Chapter 7

Xavier let out a sputtering breath before coughing as the cold night air filled his lungs once more, an immense pressure on his chest as Ruby applied compressions. His head rose briefly before falling back down to the ground, but his breathing was at least steady. Ruby sighed with relief and sat down beside him. "Are... You okay professor?"

Xavier's arms were lazily draped over his chest as he took in a deep breath, then exhaled with a long sigh. "that depends... how's everyone else?"

Ruby would sheepishly rub the back of her neck. "Once we got the bleeding to stop and I started compressions... Blake and Sun left."

Xavier lifted his head up enough to show that a tattered piece of what were once his pants were wrapped around the spot that had been cut wide open, soaked through with his own blood. He slowly, gradually sat up before removing the fabric, much to Ruby's shock. "H-hey what are you-!?" He raised a hand with a gesture to tell her to stop. He needed quiet focus. Transmuting other particles into human tissue was a complicated process, one that he had practiced with and endured enough times that it would normally have been second nature... But through this restraint, he needed focus. With a few quiet moments, his fingertips would dig into the wound, turning layers of skin into replacement tissue while his other hand absorbed micrometers of the ground around them at a time to compensate, regenerating the lost skin as fast as it would come, up until the wound itself was sealed.

The fact that it took more than a few seconds was troubling enough, but thinking back on his performance throughout that entire skirmish was another thing entirely. Finally, Xavier broke the silence. "...i messed up ruby, i messed up bad" He sighed before starting to get back to his feet. Something Ruby would attempt to help him with, despite the replacement ligaments, artery and tissue, it still felt weak and would undoubtedly scar.

"If it wasn't for you, I don't think we would have gotten away in such good shape... Relatively." She admitted after gazing down at his grazed thigh. Xavier shook his head.

"i'm... not used to failure like this, the bad guys got away, blake- ...everyone got hurt, it's my fault" Ruby paused, causing Xavier to take a few more hesitant steps forward on a still weak leg before turning to her. "...how did you even find us?"

Ruby's cheeks turned a bit red at the question. "Well, um... I took the first bulkhead down into the city to get snacks for the weekend and... kind of... forgot I wasn't supposed to do that. W-when I saw you out on the streets earlier I was going to ask if I could get a ride back..." It took Xavier a minute to realize that she remembered his little embarrassment teleport from before. He laughed a bit.

"i can still take you back, once i've got some juice," Ruby nodded.

"Your semblance is strange, I guess... You can manipulate your aura like energy from an anime?"

Xavier blinked in surprise. "...they have anime here?"

Ruby nodded. "It's all from Mistral of course but there's a market, Yang shows me all of her fighting... um... shows. I like the slice of life ones."

"what, like romance?" He teased a bit, causing Ruby to look away in embarrassment. Xavier would reach over and pat her shoulder. "nothing to be embarrassed about, ...we should probably leave before the cops show up though, do you have any dust?"

Ruby hesitated to answer that, though did eventually respond. "It's pretty expensive stuff..." Xavier shook his head a bit.

"i also need it if we're going to get back, no offense but i don't exactly want to get a hotel in this part of town-" As he spoke, Xavier had been looking around for materiel that could be useful to absorb. However, his eyes landed squarely on a shipping crate that had been punched through by the mech earlier. He recognized the symbol alongside it. "...no way, help me over there?"

Ruby was a bit skeptical, but complied, acting as Xavier's crutch for the short trip over, but she recognized it as well once they arrived. "Is that an SDC shipment??"

Xavier gave a low whistle before taking a few more steps towards it, grabbing hold of a smaller, padded case that had fallen and opening it up to find vials of fire dust inside. "yep... and i'll bet you ten to one that over half of the containers on this dock are packed with this stuff, so that's what they were doing here..."

Ruby's eyes widened. "And Blake and Sun knew about it the whole time..."

Xavier grabbed a case from the container, it was sizable and had a bit of heft to it, but could still be reasonably carried in one hand over small distances. He used his knife to open the locked case and took one vial before putting it back. "seems like it-" The incredulous stare that Ruby gave him made him feel an unfamiliar pang in his stomach. "...look, it's just one for the greater good, i'll even confess if asked, but we definitely don't want to be here much longer," Ruby seemed to relent, looking down at the floor with a frustrated expression, but not saying anything. Xavier crushed the vial in his hand and absorbed the contents swiftly. A warmth spread through his being that he didn't recognize from the last time, though his eyes glowed the same shade of orange. He offered his hand to Ruby. "let's get out of here," And so they would, in a flash of orange light, both would disappear, leaving behind only a small scorch mark.

