A growing problem

Glynda left to set up for the press release about Ozpin and Ruby's return. Thankfully her bandit's story would work alright with their return. It would just be a matter of Oz keeping it together when the reporters came a knockin. Ruby and Oz stood at the bottom of Oz's tower watching the Professor go.

Ruby snuggled into Oz's side, my fiance she purred at the thought and hugged him tightly. Glancing up at the cracked moon, listening to the purr rumble up from Oz's chest. She was getting used to the more cat like sounds, though he was happy right now so she wondered why he was shifted over. "Can I stay with you tonight?"

Winter was battering Oz's self control, it told him to say yes take her home and make up for the months of not touching her how he really wished too. His sane mind said that he didn't have any condoms and with these new strange urges he would not be able to keep his hands to himself. He had almost taken her in the Hall of Mirrors, with Winter consuming his mind. His grip tightened around her, he so ached to take her home and make her his. Ozpin let out a shaky breath struggling to rein in the urges. "I don't think that would be wise, whatever's happening to me makes it very hard not to just shove you up against the tower and have my way with you. You best return to your friends, if you come home with me you won't be getting any sleep and I don't have any protection."

Ruby pouted she was not looking forward to a cold bed, even if she did miss her friends. "Well I will work on getting the birth control on my side, as soon as possible. Then we don't have to endure latex and don't have to worry about getting caught at a store regularly."

Ozpin chuckled and reluctantly forced his arms down letting her go. "You should get going." He nodded toward her dorm, Winter said that letting her go was bad that he should take her home and make use of every minute they had.

Ruby leaned up and kissed him, resting her hands on his shoulder the kiss quick and chaste. She pulled away with a giggle as his arms went up to grab her again. "See you tomorrow." She walked back smiling at him, with her arms tucked behind her back.

"Goodnight." He said forcing himself to stay still as she turned her back on him and walked away. He let out a long sigh watching till she slipped away into the night. He turned on his heel and headed in the opposite direction. He had a flat on campus, it wasn't far from the students quarters. All the teachers were in the same building and his flat was at the top. He stopped outside the white and green building and realised he didn't have his key. "Crap." He muttered he had completely forgotten to ask Glynda for it.

Ozpin closed his eyes and visualized his living room, with a green flash of light and a Wooosh he was gone from the street. He opened his eyes to his dark living room, someone had drawn the curtains but he had no trouble seeing the basic shapes of furniture. He walked over and opened the curtains, a light dusting rained down and moonlight filtered through the room. He frowned at the room, his dark green sofa covered in a white sheet, the table had been cleaned off but everything was covered in dust.

He peered into his kitchen as he walked by, clean but dusty again lastly his room was of the same condition. The bed had been covered in a white dust proof sheet, so he guessed it was still made. He was glad someone had taken the time to wrap his furniture up, but it did give him the feeling they hadn't expected him to come back. Oz opened the curtains, then walked over to the bed and opened the bedside drawer, reaching in he pulled out his collapsed cane. He sat on the edge of the bed and clicked the guard of the cane, it extended to its full length.

The familiar clicks it made while extending were comforting, he smiled at it and pulled his sword from its place on his hip. He held them together side by side pointed at the floor. His mentor had told him about the Relics, Salem, the Maiden's everything he knew then gave Oz the cane when he retired. Letting Oz step into his shoes as head of the little order and Headmaster of Beacon. He had never really needed a cane, but it was part of the image that he had needed to project. He tightened his grip on his new sword the steel felt more comfortable in his hand. Something made for him rather then passed down to him.

This was a problem for the morning, he collapsed the cane and put it back in the drawer, setting his sword against the bedside table. Oz got up and removed the bed cover folding it back carefully so the dust didn't fly. Setting it aside he saw that his bedding had been changed and fresh, so it was perfect to use. He set about removing his armour piece by piece, it already felt like a second skin, he put the pieces on his dresser then had a shower before crawling into bed. It was so strange to have a shower again, his toothbrush and paste, to be able to shave with his own knife. At least the bed was familiar huge and green, but cold oh so cold.

