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Breathe Chapter 18: Meetings
🕑 Added 2024-07-22 05:28:13 +0000 UTC“I still think that you should have stayed in the hospital for a bit longer,” Maria said.
“I’m fine,” I hummed. “All I really needed there was some medication to ensure I wouldn’t get an infection. My Aura’s already taken care of everything else already.”
“Stubborn brat.”
“Well, I am a Calavera,” I shot back.
Nearly two days had passed since the little excursion had gone wrong and Raven attacked alongside her bandits. While some Sanctum Academy students were hurt and needed to go to the hospital, none of them had ended up being killed.
News of the attack had been kept quiet, negativity attracted Grimm and having the masses find out that the first ever outing for Sanctum Academy students had ended up being attacked by bandits and had they succeeded they would have killed several of them while holding the rest for ransom… It wasn’t a good look for Sanctum and everyone involved in the excursion.
There was another, more secret reason that only a few were privy to for wanting to keep what happened on the excursion quiet… something that I shouldn’t know, but did. The spring maiden had been revealed and, funnily enough, it wasn’t who everyone thought it was.
“Let’s get this over with,” Maria muttered as we came to a stop at Jasmine’s office door. Knocking, we waited for several moments before the door slowly opened, revealing the Principal of Sanctum Academy herself, only she looked tired and stressed.
“Maria and…” Jasmine nodded before panning over to me. “Aren’t you supposed to be in hospital?”
“Supposed to, yeah, but he refused to stay too long,” Maria answered. “Are the others ready for us?”
Jasmine blinked tiredly. “Yes… Everyone’s here. Come in.”
Stepping into Jasmine’s office, I was greeted to the sight of three people standing within it. Two of which I had expected while one had momentarily thrown me off.
The headmaster for Beacon Academy, professor Ozpin stood with his cane in one hand and a cup of what smelt like hot cocoa in the other. Next to him stood another man, a Faunus with long bushy hair, a beard and the slightest smell of Grimm on him, I assumed him to be Leonardo Lionheart, the headmaster for Mistral Academy.
The one who threw me off however was the militaristic woman with white hair, Winter Schnee.
“This is a surprise,” Ozpin commented, raising an eyebrow when he spotted me. “From my understanding, you’re supposed to be in hospital right now.”
“My wounds weren’t that severe,” I shrugged. “I thought I’d come here and help explain what happened.”
“One broken leg, torn muscles and ligaments throughout your body, burst blood vessels, two fractured ankles, a broken wrist, a severe case of electrocution and a stab wound through your chest that by all accounts should have hit your heart, but didn’t,” Ozpin listed off. “If that isn’t severe, I would hate to see what you think is.”
He’d read up on me. It was a little creepy how he had that all memorized, but then again I was a person of interest in this whole incident.
“Anything life threatening is severe, everything else is just a wound,” I replied.
Ozpin hummed and took a slow sip of his cocoa. “All those wounds would add up to something life threatening in the average person.”
“Not to me,” I said, locking eyes with him.
Lionheart loudly coughed into his hand. “I believe we’ve gotten off track… and before we’ve even begun.”
“That we have,” Ozpin agreed. “We called Miss Calavera here today to confirm what happened during the excursion for the graduating class and to see how the two of you fit into the whole debacle. From my understanding, you, Coal were the first person to encounter the bandits and raise the alarm, having you here will help fill in the blanks.”
“What do you want to know?” Maria asked cautiously.
“Why you were even there to begin with and what your role in fighting the bandits was,” Winter explained. “…Along with a few other details that will be brought up at the appropriate time.”
“Well it all started when I was offered…” Maria began.
Knowing the story, I ignored it and instead began to focus on the situation I currently found myself it. I had a lot of useful information that, if used correctly, would change the future. Revealing what I knew and my true nature of being an outsider to Remnant and having knowledge of its future would be an extremely bad idea.
It was both dangerous for myself and for the worlds, sharing that secret with the payoff not being that great. The best case scenario is that I’m locked away in order to keep what I know safe while the worst case would be that I end up being captured by Salem and used as a guinea pig for her parasitic Grimm, tortured for what information I have.
No, I had to be careful with what I said here, especially with Lionheart listening in… Then again, I might be able to use that and guide Ozpin into figuring out that Lionheart is a traitor working for Salem… but how?
“Coal?” Maria nudged my arm.
“Hm, what?” I asked, looking up to find everyone’s eyes on me. “Could you repeat… whatever was just said?”
