Hey everyone, it's Christmas time! So, if I recall, the first story of the Chronicles, A Special Semblance, released almost a year ago. Hey, maybe I'll do something special for the one-year anniversary. Who knows? So, Team UCER defeated Team HAUS in the first round of the tournaments, and now it's time for... probably the most anti-climactic chapter of the story. Not a terrible amount of plot, plenty of exposition though! Everyone loves exposition!

(sigh) Look, just don't get your hopes up this chapter, it'll pick back up again soon. Hopefully...

Chapter Twelve - A Secret for A Secret

Me and Ruby walked through a forest, the sun beaming down on us as she directed me to an unknown location. She told me that it was 'a secret' and that it was very important to her and for me to go with her. Her father, Taiyang Xiao Long, had escorted us there, but remained relatively quiet. We reached the edge of the cliffs and Taiyang stood back, giving us room. I glanced at Ruby, who had her hood up, and down at the alter a few feet away. At the top was a rose symbol, noticeably similar to Ruby's own emblem, and an inscription beneath it:

Summer Rose
Thus Kindly I Scatter

"Summer Rose? Your mother?" I asked, and she nodded, looking down at the alter. "Why did you bring me here?" Ruby looked away from the alter and to me.

"Because you've met her before, long before I was born, and i wanted you to see her as she is now." Ruby told me with a sad smile. She looked back at the alter and removed her hood. I glanced at her and remained silent, knowing she wanted to speak alone.

"Hey mom. Sorry I haven't come by in a while. Things have been... well, things have been, pretty busy. Oh, Dad's here too! He's, uh, you know... Dad." She said, shrugging with a grin. "He's still teaching at Signal. But he told me that he's going to be on some mission soon. I think he misses adventuring with you. I miss you too." She said sadly. I put a comforting hand on her shoulder, rubbing it lightly.

"Haven't gotten kicked out of Beacon yet! So that's cool. I think being on a team with Yang helps. Keep her in line... That was a joke. She's actually a really great fighter! You can tell she's learned a lot from Dad! Oh, so are Weiss and Blake. Oh! They're my team mates! Together, we form Team RWBY! And yes, before you ask, that does cause a lot of confusion. Anyways, I made a bunch of new friends, and then I met some... let's just say, uh, odd teachers." She turned to me.

"This is Epsilon, I doubt you'd remember, but you've actually met before, right when you started at Beacon Academy too. He used to just live inside a pair of goggles, and you two never interacted, but you will definitely remember David! David... he's Qrow son, just in case you forgot, he went with me to Beacon for the first couple of semesters, joined our team for quite a while, before making his own team and... finding his true love. But... he had to go, along with his team, and I don't know if he'll ever come back. I miss him."

"Oh! We've also stopped some bad guys, too!" Ruby said with a cheerier expression. "I guess it's like they say: 'like mother, like daughter'! I still wonder why Ozpin let me into the school early. But, uh, I guess he'll tell me one day. You know how he is. It's funny, the more I get to know him, the more he's starting to sound like Uncle Qrow." She stopped when she heard a bark behind her, and turned to see her father with Zwei.

"Oh! Looks like Dad's back! I gotta go! He's dropping us both off at Beacon for the tournament match before he goes on his next mission. With us luck!" She pulled up her hood again and started walking away, before glancing back at the alter. "It was good to talk." She turned back and looked at me. "You coming?"

"In a minute. I just... need to say a thing or two." I tell her, and turned back to Summer's alter as Ruby walked back to her father. I sighed.

"Summer Rose. It's been a good long time since I last saw you, only a few weeks on my half, but decades for you. I can't really say much to you on my behalf, since we had minor interactions, and only one sided as well. But I have to tell you this: You've met David, and he's a good man, he'll protect your daughter at all costs. That was before he met you. Now, he's stronger, he's more skilled, and he's not willing to let people who he cares about go. But, he doesn't care about Ruby as much as he did. The most important people in his life are his team, his girlfriend, his friend-turned-enemy-turned-friend and a child he brought forward to Beacon by four years. Now, nobody knows David like I do, and I know that he'll never let them three go, but he's willing to lose Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss, everyone at Beacon now." I clenched my fist.