Upon arriving back at the entrance of Beacon, both sighed with relief. Ruby would smile as she briefly inspected Crescent Rose before turning to Xavier. "Are you going to be okay professor?"

Xavier chuckled a bit. "yeah, if i can make it to my room, i'm just gonna pass out for awhile," Though he wore the mask well, inside he was frothing with anger. None of this should have happened in the way it did, he should have been able to prevent this. He should have been stronger... He shook his head a bit and sighed. "just keep out of trouble, okay?" And with that, he would leave his present company to make the long and arduous trip back to his room, limping as he went.

The next morning when he awoke, he had indeed slept it off as his leg was no longer in pain. Why this miraculous regeneration ability could only happen when he was asleep was something beyond his understanding, however, after getting dressed and opening his door... Ozpin was on the other side. "Ah, perfect timing." The Headmaster stated bluntly. "Meet me in my office, Mathis." He simply instructed before walking away, Xavier sighed in frustration, it seemed the jig was indeed up already...

Upon arriving in said office, the first and only other person inside was a familiar face, that of Qrow. Who looked significantly less drunk than their first time meeting, Qrow nodded to Xavier. "Heard you had a busy night." Xavier simply nodded as he made his way off the elevator and sitting down in a chair. Qrow would take a cup of coffee and pour a bit of something from his hip flask in it before offering the drink to Xavier, which he took gladly.

After a few moments of near silence, the elevator would open once more and Ozpin would emerge. "The good news is that the police haven't found any evidence that points back to you. There was no surveillance equipment within the warehouse grounds." Xavier slowly nodded as Ozpin approached his desk, sitting down upon it. "Now, I want you to explain to us everything that happened, starting from the beginning."

Xavier would slowly nod. He took a deep breath in through his nose, only taking a moment to gather his thoughts, wanting to "okay, so... once i disembarked the bulkhead i saw a couple other figures do the same, considering they were hiding themselves i figured they were students and not staff, so i tailed them..." Aside from not giving any identities or mentioning Ruby's involvement whatsoever, Xavier accurately recounted the events of the night, the fight against the mech, and the gangsters afterwards. Albeit he omitted any mention of others fighting. "...by the time the dust settled, they were long gone, and i decided to take a pinch of dust to disappear before the cops actually arrived, something tells me the slow response has alot to do with bribery and/or coercion,"

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Ozpin would take a long drink from his mug and contemplate for a moment. "So, aside from the identities of these students, what aren't you telling us?"

Xavier chuckled a bit, embarrassed more than anything. "just one thing," Discretion may be the better part of valor, but when one was called out so blatantly, it didn't have much of a place... "the gangster with red hair,"

"Roman Torchwick." Qrow interjected.

"right, that guy," Xavier nodded. "...he called me by my title, and knew about my... propensity for leaving," While that was difficult to admit, this wasn't the time to hold back. "look... i may have shared a bit much among friends, but the rogue of space was something only the people in this room at the time were privy to, right?" His tone was irritated as he asked Ozpin that question, albeit not accusatory, he wouldn't dare.

Ozpin adjusted his glasses before sharply inhaling through his nose. "I have a collective of like-minded colleagues who share a vision of Remnant's future. Perhaps... I should compile a spreadsheet..." He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"oz..." Xavier interjected. "if it's a spy, they're most likely surrounding rather than in your circle, you shouldn't have to question the loyalty of your friends..." He knew that pain all too well, and was no one to lecture on it, but that seemed to bring Ozpin some small measure of peace.

Qrow grit his teeth. "I wouldn't rule it out so quickly... You're being naïve if you think someone can ever be too close to betray you..."

"Agreed..." Oz nodded. "But I understand if you don't want to draw suspicion to those you care about. For the time being, simply keep an eye open for anything suspicious."

"i... i will..." Xavier looked up at Ozpin. "...oz ...did i fail yesterday?" And at that moment something was glaringly obvious. From the weakened tone of voice only barely pushing the words out, to the tense body language of his shoulders and clenched fists. This was more than just his usual concern, or objective fear of immediate death or some such. No, he was trembling as he asked that. That the headmaster's approval could possibly make or break him in this moment.

