lucky!' she thought. 'Alright! Ok plan A, don't fail me now!'
Back with Harry
Lily screamed as she flew through the cave entrance and landed hard on the ground. The ground tore up from her landing. Harry jumped out of the cave and landed on the ground with a roll.
'I hope you have a plan, Pup,' Padfoot growled.
'I'm hoping to get her talking again,' Harry thought. 'Baring that, I'll just keep her distracted by constantly maneuvering around her.'
The Grim grunted. 'Better than a frontal assault, I suppose,' he grumbled. 'Thrash 'er!'
'Here goes nothing,' the Potter heir sighed. Aloud, he called out to Lily: "You wanted to talk, Lily?! Well, let's talk!"
Lily growled in fury. "Talk? TALK?! You just threw me around like a ragdoll, and you expect me to sit and TALK?!" she shouted in fury. She braced for a jump, and Harry tensed, but to his shock, she vanished with a crack.
'Apparition!/Apparition!' both Harry and Padfoot shouted mentally. Harry tried to turn, but Lily literally appeared above him and landed on his shoulders. The redhead wrapped her legs around Harry's neck and forcibly dragged him to the ground. Harry quickly removed Lily's legs from his neck, but Lily had already anticipated this, and she spun around and slapped him with her hair.
Unknown to either, however, was some of the goo from the Grimm pits was still in her hair, and when she slapped Harry with her hair, some of that gunk flew off her hair and onto Harry's tongue.
With that tiny distraction, she rammed into him and slammed him into the ground, with her hands on his neck. He choked as she snarled. "Fine then! Let's talk! Who are those men whose voices I can't drown out?! Who's the redheaded lady that's invaded my nightmares since those soul sucking demons showed up?! Who is the man who killed her?! TELL ME!"
Suddenly, unexpectedly, the forest stilled. The birds stopped chirping. The distant sound of the fight in the cave muted. The air around Lily froze. Before she could process this change, she was FLUNG off Harry. She couldn't even out as it felt as though she was being squeezed to death by a large hand.
Lily choked under the fierce grip, but she froze again when she saw Harry's arm raised, a ghostly aura surrounding it. His eyes were dull. Lifeless.
The ghostly aura appeared around his other arm and he raised it like he was holding something. A vague spectral shaped formed around Lily, and the corrupted redhead could only pale more when she realized it resembled a scythe.
She struggled intensified as she tried to escape. She tried to kick whatever was holding her up, but it wasn't truly solid, so her kicks simply passed through it. Fear clutched her heart as Harry's arm tensed.
"N-N-No!" she garbled. "N-No!"
The scythe flashed. Lily screamed in terror.
A few minutes earlier
"Look, Cardin, I know," Ruby started, making him look at her, confused. "I know about what happened to your mother."
Everyone paused at the revelation. Cardin, however, saw red.
"Do you?!" he snarled. "Do you really, Rose?! You don't know shit about what happened to her!"
"I know she took you to a Faunus civil rights protest," Ruby continued undeterred. Adam and Isabella turned to Ruby and stared at her incredulously. "She was very adamant about treating them fairly, wasn't she? But your father didn't like it?"
Cardin growled. "He saw those good for nothing animals for what they were! My mother was foolish to trust them!" he shouted, struggling to free himself even more now.
"She took you there to show you they weren't evil, didn't she?" Ruby continued, not acknowledging his snide remark. "But something happened. The protest got violent. Humans and Faunus attacking each other indiscriminately. You, you tried to protect your mom, right?"
Cardin didn't want to hear this. "Shut up!"
"But the explosion happened," Ruby went on. "When you came to, your mom was dead, right? There was a Faunus standing over the two of you."
"Shut up! Shut up!" Cardin shouted. "How do you know about that?!"
"My new friend Whitley found the case file," Ruby said, making Weiss blink.
"Wait, Whitley's here?!" she asked.
"Hey, dear sister!" Whitley called out from his drone with a snarky tone. "Fine day today, isn't it?"
"Of course," Weiss groaned.
"But there's something I didn't understand when Whitley told me about what happened," Ruby continued on. "The investigation was tampered with. Someone hid the actual results and implicated the Faunus."
"Why am I not surprised?" Adam grumbled at that. Cardin, however, saw red.
"Liar!" he screamed, struggling to get out of the wall.
"Whitley found the actual case file," Ruby said loudly. "The Faunus, he didn't kill your mother!"
"Shut up!"
"He couldn't have killed her. None of the evidence points to him."
