Ch. 10 – A Family Again

"Where were you even trying to go?" Weiss was asking Ruby as she found her and was walking down the hallway with her.

"Well, when we were rescuing Uncle Qrow, I saw some big knights with armor! Like the one you summon!" she bounced and stopped. "I don't know where it was." she scratched her head.

"That's the stairway in the north wing." Weiss identified it. "It's actually on the other side of the atrium. But, it's close. Come on..." Weiss smiled and picked up her pace and Ruby excitedly trailed behind her. Upon reaching the corner, they abruptly stopped as Winter strolled in front of them, coming towards the atrium from the other hallway.

"Hi!" Ruby grinned and waved as if they had not met in a while.

"And what are you two doing here?" Winter asked, in a familial tone, instead of her usual demeanor.

"I'm going to show Ruby the suits of armor in the northern wing." Weiss replied. "Are you still looking for mother?" she asked, raising a brow.

"She's in there!" Ruby pointed towards the garden. "Somewhere." she waved her hand, in the general direction.

"I suspected as much." Winter said, unsurprised.

"Ruby actually ran into her, by herself, before I found her." Weiss noted and Winter raised a brow at Ruby.

"Got lost, did you?" Winter had a knowing smile. "Weiss used to not find her way around, when she was very little. Either me or Klein had to come and find her as she wept in the middle of the garden maze or somewhere in the staff quarters." Weiss made a frowny face at her, as Ruby snickered. "I saw him catering to your friends, in the kitchen, already. Lunch will be an ordeal." she said with a flat tone.

"Why do I have a feeling you're talking about Nora?" Weiss certainly gotten to know her habits better, over the weeks they spent in Mistral.

"Well, the two boys are more well-mannered." Winter noted.

"Two?" Ruby cocked her head.

"I haven't seen Oscar." Winter replied.

"I hope he didn't get lost." Weiss quietly said. "He's even less used to places like this than you are." she looked at Ruby, with some slight worry, who agreed with her.

…

"So...this is reincarnation." Willow looked him up and down. "Your new life."

"And when we succeed, it will hopefully be my last." Ozpin looked up, at the domed sky.

"You could be free. Released from the curse of the Gods." Willow understood.

"Yes. However, right now, it isn't only my life. It is Oscar's, first and foremost." He spread his arms and hands, looking at himself. "The young man you see has already accepted the responsibility my reincarnation had brought upon him. It is...never easy to prepare another soul to carry this burden."

"I never thought I would actually live long enough to see it." Willow said. "When I heard what happened at Beacon, as scant as the information was, I knew there had to be someone…formidable."

"She was." Ozpin lowered his gaze. "The power she fought me with she stole from the Fall Maiden." he told her and her eyes widened. "With the help of Salem." he added and her eyes narrowed back.

"You had to know you stood little chance against her, on your own, even if that power came from you." Willow replied.

"I had no choice but to face her. To try and stop her. I held no illusions about my odds." Ozpin kept his gaze on the ground.

"And at Haven?" Willow asked and he looked up at her. "What became of her and Spring?"

"It…is unclear. According to Miz Xiao Long, one of my students from Beacon and your daughter's teammate, the vault had already been opened by the time she arrived, with the relic still inside. Vernal…the young woman who held the Spring Maiden's power had already perished, at the hands of the woman named Cinder, who is stealing their power…as much for herself as she is for Salem."

"Then Fall and Spring have both…" she started.

"Who they were…is lost. Yes." he confirmed with regret. "We do not know where Cinder is. If she had also died. In which case, the power seeking out a new host, one potentially being close to her or Salem, could mean complications."

"Wait…" Willow started. "Who, then, defeated this Cinder? And why was the relic still inside?"

"There was…a third person, down in the vault, with Cinder and Spring." Willow raised a brow.

"Miz Xiao Long's mother. She was also a student of mine, but sadly grew mistrustful of me and have returned to…her roots, in Mistral, as the leader of a tribe of bandits." Willow made a face, wondering how someone with such origins tied into it all.

