Taking out his flask from his jacket, Qrow was the first to speak. "What's so important Alex?"
Looking at Qrow with his brows furred, Alex asked. "You don't know? This makes this...weirder."
Summer finally spoke up, thoroughly confused. "Um... what don't we know? Is it something important that we forgot?"
Alex was convinced at this point. Qrow could be faking it, but Summer was a terrible liar when it came to things like this. To give context, he told them about his sketches of souls, and the similarity between Qrow, Yang, and Ruby.
Qrow, having finished his drink, spoke up "Kid, I'm incredibly impressed and very proud of you right now, but I'm still lost. You aren't the kind to gloat, so something's up. What is it?"
Ignoring all sense of tact and decorum, Alex blurted out "You're Ruby's biological father."
Qrow immediately sobered up. "WHAT?"
"Your soul, plus Summer's is near identical to Ruby's. So that means that...You're either Ruby's dad, I'm jumping to conclusions, or... magic."
Internally smirking at Summer and Qrow flinching at the last word, Alex continued. "But again, as just said, I could be wrong. But it is just as likely that I could be right. So, now that I have given you the information I have, I'm going to go make cookies for my sisters, and the three of you will talk about what just happened. Yes, Tai, I know you're there, Qrow keeps looking at the door, and it's a real giveaway."
Opening the door, Tai looked confused "How did you know I was here."
"I didn't, I saw Qrow look at the door, and bluffed my way to victory." Alex's face turned into a huge grin. Leaving his notebook on the coffee table with bookmarked pages, Alex returned to the serious mood. "If you do anything to Ruby. If you hurt, abuse, or neglect her... I just hope you remember that I can see souls and manipulate them.
Food for thought."
On that happy note, Alex closed the door and ran upstairs to start making cookies with his siblings.
Seemingly nonplussed by the threat of torture coming from his adoptive son, Qrow spoke up "So, now that we know for sure he's a sis-con, let's address the elephant in the room. I thought I was effectively sterile, in short, THE FUCK?"
Chuckling slightly at Qrow's outburst, Summer spoke up, also unconcerned about the threat. "Well, we believed that you were sterile because your bad luck meant that whenever you wanted to get a kid, you wouldn't. Which means, in turn, when you didn't or felt you shouldn't...you did."
Getting a reasonable answer Qrow nodded, at least some of this started to make sense. "Cool, cool. Question number two. I don't remember ever doing the deed with you Summer. If I did, Tai would've ended me. Explain please."
This time, it was Taiyang that spoke up. "Well, one day while Yang went to sleep early... the three of us got wasted. I remember suggesting a threesome, you being against it, and Summer and I convincing you. Next thing I know, I'm awake. I don't remember any part of our drunken fun."
Summer, who was blushing up a storm, meekly nodded, corroborating the story. Qrow, who despite being often called a bird-brain by Glynda, wasn't stupid and figured out what had happened. "Shit" was his only response. To be fair, it was one of the few valid responses for a situation such as this. Summer was oddly calm about the whole ordeal, and when he questioned her, her only response was "She is still my daughter, why should I treat her differently. Why should you two? Alex isn't related by blood with Qrow like Yang is, do you hate him for that, Qrow?"
"God no," Qrow responded, mildly annoyed that that could even be a possibility. "So do we tell her?" He asked, suddenly much quieter, his drunken 'swagger' gone. The room fell into a heavy silence, nobody knowing what to say.
"Shit" this time, Taiyang was the one that spoke. "It mildly, no, it pissed me off. This whole thing is a mess. No offense Qrow, but I want to punch you, just a punch in the gut. I'm just-Arggh!" Ending with a small scream as to not disturb his kids, Tai slumped down, tired.
Summer brought him into a hug, resting her chin on his shoulder. "Is it that big of a deal? You can still raise her, nurture her. Besides, now our family is bigger!" With sparkles in her eyes, she gestured to Qrow to join the hug. Putting his drink on the table, Qrow rolled his eyes and joined the hug. "Just this once."
In his room, Alex looked at the screen in front of him. "What are you"
*I am your system, a manifestation of your magic*
"Then what is my thing with seeing souls?"