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"
"He was protecting you from…"
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES, ROSE!" Cardin screamed, cracking the wall around him as his struggles intensified.
"He was protecting you!" Ruby insisted. "Cardin, the weapon…the knife that took your mom's life…"
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Carin roared angrily.
"It was yours, wasn't it?" she asked quietly.
It was like the world went quiet around them. Isabella blinked in shock. "Wait, what?"
Cardin stared at Ruby with wide eyes. She took that as initiative to continue. "The Faunus…he wasn't near you, was he?" she prompted.
Cardin was thunderstruck. "S-Shut up…" he mumbled.
"He came to your aid, didn't he?" she continued. "He tried to reach you, but…"
"Sh-Stop it!" Cardin growled.
"The gas main exploded?" Ruby asked, trying to remember the report. "An officer's weapon misfired, hit a fire Dust crystal?"
"S-Shut up….Just…shut up!" Cardin growled again, finally getting one of his arms free.
"Ruby…" Weiss cautioned, but Ruby didn't acknowledge her.
"The three of you were caught up in the explosion, right?" she continued. "You tried shielding your mother, but…"
"I SAID SHUT UUUUPPPPPPP!" Cardin howled and broke from the wall violently, making a beeline straight for Ruby.
Ruby wasn't expecting the rush and could only stare wide eyed at the flying Huntsman as a massive feeling of dread flooded the area.
With the second group
Summer slammed Hunter's Moon into the Minotaur's stomach, making it snarl as it was sent flying backwards. She panted. She was tiring. Her body was still suffering the effects of her time in the Death Eater tunnels; but she knew she couldn't stop now. She had to defend her students, whom by her orders were standing on the sidelines, wishing to help their teacher.
The Minotaur snarled at her as it regained its breath, making Summer grit her teeth. This would have been over sooner if she would just throw caution to the wind and turn the black beast into stone, but she refrained. She didn't want to reveal that to her students just yet. She would just have to do this the old-fashioned way.
She attempted to rush it again, when she was forced to stall when Yang came into her line of vision and began to slam her fists into the Grimm's sternum furiously. "Yang! Get back!" Summer reprimanded her. "You've done enough!"
"NO!" she screamed, not letting up her relentless attack. "YOU CAN'T KEEP THIS UP MUCH LONGER!"
"This is not up for discussion, Yang!" Summer shot back. The Minotaur tried to throw Yang off, but the blonde brawler quickly slammed her fists into its head and brought it back down. "YANG! Enough!"
"STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!" she yelled back.
"I'M GIVING YOU AN ORDER, YOUNG LADY! DISENGAGE! NOW!" Summer returned just as loudly.
Yang ignored Summer and continued punching into the Grimm's chest until she faltered under an intense wave of dread and fear. She gasped in terror and looked around for the threat. Summer and the other students were just as affected. Summer's tense frame became tenser. Even the Minotaur seemed effected.
The other students were beginning to become terrified as well. Hunter shook his head, attempting to shake the feeling. "Atomsk! What is this?!"he demanded quietly.
"I'm not sure," Atomsk replied. "Seems to me like someone's jacked up their Aura with a sense of death, but-"
He couldn't finish because a girl shrieked in fright. Yang and Summer knew that scream. Their eyes widened.
"RUBY!" they shouted, and Yang turned her attention away from the Grimm. The Minotaur used the distraction to grab the blonde tightly in its fists. She screamed in pain as it crushed her. Summer turned her attention back to Yang.
"Yang, no-!" she cried, only for another yell to silence her and blanket her vision in silver light.
With Ruby
Luckily for Ruby, Cardin slipped.
He had touched down right in front of her, but his shoe slid off a raised slab of stone and his trajectory was off, making him swing wide, completely missing Ruby. However, being nearly tackled freaked Ruby out, and she shrieked in surprise and fell to the ground.
"RUBY!" her friends cried and rushed Cardin, but Ruby was fine. Nothing hurt. She just stared at Cardin with wide eyes.
However, she was soon distracted by her sister's scream. She looked up to see Yang being crushed by the Minotaur Grimm. Suddenly, everything stopped. Ruby couldn't see anything but Yang and the Minotaur. She watched helplessly as the Grimm began squeezing the life out of her sister. However, it was seeing the blonde's lilac eyes roll back into her head and a trickle of blood escape her mouth that sent Ruby over the edge.
"YANG!" she screamed as an intense, burning sensation emanated from her eyes, and her vision became blinded by silver light.
With Harry
His mind was clouded by an almost endless wave of darkness.