The dorm hallways were silent as Ruby padded over the soft floor towards the room she shared with her teammates. It was getting on for around three in the morning and her eyes drooped a little as she stopped in front of the plain wooden door with the nameplate 'RWBY'. For a moment her breath hitched thinking about her friends and sister, just beyond the thin wooden panel. It had been so long since she had seen them and she had missed all of them, the door opened quietly and Ruby stepped into the darkened room.

The curtains were half drawn, the moon illuminating the room just enough for the Team leader to see. All three of her teammates slept soundly as Ruby pulled out some pajamas and crept over into the bathroom to change. She must have grown a little during her stay in Wonderland, the material of her top raised up leaving her tummy exposed to the cool air. Ruby wondered for a moment what else may she have outgrown? Then shook it off, there would be time for that later for now she was tired and Ruby had a feeling she was going to need strength for the conversation that awaited her in the morning.

Padding silently through the room the maiden grinned when she noticed Yang's arm had dropped from the bed and was almost stretching out in her direction her fingers curled in sleep. She was going to have to be careful what she told her boisterous sister, the last thing she wanted was for Yang to go after Ozpin. With the ease of many years of practice she carefully got up onto her bunk above Weiss and snuggled down under the blankets.

Normally the scent of the rose coloured sheets was enough to send her to sleep but for a few minutes Ruby warred with the cold of a lonely bed. Spoiled from sleeping with Oz, cuddled up in his arms the single bed seemed rather uncomfortable now. Still the exhaustion caught up with her before long and even if it wasn't a peaceful slumber she did finally drift off to sleep, comforted to be home.

Lilac eyes sprung open the moment dawn hit, the first rays of sunlight rousing her from her sleep. At least she had slept last night, ever since Ruby had disappeared the blonde bruiser hardly rested. The first few days she and her teammates had scoured over Beacon and the surrounding area. After the first week they made time after classes to search through Vale, with team JNPR, Sun and Neptune they had split into groups and hunted for the missing Team Leader. By the third week Professor Goodwitch had called a halt to their after school expeditions.

Yang clucked her tongue, oh yeah 'The police will handle it' 'Tai will look' 'Qrow will search' and what, nothing! It wasn't long after Ruby disappeared that news spread round the school that Professor Ozpin had also vanished. Some said he had gone looking for her and got himself in trouble, Yang wasn't sure.

She wasn't even remotely quiet as her bare feet landed on the floor, jumping from the top bunk. The sound was enough for the Heiress to wake, her thin form all but jumping from the bed and almost racing into the bathroom ahead of Yang. Everyone knew Yang took the longest to get ready and Weiss prefered being ready before her. Blake would wake up sometime soon but the sister didn't care right now. All she wanted for to have Ruby back safe and sound, already there were plans forming in her brain about where to go next. She hadn't given up searching for her sister and it didn't matter to her what the teachers said, she 'would' find Ruby.

As she looked up at the precariously made bunk, her eye twitched. Had Weiss put more of her clothes on Ruby's bunk? Grinning Yang reached up for the blanket with the intention of dumping the Heiress's stuff on her own bed she pulled back the crimson blanket. At first she thought she was still asleep, the sight of her little sister's face sleeping peacefully stared back at her. Her heart quickened as a warm hand reached over to stroke the feather soft bangs away from where they had fallen over her pale face. Eyes watered when she felt the smooth skin, she was here? Yang felt her breath hitch, her heart pounding, How?

The door to the bathroom reopened and Weiss graced the room again, fully dressed in her school uniform and pulling her long hair into its signature side ponytail. Normally Yang would have made for the bathroom by this point, the fact that she was staring at her sister bed put a damper on the heiress's mood. Yang had not been taking Ruby's disappearance well at all although who could blame her. "Yang, come on."

"Weiss" The blonde bruiser turned back to her, a look of fear in her eyes. "Am I dreaming?"

