Qrow: You guys are still writing this story?

Autumn: Yup!

Lilac: It's not bad. It's a work in progress.

Qrow: You mean it's a hot mess but sure, whatever helps you sleep at night.

Lilac: I'm taking your flask again. This time you're not getting a s'more.

Qrow: Thanks for the heads up this time. Now I know I have to buy a new one.

Autumn: Qrow! Just play your part in the story, okay!?

Qrow: Oh yeah, I forgot, I have to be the jerk who hates you or whatever but for some reason I trust your crazy twin. *turns to Lilac* But I don't actually think you're crazy, you really are a sweetheart. I just don't understand my character's part half the time. Why do I have to be the one that doesn't trust Autumn? Why can't Oscar do it?

Oscar: Because, I'm the cute innocent one and we need the drama on Autumn's character for later when something happens. You know the part where-

Autumn, Lilac, and Qrow: No spoilers!

Qrow: Okay wow, fine. Aren't I the special one.

Lilac: Like a special little snowflake.

Autumn: Next chapter!


A few weeks later Lilac's training was improving. She had been working her hardest and had actually started listening to Qrow. Qrow was still not trusting Autumn but at this point he had more confidence in Lilac. Something was still off with Autumn in Qrow's opinion. After all the weeks spent training, Lilac was getting better with her weapon. Autumn was still training with Ruby's group because Qrow wanted to make sure that Lilac was better fit for fighting due to her powers she had to learn to use.

So today things were going to be a little bit different because today Qrow was going to help Lilac use her maiden powers.

"So what you are going to do is-" Qrow said but was cut off by Lilac.

"Use my magical maiden powers."

"...Correct… but how are you going to do that?"

"By doing this!" Lilac exclaimed and began to use her powers. Plants began to pull out of the earth attacking the tree targets and destroying them. More trees grew and took their place. She made the earth quake as she shifted the plates of the earth's ground. Her power was strong but it started to be uncontrollable for her. She began losing her focus, causing her to be pulled with the earth and she flew into a tree. Everything went back to the way it was and Lilac was unconscious on the ground.

Qrow yelped and ran to her side worried, "I told her to be careful!" He picked her up bridal style and rushed her to the village. Before he could could reach the hospital, he ran right into a blond… That blond was Yang.

"Yang… Your arm..?" Qrow looked at her dazed.

"Yes I put on a new hand… why are you carrying an unconscious chick? Are you that desperate to pick someone up, you knocked them out?" She looked at him skeptical.

Qrow looked at Yang with his jaw dropped but he answered her with, "Actually this is… what's your favorite fairy tale?"

Thus another discussion about the war erupted.


Back at the hotel Qrow had finished explaining everything to Yang. Lilac was peacefully sleeping on a bed as the two discussed what had been going on since Ruby left home.

"And so this chick is the Spring maiden?" Yang asked.

"Oh! So you were listening. That's great." Qrow said sarcastically. "She is and she passed out during training. She is still not used to her 'extra' abilities."

"So when do Ruby and the gang get back?" Yang said looking at a passed out Lilac.

"Hopefully in a few moments. It depends if they can actually get anywhere with Autumn's training. Oscar has been doing pretty well but Autumn still has a slip up every once in a while. Nora seems to always take care of that though." Qrow shrugged.

The two sat in silence for a little while until Yang spoke up again, "How are you doing with all of this?"

"I didn't know my opinion really mattered but I will be honest. The plan that Ozpin and I made was supposed to have taken place a while ago. Our plans changed when Lilac showed up and now we are making it up as we go. It would be easier if I could actually talk to Ozpin instead of playing telephone with this kid but I'm just surprised at Salem hasn't made her move yet. I bet she is just waiting till we make ours but we've never seen her do something like this before. When ever she does strike, we might not be able to take her with long we have waited so far." Qrow answered and Yang looked down.

