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Chapter 23: Vytal Festival (Part 10) Ozpin
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“Hey guys!”
Robin and Blake turned to the owner of the voice. A blonde girl and her baby sister walked up to them. Behind them was a familiar silver-haired man.
= Isn't that... =
“Hello Yang. Hello Ruby.” Blake responded.
“Hello,” Robin also returned the greeting. However, the younger girl looked confused.
“Um, hello? I'm Ruby Rose. Who are you?” Apparently, she didn't recall ever meeting the two of them.
= She has a different last name? I thought they were sisters. =
Robin contemplated on the fact, but chose not to ask about it. It might be a touchy subject, so he didn't bring it up.
“Oh you met them two days ago Ruby. You were paying attention to the Tournament, so you probably don't remember.” Yang clarified.
“But, but, their weapons are so cool. Some had fire swords, and I remember another person had a collapsible staff. And and...”
The young girl had short, black hair that swayed side to side as she moved. Her silver eyes were filled with excitement as she went on and on about the different weapons the Hunters and Huntresses used. Blake and Robin were a bit taken back. They were also interested in weaponry thanks to the tournament, but the sheer amount of energy the little girl spoke with was a bit too much for the two bookworms. At this moment, the adult stepped forward and put his hand on Ruby's shoulders.
“Now, now, Ruby. You're scaring your friends. By the way, why don't you introduce me to them?”
“Ok!” Yang said with a smile.
“Robin, Blake, this is our uncle Qrow. He's letting us play while our parents are visting some other friends. Uncle Qrow, this is Robin and Blake. We met during the festival, and Robin and I fought against each other in the Junior Tournament.”
“Ah, I see.” Qrow nodded. “So this is who beat you?”
Yang pouted and looked at Robin with a dissatisfied face.
“Yeah, he's stronger than me now, but next time I'll beat him no problem.”
“I'll accept your challenge anytime.” He responded.
“Hmm..” Qrow stared at Robin. “You look familiar..”
= That's because you met me as a kid. But I can't say anything or that would be suspicious. =
At that moment, Robin's parents had come back from a stall. Upon looking for Robin, they saw he and Blake were with a familiar face.
“Oh hey! Is that you Qrow?”
Joseph and Christina walked up to the man. Qrow stood up and smiled at the two.
“Yes it is. It's been a long time. How have you two been?”
“We've been great.” Christina said. “Thanks to your help, we were able to raise Robin just like we wanted to. Would you mind coming to have lunch with us?”
“That's a great offer. Unfortunately, I have a previous appointment I have to attend to. I'm afraid our meeting won't spare us some time to catch up.”
“That's unfortunate.” Joseph smiled wryly and made a facial expression that said it couldn't be helped.
“Brother!” Walking towards them was a black-haired man. He had a somewhat longer hair that reached his shoulders.
“It's almost time for the meeting. You should get going. Hm? Who's this?”
“This is Joseph and Christina Wolfheart. I believe this child is Robin Wolfheart if I'm not mistaken. Although I'm not sure about his friend here.”
Blake waved hello.
“I'm Blake Belladonna.”
“Hello there. I'm Taiyang Xiao Long. I'm the father of these two wonderful kids.” He rubs Yang and Ruby's head.
“Qrow is a bit busy, so I'll take the kids and have lunch with you guys instead. Is that fine?”
“Of course, we wouldn't mind at all.”
“Then I shall take my leave.”
With that, Qrow left the group of friends to get to know one another. He made his way to a fancy building. Inside, he entered into a restaurant that had reserved seating. Mentioning his name, he was taken to a closed off VIP area. The room was filled with expensive decorations and in the middle of the was a table and some chairs. Seated there was his sister-in-law and niece. The two of them turned to greet him.
“Welcome, Uncle Qrow.” Raven said.
“Hello Qrow. Was spending time with Yang and Ruby fun?”
The woman had long and straight white hair. It seemed that Ruby got her straight hair from Summer while Yang and Raven took after Taiyang's curly hair. She wore a white and red jacket over her black shirt and blue jeans to match them. Embedded on her jacket was a noticeable small cross.
“Yes,” Qrow replied while taking a seat next to Raven.
“They had a wonderful time, both of them. I even got a wonderful reunion with an acquaintance of mine. It seems their child is growing up to be a handsome and strong Hunter as well.”
“Really?” Raven question. “How strong is he?”
“Hm. He's pretty strong. Enough to give you a hard time, that's for sure.” Qrow grinned at Raven.
“Can I meet him sometime?”
“Sure. Maybe some day I'll let you two talk with each other. I have a feeling you'll get along nicely. By the way, is Ozpin not here yet?”
= Ozpin? Isn't that the name of the guy who fought in the Great War? What's he coming here for? =
As far as she knew, Raven thought this was a get-together to meet her step-mother. Earlier, they had talked a bit about how she grew up and if she was doing well. A sense of comfort was felt when she was with Summer.
