Breathe Chapter 46: Initiation

“So let me get this straight,” Maria began, sitting by a table opposite me in the apartment-like room that Ozpin was letting us stay in. “Now that I’m finally here in Beacon, you’re leaving? It almost feels like you’re avoiding me.”

“It’s only going to be for a few days at the most,” I replied. “You could come with us if you want.”

It was one of the more straightforward missions Ozpin had given us. There was an old, abandoned railroad track that cut directly through the mountains towards the eastern coast of Sanus. It had been one of the primary modes of transportation for Dust and military equipment for a number of years before the line was lost due the Grimm.

From the information that Ozpin had given us, an attempt had been made to reclaim it, but it ultimately failed and resulted in the deaths of several Huntsman. Vale’s council decided that it wasn’t worth the effort and cut their losses, writing the railroad off.

Bullheads became the primary method for transporting Dust over the mountain range and while it did work, it was more costly. One Bullhead could only carry a single cargo container worth of Dust while a train could move anything between 10 and 20.

As Ozpin had said, it wasn’t exactly an urgent mission, but it would go a long way to helping Vale.

“Heh, no thanks,” Maria huffed. “You can handle that on your own. I’ll stay and keep an eye on things here.”

“You don’t want to come with?”

“Eh, not really,” Maria shrugged. “I’m a little tired of all this travelling around. I can handle smaller Grimm with no problem, but the larger ones do take a toll on my body. This last year that I’ve spent training you has been a lot of fun, but I think it’s about time that I hand over the reins. You’re more than ready for it.”

Maria and I had already had this conversation when I’d just bet Ruby and Yang, but this felt a little different.

“If you’re sure,” I hummed. “But... If you ever feel like hunting Grimm, I’ll be here.”

“Yeah, yeah. There’s no need to get sappy,” Maria waved me off. “We’ll still see each other. It’s not like I’m leaving or anything... If I did, who knows what sort of trouble you’d get yourself into. Ancient Grimm... Leviathan class Grimm... Without me around, you’d probably bump into Salem.”

Knowing my luck... Yeah, that’s fair. I chuckled, imagining randomly coming across Salem at a coffee shop.

Feeling my Scroll vibrate, I unlocked it and found a message from Ozpin. It seemed that he wanted to talk to me about something during the first year students' initiation in... Ten minutes ago... Crap.

“I’m going to have to go,” I muttered, looking up from my Scroll. “I need to meet with Ozpin before I leave.

“Go ahead,” Maria hummed. “I’ll check in with Red... And while I’m at it, I may as well check and see what there is to eat around here.”

Nodding, I made my way out of the apartment-like room and began the long trip to the cliffs that overlooked the forest.

I began to wonder how everyone was doing. I knew that Ruby, Weiss, Yang and Blake were more than ready for this... Pretty much everyone was. Jaune on the other hand... He should be alright. There weren’t exactly a ton of dangerous Grimm in the forest. It was mostly just Beowolves and Ursa. He should be fine without Pyrrha there to help him.

Now that I was thinking about it, there was a Death Stalker and a Nevermore there too, but I doubt they’d run into those again... Unless Jaune stumbled across the Death Stalkers cave again.

I was probably just overthinking it. Jaune should be fine. Ozpin had cameras all over the forests in order to observe the test. Jaune would be fine. There were dozens of other students in the forest with him, even if he came across something he couldn’t kill, he’d have more than enough help to deal with it.

He’d probably already teamed up with someone and gotten a relic by this point. It wasn’t that hard of a test.

...Breathe...

Racing through the forest, Jaune jumped off a small cliff and quickly hid himself behind a large boulder. Pressing his hand against his armored chest, he breathed heavily.. Hearing the sound of wood groaning as something large made its way through the forest, Jaune’s breath hitched.

If only he hadn’t gone into that stupid cave, then he wouldn’t be in this mess. The headmaster really should have been clearer on where he placed those relics... Who was he kidding, it wouldn’t have helped.

He would have forgotten everything the moment he was launched into the forest. He would have forgotten what he had for breakfast if his motion sickness hadn’t rear its ugly head while he was still in the air.

