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bafflement · 1 year

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Deaged Oz AU - The aftermath of Jaques not running fast enough...

James Ironwood groaned to himself as he read the latest report. Jaques Schnee's body had finally turned up, after two weeks of no news whatsoever. Whoever had killed him had done a very good job of covering it up, though, the security cameras for the party where he'd vanished had been set to a continual loop and, beyond when he had been spotted in the ballroom, mingling with his guests, his presence had been unaccounted for. There had been whispers that his wife had asked him to check on something upstairs, but every room had been gone over and there was no proof that anything out of the ordinary had happened. Willow Schnee had been confirmed as being upstairs, halfway through a bottle of wine and James knew enough of her drinking habits to be very aware that she would have been of very little use to anyone without some heavy motivation. She hated her husband, of course, but so did everybody else who'd ever met the man, there was no lack of suspects in this case, that was for sure. Hell, even Oz hated him and Oz loved just about anyone unless they were either completely irredeemable, Salem or both.

Besides, he'd heard rumors of at least one semblance in the hands of the criminal element that could be used to disguise someone so they appeared to be someone else, it was far from impossible that they were there spreading chaos just as much as Tyrian Callows had been before his rather unfortunate... accident.

The body had been rather gruesome, he'd only really skimmed that part of the report and had no real wish to return to it. There had been fire and a brand involved, the body itself had been found dumped outside a local Faunus shelter, almost gift wrapped. Whoever had done it had even included a bow, but the shelter themselves was clean, nothing to tie them to the crime. Nothing, really, to tie anyone to it. That was the problem though, everything was just a little too neat, fractionally too polished to have been committed by civilians.

He was probably putting far too much thought into this, though. Jaques Schnee tended to collect enemies like other men did ties, it seemed to have finally caught up with him. Couldn't happen to a better... wait. He reread that last line in the report, eyes narrowing in contemplation. Willow Schnee had asked for people to respect her family as they grieved, which was all normal enough of course, but she'd referred to the death itself as an internal family matter. That wording was markedly less normal, and trained hunters would have easily been able to make a body disappear. He sighed in agitation. It seemed he had a few people he needed to have a little chat with. Dammit, Oz...

"Send Weiss Schnee, Winter Schnee and Wintertip Pine up to my office, please, soldier." He requested, sounding tired. "As soon as they can be located, it's important."

"Sir, yes sir!" The soldier on duty saluted and left to find them, though they were privately slightly curious as to what those three could possibly have done.

There was a knock at the door, swift and military. Oz, having heard the news about Jaques' body being found shared a slightly weary look with Weiss. Winter had already stood up, holding out a hand to her sister. Oz glanced at their clothing for a minute before sighing, shrugging out of his normal coat and redressing in the blue one. If they were going to get in trouble then at least they could present a united front to James. He was pretty much certain that there had been no evidence tying any of them to the murder, Weiss had not even been in the room. Hopefully this was merely to break the news that the body had been found, but knowing James he rather doubted that.

The door opened, revealing a soldier in a uniform the same color as Winter's own. They glanced around the room, nodded, then cleared their throat.

"Weiss Schnee? Specialist Winter Schnee? Wintertip Pine? The General would like to see you in his office at your earliest convenience."

Winter nodded. "Thank you! We'll be right there. Follow me, you two, we mustn't keep him waiting."

The others watched them leave, curious, though they too had heard the news about Jaques Schnee's body having finally been found. They'd been discussing it, actually, before the three had been summoned, giving their condolences. For all they knew Oz had hated the man, he was still Weiss and Winter's father, after all.

James said nothing as they entered his office. Even when the door had shut, he just glared at them for a few seconds before sighing.

"I will only ask this once, did you three kill Jaques Schnee."

"No." Oz replied, evenly. "We did not."

"Winter? Miss Schnee?"

"I did not murder my father." Winter said, her tone flat. Weiss blinked.

"I don't know what happened to him, I wasn't there when he died."

"Hmm." James said, not sounding entirely convinced. "I assume that, if I was to ask the same question with Robyn's help, I would get the same answers?"

"You would." Oz confirmed. James nodded, not so much at what they had said as at what they hadn't.

