The Bloodied Thirty Pieces

10 - Wake up Where the Clouds

Ozpin placed his coffee mug down on the armrest of his chair and leaned back in the soft dark emerald green leather chair. On any normal day the headmaster would be standing at one of the many windows of his office watching his school and students or out for walks on the grounds, observing the students up-close, watching them train and bond and grow. Occasionally he would step up to one or two in their moments good or bad and talk with the or offer them advice or direction.

Today however he sat despairingly in his chair, his face heavy with the stress. In his hands was a parchment displaying his office's waiting room where Jaune paced furiously, his hands and wrists bound in ice. Pacifica and Blake sat around the room watching him, the black-haired girl with pained concern and worry while the silver-haired archer watched the blonde boy with a bored flat stare.

Ozpin's heart broke for the young man. He had lost friends and family, he knew how it felt to have them ripped away, some bloody and sudden and others quiet and peaceful, but yet Ozpin knew there was nothing he could do to lessen the burden on the young man's heart and that was what drove the deepest knife into the headmaster chest; to have all the knowledge and experience of a long life and yet being unable to do more than offer condolences and words to the boy.

Ozpin closed the parchment and turned around in his chair. Puting the device and his cup on the desk he stood up, his legs and hips cracking and popping from having been seated for so long.

The intercom on his desk buzzed, Glynda's voice coming through the speaker. "Mr Arc is demanding to see you again. He is growing rather hostile, shall I send him away?"

Ozpin sighed. As much as he hurt for the boy he was in no mood to put up with his surprising temper. The headmaster pressed a button on his desk and hunched over to speak. "No, that will only make him worse. I will see him, once I have read the report."

"Yes Sir."

With a weary sigh Ozpin let go of the intercom and hit a key on the holo-board hovering just above the surface of the desk. The screen blared to life above the desk with a picture of two emerald gears, one inside the other, against a black background. Ozpin sat down and typed on the holo-board, a small envelope icon with a blinking exclamation point appearing on the screen before opening up and expanding to fill the entire page. Ozpin read the words at the top of the page and took a sip of his drink, which with a disappointed look he found was empty.

"Hmm," he muttered as he set the cup aside and started to read the report. Immediately something jumped out to the headmaster. In the encounters between his students and the killer she showed remarkable speed and skill in fighting and dispatching her opponents, yet GNRL and PTFM managed to save the life of Sky Lark and hold off the killer long enough for PTFM and CRDL to escape. And GNRL managed to hold their own against the killer even when she defeated three of their classmates within a minute.

'So what is different this time' Ozpin mused as he hit a key to turn the page. His eyes skimmed across the page drinking in the words until a single sentence made him stop dead in his tracks and rise from his seat.

-first-year swordsman and Pacifica Yale of team APCS joined the battle as well. The swordsman charged the killer and engaged her, which almost resulted in his death or serious injury-

Ozpin picked up the parchment again and opened the video feed to his waiting room. Jaune was still pacing the room but was having a muted argument with Blake while Pacifca was inspecting one of her ice-dust arrows. Ozpin however had eyes only for Jaune.

"Why were you there, mr Arc?" Ozpin asked himself as he lowered himself back into his seat and turned back to the report. "And how did you fare?"

Ozpin's eyes danced across the screen drinking in the words like a man near-dead of thirst. Every now and then he would glance at the video feed on his parchment and raise an eyebrow at the young knight furiously pacing, a small sense of pride blossoming in the headmaster's chest. He knew of course that Jaune faked his transcripts, that he didn't have the training nor conditioning for this school, let alone the dangers he would face if he made it to graduation. Yet Ozpin knew the young Arc was a natural fighter and leader; his father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather had all been great warriors, generals and Hunstman, and ozpin had seen the raw talent in Jaune during his trial in the emerald forest coordinating the future team JNPR and taking down a Deathstalker. And now Jaune had gone up against a dangerously skilled opponent capable of beating a skilled third-year team and actually managed to win the bout.