Seeing a bush rustle in front of him, Jaune panicked and closed his eyes, waiting for his inevitable death, only... It didn’t come.

“Hey, you!” A male voice called out. “You got a partner yet?”

“Um... No?” Jaune replied, keeping his eyes shut.

“Good.”

Feeling a fist collide with his gut, Jaune took a wheezed breath. “Why?” He asked, looking up as he struggled to breathe.

“Just following the rules our Headmaster gave us,” The armored student replied. “Thanks to some jackass out there, no one wants to be my partner.”

“Huh?”

Regaining his breath, Jaune finally got a good look at his new partner. Much like himself, his partner was wearing armor, except, it covered a far greater portion of his body. His orange hair was wet and stuck to his head and there was a disgusting and familiar smell coming off him.

Realizing what had happened, Jaune covered his mouth in horror. Not again! First the elderly woman on the airship then missing the presentation and now his new partner... Just how much trouble could his stomach get him into?!

“Finally smell it?” His partner asked, misunderstanding the gesture. “Some asshole couldn’t hold his breakfast before he could land and ended up hitting me with it. He seem to have gotten you as well,” He noted, pointing to a spot on Jaune’s armor. “You up for getting a little revenge? We can take turns kicking the living shit out of the person responsible for this.”

“Um, what...What about the test?” Jaune asked, desperate to change the subject.

“Not everyone passes, so we might not get another chance,” His partner explained. “But I can see your point. I don’t want to fail all because of some jackass that couldn’t hold it in. Who knows, maybe that asshole will be eaten by the first Grimm they come across. Man, I’d pay to see that... I’m Cardin Winchester by the way.”

“Oh, I’m Jaune Arc…”

Hearing a low growl, the unlikely duo glanced up at the ridge that was overlooking the area to find a Death Stalker glaring down on them, it’s glowing red eyes burning with hate.

Crouching down, the Death Stalker launched itself forward off the ledge, toppling a pair of trees as it descended on the armored pair.

“What the fu...”

“RUN!”

...Breathe...

“Ah, Coal. I was beginning to think that you weren’t going to come,” Ozpin noted lightly. “I trust that the preparations for your mission are going well.”

“Yeah,” I replied. “Winter’s just making sure that we’ve got everything that we might need and we’ll be ready to go. How are things here?” I asked, nodding a quick greeting to Glynda.

“Fairly well,” Ozpin hummed, idly paging through his Scroll. “The Students have all paired up and some of them have even managed to complete their task and have collected a relic. If you would like, I could send you a link to the video feed. You’ll be able to watch them on your Scroll.”

He sent it anyway, not waiting for my response.

Glancing back towards Glynda, who seemed just as lost as I was, I slipped my Scroll into my hand. Opening the link, it took me a few moments to familiarize myself with the cameras. Paging through the feeds, I eventually came across one of the ones I was looking for.

Team RWBY... Or, what would eventually be team RWBY. I was happy to see that I hadn’t altered things enough that the team wasn’t formed. It’d make things a whole lot easier going forward.

Paging through a few other feeds, I found Ren and Nora heading through the forest together. It seemed that Nora had just spotted an Ursa and had just jumped on its back while Ren trailed behind.

Finding Jaune, I almost did a spit take. He was sprinting through the forest faster than I thought he’d be capable of as a Death Stalker was hot on his heels, snapping its claws menacingly. That however wasn’t the part that threw me off.

Running at Jaune’s side was Cardin Winchester. That complicated things a little. I’d give it a week before Nora decides to break his legs... Maybe less. I might need to speak to Ozpin about that before anything too... Drastic happens.

Speaking of...

“By the way, why’d you call me here?”

“I suppose you would wonder that,” Ozpin noted. “If you recall the first time we met... It was just after your first confrontation with Raven.“

“Yes,” I hummed, seeing where this was going.

“I offered you a place in Beacon, but you jokingly declined, stating that you thought we were offering you a teaching job,” Ozpin continued. “I didn’t give it much thought at the time... Now, however, things have changed.”

“You’re not suggesting...” Glynda trailed off.