"Don't be silly Yang!" Stalking over to the bunk where Yang was pointing the heiress found herself face to face with a sleeping Ruby. "Ru-by? But when? How?"

The commotion was enough to wake the sleeping faunus on the other side of the room, her eyes fluttered straight to the huddled form on the bed her eyes widening. Yang lifted herself up onto the bed and started shaking Ruby's shoulders "RUBY! Wake up!"

There was a quiet moan as the Team leader woke, clearing sleepy eyes with her fist. Memories of Wonderland and Oz swirled around her head for a moment as she locked eyes with the lilac ones of her sisters. Yang had streams of tears tracking down her face, her mouth was quivering and she hiccuped every few seconds. In fact looking around, she could see Weiss and Blake in similar conditions. Weiss had puffy eyes and was sniffling quietly and Blake was rubbing away stray tears as they left her eyes, her shoulder shuddering just a small bit.

Ruby smiled widely before jumping off the bed with her arms outstretched towards her team. "Hey guys, I'm back. Did you miss me? Ack!" Sudden warmth exploded behind her as she was dragged into Yang's strong arms and held tightly. The other two members of Team RWBY rushed to surround her with their arms as the sound of crying echoed through the room, yep she was home.

"So. How many bandits were there?" Nora asked loudly, slurping up spaghetti, a little sauce smearing her cheek. Ren the ever caring mother hen quickly swiped the sauce away with a nearby napkin while he listened to Ruby recount the events of her kidnapping. The members of team RWBY, JNPR and Sun and Neptune were all attentively listening to the youngest Huntress as she spoke, ate and tried to work on projects and assignments she had missed. Ruby hadn't been exempt from them and had a very limited time in which to complete all her outstanding work. Weiss, Blake and Ren were all helping her, filling in on gaps and going over lessons she had missed they were truly Godsends at the moment.

Ruby was suppose to be graduating in a few short months but that wouldn't be happening if she didn't finish this work on time. Thankfully the professors had given her an extension and she was using every spare moment to get them done. It wasn't even so she could graduate, no that was false it had everything to do with graduating. Once she was a fully fledged Huntress she would no longer need to hide her relationship with Oz. They would be free from the demands of society and be able to come out about their engagement. Even now the word itself sent shivers down her spine.

Yang mistook those shivers for fear and placed a hand on her sister's shoulder glaring at the hammer wielder. Ruby just patted the hand and put her pen down. "Well I'm not sure, I suppose all that matters is that I'm safe and home now."

Pyrrha pushed her plate to the side slightly. "That's true Ruby, your safety is the most important thing in this case and I'm sure we are all relieved to see you safe and sound."

After receiving a subtle elbow from the amazonian woman Nora nodded, her mouth full of meatballs and gulped them down with gusto. "Oh yeh, safe and all that sure." Nora stood, leaning over the table with a gleeful smile. "But really how many?"

"Nora." Ever the calming presence Ren placed a hand on the ginger head and Nora immediately sat back down. "There will be time for that when Ruby is up to it, for now she needs to focus on this work if she is to be graduating with us this year."

"I'm just glad to have my baby sister back and NO ONE is ever going to take you again." Yang stood from the table, placing one hand in front of Ruby while standing one leg on the ground and the other on the bench. Nora, Sun, Jaune and Pyrrha all clapped at the sight of the knightly pose from the brawler.

The white head of Weiss leaned over the table. "If you don't mind, some of us are trying to help your dolt of a sister so she can graduate. I will not have us be the team who didn't all graduate. Now be quiet so we can work."

"You know Snow Angel, you could tutor me anytime." Jaune gave the heiress what he thought was a charming smile only to have her eyes slit with a frosty look.

Yang picked up on the cold look and grinned at the incompetent fighter. "Oh O Jaune, looks like you're getting the Weissy eyes."

"Goddamn it Yang!" Ruby said exasperated, sure she had missed her friends but right now she missed the quiet of Oz's company. She rapidly put her homework into her bag and looked at her Scroll. "Class with Port is next, we should get going." She turned on her heel and headed off, her friends scrambling to follow her, Yang, Blake and Weiss all traded a long look.

