"I am here, it's okay Summer, just breathe."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
Summer, was in fact, not okay.
Pregnancy tends to do that to people.
I assume.
I wouldn't know, I'm 2, and worried about Summer's health.
"I SWEAR to god Tai, I'm never doing this again, or SO HELP ME!"
I'm also a bit worried about Tai. With his ahem....lack of tact, I wouldn't be surprised if he came out of this worse than Mom. Speaking of, good news and...unsettling news.
Good news! Finished the bracelet.
But I may have messed up.
Big Time.
-------
Alex was getting more and more worried. Not only was Ruby, his little sister on the way, but he just realized a major flaw in his logic. Wouldn't it be weird if he only gave a gift to his mom and not his little sister when both were technically going through the same thing?
So now he had to make something for Ruby. Right?
Yes?
Kinda.
Because babies grow, and he doesn't even know what she'll look like or be like, Alex had no template. Summer's insignia was everywhere, and her favorite colors were obvious, and making something solely around what he liked for his baby sister seemed... wrong.
Deciding to table the issue of his little sister, he moved on to getting a permanent object working, and like apparently all developments in his life, help came in the form of the adults arguing in the living room.
"I'm not going on another mission Ozpin. At least not right now, and definitely not for a while, Ruby's on the way, and I don't want her to have to be an orphan at such a young age."
"Taiyang, I understand what you're saying, but you act as if this is a suicide mission. I can assure you that it is not."
"No Ozpin, this time, Tai's right." Summer looked up from her belly, which was clearly showing her pregnancy. 'One more month' she thought. Steeling her gaze on her former headmaster, she attempted to be as polite as possible, while getting her point across.
"This isn't a fate-of-the-world caliber mission Oz, I don't think that we're going to be needed for what you're describing. Glynda could do it, so could nearly any team of alumni from Beacon. Why us? Why now?"
Conceding defeat, the gray-haired man raised his hands, as if in surrender. "I wasn't planning on bringing you Summer, just Tai, but so be it, I'll get a team on it soon. In the meanwhile, how's the boy?"
Tai's face soured, looking at Summer, he wanted a way out of this topic, but her shit-eating grin showed that there was no escape.
"It's freaky how driven he is to mastering his semblance. Don't get me wrong, he's doing it in a peaceful manner, but..." Tai trailed off, trying to figure out how to word his thoughts cohesively. "He's been different ever since his semblance woke up. When he looks at Summer, there is a pain in his eyes, he flinches, and I can't figure out why, and from what I can gather, neither can he."
This had definitely piqued Ozpin's curiosity. Summer was one of the kindest people he had met, assuming that she wasn't on the job at the time, and the young child seemed to love her before the semblance. Yet now something about her scared him. What could it be? Musing on his thoughts, Ozpin heard Summer's voice, much softer than normal, talk.
"I asked about what it was..."
"And?"
Shooting a glance at her husband who interrupted her, she sighed.
"He said that it felt like I was dying."
"Oh...That is...interesting"
Ozpin was becoming more and more interested in the child. First, he hears of the fact that albeit temporarily, he can create objects, albeit limited to accessories and weapons, instead of the elemental forces such as the maidens. However, hearing Alex's stubborn attempt at making them permanent just to make something for his mother is endearing to the millennia-old man. Now, though....seeing death? That is something that amplifies his curiosity to a whole new level.
"Could he give any further details?"
"OZPIN!"
"What? It was a simple question Summer."
"And one with an answer too complex for a two-year-old, much less most adults, even some huntsman."
Ozpin sighed. Summer had a point. Not everybody was as used to seeing death as they were. But still, he wanted an answer.
"Can I talk to him?"
"Despite his tongue, he's not a monster, nor a prisoner, but that doesn't mean that he'll want to talk."
"Well, Tai, he is clearly interested in our conversation, so I think he'll talk."
"What do you? Ugh.. Yang, Alex, open the door."
Opening the door, Yang and Alex stepped through, each with a completely different mood. While Yang didn't have a care in the world, Alex looked like a puppy, or in his case a tod that had just realized they did something bad.
Pushing her younger brother forwards, Yang spoke so everyone could hear. "You heard the glasses man, have fun! I'll go steal your bed."
Tai, who clearly wanted an out of this conversation took it upon himself to spare Alex's room of Yang's rummaging and excused himself.
Summer was about to follow her husband but was stopped by Alex who was holding on to her cloak and whispered, oh so faintly "please...stay Mommy"
Looking down at her son, who looked to be upon tears she couldn't help but listen to his request, the fact that he had called her Mommy instead of Mom had certainly helped.
Going back onto the couch with Alex on her lap, she waited for him to be ready to talk about it.
Alex, looking up at Ozpin saw something and asked but one question. "Why are you weird."
Summer laughed at that, not caring that Ozpin had just been insulted by a child, her child no less. Ozpin was amused, but also curious, what did Alex mean by 'weird'?
"Your soul? semblance? Not sure. it's flickering?"
Ozpin looked at the child, attempting to decipher his words.
"What do you mean by flickering? Am I dying?"
"No, but your ...soul? switches from small to normal really fast, but it's hard to tell."
"What does 'it's hard to tell' mean?"
"When it's small, it's swimming in something, not aura, but something similar, normal is normal but with a bit more non-aura."
Summer's silver eyes quickly widened, and Ozpin's did as well. When they asked what he meant by non-aura he reaffirmed his prior statements. Unknowingly, Alex had just discovered magic.
Having recovered from the mental blow from Summer's son, which was made double by his discovery of magic, Ozpin weighed his options, tell the child about magic, leading to a slippery slope of Salem, or don't. He chose the latter.
"Well since I'm not dying I should be fine."