"To change the subject then, you three have my deepest condolences which I am sure you will take fully in the spirit meant. Oz, how goes the merge? Were you able to find any more information out?"

"Some. Speaking of, we found some proof of a certain theory that you'll need to take a look at. With the tragic death of Jaques Schnee, it is no longer as relevant, but... I was rather hoping that he might be found alive just so that things could be done properly." There was no hint of remorse in Oz's tone and James groaned. Qrow, Oz had spent far too long around Qrow.

"You had evidence you didn't bring to me, Oz?" James sounded vaguely disappointed now, but the smile he sent him was tinged with fondness nonetheless.

"I was not sure of the best time, since it is slightly sensitive. It appears that my late, unlamented brother in law kept highly meticulous record of every move he ever made, including the illegal ones. He was behind the riot that killed my brother, also the kidnapping. He paid them off to snatch me and a few others. He wanted me out of the way and the lure of Nicolas Schnee's company proved too great, I fear. James... one of the ones he paid them to snatch was Liliana Ironwood." Pain laced Oz's voice now, glancing at his friend in compassion. James' hands clenched around the arms of his chair and there was a sudden splintering sound as they broke. The entire room winced slightly at the loud crack, it had sounded disturbingly like a gunshot. James tossed away the fragments in his hand and held out one palm for Oz's scroll. He handed it over, still looking deeply apologetic. James nodded, seeming to rein in his temper.

"Oz? What he did was not your fault, do you hear me? My sister died... long ago. Her death might be Jaques Schnee's fault, but you are not to blame. Just... tell me he suffered?"

"He did. I still didn't kill him though."

"Pity, I think I would have helped. Could you three leave for a bit? I have some things to think about."

"Of course." All three left, looking as dazed as the General had. In his office, James proceeded to smash the poor chair to smithereens before going over the information Oz had found. There was a lot there and he'd been right, some of it was highly sensitive. It was the sort of information that needed to get out, though... Jaques Schnee had been a criminal of the worst kind and, though his death had come far too soon, maybe this would bring some closure to the victims.

He just wished there was something more he could do for Oz.

#deaged oz au #he smol #james ironwood is not impressed #james ironwood in dad mode #sort of #jaques schnee #is very very dead #not even sorry #he was a bad man #overprotective schnees #winter schnee #weiss schnee #ozpin #james ironwood

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spectralscathath · 3 years

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ROSE-6: In Search of Stars

@juanalmada1234 Currently all my WIPs are just existing in a constant state of ‘I’ll get there when I get there’, but I think I can mayhaps spare a drabble or two of James and Ruby bonding.

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Ruby wandered the darkened halls of the Academy, her silver eyes glowing pale white in the dark, night vision filters activated to allow for optimal navigation. If she wanted to get somewhere in particular, she would access the building schematics, but this was not her plan.

It was the middle of the night, and she didn’t sleep. Sitting in her room for several hours at a time without the capacity to shut off her processing functions was a lot of nothing to process, and she had already finished reading all her books, comics, and magazines. She only needed to read them once.

She had successfully cleared the video games that she and Yang played, reaching 100% completion status on all the solo adventures she also enjoyed, and wasn’t sure what else she could do with herself.

Dr Shell was often awake at this hour, as was much of the R & D department. Ruby did not want to see Dr Shell, despite that being an irrational conclusion without any data to provide reasons as for why.

So she wandered, the long sleeves of a pastel pink sweater with little white roses on it covering her visible robotics. Not everyone knew what she was, after all. She was a top secret highly classified project, and by all rights should never be unescorted.

But she did not sleep. Others did.

“Ruby?” The deep timbre of Mr Ironwood’s voice filled the hall, the light from his scroll’s flashlight function falling over her as her pupils whirred and contracted. She cross-referenced his tone through her auditory databanks and came up with a 89.5% likelihood that he was confused, but not angry. “What are you doing up?”

“I don’t have a sleep cycle,” she chirped cheerfully at him, the internal glow of her pale eyes reflecting his scroll light unblinkingly. She tilted her head, smiling brightly. She always liked being around Mr Ironwood. He made Dad happy, and Yang liked him a lot, and Ruby had long ago decided those were good reasons. “Why are you awake, Mr Ironwood?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” he grimaced and rolled his right shoulder, the attention catching Ruby’s gaze to his right side. She saw a metallic hand poking out of his sleeve and her eyes widened. He had robotic parts as well?