Yang looked at him then and questioned, "Its only barely been 2 months and this time we have the Spring maiden. We also have a plan to throw Salem off balance, shouldn't that be enough?"

"That is what I'm not so sure about. You see, I'm not sure if I trust Lilac's sister as much as I trust Lilac. For all we know she has made a deal with Salem to protect her sister from what is about to happen." Qrow stated.

"What makes you say that? What makes you think she even knows Salem?"

"She asks too many questions." Qrow said sarcastically. "I don't know she just comes off differently but I know I don't trust her."

Just then Ruby burst through the door and jumped into her sister's arms, "Yang! I saw your bike out! You're here!"

Yang pulled her sister off her for a moment, slapped her, and then processed to hug her again, "You just took off after writing some stupid letter! But I'm glad you are okay."

Ruby looked at her sister with tears in her eyes but she was smiling, "I'm glad you're okay too Yang."

Ren, Nora, and Jaune came in the room with small smiles on their faces as they greeted Yang.

"So are you willing to join us on our mission?" Jaune asked.

"So long as we take down the White Fang while we are at it, then yes." Yang crossed her arms.

Everyone seemed to shyly agree. Autumn and Oscar walked in then. Them seemed to be in a heated discussion but stopped when they noticed Yang. Lilac woke up then too.

"You… Are Yang…?" Oscar said hesitantly.

"Umm, yes. You must be Oscar." Yang held out her hand and Oscar shook it reluctantly.

"Nice to meet you." Oscar smiled.

Lilac ran over to Autumn and Yang turned to the both of them. "And you two must be Lilac and Autumn. Nice to meet you, I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister."

"Oh she told us about you! It really nice to meet you! I'm Lilac." Lilac said and held out her hand and shook Yang's.

Autumn smiled and held out her hand, "I'm Autumn but I'm not a season maiden like Lilac."

Yang laughed, "Yeah. It has to be weird to have the name Autumn but your sister has season powers."

Then the attention turned to Qrow as he spoke up, "Now that we have another crew member let me explain what is about to happen. Yang, Ruby and her team are going to work on a couple strategies as Oscar, Autumn, Lilac, and I work on how we are going to trick Salem into believing Autumn is the Spring maiden."

"Yeah, go team QOAL!" Lilac cheered.

Qrow looked at her funny, "Did you just say go team quail?"

"Well, okay, so Autumn came up with a team name Q. O. A. L. And said it could be either team cool or quail. She prefers team cool but I like team quail because it's a bird and you are also a bird so I thought it would be cool." Lilac explained.

Qrow still looked at her as if she grew a second head and said, "I might actually stick with Autumn on this. I like team cool."

"I like team quail." Oscar stated out of the blue.

Lilac thanked Oscar for being on her side. Yang, and Ruby and her team went off like Qrow instructed to make a decent strategy for when they go up against Salem. Once they left Qrow continued, "Earlier Lilac passed out. So Autumn, this gives us time for me to see what Ruby has been training you to match it up with what I have been doing with Lilac. We can also work on making you look like you have the maidens powers."

Team QOAL went off into the woods to begin practice. Oscar and Lilac sat under a tree to watch Qrow and Autumn practice.

"Okay so Ruby told me you haven't figured out your semblance yet." Qrow stated.

Autumn was looking at something on her phone and went to show it to Qrow, "Hey Qrow check this out! This video on YouTube reminds me of how you are when you're upset!"

"Are you even paying attention?" Qrow asked angrily.

"No… Sorry I zoned out." Autumn shrugged.

"You are just like your sister. It's like you're twins or something." Qrow mumbled.

"We are." Autumn pointed out.

"I'm not drunk enough for this." Qrow grumbled. "Okay so where is the weapon you constructed with Ruby?"

Autumn held out a handle that shot out as a longer stick. "She told me we could make it a sword later but I still really suck with it so we kept it like this."

"So it's just like Oscar's cane?"