"And you think she could have defeated this Cinder, who had the power of not one, but two Maidens?" she asked, highly doubtful.

"Miz Xiao Long told us she found no one in the vault. Whether her mother had engaged Cinder in a fight or not we cannot know."

"If…she's telling the truth." Willow said with suspicion and Ozpin leaned back, considering Yang may have lied, for the first time. "Surely you did not think you were the only one keeping things to yourself. Or simply omitting parts from your narrative." she rhetorically asked and Ozpin remained silent. "Her mother…" he slowly looked up at her, again. "I still do not quite understand how she factors into it all."

"Vernal was…her right-hand. Hher protégé, as far as I was able to discern. From what I've seen of her skills, in combat, she was exceptionally skilled. And so is Raven. Miss Xiao Long's mother." he added and Willow lowered her eyes-lids, reading more into his words of her prowess.

"Then perhaps she is even more skilled than you thought." she said.

"Yes. As was Miz Nikos." Ozpin said and she slightly tilted her head, blinking once. "The student who I was convinced could inherit Fall's power. She was willing to. However, circumstances…changed. And Cinder acquired the rest of her power before we could attempt to transfer what she head left to Miz Nikos." Willow looked at him with suspicion.

"And how were you planning on accomplishing that, exactly?" she raised a brow and Ozpin was reluctant to tell her of the methods Ironwood and their inner circle had devised as it was more than morally questionable, even given a willing soul.

"We have disc…-" Ozpin started.

"What are you doing here?" They looked up to see Winter walking towards them, her eyes narrowing on him as she looked between them. She noted his posture. "Professor?" she asked, to confirm it was him, as she suspected, much to her mother's surprise.

"Yes. Miz Schnee." he nodded.

"She knows?" Willow turned to him.

"You know about him?" Winter asked her and her mother turned to her.

"You could have mentioned that, at the beginning." Willow glanced at Ozpin, with a slight glare, who winced a little.

"I…didn't think we would be...interrupted." he said, looking up at Winter, then averting his eyes, with some slight, uncharacteristic nervousness, as she glared at him.

"And what exactly am I interrupting?" Winter started, then looked between them. "How do you even know each other?" Looked at the mother. "How do you know what he is!?" she asked. "What else do you know? And what else have you known, all this time?" she was yelling. "What else is there between you?" she leaned closer. "Were you…" she stepped back to stare at them. "Were you involved!?"

Their eyes widened and a second later, to Winter's surprise, her mother burst out laughing, for several long seconds and it started to grate on her nerves, even though it did not sound forced, but genuine. She slowly stopped, taking a breath, as she placed a hand on her chest.

"Oh, I never expected any of my children, least of all my eldest, to have such a wild imagination." Willow stated, with a smile Winter had not seen in years, but it was not enough to deter her from wanting to know the truth.

"Then what is this?" Winter demanded to know, looking at Ozpin.

"I am merely catching up with...an old friend." He looked at Willow, with a slight smile." Pardon the adjective." he added.

"Oh, no need to mince words. I am certainly not getting any younger." she said with a self-deprecating laugh. "Unlike you." she added with mild jealousy and their familiarity only annoyed Winter.

"Considering the cost of the clock repeatedly winding back for me, no one should be envious of my situation." Ozpin mused.

"Don't play coy with me! Either of you!" Winter quickly had enough and both were taken aback.

"Winter!" Her mother glared at her. "Mind your tone!" she told her and Winter seemed to flinch only mildly from her words, as she was not a little girl her mother could just yell at, anymore. "It was enough you assumed we were involved. What were you thinking?" Willow asked.

"I don't know what to think, anymore!" Winter yelled, again, slightly shaking her head and both were surprised by her inner conflict that came to the surface then. She looked at Ozpin. "Him. Immortality. Reincarnation. Relics. Maidens. Past lives. He knew our grandfather, for the gods' sake!" she gestured at him as she looked at her mother. "How could I not think he wasn't…even more familiar with our family?" she balled her fists. Ozpin knew everyone he told the truth, in the past few days, had to be struggling with it, each in their own way. And it seemed Winter had…additional concerns, as well.

