RWBY: Bearer of the Curse

Chapter 4: Duty of a Leader

Chapter 4: Duty of a Leader

"Uncle, I know you can hear me. Why'd you run away? I only want to play a little," a sweet voice sings.

Qrow sprints through the forest, knocking any branches or bushes out of his way.

"Uncle, why'd you try and hide? It's your turn to seek me," she continues, her voice echoing through the forest.

Qrow slides behind a tree to catch his breath. "I have to tell Oz. It's-"

"Found you," a quick whisper is heard while a scythe slides onto Qrow's body.

The wielder fires the weapon, cutting both the tree and Qrow in half. They stand on the other side, watching the Huntsman fall into two pieces.

"Oh, that was so much fun!" She hops in place. "I wanna do it again!"

The girl jumps in place, clothes tattered and washed. She lifts her dark red cloak over her head and looks down at the dead man.

"I thought you'd be tougher, uncle. I'm sooooo disappointed."

"You're so immature," a new voice scolds.

Weiss enters from the side, getting the young girl's attention. Following the tend, her bright clothes are washed and dirty, torn and shredded. Her hair is no longer done up in a ponytail, thus her hair flows down her back.

"Our other teammates were defeated," she informs.

"Yang? Oh, that's a shame. Was it (Y/N)? Tell me it was him!" She hops in place.

"Indeed. We're expecting him to come by any day now."

"Oooooh, yes!" She curls into a ball. "He'll be so much fun! I wonder what his blood tastes like," she coos.

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"Be straight with me, Ozpin," you slam your hand onto his desk. "What the hell is this mark? I thought you were straight with me before."

"I told you all you needed to know," he calmly replies, looking up at you from his seat.

"Sure, sure, you have some magical power that isn't Aura and you used that to stabilize my arm and stop that... that woman's words," you stare down at your hand for a brief moment before looking back at the teacher. "So what exactly is this power? How are my dead teammates alive?"

"Well," Ozpin dances his fingers along his cup. "I had hoped this would never come up again. Alright, you deserve the whole truth," he spins his chair and stands up, approaching his window. "A long time ago, I sealed a very powerful, very malicious woman away in an orb. Unfortunately, throughout time, I lost track of the orb and it was hidden from me. She created the Grimm... she plagued our world."

"Made the Grimm? How old... how old are you?" You cross your arms.

"That's a rude question, Mr. Gray," Ozpin looks over his shoulder with a coy smile. "Listen, I apologize," he turns to face you. "When I heard Grimm were converging on that cave I should have predicted it was Salem... but I couldn't send a small army of Huntsmen on my hunch."

You squeeze your fist. "So me and my friends had to suffer?"

"I had no way of knowing... trust me, this has weighed on my conscious for a long time. But now... we can redeem them. We collected and prepared Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna's bodies for burials. You freed them from Salem's grasp, however..."