(F/N) POV
The Vytal Festival Tournament, I find it to be a complete waste of time, and that's not because every time it comes to Vale I'm forced to stay in the tunnels because I'm 'problematic'. This year, thanks in part because I completely blocked the tunnels, I get to watch the tournament and get to check out the fairgrounds. But before the tournament gets here I've decided to drag teams RWBY, CFVY, and JNPR out to Beacon Cliff, right as the sun was starting to rise. They were all in their combat clothes and all of them appeared to be at some level of tired. I marched like a general in front of his soldiers, my arms behind my back, and with a serious tone of voice, I can't afford to lose my bet with Ozpin.
Jaune: "Uh... can we get some more sleep?" I stop and turn my head, I look at him seriously.
(F/N): "Silence maggot." I continue to pace in front of them. "You all are here today because you all are far from qualified, if you want to compete in the up coming tournament you will need proper training."
Nora: "But Goodwitch said Pyrrha qualified, then there's Ren who's basically a ninja, I can bench five of me... there's Jaune."
(F/N): "That last part's my point, you can't afford to lose because of him."
Velvet: "Did you make a bet with Ozpin?" I look at her for a moment and reveal that in one hand I have the remote for the launch pads.
(F/N): "Silence. Maggot. Your tasks will be plenty, it will no doubt take you all day to complete them so it is in your best interest to pace yourself. You will face puzzles, challenges in trust and teamwork, you will fail some of them, you will succeeded in others. I expect none of you to complete all of them, that is to say if you can even find them, but before the sun sets you will take your rewards from the tests and bring them here to me."
Coco: "You definitely made a bet with Ozpin." I press the button on the remote, launching them all at once, I face the Emerald Forest.
(F/N): "It starts now kid, better keep up." I faintly smile. "Can't believe I actually miss that old bird."
Ozpin: "Which one?" He walks up beside me.
(F/N): "I forget, which one was the drunk?"
Ozpin: "That would be Qrow."
(F/N): "Oh right, that's why Raven was never fun."
Ozpin: "Please, you miss both of them."
(F/N): "Yeah." I look at him. "I wonder whose fault that is."
Ozpin: "You know my intentions were good."
(F/N): "Remind me again what the roads of Hell are paved with."
Ozpin: "That old faith... make sure they survive your tests."
(F/N): "Are you saying I can enter the Emerald Forest?"
Ozpin: "I don't know how you got Goodwitch to set up your test and I'd rather not know, so yes, you may enter the Emerald Forest."
(F/N): "Wonderful."
I jump off the cliff and create a set of wings, once I landed I snuck my way through the forest in my kid form to observe them. The first ones I came across were team JNPR minus Nora, seeing as they're alive I move on to find the next group or person. I came across Ruby and Blake, things were quiet between them, they never really seemed to talk, well, Blake never really talks unless she has to. I continue on through the forest, Coco and Nora were dealing with a pack of Beowolves, I watched them smash and shoot through them, Nora could easily carry her team to the finals.
Strolling the rest of the way through the forest I decided to stop by the cave, I hadn't been there since STRQ and wanted to see if anything was still there. Approaching the entrance I found it smashed open wider, like something big busted out of it, ignoring it and continuing inside I created a flame in my hand for light. Deeper and deeper I went into the cave till I reached a wooden trunk, opening it I found everything still inside. Raven and I used to train together, Ozpin had misspoke one of his orders, as a result as long as I was with one of the members of STRQ then I could enter 'the forest', so as long as it was a forest I was good.
Sadly the Emerald Forest is the only forest nearby that I could enter, Forever Fall was simply too far and there were no other forests for quite some distance. Annoyingly Ozpin corrected his mistake and the training ended after only two months, we had used this trunk to store supplies, weighted clothes, and spare clothes. She took fighting seriously, her strikes would have killed a normal student, she requested the same in return, turning our sparring matches into real fights. I reached in and took out one of Raven's ribbons that she used to tie her hair back, this trunk was all I had left, everything else from the tunnels is gone now, well there was my sword which I left in Ruby's locker.
I was about to destroy it when I heard the sound of gunfire come from outside the cave, I shut the trunk and ran out to find Yang, Velvet, and Yatsu dealing with a good number of Grimm. Perhaps I let my emotions slip and the Grimm had gotten drawn to me, but that doesn't explain how they ended up here with the Grimm. Regardless, I stepped in to help them though after destroying a few I left, I couldn't do all the work for them. Heading to one of the nearest puzzles, surprisingly I found Fox and was about to laugh when I saw that he smashed his way through the wooden puzzle box.
(F/N): "Brute force method, not bad."
Fox: "It was made of wood, easiest solution was to break it."
(F/N): "I'm somewhat surprised, I think you're the first to a puzzle and you're the blind one."
Fox: "I'm not completely blind, what made you think that?"
(F/N): "The white eyes."
Fox: "Their caused by a medical condition from birth, a genetic trait that runs in the family."
(F/N): "To think we've known each other for a year and yet we've talked so little."
Fox: "Because I don't like talking to you."
(F/N): "Wow, I'm hurt, I think I'm going to cry now."
Fox: "At least I'm telling the truth."
(F/N): "And what's that supposed to mean?"
Fox: "These test of yours, well Velvet might be fine playing along, but I can speak for Coco and Yatsu when I say we don't like getting dragged out of bed just to get launched into a forest."
(F/N): "I don't think a lot of people enjoy getting launched into a forest, your point?"