Ozpin thoughtfully pushed up his glasses, covering his eyes as he folded his hands. "To succeed or fail is inherently subjective based on one's goals... To believe that in all things one must fail in order for another to succeed, is not true. It is only when goals conflict that this is the case... But they often do not. Your goal, as it always is, was simply to protect your students from harm. Not to make Roman Torchwick's plan fail. His success in this instance is not indicative of your failure."

Xavier probably went quiet for longer than Qrow or Ozpin had ever seen, before giving a last nod. "...thank you," He slowly stood up, though Ozpin put his hand up.

"Xavier, a moment." Xavier would carefully sit back down before Ozpin continued. "On Monday morning, your class will be suspended for two weeks. The Vytal Festival Dance is coming and you are hereby placed in charge of its planning."

Xavier visibly baulked at that notion. "wha- ...what, because i know what the kids are into these days?" He joked, figuring there was a punchline in here somewhere. Even Qrow got a bit of a laugh from this one, Oz, however, shook his head.

"Even I'm not so out of touch as to assume you do. The truth is, quite simply, that you're the only member of the faculty with that amount of free time." Xavier paused in consideration before nodding. Oz continued. "Catering will be taken care of on the school's budget, but the rest is up to you and a committee you will select. ...Try to actually stay out of trouble."

Xavier slowly nodded before getting up and actually taking the elevator down this time, once he had departed, Qrow grumbled a bit under his breath before speaking up to Ozpin. "You know he's lying, right?"

Ozpin would take a sip of his drink. "Naturally. However, omitting the truth to protect his students is different than outright lying for one's own purposes. I doubt he left any of his own involvement out from the story." Ozpin rose from his sitting position on his desk and walked to the window of his office that overlooked the campus. Already, he could see students boarding the transports down to the city to spend their weekends decompressing. "...I also have no doubts that Ms Belladonna has no further involvement with the White Fang." Qrow raised a brow.

"You think it was her? ...Actually, no, that's kinda obvious." Ozpin nodded.

"And it seems she has been following their network within the city. It is best to keep our distance just enough to observe, and lead the police to appropriate action."

Xavier would be out in the courtyard with a cigarette between his lips when his scroll rang. "...come back after coffee," Came the immediate answer. He was joking of course, but he sounded tired.

The voice on the other end was a perky and familiar one, that of Yang. "Heyyy! Perfect, actually. Like I said we want to hit the floor at probably like... 9pm? So we'll take the last ship down unless you go into town before then, so text me if you do, but like... Yeah, just wanted to let you know you've got time!"

"...shit hold on," He checked the time and was surprised at just how long he had slept. "...last one sounds good, i uh, just need to wake up," More than tired, he sounded shaken up. Nevertheless, she would say a quick goodbye and hang up, leaving him alone with his thoughts for a brief moment...

Right up until that moment was spoiled by a red flurry that descended upon him before he could react. "Hey!" Ruby had run straight into Xavier, using her semblance to wind up practically on top of him in an instant.

Xavier blinked in surprise and coughed on the drag he was taking. "c-c- uh... ruby... what'd i do this time?"

She would quickly hop off, not letting the awkwardness of the situation get to her. However... "Um... Have you seen Blake at all today?"

Xavier shook his head. "nope... i doubt she'll be coming around for a bit either," He hoped otherwise, but that kind of emotional impact leaves a mark.

Ruby seemed to ponder for a moment before she spoke again. "About yesterday... I believe you."

Xavier raised a brow as he crushed out his smoke. "...what do you mean?"

Ruby took a deep breath. "I didn't know what to think when you started messing with Blake... Yesterday you could've been stalking her because you're jealous or, um, something..." The thought wasn't an impossible one, and that idea made Xavier cringe internally. "But, after yesterday... I'm pretty much convinced you're a good person, but Blake got dressed and left super early so I was more just looking for an explanation."

"oh... um..." He didn't quite know how to answer that, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck as his cheeks flushed bright red. "that means alot, honestly,"

She smiles a bit, though it didn't last. "I'm guessing she needs some space after last night. Are you going to be around later?"

Xavier gave an awkward, nervous chuckle. "well, um, i'm going into town tonight..." He silently prayed she didn't ask why, though Ruby seemed satisfied with that answer.

"If she decides to come home and rest, tonight would be perfect then." She nodded and gave Xavier a wave as she walked off. It seemed, to him at least, that Blake could trust her team if nothing else. That gave him some measure of peace as he waited for the next transport to head into Vale.