Heh - sorry about the long breaks in between updates. I'm genuinely sorry about that. On the bright side, I'm almost done with rewriting chapter nine [thanks again to everyone who pointed out the flaws.]


Yang was exhausted. Today had been a long, long, day. She'd found nothing out about her mother – Though Junior had passed a message that mentioned someone fitting that description a few days ago – so far the lead was as disappointing as it was exhausting. Yawning, she walks past the alleyway, pausing when something taps her foot. Yang kneels, picks up the round object, a chill running up her spine.

It's an emergency flare. One of the Beacon-issued ones. Yang heads down the alleyway, notices the closed doors and windows, runs faster, feet pounding against the ground. Yang skids to a stop, barely holds her own stomach from emptying their contents at the sight of the blood. Her hands shake as she drags the flare along the wall, tossing it into the sky with a brilliant flash and pop. Please don't let me be too late. She opens her hands and presses it against one of the open wounds and wishes she knew more healing than what had been covered so far.


Yang's with her father, numbly allowing his coworkers to take her gloves as evidence, as well as her belted cape.

"Is she going to be okay?" Yang whispers, watches the medics work on the girl in the emergency room with single-minded devotion. Taiyang wraps an arm around her shoulders, presses a kiss against her temple.

"I don't know princess." Taiyang murmurs, looks at her – away from the scene. Her team was devastated – The particularly large one had begged to stay by her side in particular. Her team is here – as is Ruby's – watching the proceedings silently and solemnly. Ruby's team leader was with the medics – They'd pulled him in just in case they needed an Aura battery, and Jaune – at least, that was the name Ruby had rushed out when she was clinging to him – had enough Aura that he'd volunteered without even thinking about it. They'd started pulling Aura about half an hour into her treatment, and had been draining more at a violently worrying pace, Jaune looking a little more haggard and exhausted every time they called him over. The boy was swaying on his feet, but stubbornly loaned every drop of Aura he could, before sliding to his knees in exhaustion as Velvet's condition stabilized.

"Jaune!" Ruby cried out, quivering in place, distress in every line of her body. Ozpin's hands are on her shoulders, keeps her in place. Blake's by her side, arm wrapped around her best friend's waist comfortingly. Ren pats her shoulder in gentle concern, before the doctors waved him closer to take his partner out of the room, and he sweeps in, scooping Jaune up quickly and easily, though the frown on his face does not bode well.

"He's going to be fine." Ozpin tells them when Ren returns. At the skeptical stares, he amends it instantly. "In a week – He'll be unconscious for a good week before I can manage to rouse him even slightly." Raising his voice, he draws the attention of his students.

"All of you, go back to your dorm rooms. Stick together and I'll have Miss Scarlatina transferred over sometime later." There's reluctance on all their faces, but they nod and shuffle off, speaking in hushed voices, Ren clutching his team leader to his chest worriedly. Ozpin nods at Taiyang, and the officer takes the cue to fall into step beside him as Ozpin trails slowly behind his students.

"I didn't know you worked for Special Victims." Ozpin remarks finally, when the last of the students disappear around the corner. Taiyang sighs, tugs on his short hair in silence.

"No – I'm still Serial Incidents division." He confirms. "The murders were labeled as serial a few hours ago." Ozpin winces. "You know the saying. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence,"

"… And three times is enemy action." Ozpin agreed, looking faintly amused. "I remember – I did teach you, impudent whelp." He chuckled, shaking his head back and forth. Taiyang laughs back, hands raised up in surrender. Internally, Ozpin was pleased. It was good to see that Taiyang could still smile, even with the dreary news going on.


When Jaune wakes up, Ozpin's snarling mad – a photo negative of his usual serenity. Leaden arms lift up and he flails pathetically in his attempt to find a clock he can view, though his eyes are tightly shut against the dim lighting. Finally he manages to slap a hand against the offending device, tugging it closer to read the numbers on the display. 11:30 A.M. He frowns, but he can't find a date on this. He doubted he'd been asleep only one day, with how his limbs hurt. He slides out of the bed, wobbling unsteadily on his own two feet, before slowly progressing to the door.

"…Murder. I don't give a fuck what your people have to do, Xiao Long. Find the bastards who did this before I do, otherwise you won't have bodies left if I put my goddamn hands on them!" Jaune slides past his mentor, who seems to brighten at the sight of him, clasping a warm hand to a shoulder and guiding him to a warm, squishy armchair. Jaune drifts back to sleep, curled on the armchair until a warm hand shakes him back awake, making him mumble a little grumpily. A cup is pressed into his hands, and he accepts the beverage, a mouthful of hot coffee slapping him into wakefulness

"You look pale," Ozpin remarks, watching as Jaune dug through his backpack, fishing out his Scroll and setting it aside to look at him. Jaune smiles thinly, and instead takes another sip of coffee.

"How long was I out?" He asks, setting the cup on the table in front of him to pick up his Scroll and open it. Ozpin, distracted by the incoming news feed, answers him idly.

"Nearly a week." The Wizard of Vale is not prepared for Jaune to drop his Scroll, the holographic item nearly breaking in half as he scrambled to catch it before it hit the ground. Thank goodness that the school-issued ones were more durable, he thinks with a slightly blank expression. "Jaune, relax – your team is alright. So is Scarlatina." Jaune slows, hesitation on his features as he realizes how silly he must look. Ozpin has stood to move over and run a hand through tousled blond hair, and Jaune smiles sheepishly.

"I'm sorry sir – I'm just worried. They must be really out of sorts without me." Jaune mumbled, looking at his Scroll despondently. Ozpin pats his head slightly, before picking up his own Scroll and tapping at it.

"It's fine," Ozpin dismisses the concern, smiling. "Let me bring them here for you – so they don't end up in detention for leaving class." Jaune nods, scooping up his cup again and curling in his seat.

"Thank you sir." Jaune mumbles, and the older man nods sincerely, patting Jaune's hair down again as he summons his students for an emergency meeting.

They're remarkably quick – though if that's in part to the speed of Blake and Ruby, he wouldn't know. But it only takes a few minutes before they're all in, and they light up at the sight of their team leader, scrambling over each other to talk at the same time, hugging him and laughing in relief and if there are tears, Ozpin politely looks away.

"I'll leave you all to catch up," He murmurs, collecting the paperwork he had and slipping out of the room. Jaune smiles at his mentor, before it falls and becomes serious as he looks at them.

"I need to tell you guys something."