“We’re ready for your side of the story,” Ozpin replied calmly. “From the moment when you first spotted the bandits until after you left on the Bullhead.”
Some of that story would be a little difficult to explain without mentioning the Shadow that led me to the bandits and there was no way I would be telling them about that.
“There’s really not that much to tell,” I hummed. “I felt a little restless. Walked around the camp and climbed a tree to get a better viewpoint of what was going on, only to spot some people that weren’t part of the Sanctum group moving in the dark.”
“And then you alerted the camp that there were bandits in the forest,” Ozpin guessed.
“And then this bird that had been sitting in the same tree as me morphed into a woman who tried to kill me silently before I could say anything,” I replied. “I managed to break free and then alerted the camp.”
Ozpin twitched and his grip audibly tightened, gripping his cane. “I… see. Is there anything that you could tell me about this woman?”
“Her name is Raven, she’s got long black hair, red eyes and a Katana like blade with a handle that’s removable and can connect to one of her other dust blades,” I explained. “Oh, and I’m pretty sure that she’s the one that was in charge of the bandits… I think they call themselves the Branwen tribe.”
“You… certainly know a lot about her,” Lionheart commented.
“They liked to gloat a lot,” I deadpanned. “It was actually a little annoying, they immediately assumed that we were weaklings that they could step on, but, as you know, it didn’t turn out that well for them in the end.”
Raven had abandoned her tribe after I’d scared her and those that hadn’t been killed in the fight had been restrained and were currently locked up.
“Perhaps we can continue with your tale,” Ozpin said.
“Yeah, sure,” I hummed. “Maria and I decided to fight Raven together and we managed to push her back, but we were losing more Aura than she was. I realized that we weren’t going to be able to beat her on our own, so I headed back to camp to deal with the bandits and free up any that could be of some help, but then I got hit by lightning when I attacked the bandit that Mr. Greene was fighting, Vernal.”
“Are you absolutely certain that this Vernal was the one to summon natural lightning?” Lionheart asked suddenly.
“All I can say is that I was struck by it when I tried to attack her,” I shrugged. I was throwing Vernal under the bus here by hinting that she’s the Spring Maiden to an agent of Salem, but Vernal was a bandit that had taken innocent lives. Setting her up to die at Cinder’s hands would… in the end be useful and buy some time.
Pulling out his scroll, Lionheart held the image of a pissed off looking Vernal heavily shackled sitting in a room with hard light dust walls. “Her?” Lionheart asked.
“For the love of... Yes, that’s her. Must I go down there myself and point to her as well?” I snapped.
“Ah, well,” Lionheart looked a little embarrassed. “No, that will suffice.”
“Great,” I sighed, I was getting a little tired recounting what had happened. “To finish my story… Raven thanked Vernal for taking me out and tried to kill me when she noticed I was still alive. Pyrrha held her off while Maria came back and I decided to push my body to its limit and attempted to kill Raven, only for her to escape in the end.”
“That’s quite the accomplishment for someone your age,” Lionheart began. “You’re an incredibly talented young man.”
“Thank you,” I nodded.
“I believe we should get to the matter of this bandit, Vernal,” Winter announced. “A semblance powerful enough to control the weather and pull down natural lightning is incredibly dangerous, especially when wielded by a bandit. General Ironwood has expressed an interest in hosting this prisoner and is currently overseeing the construction of a cell capable of containing her.”
“James, always in such a rush to get things done,” Lionheart chuckled. “I suppose that’s why he isn’t here himself.”
“There were matters back in Atlas that needed General Ironwood’s presence,” Winter replied, giving away nothing.
“I believe that we shouldn’t be too hasty in moving our prisoner,” Ozpin chipped in. “Her current location is only known to a few and she is adequately contained and heavily sedated. She shouldn’t cause too many issues in her current state.”
“It would be more dangerous to move her now,” Lionheart added. “As Ozpin said, it’s safer if we just keep her here.”
“I must still insist that we move her to a more secure location in the near future,” Winter said.
“You can insist all you want, but with two headmasters agreeing nothing will come from it,” Lionheart replied with a little more confidence in his voice. “The prisoner will remain in Mistral.”
“Very well,” Winter nodded stiffly. “With no headway being made on this subject, I believe that we should move onto the next topic of interest. The missing bandit leader, Raven.”
…Breathe…
I tiredly listed off what I knew of Raven through our interaction, while being careful not to give too much away. I could see now why Jasmine had looked tired. Having each detail of what you said and being asked for clarification had been exhausting.
