Nightmare
Jeez, even though i'm the writer, I literally feared Temair during that chapter. I tried my best to turn him into mini Adam and I feel like I did at least a decent job. But, with just a little over a week to prepare for the attack on Haven academy, can Temair's wounds heal in time? Who knows. I might just cut him out of the rest of the finale. You'll just have to wait and see. But speaking of the finale, we're finally beginning it and boy, oh boy will big things happen. I have been waiting to do something for so long and what I have planned, I think some of you reading the series have also been wondering. Let's just see if you're right. Enjoy!
-PoV: Leena-
It was so nice to finally, finally be back together with so many of our friends. Shortly after our great reunion, all of the "kids," except for Oscar who Amber introduced me to, sat down and ate dinner. Ren and the others cooked up a huge pot of ramen noodles mixed with some steaming tender pork, eggs, bean sprouts, and some green onions. It was SO freakin' good.
We began talking about all our journeys while we were separated. Ruby, Amber and the rest of their gang had some pretty wild stories.
"How do you lose your map at a time like that!?" Yang jokingly asked Jaune.
"Believe me, I've asked myself the same thing ever since." Jaune replied as we all laughed.
"Hey, but you made up for it, Mr. Muscles! You should've seen this guy take a giant Grimm head on!" Nora said.
"I couldn't have done it without Ruby wearing it down." Jaune explained.
"Uh, me? Did you see Ren or Amber during that fight? They were out of control!" Ruby said which made Amber blush a bit.
"I'm sorry. I may have lost my temper momentarily." Ren said.
"No, no! Out of control, as in "awesome!"" Aber explained to him.
"Ooooooohhh. ....Thank you." Ren said as we all laughed again. Their story sounded so awesome, despite the crazy murderer that was following them.
"*Gasp* You did not!" Ruby said as we had moved onto Weiss and Drake's story. We started with Drake who told us about what the Schnee family and their mansion was like. He told us Weiss was the oly one nice to him and that it's not her fault he has branding marks on his body and face.
"Yeah. Right in the middle of the party." Weiss said, sounding very ashamed of herself.
"Please tell me you two let that lady have it." Yang asked as Drake laughed.
"No.... but I really wish we had." He said.
"Yes, of course we didn't do anything. Even if I really wanted to." Weiss said.
"No way! I don't believe it!" Nora saidas she crossed her arms. But as she did that, Weiss did something miraculous. She used her semblance to make a white Boarbatusk Grimm appear next to Nora. Nora saw it and freaked out, falling out of her seat. We all laughed.
And then we moved on to me and Yang. I started us off by showing my eye wound. Still nothing but a hole so there wasn't much to look at. Then I showed off my new weapon which Ruby seemed to enjoy a lot more than everyone else. And I finished my part off by telling everyone the state of my semblance. Everyone seemed to take the news well which relieved me so much.
And then Yang got up and started flexing her new arm to everyone.
"It's no replacement for the real thing, but i'll make sure to make good use of it." She said as everyone looked in awe.
"And it's just as strong!?" Ruby questioned as she ran up to get a closer look.
"Hm, sure is." Yang said as we heard a bang come from our table. I looked behind where I sat and Nora had put her arm down on the table.
"Wanna bet?" She said as her and Yang went into an arm wrestling match.
"Don't let her beat you! Show her what team JNPR's made of!" Jaune and Ren yelled, supporting Nora. Everyone else seemed to cheer for Yang though. Except for Weiss who seemed uninterested in their little feud.
'C'mon sis! Kick her butt! You can't lose to a girl in a skirt!" Ruby yelled.
"You wear a skirt, Ruby." Weiss said to her.
"Weiss, you're not cheering loud enough!" Ruby said to her.
"It... definitely feels like the original, i'll give you that!" Nora said to Yang.
"Yeah. But, it does come with some new features." Yang said as she pressed a button on her arm. It instantly shot off and sent Nora into a wall. Nora groaned a bit but we knew she wasn't hurt.
"Did she.... win?" Jaune questioned. Nora then started to get back up and looked to her right hand. She was still gripping Yang's arm.
"AAAHHHHH!!" She screamed as she threw the arm away. Yang caught it as she reattached it to her right side.
We then went back to finishing our dinner. Even though it had gotten cold at this point, it was still just SOOOOOO good. And in no time, we finished everything. And, uh.... we may have eaten it all before we could offer some to Qrow or Oscar.
"Gyah.... We ate it all.... Ugh, I think i'm gonna be sick...." Jaune said as he gathered all the dishes, put them into the pot and started walking to the kitchen.