Fox: "My point is that the others won't tell you that." I look at him for a moment.
(F/N): "Is my mind still screwing with me?"
Fox: "I don't know." He throws me the chess piece from the box. "I do know that I'm heading back to Beacon for breakfast, then I'm going to do the workout I had planned." He walks off, leaving me with the white king piece in my right hand.
(F/N): "Now I remember." The chess piece vanishes. "Him and Yatsu piss me off sometimes."
Heading back towards the cliff I came across the ruined temple, to think the people of Remnant were once religious, there were many to choose from. To think about all the things lost in the past, not just religion but also ideas, I had met a few great minds in my travels, some could say they were ahead of their time. Empires, kingdoms, tribes, so many people gone, all the faces just start to blur, sometimes I even forget what Ozpin looked like in the beginning. I hear the bushes shake, looking over it was everyone except Fox, somehow they managed to regroup.
Ruby: "(F/N)? Yang said they saw you, but how are you here?" She asked as they walked up to me.
(F/N): "Ozpin."
Velvet: "Well that's good to hear."
(F/N): "Yeah."
Ruby: "Are you okay?"
(F/N): "I want to know how many times people have to fall in order to learn from their mistakes."
Jaune: "Uh... okay?" I continue towards the cliff.
(F/N): "Training is over, do whatever you want."
Once back at Beacon I avoided the others by laying atop Beacon Tower, a place only I could get to. Hours went by, it started to feel like the days where I would sit in the courtyard waiting for them to return, where everyday I was met with disappointment, until I finally faced the truth that they had forgotten me. To think that the only two people that can remember me are the two I want nothing to do with, and that I might just kill them. Soon there came a point I had to leave the tower, my stomach growled at me demanding food, truly one of the more annoying things about a mortal body.
I jumped off the tower and made my way to the cafeteria, there I ignored the looks of other students, walking around as a young adult was still better than walking around as a kid. After I got my food I briefly looked around to see that Ruby and her team were missing from their usual spot. They were probably just busy, I went somewhere quiet to eat my meal, I had chosen Beacon Cliff as not only the view was nice and the place quiet, but I still had to clean up my stuff from the forest before Ozpin complains.
Ruby: "Hey." I hear her tired voice, I look over to see her and her team carrying all thirty-one pieces. "Here you go." I didn't know what to say.
Yang: "Uh, I think he broke."
(F/N): "Are... you all stupid? I told you training was over."
Ruby: "Well you also said we could do whatever we wanted."
Weiss: "Ruby annoyed us into doing it."
Blake: "You were the only one opposed to doing it."
Ruby: "Anyway, we got them all."
Blake: "There was one missing." I hold out my left hand, all there pieces turn into one in my hand, the white king.
(F/N): "Good job." I toss Ruby the piece. "You four should get something to eat." Yang plops down beside me.
Yang: "Yeah no."
Blake: "Ten King Taijitu?"
(F/N): "And two turtle doves. I told you there were challenges in teamwork."
Blake: "And the sewing?"
(F/N): "Would you rather stitch up a corpse?"
Ruby: "No thanks." Her and the rest of the team sat down. "So, think we'll make to the finals?"
(F/N): "I think you'll win the team and doubles portion of the tournament no problem."
Yang: "Well that's good."
Blake: "We still need to decide who's going to the finals."
(F/N): "Here's an idea, why don't you go back to your dorm and think about it?"
Ruby: "Is something wrong?"
(F/N): "Is it wrong to want to be alone?"
Ruby: "No, but you just don't seem like, you know, yourself."
Yang: "You are acting different than when we first met."
(F/N): "Hmm... I don't think so, I think you've just never met the real me."
Yang: "And he would be?"
(F/N): "Uncaring, hostile, unethical, resentful, do you want me to continue?"
Ruby: "Come on, you're not that bad."
(F/N): "I started wars just to spite people, I created drugs that destroy minds, I've had my fair share of slaves and I've killed my fair share of people, both innocent and guilty. Look, ten King Taijitu are nothing compared to the real world, to the horrors that are out there, I know because I stood by those horrors and was one of them."
Weiss: "What could possibly be out there that's worse than ten King Taijitu?"
(F/N): "My brother and sister."
Ruby: "You have siblings?!"
(F/N): "Yeah... and everything they touch ends up in ruins, empires, kingdoms, even tribes, you would think a single person couldn't destroy the world but you would be wrong. Both argue that they know what's best for the people, both fight over it, both have ruined the lives of millions and used the pile of corpses to climb their way back up."
Yang: "Wow, where are they now?"
(F/N): "I can't say. There are a lot of secrets in this world, some from the beginning, others newer. For example there is a legend about a great leviathan that was sealed away, there is truth in that legend, but it has long since dissolved into time."
Ruby: "Can you tell us another one? Like when you told us about the seasons."
(F/N): "You want another fairy tale? Sigh... fine, just don't fall asleep, I'm not carrying you four back."
It was odd, sometimes people confuse me, perhaps they didn't believe me, even though I told them what I was like, what I had done they still sat with me. I told them about The Wolf of Sand, an old story from Vacuo about a man cursed by the blood moon, an event that never actually happened. I kept out the part about him being a failed experiment by Salem, and by the time I started reaching the end I realized the four of them were completely asleep. Annoyingly I couldn't just leave them there, I mean I could but not without hearing Ozpin or Velvet complain, so I took them back to their room and called it a day.