She heard him make an aborted sort of sound, silver fingers flexing as she stared, awestruck. He placed his metal hand in the pocket of his fluffy dressing gown, clearing his throat. “Would you like to walk with me, Ruby? I’m just doing a patrol.”

“Okay!” She beamed and scurried up to join him, taking in the world through colourless night vision, monochrome shades of greys and blacks all she saw. “I was not aware that you had mechanical parts as well!”

“Victoria doesn’t give you access to medical files?” He raised a brow.

“Dr Shell prefers for me to compile my files on individuals myself, so that I can learn observation and notation.”

“That makes sense.” He stroked back his hair, grey streaks at the temple that were not dissimilar to Dr Shells or Ruby’s own silver hair gradient. “I’m heading to the rooftop, you wouldn’t happen to know the quickest way?”

Her eyes literally brightened as she accessed the building schematics. “It’s left-right-left-left-elevator to the top floor. Is the rooftop part of your patrol?”

“It’s a common destination.” He patted her shoulder, too light for her pressure sensors to pick up on it, so she took the visual cue that it was his goal. “I thought that you had a ‘sleep mode’ before?”

“ROSE-3 and ROSE-4 contained coding for a ‘sleep mode’, Dr Shell decided that it was unnecessary. My current form was designed to be constantly ready for missions, aside from when she is copying my databanks and I am in my charging port.” She informed gleefully, so glad to be upgraded from before.

“Ruby, you don’t have any missions yet,” he smiled at her, although as she analysed the expression, it cross-referenced as ‘sorrowful’. Right. She had forgotten, most people did not like her being cavalier about her previous models.

“Can I get some?” She asked hopefully. “Please? Dr Shell finally gave me a weapon to go with my blaster functions and I want to test its strength.” She held up her left hand, the shifting parts for a massive scythe blade stored in the casing of her arm. She was designed as a weapon to kill Grimm and she wanted to get started as soon as she could. It was her purpose.

James sighed and ruffled her hair, his right hand still in his pocket as they reached the elevator. “I’ll consider it, but you’ll be going out with the Ace Operatives, not alone.”

“Okay!” She liked working with the Ace Operatives. They had two new people she hadn’t met yet, but if Elm and Clover liked them, Ruby would as well. “Why the rooftops, Mr Ironwood?”

“... I like the stars.” He admitted quietly, soft elevator music playing. Ruby recognised it as a remix of Weiss Schnee’s newest single, the eldest Schnee daughter both heiress and songstress.

“Stars are fascinating!” She started reciting facts in an effort to please. “The current studies show that they are massive globes of burning chemicals, usually centred around a hydrogen core, and they’re actually billions of light years away. The light that reaches us here on Remnant is technically from the past.”

“It’s very cool,” he nodded, shifting in his fluffy bearclaw slippers as the door opened and they stepped out onto the rooftop, atop the spire of Atlas Academy. Altostratus clouds covered the sky, a thick mass of fog that was rolling in across the floating city as well. Ruby looked over the railings, amazed by the view. She felt so high up. Like Uncle Qrow could be as a bird, he could fly.

She wanted to fly.

Mr Ironwood joined her, elbows resting on the railings. “Shame. There was meant to be a nice Aurora Titanus tonight. Perhaps another time.”

“Can we come up here again tomorrow?” Ruby asked eagerly. “This is great!”

He blinked at her, before a smile that matched her father’s crossed his face. “We can. If the skies are clear, I’ll teach you some constellations, if you like.”

She accessed her databanks. Constellations: (noun) ‘ a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern that is traditionally named after its apparent form or identified with a mythological figure and/or story.’

“I would like that, Mr Ironwood.” Yang said that Mr Ironwood told good stories, after all. “And then we can discuss a mission?” She wanted to fulfil her programming.

#rwby #ruby rose #james ironwood #ROSE 6 #my writings #the alternate title for this was: The Tin Man and the Tin Can

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bafflement · 11 months

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Deaged Oz AU - Meeting Atlas Council

"Well, General? You called this emergency meeting of the council, after all. What did you need to tell us? That magic is real? Again? We know. There are records we managed to access after the last time you informed us." The old woman's voice was soft, but vastly disapproving. Ironwood flinched slightly, while behind him Tip couldn't quite suppress an amused snort.