"Yeah I was messing with the cane one day and wasn't terrible with it so Ruby decided to make mine very similar. But I still want a sword." Autumn said.

"What were you doing with Ozp- Oscar's cane?" Qrow asked with a serious look on his face.

"I… Umm… I, well…" Autumn panicked.

"You what?"

"I was poking Oscar with it and we were laughing and... you get the point…" Autumn covered her face.

Qrow was fed up at that point, "How about you have some space from Oscar for once, okay? You two have been too close. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind that you two get along but if anything happens to him, I will find you and when I do, don't think I will take things lightly on you."

Autumn looked at him in horror. After that Qrow continued to train with a very terrified Autumn.


Everyone was back at the hotel discussing the plan that Yang, and team RNJR came up with. Autumn, Lilac, and Oscar sat quietly as huge debates were going over on who was going to be where during any fights or battles. Nothing was finalized so everyone just ate dinner and went to sleep.

2 in the morning came around and Autumn couldn't sleep. She woke up from a nightmare and knew she was going to lay on the ground for hours until she could pass out again. She didn't feel like waiting to feel at peace again so she got up and walked outside. Oscar woke to the sound of her closing the door and looked around. Qrow and Lilac were asleep in their designated areas. He knew something was up so he got up and followed Autumn as she walked in the street.

Autumn found a bench and sat down. It was now hitting her that she left the hotel and everyone in it. Did she real want to go through with everything on her mind? She needed this moment to think before she finally made her decision. She looked down the road and decided to run when Oscar sat down next to her.

"Having trouble sleeping?" He asked.

Autumn yelped. At first she thought she had been caught for whatever was on her mind but then she realized the look on Oscar face showed he didn't notice Autumn's awkward behavior. Autumn nodded, "Yeah. I have a lot on my mind and needed the air."

"At two in the morning?"

"Yes."

Oscar gave her a sideways glace and Autumn laughed. Then Autumn remembered what Qrow said during training.

"Oscar, Qrow said that I should stay away from you. He said I'm getting too close." Autumn said.

Oscar seemed to be debating with himself, he always did that around her and she didn't know why, and he told her, "Well, I don't really mind being close to you… shut up…"

"Why do you always mumble insults to yourself?" Autumn asked. "I mean, I normally ignore it, but you talk to yourself a lot. I can't say too much because I will talk to myself too but… You have me worried a lot."

Oscar flushed and looked ahead toward the street, "I know Qrow does not want me to tell you this… even Ozpin is up in the air with whether we should tell you or not, but these last couple of weeks I feel I can trust you. I don't know how to tell you.. Uh.. I like who you are… And so does Ozpin…"

Autumn looked at him confused and waited for him to explain but he was quiet. So Autumn had to ask, "Okay what is that supposed to mean? I haven't met Ozpin. How would you even know if he wanted me to know something if you didn't talk to him? Has he been watching us?" Autumn thought for a second and continued, "Or just ignore my questions and explain to me what's going on."

Oscar looked at her with a torn expression, "You are going to think I'm insane and at one point I would have agreed with you."

"Hit me with your best shot." Autumn didn't even blink when she said this. "I know crazy, insane, whatever name you give it, but don't ever let that stop you from being honest with someone."

"Ozpin is a voice inside my head."

"...Can he hear me? Or do you tell him later or something?"

"Okay you are taking this rather well… Or you are being sarcastic." Oscar looked at his feet thinking of how to explain his predicament. "Actually our souls are attached because our arua's are the same. So when he died, his soul attached to mine. And yes he can hear you…"

Autumn sat there shocked, then laughed, and turned for Oscar's attention, "Please tell me how it feels to have a man, who was a headmaster at a school that trains children to fight monsters, be in your head. Is it awkward? I mean, you could be talking to anyone and he makes a remark and you respond to it and the other person you are talking to just kind of looks at you. Now I want to know what he is like? In other words, I'm done thinking about my situation, tell me about yours."

