Chapter 20: The Cowardly Lion
"Really Uncle Qrow?!" Ruby asked.
"Yep, he got back last night," Qrow replied. "If we're gonna go see him, we'd better go now."
"Well, what're we waiting for? Let's GO!" Nora shouted and proceeded to take off out the door only to be caught by Ren by the sleeve. "Hey Ren! What's the big idea?"
"I don't think it's that simple Nora," Ren said.
"He's right," Roland said. "We need to approach this carefully. It's only a theory but Lionheart may be hiding something."
"Right," Qrow said. "We need a plan in order to find out what he knows."
"I can help," Oscar said. "Or rather, Ozpin can help. He has something that can get Lionheart to talk."
"So what is it?" Ruby asked.
"Ozpin won't say," Oscar replied.
"Oh. I wonder what it is." Ruby said.
"Alright, we'll take that into account," Roland said. "We should organize a group to talk to Lionheart, and we'll definitely need Oscar when we talk to him."
"Actually, I think Oscar and I will talk to him," Qrow said. "The rest of you will wait here until we get back."
"Very well," Roland replied. "The two of you will know what to do."
"But Uncle Qrow!" Ruby said. "I want to help too!"
"You already have Ruby," Qrow replied. "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here. Just let me get this, I'm sure there will be more to do after we get back."
"But-"
"Not this time Ruby, I mean it." Ruby listens to Qrow but looks disappointed. "How about the rest of you?" Qrow continued. Everyone else agreed with the plan and Qrow and Oscar set off. "Hmph!" Ruby said. "It was just like when we fought Tyrian…"
Yang put her hand on Ruby's head and said, "It's ok Ruby. Uncle Qrow knows what he's doing. They'll be fine."
"There may be something you can do," Roland chimed in.
Ruby's face brightened up. "What is it?" she enthusiastically said.
"It is possible this plan may fail in Lionheart giving no information. So I've devised a plan B. All of us here will go to Lionheart as potential students. We'll tell him we're transferring from Beacon since, well you know. We'll ask about the school and tell him we're looking for a friend, a friend named Cinder. It's no guarantee we'll get information but it's another shot we can take. This way, you can still help, Ruby." Roland then smiled.
Ruby jumped up for joy. "Wow! Thank you Roland!"
"That's actually brilliant plan," Ren said. "It just might work."
"Get used to it," Yang said. "He comes up with brilliant plans a lot. I saw him cook up plenty of plans on our journey here." She then winked at Roland.
Roland grew embarrassed and laughed nervously. "Stop it you guys. You're embarrassing me."
"You don't do well with praise do you?" Jaune asked Roland.
"Heh, nope," Roland replied. "I'm just so used to doing things and moving on."
"You and me both Roland. I think we're going to get along just fine."
"I agree Jaune."
"So, what are we going to do now?" Yang asked.
"Well, hang out I guess," Ruby said.
"Why don't we see the sights?" Roland suggested. "This is my first time seeing Mistral." Everyone then agrees and all of them head out to town.
They all returned after a couple of hours and find that the room is still empty. They look around to see if Qrow or Oscar had returned and find nothing. Just as Ruby was about to say something, the door is thrown open and a disgruntled Qrow storms in and plops down on his bed. "Uh, Uncle Qrow, what happened?" Ruby asked.
"Humph! That coward Lionheart happened!" he snapped. "That fool gave us nothing and had the audacity to throw us out!"
"Well, you did start shouting at him and broke his coffee mug," Oscar said. "I thought for sure Ozpin's plan would work…"
"Well, it didn't!" Qrow said. "You'll have to excuse me, I need a drink…" Qrow then left the room, slamming the door behind him.
"That bad huh?" Roland said to Oscar.
"Yeah, things got ugly," he replied. "Lionheart stopped when I followed Ozpin's plan. It's like he wouldn't budge after that."
"So, are we going to talk to Lionheart now?" Ruby asked.
"No, let's give things time to cool down," Roland replied. "I want to fill in Qrow about this plan as well."
"Wait, what plan?" Oscar asked. Roland then filled him in. Ozpin's voice echoed in Oscar's mind, "Hmm, that is indeed a good plan. However, we still must exercise caution. Lionheart seemed to be hiding something, and it may be possible he is working with the enemy. If that is the case, all of them will be exposed to danger. Another opponent may come our way." Oscar relayed Ozpin's words to everyone.
