The Raven King: A RWBY story (Wattys2016)

Chapter 5: Welcome to the Real World

Y/N's P.O.V.:
The elevator took me up to Ozpin, where he, Qrow, and Pyrrha accommodated themselves. They haven't started talking yet, so it wasn't like I was interrupting anything.  All three looked in my direction when I came in; Qrow nodded in acknowledgement, Pyrrha looked at me in slight suspicion, while Ozpin gestured for me to take a place opposite Qrow's standing spot.  It was going to be a long and rather heart-wrenching day for me, especially if they decide to show her Amber. 
     Ozpin started the conversation with some light-sided small talk about the tournament.  Complimenting her excellent battle prowess, which is well earned. 
     "Thanks, but I would have never have made it without my teammates."  Pyrrha rejected the praise. 
     "Oh please, don't be so modest."  I joked.
     "Personally, I think it's the other way around."  Qrow grumbled, and Pyrrha looked at her, questioning who he was.  After a not-so-comfy greeting and introduction, Ozpin grabbed her attention once more.
     "What is your favorite Fairy Tale?"  Ozpin asked, and while Pyrrha thought, dozens of stories flooded my head like a raging storm.  My parents liked to read them when I was quite young.  It wasn't long before they gave me the book to read on my own time, so I can enjoy the tales wherever I go.  Now it's probably in some desolated woodland area, trapped by vines and dirt. 
     "Well, there's the tale of the brothers..."  When Nikos mentioned that story, I smiled a bit.  That was perhaps my favorite one, showing how good and evil, yin and yang, are better off as equals.  Together, they can create marvelous things, and imbalances on either side is ought to bring retributions.  Whenever the older brother created life, there would be no death without the younger brother, and without death, some creatures would suffer from starvation forever due to being carnivores.  When fires by the younger brother were created, their would be nothing left to enjoy to destroy, fire is kinda like a bummer like that.  There is always meant to be a balance between good and evil, and that's why everything is so tense.  Calm before the storm.  
     "What about the story of the Seasons?"  Ozpin asked interrupting the huntress, and she remarked and recalled the story fluidly.
     "Would you believe me if I told you that ones been around since I was a boy?"  Ozpin replied. 
     "You're not that old, professor!"  Pyrrha spoke-lightheartedly, then Ozpin started to get more serious with the topic. 
     "Well, would you believe me if I told you it was true?"  Pyrrha got the reaction Qrow and I both expected, and she honestly thought she heard wrong or something. 
     "He's saying that there were four Maidens, that did meet an old wizard, and did get unfathomable power in their possession without artificial sources for instance dust crystals or powders."  I butted in. 
     "You mean like a semblance?"  Pyrrha turned back to Ozpin.
     "Like magic." 
     "Yeah, first time hearing its pretty crazy."  Qrow chimed, and Pyrrha turned to Ozpin with a little bit of concern; okay a bit more than a bit.  In response, Ozpin confirmed such. 
     "Why are you telling me this?"  Pyrrha stressed, and Ozpin took a second before answering. 
     "We are telling you, Ms. Pyrrha Nikos, because we believe that you are next in line to receive the Fall maiden's powers."  He admitted.  She was dumbfounded, no, just awestruck. 
     "Yea, that's quite exactly the reaction I expected, Pyrrha."  I said shrugging, she turned to me, then back to Ozpin, still confused. 
     "We?"  She mentioned, and the elevator door rang.  Both Glynda and Ironwood exited the elevator.
     "Sorry we're late."  Ironwood stated, and I wanted to mouth him out on it, but this definitely wasn't the time.  Pyrrha started to get a little worried.
     "Wait, what is this?  Who are you?"  She pleaded for an answer.
     "We're who we always have been.  I'm still kinda your friend, Ozpin's still headmaster, Glynda's still a teacher, and Ironwood's a general, and Qrow's... Qrow."  I tried to comfort her.
     "Cept we got a little part time job."  Qrow continued.