*...*
*It is, to use video game terms, a 'racial trait'. Your ancestors, and, given your attitude, descendants should have a similar ability, but yours is particularly powerful.*
"Why does nobody else know or have this?"
*They all died, thousands of years ago in a war.*
"Then how am I here? How do I have magic?"
If possible, the system would've sighed.
*Time travel*
"What?"
*Time travel. Your parents were relatively high ranking officers in a war, your mother had the same ability as you. Your father was, as modern times say, a chronomancer, and a damn good one.*
"I'm so confused right now." Alex laid down on his bed, not wanting to need to use the effort to sit up. "Well? Go on! You can't stop now."
*Your father and mother crafted a failsafe. If both were to die, it would send you forward in time at least several centuries, so that you would not be hunted by those that sought your power. However, due to... divine intervention... they both committed suicide so that you would be spared from the purge, however, again, divine intervention..*
"Oh... okay... sure. Oh! is that why I have tails!"
*Actually, no. Neither of your parents had tails. See, despite your father being damn good, time is very, very complicated, and souls almost as much. They didn't know that souls couldn't time travel for more than a decade, and you almost died. So you kinda just... skimmed the top of dead souls. Most went to you, but a small amount went to me. After a millennium or three, you stayed the same, and I know a lot about the world.*
"So then why do I have tails?" Alex asked, annoyed at the manifestation of his soul-was he that wordy?
*Who do you think died the most, humans, or Faunus?*
"That's... sad," Alex said, before switching gears. "Wait, so you're like a bajillion years old right? So what's happened in the world?"
*Wars and subterfuge*
At Alex's deadpan gaze, it continued. *Lots of war, lots of killing. We, or I, or... you? We didn't see all the souls, hell we barely even saw .01%, so a lot is missing, but basically, kingdoms rise, and eventually either fall to other kingdoms, or the Grimm. Speaking of, I'm 70% sure there is a cult trying to kill the world that uses Grimm, might be wrong though. There is also a lot of people with names that start with Oz- but I never got their souls, just close acquaintances.*
"Oh, that's, fun I guess," Alex commented, unaware of his impending doom.
"What's interesting?" A voice at the door asked.
Jumping up in fright, Alex saw that it was just Yang at the door, who looked smugger than usual.
"Hey! I'm not smug!" she yelled, offended at the insinuation.
"Did I say that you were?" Alex responded, choosing the smart option of being neutral.
Yang scoffed and stared him dead in the eyes. "You were thinking about it."Not getting a response, she laughed and dragged him out of his room. "'Sides, I'm hungry, and Rubes probably is too."
"There are cookies, they should have finished a few minutes ago," Alex responded, trying to ignore the pain of being dragged downstairs.
"Nope. There aren't any cookies." Yang cheerfully responded, a bit of brown on her cheek.
"Ah"
--------
In wasteland stood a castle, in it a Queen of Darkness.
"Hazel?" said the Queen, looking at her faithful servant. Upon his response, she warned him of an upcoming event. "The ... The other me is being particularly noisy as of late. If she becomes too unruly and attempts a coup while I am here, it would be, bad for both of our plans, no?"
"Naturally," the large man responded, his head bowed. "What do you suggest?"
The Queen laughed. It was paradoxical in its beauty. Its sound was clear, like a bell, but underneath it lay bitterness. "I plan on going back home. I wonder how Ozma would think of this. If he wants to stain the legacy of our daughters, I might as well do it to our home."
Hazel closed his eyes in prayer, as he often did. He was conflicted, his motivations momentarily split. He wished for Ozpin to die, there was no doubt in his mind that the man in the tower had too much blood on his hands. Yet another, smaller part wished that the Queen's other self would win the fight so that he could pummel Ozpin to death with his cane.
Opening his eyes and nodding to himself, he thought 'Yeah, that's why I want my Queen to lose... no other reason.'
-------
On the other side of the world, stood a tower, in it, a mage that had seen it all.
"Ozpin, what are you doing?"
