The Great Game Continues

AN: Hey everyone, I'M BACK!
As I've stated before, I am now going into my career (a REAL job) and it takes up most of my time, (5 days out of the week) so I will write whenever I can and post whenever I can.

Now, let's get back into the story, shall we?

It had only been a day since they were dropped off by the Atlas jet, back onto the continent of Draco. Smeagol lead the girls to a cave he once stayed in when he was leaving Mordor the first time. It was small, but it was big enough for all of them to take refuge in till morning.

Smeagol was the first one to wake up, he had a nightmare. It was always the same one; the first day he was corrupted by Salem's ring, and how it drove him to kill his brother. It had been so long since anyone ever called him by his real name than the name his alternate persona called himself. But hearing Ruby call him by his name brought out a light within him that he never thought he'd feel again.

As he crawled out of the cave he looked on to the forest ahead. He took in a deep breath and then sighed with almost joy in his tone. He turned around and started shaking Ruby, "Mistress… mistress, time to go."

Ruby sat up and stretched, yawning and putting her hand on her neck, "Agh, that rock put a kinking in my neck…" she looked across the cave to her sister still asleep, "Yang, wake up." Ruby nudged her sister with her foot.

Yang groaned, "Five more minutes…" she said as she put her blanket over her face.

Ruby smirked, she stood up over Yang and quickly pulled the blanket off her body. Yang covered her eyes with her arm as the sunlight shined on them. "Ugh!"

Smeagol crawled over to Yang, "Wake up, sleepies! We must go. Yes, we must go!" He began to crawl away just as Yang started to get up.

Yang stand up and walks out of the cave with Ruby, as she watches Smeagol crawl towards the trees quickly it surprised her, "How could something so frail looking have so much energy?"

Ruby shook her head, "No clue. Might have something to do with the Ring. But that's a question I think is better left unanswered."

The two packed up their camp into their backpacks and continued their journey towards Minas Morgul, as Smeagol suggested. Ruby noticed a silver cylinder in Yang's bag as she was packing it, she noticed it had an Atlisan symbol on it, "What's that?"

Yang looked to see what she was referring to, "Oh, that? Numenor gave it to me before we took off. It's a multi-frequency beacon. That way when we're done, we can call for a pickup and not have to walk all the way home."

Ruby smirked, "Well, that'll diffidently come in handy."

As they were walking through the forest, Yang looked up at the sky and noticed how dark it was, she pulled out her scroll and saw the time of day it was. "9 am? But why is it so dark?"

Ruby noticed it too, "Mt Doom is a volcano, right? I imagine the ash clouds it lets out could do this."

Yang began to feel more nervous, "Which means, we'll have more than Grimm to deal with. Orcs don't like sunlight, and if this place is dark enough for it to be tolerable, I imagine we'll come across a few groups of them."

Ruby nodded in agreement, she then smiled as she said, "Best to just keep going and hope for the best huh?"

Yang smiled, "Qrow's favorite line in his stories."

"Now we'll have our own," Ruby smiled a bit brighter, the thought of being a seasoned huntress telling stories to children almost made her jump in excitement.

Her excitement was cut short when they felt a sudden rumbling on the ground, coming from the dark sky ahead. The rumbling quickly ended and the two were able to keep their balance for the most part.

"Best to make sure we live to tell said stories," Yang said with playful tone to which Ruby agreed and they continued following Smeagol.

Less than a day after the majority of Mistral settled back into the capital and surrounding villages from Helms Deep, Jaune received a message on his scroll from Blake, "Haven, All Clear."

Theoden didn't want to risk another air attack so he ordered Eomer and Jaune to organize a ground convoy to Haven. The rest of JNPR and GMBL volunteered to go along in the event it was a trap.

The drive from the capital proved to be easy, no sign of Grimm or straggler Uruks. As they were getting closer to Haven, they noticed the newly positioned trees along the dirt path. Remembering the role the trees had in the battle the day before, most of the people in the convoy felt uneasy being surrounded by sentient trees that could easily crush them in minutes.

Blake and Weiss were having coffee. Vernal chose to take a mug with her when she wanted to help the Ents break down Haven's door. Blake and Weiss set up their own little picnic on the broken segment of Haven's outer wall. They had all the food from Saruman's secret stash all laid out and were enjoying it greatly.

Blake poured more coffee into her mug, "You know what this coffee reminds me of? Our days back in the Academy."

Weiss nodded in agreement while sipping some of her own.

Blake looked at Weiss' cup, "And I also remember you always using up all the creamer."

Weiss set her mug down loudly, "It was one time! I bought every new creamer since!"

"You put so much in your coffee it might as well have been hot chocolate," Blake said as she put a few drops of creamer in hers.

Before Weiss could respond to that statement, they heard the engines of the convoy approaching. It wasn't long that the trucks stopped at the wall and the occupants reached their friends.

Blake stood on top of the broken wall and called out to the soldiers, Hunters, Star Knights and King below, "Welcome, my lords and ladies, to Haven Academy!"

She then jumped down to greet them at eye level with Weiss. Nora was the first to talk, "You two jerks! After all the running and chasing we spent to save you guys, we find you two eating food and drinking coffee… WITHOUT US!"