"Easy there, vomit boy, I believe in you." Yang said to him as we all just laughed.
"Ooh, we're doing nickname throwbacks now, eh? Wonderful." Jaune said as he went into the kitchen. Weiss thought it was hilarious and started to laugh.
"I mean, the ice queen seems to like it." Drake said to her as everyone began to laugh at Weiss.
"I so did not miss you people." Weiss said as she rolled her eyes and gave everyone a smile.
"*Gasp* Oh my gosh! She really does like it! What went and warmed your heart while you were gone?" Nora asked her.
"Hey! You make it sound like I used to be terrible." Weiss said as I wanted to laugh so badly.
"Nah. Just a lot to deal with at once." Yang said to her as the two of them just exchanged looks and stuck their tongues out at each other.
"It's been a long time. We've all grown in our own ways." Ren said as we all looked to him sipping some tea. He was right though. Everyone had gone through so much in the past 8 months. We were all changed people and our eyes were now open.
"You really think so?" Ruby asked him.
"Well, think back to when we were all at Beacon. Would you say you ever did something foolish or embarrassing? Or do you think you were perfect?" Ren asked us all as Weiss put her head down.
"Oh gosh." She said as she covered her face with her hands.
"I may have been a little too gung-ho from time to time." Yang admitted.
"You? I tried to 1v1 a Nevermore on the second day of school." Ruby said.
"I threatened to break someone's legs and, like some of you here, tried to stop a crime lord." Drake said as I agreed with him.
"I was too afraid to talk to anyone. And here I was, getting paired up with one of the most talkative, hyperactive people on the planet." Amber said as we exchanged smiles.
"Yeah, well... Don't even get me started." Jaune said as he reentered the room.
"Well, that embarrassment.... That desire to go back and tell yourself not to be stupid.... that just proves you're not the same person you used to be. You're smarter, or kinder, or stronger, and you're not done growing yet. None of us are." Ren said as I leaned over the table and looked to everyone else.
"Since when does he talk this much?" I asked as everyone burst out laughing.
"Well, hold on! I thought I was pretty great in school!" Nora said, sounding so proud of herself.
"Even at the dance? When you spilled punch all over yourself in front of-" I began to say as Nora might as well of jumped over the table, covered my mouth with a hand and used the other to play loud music on her scroll.
"YES, Leena! Especially the dance! Thank you, miss "I went to the dance with Cardin Winchester!" Nora said to me as I just laughed.
"Oh jeez, don't remind me. Who invites someone to a dance if they don't know how to dance!?" I asked as everyone laughed at my remark.
"How can nine kids possibly make so much noise eating dinner!?" Qrow asked as him and Oscar came walking down the stairs. Nora then shut off the music from her scroll so we could hear what they had to say.
"That's better. Now.... we need to talk." Qrow said as he and Oscar sat down at the table.
Oscar then went on to tell me, Yang, Drake, and Weiss about how he is also Professor Ozpin reincarnated and that their two souls share his body. And he proved his point even more when he briefly glowed green for a moment and then started talking and sounding like Ozpin. And then he told us his story, of how he's cursed to reincarnate, about the maidens, everything.
"So.... the maidens. Magic. Salem. It's all true?" Weiss asked.
"Uh-huh." Qrow said as he took a sip from his flask.
"Miss Xiao Long, is this more or less what your mother told you?" Ozpin asked her. We all looked to her. She had her arms crossed and didn't say a single word.
"For the most part." I said to Ozpin.
"You forgot something." Yang said as I looked back to her.
"You forgot to tell everyone what you did to Qrow and my mother." Yang said as Ruby looked a little concerned.
"What is she talking about?" Jaune questioned as we all looked back to Ozpin.
"Oh, great." Qrow said as he just rolled his eyes.
"Hm, that's not a secret I thought she would give up so easily. Your mother must trust you a great deal. My ability to reincarnate, though a curse, isn't without a few key benefits. Much like the maidens, I too possess a certain.... "magical" power." Ozpin said as he got up and started walking around the room, over to where Qrow was.
"Using this power, I was able to gift the Branwen twins the ability to "see" more, to move freely and be unburdened by their natural bodies. I... well.... gave them the ability to turn into birds. Rather ridiculous sounding out loud, isn't it?" Ozpin explained as everyone else just looked totally confused.
"You turned them.... into birds?" Amber asked.
"Alright, now you're just messing with us." Nora stated.
"What else is new?" Jaune said as he crossed his arms.
"He's telling the truth. We sat it. Yang's mom.... changed, right in front of us." I explained as we all looked back to Ozpin and Qrow.