"I can assure you he wasn't. Not…in that way." Willow did not exactly clarify.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Winter asked.

"Your mother and I have simply known each other, since our youth." Ozpin said.

"That still doesn't explain why she would know…of you, this way." Winter gestured at his appearance. "Why you would tell her. And at what point." she added.

"The same reason he told a few others. He needed allies. And given my position and…skills, he thought I could be one." Willow gave a simple explanation she hoped would satisfy her eldest.

"Well…" Winter started. "Then I'm sure he was disappointed you spent the last few years within these four walls, drinking." she frowned at her and Willow's eyes widened, before she rose to her feet, glaring at her.

"How dare you?" She took a step towards her and Winter did the same, making a stand.

"We barely speak." Winter started. "We've barely spoken, even before I left to serve and Weiss hardly ever saw you. Two of her teammates actually grew up without a mother and you know what she told them when they said she was lucky to have had one? She told them she barely had one in her life, herself." Willow's eyes widened. "So, how dare you?" Winter retorted.

"Enough! Please…" Ozpin stood between, holding up his hands. "Today…is a new beginning. For your family." he reminded them. "Do not let the past continue to divide you, when you…" he glanced at the noticeable untouched wine next to him. "Can start anew." he said. Winter briefly followed his gaze. "I have a feeling…" Ozpin glanced at it, again. "You may have already taken a first step. I can see it. And I know if you look deeper, Miz Schnee…" he turned to Winter. "You can, as well." He diffused the tension, though it lingered some as Winter and her mother were looking each other in the eye, unblinking. One searching for that new will, the other, for forgiveness. Willow looked at Ozpin.

"Well, don't flatter yourself, it wasn't anything you just said." she told him and he raised a brow. "It was actually that girl. Weiss'…friend." Ozpin raised a brow. "The one with…" Willow quickly glanced at Winter, then back at Ozpin. "The silver eyes."

"Ah, Miz Rose. Yes…"Ozpin smiled to himself. "I'm not surprised. Hers is truly a pure soul. She simply has…an effect on those around her." He looked at Winter, who looked at her feet in silent agreement.

…

"Oh, wooow!" Ruby's child-like, cheerful cry echoed throughout the stairway and its connecting halls as she ran up to the twin suits of armor that flanked the stairs leading up to the curved balconies on both sides, shining in the light that came through the triptych of arched windows. "They're totally look like your summon!"

"Well, like my sister explained, it is. I defeated a Geist…actually there was more than one that was possessing it, so now I can summon it. And I…" Weiss looked at her feet. "Guess I was relying on it a little too much." From slight embarrassment, remembering her fight against Vernal.

"It's so amazing!" Ruby turned to her, gushing. "You can do so much with your semblance! You could, like, turn into an old lady and still don't know all of the cool things you can do with it!" she pointed out and Weiss looked at her in surprise, then smiled.

"You might be right." she had to admit. But more importantly, she was looking at the smile that assured her Ruby was truly herself and it mattered to her more and more, every time she saw it.

"Weiss…?" Weiss blinked, returning from her thoughts to Ruby's slightly tilted face.

"Oh…um…" Weiss averted her eyes. "I…just thought we could all have lunch." she told Ruby, with a smile, not actually lying. "We should find the others and go to the dining room."

"Oh. Okay!" Ruby smiled, raising her fists in front of her, giddily. "Those snacks I had in the city were only good for…" she looked away. "Uh…snacks." she finished with a silly grin and Weiss turned from her with a smile.

"This way." she said with an almost sing-song voice and started to walk back from where they came from. She felt Ruby take hold of her arms from behind, giggling mischievously and from the corner of her widened eyes Weiss could see her grin. "Wait! Ruby, no!" she pleaded and was a ball of red and white blur in the next second, flying down the hall.