Weiss and Blake were both quickly grabbed by Nora in a bear hug. Once she let go, she noticed the set-up of food behind them, "Are those… lemon cakes?!"

Ren groaned, "Oh, here we go…"

The rest of JNPR and GMBL hugged on the two huntresses and were glad to see they were ok. Ozpin was proud to see two of his favorite students were doing pretty well for themselves on their own.

"Glad to see Haven is now back under our control," Ozpin stated with a proud smile, "You're doing, I take it?"

Weiss smiled, "Not just us. Treebeard has now taken over as the temporary manager of Haven Academy, until a new headmaster is appointed by Ozpin."

King Theoden smiled in hearing that now one of the sources of their problems was dealt with, it even gave him the feeling of a great weight off his shoulders. Eomer and Jaune felt the same way; one less thing to worry about in this war.

Blake motioned for them to follow, "This way, please."

They walked into the swamped Haven Academy, water as high as their knees, all the way to the central tower. There they were met by the Treebeard, "Ohh, Young Master Ozpin! I'mmmm glad you've come." He hummed with joy, or at least what sounded like joy coming from an Ent.

"Wood and water, stock and stone, I can master. But there is a wizard to manage here…" Treebeard finished with anger in his tone.

Weiss looked around, "Where's Vernal?"

"After our failed attempts to break the door, she decided to find her own way in." Treebeard stated.

Just then the two large doors that were at the base of Haven's tower opened wide. There everyone saw a less than pleased Spring Maiden look at them, "We've got a problem…"

Most of the group entered the tower and made their way to Saruman's office. They found his body laying over his desk, his body facing down with.

Blake walked up to his body and looked at the wounds on his back, "What could have done this?"

"A Seer," Grun answered, "Nasty jellyfish maggots."

"The Scouts for the Grimm," Eomer added, he'd seen them in person a few times. He's heard that they often sneak around and gain intel on their enemies, and on rare occasion, assassinate those they consider to be 'high value targets'.

"It makes sense," Everyone turned to Ozpin, he was very saddened to see his old friend dead on the desk, his blood drenching the floor. "If we had taken him alive, he might of told us valuable information."

"How much did he divulge about you to Salem?" Grun couldn't help but ask, mostly because the amount Lionheart might have known could spell trouble for the rest of them.

"Not a lot… but I'm sure there were some things he found out for himself…" Ozpin gripped his cane very tightly.

Theoden looked down at the corpse of the man that was controlling him like a puppet. He wasn't sorry he was dead, but to be butchered without a fight was an unworthy death, even for a coward.

Weiss walked towards a pedestal near the wall and found a black orb sitting on it, she looked closely into it. She could see something inside, it was emitting some kind of red glow, for a split second she could have sworn she saw a red hooded figure. She then felt a hand on her shoulder and saw it was Ozpin beside her, "Try not to stare into that too much, it'll hurt your eyes."

Ozpin grabbed a silk cloth and wrapped the orb in it. As he finished, Vernal entered the room, "You were right… it's gone."

Eomer and Jaune looked at each other with concern. Jaune looked to Ozpin, "We saved a kingdom, but now the enemy has the Relic of Knowledge…"

Ozpin shook his head, "We don't know if she has it yet."

Blake sniffed the air, "Then let's ask." She pulled Jaune's gun from his holster and shot twice into the celling, they all started to hear something moving above. Blake fire two more shots, whatever was up there must have made a bad step, because it fell through and landed in the middle of the room. It appeared to be a man in a green coat and had a rat's tail.

The man started to pick himself up but was kicked in the face and then forced to the ground by a boot on his chest. "Peter Slate," Eomer said with fire in his words, "Give me ONE good reason I shouldn't put my blade through your throat!" He began to unsheathe his sword and finish him off before he could answer.

"Eomer," Jaune called out.

Eomer put his sword back down, but he kept his foot on Slate. Ozpin walked over to the rat Faunus and looked him in the eye, "Where is the Relic?"

"Gone…" Slate answered, "I don't know where, just that Saruman sent it away. To a man named Rainart."

"Hazel Rainart?" Ozpin asked.

"Yeah," Slate exclaimed, "big guy, scars on his arms."

Eomer took his foot off of Slate, just before he could start sitting up he was kicked again, this time out cold. Everyone looked at him with a 'really?' look. He simply replied, "What? It's not like we aren't going to interrogate him later."

His words weren't wrong, even made Grun and Jaune chuckle in agreement. Getting a kick to the face was more than he deserved, and now they have a chance to gain valuable intel on Salem and her faction.

Ozpin turned around to look at Saruman's body on the desk, he walked over and put his hand over his eyes and closed them, "I want to bury him…"

"After everything… you still-?" Eomer was close to finishing his sentence but was stopped by Pyrrha grabbing his shoulder.

Ozpin cleared his throat, "As bad as his sins were, he was still my friend once." Jaune and Grun looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

The group were able to dig up a small grave near the entrance of Haven, there they placed Saruman's body and placed what was left of his staff at the head.

As they poured on the last bit of dirt and patted it down, Treebeard took a deep breath and sighed, "The filth of Saruman… is washing away."

Blake looked up to the old tree, "Will the forest recover from what Saruman tried to do?"

