Mesa’s Trauma

In Vale's hospital, Ruby and the others were standing in the hallway near the operation room. Weiss was crying on the side with Ruby and Yang staying near her. The rest had ugly and gloomy faces.

" Ruby, Yang, Are you two okay ? " Qrow asked as he was seen walking toward them, he was quite worried. Behind him Ozpin, Glynda and Ironwoods were right behind him.

" What happened ? How did you end up here? " Ozpin asked

Ozpin was answered with silence, he was about to ask when a doctor came from the operation room gaining the attention of everyone. The doctor spoke " Anyone among you is from the patient family? "

Weiss walked closer, her eyes were red from crying, she asked " Yes, I'm her sister. Is she okay? "

The doctor looked at Weiss and spoke " She is okay for now, her life is not in danger. However, she will stay require medical attention for the next few months "

Weiss continued crying for her sister while the other felt sadness for her. Ironwood walked toward the doctor and said " I'm general Ironwood, Winter Schnee is my subordinate. I would like to know about her situation. What are her injuries exactly? "

The doctor looked at the general, he initially didn't want to speak the extent of her injuries in front of Weiss out of sympathy, but now the general was asking directly so he could only answer " She suffered different heavy injuries. All of her ribs broke and one of them stabbed her left lung. Most of the bones in her bodies were broken or fractured. The most severe injury, aside from her ribs, is her right arm. The bones were shattered from her fingers to the top of her shoulder. With time she can recover from most of her injuries, but her right arm will never be able to function as before "

Hearing the doctor answer, Ironwood face darkened while Weiss started to cry harder. Ironwoods turned toward Weiss then the rest, his eyes were filled with rage. He spoke " How did she end up like this? Answer now!! '

His voice scared Ruby and the others, Qrow walked in front of him and said " James, calm down "

Ironwood replied with anger " Calm down ?! my liutents is inside this room, heavily injured!!. How do you expect me to calm down? "

Ozpin walked forward and said " James, control yourselves. Scaring the students won't do you any good "

Ozpin looked at Ruby and the rest then said " Miss Winter can't be visited at the moment. I hope everyone will follow me back to Beacon. You can explain everyone once we are in my office"

Ozpin turned around and start walking. Everyone followed him, including the reluctant general. On the way, only the sound of Weiss's crying was heard. Everyone was silent and the atmosphere was quite heavy.

Once Ozpin the rest reached Beacon, Ozpin took them to his office. Inside of the office Ozpin spoke to them " The calm down and explain how you ended up in the hospital with Winter in that state "

Ozpin watched his students looking at each other. He could tell they were still shocked and terrified from whatever they experienced. The situation caused a sense of dread and ominous feeling to appear in Ozpin's heart. He didn't know what happened, but his instincts told him he won't like the answer he is going to receive.

It was Yang the first to start speaking about what happened and what led it to happen. The rest followed her example and started speaking, they said everything they could remember. The more they spoke the darker Qrow, Glynda and Ironwood faces became. Even Ozpin couldn't hide his reaction, it was more subtle but still obvious to everyone.

Once they finished talking, Ozpin said " Is there anything else you remember or we should know of? "

Ruby looked hesitatingly before saying " Uuu...mmmm… There is another thing sir. When Mesa was speaking, I felt like he was somehow changing "

Her words raised the curiosity of Ozpin, he replied " Can you explain ?"

Ruby answered " I'm not sure, I don't know how to put it in words. When Mesa started talking, I felt that fear and dread I felt when I met Centos. But that feeling disappeared. It was replaced with a weird sense of … I don't know. I just felt his words like a law and he was a king. I felt like my body wanted me to kneel in front of him. Also his aura was different .... "

" monster…. " Blake mumbled interrupting Ruby and gaining the attention of the rest.