Roland thinks. "We don't have many options. This is our only lead right now," he said. "Is everyone in agreement, despite the risk?" Everyone nods in agreement. "Excellent!" Roland said. "We'll enact the plan tomorrow. For now, well, I guess we can do lots of things for the rest of the day." They all then hung out for the rest of the day resting, sightseeing, and other things to pass the time. They all returned to the room and found Qrow asleep on his bed. Ruby woke Qrow and Roland explained the plan to him. "Hmm, it's definitely another shot," Qrow said. "Just be careful, we're dealing with dangerous information. I don't see why you can't give it a try." Ruby cheers and everyone brightens up over the approval of the plan. They all then go out for dinner and retire for the night.
The following morning, everyone gets up and gets ready. "Good luck and be careful," Qrow said. He and Oscar stay behind while everyone heads to Haven Academy. They come to the front desk of the reception office, and to everyone's delight, Lionheart is available and agrees to see them. They are then escorted to his office and are allowed in. Lionheart was seen sitting at his desk finishing paperwork. He looks up at them and greets them with a friendly smile. He was a big man with a rugged face, blue eyes, and dark blonde hair and a beard like a lion's mane. He could've easily been mistaken for a faunus. "Children, welcome to Haven Academy!" he rumbled. "I hope you find what you are looking for at my school!"
"Yes, thank you Headmaster Lionheart sir," Roland said. "We're grateful you took time out of your busy schedule for us."
"Please, please, it's my pleasure. It's the least I can do after what happened at Beacon Academy. I'm so terribly sorry that you kids had your school taken from you."
"We are glad that you have considered us to go to your school, sir," Ren said.
"Do you think you can show us around?" Ruby asked.
"Well of course!" Lionheart said. "Let's begin the tour. Follow me please!" Lionheart led them all around the school, explaining each building's function and their history. The tour ended and they all returned to his office. "So, do you have any questions?" he asked.
Everyone looked at each other and nodded. Yang then asked, "We heard that a friend of ours went to school here. Do you think you can help us find her?"
"Of course I would be happy to help! Pray tell, what is this student's name?" Lionheart replied.
"Cinder Fall," Ruby said.
Lionheart's expression suddenly changed from bright and cheerful to completely terrified. "W-Where did you hear that n-name?" he asked.
"She's just a friend of ours," Ruby said. "Did she do something bad?"
"N-No it's just…" Lionheart trailed off.
"Just what?" Jaune asked.
"Are you gonna help us or not?" Nora asked. "We just wanna find our friend."
"I-I believe you c-children are mistaken," Lionheart said. "T-There has been no one of t-that name that c-came here to my school."
"Is something wrong Headmaster?" Roland said. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"N-No it's nothing," Lionheart said. "I-I just remembered I have s-something to do."
"You're sure you can't help us?" Yang asked.
"N-No, I'm s-sorry," Lionheart replied. "A-As a consolation, how about you kids c-come to my school's dance? It's in a-a couple of w-weeks." He then gave them a flyer and tickets.
"Are you kid-" Yang started but was stopped by Roland who then said, "Thank you sir. We might take you up on that. We appreciate your time you have given us. We'll be going now." Everyone looks at Roland confused but he looks back as if to say, "Just play along." They all comply and Lionheart then calms down. "Whew… I am sorry children. I get flustered when I think about important matters. Do take care on your way back." Yang takes the flyer, and they all left the academy and reported by to Qrow and Oscar. "Nothing for you too, huh?" Qrow said. "Figures."
"I wouldn't say it's nothing," Roland said. "He got terrified when we mentioned Cinder's name. He's clearly hiding something."
"Well, we did get invited to the school's dance too," Yang said, holding the flyer and the tickets.
"We could possibly use that," Jaune suggested.
"Now what?" Nora asked.
"Well, we have a whole city to look through," Qrow said. "I'm sure we'll find something."
"Agreed, we have no other leads at the moment," Roland said. "First, let's get a map of the city and investigate reports from law enforcement." Everyone sets out to gather what they need and they devise a plan to gather information. All of them set out in groups to gather information from citizens, law enforcement, and even the criminal underbelly, which Qrow, Roland, and Yang handled.
As they all investigated the massive city, a week went by, but nothing was found. They all met at the inn once again. "Dammit!" Qrow said. "After one damn week, I would think we would've found at least one damn thing!" He was clearly annoyed.
"We searched everywhere, and still nothing," Jaune said.
"What now?" Ruby said. "Does Ozpin have anything?" She turned to Oscar.
He paused for a second and shook his head. "Ozpin can't think of anything," he said.
"Roland?" Yang asked. "Do you have any ideas?" Roland thought for a moment. He considered all that occurred in the last week and thought back to their conversation with Lionheart. He looked at the flyer and the tickets given to them for the dance and his face brightened up. He had an idea. "I've got it!" he said. He picked up the flyer and pointed to it. "We'll go to the dance Lionheart so kindly invited us to."