Treebeard began to smile under his moss filled beard, "Trees will begin to grow here again. Young trees, wild trees."

As everyone prepared to leave the school in the hands of the Ents, until a relief force would come to rebuild, Weiss couldn't help but stare at the silk covered crystal ball that Ozpin had placed in the truck. She couldn't let go of what she thought she saw, "I could have SWORN I saw Ruby…"

The convoy were on their way back to the capital of Mistral; as they were getting closer, they saw new aircraft flying over the city, Jaune could see that some of them had Vale symbols on the sides. "Vale ships with relief supplies," Jaune stated as he began to smile, "Things must be looking up back home."

"Things are getting worse…"

King Theoden, Ozpin, Eomer, Jaune, Grun, Coco and Sun were all gathered in a communications room in the royal castle. There was a projected hologram of Carolina Arc, Jaune's oldest sister and the General of the Sky Knights of Vale. She was just going over what information she could share about the status of Vale in the war. Along with her was the freelancer Huntsman, Jacob Cobalt, who was reporting from Vacuo.

Carol continued what she was saying, "Cobalt and his team did us a favor in dealing with the army that was massing in Fornost, but all it really did was buy us a month of time."

"How bad is it?" Ozpin asked with concern in his tone.

Carol forwarded holographic images of Vale and all of its regions, "Vale is facing a full-scale "Border War" on all fronts. We have reports of aviary Grimm attacking the villages near the mountains, dozens of Grimm attacks in more of the southern landlocked villages and cities and we've already received word that a few villages have been either deserted or wiped out close to Mirkwood."

Jaune lowered his head, "Damn it… I should be there, helping you deal with all of this."

Carol slightly smirked, "While I am glad you are taking your responsibility as Supreme Commander to heart, but don't count us out just yet. I sent CFVY and the relief supplies to Mistral as more of a request."

Theoden cocked his head, "Request for what?"

Carol looked to Jaune and then to the king, "We ask that you send what troops you can spare to aid us. At least until we can form proper battle lines to launch counter offensives."

"No disrespect, General, but could you ask anyone else for support?" Eomer asked, "Like Vacuo?"

"Vacuo is dealing with their own problems right now," Jacob stated bluntly, "Mirkwood has become a problem on our end too, not to mention Radcliffe Smith himself is commanding this theater of war from his fortress of Carn Dûm. Vacuo has nothing to spare."

Jaune then lowered his head, "And it's not like Atlas will answer the call for help either…"

Eomer looked at Jaune in confusion, "Why?"

"Because after the Fall of Beacon and the Battle of the Five Armies, neither of our kingdom's have looked each other in the eye since." Carol answered, "The only high ranking official that would answer our call would be Ironwood, but given that Atlas is on lockdown, he couldn't send any help even if he wanted to."

All other kingdoms either too occupied or unable to help, everyone then turned their attention back to King Theoden, who was pondering over the request the General made. "Were it not for the act of good faith you made to send your troops and relief supplies to Mistral, our kingdom might be nothing more than a memory by now. I see no reason why I shouldn't do the same. I will send what resources and weapons we can, but I cannot spare any men, I'm sorry."

"Whatever you send will help, I know it. You have my thanks, your grace." Carol bowed her head in respect.

"And mine as well," Jaune said as he bowed along with her in deep appreciation. After bowing, Jaune turned to his freelancer friend, "Any progress that you can share, Jacob?"

Jacob changed the hologram to show Vacuo and highlighted the boarders of Mirkwood, "My team and I are going to be heading East to Mirkwood."

Grun raised his eyebrows, "Carol just said Mirkwood is hitting Vale hard, why are you going in?"

"We heard rumors that Radcliffe intends to align Raven Branwen to his side in the war," Jacob states with a less than happy tone.

"Why would Salem want Raven to side with her?" Carol asked in confusion.

"Not sure, it's just a rumor right now," Jacob said while shrugged his shoulders, "But first we have to find her, best place to start looking would be to find-"

"Radagast," Ozpin finished. Everyone turned to see him smirk a bit, "If anyone can find Branwen, it's him."

Jacob nodded in agreement, "We're heading out tomorrow morning."

"Well, be careful going through Mirkwood," Carol warned, "I've been getting reports, lately, that some spider Grimm have been spotted in the same area where Radagast house is located."

"If you're lucky, you might encounter Roodaka," Coco said with a chuckle.

Carol paused for a moment, "Yes, Lieutenant Adel, that would sound 'lucky'…"

Jaune, Sun, Grun and Coco all started chuckling at Carol's uneasy tone. Jacob chuckled a bit too, "We've heard of that thing, the rumored queen of the spiders in Old Wood. Back before people called it Mirkwood."

"Give me your scroll number and I'll send you what info I know on it," Grun stated

"Much appreciated," Jacob said with a relieved smile.

"How is Mistral healing?" Carolina asked.

Eomer shifted the map over Mistral and its boarders, "With the Battle of Helms Deep over all the Uruks Saruman used to attack us have been wiped out. The remaining Grimm have scattered, and the fighting has died down a lot."

"Our kingdom is safe, thanks to the aid of both Vale and Vacuo," Theoden stated once more with great gratitude to the commanders before him. "My only regret is that it came at the price of so many." The king lowered his head. "If there is nothing more to share, I believe I have other plans for the day."