"Oh, umm…" Oscar seemed to be thinking (more like listening to Ozpin) and continued, "Other than our souls are attached, I don't really know what to say. I mean, yes we argue a lot, and he can mind his own business every once in awhile. Yes, you cut into my personal thought way too much! But other than that we are fine. He is constantly instructing me to do things a certain way but a lot of times I ignore him."

"Wait… Isn't that admitting to him that you are ignoring him?" Autumn asked. "Does he say stuff about me? I bet he does! What does he say!?"

"I rather not say what he says…"

Autumn looked at him intensely, "Is it negative?"

"Umm.. No, it's just very private…"

Autumn fumed. She stood up and strolled off down the street. Oscar followed after her and called out to her, "Autumn! You must understand we are in the middle of a war. I can't say what he has been telling me because it will jeopardize the future."

"That's just like saying he doesn't trust me! Like how Qrow doesn't trust me! No one trusts me but my sister and you only claim to trust me. So can someone please show me the way out because why should I risk my life for people who would care less if I'm dead." Autumn argued.

She knew that it didn't matter if they trusted her or not. What really mattered to her is if she could pull this whole thing off. Could she play her part in this war? She couldn't take the thought of doubt anymore. Out of anyone, Autumn was starting to open up to Oscar on a personal level. Now that he admitted to being two-faced she didn't know what to think. Her emotions exploded inside her and her semblance went off. She turned to Oscar, "I can hear him. I can hear Ozpin."

"What…?" Oscar looked at her frantic, "I don't understand your aura looked like it exploded. What are you talking about?"

"I think my semblance is reading minds."


Qrow jumped out of his bed alarmed, waking Lilac up from her sleep, "Qrow what are you doing? It's too early for jumping jacks."

"They're gone! I should have known not to trust her! Are you in on this too Spring maiden?" Qrow spat.

"In on what? Autumn has trouble sleeping, she probably went on a walk or something. It's fine."

"It will be fine once we find Oscar. Get up. We either find them or I will not hold back just because you are a girl."

"What's that supposed to mean?! You think that I can't fight just because I'm a girl?" Lilac snapped.

"Actually I'm hoping you can hold your own so it will be so much sweeter when I beat you."

Qrow and Lilac left the hotel and headed into the street. Lilac called out for Autumn and Qrow called out for Oscar. Lilac stopped in the street and tapped Qrow. He turned and looked in the same direction of her and noticed Oscar and Autumn in the middle of a small street.

"Where do you two think you're going at this time of night!?" Qrow shouted. Autumn and Oscar looked at each other nervously.

"Qrow… Autumn can hear him…" Oscar said once Qrow and Lilac came up to them.

"What is Oscar talking about? Who can Autumn hear?" Lilac asked.

"Ozpin…" Qrow mumbled.


They all went back to the hotel where Qrow explained to Lilac about Ozpin. Autumn was talking to Oscar… and Ozpin.

"So Oscar and Ozpin have the same aura and Ozpin is now a voice in Oscar's head?"

"Yes."

"Ok."

"That's your reaction? You're sure you didn't miss anything I just said? Do you have any other questions?"

"Yes, Qrow I was fully paying attention to what you were saying and no I don't have any other questions."

"Okay… Sorry for being so rude about you sister earlier. I just have a long history of people stabbing me in the back. We really need to keep tabs of this team."

"Team quail."

"Still prefer team cool."

Autumn was having a conversation with Oscar, and… Ozpin.

"No, I only said that to make sure you can actually hear me. How was I supposed to know you weren't saying you heard me as a joke to insult Oscar?" Ozpin said.

"Well saying 'that was the worst joke ever, of all time you moron' was not the best thing to respond to a girl who said she can hear you. First I heard you talking to Oscar about how you were afraid I might have two semblances or something and the next thing I know, you are making lame jokes. I don't know how I feel about that."

"You should feel honored. I make the best jokes and finally someone other than Oscar can hear them."

