Never Change

Chapter 18

After the rather luxurious dinner in Vale with team NDGO, Percy headed back to the dorm with his team. Team NDGO was quite the vibrant and chatty team, and it had lifted his mood somewhat. However, despite the rather happy mood that enveloped the rest of his team, Percy's shoulders once again weighed down with the information he was about to reveal to them.

Instead of entering their dorm, Percy gestured them into Team JNPR's dorm. The four girls simultaneously tilted their heads at him in question, but he gestured them in anyway. This would take a while.

Inside, Jaune, Ren, and Nora were already seated, Pyrrha nervously pacing from one side of the room to the other, her hands clasped behind her back.

Percy gestured for them to sit, and they did so wordlessly, understanding there was something delicate they had to discuss. He closed the door, then went over to Pyrrha.

"Would you like me to start?" he whispered to her, seeing the visible distress on her face.

"That... would be best. Thank you, Percy."

With a nod, he turned back to his audience of seven, scanning over their expressions. Many had scared or nervous looks on their faces, and he didn't blame them.

"What Pyrrha and I are about to tell you can not, under any circumstances, make it out of this room. Do you understand?"

There were no jokes; the mood was serious. He received seven firm nods in response.

"Good. Now, Headmaster Ozpin has given me express permission to divulge this information to all of you. Do all of you know the tale of the four seasons?"

They all nodded, visibly confused, much like he and Pyrrha had been.

"There are four maidens, each granted incredible power by an old wizard... What if I told you that story was true?"

"That's impossible," Blake shook her head emphatically in denial, black locks shaking from side to side. More than a few of them agreed with her.

"Most fairytales come from somewhere. The story of the four maidens was once common knowledge," Percy continued, "But over time, it faded into legend."

"Why?" Ruby was so confused, her silver eyes running all over the room as if it were all just a dream.

"The power is transferred to a young female host upon death of its owner, but the last eligible person in the current host's thoughts becomes the Maiden; it is not uncommon for the last thoughts of a Maiden to be their assailant. So imagine if the knowledge of the Maidens were common knowledge; power-hungry psychos would try to kill the Maidens, and the world, which thought it was a fairytale, would be in an uproar, and a panic. It would draw the Grimm. This is why this has been kept secret for so long," Percy finally finished, spitting out as many details as he could, both to make it believable and also to mitigate the onslaught of questions that were surely about to happen.

"Why tell us this now?" Jaune asked, still visibly confused.

Percy sighed, "Our Fall Maiden was attacked, and, for the first time in history, her power was stolen. Only a quarter of her power remains. The power is directly connected to the soul, and so the Fall Maiden lies in a coma, a quarter of her power left. We have reason to believe that the assailant is here, at Beacon, and she will soon come for the power."

There were faces full of shock around the room, now that they realized he wasn't lying or joking.

Pyrrha finally stepped in, saving him from explaining even further.

"Headmaster Ozpin has chosen me to be the inheritor of the power through an aura transfer machine created by Atlas. Percy has already explained to me that it would paint a massive target on my back due to those who hunt for Maidens, and our assailant, but I am willing to accept that if it means the betterment of Vale. However, infusing the quarter of the Fall Maiden's power with me would mean that..."