His desk crumpled under the grip of his robotic hand.
“I’m sorry Qrow, I believe I misheard you. Would you mind repeating that for me?”
Qrow looked into his empty flask, obviously wishing that he had more on hand. For once, James agreed. He might have to break out the collection he’d been gifted over the years to get through this.
“Do you think getting pissy with me is going to change what I said? We’ve got two questions. Well, one, really, given that everyone agrees one should be used for Second Thoughts.”
“That has not been agreed upon,” Winter cut in. “There are still dozens of questions in consideration, and if there truly are only two available then we must be even more careful in our consideration of which to ask.”
Deep breaths. In and out. Winter was technically correct in that they hadn’t firmly settled on any specifics, but their last conversation had ended with them discussing the sentiment. Was she disagreeing simply to spite Qrow? Or maybe the stress of it all was getting to her. He should force her on a vacation when the opportunity arises. But for now… “How likely is it that this news is a deception on Second’s part? Having worked with Jaune and his semblance in the past, I don’t want to doubt them, but the possibility isn’t something we can overlook in a matter like this.”
Qrow grimaced. “Unlikely. Bart and I thought it over before I made my way here, and it wouldn’t really make any sense based on the info we have. According to Second, the relic will inform us of that fact itself, so if we retrieve it and that information doesn’t add up, all he’ll have accomplished is outing himself as someone we can’t trust.”
“Whereas Ozpin trying to deceive you by giving incorrect information fits in with our suspicions already.” Winter nodded along. “But, wait a moment, you said the relic will inform us? Your phrasing suggests that it can speak…”
“In a way…” Qrow hedged. “There’s also… well, Second had quite a bit to say, even if his information was lacking in some areas…”
“Just spit it out already, Qrow.” James demanded. “We don’t have time for games.”
“To start with… we were right about the statue. Problem with that is it requires a key, and we don’t know what it is. We think it would have been something Leo carried on him, so it might be in with the junk you got from his arrest, but there’s no certainty there.”
Winter frowned. “And if this key isn’t among the items in our possession?”
“We’ll blow a hole in the damn thing if we have to.” James asserted.
Both Qrow and Winter looked at him with wide eyes. “...Sir?”
“We need answers. A stealth based approach would be preferred, but we’ll do what we must.” If Ozpin was keeping these sorts of secrets and spreading lies among even his most trusted, what were they to do? It wasn’t that he thought Ozpin should completely lack suspicion, Lionheart had proven that anyone could be compromised, but if there was no trust at all, then all cohesion would break down. They’d just be doing Salem’s work for her.
He sincerely hoped that the questions would allow the trust they had before to be restored.
Once he got over his shock, Qrow seemed amused by the idea, but kept any wisecracks to himself for once. “Right… There's also another problem. Second wants to involve a whole lot more people than I thought.”
Winter narrowed her eyes at him. “Define a whole lot more, Qrow.”
Qrow lifted his flask to his lips and tilted it back… only to then be reminded that it was empty. He made a pathetic face before sighing. “Well… he said the secret keeping business was only causing problems, and that if we want to know the truth, we should go full honesty. Rip the bandage off. Get everything out in the open at once.”
Full honesty? Whether or not James agreed depended on what exactly Second had in mind. Airing out the dirty baggage between Ozpin and the rest of them would help to restore trust between them, but much had been kept secret for a reason. There was such a thing as being too honest. Huntsmen were made out to be more like heroes than monster hunters, because if the general populace were fully aware of what their protectors got up to, how many people they couldn’t save, just how brutal life outside the walls could really be…. James wasn’t certain that he could properly fathom the amount of negativity that it might cause. The number of grimm that would come in response. Honesty was a difficult balance, even if the scales should weigh far heavier on the side of truth than lies.
“That doesn’t answer my question.” Winter reminded them.
“I was getting there!” Qrow glared. “I just… I don’t agree with him, so don’t shoot the messenger alright?” He let out a breath, and sagged a bit. “He wants the kids to be there for the question…”
James blinked. The children? Why would he want them to be involved? Hadn’t he gone out of his way to force the Fall Maiden’s power into someone unfit specifically so that the children could be kept out of harm's way?
“...and Torchwick plus his sidekick….”
His confusion turned back into annoyance, bordering on anger. He was a general of the Atlas army. He couldn’t let himself get worked up about this.
Really, that should have been suspected. Even if it made no sense to him, or anyone other than Second himself, the semblance seemed to have some strange… interest? Attachment? Some sort of connection to the criminal duo.
“...and my bitch sister…”
He wasn’t very worried about that. Given the report that Winter had given him after her rendezvous with the woman, he thought it very unlikely that Raven would accept even if they did invite her. She wanted to be free of all of this, and learning the answers to the questions would only hamper that goal.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
This list of add ons was questionable at best, but he felt they could reason with Second to exclude them.
But even then… Why did Qrow seem so hesitant? Why was he drawing this out so much? He knew the man had problems with his sister, and he could understand the desire to keep his nieces out of this, but his reaction seemed strong even accounting for that.
