“You let me miss that?! You’re such a bitch! I’ve been looking forward to that moment for months!” Roman shouted at Glynda, the rest of the room waiting with a slight fear as to just how she might react.
But to their surprise, she remained perfectly calm, tapping away at her scroll. “Would it make you feel any better if I got you a copy of this? I’m thinking of having it printed out and framed, I could have one done for you as well.” She showed him something on her scroll.
Roman’s anger turned into a sharp grin, ready to agree–
But it was cut off by a cry of pain as Neo decided to use him as a stepping stool so that she could look at the picture as well, her heels digging into his back as she forced him to his knees.
Ozpin wisely decided to keep himself out of that mess, instead focusing on the important matters they had been discussing.
“You know James, I really think it comes down to something simple. We should take a page out of the book of our students for once, for as much as we teach them, they also teach us on occasion.”
James eyed him warily. “...I’m listening.”
Ozpin held his index finger up to his nose, as if he were about to adjust his glasses…
“Not it.”
Eyes widened around the room, hands rushing to faces and a chorus of “Not it” ringing out in the office.
“The Schnee bitch was last, that means she’s Atlas’ problem!” Roman shouted, pointing at Winter with the hand not involved in the game.
Winter pointed as his diminutive partner. “No! Neo didn’t say anything yet, so she loses by default!”
Glynda looked down her nose at the Specialist. “Really? Has the mighty Atlas fallen so far as to use a disability against a poor girl?”
Neo played along, the puppy dog eyes and waterworks starting up and tugging at Winter’s heartstrings.
James sighed, removing his finger from his nose. “What have we been reduced to? And stop that!”
Glass shattered to reveal Neo’s pouting face, free of tears.
“My employees did the hard work of bringing her in, James,” Ozpin pointed out. “The least you can do is keep her far, far away from us. She tried to kill one of my students!”
Having Cinder reduced to little more than a civilian was a good thing in the eyes of everyone present. It presented a problem, though. What to do with her now.
If they simply sent her to a normal prison, she wouldn’t be able to break out on her own anymore, but being an agent of Salem surely meant that an incident would occur, whether to break her out or clean up a loose end. While they all had respect for the correctional officers at the Vale Prison, those men and women were not exactly ready for an encounter like that and it would be beyond irresponsible to just dump Cinder in their hands.
There were technically a sparingly few special facilities to hold huntsmen trained individuals who had gone against law and order, but those were designed to keep the dangerous people inside to protect the civilians outside, and Cinder’s situation would be much the opposite.
This left the two groups in a bit of a stalemate. Realistically, they would both be able to do the job with little issue so long as Salem herself didn’t come marching down to take care of Cinder.
But that meant having to deal with Cinder for the foreseeable future, and nobody wanted that.
Winter faltered first. “...He does raise a good point, sir. It would be easier to handle her with our facilities than those of Beacon as well…”
Ozpin suppressed his grin. Victory would be his.
----------------------------------------
“...and so students, that is why you must always keep in mind the origin of the Nevermores you find yourself up against!” Port bellowed.
Is that a real thing? Second asked.
Wait, you pay attention to what he says? Jaune replied, willing to indulge in the idle conversation for now.
Well what am I meant to do? His stories can be a bit all over the place but I think they’re interesting.
Wha- no! Jaune insisted. They are not! They put people to sleep!
No, what puts people to sleep are those awful comics you read. Now answer me already, does the kingdom a Nevermore originates from really-
“And remember students!” Port continued.
The class groaned.
“Final exams are fast approaching, so be sure to study up!”
The class was silent.
Exams?! Study?! What are we supposed to study, he just tells stories every day! Jaune panicked.
Relax, obviously it can’t be that bad because people get through it every year.
“Of course, the final for Grimm Studies is more of a practical application, but you may just find yourselves surprised by what I come up with, so prepare yourselves!” Port announced.
See? You’re just gonna have to kill a grimm or something.
Jaune scoffed, drawing a few eyes that weren’t aware of his internal argument. Just kill a grimm? A boarbatusk or whatever would be fine, but this is a final! What if he brings out a nuckelavee?
You think he’d round up enough of them to test all of you? Second countered.
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This is the same guy who brought a grimm to the first day of class, I wouldn’t put it past him!
That’s… true… Second admitted. Hm. Maybe you really are fucked.
“Jaune?”
The blond jolted in his seat, suddenly realizing that the classroom had cleared out.
Pyrrha was standing, waiting for him with a bit of concern in her eyes. “Class is over. You can argue with Second later.”
Jaune sighed. “Right. Thanks Pyrrha.”
The partners made their way out of the classroom, joining up with their friends who had been waiting just outside the door.
“About time,” Yang playfully complained. “That wrapped up in your worries about the exam?”
Jaune grimaced. “Can you blame me?”
Weiss narrowed her eyes. “Yes. In fact, I can blame you. If you had been properly studying throughout the semester like a proper student should, you would not be worried about a simple examination.”
“But Weiissss,” Nora whined as she draped herself over the heiress, “Studying is boring.”
“It is not!” Weiss rebutted. “I happen to enjoy it, I’ll have you know!”