"But I wont. I love Ruby and Yang like they are my sisters, the two of them are two of the three most important people in my life, the third being a girl like me. You see, the difference between me and David is that he'll protect what is most important to him at the sacrifice of others. Me, however, I'll protect what is most important to me, but I also protect everyone else. My brother, Ultra, tried to kill everyone at Beacon, including me, but he changed into a psychopath, and I forgave him. Look, Summer, I'm just going to finish on this: Your legacy lives on through Ruby. I will make sure that I will keep her, Yang and their team safe as long as I live. I promise." I knelt down and placed my palm on the alter. "I'll protect what's left of you, Summer Rose." I got back up, gave one last glance at the alter, and ran to catch up to Ruby, a flock of crows leaving the cliff side and in front of the sun.

Present Day...

"I'll have a bowl of the regular, please." Yang requested, and a 'regular' sized bowl of noodles slid in front of her. Ruby turned to her sisters meal with hungry eyes.

"Oohhh... I'll take the same." Ruby ordered, and another bowl of equal size slid in front of her, as she clasped her hands together in happiness and excitement.

"What do you have that is suitable for someone who has just had to fight a team of professional hunters and huntresses in training while also making sure that your brother and his unusual friends don't accidentally kill them? I'm quite hungry." I asked. Another bowl of noodles slid in front of me. "Perfect."

"Do you have anything with a low-salt...?" A bowl of noodles slid in front of Weiss before she finished. "Um... okay..."

Blake nodded with a small smile.

The shopkeep nodded back and rushed into the back of his stall, and came back out with a bowl half filled with noddles and half filled with fish. Blake stared at the bowl with drool spilling from her mouth and literally her eyes glowed like stars. Weiss summoned her credit card branded with the Schnee Dust Company on it and gave it to the shopkeep.

"Aww, Weiss! What's the occasion!?" Yang asked ecstatically.

"Consider it thanks for sending me to the doubles round." Weiss stated with a hint of joy, which immediately disappeared as Weiss's credit card flew across the stall and dug into the table, the five of us turning back to the angry looking shopkeep pointing at the register which said 'DECLINED'. "What?! How can my card be declined? I was barely into my monthly allowance!"

I watched as Blake discretely dragged her food towards her, her grin progressively getting bigger until the shopkeep grabbed it from her. "Nooo!" She slumped onto the table in defeat as I patted her on the back in pity.

"Maybe I can help?" Pyrrha spoke us as she and the rest of Team JNPR approached us.

"Pyrrha!" Ruby yelled in happiness, raising her arms in the air.

"Aww, you don't have too..." Yang said to the redhead.

"But she could!" Blake exclaimed to Yang.

"Blake, don't worry: I've got this." I said, and handed the shopkeep my telepathic paper. He scanned it on the cash machine and it accepted it.

"Well, you certainly earned this meal after that battle." Pyrrha stated.

"Mind if we join you?" Jaune asked. I sighed and turned to the shopkeep.

"Four more."

After the Meal...

The nine of us sat relaxed in our seats after our meal, most of us satisfied with the noodles (and fish) and... one or two looking ill.

"Are you sure it's wise to have eaten before a fight?" Ren asked.

"Of course! It will give us energy!" Pyrrha said enthusiastically as the shopkeep gathered our used bowls at speed beyond the average person... somehow. Nora showed this by giving a strong, hearty belch.

"If I barf, I'm blaming you." Jaune said weakly, upper body splayed over the table.

"Jaune, what doesn't make you barf?" I asked, and everyone silently agreed with the question.

"Ooh! Aim it at the enemy!" Nora suggested, grinning evilly.

"Nora, that's disgusting." Ren said, and turned to Jaune. "But if you feel the urge..."

"Got it." The blonde said with a weak thumbs up.

"Your match begins now, by the way." I told them, knowing from my internal clock.

"Well, we should be off." Pyrrha acknowledged, getting up from her seat.

"So, you guys think you're ready?" Ruby asked.