“No, I don’t believe teaching full time will suit him,” Ozpin replied before turning towards me. “Mentoring a team however... That would grant you far more freedom while giving you the opportunity to teach them any skills that you deem useful. We’d be able to officially list you as a member of the staff, giving you greater access to the Academy.”

I see now. Ozpin was giving me an excuse to teach them Total Concentration Breathing. It wasn’t a bad idea. I had been planning on teaching Team RWBY and I’d even taught Yang how to use one of the Six Powers... Not that he knew that.

“Ozpin,” Glynda began, a strained look on her face. “If I could please talk to you in private, it’ll only take a moment.”

“Could we perhaps talk later? We do still need to ensure that the students complete their task after all,” Ozpin hummed.

“I’d prefer it if we could discuss this as soon as possible,” Glynda replied.

That was odd. She was acting as if she had a problem with me teaching one of the teams. It was almost as if Ozpin hadn’t told her about...

“You didn’t tell her about my Semblance, did you?” I realized.

“Both James and I agreed to keep quiet about the nature of your Semblance and neither of us has broken that silence,” Ozpin explained, shooting a glance towards Glynda. “Regardless of how much trust we have in others. It’s your secret to share.”

That was oddly reassuring. Ozpin kept more than a few secrets from his allies, but I hadn’t expected him to keep my own so closely guarded.

Seeing the questioning look on Glynda’s face, I decided to give a basic explanation. Ozpin could fill her in on all the details later. “It’s...A bit of a long story, but pretty much everything I’m capable of can be taught to others.”

Glynda glanced at Ozpin before raising a skeptical eyebrow. “That sounds rather hard to believe.”

Really, that’s what she found hard to believe? We live in a world with Grimm, Dust and Maidens... Hell, Ozpin was immortal and he was standing right next to her.

“It may sound unbelievable, but it is true,” Ozpin replied. “I’ve witnessed the results of his training myself and I must say that it is effective.”

“It’s true?” Glynda asked. “Then... Shouldn’t you have learnt it during one of your lifetimes?”

“Seeing as this is something only recently discovered by Coal, I’m going to have to say no,” Ozpin hummed. “Regardless of my exceptionally long life, I am still a single person after all. There have been numerous things that others have invented over the years that I have had no part in and this just so happens to be one of them.”

That was a fair point. Living for hundreds, if not thousands of years didn’t exactly make a person a genius. It just gave them more time to learn everything that they were interested in. Ozpin had been focused on teaching others how to fight and how to use their Aura, but in doing so, he’d neglected other potential methods for how to improve your body.

It also didn’t help that Total Concentration Breathing only showed real results after a week or two of training.

Feeling my Scroll vibrate, I looked down expecting to see a message from Pyrrha or Winter and almost choked when I saw the video that was playing on my Scroll. “What the heck is she doing?”

...Breathe...

“What the heck are you doing?” Weiss shrieked as she clung to the Nevermore for dear life.

Climbing up the Nevermore’s back, Ruby glanced back at Weiss. “What? Did you say something?”

“I ASKED WHAT ARE WE DOING UP HERE?”

“Oh, that makes much more sense. I thought you were asking me for some pants,” Ruby called back. “Just hang on tight and get ready to jump... This is going to be awesome!”

A bright flash of light washed over them. Blinking as it died down, Weiss found that there was something very wrong with her situation. The Nevermore... The thing she’d been relying on to keep her from plummeting to the ground had turned to stone and was plummeting itself.

“What?” Weiss squeaked.

“Weiss, get up here,” Ruby called out, tugging her onto the petrified Nevermore’s back. “We need to do this just right or we’ll be flattened with the Nevermore. You can jump off your glyph thingies, right?”

“Yes?”

“Then get ready to catch us.” Not giving Weiss any time to respond, Ruby grabbed a hold of the heiress and rocketed off the falling Nevermore. “Now!”

Bounding off Weiss’ Glyphs, the duo slowed their descent enough to land without being harmed, while the Nevermore crashed into the ground below, exploding into dust.

“I told you it’d be awesome,” Ruby cheered.

Stepping on solid ground, Weiss shot a shaky glare towards her partner. “Why did I have to get paired with the insane sister? Yang would...”