Blake gave her the side eye. “Of course you would. Though regardless of how… exciting or not any of us find studying, I doubt we have anything to worry about with the finals. This is a school for huntsmen, not anything focused on academics. There’s no way the results of an exam are going to make or break anything.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Ruby agreed. “Uncle Qrow says it’s mostly just a way to get the council off their backs since they need to have some sort of results to justify”, she held her fingers up in air quotes, “all the funding that huntsmen schools get.”
“Personally I’m more interested in what comes after the final exams,” Pyrrha chimed in. “Some time off from classes means I’ll be able to visit home for a bit.”
Ren tilted his head. “Didn’t you decide to attend Beacon specifically to escape how things were for you back home?”
“Well, yes,” Pyrrha agreed, “but there’s a difference between a bunch of potential classmates and professors trying to worship the ground I stand on and my family, you know.”
Several members of the group shared a look.
Awkward….
Shut up, Second, she didn’t mean it like that.
Pyrrha seemed to catch on. “Not that there’s anything wrong with– I mean— I’m not trying to–”
“It’s fine, Pyrrha,” Nora reassured, “we’re orphans! We’re used to this sort of thing.”
Yang’s eyes gained a curious look. “Speaking of which… What exactly do you guys do during breaks? Since, you know…”
Ren rolled his eyes. “We were orphans, not homeless. We simply spent our time at the orphanage with the other children. Although… I suppose that’s not really the case anymore, is it?”
Nora groaned. “Wait, are we gonna have to spend our break at school?! This is torture!”
Ruby gasped. “No way! We couldn’t just leave you behind to suffer like that! You could… um… you could come stay with us for the break?” She meekly suggested, eyes darting to Yang for approval.
It was Blake who spoke up first, however. “Does your place have room for that many people?”
Yang frowned. “What do you mean? It’s just two people, we can make space for that, no problem. Dad will totally be fine with it.”
“It’s not just two people, though,” Blake explained. “You have to make room for the rest of the team as well.”
Just inviting herself over? Daring. And also cowardly, since she can just go visit her family.
“Come on Blakey,” Nora prodded, “You’ve gotta go see your parents at some point!”
Though not every last detail had been shared, thanks to the nonsense with Jinn they all had a decent idea of what she was dealing with back home with her parents.
Blake frowned. “It’s not my parents I’m worried about… anymore,” she quietly added. “Kuo Koana is the home base for the White Fang and for all I know Adam could be skulking around the island.”
That gave the group pause.
“We can probably squeeze a third in?” Ruby hesitantly agreed.
“You only need to worry about two guests, Ruby,” Ren reassured her. “Nora and I can stay in Beacon while Blake and Weiss stay with your family.”
Weiss narrowed her eyes. “And why would I need to stay with their family?”
Pyrrha hesitated. “Well, there was that whole thing with your father freezing your card, wasn’t there? I don’t imagine you’d have a very pleasant break if you went back there.”
Weiss withdrew her objection.
Ruby pouted. “A team RWBY vacation sounds great and all, but that defeats the whole point of me offering if Ren and Nora are still gonna be stuck here!”
“They could stay with me.”
Nora looked at Jaune hopefully, Ren warily. “Ruby and Yang are pressed for space and you think you can fit two extra people with as many siblings as you have?”
Jaune nodded. “Well, Saphron’s old room should still be up for grabs, you guys can use that.”
Are you sure that’s a good idea? Given the whole, you know, everything that had been going on between you and your family?
Jaune ignored his semblance.
“That sounds great, Jauney!” Nora exclaimed, hugging him tightly.
Ren sighed. “...I suppose if you actually get permission from your family this time.”
Jaune blushed. “It’ll be fine! …or, well, mom will probably be fine with it, and she can strong arm dad, so…”
Lovely. This won’t be awkward at all, Second grumbled.
----------------------------------------
Emerald tried to focus her vision on the screen before her, but she struggled, the dull throbbing of her head distracting her.
She couldn’t waste time, though. Cinder needed her.
There hadn’t been any sort of official announcement. No press releases with big bold letters saying “CINDER FALL CAPTURED.”
But she had asked around the city of Vacuo, and was now certain that the woman she’d seen get floated off was Cinder.
The floating… that had to be Goodwitch. Cinder had warned them of the woman’s semblance, and it looked similar enough to what Emerald had seen back at the attempted breach of Vale, when this whole mess had started going downhill.
That stupid mess. If it hadn’t been for that Jaune guy and his stupid semblance…
Maybe Cinder had had a point when she got all nervous about Arc’s semblance. Maybe it really was pulling the strings.
Maybe…
If Goodwitch had taken Cinder hostage, then she’d be held at Beacon, right?
So Emerald… Emerald might be able to both take revenge against the bastard that put them in this position, and get Cinder back in one fell swoop.
But her head… really didn’t feel great. She didn’t think she could pull a repeat of their escape from Vale, putting all sorts of people under an illusion one after the other. No, going straight to Beacon was probably out of the question.
But… if those bastards were going to steal Cinder from her…
Maybe she could steal someone from Arc.
A hostage for a hostage.
That would surely get Cinder back.