Summer, having finally gotten out of her stupor looked at her son who was now making the band he had seen with his semblance.
"Alex? What are you doing with that?"
"A theory...give me your soul?"
"Um no?"
"I won't take anything, promise."
Alex, not needing a response, slipped the bracelet around her wrist, slid it up to Summer's middle bicep, squeezed with a concentrated look...
Before promptly passing out.
When he awoke he noticed a few things were odd. First, the blue screen was back, with what was apparently an update
**Semblance: False Creation {SEMI-INCOMPLETE/TEMP. UNAVAIBLE}
Actives
Improved Materialization (LV 1/10)
- Able to create objects, however, they are temporary, although not under specific circumstances
Passives
An Eye for Fashion (LV 5/10)
-Able to understand clothing materials and the process of turning them into clothes
An Eye for Craftsmanship (LV 2/10)
-Able to understand basic weapon-making, although it is incredibly basic
Spirit Mastery (LV 9/??)
-More efficiently use semblance and derived abilities
-Mildly sense emotions of others *
That was good that according to some screens he got better, but the temporarily unavailable part kinda sucked. The passives didn't seem to be locked, but he couldn't make anything anymore. He didn't care though.
The new stat was also weird, and it brought changes to the board
(STRENGTH) STR F-
(AGILITY) AGI F-
(CONSTITUTION) CON F-
(INTELLIGENCE) INT F-
(AURA) AUR F
(MAGIC)MAG N/A
(CHARISMA) CHR B
(LUCK) LUK C
All of that was irrelevant compared to the greatest boon of all.
It had been a few days and the bracelet was still on!
To put a long story short, he linked a small part of his soul with Summer's, and through the bracelet's link with him, he got the bracelet to stay on Summer's arm.
Despite how harmless the soul merger was (aside from letting the other know when something happened) side effects...did occur.
For one, his aura was being drained constantly, albeit to a lesser extent than usual. The fascinating part of that discovery was that when his aura would run out, the bracelet would turn into a tattoo of a rose and wait till his aura was full before coming back out.
But there was a more serious detriment.
He couldn't use his semblance. Like at all.
How would he do important things, like making toys for his sisters now?
'Ehhh, I'll be fine'
Ozpin was going through a plethora of emotions. Qrow's son had discovered magic. At first, he thought that the child could simply view souls, and in turn magic. The part about viewing Summer's death or at least have knowledge about it was fascinating in its own right. Had he been a denser man, he would have thought him related to Jinn, or his relic. However, there are only two options for that being possible. The first, Jinn had a son. Unlikely, yet not completely impossible, just...very difficult for a relic. Secondly, the God of Light made him.
Not a fun thought.
One of the few saving graces was that the child couldn't use magic. At least not directly. The soul meshing business Alex did with his semblance drew upon his own magic reserves, although Ozpin didn't catch that fact immediately. In order to prevent a second occurrence of that, he sealed his semblance. There were three possibilities of what happens when he uses m magic, and 5 outcomes of him using magic, and most were very bad.
One, the ideal, nothing happens and the bracelet was a one-time thing.
Two, it draws upon what is around him. Could kill or shorten lifespan, pretty bad overall.
Three, he gains magic.
This could make him of use against Salem but could go in reverse, where she would target Alex, and by extension, his family. Generally the worst outcome, despite the possibility of gaining a lot from it.
So he sealed his semblance.
That sounds ridiculous now that he thinks about it.
Chuckling to himself, Ozpin started looking at his Scroll to try and find a good gift for Summer and Ruby.
So you might be wondering where the 'I messed up' part is yes?
To make a painful story short, Summer didn't like the fact that I basically messed with my soul and hers, and as punishment, I wouldn't be able to see Ruby when she was born. At first, it was I can't see her for a week after her birth, but to my shock, Tai came to my 'rescue' by saying that it'd be better if Yang could hold Ruby after she was born, but I couldn't for at least a day.
I don't know which of the two I'm currently madder at, but it doesn't feel good knowing that I'm being left out.
It sucks, really.
Deep breaths, deep breaths, I'm an older brother now, I shouldn't cry in front of my younger sister. I'm a big brother now.
I guess this is how Yang felt when I popped up.
"You really don't want him being here for her birth, Summer?" Tai asked, worry visible on his face. "I get that you're mad at him for doing that, but this is a bit extreme no? Ozpin personally assured you that he was fine, his semblance might act up sure, but aside from that, the kid didn't do it to be a daredevil."
In between heaves she spoke to her peabrain of a husband. "You are - right- about that- but- he needs- to be more- careful.-If he- wants to- be a - AAAAAA- huntsman- he needs- to be more- cautio-AAAAA- cautious."
Holding her hand, Tai didn't relent. "Summer, in the interest of full disclosure, I don't care that much for him. That's obvious. But still... the kid clearly cares for you and Yang, to the extent of him not caring if he gets hurt. Not letting him see his baby sister be born doesn't seem like a fitting punishment."
Despite Tai's odd backing of Alex, Summer glared at him, her silver eyes meeting his purple ones. She was not in the mood to talk. Interpreting her low grunts and head nods, he got Yang to bring Alex in the room.
He didn't need to tell her to be quick. He knew they wanted to be here for this moment and wouldn't miss it for anything.
As Yang burst through the door, hyper as always, if not more, Alex trudged in, tears marring his face.
Wiping himself to make a good first impression, Tai couldn't help but smirk "see, this is why I call you a child, you get too emotional over small things like this."
Once Ruby was out and covered in a blanket and passed around Alex looked into his sister's eyes and saw a stunning silver looking back curiously. Rocking back and forth gently, he eventually passed her back to Summer. Sitting down Tai heard Alex say, in no more than a whisper
"That's why I refuse to call you dad"