14 Chapter 14

-[Beacon Academy]-

-[Rowan]-

The trip back to Beacon was just as long and boring as the earlier trip to Shion if not worse. When they were headed to Shion, they were in a hurry due to the mission at hand.

With no important matters at hand, the airship flew at a more friendly pace. Due to that, it was already nighttime by the time they arrived.

Getting off the vehicle as it landed, Rowan let out a breath of relief. "Remind me never to ride an aircraft with you again." He said in exasperation as Julius walked out, barely holding in a laugh.

"Come on, just tell me. What does she look like?" The man questioned almost childishly as they made their way into the large school building/castle.

"I am not having this conversation." Rowan said, not even glancing at his father.

"Spoil my fun, why don't you?" Julius muttered loud enough for Rowan to hear, causing the boy to sigh.

"How am I the mature one between the two of us?" He asked rhetorically as they made their way to the headmaster's office.

-[Ozpin]-

He didn't know what to think. It was almost two weeks since Julius and Rowan went to Shion to aid the team of huntsmen.

Julius alone was strong enough to compensate for most full squads, making him the perfect person for the job. Sending Rowan as well was a gamble seeing as how the boy was still a student.

Even with that, he was curious to see how he would perform. Something had happened during the mission, something that could only be said in person due to the nature of the events.

He didn't know what they encountered but from how serious Julius sounded, it was nothing to take lightly. Glynda was of the same thought as she stood behind him, waiting for the elevator door to open.

Just as it opened to reveal the father-son duo, Ozpin opened his mouth to speak only for his eyes to briefly widen in shock.

'What is this? What on earth happened on that mission?!' He thought as Rowan and Julius walked into the office.

The cause of his shock was the younger Arc whose aura capacity had more than doubled in size since he was last before him. He knew Glynda must have felt it as well judging by her silence.

"We're back!" Julius exclaimed loudly, prompting a dry look from Rowan.

"There's no need to yell. We're all in the same room." The boy complained.

Gathering his composure, Ozpin greeted them. "Good evening gentlemen. I believe your journey was quite…eventful."

"You can say that again. It's a long story." Julius said, his tone turning serious at the end.

"As much as I'd like to hear what happened from both of you, I believe Mr Arc must be tired." Ozpin spoke, gesturing to Rowan. "You may return to your dormitory. I believe your friends and teammates would want to know of your well-being."

Rowan didn't even argue as he went into the elevator, leaving just the three adults in the room. Ozpin immediately turned to Rowan. "What happened?"

"I guess you felt it too, huh." Julius said, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

"It is impossible not to feel it. How could his aura have increased so much in such a short span of time?" Glynda asked, voicing Ozpin's questions.

"Believe it or not, I haven't the slightest clue. It just happened and that's not the only shocking thing." Julius said, surprising them as he proceeded to explain what had occurred during the mission.

Throughout the explanation, Ozpin's shock continued to grow as each word left Julius's mouth.

First there was the case of Rowan's sudden leap in power. Then there was his ability to heal people from what was certain death. Then the worst part was the 'strange Grimm'.

It was no strange Grimm. It was one he recognized. "To think that it survived this long." Ozpin muttered, gaining their attention.

"What?" Julius couldn't help but ask as he and Glynda stared at the headmaster in confusion.

"Decades ago in one of my past lives, I was an adventurer. I found this Grimm unlike any I'd ever seen in the forest. Unfortunately for me, it was stronger than I anticipated…much stronger. Though I managed to land a killing blow, I also perished in that battle." Ozpin explained with a hard look on his face. "I never imagined that it would survive, growing even stronger than before."

"Rowan seems to think that there are more of them. Kid's been worrying himself a lot." Julius revealed with a sigh.

"You realize that you both almost died in this mission." Glynda scolded, causing the man to look away.

"You said, Rowan killed it with some kind of construct?" Ozpin questioned.

"Yeah. I've never seen anything like it. I don't even know how to describe it. At this point I don't even know what his semblance is. He can heal, he can enter a state similar to my semblance and now he can create that…thing. It's just giving me a headache trying to figure it out." Julius said as he rubbed his temple in frustration.

Whatever Rowan's true semblance was, it didn't change the fact that the abilities he'd displayed so far were nothing short of spectacular.

Just his healing ability alone made him very important. According to Julius, the two people he healed were on the verge of pure death with no hope of survival.

With Amber currently…unavailable, they'd been trying to find a way to wake her up. Her attacker had done some considerable damage to both her and her aura. He still found it hard to believe that one of Salem's agents had found a way to steal the maiden powers.

