With a groan, I forced myself to sit up.
Bits of light poured through the edges of my curtains. Strange. Whether it was the weekend or not, Raven should've been by to order me outside, our morning strikes a constant. A routine I was honestly thankful for. Pathetic as it might've been, it was far easier to do as she commanded rather than win against the voice in mind demanding that I sleep in, laze around, and enjoy myself as a child should.
Motivation was such a fickle thing.
I powered through my lack of it, dropping onto the cold wood floors and grabbing stuff from my dresser. Once I changed into a simple tank top and sweats, I stopped, grabbing hold of the cloak I'd neatly folded on top of the dresser. I slipped it on and headed over towards a smaller more childlike dresser that held plenty of toys that didn't get much use but was equipped with a decently large mirror.
Summer had good taste when it came to style.
I could keep it like it was, almost imitating good old Batman with the whole cloak covering most of my body. I could pull it back, the red cloak looking more like a cape now. I pulled up the hood as I activated my Sharingan, a single tomoe forming in my eyes and spinning around my pupils.
Just like I thought, with the faint glow emphasized by the shadow casted by the hood, I looked fucking cool. Once I had a fully matured Sharingan I'd only look that much cooler.
As I turned to get a look at the back, I came face to face with Raven, the woman leaning against my doorway, arms crossed and brow raised. Heat spread across my face, any cool factor I thought I had swiftly replaced by an uncomfortable embarrassment.
If it were anyone else, I wouldn't have been all that bothered but the few moments we might've shared aside, indulging in more childish things still wasn't something I really did around her.
Faintly exhaling, she pushed off the doorway and walked away.
…Yep. I'm going to follow her lead and not address what she just witnessed. Better to pretend it didn't happen at all.
Cloak slipped off and folded back up, I left in on the dresser before following after her, quiet creaks signaling my descent down the stairs. Raven and Tai were over in the kitchen, in the middle of a hushed argument that stopped as I stepped onto the first floor of the house.
This day was really starting off strange.
"Morning." I yawned out as I headed towards the backdoor, deciding not to directly stick my nose in whatever was going on for now. Whether or not I was being commanded into it, training still awaited me after all.
Neither stopped me, the kitchen window opened up as I stepped outside, a close eye no doubt kept on me as I picked up my wooden sword and got to practicing my strikes.
I wasn't sure how much muscle a child my age could actually develop, even with aura's natural healing properties eliminating any of the harmful effects excess stress could have on me, but I did know that my stamina had greatly improved. It was no easier to swing the wooden blade, the weight a constant annoyance, but my breaths held steady as I struck the training post.
I made sure to deactivate my semblance before throwing an aura shield into the mix.
It held as I continued my swings, my pace only slightly slowed.
I was still leagues off from ever being able to replicate the perfect control the Sharingan provided but my shield didn't flicker nearly as much. So long as I remained totally focused I could avoid that entirely.
"Tally." My shield flickered as I glanced towards the wooden waist high fence that surrounded the backyard.
"Morning, Summer." I called back, attention return to the post in front of me as I prepared another swing.
I dropped it, doing a double take.
Summer was in the middle of vaulting over the fence, no doubt prepare to shower me with distraction after distraction. The usual. What was unusual was the fact that she wasn't alone.
Rather than following Summer's lead and jumping the fence, a woman found the gate, letting herself in and closing it behind her.
"Tally, this is professor Goodwitch."
"I thought I've told you not to call me that."
As the new arrival fixed Summer with slightly narrowed eyes and thinned lips, she adjusted her glasses with one hand, the other holding a thin white binder. The introduction was completely unnecessary, her looks signaling who she the instant I saw her.
Platinum blonde hair styled into a perfect bun, only a single bang was allowed to hang free, dangling just in front of the round glasses that sat in front of her pale green eyes. A formal white blouse and black skirt that didn't quite hug her figure but didn't hide her curves.
Glynda Goodwitch. I figured there was some chance I might meet Ozpin this early in my life, especially after unlocking my semblance, but I never considered whether or not I'd encounter her.
"Come on, you are a professor." Summer said, grinning.
"And last I checked, you are not one of my students." Glynda said.
"Fine, have it your way." Summer rolled her eyes before focusing on me as the two stopped beside the training post. "This is Glynda, and, when you go to Beacon, she'll be one of your professors."