…

In the dining room, Klein requested an extra table to be placed together with the one the Schnee family used to eat together at, with more chairs to seat their unusual guests. The kitchen staff was giving Jaune, Ren and Nora odd looks, as they set the table for them. The latter was fidgeting, barely able to sit still, as they waited. They saw a red and white blur fly along the columns of the arches that led into the room and it overshot the entrance. Ruby and Weiss emerged from it and the latter lightly shoved the former with a frowning smile.

"Oh, you're incorrigible!" she told her, laughingly.

"Uh..." Ruby looked up and away, not getting the word and Weiss shook her head.

"I'm starting to get used to it, at least." she muttered, as she felt her stomach, mentally noting it was not upset and Ruby grinned, then prepared to grab her, again, but Weiss held up her index-finger.

"No!" she stopped her and Ruby pouted. "The dining room is just here." she said, grabbing her hand and leading her inside, where the others were already looking at them.

"Hey." Jaune said and Klein came out of the kitchen.

"Oh, you made it! Excellent!" he exclaimed "Lunch will be seh'ved, sho'thly, albeit a tad late." he told them, as Blake and Yang walked in, behind Weiss and Ruby.

"Well, that's what happens when you gotta fight a bunch of goons and take back a company, right?" Yang commented, nudging Weiss as they passed them. It was already well-passed lunch-time.

"I thought you'd be here, already." Weiss turned after her, then looked at Blake as she stopped next to her. "Eating fishcakes." she added, looking at her.

"That's still the plan." Yang said over her shoulder and sat across from Jaune. "We checked out your room, first." she added with a smirk and Weiss glanced at Blake, with a stare back at Yang.

"I thought you were just joking about that." she said.

"And I thought you were joking about the size of your bed, Princess." Yang teased and Weiss had a small frown that was still a smile as she approached the table with Blake and Ruby. The latter ran around to sit across from her, next to Nora, on the side, while Blake sat between Weiss and Yang.

"Where's Oscar?" Blake asked, noticing his absence as they settled in their chairs.

"Still in the restroom, maybe?" Jaune shrugged.

"That's gotta be weird." Yang muttered.

"What?" Blake asked.

"You know, having Ozpin, of all people, in his head all the time, even...when...he's..." she randomly gestured with her hand, not wanting to finish the thought, as everyone was already staring. Members of the kitchen staff appeared with the first dishes, just then.

"Aaand we're eating." Blake awkwardly exclaimed, as the timing was perfect to leave Yang's sentence hanging.

Their plates were filled with generous portions that smelled mouth-watering and even though they have been eating regularly at the academy's cafeteria and snacking in the Arts Wing's buffet, they hungrily started to shovel the food, except for Ren and Weiss, who had the best table-manners. Jaune and Yang came in second. Blake could hardly keep her cat-side contained at the fishcakes, which she was nearly cramming in, barely finishing one, before she reached for another. Yang's giggle made her aware of it and she slowed herself, in contrast to Nora and Ruby, who came in last, getting into brief hand-slapping scuffles with each other, as they tried to reach for the same plates of delicacies.

Weiss paused and kept smiling at them, then to herself as she was reminded of their antics at Beacon, not noticing the two had stopped and Ruby even called her name. A pea bounced off her forehead and brought her back and she blinked in surprise at a snickering Ruby. She squinted at her, then had a small smirk and a white glyph appeared under a salad-bowl, at Ruby's side. She turned her head towards it, then jerked back in alarm as it exploded, covering her in a mix of vegetable dressings and she blinked in shock at a softly giggling Weiss. Ruby slammed her palms on the table.

"This...means..." She stood. "WAR!" she exclaimed and eyes widened. Those of the staff were filled with horror.

...

"I am not sure how she will even respond to me." Willow was referring to Weiss, as she, Winter and, as everyone else was concerned, Oscar was walking with them.

"They have already experienced what children of their age rarely do." Ozpin was saying. "And even before all the hardship, your daughter was exposed to individuals who changed her in ways perhaps even she herself never thought she needed to." They were approaching the dining room.

