The Bloodied Thirty Pieces

7 - And the Dreams That You Dream Of

Yang sat in a chair in Ozpin's office, staring at the floor as if she either wanted to kill it or break down in tears on it. In the chair next to her, in a complete role reversal of last night, sat Jaune, his hand no longer in a cast. The blonde knight was rubbing the still stricken girl's back, not saying anything.

He had been standing alone in the amphitheatre, face hardening as he bore the whispered conversations and the sympathetic or fearful stares of the other students. He had been a hairs breadth from breaking down the doors and leaving when Oobleck showed up again, took him by the arm with a short "come with me," and dragged the young blonde across the campus to the headmaster's office several stories high up via the stairs.

Jaune was pushed through the door into Ozpin's office, almost falling flat on his face. Turning around he glared at the doors as they closed and looked around the room, wondering why on Remnant he was there. His eyes quickly found Yang sitting in the chair with three students standing besides her.

Every now and then Jaune would glance up at Nikolas, leaning against the wall next to Yang who would shoot the knight a deadpan glare before looking away. Next to Walt his partner Serena was messaging her teammates down in the infirmary with Blake and the young girl who found the body; the ravenette had decided to check on Weiss, the less anxiety-inducing teammate, as Pacifica had bluntly put it in the elevator ride to the headmasters office.

Jaune turned his glare to the silver-haired girl standing next to him, arms crossed and looking at a random spot in space, an uninterested expression on her face. Jaune had almost broken her nose over the comment, Yang almost murdering the girl on the spot; If not for Nik put a hand on her shoulder and for Serena stepping between the knight and the silver-haired student there would have quickly been another body, if any of the pieces survived.

A loud PING cut through Jaune's thoughts and made him rise to his feet, everyone else staying in place only turning their attention to the elevator as the doors opened. Ozpin and Goodwitch stepped out first, the headmaster taking a sip from his drink as he walked with one hand behind his back; Goodwitch was head down in a parchment (tablet) as she walked, a irate frown and downwards curve to her eyebrows showing how angry she was. Behind them came the four first-year students of team CRDL; the copper-haired Cardin was in front, looking strong and mighty in his armour with his weapon on his back, yet with a haunting look to his eyes, as if he carried a great and painful burden. The other members of CRDL had the same look on their faces as they stepped further into the office, Dove and Sky standing close together with their eyes glued to their feet, while Russell shuffled his feet and stood with a slight hunch to his back, his body language coming off as weak and closed off compared to Cardin.

Next came one of CRDL's three bodyguard teams, all wearing tan tank tops with TRGC on the back, military fatigues and boots. A dark-skinned man with short black hair wearing his tank top tucked loosely into his aqua camo pants came first, checking out the room; his eyes briefly lingered on the girls, giving each a wolfish grin before he moved on to stand behind Ozpin's chair. Next came a couple of guys, having a quiet heated argument over something. The pair couldn't be more different, one tall and lanky with short light brown hair neatly trimmed, his top and maroon camo pants all neat and tidy as well, while the other was shorter, fatter and a complete mess of a person with long dark brown hair tied up in a loose ponytail, a short scraggly goatee and an top and Orange camo pants that were more wrinkles than clothes.

Lastly out stepped a team of students, the four lurking at the back of the room near the doors. Jaune looked past the four students to the elevator as the doors closed, wondering how 13 people managed to fit in there.

"Tell me," Ozpin said as he sat down in chair, bringing Jaune's attention to the headmaster. "Where is the last member of team TRGC?"

The dark-skinned man groaned and rolled his eyes, his two teammates stopping their conversation to copy him. "He was right behind us when we stepped in the elevator."