Oz paced back and forth in his office, he felt like a caged lion, back and forth, back and forth. He wondered how Ruby was doing, how had her friends taken her return? Had they bought the lie Glynda had told them to repeat? Winter was loud inside of him, urging him to go for a walk, to hunt down his woman. He couldn't help it, he turned on his heel and did as Winter demanded. He didn't have any way to know where she was, but hunt he did, prowled through the halls what students that he did run into cleared out of his way.

Beacon could be a bit of a maze at times and it was between classes so Ruby wouldn't be particularly easy to track that way. With each turn and hall devoid of Ruby, Winter coiled tighter and tighter. His eyes flicked over to feline and his skin pale, this was how Glynda found him. Prowling through his school, cold rolling off of him.

Glynda raced over to him grabbed him by an arm and pulled him into an empty staff room. "What has gotten into you?" She looked up at the Fae, her Oz was nowhere to be found.

Ozpin pulled his arm from her grasp with ease and snarled at her wordlessly. Glynda backed up sudden very afraid of the man standing before her. He shook his head Winter beckoning him to return to his search.

Glynda couldn't let him in the halls like this. "You want Ruby right? I'll go find her stay here."

Winter did not like to be given orders but Glynda raced from the room he took that confirmation she would be quick. So back to pacing it was, back and forth, frost falling from his skin, the temperature.

Ruby was surprised when a disheveled Glynda appeared near running towards them. The was a look of alarm in her eyes and Ruby imminently stood straighter. "I need to borrow Miss Rose. Please excuse us." Glynda beckoned Ruby to come quickly and she didn't wait for her friends to respond quickly walking back the way she came. Ruby did a quick bow of her head apologising to her team before hurrying off behind professor Goodwitch. She let Glynda lead her through the halls before she yanked open a door and all but shoved her through it. "Take your time, I'll let Port know you'll be late."

Oz's gaze snapped over to Ruby as Glynda closed the door behind her. Winter stormed up with glee and he crossed the empty space, Ruby barely had time to squeak before his hands were on her hips he lifted her up and forced her back against the wall. His lips on her's were cold, she moaned as his tongue slipped between her lips. She parted her lips quickly surrendering to Winter, her own magic rose but it was quiet in comparison, keeping him from freezing her. Ruby rested her hands on his forearms, letting out a little meep when he ground his crotch against hers. She knew he wouldn't do anything here, but she could feel his desire.

The silver eyed warrior opened her eyes partly, she was willing to bet his eyes were feline. He broke the kiss and nipped down her jaw and neck, finally stopping there and nuzzled his face to her neck. Ruby felt him relax then and snuggled up to her. Winter finally calming down slightly a howling storm rather than a roaring gale. Winter still coiling around them in a small storm, Oz purred scenting her again. He kissed her neck with just his lips, then parted them and scrapped his sharp canines over the slender column. She whimpered as they left two long red lines down her neck but did not break the skin. She heard him growl and rock his hips against hers in response to the sound of his prey.

Ruby reached up and wove her into his hair and pulled him away from her neck. Forcing him back enough that she could see his eyes, sure enough gold and slited. With a shake of his head he pulled his hair free of her hands and kissed her again, nipping her lip making her gasp. He took that and dominated the kiss again, Ruby was left trying to grab her wits enough to figure out how to calm Winter enough to get Oz back. Not this cold Fae creature who's control was hanging by a very weak thread. She wondered what to do? Surrender? Would that make things better or worse? Or fight?

Oz took her stillness as permission, his hands moving from her hips to her butt and squeezing. Ruby's eyes widened and she pulled away. "No, shhh, but no." She heard Oz whine liked a pained wolf but the grip lessened, she turned her head up giving him her neck. Reached up and pulled him by the back of the head to it, heard him purr and kiss her skin, then go still slowly breathing her scent.