"I...missed out on so much, even though we lived within the same walls." Willow mused, with regret.

"The walls that aren't literal often matter more." Ozpin said.

"Talking to her may be simpler than you think." Winter told her mother. "She's become a lot more mature, in just these past few months and after her time at Beacon, than she ever could have, had she stayed here." she noted as they could hear laughter and the distinct mad cackling of a girl coming from the room.

They arrived on a battlefield, where scorch marks and shells were, instead, all kinds of spattered sauces and exploded plastic bottles of condiments. Blake and Yang were hiding under the table, with the latter placing a foot out to support herself on and shot another bottle that Blake threw, then quickly ducked back under to avoid the rain of mustard that fell on Nora, who was on top of the table. Jaune and Ren watched from behind the thick curtains of the windows.

"Grrrr...hey! Who dares to hide under my castle!?" Nora demanded in character and several glyphs appeared under the scattered chunks of fish and pork, all aimed at her.

"You're in my castle!" Weiss stated with a smirk and launched all of it at Nora, who got hit from all sides and was knocked off the table by a turkey hitting her in the face. Ruby jumped in her place.

"Treason!" Ruby exclaimed, accusingly pointing a finger at Weiss.

"Can't be treason, if I'm the Queen." Weiss smugly pointed out.

"On your guard!" Ruby whipped out a bottle of mayonnaise and pounced. Weiss blocked her with a repulsing glyph, sending her flying backwards, but Ruby used her semblance to zig-zag around it and burst out from her petals, tackling Weiss to the ground. They rolled along, with Ruby ending up under her, as Weiss wrestled the bottle away from her, both giggling all the way through it. She raised it, with both hands, over Ruby, who shielded her face as Weiss had a devilish smile, ready to spray her. She victoriously straightened up and lifted it over her head, as if she was going to deliver the final strike, but stopped, her happiness freezing, then quickly vanishing from her face, when she saw not just her sister and Oscar, but her mother, standing in the entrance.

Most of them stared, as deer caught in the headlights, at the woman, as Klein cleared his throat, perhaps in embarrassment that he let it all happen. "Lady, Willow! H-how wondeh'ful to see you...out and...about." he went quiet, mostly from surprise that she was not disapprovingly piercing everyone with her gaze, as he expected she would. She kept holding her daughter's gaze and neither of them knew what to say to each other. Weiss finally averted her eyes and though she felt embarrassed, the color in her cheeks was gone, as was the genuine joy her mother witnessed, for the first time, after years. And was crushed that she caused it to immediately disappear. Her gaze fell on Ruby, under her daughter, whose silver eyes were awkwardly looking up at her, upside down.

"Reenacting your fun and games at Beacon, I see." A smiling Oscar spoke. Or so they thought, at first. Weiss blinked several times, as she registered it had to be Ozpin.

"Professor?" Ruby tilted her head, as she was, still upside down. Yang and Blake came out from under the table, while Jaune and Ren came forth from behind the curtains and Nora stood, as well.

"Yes." he nodded, as the kitchen staff were still hiding from the mayhem they were causing and Weiss looked between him and her mother, who briefly averted her eyes, before she found her surprised gaze, again.

"WwowW!" Nora zipped to and around Willow, slightly startling her and draw everyone's attention, as she was suddenly back at the table. "We got three Ice Queens, now! And every one of 'em is bigger than the last one!" she raised her arms to gesture, then put them together in front of herself. "It's like those stacking dolls you open and they get smaller, but the other way around!" she exclaimed, spreading her arms for effect, briefly lifting the tension. Weiss glanced at Ozpin, before she looked at her mother, with a face that told Willow her daughter obviously wanted answers, but knew not where to even start. And neither did her. Ruby felt Weiss move as the latter slowly started to stand and she sat up, silently looking at her and saw how nervous she was.

"Weiss…?" she quietly wanted to ask if she was alright and Weiss' gaze was quickly on her. She leaned back down to help her up, but Ruby could feel, as Weiss was looking her in the eyes, it was not her who was being supported. Weiss was the one who was holding onto her for help, in fact. Even if Ruby could not give it in words. She slowly let go of Ruby's hand and approached her mother.