“Holy crap, that was awesome. Did you two seriously crash a petrified Grimm?” Yang asked, suddenly appearing at their side. “I gotta see what that’s like. After this test, we’re finding another one and doing it again, alright?”

“Heck yeah!”

“Never mind, they’re both insane,” Weiss muttered, utterly defeated before perking up. “At least there are others out there that aren’t as crazy as...”

“Aw, did you see that, Ren. Their Grimm was bigger than ours,” An orange haired girl sighed dramatically, before grinning. “I guess that means we’re gonna have to find a bigger one.”

“Please... Not again,” The aforementioned Ren said, breathing heavily.

Feeling like she was grasping at the final straws of her own sanity, Weiss comforted herself with the thought that she wasn’t alone. Ren seemed to be just as sane as she was and the dark haired girl that was Yang’s partner didn’t seem too bad either. She could do without being stared at though.

At least things couldn’t get any crazier than this.

“Run for your lives!” A blonde knight yelled as he sprinted into the clearing, followed closely behind by a Death Stalker.

“Ren, look. Bigger Grimm!” The orange haired girl pointed towards the Death Stalker with glee.

“C’mon partner,” Ruby said, tugging on Weiss’ sleeve. “We’ve got a Grimm to kill.”

Unable to even think straight through all of the chaos, Weiss switched her rapier into its ice Dust mode and jabbed it into the ground, freezing the approaching Grimm in place. It wouldn’t hold forever, but it would give her some time to think... Hopefully without having to deal with any more insanity.

“Geez Weiss,” Yang grinned. “You really need to… Cool off.”

“Damnit Yang,” Weiss muttered to herself.

In spite of all the chaos, she was actually really happy to be here. It certainly beat the cold monotony of her mansion back in Atlas.

...Breathe...

“Right... On that note, I should probably get going,” I hummed. “Can we talk about the whole mentor thing when I get back?”

“Certainly,” Ozpin replied. “Good luck on your mission. I hope to hear of its success soon.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I chuckled. Moving to leave, I got all three steps, before I stopped. “Actually, now that I think about it. Would you be able to do me a favor?”

“What is it that you need done?”

“There’s a man back in Argus named Ignis... He’s actually the one that forged my sword,” I explained. “I was wondering if you’d be able to get in contact with him and see if he could send over some of the same metal my sword is made from.”

If Pyrrha and Winter were going to take full advantage of their Breathing Styles, their weapons were going to need to have some of the same ore my sword was made from.

“That shouldn’t be too difficult,” Ozpin hummed. “Could I ask why you need this metal?”

“It’s about time Pyrrha and Winter’s weapons get an upgrade,” I explained. “You’ll see what I mean later on.”

…Breathe…

For a while now, the Evernight castle had been peaceful. Tyrian was dead, thus incapable of annoying anyone while Watts had left, pursuing information that had likely been lost decades prior... He’d even done them all a favor and had taken Hazel with him.

Now if only she could send Emerald and Mercury away, everything would be perfect. The duo had been incredibly annoying ever since they’d come here. If they weren’t arguing with one another, they were bothering her.

Emerald, for the most part, had taken to sticking Cinder’s side like a lost puppy while Mercury generally stuck to himself. There were however days when he bothered her, asking her when they were going to leave.

It was clear to Cinder that they were afraid. It was somewhat understandable. Salem did have an intimidating presence and while they didn’t always see her, they could all still feel her presence pulsing through the castle.

“You’re such an idiot.”

“I know you are, but what am I?”

“Stop that!”

“Stop that!”

But sometimes she wondered if it was worth it keeping them around. They were skilled, she’d give them that, but their constant bickering was enough to drive even the most level headed person mad. Why they couldn’t sit quietly for a few hours, she didn’t know.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Cinder did her best to ignore the two. She just had to hold out a little longer.

“Ugh, you’re such an idiot.”

“Ugh, you’re such an idiot,” Mercury repeated.

“Why don’t you just stick your head in one of those Grimm P... AH!” Emerald jumped as there was a loud thud on the door.

Paling, Mercury took a cautious step back. A few silent moments passed, before he finally let out the breath he’d been holding.

“Must have just been the wind,” He muttered. “This castle can get a little windy, so...”