Glynda, who was normally the epitome of stoic, was perturbed at her boss' condition. He had been holed up in his tower for more and more time over the years, studying who knows what.
"Ozpin! You need to take a break! Coffee can only get you so far! I don't think you've slept in a week. Get some rest."
Ozpin either didn't hear what Glynda said or completely ignored it. Coming to a decision, Glynda seemed to shift back into her stern mode, and used her semblance to make Ozpin levitate off his desk, towards the elevator. Finally snapping out of his stupor, the coffee addict spoke up.
"Glynda! Was that necessary? I was just researching ancient history!"
With a tired look on her face, she responded, pressing the button to the ground floor. "Yes Ozpin, it was. Also, why would you have to research?" She scanned the elevator to check for anything. "I thought you were ancient history?"
His eyes shone with glee as if he were a child. "Yes, however, I wasn't there for some of it, and Summer's ward, or child, it doesn't matter which, was from before my cycle started. Or at least that ability." He looked at Glynda with puppy dog eyes in an attempt to be freed. Realizing that he was far past the age of that being a usable tactic, he continued. "The child had to have come from somewhere, and if he survived that means that others might have survived the Gods' wrath. If I can just deduce where he came from, we could find a whole society of magic users!"
As the door to the elevator opened, Glynda shut down that line of thought. "We would have found them, heard of them. If there is a way to get out, there should be a way to get in. The child is an anomaly yes, but not indicative of surviving society. You said it yourself before, no? Magic can do impossible things." Her voice then shifted tone ever so slightly. "You need to strike a healthy balance between what you have, and what you yearn for. Don't overwork yourself, okay?"
For several minutes, they walked in peaceful silence, momentarily unburdened by the weight of their knowledge.
"Fine, Glynda, fine. I'll stop looking into it. But, when I'm still going to try and figure out if we can give more people magic without draining current users."
A smile graced the vice-headmistress' face before it morphed into a smirk. "Good, otherwise, I'll make sure you'll only have decaf for a year."
"You're starting to sound like Qrow..."
------
"I don't want to go!"
"Sweetie, it's just for a month or two. Besides, you'll get to meet Auntie Glynda! Doesn't that sound nice!"
"But I don't want you to leave! Daddy said the same thing and he didn't come back!"
Reya was torn at seeing her daughter in such a state. Her now-dead husband was a huntsman, a third or fourth cousin of the Schnees, and was attacked by humans, then left for the Grimm. The wound in her heart was still fresh, and her daughter not only picking up on it but pressing it hurt.
"I know, I know. But I'll make it back. Besides, I'm not going alone, Mr. Clover is coming with me. You remember him right?" Mentally cringing at the obvious misdirect, Reya's thoughts turned once more to her daughter.
Sif could've passed for a Schnee with little effort. The only distinguishing characteristic would be her hair. Unlike her father's white, Sif's was slightly greyer, almost platinum. Running her hand through her daughter's hair, she whispered "I'll definitely come back, and then we'll go on an adventure, just us two, okay?"
Sif nodded, stars shining in her eyes. "Mhm! We'll see everything! Vale, Vacuo, even ... Messyl?"
Reya laughed "No, it's Mistral, not Messyl. C'mon, say it with me, Mi-s-tr-al."
"Mistral!" Sif parroted, the previous conversation almost gone from her mind.
----
Ashe Bark hated the rain. It was sad and entirely too messy. When other kids would love to play in the mud, she was the one in the corner, trying not to get what little she owned ruined. Even the people in suits weren't nice. They just wanted to take her home away. The place where her mother was before she was murdered.
She didn't know it at the time, she was too young, but now she knew, her mother was murdered by a man with white hair. He didn't even say who he was when he found her, scared in her crib. All she remembered him saying was "I wasn't paid to kill a kid, just a maid for the Dawns"
She didn't know if she should hate him for killing her mother, or be thankful for sparing her life. All Ashe knew was that her only leads were the white-haired man and the Dawns, and only the latter was easily accessible.
Taking her raven hair out of her ponytail, Ashe's amber eyes shone with determination.
"Time to find my dad."