“...and Ozpin.”
His desk broke. The area his robotic hand had been gripping turned into a series of splinters.
“Winter, remind me to get my hearing checked. This is the second time in this meeting alone that I’ve completely misheard what Qrow was trying to tell me.”
“I’ll schedule an appointment for us both, Sir. I believe I may be suffering from the same ailment.” She frowned when she looked at his desk. “I’ll order a replacement for that as well.”
Deep breaths. Focus. His doctor was going to flip when he saw his blood pressure.
James recomposed himself. “Did Second tell you why he wanted to involve the man whom we’ve been working around? Why he wants to take all of this time and effort and throw it down the drain at the last minute?”
“He said that Oz deserves to know this stuff too. And that so long as we stop him from trying to ask a question himself, he can’t do anything to stop us from getting the answers. I guess once a question is asked, nobody can stop the answers from getting out.”
Winter scoffed. “And what does he expect us to do? Are we to gag the headmaster of Beacon while we explicitly go against his wishes right in front of him?”
Qrow smirked. “Well, I figure you’ve probably got some ball gags somewhere around here.”
Despite often being called an ice queen, Winter’s face warmed. “And what is that supposed to mean?”
Qrow rolled his eyes. “Do I have to spell it out for you? I mean that you and ol’ Irondick over here-”
“Qrow.”
The man wisely shut up when James interrupted him.
“Shut up,” he continued, “and get ready to move out. We’ll be leaving shortly if we’re to make it to Haven at the time we gave to Raven.”
James let go of the splinters of his desk that were still in his grasp as he stood.
This was going to be a mess.
----------------------------------------
It’ll be fine! Second Thoughts reassured him as he made his way between classes.
After the discussion with Qrow and Professor Oobleck yesterday, Jaune couldn’t help but be worried. The two older men hadn’t exactly been thrilled with the things Second had said to them, and Jaune liked to think that if you took away the weird bird stuff and alcoholism from Qrow, and the way Oobleck lived life like it was in fast forward, that you could form at least one functional person out of them.
If they were concerned, then I should be concerned, Jaune thought back.
You want the truth, don’t you? Everyone does. All I’m proposing is that we finally get around to doing that.
But why can’t you just say it? I’ve been trying to get you to be honest with me since I unlocked you!
And I have been honest, mostly.
Jaune frowned. If you have to add “mostly” then you haven’t been honest.
If I just started spouting stuff with no evidence, you wouldn’t believe me. The first time we saw Qrow, I warned you, and you didn’t believe me!
What are you talking about?
Well, actually, I believe you said “What on Remnant are you talking about?”
Jaune’s frown deepened.
“Jaune? Are you alright?” His focus was drawn from his conversation with Second as Pyrrha grabbed his arm.
His team was looking at him with varying levels of concern. Which meant that Pyrrha looked concerned, Ren looked as emotionless as usual, and Nora was smiling.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just Second being stupid.”
What do you mean?! I’m trying to work things out here! You’re going to get what you’ve been asking for!
You… Jaune thought back to earlier in the school year. When had he first… Do you mean when you told me that birds weren’t real? That they were spies?
Yeah, exactly. And Qrow was spying on us as a crow. It was a pretty clear warning, all things considered.
How was that clear?
“Stupid in what way?” Ren asked after a moment.
“Oh! Oh!” Noar excitedly jumped up and down. “Is he finally revealing that he’s secretly a brain eating slug, laying out his plan to infect the rest of us with voices in our heads?!”
“Nora, you’re not going to get a voice in your head that you can name Nora Two.”
“Why not?!” She demanded. “That was a perfectly good name, I’ll have you know! It deserves to be used!”
What else was I supposed to say? “Oh, by the way, Ozpin’s right hand man secretly has the ability to turn into a bird, but that’s not his semblance, just trust me on this?” You would really believe that?
As much as Jaune wanted to say yes… the answer was probably no. Sure, now he’d seen Qrow’s stomach churning transformation for himself, and the magic girl in the basement, and all other sorts of oddities… but that had been pretty early into the school year, hadn’t it? He thought it was reasonable to have not believed it then.
But that doesn’t change that I would believe you now.
Second didn’t respond to that for a moment.
Team JNPR made their way into Professor Port’s classroom, taking their seats and preparing for their daily nap- lesson! Their daily lesson in Grimm Studies.
Maybe… maybe you would.
Jaune had seen the… the dreams he and Second had shared during his coma. He knew that whatever was being kept from him was big. Foreign, in a way that made the word feel too small.
But Second Thoughts was his semblance. A part of him. A physical manifestation of his soul.
Even if they had… problems, he would trust Second.
You could tell me right now, Jaune suggested. It’s not like anyone pays attention in this class anyway.
There was another pause as Port walked into the room, starting another of his tall tales.
…just wait a little bit longer, Jaune. I’ll give you the answers you’re after.