"... well, whoever you are? Step out and let us see you, don't be shy. After all, this meeting seems to be partially about you, after all..." The same woman kept talking, not letting James get a word in. Tip shrugged and stepped out, looking up at the large circular table. He didn't seem the slightest bit nervous or intimidated by any of them, not even the empty chair which Jaques Schnee might have occupied if he had lived. The woman nodded to him, seemingly approving. Nobody had noticed The Long Memory just yet.

"Bad form, that, child." Another member broke in. "Atlas colors are blue and silver, meeting with us should really have been done in our own colors." In fact, the entire council was in blue of one sort or another. As a color block it was impressive. As a statement, however, it bordered on the ridiculous. Vale had never done anything of the sort as long as Tip had known them. But then, ostentatiously overblown statements fitted Atlas rather well.

"I'm far more comfortable in green." He shrugged, looking a little fed up and not at all abashed by being called out. The man rolled his eyes slightly, muttering something derogatory to himself.

"Well, child? Introduce yourself." The old woman prodded, but her eyes had narrowed slightly, seemingly searching for something in Tip's face. From the way her lips whitened, he had a horrible feeling that she might have found what she was searching for. By her age, she could quite easily have known Winter Schnee, after all, and the gap between ten and almost twelve was far less than that between ten and thirty six.

"My name is Wintertip Pine and I'm the current incarnation of the wizard." His voice was calm and even, Vale accent obvious. There was a shocked silence broken only by James' aggrieved sigh.

"You couldn't have told them a bit more gently?"

"You're the one that wanted me here and it's my secret, not yours." Tip murmured, rebelliously. The other council members seemed to still be in shock though the old woman looked amused again.

"Oh good. The General has needed someone who can stand up to him for awhile now. I'm rather glad that's you, Winter... tip." Tip winced, she definitely knew, then.

"Prove it." A rather thickset man demanded, flatly. "Still not sure I believe in magic, but if you want me to believe that the current wizard is a child, I'll need proof. We all will."

Tip sighed and gestured. A glass on the table lifted as though cradled in a crackling green net. The man who'd tried to tell him off for wearing green instead of blue blinked at it and nodded a brief apology. After all, dressing to match your aura was also a long standing tradition by now.

"All that proves is that you have some form of a Telekinesis semblance." The heavyset man snorted. Tip let the glass rest back on the table, shrugged and called up his shield. That was rather harder to argue against. Either single example could easily have been his Semblance, but both of them?

There was a soft swearing coming from one of the council members now, though. Tip met their incredulous glare and almost flinched himself. He knew that face. Oh no... not now. He had been rather hoping to get through this as merely Wintertip Pine, not the rest of it. After all, the lady may have recognised Winter Schnee but she hadn't overtly pointed it out yet. Bruin would.

"Okay, explain. Why are you a child, and why call yourself Wintertip? Also, the Wizard? Really?" Bruin sounded rather more amused than Tip might have preferred, though the fact that they'd been friends for years didn't really help. He sent a dark look at James, annoyed than neither of them had seen fit to inform him that Bruin was on the Atlas Council. Right, then...

"There was an... incident. When the Fall Maiden attempted to kill me, things backfired rather. I woke up as a child and no, I'm still not entirely sure precisely why. However, I do appear to be growing up again, so it could always have been rather worse. Of course I'm the wizard, who else would have this bad a luck except Qrow?"

Most of the council was staring at the pair now. That Wintertip wasn't actually a child was, well, slightly less shocking than it probably should be. He hadn't acted the slightest bit like an eleven year old, after all. But Bruin was one of their newest members, drafted in when Lark Winchester had pled circumstances and stepped down for awhile. If they truly knew this boy that was seemingly the wizard, though, then maybe they would be too valuable to lose.

"Well, child? I assume there might be slightly more to your identity than you may have admitted to us. Care to share the rest of it?"

Tip sighed again. "Hello, I'm Wintertip Schnee Pine Ozpin. Better?" He sounded very, very fed up now, sending another rather poisonous look to Bruin who looked rather more shocked than amused now. So he hadn't known about the Schnee bit, then...