"Why would you do something like that? I mean, what is wrong with you?" Yang angrily asked.
"Yang, that's enough. We made a choice. We wanted this."Qrow explained as Yang looked a little surprised.
"May I?" Ozpin asked Qrow as he gave him a nod.
"Granting this power to them was no trivial task, and I can assure you it was not done frivolously. I required assistance in gathering information on Salem's plans, as well as searching for maidens when their hosts became unclear." Ozpin explained.
"Ok, so.... have you done this with others? Like general Ironwood? Or Professor Goodwitch?" Ruby asked as Ozpin shook his head.
"As helpful as that might be, unfortunately it is not that simple. My power is finite, and if i'm being honest, dwindling. The amount that I gifted to Qrow and Raven was, all things considered, rather minuscule. You see, centuries ago, I sacrificed a great deal of magic to four young woman, who I hoped would use my gift for good. They were the first maidens. Miss Xiao Long, it was never my intention to lie to you. To any of you. There are just some matters that I prefer to.... "play close to the chest." I believe that's how you phrased it?" Ozpin said to Qrow as he gave him a nod.
"Everyone has a choice. The Branwens chose to accept their powers and responsibilities that came with them. And later, one of them chose to abandon her duties, in favor of her own self-interest. Now, all of you have a choice. If anyone wishes to leave, now is the time. There is no shame or disgrace in abstaining, only in retreat." Ozpin said as everyone looked to each other. But I could tell what we were all thinking. We've come this far already, so we can't stop now.
"Very well, then." Ozpin said as Yang surprisingly stood up.
"Yang?" Ruby questioned with worry in her voice.
"If Ruby sticks around, then I will too. If there's one thing I know about her, it's that she somehow always knows the right thing to do. But, if we're going to help, if we're going to keep risking our lives, no more lies. No more half-truths." Yang said as she stared directly at Ozpin. Oz took a glance over a Qrow who only gave him a shoulder shrug.
"Understood." Ozpin replied to her as Yang sat back down.
"So... what now? I mean, what can we do?" Jaune asked.
"Hm.... that is difficult question. One that I believe is best answered tomorrow." Ozpin said whih confused us a bit.
"What do you mean?" Drake asked him.
"The road ahead is undoubtedly filled with hardships and peril. However, it's been far too long since you've all been together. Please, take tonight, enjoy this moment." Ozpin said as he glowed again, changing back to Oscar.
"Oooooh!" Nora said as we all turned to face her.
"Raven!? Qrow!?" She said, looking around to all of us.
"They're birds!! Cracked it!" She said happily as everyone just rolled their eyes and laughed. But it was all cut short when Qrow's scroll began to vibrate on the table. He answered the call and informed us it was Leo, the headmaster of Haven academy.
"He says he's made a groundbreaking discovery and that he may be able to advance the schedule for finding the spring maiden. He wants to speak with us in his office, now." Qrow said as he hung up.
"Alright, then. We'll just party afterwards." I said as everyone agreed. We all got up from the table and headed out with Qrow, passing through Haven's beautiful courtyard which had a nice view of its CCT tower. We all entered into the main hall and Leo was their waiting for us at the top of a balcony. He had some weird looking device or dial strapped to his left arm.
"Why hello. Thank you for.... coming. There... seems to be more of you than last time." Leo strangely said which made me a little curious of him.
"Eh, you know what they say, "the more the merrier." So what's going on with the council?" Qrow asked him.
'Why... did you bring your weapons?" Leo asked us.
"What? Leo, we're huntsmen. You okay?' Qrow asked him.
"Of course!" Leo responded as I saw Yang was looking around the room. But she stopped turning her head when her eyes met something rather odd on one of the upper levels. It was a raven. And it was looking at us.
"Mom?" Yang questioned as we all looked up to the bird. Qrow then shot at it with his weapon but missed as the raven took off into the air. It flew over to Leo and landed behind him. Then, emerging from behind him was Yang's mom, Raven.
"They.... they really are magic...." Nora said in disbelief as Raven glared at Qrow.
"If you're going to shoot me, shoot me. That was insulting." Raven said to him.
"What're you doing here!?" Qrow asked her as he had his weapon ready. Raven then walked over to some stairs and came down to our level.
"I could ask you the same thing. You've been scheming, little brother. Planning to atack your own sister." Raven explained.
"Leo... what have you done!?" Qrow asked him.
"Leo did what any sane person would in his position.... he looked at all the information he had in front of him, assessed the situation, and made a choice. And it seems you all have too." Raven said as we all put our hands on our weapons, just in case something happened.
