"Ah, Miss Sparda." Ozpin greeted me as the doors to the elevator open, his eyes roamed me for a moment as he took a habitual sip from his seemingly bottomless mug. "How nice of you to join me." His glasses flash when he adjusted them, his cane mockingly staying still in the air before he rested his hand back on it. "Though, I have to wonder, where are your weapons?" And wasn't that the million-dollar question that burned in my mind.
"Broken." I could still feel Ebony and Ivory crumbling in my hands, Rebellion's blade snapping from the one strike I lost control of my strength with. "They were replicas of my uncles, not the real thing." My footsteps echoed as I walked up to the man, who fixed me with that damn gaze I couldn't make out anything of his inner thoughts with. "Are we still going to try to fight tonight or…?" He shook his head.
"Seeing as you have no weapon to fight back? No." We stood in companionable silence, and I had a moment to just breathe. "How was the field trip?" And wasn't that a Chekov's Gun? "I trust that you'd handled the situation correctly." I fixed him with a resting bitch face and crossed my arms, one hand reaching for and closing around the handle of a blade that I just didn't have anymore. "You already have an after action report from Glynda, don't you?" His smile dropped, and I continued to glare at his silent form. "A second hand account from after the fact, I wish to hear it from your perspective."
…
…
"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful." I'd heard the line a thousand times over, having rewatched the entire first three seasons numerous times, wherever I got bored and just wanted good music and fights. My eyes turned to the back of the ground, meeting a scowling Cardin's that burned with the rage of broken Ego's and Pride. "-and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." I snap back to watching our teacher when her stern gaze falls over me, and I could feel the way her gaze conveyed her disappointment. "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap." Yadda Yadda, rendezvous back at 4pm after a day in the forest that had the very beast's our class was learning to combat crawling around.
"Nora!" Jaune exasperatedly yells as the girl immediately zooms off into the forest with a jar all alone. 'Everything alright?" Pyrrha's hand lands on my shoulder just as I start to look backwards. "Cardin's been glaring at us for a while." I started to walk off in the direction Jaune and Ren left. "I've got a bad feeling that he's going to do something entirely stupid and inane." Pyrrha had taken on that 1v4 with absolutely no issue in class, then a new and improved Jaune that's been training with not just the 'Invincible Girl' But also fraternizing with the upper years for tips on how to improve?
Cardin couldn't be bothered to actually research or do anything besides swing his mace around with anything but the grace of a toddler throwing a tempertantum. Of course, he's also here at beacon so he has some skill, but I fear he got in with a little nepotism… Something to bring up with Oz next time we have a training session- Right, I don't have any 'Weapons' to use, and it's not like I've actually put the work in to do anything about that yet.
"Have you given any thought to what weapon you wanted to make?" Pyrrha nocked me out of my musing as we finally reached an exasperated Ren and laughing Jaune. "Not really? My uncle uses a Great sword, and so does my brother, while my dad uses a Katana." It was a dilemma for me, because I'd just started to take steps away from worrying about 'Canon' and what not with my outfit and actions, I also want to be my own person but don't know what is me when it came to a weapon.
"You have a brother?" Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren suddenly all stared at a grinning sap covered Valkyrie. "I don't think I talked about my family, did I?" That got everyone's eyes on me. "Well, I suppose I should start with my Uncle. I did have replicas of his weapons, after all." I felt blood rush to my cheeks as I looked away. "He uses a greatsword given to him from my grandfather, Rebellion, and a pair of pistols called Ebony and Ivory." Hours of lore started to pop back into my head as I started to bring up plot points that I had thought long forgotten and added in my own 'Abridged' explanations for where my 'Father' had been after the fight.
Basically, a sanitized version of some DMC storylines.
"Oh! Oh! What about your semblance, the cool ink creatures! Does your dad have those as well!?" I deftly stepped out of Nora's glomp path and let her slam into the ground without getting sticky sap onto my brand-new outfit. "Actually, this book of poetry is my Fathers." I reached into my coat, pulling the book out and holding it up for them to see. "He can't really summon his creatures anymore due to previous… Injuries, but our semblances are pretty much the same across the board for the whole family tree."
I scratched at my cheek while looking away in slight embarrassment, putting the book back into my coat safely and hesitating from actually explaining the dumb shit I came up with to explain the fact that I didn't have Aura. "I've never actually seen you use your Aura, what colour is it!" Nora started to jump up and down, though despite her words and actions, she was laser focused on my answers. "We give up the protection our souls give, and in return, enhance ourselves with majour physical power and various abilities." The best excuse I could give was to basically treat my "Semblance" like it's a JJK Heavenly Restriction-
*GLASS-BREAKING*
I stumbled forward, something having impacted with my back and broken… "CARDIN!" Pyrrha and Jaune yell in sync, instantly spotting the culprit. I shucked off my overcoat, turning it around to see the splotch of purplish pink sticky syrup clinging to it. "Oh motherfucker…" I didn't have any self-cleaning abilities, or even ones tied to my outfit, and this bitch just slathered my back with sticky syrup that would probably be hell to remove.
With a glance, I could see everyone but Cardin laughing, most likely having aimed for Pyrrha but missing and hitting me on accident. "Rrrauuughhh!" Everyone paused at the roar that ripped out from the trees. "Grraauuuughhh!"