“I believe that concludes the meeting,” Lionheart announced. “I need to get back to my Academy and make sure that the students haven’t burned it down in my absence.”
“That is a genuine concern,” Ozpin hummed. “I will be seeing you another time, Leonardo. I’ve still got a bit more business to take care of here.”
Lionheart glanced towards me before letting out a hearty chuckle. “I see. You always were one to swoop in and snatch up the talented ones. I’ll let you have this one.”
“How very generous of you,” Ozpin said, sipping his cocoa.
Once Lionheart left, I let myself relax a little. I wasn’t exactly in any danger, especially since Ozpin, Maria and Winter were all here, but that didn’t mean I liked spending time with him. Watching how he acted so familiar with Ozpin when he was actively working towards his downfall felt a little wrong.
Reaching into her pocket, Winter pulled out a white pamphlet, handing it to me. “Hearing that you assisted in defending the students of Sanctum, General Ironwood has expressed an interest in you is offering you a chance to attend Atlas Academy.”
Taking the pamphlet, I slowly opened it. “…Thank you.”
Winter nodded. “Atlas Academy is a fine place to learn and, having seen your fights in the Mistral Regional Tournament, I’m sure you will excel there.”
“It would seem that I’ve been beaten to the punch,” Ozpin chuckled. “I was going to offer you a place at Beacon from next year.”
He did the same thing with Ruby when she stopped Roman from robbing a dust store. I’d gained his interest by surviving a fight with a maiden, so it really wasn’t a surprise to me that he was interested in having me attend beacon. What was surprising was Ironwood extending the same offer.
“I… see. Thanks for your offer as well,” I replied, glancing at Maria, wondering what to say to the duo.
“Whatever it is you choose, I’m behind you on it,” Maria answered my unasked question.
“Alright,” I hummed, feeling a little more relaxed. “Before I decide anything, I’ll need to ask a few questions.”
“That would be acceptable,” Winter said while Ozpin simply nodded.
“So I would only need to attend next year which is quite a few months away,” I began. “So I suppose the main question is… what will my starting salary be?”
“… Excuse me?” Winter asked, the stoic look on her face finally cracking, being replaced by a confused one.
“I don’t believe that I’ve ever heard that one before,” Ozpin commented.
Maria began to laugh.
“Well both of you want me at your schools and while I am young, that’s not an excuse to not pay me for teaching your students,” I said, doing my best to keep the grin off my face. If my short week at Sanctum Academy taught me anything, it was that school sucked at the best of times, especially when your job was hunting giant soulless monsters.
“The offer was for you to be a student,” Ozpin murmured, swirling the dregs of his cocoa. “Not a professor.”
“Then I’m going to have to decline,” I replied. “Being stuck as a student would be stifling for me. I barely lasted a week here at Sanctum Academy. I really can’t imagine lasting another four years in one of the other Academies.”
“You want to take the licensing exam early,” Ozpin realized.
“Yep,” I shot back cheerfully.
“I would advise against that. By skipping the Academies, you’ll be missing out on a lot.”
“Everything I need to know, I can learn on my scroll,” I replied.
“There’s more to Beacon than learning how to fight or memorizing important facts. There are also teams that will support you throughout your life,” Ozpin argued.
“Still not interested.” I hummed. “Do you think that there’s anywhere private… without camera’s or listening devices that we could go?” I asked, changing the subject. “There’s something I want to talk to you about that I think you’ll want to hear.”
Winter regarded me suspiciously while Ozpin merely raised a questioning brow.
“And what could it be that you wish to keep so private?” Ozpin asked.
“Just a few things I’ve been noticing recently,” I said easily. Stepping closer, I leaned in to whisper to Ozpin. “Like how your fellow headmaster, Lionheart reeks of living Grimm and has seemingly spent a long time around one without killing it.”
I could trust that no one in this room worked for Salem, so it wouldn’t be too bad having them overhear a few things. My main worry was with the cameras that Watt’s could potentially hack into.
Ozpin stilled. “That… is a very dangerous thing to be accusing a person of. Are you absolutely sure?”
“I am,” I said softly. “But if you need extra assurance, why not test him. You all seem so interested in Vernal, because she has an ability beyond a mere Semblance… One that I’m guessing can be transferred between people. Test him… see if he attempts to take that power for himself or the Grimm he’s spending time with.”
“And how is it that you’ve come to these conclusions?” Ozpin asked, his grip tightening on his cane once more.