Ozpin's eyes fell slowly closed relaxing bit by bit, oh so slowly. Holding her up required next to no effort on his part, he still longed for her to take her. Winter demanded that he did, angry that they had been forced to part with her, but she said no, even in this feral mental state. She he would obey and only her, whatever she wished would be hers.

Ruby stroked a hand through his hair, slowly petting him listening as growls turned into purrs. Eventually he moved her off the wall, picked a dark corner of the room behind a long forgotten desk hiding them from view of the door. He never let go of Ruby, didn't speak, his eyes glowed when they caught the light. Sometimes he just nuzzled her neck, or kissed it, other times Ruby was made painfully aware that his teeth could cut her neck open now if he wished them to. Half an hour into their cuddle her neck was a criss cross of red raised lines, but he didn't bite her didn't break the skin. She had to work to relax as he nibbled on her neck, be willing and calm in his arms, deep breaths to keep her heart rate steady. She could tell just letting him snuggled her as he wished was helping, the room was a few degrees warmer.

Winter was happy, thus Oz was slowly regaining his mind. The need to have her became more manageable, her surrender pleased Winter, let him have yet more of himself back. By an hour in, Ruby was on her back petting his hair as he kissed her breasts her shirt open. She closed her eyes and took in the temperature of room had again risen over this next half hour. His claws still pushed against her skin, her breasts were starting to look as red as her neck but the frost was finally gone. She felt him push a bit of a shirt out of the way, the cup of her bra pulled down. She bit her lip as the tip of his cool tongue teased over the hard nipple.

Gold cat eyes watched her as he felt her tease under him, heard the little moan she tried to hidden. He licked lovely pink nipple, tracing over the areola then the nipple again. He smiled feeling her tremble, Winter loved it, loved having her under him. He moved up slightly biting down on the slope of her breast, stopping just short of breaking the skin. Then moved up and did it again, ten minutes later both her breasts were covered red and purple crescents. Winter thought it very beautiful and snuggled down, Oz resting his head between her breasts.

Half and hour after that, Ruby had her Ozpin back his breath warm against her chest purring softly. Ruby continued her pets, her neck hurt, her chest hurt but he was finally calm and not about to turn students into ice cubes just by walking by. She wondered what had brought this on, but she had a sneaking feeling she was going to get very good sneaking out of her room soon.

The Hatter skipped up the last hill leading to Dragonstone castle. It was a shame he had missed so much, walking could really suck at times. As he stepped through the main gates his eyes grew a little wild. Arach the Jabberwocky was snoozing in the Courtyard, to avoid the dragons wrath he comically tiptoed around the edge of the black stone walks. Unfortunately of him Arach was aware of the new presence and slit one glowing red eye open tracking the Hatters movement as he crossed the courtyard. Hatter found William in his lab working at the desk, seemingly lost in thought. Arach watched through a window as Terrence approached the wizard. The room was filled with potion apparatus, candles, sand, salt, metals, everything a wizard needed to work his magic. "Good day Count William, how are you?"

"I don't have time to humor you today Hatter, I need to . . ." William trailed off, near lost in thought as he collected herbs and rune pages.

Terrace wade behind the wizard and tapped his broad shoulder. When he finally had William's attention he pulled a red piece of string out of his pocket. "Loss something?"

William had already heard that Ozpin had fled Wonderland, he was still trying to figure out how. "The boy doesn't matter anymore, the girl is what I need."

Terrence Hatter presented the small dark red string to the Wizard, the blood red string… "Is that?" William's hand snatched the piece of string blood, it was saturated with dried blood.

"I figured you could work a tracking spell, you won't lose this son too." Hatter smiled and crossed his arms.

William could find Oz, force him home to Wonderland and better yet find Ruby through him. "My son is just a wizard, this will be more than enough to bring him into line."

Arach listened silently, if William hadn't yet learned the truth about his son then there was still hope for the young Changeling yet.

Thank you too: Maia Asphodel, SHMANDER, AuroraNova46 for your comments.