"URSA!" I dropped the coat and jumped away from the trees just in time to dodge the fucking pain train, I pushed off the ground, flipping through the air and landing on my feet. "Cannella stay back! Ren, Nora, Set up!" Jaune stood tall, instantly assessing the situation and taking control.
I watched as Nora dashed in, her hammer impacting the Ursa's jaw and sending it reeling. Ren followed up with a kick, forcing it to fall backwards and slapping a hand onto his Partner's shoulder. "Pyrrha, go high!" Jaune bracced himself just before the taller girl's feet slammed into his shield, for a moment, I thought he'd give and fall backwards, but was pleasantly surprised to watch her soar through the air.
"Nora!" The resident slugger appeared in front of him, hammer smashing into his shield and sending him flying towards the recovering Ursa. "HAMMERTIME!~" She took far too much glee in sending our team leader soaring from the force of not only smashing him, but also detonating her explosives to give it an extra kick.
Jaune launched forward, his sword swiftly finding it impaled into the creature's side. "Pyrrha!" With a grunt of effort and a hazy black arua surrounding the metal on him, Jaune was moved away just fast enough to avoid the backhand swing aimed at him. "Cannella!" I was surprised for a moment, not at all expecting to be called upon for this fight- "ATHENA!" Ink swirled around me, forming a large black owl that quickly sent a barrage of sharp fathers at the creature.
A shadow darted through the woods, moving for- "Shit, REN!" With more strength than I thought possible, I flew through the sky and had to watch, in what was practically slow motion, our calm and collected teammate turn around to be face to face with a Death Stalker. 'NO!' I started to lose momentum and height, the creature's stinger moving ever so closer to the undefended form of Ren.
Not to mention, the rest of the team was focused on the fucking Ursa. "GET THE FUCK-!" My feet found purchase on something midair, most likely a shield thrown by either Jaune or Pyrrha and controlled by the latter. "-AWAY!" My muscles tensed for a single moment on that solid platform, and for a single treacherous moment, I didn't think I'd make it.
"OH GOD, THAT FUCKING HURTS!"
Time resumed flowing at the normal speed, but the battlefield froze at my scream, I had just been impaled after all.
"HOW THE FUCK DOES HE GET BACK UP LIKE IT WAS NOTHING AFTER BEING IMPALED EACH TIME!?"
The words ripped from my mouth as my hands clenched around the stinger.
Seriously, how the fuck does my uncle get the fuck back up after being impaled with nary a hint of it actually fucking hurting!? This hurts like hell, the stinger went through and through, and I could feel the blood running down my back. "CANNELLA!" Everyone's voices melded together in a single shout, I think I even heard our sister team's voices.
…
…
"Needless to say, being impaled is not a fun experience." That got a snort out of my hardass of a 'Mysterious' headmaster. "I can only imagine, and how are you holding up after the fact." I twisted, stretching to show that I was doing just fine after that unfortunate encounter. "Seems that my cover story works just as intended, what with the fact that my clothes are just fine~" I blame my Warlock Patron for the unintended side effect of having cloths specifically from him, they'd never stayed dirty for long after all~
"And how are the teams holding up, from your perspective, of course." That… Was where thing's got a bit dicey… "I honestly don't really know… I mean, just kinda found out his own semblance by consequence of trying to staunch the bleeding." It was nice that he tried to help, but it really didn't do anything. "Pyrrha, Nora and Ren all launched at the Death Stalker in a tizzy while RWBY eviscerated the Ursa and everyone hasn't really… Left me along since the incident." No matter my 'I'm fine, nothing to worry about here' reassurances that clearly didn't work, they eventually gave up and pointed toward my fucking blood stained cloths.
"I suppose it was a good thing team CRDL did not stick around then?" Oz raised a brow, going for a sip. "I mean, I don't really have to explain this to anyone else, so all's well that end's well in my book." I had to wait for them all to pass out before I could move from my bed, and I should probably get back before any of them can wake up, sides… I need to have a talk with a certain someone that most likely meddled in my shit.
Oz looked me over again, his glasses sliding down enough so he can really truly look at me without them. "What will you chose?"
"What?"
"Your new weapon. What will you chose?"
…
Fuck… I really hadn't thought of that yet…
"I'm not sure, Oz, I'm really not sure." My shoulders fell, and I just let the pep in my step leave and the exhaustion flood my body… I'd been awake too long for my mind to handle. "I have a couple ideas, but they feel like just copies of other's and that they wouldn't truly be mine." And that pissed me off to no end.
Katana?
'Jet Stream Sam, Vergil, Adam Taurus'
Scythe?
'Qrow, Ruby, Hugo Vlad.'
Greatsword?
'Dante, Nero, Ragna the Bloodedge'
Dualblades?
'Kirito, EMIYA, Tengen'
Big heavy weapons?
'TF2 Heavy, Coco, Lady'
"Hmm. Well, if there's anything I've learned through the years, Miss Sparda." He took another quick sip. "You need to stop worrying about your weapon of choice being a copy, and more about how you'll use it." Huh…. "Food for thought, and I think that you'll have plenty of time to ponder on it." I took the clear dismal for what it was and turned to leave.
Still had to have that talk.