Normally I didn't let any conversation draw me from my morning practice but her sudden presence here was enough for me to lower my katana. "It's nice to meet you, miss Glynda." I said politely. Might as well use all those manners Tai made sure I learned. All unnecessary lessons but that never stopped him.
"Its nice to finally meet you as well." Glynda said, the stern look she'd been giving Summer replaced by a small smile. Not something I could say I ever recall seeing from her in the show. "Summer has told me about how smart you are, but she's never mentioned how well mannered you are."
"Thank you." I said. What exactly should I say or do? She was definitely someone who went underutilized in the show, but I was a kid and taken by surprise at that. If I decided to go about finding some way to change that, I was hardly in any position to make significant progress towards that goal right now.
Besides, there was a much bigger question on my mind. One that demanded caution.
"Forget that, isn't he even cuter in person?" Summer gushed, dropping down beside me and ruffling my hair.
"Indeed."
"Oh, did you see the pictures I sent you the other day? The ones with the cape?"
"No, I did not. I don't exactly have the time to sort through all the mess you like to send." Glynda said. "Why do you still insist on sending so many messages without waiting for a response? Has it not occurred to you that I'm busy with work?"
"You're always busy with work."
The two began to bicker? Not something I would've ever expected Glynda to ever be capable of and certainly not with Summer. The show always showed Glynda in an uptight teaching position and never went into any detail about her relationships, so I guess I just assumed she was little more than a distant colleague or perhaps former teacher to team STRQ.
The two looked and sounded like close friends to me.
"Don't end up a workaholic like this lady, alright Tally?"
Before I could answer, the back door opened. Qrow emerged, casually waving as he stepped down the porch. Tai was next, taking up a spot along the porch's railings rather than stepping down into the backyard.
Then the question that Glynda's unexpected appearance sparked was answered.
His cane emerged first, the slick black weapon both ordinary yet its gear filled handle too iconic for it to be mistaken. The man himself followed. Graying hair, eyes covered by a pair of spectacles, and a formal suit with a recognizable green handkerchief around his neck.
None other than Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon, stepped down into the backyard.
My heart skipped a beat and my throat instantly dried.
Maybe it was due to all the thinking I'd been doing or maybe it had to do with the sharp glare Raven was boring into Ozpin's back as she stepped out from the house, but it was difficult not to see the man as some kind of threat.
But he wasn't. Whatever came about in the future, right here, right now, the man wasn't a danger to me.
Hopefully.
"And this is Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon." Summer introduced him. Unlike the others who stopped around the porch, he joined us at the training posts. "You remember?"
"Yes." I said. I was going to keep anything I said short here. Luckily, I already established myself as a quiet kid so nobody should question it especially since Ozpin was for all intent and purposes, a stranger to me. "It's nice to meet you, sir."
"It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Talon." Summer shuffled behind me as Ozpin stopped only a step away. He shifted his cane to one hand before kneeling beside it so that he was almost eye level with me. "I'm told you have quite the impressive semblance. Would you mind showing it to me?"
I glanced beyond him and at Raven. She nodded slightly, despite her frown.
With a thought, a tingle danced across my eyes, my perception sharpened. It was strange. Typically, the enhanced view of all the things around me allowed me to read and pick up on things from others that I wouldn't have noticed otherwise. But as Ozpin leaned in, I couldn't pick up anything. No twitch in his facial muscles, no faintly different coloring to his skin, or any noticeable movements in the eyes of his unblinking stare.
Whatever Ozpin thought or felt, superhuman perception wasn't enough to expose it.
"Quite the unique pair of eyes you have, young man." He said offhandedly, leaning in even closer.
"And there you go sounding all creepy." Summer said. "You haven't thought up a better way to go about that by now?" It sounded like he must've done the same thing to Summer at some point.
"It seems not." Ozpin said, taking a step back after he stood up. "Would you be willing to entertain me and partake in a test, Talon?"
"What kind of test?"
"Nothing dangerous, I assure you. It'll be quite similar in nature to other tests you took after awakening your semblance." Not much of an explanation if you asked me.
I glanced at Raven again. This time she didn't acknowledge it. I turned to Tai who just gave me a smile meant to be reassuring. I guess they were leaving the choice to me.
"I guess I can." I decided. This was Ozpin after all. Threat or not, the man would have a vested interest in making sure someone that showed promising potential, especially the child of people already working for him, was given all the help they needed to grow stronger. His input could be valuable.
"Thank you." Ozpin gave him a nod and began to step back. "Glynda, if you would."