Everyone gave their own gestures that they were done with their part of the meeting. Theoden then put his hands together, "Well then, gentleman, and ladies, this meeting is adjourned."

Carol disconnected her transmission, as others in the room started to clear out. Jacob stayed on his hologram while waving at Jaune, "Hey, Arc, can I have a moment to talk with you?"

Jaune nodded and stayed as everyone else left. "What's up?"

"First off, can you bring your pint-sized hammer friend here? I think she's going to want to hear this," He smiles with a bit of eagerness.

Jaune raised an eyebrow but then nodded as he dialed his scroll, "Hey, Nora, could you come over to the com-room?" he nods and then hangs up, "She's coming."

"So, Helms Deep, sounds like we missed a hell of a fight," Jacob stated.

Jaune nodded, "No kidding."

Before Jacob could add on to his comment, the door opened up and Nora walked in with a bit of a skip in her step, "Hey, what's going on?" She looked to the hologram and saw Jacob, "Oh, hey Jacob! How's Vacuo holding up?"

Jacob smiled, "So far, we're holding out. After we raided a Grimm stronghold in the southern mountains, my team picked up a distress call." He then showed a projection of the location on the holo-map. "We followed the signal and found a small clan of people fighting for their lives against a pack of Ursa and Creeps. We helped them clear the creatures out and saved the clan, warriors and civilians alike. Their clan leader said she was your aunt, Nora."

Jaune's jaw almost fell to the floor, he turned to look at Nora and saw her eyes shine. "Aunt Tohru?!" She put her hands over her mouth as tears began to well at her eyes.

"You found the other Valkyries?" Jaune exclaimed with joy.

Jacob smiled, "We were able to escort them safely to Vacuo, where they're hard at work bolstering the kingdom's defenses."

Before Jaune knew it he felt Nora tackle hugging him with her arms and legs wrapped around him in excitement, "THANK THE GODS!" Were it not for his aura, she might have broken his ribs with her hug. She then backs away from Jaune, "I got to tell Ren!" she quickly glanced at Jacob, "THANK YOU SO MUCH!"

Nora then bolted out of the room faster than Jacob could say 'you're welcome.' Jaune smiled as he looked back to Jacob, "I appreciate you doing that. She was worried for over a month about her remaining family."

Jacob smiles as he bows his head, "With all the trouble everyone's been facing, I thought you and your team might need some good news for once."

Jaune nodded in agreement, "Indeed. Good luck on your side of the world, Cobalt."

Jacob nods back, "You too, Arc." He then cuts the transmission.

After receiving the good news from Jacob in the com room, Jaune walked with Grun along the ramparts of the main castle. "Saffron is in the city," Jaune stated.

"Oh? When did she arrive?" Grun asked with surprise. The last time he heard from her was when she moved to Argus 6 years ago, got married and had a son.

"She came in one of the many flights of relief supply ships." Jaune said with a smile, "Luckily Argus was too well protected for the Uruks and Grimm to attempt an attack."

"How old is their son now? 6?" Grun asked as he was trying to remember.

"Yeah, Adrian is 6," Jaune noted, he then chuckled, "Already talking, and just as snarky as his mom."

Grun chuckled, "Which one?"

Both then proceeded to laugh.

They both continued to walk and stopped at the side of the castle that faced the grasslands beyond, it reminded Grun of Menagerie somewhat. "I hear you went to Amazonia, what did you think?"

"It was incredible," Jaune said without hesitation, "I mean, to think there was a hidden kingdom within Menagerie. Yang said you guys went there a few years ago, right?"

"Yeah… it was interesting," Grun stated with a mono tone.

"Something happen?" Jaune asked in caution.

Grun cleared his throat, which was a que for Jaune to know this was a touchy subject, "I met the queen… it didn't go so well."

Jaune couldn't help but see that Grun's wolf ears were pointed down, "You not leave on good terms?"

"Not exactly," Grun said as he cleared his throat, "I'd rather not say."

Jaune understood if he didn't want to talk about it, "Ok… Well, if you want someone to talk to about it, try Ozpin."

"Why?" Grun asked in confusion.

"He's her brother," Jaune stated like it was common knowledge.

Grun froze in place, his ears perked up and he stood like a statue. Jaune turned around and realized the bombshell he just dropped, "Oh crap…"

Grun shook his head to remove the shock from it, "He's her BROTHER?!"

Jaune nodded nervously, "Yeah… I forgot you weren't there for that conversation…"

Grun took a deep breath, preventing himself from shouting out loud, "Ok… I need to talk to him." Grunt hen turned around and stormed off.

Jaune squinted his eyes, what could he be angry about? "Is something wrong?"

"Don't worry about it!" Grun shouted over his shoulder.

Jaune cocked his head to the right, "What did he do?"

(AN: The following scene was written by my partner and creator of the OC Grun Gräuel, Nightengale4698.)

Ozpin was sitting at his desk, coffee long since cooled and cane within arm's reach. His attention was completely focused on the documents before him, maps depicting terrains and reported army movements. Hours had been spent in this chair, evidenced by the dark bags under his eyes, trying to find a shred of sense or reason behind these movements. A sudden, rapid knocking at his door broke his thoughts.