     "We are the protectors of this world."  Ironwood went on. 
     "And we need your help."  Ozpin finished.  Silence pervading, one by one we entered the elevator, and silence decided to stay with us.  After a while, the doors opened, to that hallway once more.  We flooded out slowly, Pyrrha lagging behind to once again be utterly and obliviously concerned.  I walked beside Ozpin, when some things started to click in my head, since this Maiden business going around.
     "Professor, if only females are recorded to be Maidens, why did you offer me to herald the power, if only for a short time?"  I asked, and Ozpin looked at me. 
     "Figured you would ask that sooner or later.  Certainly you know of the story of the Four knights, correct?"  I nodded in comfirmation. 
    "Well, when the Maidens appointed the knights, they imparted a small fraction of their power, their soul.  And when the Voidwalker had to put down the other knights, he also gained part of the other maiden's powers.  In theory, you can take all of each Maiden's powers, though that would be difficult to even achieve, let alone control."  He explained.
     "But the Voidwalker died too, and most of his power, if not all of it was imprisoned never to be used again. So how is this possible Ozpin?"  Then I got an answer I NEVER thought to get from him. 
     "Indeed most of his power is not in your possession, but I don't know."  Those words sent chills up my spine, and I waited before asking another question to pass the time. 
     "Do you.... know of a man named Gehrman?"  I asked, and he almost stopped in place, but instead merely slowed down. 
     "Only by name and legend.  Why do you ask?"  I got nervous.  Should I tell him about Gehrman?  These nightmares I've been having?  The labyrinth?  The Dream?
     "I know him... from lucid dreams I've been having.  He calls it the hunter's dream."  This time he did stop for a second before walking again.
"He is said to be to be a bad omen." Was all Ozpin said.
"But I only started to see him when I entered Beacon. What does that mean?"
"I don't know everything Y/N.". That scared me more than many things have. Let's hope I get to talk with the old man again. We then approached the capsule machine holding Amber and keeping her stable.  Ozpin showed Pyrrha Amber, and she remarked her still being alive. 
     "We're using state of the art Atlas technology to keep her stable, but there is a lot about the situation which is unprecedented."  Ironwood stated, which Pyrrha questioned.
     "Well, we don't know what will happen if, when she passes."
     "Won't her power just transfer to the next host?"  Pyrrha reasoned.
     "Look who's been listening."  Qrow blurted.
     "Normally, yea."  I shrugged.
     "But this is a delicate situation; it's not uncommon for the last thoughts of the slain to be that of the attacker.  And to make matters worse, nobody's ever seen the power split like this before.  For all we know, it will seek out its other half."  Ironwood explained. 
     "Her assailant."  Pyrrha mentioned.  Ozpin turned to Pyrrha.
    "And that would not bode well for any of us."  Ozpin stated the obvious, and Pyrrha walked in silence to the slumbering Maiden.
     "If all of this is true, why keep it a secret?  If this girl is so important, if we're truly on the brink of war, why not tell everyone?"  Pyrrha demanded and answer, and for a few moments, silence beckoned.
     "From what we understand, it used to be common knowledge, and in places like the wilds, it still is."  Glynda spoke up. 
     "Excuse me?"  Pyrrha noted.
     "All legends must come from something, a small truth, a story told by a bystander, a historian, lost to the ages."  I stepped up. 
    "Our group was founded in order to protect both mankind and the Maidens.  Those hungry for power hunted them with the hope of inheriting their strength."  Glynda continued, and Qrow stopped drinking his flask for a second to speak. 
      "And as you can imagine, the ones that succeeded weren't exactly the kind of people you'd want to be have unimaginable power."
     "So this brotherhood chose to remove the Maidens from the public eye, allowing their existence to fade away into legend.  Only some know believe in such stories, like those who see them first-hand."  Ironwood finished, and it almost seemed he was referring to me.  We told Pyrrha that if we told again if the Maiden's existence, it would contradict everything they've been taught, causing widespread panic and confusion, and the Grimm oh so love panic. 