"You've got this." Summer said, giving my hair one last ruffle before following Ozpin, the two of them joining the others around the porch.
That left me with Glynda.
"This will be a simple test." She said as she took a handful of steps back herself. Rocks and sticks rose up from the ground behind her. "You only need to avoid being hit for as long as you can. Keep your aura shield up. If at any point you wish to stop, say so and the test will end. Understand?"
Simple enough.
"Yes ma'am." I said, bending my knees slightly.
That proved unnecessary. The first stick to come my way didn't really speed forward, just floating forward. A simple step to the side saw it avoided. The same went for the ones that followed. For a moment I began to doubt that the test had much of a purpose but bit by bit they began to speed up.
My slow steps turned to full on shifts or turns. Those basic movements soon turned to rolls and jumps.
In a matter of moments I was forced on the run, constantly bending around the unending stream of sticks and stones. Dodging one was only rewarded with boosted speed in those that followed. My one advantage, if it could be called that, was the fact that they all came from the same direction and that they were coming one at a time.
The latter soon changed, several of the projectiles sent my way at once.
I could still dodge for now, but it was only a matter of time before I was caught by one.
Rather than avoiding a rock aimed from my arm, I caught it and with a flick of my wrist chucked it towards another rock aimed for my head. It ricocheted off it, knocking both it and a nearby speeding stick off course.
One of the first things I'd learn to do after unlocking my Sharingan was ricocheting stuff around. It hadn't even been to do something useful like that. Anyone who saw what Sasuke did with kunai before and after unlocking his Sharingan would try it just to see if they could.
It proved to be a valid move, the test continuing on.
With my extra tactic thrown in, the speed rose to match. Soon I began to swing my wooden katana as well, deflecting the projectiles off course. Another acceptable tactic that saw the test only getting harder.
Sweat dripped down my forehead, breaths uneven, and heart thumping in my ears.
A dark purple light flickered around Glynda.
My loss was coming soon. No two ways about it. I wondered though.
Could I reach her before that?
The dark light flickered around her once more, shooting towards a rock on her left.
I rushed forward, ducking beneath said rock as it shot forward and passed over harmlessly. More of that dark energy shot from her, their flickering streaks fading in and out of existence at random. Even so, I had no trouble tracking the order they entered their respective stone and sticks.
I dodged according to that order, the projectiles shooting forward in accordance with it. As I ducked beneath the final rock, one short leap away from Glynda, one more piece of that energy shot off her and through me.
I twisted around just in time to see that final rock I'd dodged stop, momentum reverse as it rocketed at me. Too fast for me to dodge. I shifted my katana, intending to smack it away but my arm shook. The simple looking rock was heavy and the color around more solid than any of the previous ones I tracked.
Still, I held out against it, legs dug into the ground.
The same could not be said for my katana.
The battered wood splintered under the strain, the slowed rock grinding into my stomach hard enough to force a wince despite my aura shield softening the blow.
So much for reaching her.
"Your right eye." Glynda said, looking down at me with a slight tilt to her head. "It's different from your left. There's a second mark in it."
A second mark? Did she mean the tomoe?
Did my Sharingan finally advance?!
I wasn't given a chance to confirm the exciting possibility for myself, Ozpin and the others joining us. "While I can with certainty that his semblance is not something I recognize, its is quite impressive and seems to be growing in power. Should you need any assistance managing it-"
"We'll be fine without your help." Raven didn't waste a moment entertaining Ozpin, taking me arm and pulling me towards the house. I stumbled but quickly righted myself, following her, the conversation the others were having muffled as we made it inside.
The gesture was far from gentle, but I understood the sentiment behind it.
Raven, for all her faults, truly did hold what she considered to be in my best interest in mind. And that meant being away from Ozpin, Salem, and their entire battle.
Something I'd have to go against in the future.
XOXO
(A/N: Few more chapters, some specific things, then the childhood arc is over. Not going to say too much there such I feel like some of it actually will be quite the surprise. Anyways, remember people, you're the main character of your story and don't let the internet/social media take that from you. Things only matter as much as you let them. Like a game? Don't bother with people going out of their way to dog on it. Think something's neat even if it isn't all that complicated or deep? Keep enjoying it and don't let post or reviews from literally random people you don't know change that.
Life is what you make of it and all that even if the internet has a way trying to skew your thinking. Don't know why I tried to get deep here but see you all in the next chapter.)