He almost called out to usher them in before remembering he locked the door to not be interrupted. He gingerly stood and walked to the door, his muscles sore and his joints stiff. He undid the bolt, but as he pulled the door, it slammed open, smashing into his nose and dazing him for a moment. As his vision cleared, he was met with a fist impacting the same spot the door just struck, forcing him to step back and catch himself against his desk and knocking his papers to the floor in the process.

With eyes watering and ears ringing, he finally looked up to see his attacker. Grun stood before him, a rare snarl marring his features, unrestrained fury and hatred practically pouring from him. Shaking his head slightly, he touches a finger to his upper lip, feeling a warm liquid staining his fingertip. "You damn near broke my nose," Ozpin moaned, "What in the name of the Holy Ones made you feel this was necessary?"

Grun growled in return, "I think I'm entitled to express some anger at you, Uncle…." Ozpin froze in place, but before he could think to say anything, a sigh was heard from Grun. "I was hoping that Jaune was mistaken," he said. "And I'd have to beg forgiveness once this was over. But it's true. You are…. her brother."

Ozpin groaned, massaging his nose while his Aura repaired the damage done to it. "Yes," Ozpin finally replies. "I am your uncle."

Grun walked into the office, closing the door behind him before walking over to the liquor cabinet and grabbing an unopen bottle of Whiskey and two glasses. Setting the glasses on the desk, he opened the bottle and filled both glasses half full before handing one to Ozpin.

"Is this really a time for liquor, Grun?" Ozpin asks, amusement painting his tone.

Grun scoffed before downing the whole glass and refilling it. "After a day like today, the only reason I'm sharing it is so I don't chug the whole damn thing. Now, share some liquor with your nephew and get to the explaining part."

Ozpin shook his head, but he walks over and sits down on the other side of the desk. After taking a few tentative sips he finally asks, "Where do you want me to start?"

Grun knocked back his third glass, "When did you first learn who my mother was?"

Ozpin raised an eyebrow.

"Learn? We may not be seeing each other as much anymore, but my sister and I are hardly estranged. I was there the day you were born."

Grun stared at him a moment before filling his glass completely, his hands beginning to shake. "Did you know what she planned to do with me?"

Ozpin shook his head sadly before saying, "She didn't even know that she was going to send you away until the first kidnapping attempt on you." Grun froze at hearing that, he knew being a royal son might mean a target on his head, but kidnapping was the last thing he expected. "Six months old, and she wakes up one night to find someone she's known for nearly a decade trying to steal you from your crib. She killed him… all because he wanted to use you as leverage to take the throne. It haunts her to this day."

Ozpin stopped to take a sip of whiskey before continuing. "From that day until your first birthday, she or one of her guards stopped no less than a dozen kidnapping attempts. But it was the last one that was the worst... The last one was successful."

Ozpin looks to Grun and says, "Your father's sister and her husband were upset that they would get nothing simply for being your 'family', so they tricked the guard watching over you during a meeting your mother was a part of. They took you to a remote property they owned and had someone leave a message for your mother. 'You will remove every single lien and gemstone from the kingdom's coffers and bring them to us, or you will never see your son again. You have eight hours to comply, or we will assume you have no intentions of doing as we say. ' They told her some coordinates in the middle of nowhere miles from the city and told her to drop the ransom off and leave, no questions asked them they will contact her with your location."

Grun slammed another drink back before saying, "I assume she debated the pros and cons before planning some grand plan to rescue me..."

Ozpin turned to Grun, confusion clear on his face. "Planning? She flew out of the kingdom to the drop-off point faster than we could stop her. She had no intention of paying them, not because she didn't want to pay them, she wanted them dead for taking you. Were it not for her telepathic abilities she wouldn't have found you at their property. She brought you home immediately after finding you. As for the ones that took you… she never told me what happened to them. Personally, I think not knowing is for the best."

"Huh… now I know where my temper came from…" Grun thought to himself. He then felt his glass start to slip from his hands before setting it on the desk, resting his head in his hands before taking in a shaking breath and asking, "What happened after that?"

Ozpin set his glass down as well before saying, "Your mother had a difficult realization, and an even harder choice the following day. If there was ever another successful kidnapping, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to save you every time." Ozpin placed his glass on the table as he put his fingers together and gripped his hands, "There was no way to lead a kingdom that way… She was a queen and she had duties to uphold, whether she liked it or not."

Ozpin sat back in his chair as he continued, "So she had to make a decision: either step down from her role as Queen or give you up so as to avoid being leveraged into betraying her Kingdom, eventually."

"Eventually?" Grun asked as he cocked his head.

Ozpin nodded his head as he elaborated, "She once admitted to me that if Salem herself had you, she wouldn't have hesitated to let her kingdom fall to save you… And I believed her."

Grun slammed his fist down onto the table and growled, "So when she was faced with choosing her flesh and blood over her authority and power, she chose to toss me out like garbage!?"

Ozpin shot to his feet, a rare moment of anger slipping out, "She didn't throw you out, DAMN IT! She did everything she could to keep you where she could watch over you!"