If the boy was anything like how Julius had described him, having Rowan heal Amber meant that he'd have to reveal Salem to him. Though the boy was incredibly strong, the question remained; was he ready to bear such knowledge?

-[Rowan]-

He made his way to his dorm room, finding the members of his team still awake.

"You're still alive? I thought you'd chickened out of beacon." Cardin mocked as Rowan entered the room.

He turned to his corner of the room to find his belongings scattered on the floor. He turned back to Cardin who had a smug smirk on his face.

"Do you really have nothing else to do than feed that poor complex of yours?" Rowan questioned as he dropped the duffel bag that he'd taken with him on the bed.

"Shut up nerd. In case you don't realize it, I'm the boss here now. What I say goes and you can't do anything about it." Cardin said as Rowan noticed Russel, though not speaking, silently backing Cardin.

"This again? You really haven't learnt anything, have you?" Rowan said as he walked up to the blond boy.

"You think you can scare me? Don't make me laugh. You're as pathetic as your brother." Cardin said in an attempt to mock him, making him realize something.

Due to Glynda not picking him during combat class, other than team RWBY and team JNPR nobody was aware of where his skills lay and Russel seemed to have forgotten all about it.

"Is that so? It just so happens that I'm not in the mood for you or your problems. I hope you don't mind me venting out some stress." Rowan said as he stopped in front of Cardin.

"What are yo-" the boy was interrupted by a fist slamming into his face, sending him flying into the wall.

Rowan held back considerably seeing as how he wasn't trying to kill him. He was still in a foul mood from the whole Heralds issue hanging over his neck. Cardin's taunts were ill-timed and unfortunately, Rowan wasn't feeling particularly merciful.

As Cardin stumbled to his feet, Rowan was in front of him with a kick to his stomach, hunching him over as his dinner threatened to release itself from his stomach.

"Cardin, get this through your head." Rowan said as he picked up the boy by the scruff of his shirt, delivering a punch that sent him crashing into the other side of the room.

He saw the boy's aura shimmer and crack before shattering. "I don't care about your fragile ego. As long as you're on this team, you will do exactly as I say, no questions asked."

"Go to h-ackkk!" His refusal was greeted by a kick to the face as well as Rowan grabbing his wrist.

"No questions asked. I already warned you in hopes that you would be smarter but I guess I was wrong. I am the leader of this team. If you have a problem with it, I'm ready to beat it into your skull." Rowan said, giving him a final kick that knocked him unconscious.

He turned his attention to Russel who was shaking in fear. "Take him to the infirmary. If anyone asks, he fell on the stairs." He said with a serious face.

"N-nobody's going t-to believe tha-"

"He fell on the stairs." Rowan repeated, causing the boy to nod quickly with an audible gulp as he rushed to drag Cardin to the infirmary.

"Enjoy the show?" He asked, turning to his final teammate.

"Hmph. I don't know what you're trying to prove but if yo-"

"The warning goes for you too as well." He interjected, causing the girl to frown as she got off the bed, moving to stand in front of him.

"Watch it. You don't know who you're messing with." She said in a manner that was supposed to be threatening.

Unfortunately for her Rowan was just about done with the niceties. Salem and her subordinates, the remaining nine Heralds who were stronger than the Cyclops… Between all of that, he'd just about run out of patience to deal with his 'team'.

"I don't care." He said, suddenly behind her, his hand on her shoulder.

200 points in DEX along with the 150% increase from the [Unnatural Grace] perk put him at exactly 500 DEX…much more than enough for his movement to be too fast for the naked eyes.

He could see her eyes widen as he seemingly appeared behind her. "I don't care who you think you are. Give me a reason and I won't hesitate to make sure you end up beside Cardin in the infirmary." He said as he released her shoulder, walking back to his corner of the room to arrange it, ignoring her shock at his speed.

Honestly, he was done with the whole charade and Raven was the least important thing on his mind at the moment. Knowing that Neela was a Branwen spy didn't help the girl's case.

He didn't consider himself delicate enough to attempt to convert someone from one faction to the other nor did he want to. If she gave him a reason to, he'd kill her…it was that simple.

It was impossible to save everyone, that was only wishful thinking. The fight with the Cyclops and his foreknowledge only confirmed its impossibility.

'Someone who can't sacrifice anything can never change anything…I just want this to be over. Maybe then I can finally rest.' He thought sadly.