It suffocated him. He couldn't breathe. His hearing, muted. His vision, cloudy.
Deep within the darkest part of his subconscious, he swore he heard Padfoot growling in dark, sadistic glee. It disturbed him. Terrified him even. He needed to get away from it.
With a great amount of effort, he forced the dark feeling out of his mind. It didn't leave, no matter hard he pushed against it, but he did push it away enough to concentrate. He groaned in pain.
"That…really sucked," he moaned. His vision began to clear, allowing him to see Lily collapsed on top of him. She looked peaceful, if exhausted. Harry extended his senses and was pleased to note that he didn't sense any more dark magic from her.
"That's…good news," he rasped. Inwardly, he tried contacting Padfoot: 'Hey, Pads, what the heck just happened to us?'
In the back of his mind, he heard the Grim snarling viciously for a moment. When he finally answered, he sounded rougher than normal: 'I…don't know…?' Padfoot questioned. 'My…mind is…clouded…'
'Same here,' Harry muttered to his companion. He looked to Lily and thought, 'At least, Lily's KOed, and the dark magic is out of her system.'
'Thank God for that,' Padfoot groaned. 'Let's never do that again…Whatever "that" was…'
'Agreed,' Harry thought. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of silver light flash over the cliff. 'Huh?' He stared at the cliff stunned when suddenly another, far brighter flash of sliver lit up the sky. 'Something's going down back at Ground Zero.'
'Then let's get going,' Padfoot commanded. Harry nodded.
"Right," he said aloud. Delicately, he rose from the ground, bringing Lily with him. He groaned in complaint when began to stand, feeling like General Ironwood had used him as his personal training robot analog for a full eight hours. After a few moments, he finally was back on his feet, and Lily was firmly in his arms, bridal style. She moaned at the movement, but she didn't wake.
"Come on, Lily," he murmured. "We're done here." With that, he began walking back to the cave entrance.
With Summer
Terror had struck Summer when she heard Yang cry out in pain. She turned around instinctually, ready to rip, maim, and kill the beast that DARED place its filthy paws on her daughter, when she heard Ruby's distinct cry of "YANG!" before a bright silver light blanketed the area.
Summer stopped dead, fear freezing her heart solid. 'No…No. No, no, please! No! Not yet! She's too young!' She whirled around just in time to see her youngest daughter falling to the ground, a silver light extinguishing from her eyes.
"RUBY!" many of the students around her cried as they rushed her. Summer was about to do the same when a booming roar reminded her of her priorities. Face quickly morphing into immovable stone, she set to work.
The Minotaur was angry. It was finally about to end the life of the humans attacking it when the dreaded light hurt it. It roared in pain and dropped its prey. It had, at first, thought it was the white one. She had silver eyes. But it didn't come from her.
No.
There was another!
Another silver eye-!
Its thought process was cut short when the white one returned in its vision and its world became nothing but silver, before turning to nothing.
The students had begun to rush to Yang's aid when the silver light blinded them. They shielded their eyes, but it didn't help dim the brightness of it. They were still couldn't see straight when a second light blinded them again. Coco was better than most because of her shades, so after her eyes readjusted, she looked up to see Summer standing in front of Yang, a look of cold anger marring her perfect face…
But no Minotaur.
Coco's eyes widened in shock as the others finally began to regain their senses, they looked up to Summer, who simply turned to Yang and knelt to her. "Yang, are you ok?" she whispered. Yang was wide eyed, looking from the spot the Grimm stood and to Summer. Yang winced a bit, feeling terribly drained all of a sudden. Like someone just tried to rip her to pieces on top of her nearly being squished to death.
"Y-Yeah," she breathed out. "I-I think so…" Summer nodded curtly.
"Good." She turned to the other students and ordered, "Stay near her. Don't let her move too much." Coco, Blake, and Hunter, the closest, nodded and moved to Yang quickly, while Summer raced over to Ruby.
She landed near the group around her and snapped, "Out of my way!" The group parted to show Adam holding Ruby and Isabella trying to wake her. Summer fell to her knees and grabbed Ruby's shoulders. "Ruby?! Ruby!" she shouted desperately, shaking her lightly.
"Ugh…" the scythe wielder groaned, but she didn't wake. Summer sighed in relief. A good chuck of the weight on her shoulders eased at knowing her youngest was ok. She turned to the others and barked, "Where's Potter, Winchester, and Nightingale?"