Oscar coughed. His thoughts seemed to be making fun of Ozpin and his lame jokes but Autumn was having a hard time focusing. "Wait. That was blurry. I can hear Ozpin fine but Oscar's thoughts are too hard to pick up. My head hurts."

"Well, it is your first time using you semblance so you might feel that way. Though now that you can hear me, I will warn you that you semblance is unique, you might not be able to turn it off. Just like Qrow cannot turn off his."

"Oh really? What's his semblance? Being a jerk?" Autumn mumbled rubbing her head to numb the pain.

"Actually his semblance is misfortune."

"Well that just sucks." Autumn frowned. She almost felt bad for him, but remembered he still doesn't trust her so she just shrugged off her feelings.

"Okay well, I don't know about the rest of you but I'm going back to sleep." Oscar announced, heading straight for his bed. Everyone agreed it would be better to discuss more in the morning and they went to sleep for just a few more hours.


In the morning everyone was still exhausted from the night before. Autumn made a lazy breakfast for everyone (more like what she would consider lazy… Eggs and bacon). Lilac and Qrow were discussing Qrow's issues about Autumn. Oscar and Autumn were having a conversation with Ozpin involved and Ruby walked into the room.

"So… what's going on?" Ruby asked team QOAL, "I heard you guys leave last night and you came back at some point but where did you go?"

"Gingersnap over there decided to run off last night with Oscar." Qrow stated.

"I thought she was more of a blonde…" Ruby mumbled.

"I didn't run off with Oscar. I left to get some air and he followed me in the street. Not my fault." Autumn crossed her arms defiantly.

Qrow rolled his eyes and Ruby looked between the two of them, "You guys okay?"

"Just fine!" Qrow and Autumn shouted simultaneously.

Oscar, Lilac, and Ruby looked at them nervously, not verbally speaking that they each agreed Qrow and Autumn had to soon work out their differences. Throughout the past month of training, Autumn and Qrow argued on everything and that's why it was only Lilac who worked with Qrow. (But no one would openly admit that because they used the excuse that Qrow needed to protect the Spring Maiden.)

"Anyway," Ruby began, "We need to work on a plan for when we encounter Lionheart. We still don't know if he's working with Salem or not."

"Even Ozpin doesn't think we should trust him just yet." Oscar said.

"So are you only bringing this up now because you have a plan or didn't you figure one out with your new team?" Qrow asked.

"We came up with a plan last night…" Ruby shrugged. "We decided we should enroll into Haven with Oscar, Autumn, and Lilac. Just like Cinder did to us."

"Wait so is this a fight fire with fire kind of thing?" Autumn asked.

"Yes." Ruby stated. "But it will be short. We just need Oscar to get close to Loinheart to see if Ozpin can trust him. If Lionheart is not to be trusted, we use him as part of the plan to trick Salem into believing Autumn is the Spring maiden."

"If Lionheart believes Autumn is the Spring maiden and he works for Salem? Not a terrible plan." Qrow said. Everyone agreed.

Within the week Lilac, Oscar, and Autumn were enrolled into Haven. They were a team and they stayed on top in all of their classes along with watching Lionheart from a distance. Autumn had practiced more with her semblance, hoping to understand more than just Ozpin in Oscar's head.

Everything seemed to have been going great, but in every story, something goes wrong. Lilac and Autumn have been doing their own practices of trying to make Autumn look like the Spring Maiden. They were in an empty hallway. They figured if no one went down the hallway they could get some practice in. Autumn would be doing all the motions as Lilac supplied the powers. They were in the middle of having Autumn pretend to do Lilac's main attack when Lionheart strolled down the hallway. Immediately the two girls stop what they were doing.

Lionheart smiled at the two girls lightly, "Were you fighting in the hallway?"

"No, Sir." Lilac and Autumn said simultaneously.