"What do you mean, Schnee? If you're Winter Schnee, what the hell were you doing in Vale?" This was demanded by an older man seated near the old woman who had first spoken, looking at him incredulously. "We can deal with the fact that you're Ozpin later, but if you're Winter Schnee and you're the wizard... that's an act of war!"

"Not really? They didn't actually kidnap me, apparently. They just snatched me from those that did. That was a good thing, too, since Jaques Schnee paid to have me murdered."

"That doesn't matter, they should have given you back." There were nods of agreement to this, but Tip just shook his head.

"If I had been given back, the likelihood is that he would have just tried again. The more attempts made, the more likely one could succeed. As it was, I at least lived to adulthood in Vale. It might not have been as comfortable as it might have been amongst my own family and those that loved me, but at least I was relatively safe. The only war that matters now is the one against Salem, please don't try to start one with Vale merely because I'm alive?"

The council glanced at each other, seemingly touched [and probably slightly worried] by Tip's gentle pleading.

"We'll see. We will need to let them know at some point that we know what they did, however... at least until the Salem debacle is over with, we won't press anything. But Winter? You're ours, our incarnation of the Wizard, not theirs. They have no claim on you."

Tip bowed his head, waiting to be dismissed. When they gave the nod, he eagerly escaped the stifling room, finding Qrow and Winter waiting for him outside. He nodded to them, looking weary, all the nerves he had not allowed himself to show suddenly evident.

"There won't be a war with Vale. I hope, so that's a good thing at least? Can we get out of here? I hate politics..." The other two shared a speaking glance over the top of Tip's tousled silver hair and followed him down the corridor. If it came to it, they could probably sabotage any interkingdom war effort well enough.

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bafflement · 1 year

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Deaged Oz AU: Robyn's Election Party

Sneaking out of Atlas to go to a party might not have been one of Oz's best ideas ever, on reflection. Especially since said party wasn't in a very good part of Mantle and several of them would probably make good targets themselves.

Weiss and Winter probably shouldn't have come, but when they learned that Oz was going they had tagged along. Of course, Oz was mostly going because Oscar wanted to, but neither of the Schnee siblings seemed very comfortable letting him out of their sight right now.

He sighed, frustrated at that. Yes... he had been a kidnapped child once, but that was a very long time ago. The possibility that the same group even still existed was vanishingly small, it wasn't like they could snatch him again. Besides, he was far from the helpless ten year old he had once been, he could look after himself! No, the worry was that the girls were so obviously Schnee's... but then they were both hunters, too. It wasn't like Willow Schnee was going, after all.

"Oz... what's wrong?" Oscar asked, picking up on his mood.

"It is just that... Winter and Weiss will make very tempting targets to certain members of the audience, I fear. They're Schnee's and Jaques Schnee is, well, Jaques Schnee."

"... so are you. I'm not sure any of you three should be going, but here we are."

"At least we all have hunters licences." Oz sighed again. "Hopefully that will be enough. I just fear that something is likely to happen, after all, Atlas is next on Salem's list. Chaos is what she thrives on. Chaos brings fear and fear brings the Grimm."

None of the others really had anything to say about that, but at least they were almost there.

The guard on the door scanned over the group in disinterest, though his gaze sharpened slightly on noting Winter in her Atlas military uniform and Weiss in her typical outfit, especially since both of them were armed.

"No entry for Schnee's with weapons."

"We're not here to attack anyone!" Winter was quick to assure them. "But we're huntresses, we need to be armed in case something goes wrong. NONE of us want my father to win this seat, you can be certain of that."

The guard sighed. "Wait here, I need to go and talk to a few people. No funny business, Schnees."

When he returned it was in the company of Robyn Hill herself, who scanned the group and raised an eyebrow.

"Huh, Feuer wasn't kidding, there really are Schnees attending my little party. I'm honored. Why are you here?"

"To attend. None of us want my father to win, you're by far the better option."

"Uh huh, and if I asked you to test that using my semblance?"

Winter reached out and clasped hands with Robyn without hesitation, repeating her earlier words. The connection blazed green for truth and Robyn relaxed.