Blake was the only one who didn't speak to this point, she kept her silence till now. Blake spoke with a louder voice" He is a monster. When he was speaking, his aura was changing, I could feel the change clearly. His aura became calmer, colder and much more powerful. To me, he felt like he is a king…. A king of death." At this point, Blake wrapped her hands around her shoulders and continued " My body, my blood, every part of my being felt fear. It was primal fear. Mesa can't be a human. He is monster.. An apex predator. Even the grim can't begin to compare with him "

By the end of her talk, Blake was visibly shaking, her face was pale, her ember pupils were clouded with fear. Ruby and Blake words made Ozpin feel uncomfortable. He concluded there is something a miss.

Ozpin said " What about the rest? Did you feel something similar to Ruby or Blake? "

All of them nodded, Ozpin said " Thank you all for sharing what happened, I feel regretful for what you have experienced. You can go back to your dorms and have some rest "

" What about Mesa? " Ruby asked

Ozpin took a deep breath then answered " We will think of a way to handle him. In the meantime, don't try to get in contact with him. And if you see him then tell us immediately and avoid interacting with him "

" But …." Ruby wanted to object but Qrow put his hand on her shoulder stopping her

Ozpin continued " Mesa is extremely powerful, far more than any huntsman I met in my life. He is more than capable than becoming great if not the greatest huntsman in the history. But he proved to be extremely dangerous, he is mentally unstable. I don't wish to receive the news of my students being injured or worse dying under his hand "

Ruby didn't speak, she lowered her head and left the office. The rest followed her. When everyone left, Ironwood looked at Ozpin " Now what? I told you we should put him under control !!"

Ozpin replied " How?? He is too strong to be controlled by force. And if we failed, then we will have to deal with consequences of his revenge. You yourself understood this previously "

Ironwood sighed " I'm sorry, I'm just angry about everything "

" So what are we going to do now? The queen pawns in Vale and we don't know who they are or what is their plan. In addition, we have a rogue Mesa who is arguably the strongest existence in remnant " Qrow asked while drinking

" Can you stop drinking, Qrow? You are not contributing like this " Ironwood said

" Sorry but I didn't know discussing how a teenage boy with mass destruction semblance can destroy us will be helpful to our situation " Qrow replied sarcastically

Ironwood wanted to say something but Ozpin stopped him.

" Don't fight now and let's have a serious talk to what to do next. Do you have something in your mind, Glynda? " Ozpin said to the two then asked Glynda as he noticed her not paying attention to their talk.

Ozpin's call got Glynda attention, she replied " I'm just thinking about Mesa. I don't understand why he acted like this. I know he is brazen and act like a rogue most of the time. But he is a good person at heart. He always came to help his team and friends when they needed it. For him to act against them like this without proper reason is really weird "

Ironwood answered her " Reason?? Why in the world he need a reason? That guy might be young, but he is a cold blooded killer. He is a criminal, Glynda. No matter how he acted, today he showed his real self. Just a criminal, that must be stopped and judged for his crimes "

Ironwood then looked at Qrow " Qrow, you are the one who found him in the forest years ago. Before that, there wasn't a single proof of Mesa existing in this world. You said he was all alone, now we know he is not. He got two brothers as dangerous as him out there. I need to know everything you know "

Qrow took a sip from his flask then answered " Look! All I know, I found a child in the forest surrounded with grims. The child who didn't look older than 4 of 5 years old killed 3 bewolfs on his own before falling down. I saved him and brought him back to Tai's house. Why was he in the forest all alone, where did he come from or who was his family, he didn't tell me anything "

Ironwood didn't seem satisfied with Qrow's answer. On the other hand, Ozpin was thinking about Mesa's actions. He said " Where did he come from or why he was in the forest is not important. What worries me are his words "

Glynda furrowed " What about them ?"

Ironwood added " Mesa is mentally unstable, his actions are prove of that. I don't believe his words to be meaning anything important. He is just crazy "

After seeing Mesa's behaviour and his random actions, Ironwood came to the conclusion that Mesa is mentally sick. He is a good person at times while on others he is just a demon. His mentality and actions keep changing which only meant he is just that crazy.