"Autumn, I'd like to see you in my office." Lionheart motioned to Autumn to follow him and Autumn looked at Lilac. Lilac looked at her pleadingly as if to say she was worried, she didn't want her sister to get into serious trouble with the headmaster, and Autumn gave her a confidant smile and walked off with the headmaster.


"I hope she's okay. She been with Lionheart for a while." Lilac said. She was pacing in front of Oscar and Qrow.

"I give you guys the simple task of not getting caught and you fail." Qrow grumbled.

"We weren't trying to get caught. We picked a place where no one was going to be. He just happened to be strolling down the hallway. How is that our fault?"

"Okay open hallway. No one will come down here. Let's practice fighting, no one will see us." Qrow said sarcastically. "It's not like you were trying not to get caught either."

"Okay, we need to stop fighting. For all we know Autumn will be back soon. Maybe she has even been practicing reading Lionheart's mind to know if we can trust him." Oscar stated.

"Or for all we know Lionheart is not so easily fooled and seen what Autumn's been up to this whole time. For all we know he is working with Salem and now he has Autumn and we have to save her. We could be ambushed any second because you two decided it would be a good idea to practice maiden powers in the middle of an open hallway during the middle of a war!" Qrow shouted.

"I don't think yelling to going to make this situation any better." mumbled Oscar.

And just like any stereotypical story, the door opened. Qrow was back to being a bird and hid on a bookshelf. Autumn walked in the room, "Well that was a long conversation."

"What happened?! Where were you?!" asked Lilac.

"Lionheart and I talked for what seemed forever. He showed me a couple of things and I honestly can say I gave up on trying to read his at some point because he said everything out loud. I wouldn't say to trust him though. I-" Autumn was cut off when Qrow transformed again to stand up in the room to make his presence known.

"So what you are saying is that even though you were gone for hours, had these two worry enough to have me fly over here, you still didn't discover anything new?" Qrow looked at Autumn completely annoyed at this point.

"I'm not saying that! I just said he told me a lot out loud. I wouldn't trust him." Autumn said.

Qrow rolled his eyes, "Sure why don't we all just trust your gut on this decision? Do you even have any facts that we can't trust him?"

Autumn's gaze dropped, "Well, actually… umm…"

Qrow threw his arms up, "That's it folks! The salty one has spoken. You have nothing! Now it's back to sweetheart over there to still conceal herself. Still."

Autumn glared at him, went to say something but looked at Oscar instead. She seemed to be thinking something over, "Whatever, I'm taking a shower. You people have fun."

"Oh so now you are walking away from this whole situation again, hm? Well if you are not back in 30 minutes tops, I will know this whole time you were up to something." Qrow said and Autumn left the room in deep thought. Oscar squinted and it seemed he was having a conversation with Ozpin over her and left the room to talk to him.

Now it was just Qrow and Lilac. "You need to watch you sister, unless you are secretly in on this two."

"What?" Lilac asked.

"With how long she was gone it almost doesn't makes sense. What could Lionheart even say to her in all that time? To be totally honest I know you couldn't work for Salem. She would have already taken your powers; she's too greedy not to. But your sister on the other hand might not know what Salem could do to the both of you and the rest of the world. Keep an eye on her or I might have to take extremes." Qrow said and sat down at the desk to start drawing out maps and faces.

The 30 minutes came by and Autumn and Oscar came back into the room. "So let's all have a group talk." Qrow said.

For at least 20 minutes Qrow gave Autumn and Lilac a lecture over concealed identities. After that he pulled out his maps and face drawings and showed them to the group. "Now that I've had some spare time as you kids are in class, my nieces and their friends have seen parts of Salem's group running around. Before I ran into all of you I was poisoned by this guy named Tyrian. Here I also saw the group that first attacked during the fallen of Beacon." He showed them the picture but also had a couple more of what he thought could also be people working for Salem. More strategies were talked over and Qrow left go the night. Now the group of three had a lot think over for the night.