"You have the spring maiden." Qrow said to her.
"I do." Raven replied.
"Then hand her over and let's work together! We can beat Salem!" Qrow said as he put away his weapon, trying to reason with his sister.
"All that time spent spying for Ozpin and you still have no idea what you're dealing with. There is no beating Salem!" Raven stated.
"You're wrong." Ruby said as everyone looked to her.
"We've done things that most people would call impossible, and I know the only reason we were able to do it is because we didn't do it alone! We had people to teach us. People to help us, we had each other. Work with us. At least I know we'll have a better chance if we try together. Please." Ruby asked as she held her hand out to Raven. But she didn't look too impressed.
"You sound just like your mother." Raven said as she unsheathed her sword and opened up a portal next to her. Flying out of the portal was a fireball that struck Ruby and sent her sliding backwards on her back.
"Ruby, no!" Drake and Yang yelled as they rushed over to her. But then, our worst fear emerged from the portal. Cinder. And she wasn't alone.
"Hello, boys and girls." Cinder said to us as Emerald, Mercury, and that bandit woman with the brown vest followed her out of the portal. We all took out our weapons and prepared for a rough fight.
"Come on, guys. Is that anyway to treat your old friends?" Mercury jokingly asked us as I thought Yang was about to rush him. But Qrow stopped her.
"Everybody, stay calm." Qrow said as the doors behind us opened up. Coming into the main hall was a large man wearing an olive green jacket over a black shirt, with short brown hair and a brown beard.
"The White Fang is prepping demolition and securing the school grounds. No one's getting in, and no one's getting out." The man said as he shut the doors behind him.
"This was all just a trap?" Weiss questioned.
"Raven.... tell me.... How long have you been with them?" Qrow asked her.
"Aww, don't take it personally, little bird. Your sister was a recent addition. The lion on the other hand.... Entrance into the Vytal Festival was a real treat, but Leonardo's been sending Salem all sorts of information for a very, very long time. Isn't that right, professor?" Cinder said as Leo turned his head away in shame.
"It was you.... You sit on the Mistral council. You had information on every huntsman and huntress in the kingdom, and you gave it all to her. I couldn't find any of them, because you let her kill them!" Qrow explained as Leo grew a saddened expression on his face.
"Aww, don't beat yourself up about it, Lionheart, i'm sure Tyrian and Hazel would've found them on their own eventually." Cinder explained as Jaune took a step forward.
"What is wrong with you? How can you be so broken inside....To take so many lives, and then come here and rub it in our faces like it's something to be proud of!? All with that damn smile on your face!" He shouted as Cinder began to glare at him.
"I'm gonna make you pay for what you did! Do you hear me!? Say something!" Jaune yelled to her as she just looked unimpressed.
"Who are you again?" Cinder said as Jaune nearly lost it. But I held him back before he could run ahead and do something incredibly stupid.
"Jeez, someone has some anger issues. Oh, and speaking of anger, I have to thank you all for taking good care of my dear pet. You brought him right to me, once again." Cinder said as we all looked too Drake. He looked horrified and he was grasping his right arm. The black scars were moving up his arm and onto his body.
"Come to me, my Alpha. It is time you take your place on the proper side." Cinder said as she held her left hand out to him. Drake then started to walk towards her, but he clearly was trying not to. It was more like he was being dragged to her.
"Someone, keep him away from her!" Ruby yelled as Qrow and Jaune tried to hold Drake back. But Mercury jumped in between them and kicked them away.
Me, Nora and Weiss then tried to stop him but Emerald interfered by shooting at us. She stopped us completely as Drake fell to his knees in front of Cinder.
"Last time, you did oh so well for me by helping me kill that annoying red head. But, neither of us were complete at that time. But now, everything is ready. Now, awaken, my Alpha Grimm!" Cinder roared as she placed her left hand on top of his head. Drake began to scream from the top of his lungs as a black smoke from coming from the two of them.
Drake's screaming was slowly becoming deeper and deeper as it changed to a roaring sound. Cinder removed her hand as Drake's body began to grow in size. His skin was turning a pitch black colour, bones were beginning to stick out like armor and he now stood up on all four of his limbs. A pair of giant red wings sprouted from his back, as did a long, spear-like tail. And finally, his head changed shape, looking more reptilian now with more bone armor around it. And to top it all off, fire was coming from his mouth.
Drake was no more. Cinder had changed him completely into a Grimm. And with what stood before us, any chance we had of winning this fight had quickly went down the drain.
"Drake's become.... a Drake!"
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