Chapter 65

"Do you have some kind of magical spell that can track him sir?" Weiss asked, biting her lip as she fretted.

Once again, all of them were gathered in the living room of the Mistralian mansion they'd been given to live in by Headmaster Lionheart, discussing what to do about their suddenly missing companion, who had just up and bolted in the blink of an eye, to quickly for any of them to keep up with.

Well, all of them sans Qrow. The man was still trying to drink himself into a stupor due to what he overheard his blonde niece speaking of earlier.

"I'm afraid not," Ozpin, currently in control of Oscar's body shook his head, leaning on his cane as he sat on one of the red armchairs, "Using free forms spells is quite beyond me now, I simply lack the power."

"...Greeaaaaat," Jaune groaned, stuffing his own face into his hands from the couch, "We're preparing to for pretty much the apocalypse and fighting story book magical girls that could wipe half us out with a wave of their hand and our heaviest hitter just went awol."

"There's gotta be a reason why he just took off like that," Yang frowned as she paced back and forth, "It's not like he'd just run off for no reason."

"Maybe...Salem?" Ruby nervously threated her fingers together and spoke up, "He said she got into his head once remember? Maybe she's controlling him?"

"Nah," Nora waved her off sitting on the bannister of the stairs and kicking her feet back and forth idly, "If she was controlling him, she'd have made him take us out right? Dunno but Qrow and little boy Ozpin, but none of us can hold a candle to to Balty right now, he'd have attacked us first, taken us off guard and bodied us like a bunch of scrubs."

Yang snorted, and turned to Nora, her lilac eyes suddenly flaring with trails of magical power, "C'mon, I think I could put up a real good fight now, eh." she gestured to herself.

Nora snorted and hopped off the stairs, pink electricity sparking into existence around her form, "And he made my semblance evolve," the busty ginger girl replied, "I can boost myself all I want now even without dust. But Balty still spanks me rotten in a fight, and keep in mind he gave you those abilities at just a fraction of his own power, and only a few hours ago at that. Balty would mount you and make you his little bitch."

"..Nora I know you're having fun," Ren spoke up, "And I know Cobalt gets a kick out of it, but can you calm down a bit on the profanity?"

Nora grinned at him, "Fucking alright Rennie-poo!" she flashed him two fingers shaped like a 'V'.

"Cobalt is such a bad influence on her." Ren sighed, hanging his head from where he sat beside Jaune. His blonde team leader idly removing one of his hands from his face to pat the black haired boy on the shoulder comfortingly.

"..While Miss Valkyrie's way of putting it all is a bit crude, she is not wrong," Ozpin mused, "Controlling the mind of others, is not a simple task, even with magic. There are semblances out there that can do it, but the one thing they all have in common is that the willpower of the target is a factor, and young Cobalt not only has an extraordinary will, he also has Miss Nikos within his mind to help him. The likelihood of this being Salem's doing is virtually null."

"But there is a chance?" Weiss worried.

"Well, there are not many things that are truly impossible I dare say," Ozpin conceded, "But even if-" he cut himself off as he felt a very familiar magic in the air, being weaved into a very familiar pattern.

'..Ah, I understand.' Ozpin nodded to himself.

'Understand what?' Oscar asked.

Instead of explaining just to the young lad, he spoke up outward and explained to everyone, to ease their fears, "I believe there is nothing to fear my dear young students," the former headmaster of Beacon smiled lightly at them all, drawing their attention to him, "I just felt young Cobalt's magic in the air, being woven the same way it was with Miss Xiao Long, I believe he may have found someone he knew? A friend perhaps?"

Weiss palmed her face, "Of course he did," she groaned, "..And if he's willingly giving out magic power, again, that means whoever he found is most likely a female."

"A distinct possibility." Ozpin admitted. And from what he could sense, it was quite the spell template he was weaving.

"Must be one hot piece of ass," Nora chuckled, leaning back on the bannister she was previously sitting on and crossing her arms as she nodded sagely, "Looks like the harem competition has a new competitor."

"The question is, who's she jumping ahead of?" Yang grinned over at her, "I'm obviously gonna be first on the list, followed by you Nora, then Ruby and in last place is Weis no doubt."

"...Does it have to be a competition?" Ruby raised her hand, only to be ignored.

"Excuse me? Last place?" Weiss growled, affronted at her busty blonde teammate, "Even humouring you about this, it would be you in last place Yang, with me clearly in the lead. And for the last time, Cobalt is not forming a harem!"

"Someone's in denial~" Yang sing songed right back at her, to the white haired girls annoyance.

"He totally is making one." Nora backed her up.

"...I mean...there's nothing wrong with a harem right? Dad had multiple girls at one point." Ruby shrugged, she wasn't bothered by it. It wasn't like it was illegal or anything.

'...What an odd discussion.' Ozpin mused, reaching over to the table besides his armchair and grabbing the steaming mug he had sitting there.

'Cobalt is so awesome, why couldn't it be him I'm sharing a body with?' Oscar sighed. The guy didn't even have a human body right now, yet had girls fighting over him and freely okay with forming a harem around him. Well, except Weiss.

'Hurtful,' Ozpin replied as he took a sip from his mug, 'Though, understandable, I dare say even I would wish to be like him if I were my young old self from long back in the past."

"Oz." Qrow suddenly spoke up from behind him, drawing him form his thoughts and his eyeing of the girls arguing.

"Yes Qrow?" Ozpin turned to the man and asked.

The man was rank with alcohol, and he looked a bit unsteady on his feet, but he held up his scroll to the man in a boys body, "Just got a call from Leo," he informed, and despite his drunken state there was a serious look in his red eyes, "He says he had a breakthrough with the council, they're ready and willing to prepare a force to deal with Raven and her tribe. Wants us to head on over to Haven Academy tomorrow night after sundown to discuss the details."

'That's great news right?' Oscar asked, hope flaring within the boy.

But Ozpin was not so sure, "Curious is it not?" he frowned, "That things would progress so suddenly?"

Qrow nodded, "..Yeah, even as drunk as I am, it sounds fishy as all hell."

Ozpin felt his heart throb, 'Oh Leo, please tell me it's not so.' he prayed, yet in his heart of hearts, he knew. It was always like this in the end after all. One by one, those he trusted, lost their trust in him.

Raven was hardly the first to take the power he had gifted them and run away with it. She would most likely, not be the last either.