"Well, I suppose you're here with good intentions after all. I never thought I'd see the day, Winter Schnee. Weiss Schnee. People I don't know yet."

"Ruby Rose." "Blake Belladonna." "Yang Xaio Long." "Jaune Arc." "Nora Valkyrie" "Li Ren." "Oscar Pine."

They were all eager enough to introduce themselves, only Oz hanging back, watching her carefully.

"Well, that's most of you? And what about the little one, or are you too shy to come and say hello?"

Oz seemed to come to a decision, glancing at Winter briefly.

"Wintertip Pine, ma'am. Pleased to meet you."

Robyn smiled slightly at that, seemingly rather charmed by his good manners.

"Welcome to the party then, have fun and don't forget to support me when I have a council seat!" She moved off back towards the front as Winter and Weiss stared at Oz, surprised.

"Why call yourself Wintertip, of all names?"

"Why not? I cannot really use the name I was given at birth here, especially as I am not overly comfortable with it and I'm very well aware of what would happen were I to use a different one. Wintertip felt like a good compromise for now. Besides, this way I get to choose for once."

Winter stared at him for a second, almost speechless, before reaching over and ruffling his hair, gently. She still didn't say anything, but her expression seemed to say more than enough by itself.

Up on stage, Robyn was continuing her speech. "Look at everybody in attendance tonight! All of you support me for the council and that means a lot, we even have a few Schnee's!" She grinned over at the group even as several not entirely friendly gazes turned to them. Weiss brushed her fingers over Myrtenaster even as Oz's knuckles tightened on Long Memory's hilt. Robyn noticed and continued, hastily. "Now, you all know my semblance! Imagine my surprise when Specialist Winter Schnee herself clasped hands with me and confirmed they were here to support me! Now, I don't know what that says to the rest of you about the quality of the competition, but I say I'm honored to have them here tonight! They come as friends, please treat them as such?"

The gazes got rather quickly less hostile at that, but Oz was more focused on the numbers being projected. Was it just him, or were the percentages getting closer by the moment? He really, really had a bad feeling about this. Up on stage, Penny and the Atlas Operatives had noticed them, too. Although most of them looked amused, Clover was visibly furious that they'd so obviously flouted an order from General Ironwood. He may not be certain why the General was so protective of the youngest, but he knew that he would never have let him out here.

Excusing himself, he stalked over to the group, glaring at Oz who glared back, neither one willing to back down.

"Go. Home. Tip."

"Why should I? We're here to support Robyn just as much as everybody else is."

"Do you have any idea just how worried you will have made the General?" Clover hissed in an undertone.

"We left him a note." Oz stated calmly. "Besides, shouldn't you be working security? I'm sure everybody feels so much safer with you here."

Thankfully, the sarcasm seemed to go over Clover's head, who puffed himself up and went back to the stage. Crisis averted, for now. Though those numbers were looking even closer now...

The numbers switched, showing Jaques Schnee was somehow now in the lead, which made no sense considering that nobody in their right mind would have voted for him. Oz tensed, waiting, knowing that there was about to be a problem even if he didn't quite know what.

Then the lights went out. Briefly. Oz made a tossing motion upwards, reilluminating the room in the greenish glow his magic always gave off. He seemed pale and wan beneath it and he could feel himself starting to shake again, but the sudden light had managed to quite clearly illuminate one Tyrian Callows. Without the cover of darkness to aid him, he was swiftly engaged in a fight by several other people and just as quickly seemed to give up, being arrested within about two minutes of being discovered.

Robyn looked to be in shock, scanning the crowd to try to find the source of the light even as the lights that should have been in the building flickered back on. Oz, relieved, extinguished his own, sinking to the floor in a tangle of tired limbs. That had taken far more out of him than he'd been expecting, though it was probably more to do with his physical age than anything else.

Robyn made her way over, the crowd parting as she did so.

"Wintertip? That... thank you. That was your semblance, wasn't it? Is this the first time you used it?"

Oz just shook his head, not even trying to speak. He could feel the shaking calm down and drew himself back up to his feet as soon as he felt able. He was tired enough that he couldn't quite suppress a yawn, though and the others crowded around him, trying to grant him at least a little bit of privacy.