At that moment, the door opened yet again. This time a middle-aged man with tousled gray hair stepped into the room. He wore dark-green pants and an unzipped suit. Underneath the black vest that could be seen was a green shirt. The man walked forward with his silver cane in hand, his black shoes clicking against the ground.
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“I see everyone else is here. Hm? Where's Taiyang?”
“He's taking care of the kids. It's just us here today.”
“I see. I'm glad to see that both you and Summer returned safely from the mission.”
The man sat down between Raven and Summer. He turned to Raven and held out his hand. As Ozpin tilted his head down to look at her, brown eyes could be seen past the dark glasses.
“My name is Zoro Ozpin. It's a pleasure to meet you.”
“Hello. I'm Raven Branwen. If you don't mind me asking, are you the son of THE Ozpin?”
The middle-aged man was far too young to be over 70 years old. Furthermore, the one who supposedly participated in the Great War was known to be 20 at the time. Thus, Raven assumed that the man was a descendant of the founder of Hunters and Huntresses everywhere. However, the man chuckled and revealed a fact that shocked her greatly.
“No, I am the Great Wizard Ozpin who participated in that war. I must seem a little young to you, but I assure you its just a small side effect of my semblance so don't be alarmed. Although, I'm currently the headmaster of Beacon academy, so you can just call me Professor.”
= What small side effect lets a 90 year old man look 40? =
Raven's jaw dropped at the historical figure that was in front of her. At that moment, Summer decided to greet the hero.
“Thank you for coming all this way Professor Ozpin.”
“Oh it's no problem. After watching my students fight in the tournament, I had some free time, so I came to meet with some comrades.”
At this point, Raven noticed a peculiar fact, all three adults had a emblem of a cross on their clothing. It was as if it was some kind of symbol.
“Since we're all here, I want to hear what happened from your mouth.”
Qrow leaned forward and set his arms on the table. Raven at this point began to realize what she was about to hear concerned her. She turned to her uncle as he began to speak.
“Qrow, what happened on your mission?”
“..4 years ago, the council gave me the mission to wipe out the remnants of Project A. Upon tracking down clues after clues for so long, I finally found one of their hidden hideouts. However, it was abandoned and the only thing I discovered there was Raven. After that, I relayed the discovery to everyone in the group, but never reported to the kingdom about Raven's existence.”
“I see,” Ozpin said, “and this is when you let Summer take over your mission?”
Qrow nodded.
“Yes. I couldn't just leave Raven to die, so I took her back to my hideout and raised her there. I was busy taking care of her and making sure the Grimm didn't get too close to us, so I talked to Summer and made her take care of it and report it to me. After that, I would use her reports and send it to the kingdom.”
= Wait. Why are they reporting in such a roundabout way? It's as if they don't trust the kingdom. =
“It's to protect you, Raven.” Qrow looked at her as if he read her mind.
“When we were given the mission, they explicitly said to wipe out EVERYONE. This includes the people who were experimented on. They don't want this to get out to the public.”
Raven began to smile wryly. The situation was truly laughable. Just like Robin, the world treated her like she didn't exist. No rights, no mother. Hell, her own status showed she was neither human nor faunus.
“Don't worry Raven.” Summer began. “We can set up birth certificates and everything else to guarantee you to live just like a normal girl.”
She then looked straight at Qrow with a determined expression.
“That's why I'm telling you guys to let me take Raven into our family. She deserves to live with a mother and father. Not to be raised outside the kingdom and treated as if she's a monster like those other people do to faunus!”
Qrow shook his head.
“No, Raven deserves to live the life she wants to. And she wants to follow our footsteps. I'm going to train her to become stronger and do the work we do.”
“WE ARE NOT REGULAR HUNTERS QROW!!”
Summer began to yell. She slammed her hands on the table and leaned over the table to stare Qrow in the eyes.
“We are spies and murderers! She is four, Qrow. FOUR! My other four year old cried in my arms last night about how she lost to a boy in a competition. You're telling me you want Raven to grow up learning how to end a life?! Do you think she really understands just what that means?!!”
Of course she understood what it meant. Raven already saw it first hand what a dead body looked like. His purple and teary face still haunted her nightmares, but they didn't know that. A more interesting fact popped up in Summer's rant that she just had to mention.
“What do you mean you're not regular hunters?”
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Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun! Next chapter I'll reveal the conspiracy. Raven meets founder of Hunters, hero of the Great War, and headmaster of Beacon! I'll update the next chapter today if I get time. Probably won't happen.
Picture of Ozpin
Edit: I hate this server. It gave me error and accidentally makes me upload the same chapter twice.
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Edit 2: So did I pull off worried mom role well? It's not done yet but I figured I might as well ask.