“A guess,” I hummed. “You were all keen on confirming that Vernal was the one who could use lightning without dust and there was one thing I didn’t mention. Vernal isn’t the one that can use lightning, it was Raven all along. A woman turning into a bird can be explained as a semblance, but add the ability to control the weather to a degree and you’ve got something else entirely.”
That was a little ironic coming from me. Learning Total Concentration Breathing and Sun Breathing had given me access to several abilities, each of which acted like a Semblance on their own and here I was pointing a finger towards Raven, saying that her abilities weren’t natural.
“I… see. I’ll certainly handle this matter carefully.”
“If you still don’t believe me, use Vernal as bait. The only ones that know the truth right now are Raven, you and myself. If someone tries to attack her, then the culprit has to be one of the few people that know her location,” I finished, stepping back.
Again, I didn’t like having to use people as bait in order to convince a person, but it certainly beat, ‘Hey, I’m from another world and here’s your future.’
“The two of you seemed to be having quite a long conversation,” Maria noted. “Should Pyrrha be jealous?”
I could only sigh.
“Your grandson is quite the interesting person, Miss Calavera,” Ozpin replied, not missing a beat. “He has good instincts, a sharp mind and a non insignificant amount of skill.”
“Don’t forget bullshit luck and the habit of doing things that I once considered to be impossible,” Maria muttered under her breath.
“I believe that I’ve spent enough time here,” Ozpin announced. “I should be heading back to my Academy to… make sure my students haven’t destroyed it yet.”
“I too should be heading back,” Winter added stiffly. “I have to report the outcome of this meeting to the General and let him know the status of the bandit, Vernal.”
“That would probably be for the best,” Ozpin chuckled. “Patience is not one of James’s strong suits after all.”
…Breathe…
“You know,” Maria began, interrupting the silence as we walked down one of the empty hallways of Sanctum Academy. “I’ve been thinking about something since before the excursion and that meeting just reminded me about it again.”
“You’re not considering asking me to join one of the Academies, are you?”
“No, nothing like that,” Maria chuckled. “With the rate you’re growing at, the Academies would only serve to slow you down… You would be stuck doing missions your other teammates are capable of doing and we both know that they won’t be anywhere near as strong as you.”
“Alright,” I nodded slowly. “So what was it you were thinking?”
“It’s about time that we get you your Huntsman license.”
“Already?” I asked suddenly. “Are you sure that I’m ready for that?”
“Yeah, I’m sure… I was sure before we left and I was completely sure when we fought that bandit bitch together,” Maria muttered. “The truth of the fact is… you’ve already surpassed me as I am now. During that fight, I was the one that was struggling to keep up and falling behind. If you hadn’t insisted on fighting together with me, I would be much worse off… maybe even dead.”
“So, what you’re saying is…”
“Don’t get me wrong,” Maria interrupted me. “If I was in my prime, I could have kicked both your asses with a little difficulty, so you’ve still got a long way to go. I just think that it’s about time that you get a proper license so that you can start picking and choosing the missions on your own.”
“…Thanks,” I muttered.
If I was going to get my Huntsman license soon, then I needed to be a little more prepared. My fight with Raven had shown me that I had been a bit too relaxed with my training recently. If I had more Aura and stamina, I could have actually beaten her on my own.
My main problem was that Sun Breathing Techniques were extremely taxing on my Aura and body. Some of my more powerful techniques cost a huge chunk of Aura and using them one after the other was a quick way to fully exhaust myself.
There was however an answer to fix all of this. The thirteenth form of Sun Breathing would be the key to me being able to fight people like Raven. The only problem was that I hadn’t even begun to train the thirteenth form.
“There’s some training I want to do first, but afterwards, I would be happy to get my Huntsman license.”
“Sure,” Maria replied. “We’re in no real rush, so you can take your time.”
“Any idea on what the test will be like?” I asked.
“Maybe,” Maria shrugged. “When I took the Huntsman licensing exam, all that was needed was for me to prove that I was capable of taking down strong Grimm and to do that they sent a Huntsman with me to observe my skills. They might have changed it since then so your guess is as good as mine.”
Stopping by the door to the training room, I slowly creaked it open and was immediately greeted to the clacking sound of someone running around along with the sound of air being displaced by a fast moving blade.
Walking further into the room, I found myself watching Pyrrha race around the room, fighting a none existent opponent, dodging imaginary blows while swinging her spear at a rapid pace.
“Well red certainly seems enthused with her training,” Maria commented. “Although she’s getting sloppy and making all kinds of mistakes. You want to go talk to her or should I?”