"Of course! We've got a world-renowned fighter who could defeat a robot on our team, one's basically a ninja, I can bench five of me, Jaune, we trained all year, our weapons are awesome, Glynda barely yells at us anymore, and uh... Jaune!" Nora stated, gesturing to her team leader.

"Are you going to take that?" Ren asked.

"She's not wrong." Jaune said lowly and weakly.

"I'm kidding, he knows I'm kidding." Nora reassured, as the huntress slowly started to loose colour and become grey. "Don't be so nervous! The worst that can happen is:
- we lose,
- that is just a few more years of walking around school with everyone knowing we're failures,
- our friends will slowly abandon us to preserve their social status,
- we won't be able to show our faces in class,
- no one will sit with us in the cafeteria,
- Ren and I have no parents,
- we have no home left to go to!
- We'll be officially renamed Team Lose-iper!" She finished with a mad laugh that turned into sobs as she slammed her head on the table.

"Yeah... Wait, what?" I asked.

"So, yeah, we're feeling pretty good." Ren said, ignoring my question.

"Don't fret. If anything, we should be looking forward to a fight with actual guidelines, and not, well... murderers." Pyrrha pointed out.

"Yeah, don't sweat it, we've all faced way worse before." Yang backed up.

"Let's see." Blake said, counting with her fingers. "Grimm invasions, violent extremists, a psychotic, unkillable android, a destructive sociopath..."

"And that's while we were still in training! Oh, imagine what it will be like to graduate!" Ruby cheered.

"Maybe then I'll be able to pay for a meal..." Weiss mumbled to herself sarcastically. At that point, the intercom went off.

"Would Team JNPR report to the battlegrounds immediately!" Port announced.

"I told-"

"Yes! Like they were scheduled to. Several. Minutes. Ago!" Oobleck finished loudly, causing us all (but me) to wince in pain.

"I told you earlier. I warned you." I told them, rubbing my ears.

"Well, it looks like this is it." Pyrrha stated. We all got up and went our respective ways.

"Go get 'em!" Ruby yelled to them.

Amity Coliseum...

The five of us walked through the tunnel, me holding a large bucket of popcorn, per Yang's request, and into the stands where the seats were, quietly talking to each other as we readied to watch Team JNPR's match. Behind us, Mercury and Emerald walked out of the same tunnel and walked the opposite direction. As we moved apart, Yang turned and glanced at the pair. I raised an eyebrow.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"... there's something I don't trust about them. Especially the girl. She seems too... cheerful around us." Yang said, narrowing her eyes at Emerald.

"Trust me, the feeling is mutual." I agreed. She turned to me.

"Is there something that you're not telling me?" Yang interrogated me.

"I'll tell you later, when it's more private." I told her, and she nodded. We took our seats as the fight between our fellow team and the team from Shade began their fight.

Crow Bar...

"What is your favourite fairy tale?" Qrow asked Ultra, as he took a sip from his shot.

"Really, gonna open with this. Fine. I know pretty much every fairy tale ever written, sine I've basically been inside the database of all knowledge. But if I had to pick one... The Tale of the Four Seasons." Ultra told the hunter.

"Well, that's pretty convenient. I guess you know the story." He stated.

"Yeah, some bull about four maidens getting power from some hermit geezer. The four seasons: Spring, Summer, Winter and Autumn. I'm British, so I'm using Autumn, not Fall." Ultra answered.

"What if I told you that those fairy tales were actually real events?" He asked, leaning closer and getting quieter to not get caught by the Bartender.

"I'd believe you." He responded easily.

"Well, they're rea- Wait, really? That easily?" Qrow asked, somewhat surprised.

"Look, there are two reasons why: first off, I'm an android that is made out of an indestructible metal that can mimic the appearance of anyone I touch, so it's not too hard to believe. And secondly, why would you bring it up otherwise?" He asked. Qrow just 'hmm'd' to this.

"Sound logic. Look, your a danger to everyone around you, even to me, which is exactly what I asked you here for. But you need to tell me that you'll keep this a secret." Qrow told him.

"Alright, a secret for a secret: Nobody knows how to kill me, but there is a way I can die. If it ever comes to it, you'll be the only one who can." Ultra told Qrow, who nodded.

