Honour's Curse - A RWBY fanbook

Chapter 3 - A Phoenix Rises, A Wolf Hunts

My entire body ached. A familiar feeling, one I'd only felt once before, the day the Arc family found me lying in the dirt, half dead in front of a burnt down house. "E... Re... Wa... Up!..." A muffled voice spoke from the darkness. "Ettore, please!" The voice became clearer and I felt a sudden pain. No, a new feeling, something different. Something powerful.

I awoke with a sudden start, I was back in my own room at Beacon, but everything seemed different, I could smell more, hear more, taste more, feel more and I could see so much more. "E-Ettore?" A familiar voice called out from my left, I looked around to see the blond from the forest. Yang seemed to be recoiled in fear at the sight of me. 
"What's wrong." I asked slowly.
"You- Your eyes." She croaked out clearly staggered by some change in my appearance, "Here." She said, suddenly thrusting a mirror towards me. She was right, my eyes weren't their normal golden colour, but they also didn't have my phoenix form's flames in them. These flames were different, they were black. Black embers shooting from my eyes. I stared in shock, and set my mind to trying to disengage this new power. After a while of intensely suppressing my energy, I felt my senses begin to fade back to normal levels, but, even when the black embers dissipated, I could still feel that strange new power within me. I couldn't explain it at the time, but it felt, incomplete.

When I opened my eyes, the room looked normal again, and my eyes were back to their usual golden colour. However, at that moment, a new question came to mind. "So. Yang, why and how are you in here?" I asked, breaking the rooms silence.
Yang's face became slightly red for a moment, before she returned to her usual playful expression, "Just, erm, enjoying the view." She said, looking down at my chest, which I just then realised was bare except from bandages slung over my shoulder.
"And the real reason?" I retorted, returning Yang's playful smirk.
"Well..." She began, elongating her words and blushing lightly. But before she could continue, my scroll lit up. A message from Ozpin, he had asked me to head to his office immediately, he had something to discuss with me.
"Hmph," I started, "looks like I'll have to find that out later. As for right now, I've got an appointment with a certain curious headmaster. We'll talk later." I donned my sleeveless shirt and trench-coat, no need to bring Quaesitor, but I didn't plan on leaving Ultimum out of my sight. I held my hand up behind me as I walked out of the door and headed to Ozpin's office.

I walked into the office and  was greeted by Ozpin's stern but welcoming stare and miss Goodwitch's much less welcoming glare. "You wanted to see me?" I greeted politely.
"Ah, Ettore, of course, we will get to the matter at hand shortly, but first, I'm sure you wish to know exactly what happened in the Emerald Forest yesterday correct?" Ozpin inquired.
"That is a concern at the moment." I commented, shrugging.
Ozpin gave a look towards miss Goodwitch, she instantly seemed to understand as she input some commands into the screen she was holding. "According to members of both team RWBY and team JNPR, when the Deathstalker attacked you became surrounded by a black aura, in the shape of a Beowolf, and you began to attack anything and everything around you. Supposedly, the flames from your semblance, also turned black." Ozpin explained, "I believe I may have found the cause when looking through the footage." As he said this, miss Goodwitch's screen began to show my slaying of the Beowolf upon landing, but something seemed, off. As the Beowolf dissipated into black smoke, the smoke appeared to gravitate towards me. The smoke then flowed into my body, combing with my orange aura.
"Did I just absorb a Grimm?" I asked.
"I believe that the remains of the Grimm acted as a catalyst to unlock another part of your semblance. I'm not entirely sure yet, but I believe that your semblance may be split into four different parts or forms." Ozpin continued.
"So, you mean there are parts of my semblance that I have yet to discover?" I questioned Ozpin, trying to make sense of this.
"Precisely, but for now I would like you to focus on developing an understanding of this new form, and..." Ozpin began, changing the subject, "I have an assignment for you."
"So soon?" I investigated into Ozpin's proposal.
"Yes, there is a location I would like you to investigate." As Ozpin said this, a location flashed on my scroll, what looks to be a pathway in a clearing between two rural villages, "An old friend was attacked there recently, one of my hunters in the field managed to scare away her attackers, but... Well, he's not so good at tracking, especially when his opponent disappears into thin air after the fight."  Ozpin intrigued me with that last line.
"Seems interesting, I'll be right on it." I smiled, turning around to leave the room.
"This may take some time Ettore, and I don't wish to arouse unnecessary suspicion. It would be helpful for you to have someone help you disappear for a time, might I recommend miss Xiao Long of team RWBY. Miss Yang seems to be rather interested by you." Ozpin gave his final words of advice right before the elevator doors closed.