     "I'll do it."  Pyrrha said, shocking the majority of us.  "If you believe this will help humanity, then I will become your Fall Maiden. 
     "Please, it's not as simple.  Given Amber's condition, you won't be able to inherit her power naturally.  However, General Ironwood believes he has a solution."  The rest explained the procedure and what they would do, and frankly, it sounded unnatural, something like shoving a soul back into the wrong corpse.  Exactly like that, actually.  Pyrrha had the same thoughts, I would guess by her reaction. 
     "Trust us, we would not be here if we had no other option, and all others are gone."  I muttered.
    "We cannot give you Amber's powers, but we can give you what those powers are bound to."  Ironwood stated.  Ozpin said that the two souls would be intertwined, but the real problem is what's going to happen to Pyrrha.  I honestly never looked at it from Pyrrha's perspective, but that's scary.  Never having thoughts solely to you, never having a life of your own, emotions of your own, decisions of your own.  Takes away free will for something greater.
     "You have an important decision before you, Miss Nikos.  There's no guarantee the transfer will work, and there's no telling if you will be the same person if it does.  I advise you to take time to think on this matter, but understand that before the Vytal festival is over, we will need your answer."  After Ozpin presented the bulk of the decision, I kneeled down in front of the Fall Maiden, muttering a sort of prayer.  I've never been into the religions back in the wilds, and never known the religions in the Kingdoms, but if there's a time to put faith in them, it's now.  Before I finished, Ozpin mentioned my name. 
     "Yes professor?"  I said once I finished. 
     "If the transfer doesn't work and we are out of time, I need you to take the powers and warden them until we can find another.  We are out of time, and though I respect your hesitance to be bestowed this power, these are dark times."  Ozpin instructed, which I nodded, but Pyrrha listened in.
     "You said that only females can inherit the power, so how can he?"  She asked.  Well, lets hope she can keep two secrets of upmost importance.  I stood up, and Ozpin looked to me, preferring i to explain it, which I nodded in response. 
      "Have you heard the story of the Four Knights, of the Maidens?"  She nodded to my statement, and I continued.
     "Well, the Maidens, as Ozpin told me, imparted small bits of their power in their knights, act as right hand men to them.  When Artorias the Voidwalker slain the other knights, the powers went to him, and though we have no idea why or how.  The power of the Voidwalker refused to be imprisoned, and it seeped into today's world."  Pyrrha's eyes widened in realization, and she covered her mouth in parts horror, shock, and awe. 
     "That's perhaps the only I'm here."  I resolved. 
     "We tracked down the current Voidwalker, the herald of Nightmares to him, in the Wilds leading a tribe of Exiled.  We could not let the assailant that attacked the Maidens persuade him, so we did what we had to."  Glynda spoke, and Pyrrha stood silent. 
     "Let's get out of here, I got a round to fight."  I chuckled, and left before anybody else. 
            - - -
"Now, we have witnessed the teams from all over Remnant face off and only a handful remain. We wish to have them rest and recover, but we also want to give you people a show, am I right?" Port thundered over the microphone.
"That's right, and we had assembled some of our best guards hired to protect the arena to face off against our powerful huntsmen to test their strength! Here we present Y/N Draktherin, Surotas Jäger, Brevarian Geisten, and Gundyrin Ferrous facing off against team SSSN!" Both my men and the members of team SSSN stood in the middle circle waiting impatiently for the match to start.
"Don't worry guys, we just have two people, a blind, and an old guy!" Neptune tried to cheer his teammates up. Our physical appearances and our scars made us all the more frightening, and not to mention that experience, above all else, outranks everything. An old general told me that before I left for the trials; good man. Brevarian growled at Neptune, and started to speak.
"Yes, and it will make it all the more humiliating when we kick your asses."  Brevarian muttered proudly.  Never really saw this competitive side of him before.  I like it.