Ozpin face turned serious " I talked with Mesa on multiple occasions and I know for a fact Mesa is not simply unstable or crazy. Mesa possess a sharp mind and intelligence far beyond his bears. Actually, I quite sure he is smarter than any of us "

" You can't be serious now, Ozpin, can you ?? !!!" Ironwood was surprised

" Unfortunately I'm being very serious. Mesa showed a rare level of intelligence and sharpness the first time I met him. Later on, he showed to be far smarter than the rest of the students, moreover, his knowledge in many subjects were all reached advanced levels. He could give a challenge to the teachers in Beacon no matter what the subject is. I don't believe this kind of intelligence is simply unstable or mad. While staying in Beacon, I always paid attention for his actions. Everytime he did or said something, it always meant something, his actions might be childish or foolish. But at the end, they are only what he want to show not his true thoughts "

" What are you trying to say, Oz? " Qrow asked Ozpin, even Qrow now is having a serious face and atitude.

Ozpin closed his eyes as he was in deep thoughts. When he opened them he said " Every person has dreams and hopes, wishes and desires to achieve and fulfil. Yet as you know, I always wondered about Mesa's dreams, no matter how I looked at it, he didn't work for anything, lately I believed he only think of having fun and play around, and he is not interested in anything or have future goals like the others. But now I know I was mistaken "

Ozpin looked at each one of them as he continued " Today and for the first time, Mesa was completely honest, he spoke his true thoughts to everyone. He told his friends 'I will never allow anything to take away my freedom'. I believe that is Mesa's desire lies in this sentence "

" What do you mean? Freedom, he already free. In fact, he got more freedom than anyone else " Ironwood was now confused

Ozpin looked at Ironwood with calm face as he said " That exactly is the point. Ruby and the others wanted to make Mesa change his thoughts and atitude because they thought he was in the wrong. They wanted to do it regardless of his will, he became enraged because of that. Think about it, he told us about his brother and how he can force his own will upon others and make them work for him. Mesa himself suffered from that previously "

Ironwood widened his eyes " You are saying Mesa has trauma regarding being controlled? "

Glynda and Qrow were also surprised, they didn't think about it before.

Ozpin nodded as he continued " Mesa showed an obvious disregard to the rules. He hated to obey rules. He would act unreasonably when we tried to order him. Today, when he was condemned for his actions, when they wanted him to fix his faults. His friends didn't have the strength to force him, yet they used the fact they are his friends, they used their bonds to restrain him and force him. This action triggered his trauma, this is the only reason I can come with to explain his unreasonable actions "

" We should find him. Everything is just a misunderstanding. Mesa is just sick and need help " Glynda said and Qrow nodded hearing her words

" It won't be this simple. Do you remember what he told everyone? If the bonds will take his freedom then he will break them. I think the next time we see him, he won't hesitate to attack us with lethal force should we try to get close to him. I'm afraid we were too late, if we just had noticed this point earlier " Ozpin sighed at the end

Ironwood felt a little regret " It is regrettable we reached this point. With his strength, should he joined us. He could bring a real change against the queen. At least we know now there is no way he would work for her "

Glynda and Qrow didn't like the way Ironwood talked as if Mesa was a weapon.

Ozpin wasn't as optimistic as Ironwood " I don't think so. If the queen managed to convince him or befriended him, he might help her. As long as she realise he hate to be ordered, she might have a good chance to use him "

The other three were now worried hearing Ozpin. Ozpin looked at Qrow and said " Qrow, go check your nieces and their friends. Tell them the part where Mesa is being sick and then make sure that they won't tell anyone. Just skip the part of the queen. I don't want this information to be leaked. Also ask Pyrrha Nikos to come here tomorrow morning. I will tell her everything about the maiden"

Qrow nodded and left. Ironwood looked at Ozpin " Are you sure this is the best thing to do? "

Ozpin looked tired " No, I'm not sure what to do now. Originally, I hoped Mesa would give us a helping hand if things turned to the worse. But now, we would be lucky if he didn't attack us instead. James, we are running out of time. We need any help we can get "

Ironwood nodded and left the office. Glynda looked at the tired Ozpin, she sighed then left Ozpin alone in the office.