Grun surged up as well, red tear-filled eyes staring right back at Ozpin, "Then where was she?! I suffered for ten years in that orphanage! And another two HOMELESS before the Belladonnas took me in! Where was she these last thirty years!? "

Ozpin clenched his fist and yelled back "WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!"

Grun glared at Ozpin, shocked by the revelation but wanted to know more, so he let him to continue.

"Your mother didn't know what to do, who we could trust you with. I was having you sent to someone I trusted, at the time...Lionheart."

Grun then scoffed, "You were going to give me to Saruman?!"

"He was supposed to raise you as his own son! But on the way to him, the airship you were being transported in was attacked by Griffons. We thought it was bad luck, an errant flock that wasn't accounted for... But now that we know Lionheart's true colors, I believe he told Salem about you to have you killed." Ozpin sat back down in his chair, clenching the bridge of his nose with his right hand as he sighed.

"The ship went down near the coastal village of Kuo Kuana. We never found the wreckage, and we thought you died in the crash. It destroyed your mother…" Ozpin took the glass he set down on the table and took a big sip, "We had no reason to suspect you survived until I visited the Belladonnas 12 years after."

Grun sat back down in his chair, taking his glass in his hands and continued to listen. "For weeks I had heard about a young Wolf Faunus stealing on the streets of Menagerie to help other street children. I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I went to Menagerie and there you were…" He then started to show a warm smile across his face, Grun even noticed a tear well up in his eye before Oz wiped it off with his left thumb.

"I thought I was looking at a ghost, a reminder of my failure, my inability to protect my family. But when you ran past me, I could feel it… the same power of the Celestial Ones that I always feel from my sister, what I felt from you the day you were born... there was no doubt in my mind that it was you." Ozpin looked up to see that Grun started to tear up as Ozpin continued his story.

"Not long after that I spoke to the Belladonnas and convinced them to take you in. Once they agreed, I spoke to some of the young ones I saw you with and told them about a large house that had more food than they could ever miss and hoped it would motivate you to go there."

Grun looked up at Ozpin, disbelief and shock covering his features. "S-so you mean to tell me, that the whole reason that my parents took me in... was because of you?"

Ozpin nodded his head as he answered him, "I knew couldn't take you in myself. I could tell you were weary of humans, even such a young age. And you'd never trust a human offering to take you in from nowhere, claiming to be your long-lost Uncle. But I couldn't leave you fend for yourself. So I did what little I could to help you, I even offered to pay for any food, clothing, toys, weapons or education you could ever need. " Ozpin let out a quiet chuckle. "Kali was actually offended that I offered such a thing."

Grun could feel the first smile in days tug at his lips as he responded. "Yeah, Mom never was one to accept help when it comes to caring for her children." He shakes his head, enjoying the brief moment of nostalgia and fondness.

It was short lived, however, as Grun's mind snapped back to the matter at hand. "Then why wait this long? I worked with you for nearly a decade now. You had ample opportunity to tell me the truth."

Ozpin shook his head.

"There was never a good time, in all honesty. You can't exactly slip 'Hey, I know I've sent you on dangerous missions that could have killed you for half your life now, and you trust me with your and your teams lives, but I thought I should tell you that you're my nephew and also a Demi-God' into regular conversation."

Grun stared at him for a few moments longer before sighing and saying, "Ok... I'll give you that..."

Ozpin slowly grabbed the bottle of whiskey and refilling both their glasses. "So," he started slowly, "After learning all this, even if the circumstances weren't ideal, are you going to be ok?"

Grun stared at the second glass in Ozpin's hand before taking hold of it and setting it back on the desk, "Honestly, I don't know… Everything I ever knew about myself… it's been thrown out the window. And on top of a landmine. I'm… going to need some time alone, to get my head on straight. Get my thoughts in order."

Grun stood up, turned around and started walking out the door, but he stopped with his hand on the handle, about to pull it closed. "If you hadn't spoken to my parents on my behalf, I probably would have died on those streets, or become the kind of person I hate so much. So, if it means anything, thank you. Sincerely. I wouldn't be who I am today if you hadn't have done that, and I am grateful, truly. But, the rest of all this? All the secrets and lies? That's going to take some time to forgive… but I'm already talking about forgiving, so maybe it won't take as much time as I thought. I'll talk to you later… Uncle Oz." Grun gently closes the door as he walks out.

Ozpin stare into his glass, a smile looking back at him in the amble liquor. "Uncle Oz, huh?" He chuckles as he tosses back his drink. " I think I could get used to that name.

Grun turned a corner to find Jaune leaning against a wall, staring directly at Grun. "So," Grun huffs out, "How much of that did you hear?"

Jaune laughed at him as he said, "Enough to learn that your family drama is worse than mine."

Grun shook his head as he and Jaune start walking back outside. "Besides," Jaune said as he clapped Grun on his shoulder, "Every family has spats, even Gods, it would seem. I'll be sure not to complain about my family's quirks and problems anymore. "

Grun laughed back and said back, "Well, hopefully we don't have the knock down drag outs the Arc kids were famous for." The two keep trading jabs and laughs back and forth as they walk off.