A second thud sounded through the room as the doorframe rattled loudly. Seeing the scared look on Emerald's face and the nervous one on Mercury’s, Cinder sighed and got up. Making her way to the door, she opened it, ignoring Emerald's silent pleas and was greeted by the orb-like body of the Seer Grimm that silently patrolled the hallways.

“Cinder... I require your presence in my study. Please make your way here at once,” Salem’s voice came from the Grimm. “Oh, and come alone.”

“I’ll be there as soon as possible,” Cinder gave her response.

“Excellent,” Salem hummed. “Then I will see you soon.”

“Ma’am?” Emerald asked softly.

Waiting for Salem’s image to fade from the Seers orb, Cinder turned back towards her room. “You two will remain here while I’m meeting with Salem. Try and not destroy the room while I’m gone.”

Emerald moved to say something, but was stopped when Mercury placed his hand on her shoulder, shaking his head.

Leaving their room, Cinder made her way down the various dark hallways of the castle, uncaring of the numerous Grimm that she passed on her way. Someone unfamiliar with the layout would easily be lost in the castle, but she’d spent many years here. Getting lost was an impossibility at this point.

It didn’t take too long before she was standing in front of Salem’s study. Rapping her knuckles against the old wooden door, she slowly opened it and peered into the darkness of the room.

“Cinder,” Salem hummed, her glowing red eyes the only thing that was visible in the room. “Please come in and close the door behind you.”

“At once,” Cinder replied.

Clicking the door shut, she was surprised to find the room suddenly light up as several candles suddenly lit themselves, revealing the contents of the room.

Not much had changed since she’d last been in here. The shelves were still stocked with exotic ingredients and there were several bookshelves that were neatly packed. Sitting in the center of the room with a chair facing her was Salem. She had an almost motherly visage despite her Grimm features.

“Take a seat,” She gestured towards the chair in front of her.

Eyeing the chair, Cinder sat down. “Could I ask what this is about?”

“Always in such a rush... Not that it isn’t warranted this time,” Salem noted. Reaching into her sleeve, she removed a small glass bottle containing a viscous black fluid that seemed to dull the light around it, almost as if the light was being absorbed into it. “This is what I called you here for. In this container is the power that Marcus Black once possessed... The ability to steal a Semblance. You truly brought me something special.”

It took all of Cinder’s control to not snatch the container from Salem’s hand. “Then... I can finally take his Semblance?”

“You will only be able to use it once. That’s all this will afford you,” Salem replied. “And it is not without its risks. By using Marcus Black’s Semblance, you’ll be establishing a connection between you and your target, one that is inclined in your favor. However, should Ozma’s guardian be capable of resisting it, the Semblance may lash out at you instead.”

“I could lose my Semblance?”

“That is among a number of possibilities,” Salem nodded. “It’s hard to tell what would happen as the effect would be highly dependent on the nature of your souls.” Wrapping her hand around the container, she pulled it back. “Of course, this is all your choice. I could just as easily place this on my shelf and forget about it.”

“I’ll do it,” Cinder said. “Now that I know it’s possible, there’s no going back.”

“If that is your wish,” Salem hummed.

“It is.”

Salem smiled and held out her hand. “Give me your dominant hand and know that his will not be pleasant.”

Holding out her right hand, Cinder gave a small twitch when Salem grabbed it and sliced her palm open with a plain silver dagger.

Opening the glass container, Salem proceeded to empty it on Cinder’s cut hand. The viscous liquid dripped down Cinder’s arm, before it suddenly stopped and climbed back up. Pooling on her palm, it suddenly began to sink in through the cut.

Wincing at the unpleasant feeling, Cinder relaxed her hand once all of the fluid was absorbed. “That wasn’t so ba...” Freezing, all of her muscles tensed and began to cramp as she was hit with an incredibly painful and disgusting feeling... It was almost as if someone had injected hot tar into her veins.

“I’m afraid that was only the first part. What comes next will be worse,” Salem noted. “This will be a very interesting hour for you.”

Regaining control over her body, Cinder didn’t know whether to scream or to laugh. Feeling another wave of pain wash over her body, she did both.