"Mother." she said, standing firm and even though she was finding it even more difficult than it was with the crowd and the media, she was facing down one last shadow from her past that needed, not conquering, but understanding and forgiveness, so it would not remain a void in her life. Ruby was thinking it would be rude to say anything, but her own mother came to mind and how much she would have liked to hug her. And she could not stand seeing Weiss and her mother being so distant, as if they were strangers, with no love between them, even as they stood in front of each other. Everyone watched, almost in awe as Ruby took a few steps towards Weiss, who was surprised by a light push from behind her, then another and she turned her head to see Ruby was nudging her towards her mother, with eyes that nearly cried, silently telling her to just go. Ruby gently pushed her for a fourth time and Weiss was directly in front of her mother, staring up at her.

Willow kept glancing between her daughter and her friend, the little innocent girl who, even know, as she barely knew anything about her, besides her name and her special heritage, was already helping both of them heal. Winter kept blinking away the tears she felt forming, as she looked at Ruby and what she was doing. Weiss' eyes wavered and she shut them as she hugged her mother. Willow felt her warm weight against her, while a different kind of weight was beginning to lift from her, as she slightly bent down to embrace the daughter she also neglected and the one who suffered even more because of it. She opened her eyes, after long seconds and stepped back to look at her daughter, cupping her face with a hand and trailing the scar over her eye as shame washed across her face.

"I…was a terrible mother for you both. For far too long." she acknowledged.

"Eh, they could do worse." Yang folded her arms.

"Yang!" Blake turned to her as the three Schnees stared at her.

"What?" Yang shrugged. "Just putting it out there. She can't be a bad person if she's already hugging her, especially with all of us, here, like this. Even her sister wouldn't do that, at first." she smirked, winked and blew a little raspberry at Winter, who groaned, but barely narrowed her eyes.

"Well, that's true." Weiss muttered and Winter turned to her with a stare to see a small smile tugging at her sister's lips and she gave her half a frown, with half a glare, but was actually happy that Weiss was reacting to it all in such a way.

"Yeah's ago, Lady Willow would have been furious at such antics." Klein walked up, holding a hand-towel behind his back. "And Lady Winter, as well. But, now…"

"The air feels different." Winter said, with a small smile, musing as much to herself as she did outward. She looked at her sister, who looked at their mother. It was, indeed, a new beginning to their family. Willow noticed Weiss' glance at a smiling Ozpin, before she looked up at her, again.

"We have much to discuss." she told her and Weiss briefly lowered her gaze, then looked back up with a serious nod. Willow could see she was obviously upset that she knew about certain things, like Ozpin.

"So you can talk, again, huh." Yang said to Ozpin.

"Yes. Though, I'm afraid I have yet to regain most of my strength. Should the enemy attack, I will not be able to fight." Ozpin told them.

"We're good, as long as it's not that…" Yang paused. "Hazel guy, who had it in for you." She recalled the name Oscar told them, after the fight.

"We have not been able to train, since we left Mistral. And since an attack is imminent, we cannot afford to exhaust ourselves, when the true battle could happen at any moment. With that said, the group of mercenaries you have dispatched served well to keep all of you in your element, at least." he commented with a smile.

"I cannot believe he went so far as to try to have you kidnapped." Willow said, looking at Weiss.

"Unfortunately, underestimating the students is a mistake our enemies will not make, again." Ozpin said. "They have learned, especially since Haven that they must not take any of you lightly. Thus far, you have-…"

"Hey!" Qrow's voice interrupted him and they turned to see him and Ironwood walking into the room. "We've been lookin' fer all o' you!" he said with some irritation, then stopped as he saw the mess.

"We have a critical matter to…" Ironwood stopped, in surprise, first at the mess, then when he saw who was there. "Willow." he acknowledge her. "You're…a rare sight." he said.

