Zack Fullbuster and the King of Sin: A Ruby X OC Story Volume 3

Chapter 9 Volume 3

Zack (POV)
Ozpin explains the story of the fall maidens and the existence of magic.
Qrow- Yeah . First time hearing it is pretty crazy.
Zack- It was pretty crazy for me too and I got a demon in me for oum's sake.
Pyrrha- (turns to Ozpin) You're serious?
Ozpin- Do I look like I'm joking.
Pyrrha- No. Why? Why are you telling me this?
I go over to Ozpin.
Zack- Because Pyrrha. Qrow, Ozpin and I believe you to be next in line for the fall maiden's power.
Goodwitch and ironwood come up out of the elevator.
Zack- Oh and those two to.
Ironwood- Sorry we're late.
Pyrrha- Wait, What is this? Who are you?
Goodwitch- You know who we are. We're still the same teachers and headmasters you met when you arrived at beacon.
Zack- And I'm still Zack. Your friend. I'm just a special case. Same as you.
Qrow- We just have a little part time job.
Ironwood- We are the protectors of this world.
Ozpin- And we need your help.
Zack- Do we show her?
Ozpin- Yes.
We all go into the elevator and go down to the vault under the school. We enter the vault and walk down a big hallway.
Zack: To the batcave!!
Author: This isn't Batman!!
Zack- This is a big ass hallway.
Pyrrha- I thought you've been down here before.
Zack- No. I knew what's down here and I knew the vault was under the school but I've never been down here before.
Goodwitch- I'm sure you must have questions.
Pyrrha- Maybe one or two. I still don't understand. You said I was next in line to receive the maiden's power. What do you mean by that.
Goodwitch- The maidens have existed for thousands of years but much like in nature, the seasons change. No two summers are alike. When a maiden dies, her power leaves her body and seeks out a new host. Ensuring that that the seasons are never lost and that no individual can hold the power forever.
Pyrrha- So how does the power choose?
Qrow- Through a series of stupid and convoluted rules.
Goodwitch- Qrow!
Qrow- Hey don't get mad cause I'm right!
Qrow- At first the only thing that was certain was that the power was passed onto young women. But as time went on, we learned that the selection process was a lot more intimate.
Pyrrha- Intimate?
Zack- It's not what you think.
Goodwitch- As we understand it now, when a maiden dies the one who is in her final thoughts is the first candidate.
Qrow- Unless it's a dude or an old hag then the power goes to someone random and our jobs get a lot harder.
Pyrrha- Why not wait till I graduate?
Zack- Honestly, we've run out of time. Something is coming. We don't know what but I know it's soon. We will fill you in on the rest of the details once we know you're with us. What you need to know is that one of the maidens was attacked and had some of her power stolen.
We reach the end of the hallway and reach two pods. One was empty while the other contained a girl.
Pyrrha- Is that..
Zack- Amber. The current fall maiden.
Author: Sorry if I called amber something else in the past books. I think I may have called her ember or something.
Pyrrha- She's still alive?
Ironwood- For now. We're using state of the art atlas technology to keep her stable but there is a lot about this situation that is unprecedented.
Pyrrha- What do you mean?
Ironwood- Well we don't know what's going to happen when she passes.
Pyrrha- Won't her power just transfer to the next host?
Qrow- Look who's been listening.
Zack- Well my theory is that since the power had been split in half, when she passes the power is most likely gonna seek out its other half. Or it'll go to her assailant which was most likely her last thoughts before becoming this way.
Qrow- I knew you were smart.
Pyrrha- Her assailant.
Ozpin- And that would not bode well for any of us.
Pyrrha goes up to amber's pod and touches the glass.
Pyrrha- If all of this is true, why keep it a secret?! If this girl is so important, if- if we're truly on the brink of war, why not tell everyone?!
Goodwitch- From what we understand, it used to be common knowledge.
Pyrrha- Excuse me?
Qrow- How do you think legends and fairy tails get started? Even the craziest ones come from somewhere.
Zack- Case in point me and my demon.
Goodwitch- Our group was created to protect both mankind and the maidens. Those hungry for power hunted them down in hope of getting their strength.
Qrow- And as you can imagine the ones that succeeded weren't exactly the type of people you want to have with unimaginable power.
Ironwood- And so this brotherhood chose to remove the maidens from the public eye allowing their existence to fade away into legend.
Goodwitch- The things we're telling you goes against hundreds of years of human history and religion.
Ironwood- No one would believe us. It would cause uproar.
Ozpin- It'll cause panic and we know what that would bring clawing at our kingdom walls. Which is why we would like to..
Pyrrha- I'll do it.
Zack- Wait don't you wanna think about this first?
Pyrrha- If you believe this will help humanity then I will become your fall maiden.
We all stare at each other.
Pyrrha-That's what you wanted isn't it?
Ozpin- It is but I'm afraid it's not that simple.
Zack- What do you mean Oz?
Ozpin- Given Amber's condition you won't be able to inherit her power naturally however General ironwood believes he has a solution.
Ironwood- For the past few years, atlas has been studying aura from a more scientific standpoint. How it works. What's it made of. We've made significant strides and we believe to have found a way to capture it.
Qrow- Capture it and cram it into something else. Or in your case...
Pyrrha- That's..
Ironwood- Classified.
Pyrrha- Wrong.
Zack- I'm with Pyrrha on this one. This is all the way fucked up.
Goodwitch- The feeling is mutual but desperate times call for desperate measures.
Ironwood- And these are indeed desperate times. We can't transfer you amber's powers but we can give you what these powers are bound to.
Ozpin- Her life would become intertwined with yours. The question is..
Qrow- Whats that gonna do to you?
Zack- (realizes the meaning) Oh shit.
Ozpin- You have an important decision before you miss Nikos. There's no guarantee this transfer will work and there is no telling if you will be the same person if it does. I advise you to take time to think on this matter.
Zack- Please do cause unlike me, you have a choice.
Ozpin- Understand that before the vytal festival is over, we will need your answer. The assailant that attacked the fall maiden had already made their first move. There is no telling when their next move will be.
Zack *mind*- Soon Ozpin. Really really soon.
Author: That's the end of another chapter. Didn't really think that this part would take up an entire chapter. Oh well. To the next chapter we go.