Even the others were staring at him, too. The Ace Operatives all came over, looking at Oz in a mix of amusement and frustration. At least they wouldn't have to explain too much to the General, but they were certainly starting to see why little Tip Pine wasn't to be let out by himself.

"Come on you lot, we need to go."

"One second?" Robyn interrupted, her voice hesitant. "Wintertip Pine? I owe you a boon. Let me know if there is ever anything I can do for you? I might not have won the council seat, but I'm pretty sure you saved at least one life tonight."

Oz just nodded tiredly as the others led the way backstage and out to where their transport waited. Tyrian Callows was shoved, none too gently, into a smaller airship. That one would be going directly to the top security wing of the prison. Everybody was pretty sure that General Ironwood would want words with him.

"Ah." Tyrian purred on seeing a straight backed and visibly fuming James Ironwood on the other side of the forcefield. "What do I owe the pleasure, General? Tell me, did I disrupt anything important?"

"Why were you at Robyn Hill's party? What did you want there?"

"Well, wouldn't you like to know that." Tyrian giggled, sounding unhinged. "But you know I won't tell you, where's the fun in that? Besides, I'll escape soon enough. I might even go and find that child. You know, the one with the delightful light semblance that got me caught? Find him, skin him, wear him as a cloak..." He giggled again even as, snarling, James drew his gun, pointing it directly at Tyrian's head.

"Oh no, you won't be escaping. You'll never go near him again, much less touch him." Thumbing the forcefield off, he shot several rounds directly into Tyrian's skull. It might have been murder, but he reassured himself that if he hadn't done it, then the madman would just have gone out and killed more people.

He went to find Oz and the others. Dammit, he needed to have words with them, too.

Elsewhere, Salem jerked as she felt the string connecting her to Tyrian Callows snap. He had finally got himself into a situation that he couldn't get out of, then? Pity, she'd rather miss him. He'd been such a useful tool. Maybe Ironwood had been pushed to the point of killing him? That, at least would have been good for her plans.

Sighing, she contacted Watts.

"Yes, my queen?" He answered, sounding about as servile as he always did.

"It appears our dear Tyrian is no longer with us. What exactly happened to get him caught? I thought you said your plans were foolproof." There was a dangerous tone in her voice and Watts blinked, surprised.

"Some brat had a light semblance. The lights went out, they lit the room up. They weren't very old, though,so it might have been a first use."

"A light semblance?" Salem asked, sounding bored. "What color semblance?" Not that she cared, but it was so nice to see Watt's sweat.

"Green, I believe, my Queen. Why?"

Salem screamed in anger and began to break things. Watts retreated, confused and more than a little scared.

"OZMA!" She roared into the night, continuing to destroy everything around her. "WHY DO YOU KEEP COMING BACK?"

#deaged oz au #ozpin #winter schnee #weiss schnee #robyn hill #election night #tyrian callows #james ironwood #ace operatives #oz using magic #james ironwood in dad mode #just as scary as it sounds #at least when it comes to oz #name change #character death #clover ebi is not bright #and does not get context clues #rwby au #salem rwby

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bafflement · 1 year

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Deaged Oz AU - Atlas Hospital Scene Part III

Oz swam back to consciousness slowly, still lying in the comfortable bed he had been in when what he was certain had to have been a dream happened. The room still smelled like all hospitals, but his fingers were clutched around the hilt of his cane, which he knew he hadn't had when he arrived here. Did that mean this was real, then? That they forgave him? Surely not... he'd lied to them. Lied to himself, tried to make the best of an impossible situation and an impossible war. Salem could not be beaten. She could not be defeated, the others hadn't signed up for this. They were just going to get themselves killed. 'Neither did you' a small voice seemed to echo in his head, but he shook it. He was what he needed to be, it was his fault after all. Everything was, hadn't those in the Vale told him that enough times?

How much of what he remembered had been a dream and how much of it reality? Surely he could not truly be the kidnapped Schnee child? They would have found out by now, right? Someone, somewhere, would have checked? The thought of being related to Jaques Schnee in any way, shape or form was deeply disquieting to him. He wasn't used to hating anyone but Salem, but that man certainly made it to the same exclusive little list.