A day after the war summit, the kingdom set up a funeral for their fallen from Helms Deep. Most of the population of Mistral gathered in the city's central park. A metal wall that stood 10 feet tall and stretched as long as a mile, it was curved into a wide crescent shape. And on the wall, there were thousands of engraved plates that were placed. Some with their rank in the plate, others were the letter 'V' before their name for 'volunteer' in the battle. There weren't just Mistral soldier's names on the wall, but also Vacuo and Vale alike. Every soldier that fought and died in that battle was honored on that wall.

Twenty feet from the wall, there was a large bowl of fire burning, illuminating the wall during the sunset time. Between the bowl and the crowd of people that came stood a podium, and their King. Theoden walked up to the microphone and spoke softly, "Here we stand to honor our fallen… and thank them for their sacrifice… so that we, the people of Mistral, can be here today to continue our great nation." Theoden kept his composure, but inside he felt a great pain that so many died to save their kingdom.

In the crowd of people, hundreds of them were holding candle sticks in their hands. Many of them were grieving families that lost their loved ones in the battle and the attacks in neighboring villages, others were friends that came to honor their fallen brethren from the many battles.

Theoden continued to speak, "As we continue to honor our fallen, Lady Weiss Schnee has offered us her voice to help us through this time of grief."

Theoden stepped down from the microphone and up came Weiss and Jaune, holding a guitar he was given for this very occasion. Weiss walked up to the microphone as someone brought up a second one to put it next to Jaune's guitar.

Weiss spoke up first, "Hello." She looked on to the crowd of thousands before her, she's long out grown stage fright, from her many years of performing in theaters around Atlas, but this was a new form of it for her. She cleared her throat, "When I was told of what happened at Helms Deep I was moved to tears over the sacrifice and resolve of the Mistrali people. It reminded me a lot of the same kind Vale suffered two years ago, so I felt it was only appropriate to sing a song Commander Arc and I composed after that painful day."

Jaune spoke into the microphone next, "This song is called 'I See Fire'… I hope it helps you find peace the same as it did for my people…"

"And mine," Weiss added.

Jaune turned his head to Eomer to the left of the podium, he was standing at the head of a seven-man rifle team. "Present arms!" The rifles were held up and pointed in the air, firing three shots.

Weiss then moved to the main microphone and began singing the opening lyrics.

Oh, misty eye of the mountain below
Keep careful watch of my brother's souls
And should the sky be filled with fire and smoke
Keep watching over Remnant folk

Jaune then began playing his guitar in a steady rhythm. He kept the tempo as slow as Weiss' words, just as they had played a couple years back. While it wasn't a public spectacle like now, they thought it was only right to play it in public now. Weiss continued to sing.

If this is to end in fire
Then we should all burn together
Watch the flames climb high into the night
calling out for the rope, sent by and we will
watch the flames burn on and on the mountain side

And if we should die together
Then we should all die together
Raise a glass of wine for the last time
Calling out for the rope
Prepare as we will
Watch the flames burn on an on the mountain side
Desolation comes upon the sky

Jaune then started to sing along with Weiss, his voice may not have been perfect, but he pulled it off as a backup singer for Weiss in this song.

Now I see fire, inside the mountain
I see fire, burning the trees
And I see fire, hollowing souls
And I see fire, blood in the breeze
And I hope that you'll remember me

Oh, should my people fall
Then Surly I'll do the same
Confined in mountain halls
We got too close to the flame
Calling out father hold fast, and we will
Watch the flames burn on and on the mountain side
Desolation comes upon the sky

Now I see fire, inside the mountain
I see fire, burning the trees
And I see fire, hollowing souls
and I see fire, blood in the breeze
And I hope that you'll remember me

As they were singing, the people in the crowd formed two lines that passed the bowl of fire. They lit their candles and placed them in rows around the metal wall. The rows of candles eventually reached the podium, luckily the people making the rows made a walking path for those on the podium to get down.

Once the song was over, the crowd slowly cleared out. There were a lot of "goodbyes" and "thank you's" from the people. While others simply left the lit candle behind as their farewell. While the funeral overall was over, the king and the commanders started setting up the preparations for the party that would follow the next day.

Meanwhile in the continent of Draco, the time was midnight. Ruby and Yang were sleeping in their sleeping bags near the extinguished campfire. Smeagol slept on a rock that was higher than them, he began talking in his sleep.

"Too risky. Too risky. They're thieves. They stole it from us. Kill them. Kill them both! NO!" He yelped loud enough to wake himself up but didn't wake up the girls.

He began to crawl away from the camp and walked to the nearby river. Ruby was still sound asleep at the time, but Yang started to open her eyes as she saw him crawl away. As he crawled he came up to the water and looked down into his own reflection and saw Gollum glaring at him.

"You lost your nerve! They STOLE the Precious and you're letting them live?!" Gollum growled.

"Ruby and Yang are our friends… they saved us from the nasty knights…" Smeagol spoke with softly and intently.

"THEY got us caught! THEY put us through hell! The Precious is OURS!" Gollum continued to snarl and growl like a dog.

"They are my friends and I want to help them!" Smeagol said with a confident voice

"You should kill them… you've done it before…" Gollum tries to sound malicious and eager to make that choice.