"The fall maiden, Amber, has had half of her power taken from her by an unknown assailant. She's in a comatose state, kept alive by Atlas technology provided by Jimmy." Qrow said in a hushed tone.

"Attacked? Aren't maidens supposed to die and their powers pass to the next candidate for the maiden?" The android asked.

"They do. Maiden dies, last thought of a youthful woman is who the next candidate is. So no male maidens and no old hags. This, however, is a first time event: A maiden has never had half of their power taken." He said to Ultra.

"Wait, how do you know all this?" Ultra asked, shaking his hand in confusion.

"One second." Qrow said, and looked at the TV, seeing Nora smash her hammer into Team BRNZ, ending the match.

"Huh, those kids weren't half bad." The Bartender stated. Qrow just grunted and took a swig of his drink. He turned and looked at Ultra. "Hey, wasn't your match earlier today?"

"Sure was. You like it?" Ultra asked with a cocky grin.

"Well... it seemed kind of brutal. I mean, congrats for winning, but you were kind of rough against the other team." The Bartender said, somewhat cautiously. Qrow just chuckled.

"Brutality? You think it's bad they did that? A true hunter shows no remorse against their enemies. The Grimm aren't going to, why should you." Qrow told him, and he just went back to cleaning glasses.

"You were saying." Ultra gestured to continue.

"Me, Ozpin, Jimmy, Glynda and the three other academy leaders, we form a group of people who protect the Maidens and kept them a secret to the public. That's why even you don't know much about them. We form a brotherhood of sorts, and I want you to join." Qrow told me.

"Why me? I'm a psychopath, I'm a murderer, I think, and I've mentally damaged your own niece." Ultra asked, getting an annoyed look from Qrow.

"While I am very annoyed at that you did to my niece, you showed me something others cannot do: determination. You literally attacked an academy full of hunters-in-training just to get one girl. That's something that our group needs, but what we don't need is more lack of being discreet." Qrow said angrily.

"Hey, I'm a changed robot now, no more attacking academies to cause mass panic and being all over the news, even though I love attention." Ultra stated, gesturing to himself.

"Don't we all." Qrow agreed. They turned to the Bartender when he whistled.

"Now that was a match!" He cheered as Sun and Neptune danced on the screen in victory.

"Heh, that was a mess!" Qrow stated with a slur in his voice.

"Come on man! So far the only match you liked was his and his teams, and that was ages ago. What fight are you here for?" The Bartender asked, looking away as Ultra glared at him. At that point, Qrow glanced behind him as a small, delicate ship flew past the bar from a distance, with elegant ribbons behind it.

"That one." He said simply, downing his drink and slamming it on the table, followed by a couple of lien cards. "Happy Vytal Festival!" He finished and left the bar with a stumble.

"I... better go make sure he doesn't, you know... die. But he won't, canon character and all." Ultra said, and quickly left with his black coat lifting in the air as he ran to catch up with Qrow.

"So, decided to come along?" Qrow asked.

"One more question, before I agree to this 'brotherhood'." Ultra said, and Qrow raised an eyebrow. "How the hell are you going to fight Winter Schnee when you're barely able to walk."

"I'm not gonna fight her." Qrow said, and pushed a finger on Ultra's chest. "You are." Ultra grinned in anticipation.

End of Chapter Twelve

Alright, so this chapter didn't go horribly bad, thank god. Yes, the Epsilon side of the story was almost identical to the main story, but it's meant too. I'll change it more later on, but for now, plot is plot. Ultra will have equal amount of plot with Epsilon, maybe even more depending on how the canon story goes. Let's just say this is how it will work: Epsilon sticks with Team RWBY and other students at Beacon. Ultra sticks with Qrow and the Brotherhood and the story of the maidens. If their paths cross again outside of fighting in the tournament, that is entirely determined by the story's plot. Now, for the ever-present story recommendation:

Name: Prove Me Wrong

Author: Sachiel21

General Synopsis: A series of related one shots in chronological order of Blake and Yang's relationship as they grow closer together. Bumblebee fluff. First fanfic ever. Rating may change later.

As always, follow, favourite, leave review, see you in thirteen.