The Knights of Grimm - Act 3 - Shattered Memory

Chapter 8 - The Knights' Bannermen

Qrow

Qrow stands there, his eyes wide with pure disbelief as he observes the body of Professor Ozpin rising from the ground, like some sort of deity. The dust rises with him into the air and his eyes are closed, he looks like he is asleep. Inside the chamber where he was kept are faint glowing crystals that seemed to conceal him, perhaps kept him in this state. Qrow and Taiyang approach him, whilst Raven stands guard with her hand close to her Odachi, her red eyes flitting back and forth on the woods. It would be very easy for any form of Grimm or human foe to sneak up on them in this woodland. So many trees to use as cover, and the structure is so massive that there could be foes watching them from the rocks.

Qrow stands beside Ozpin and he closes his eyes, shaking his head slightly to see if he is hallucinating or not. He opens his red eyes and Ozpin is still before him, no image created by Fear or even by the mysterious Soothsayer. "Oz?" Qrow says with shock in his voice, eyes still wide when he looks upon his old friend.

But Ozpin does not awaken from his form of stasis; it looks like he is dead.

Taiyang walks over to the hovering body of Professor Ozpin and he presses his fingers to his wrist to check for his pulse. He then looks at Qrow. "His pulse is faint..." Taiyang tells him, and then he looks around at the place as well. "He must have used this thing to hide himself away from Salem and her Loyalists." Taiyang suggests as he looks around at the structure, large pillars rising out from the ground around them that circle around the opening. Then the stones float back together, returning to where they once were. Each stone interlocks together perfectly, heating their edges up and connecting together with ease. Loud clicks and bangs erupt as they come together with such ease, and Raven walks upon them as they return to where they were. She feels no hollow underside to it, incredible architecture and technology.

Most certainly that of the Arkhoni, their secrets lost and forgotten after their extinction.

"What is this place?" She wonders when she looks at it, at first glance it looks like some sort of Arena or Amphitheatre, but clearly it is neither. Qrow looks at Ozpin's body and he suddenly drops from where he was floating, but he swiftly catches him as the telekinetic lift shuts off and he holds him there.

"Must be some sort of Stasis Room, to hide people for hundreds of years. Only to be woken up when the time has come for them to return." Taiyang presumes, looking at it as he stands up, walking over to her side.

Taiyang looks at Raven. "What do we do?" He asks her.

"We don't have the resources to stabilize him here; we need to get him somewhere safe." Raven explains.

"Beacon, then?" He asks.

"Yeah, that would be our best bet." Raven agrees, and Taiyang takes out his scroll and goes to call Yang, but something else comes up.

Low Signal.

"Damn...guess we're gonna have to surprise them." Taiyang says.

Qrow stands tall as he looks down at Ozpin in his arms. "Oz...You're coming home old friend." He says.

Ruby

Unaware of what Qrow, Taiyang and Raven have just discovered, Ruby sits on the Airship that she and her team have chosen to go to Vacuo in. She rests Crescent Rose on her lap as she cleans the gears with a cloth. She observes the gears of the weapon; Ruby has become accustomed to seeing through one eye now opposed to seeing through two. It used to be like constantly having one eye closed all the time, but now it is not like that at all. She can see just as well as she ever could. Ruby wipes some of the dirt from the gears in the mechanics of Crescent Rose, she has also learned how to completely take her weapon apart to clean it and then rebuild it without anybody's help.