There was a sound as several people filed in. Oscar, James... Winter, Weiss. Qrow! Qrow was here. He'd actually come back, he didn't hate him. He wasn't sure what he would have done if Qrow hated him, ran away again, perhaps? Not that that had worked last time, but there were more places to get lost in Atlas, it would be far easier to hide. He swallowed, bracing himself to be yelled at.

"Oh, Oz..." Qrow sounded sad, noticing how tense he'd become. "You're safe, I promise, okay?"

"Qrow? I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"Yeah, pocket sized, so am I. Never should have reacted like that, but the circumstances... it won't happen again. I've said that already, but I'm not sure how much of that you remember. They had you on a lot of the good stuff and I know how much that messes you up."

Oz's head did feel far clearer as he turned to gaze at the others. James and Winter seemed to be staring at each other as though having a silent conversation. James sighed, seeming to have lost the argument.

"We need to talk. Whether you should be or not, your body is currently that of an eleven year old boy and as such you are highly vulnerable."

Oz opened his mouth, about to protest, but James just raised an eyebrow at him.

"None of us want Jaques Schnee to find out that you used to be Winter Schnee, since his marriage to your sister would technically mean that you would fall under his control. None of us are going to allow that. Therefore, you have something of a choice."

"A... choice?" Oz really didn't like the sound of this.

"As to guardian. Myself, or Winter. She has the added benefit of a blood relationship but I could probably protect you better. I assume you don't particularly wish to be seperated from Oscar? He claims you as a brother, after all."

"I don't need a guardian, James. I'm not actually a child."

"Yes, Oz. You are. More, you are incredibly vulnerable at the moment. If Salem or one of her people find out about you, as an unaccompanied eleven year old you would make a prime target. You have, after all, been kidnapped before."

There was a flash of hurt in Oz's eyes and James looked like he regretted the phrasing of his words, but he kept on anyway, voice stern. "I will also be taking temporary custody of Oscar. He has no real Huntsman training and you are far too young to be expected to have any real proficency."

Oz blushed at that, glaring up at James. Winter interrupted.

"It's not that you're not fully capable, uncle. But whether you like it or not, you are currently a child. While you are here, it would be far better for all involved were you to have at least nominal protection."

"Think of it this way. While you are under my care, so is Oscar. Wouldn't you prefer to have him protected?"

"You're starting to sound like you wouldn't protect the pipsqueak if it wasn't for Oz, Jimmy." Qrow's voice carried a warning. "That's not a good look."

"Of course I'd protect Oscar. But like it or not, he's far less important in all this than Ozpin is."

"Oscar. Matters." Oz bit out, his glare icy now.

James sighed. "I never stated that he didn't. I'm not actually that good at this, Oz. I have never been in this situation before. Can you at least agree that keeping you out of Jaques Schnee's hands is by far the best option here?"

"I think if I was forced to be in close contact with him, something regrettable might happen. Probably to him. Okay. What exactly do we need to do? And have you asked Oscar's aunt, yet? She is his guardian, after all."

"Both of ours, technically." Oscar sounded amused. "Or did you forget that... Tip?"

Oz winced. "My question stands."

"Yes, I talked to her. She agrees that you two need the extra protection while you're here. Besides, I have access to a great deal of training scenarios both of you could use. We might even be able to source a better weapon for young Oscar."

Oscar's eyes lit up and Oz sighed. He was likely going to regret this, wasn't he?

Qrow looked briefly regretful. "Sorry I didn't volunteer, pocket sized, but..."

"But it would be highly inappropriate, considering certain other considerations. It is fine, Qrow. That you're here is enough."

Winter stared at the two of them, a look of mild horror on her face as the Lien finally dropped. Weiss looked like she really needed some form of brain bleach at the imagery, though thankfully it seemed to entirely go over Oscar's head.

James filled out the paperwork then and there. He was the temporary guardian of Oscar and Tip Pine less than five minutes later.

Although part of James, too, worried that he may end up regretting this...

#james ironwood in dad mode #he protecc #friendship #brotherhood #winter schnee #james ironwood #ozpin #oscar pine #qrow branwen #guardianship #temporary adoption?#oz is not amused #since he doesn't need protecting #or thinks he doesn't #he smol #tiny cute boy ozpin #cloqwork

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