"Yes, I have become keenly aware of that, myself, James." she replied. "Now, what it is you want?"

"I'm afraid that's…a matter I can only discuss with the children, here, as strange as it may sound." Ironwood explained, assuming she found it odd and Willow could see he was mentally taxed.

"Oh?" she raised a brow and glanced at Ozpin. "Well, unless Oz thinks I cannot be trusted to hear anything, I will insist." she assertively told him, with some mild smugness and Ironwood looked at Oscar in surprise.

"James." he greeted him with a small smile.

"Oz…!" Ironwood slowly absorbed he was talking to the friend who effectively died at Beacon and whose friendship and trust he almost lost, in the end. He grabbed him by the shoulder, with a sudden look of desperation. "You have to tell me what we're up against!" he shook him, much to his surprise. "What the relic does!" Another shake. "Why aren't they attacking us!?" Again. "What are they waiting for!?" One more. "We have to-…!" he was pulled up by his collar and Willow slapped him across the face, to everyone's shock, but most of all to his.

"Pull yourself together, James!" she commandingly said. "I am the last person who has the right to tell anyone such. You're acting like a lost boy."

"I'm…sorry." Ironwood quietly said, feeling his face, embarrassed at his outburst and Qrow started laughing.

"I like 'er." he said, grinning like an idiot at Willow.

"And you are…?" she fixed him with the same look. "You smell worse than me after a long day." she told him, self-deprecatingly and Qrow briefly stared.

"Okay. I'll take it back." he smirked. "I really like 'er." he said and Winter took a step towards him with a low growl, but only with a mild glare and he kept quietly laughing to himself. Willow sighed, unamused and unflattered.

"Why are you here?" she turned to Ironwood, who composed himself.

"We…should discuss it in my office. Or…Jacque's. It is closer." Ironwood said, pulling himself together.

"Not all of us are, here." Ren pointed out.

"Indeed." Ozpin agreed. "Ghira and the other students should be present."

"I'll call Sun and tell them where we are." Blake said and took her scroll out. "He'll find my dad."

"Good thing, too." Qrow muttered. "The other sun would go down by the time we'd get back outta this place. Not that I don't want to." he added with some mild disgust. "I think I saw a few bottles o' the good stuff in that office, at least."

"Then let's just go and wait for the others, there." Ironwood said, awkwardly glancing at Willow as he turned to lead them with Qrow and nearly shrunk under the stern look she was still giving him. Willow turned, stepped closer and put an arm around Weiss, resting it on her shoulder that she was still apologizing to her with, as she turned with her to follow Ironwood. Weiss turned her head to look at and extend a hand to Ruby.

"Come on, you." she smiled, warmly. Ruby went to her side, still somewhat awkwardly, as she wanted Weiss and her mother to bond, but Weiss took her hand as she saw her hesitance.

"Hey, Princess…" Qrow nodded to Weiss, who blinked at him in surprise and he took his flask out. "Congratulations, by the way, on cleanin' house." he noted, taking a swig.

"We saw it on the news." Ironwood said, turning his head. "I honestly didn't think it would come to an end this fast."

"I did not think it would ever end." Willow heavily said, as she gave her daughter's shoulder a squeeze, gazing proudly at her.

"I couldn't have done it alone." Weiss said as she glanced at the others, while squeezing Ruby's hand and looked at her with a radiance her mother could not help but notice.

…

In an alleyway, on the outskirts of the capital, Emerald was listening to a radio-broadcast, on her scroll, that was reporting on the attacks at the facility and the arrest of Jacque Schnee, again, with no further details on either that the authorities were willing to share with the public. She was startled by light footsteps and pushed off from the wall, putting her scroll away and reaching for one of her weapons with the other, only to see it was Adam who finally arrived and found her.

"Took you long enough." she muttered, relaxing and raised a brow when she got no response, as Adam silently stood, not even moving. She sighed. "And now I'm gonna have to wait until night with you." she stated. "Great." she dryly added and could barely look at him. She felt like she was seeing only an empty shell and it unnerved her.