Weiss blinked in shock, but she recovered and said, "Harry was holding Lily back while we took care of Cardin. They vanished down that path there." She pointed to the path. "AS for Cardin…" She, hesitantly, moved to the side to show Cardin unconscious, his eyes rolled back into his head. Summer sighed in exhaustion.
"Alright," she said. "Someone go find Potter and Nightingale while I phone Ozzy." She groaned in annoyance. "This is a total mess…!"
Meanwhile, the other students were finally recomposing themselves when Hunter noticed something.
"Huh?"
He walked over and noticed one of the stones was shaped oddly. Kind of like…
"Hey, Atomsk," he whispered aloud. "Was there a stone statue around during the fight."
"Not that I was aware of. Why?" Atomsk replied.
"Because I'm looking at what looks to be a crumbled Minotaur statue," he mumbled, looking down at a stone head that was shaped ominously similar to the Grimm they just fought.
"Curious…" Atomsk mused. "Take a piece of it. I want to examine it further later."
"Sure," Hunter murmured as he knelt down to pick up a few pieces, oblivious to the fact that two redheads were watching him curiously.
An hour later
Harry groaned in pain as he rolled his shoulder for the twentieth time. All around there were Vale officers and Huntsmen and Huntresses swarmed the crater, hoping to contain the 'Grimm pool area.' Adam and Nora found him carrying Lily a few moments after he entered the cave and informed him what he missed out on.
Apparently, Ruby somehow emitted silver light from her eyes which blinded the group, but had somehow 'purified' Cardin. Harry frowned at that. He had remembered a silver light when he woke up, but what they were talking about confused him. Aura couldn't cleanse someone of Dark Magic. At least, not in the way they described.
Lily groaned pitifully beside him. She still had not woken up from her ordeal. Harry winced. 'Hopefully, we can learn more about this stuff now that we know how the Grimm are made,' he thought.
'Doubtful,' came the ever-cynical reply op Padfoot. 'Something tells me it won't be that easy.'
'When is it ever?' Harry groaned mentally as he lied down on the stretcher the nurses had given him and his team.
Summer was finishing up her report to Ozpin with a nod before she turned over to Ruby, who was still fast asleep. She winced. Hanging her head, she whispered, "She's still too young…"
"I know, Summer," Ozpin said sympathetically. "But we can't do anything about it now. All we can do now is guide her."
"Yes, but you know very well, the only training she'll be able to get with her eyes is in the heat of battle with Grimm," Summer commented. "As a Huntress, I know it's my duty to teach her how to use this power, but as her mother…" She frowned sadly. "I never wanted this power myself. I cried when I saw Ruby's eyes for the first time, Ozpin. I knew what it would mean for her."
Ozpin put a hand on Summer's shoulder. "We cannot choose some of our burdens, only how we deal with them," he said. The white cloaked Huntress sighed.
"I know, Ozpin," she mumbled, before looking over to her other daughter, being treated for her injuries. She scowled. Ozpin noticed where she was looking and sighed. He remembered Summer's report about Yang's disobedience during a fight with a highly dangerous Grimm.
"I'll leave her punishment to you," he said. The woman nodded and walked over to her oldest daughter.
Yang winced again as the doctors poked her bruised ribs. The Minotaur had done some damage with its last attack. Luckily, she wasn't too badly injured. The doctor said she'd heal up within the next few days.
Blake and Weiss were next to her, having already been checked out and simply waiting for Yang to be released. Weiss wasn't all that injured herself. Simply bruised from Cardin's attacks. Blake was more or less the same, having been hit by the monstrous Grimm fewer times than the others.
Weiss sighed in annoyance. "This is getting us nowhere!" she grumbled.
"We can't do anything about it, though," Blake told her, turning a page on her book. "Until a teacher comes to retrieve us, we're stuck."
"I know that!" Weiss told her. "But you can't tell me you're already sick of this. We've been standing here for near an hour now, we've already been cleared, and the other teachers are trying to section off the…" She shivered. "…That…" she trailed off.
Blake hummed in agreement and rolled her shoulders. Indeed, after today, all she wanted to do was take a nice, long hot soak before tucking herself in bed to sleep. She looked up and saw the other teams being checked out by the doctors when she noticed Summer heading their way. She nudged Weiss and motioned over to the experienced Huntress.
Weiss looked up and scoffed softly. "About time," she said, gaining Yang's attention.
The blonde looked up and saw Summer looking at her, making her fidget slightly. "H-Hey, uh…I-"
The sound of flesh hitting flesh rang out. Blake and Weiss gawked at the sight of their teammate's tilted to its side, and Summer's hand in the air. Yang herself was stunned, the stinging of her cheek barely registering as Summer spoke to her.