“I’ll do it,” I replied. Slowly moving towards Pyrrha, I gave a short wave so as to not startle her. “Hey, Pyrrha.”
“Coal,” Pyrrha breathed deeply as she finally stopped and took a break. Leaning heavily on her spear, sweat dripped down her face. “I thought you…”
“Would still be in the hospital… Yes, everyone seems to be thinking that today,” I chuckled. “I see that your training is going… you’re really pushing yourself hard.”
“I have to,” Pyrrha panted. “If I don’t then I’ll never catch up.”
“Why don’t you take a break and then you can tell me why you’re training so hard right now,” I suggested
“I can’t. I need to get back to training.”
I could only sigh. “Pyrrha. There’s no point to in training if you’re so tired that you can’t even perform the most basic moves. Rest is a part of training as well. Just take a five minute break and then I’ll let you get back to your training.”
Breathing deeply, Pyrrha pushed her hair out of her face and nodded. “Alright.”
Moving to the stands where she left her bag, Pyrrha grabbed a bottle of water and proceeded to gulp down the entire thing.
“So, you want to tell me why you’re pushing yourself so hard right now?” I asked, sitting down on one of the benches.
Placing the bottle back in her bag, Pyrrha took a few more seconds to catch her breath. “I… understand why you don’t want to remain in Sanctum.”
“Go on,” I encouraged her.
“It’s just… this place is a preparatory school for one of the larger Academies, but… going out into the field with you… I didn’t feel prepared at all.”
“The bandit attack…” I began.
“Wasn’t the only issue,” Pyrrha interrupted me. “Fighting the Grimm had been exhausting. There were a lot of us, but so many more Grimm. It took all of the top students, myself included to actually survive the Grimm and we were all exhausted afterwards. It was… scary to see just how many Grimm were out there and how they could easily overwhelm us.”
“Well that was the point of the excursion… It was meant to show everyone just how much of a threat Grimm are so that they will all start taking their training seriously.”
“And it ended up showing me just how underprepared I was,” Pyrrha replied. “That’s why I need to train right now. So I never need to worry about being overrun by Grimm or bandits or that… that woman,” She glared to the side before her eyes softened. “So I never need to see you walk back into camp, covered in blood, looking half dead.”
“That’s strange,” I hummed. “I could have sworn I was still mostly alive when I walked into camp. I’ll go as high as a third dead back then.”
“Coal,” Pyrrha swatted my arm tiredly.
“Seriously, if anyone looks half dead right now, it’s you,” I said. “You need to look after yourself and take breaks. Nothing good will come from pushing yourself this hard. You’ll end up destroying your body if you keep this up. Remember, a sound soul…”
“Resides in a sound mind and sound body,” Pyrrha finished. “But I’m not sure that I can slow down. I just feel so… weak when I think about those bandits. That woman was toying with me while you could keep up with her… Even after you were hit by lightning”
“I see,” I replied, tapping my chin in thought. “Then I suppose that I’ll have to stick around for a while longer and make sure that you don’t end up overdoing your training.”
“You mean…”
“I’m going to be staying in Argus for just a bit longer. You’re not the only one that realized they need to take their training more seriously. I’m going to be taking my Huntsman exam soon and there’s one more thing that I want to master before that.”
There were actually two things that I wanted to master. I still had the Esoteric art, Fusion that I gained after learning the basics of Sun Breathing. I had briefly considered using it against Raven, but I decided against it back then..
It said that I needed 100 points in Constitution to survive using it, but I didn’t know if that meant base stat or buffed stat. The only thing I could do to ensure that it was survivable was to bring my Constitution base stat up to 100.
“Oh, that’s great,” Pyrrha replied. “You’re going to become a Huntsman soon.”
“That is the plan,” I smiled.
“Then… once you become a Huntsman… do you think…” Pyrrha paused.
“Do I think?”
“Maybe you could take me out on a few of your missions,” Pyrrha suggested awkwardly. “To… help me get the hang of things out there, you know.”
Somehow, I don’t think that’s actually what she wanted to ask me. “Sure, I wouldn’t mind having you tag along some of the time. It’ll be fun, but I do think you’ll probably need to get permission from Sanctum Academy and your mom first.”
“I’m sure that my mother will think that it is a grand idea,” Pyrrha smiled.
Comments
Hunter
Heh, taking her out for a “hunt” eh.😏😜 I bet her mum will be happy that her daughters going out on a hunt😂