"You could have been killed because of your recklessness, Yang," she said tonelessly. "And if your classmates had rushed in to try and help you, the same fate could have befallen them. Do you realize that?"
Yang said nothing, still in shock. Summer leveled a glare at Yang.
"I've been very patient with you, Yang Xiao Long," she continued. "I understand my sudden reappearance shook you, but this…" She gestured to the scene around them. "This too far. You don't want to respect me as a Huntress. Fine. But you WILL respect me as both your teacher AND your mother. As of right now, you're suspended." Yang's eyes widened at that. "I'll let Oz set the length, but while your suspended, you'll be training with me for five hours a day. And whenever you return to classes, you'll be serving detentions with me until you come to understand the consequences of your actions." She glared harder at the blonde youth. "Whether that's a few days to a week, is entirely up to you." With that she turned around and walked off, leaving three stunned Huntresses in training behind her.
Meanwhile, Ozpin stood at the edge of the crater, an uncharacteristically dark look staining his face as he stared down at the rocky floor. His hold on his crane tightened. Glynda walked up to stand next to him, looking disturbed.
"The Pools of Grimm," Ozpin said casually, though by his tone one could clearly make out his anger. "Created in the beginning by the Younger Brother, the god of darkness, to birth his creatures of destruction, The Creatures of Grimm."
Glynda was silent. She stared down at sight, apprehensive. "I-Is this…?" she asked finally. "Surely, this can't be…" The Beacon headmaster shake his head.
"It's not. Merely a vein of the original pool," he said, alleviating her fears. His frown deepened. "I never thought that the Younger Brother had made veins of his pools around the world, but I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. Much easier for his creations to destroy mankind if they didn't have to traverse the oceans to spread across the world."
"This is bad beyond any words, Professor," Glynda said. "If word got out of this, Vale would panic! Atlas might try carpet bombing the entirety of Forever Fall in the hopes of capping off this!"
"Which means we should count our blessings that Mr. Potter has already done a passible job of that," Ozpin replied. "At least, for the moment. Drastic measures will have to be implemented, of course, once we can ascertain the true scope of the vein. And I completely agree that the citizens should never find out about this. The amount of chaos and negativity this would bring would send the Grimm into a frenzy, making what happened at Mountain Glenn seem like a minor incident."
Glynda paled at that. "This can't possibly get any worse…" she grumbled.
"P-Professor G-Goodwitch!" came a shout from behind them. The two turned to see Peter and Velvet running up to them.
"Yes? What's the matter?" Glynda asked, slipping into her usual stern mask.
"It would appear…" Professor Port answered with a hint of worry. "…that Mister Winchester is missing!"
"WHHAATTT?!" both Ozpin and Glynda shouted.
Vale cemetery
It was raining.
Of course, it was raining.
It hadn't anything BUT rain for three days now. It matched his sullen mood. Even now, as he trudged past the stifling grey slabs protruding from the earth, the events of that occurred in Forever Fall had yet to fade from his consciousness.
The things said. The actions he took. They had been weighing him down since he woke up.
He stopped walking when he reached his destination. He stared down at the headstone. The headstone stared back. Flashes of painful memories racked his mind. He gripped his head and growled lowly as he tried to push the images away, only for them to reappear moments later. He fought the memories for several minutes until he finally couldn't take it anymore and roared loudly. He grabbed the mace off his back; the steel reflected a streak of lightning as it flashed across the sky.
Cardin Winchester knelt panting in exertion, leaning heavily against his mace. The cold stone cast a gloomy shadow over him. He stared up at the grave marker. "Y-You always said I had my dad's temper," he spoke softly. "I…I guess I finally believe it." He let out a bitter chuckle. "I finally went too far." The chuckle grew louder until it was full blown scornful laughter. "What a mess I made!" he howled to the wind. Tears stained his eyes as he continued laughing. His laughs finally gave way and he was left empty again.
"I…" he mumbled. He bowed his head. "I don't know what's right anymore," he admitted. "So much has happened that I can't make sense of any of it." His face hardened. "So that's why I'm gonna go away for a while." He reached into his breastplate and said, "I don't know when I'll be back. If ever. But I can't…I can't think straight here. There's just…" He shook his head. "Too many people. Too many voices telling me what to do." He pulled his hand out, revealing several silvery blue flowers. He placed them in front of the marker and stood.
"So, this is goodbye," he whispered. He turned around and walked away, leaving his mace behind…
And unknown to him, embracing a new future.
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