Smeagol had a brief flash image of him choking his own brother, he then put his hands on his head, "NO! NO! Not again… I will not kill for you again…"

Gollum then smiles, "You won't have to. SHE can do it for us…"

"No… I won't let them get hurt," Smeagol backs away from the water quickly, backing away until he felt that he was up against two tall legs. He looked up to see Yang standing above him with her arms crossed.

"What are you doing?" Yang asked with a skeptical look on her face.

"Yang…" Smeagol tried to come up with something to say but was then grabbed by his arm and pulled back to camp by Yang.

He started grunting and yelping as she dragged him and then threw him onto the ground in front of Ruby, waking her up from her sleep. "What's going on?"

Yang stood on the opposite side of Smeagol and crossed her arms again, "Yeah, 'Smeagol'? What IS going on?"

Ruby always trusted Yang's judgment, so she didn't question her actions. She then looked to Smeagol as he was looking back and forth, thinking that Ruby would say something to calm her sister down.

"Well, Smeagol? If you're hiding something, we need to know it now…" Ruby said as she stood up from her sleeping bag.

"The secret way to Mordor… is dark and dangerous…" Smeagol said with guilt in his tone.

Yang rolled her eyes, "Yeah, we know that, tell us something we don't already know."

Smeagol gulped, "Once we reach Minas Morgul, we must climb up the wall on the 'Secret Stairway.' There we go into a tunnel and on the other side we will reach Mordor… But there is something in the tunnel."

Ruby knelt down to Smeagol's eye level, "What's in the tunnel?"

"Her…" Smeagol said with fear in his tone, "'Shelob', some call her. She is evil, old and always hungry. Always feeding…"

Yang walked up to him and crouched down, "What is it? A Grimm?"

"I don't know…" Smeagol said with a quaking tone, "I have never seen her…"

"Why didn't you tell us about her before?" Ruby asked with confusion.

"I didn't think you'd be mad at me if I had told you…" Smeagol said as he put his hands over his head and bundled himself into a ball on the ground.

Ruby and Yang look at each other; Ruby gave Yang a 'let's give him another chance' look, Yang rolled her eyes and groaned. "We're not mad at you… just upset that you didn't tell us…"

Smeagol lifted his head from under his hands, "You're not mad?"

Ruby put her hand on his head and started to pat him softly, his skin feeling notably clammy on her hand. "No, but from now on, no secrets. Ok?"

Smeagol smiled, "No more secrets."

Ruby looked up to Yang one more time and gave her a 'Satisfied?' look, to which Yang replied with an 'Not completely' look.

The two packed themselves back into their sleeping bags, there was still time for more sleep that night, so they didn't waste them. Smeagol decided to sleep closer to them this time, rolling himself into a ball right below the girl's feet.

As Ruby and Smeagol quickly went back to sleep, Yang still felt skeptical about their little frog-friend. She gripped her hand tightly, "He makes one wrong move, and he's done. I don't care what Ruby will say…"

The next day, Mistral made their preparations for their victory party in the castle. Half the town was invited while the rest had parties of their own in their own homes. The main party was for many of the military commanders and it was hosted inside the main hall of the castle.

As dusk came the party began; full buffets were laid out on dozens of tables, kegs and barrels of alcohol were distributed among the guests. Soldiers began eating snack foods and drinking by the pint together. Many drinking to honor their friends, some to the victory, and others just to get drunk with their friends.

There were several being sent to one of the corners of the room where Nora was gathering up some of her huntsman friends.

Eomer helped deliver the kegs and began filling up pints for the hunters and soldiers, "No pauses. No spills."

"AND no throwing up!" Nora said as she was handed her pint. She motioned for her friends to come over, "Come on, guys! My family is safe, and I want to celebrate the only way a Valkyrie can!"

Ren stood behind her with a very nervous smile on his face, "Here we go again…"

Velvet, Coco, Cardin, Sage, Blitz and Neptune joined in on this game. As they were being handed out pints, Velvet cocked her head as she was trying to understand the rules of the game, "So it's a drinking game. Drink as much as you can without getting drunk, right?"

"More like drink as much as you can before you fall over unconscious," Robin Loxley said as he poured himself a pint, "This is 'Drunken Sailor' beer. If a gallon of this in your stomach doesn't put you to sleep, I can't think of what will."

"Last one standing wins," Nora said with a confident smile. "I've won three times!"

"And threw up afterwards, three times…" Ren added.

Ren then walked towards the middle of this little and held up a purple floral bandana he had in his pocket and raised it up, "On three. 1. 2. 3. Drink."

All the soldiers and hunters began drinking at the same time, some drinking fast while others were sipping little at a time.

Meanwhile on the other side of the party where some of the less drunk and loud soldiers were partying, Jaune walked away from the food table and looked out to see Pyrrha in front of him. He almost couldn't believe his eyes when he saw her. She was wearing a red and bronze dress with patterns of bronze Lauren Wreaths on her head and down her dress.

Pyrrha walked up to him, holding a glass of wine and spoke, "Σε εκείνο που ανήκει η καρδιά μου." ("To the one my heart belongs to.") She then raises the glass to his mouth and sips the wine with a warm smile.

He then replied with, "Η καρδιά μου θα είναι πάντα δική σας." ("My heart will always be yours.")

Jaune was about to move in for a kiss, but before he could get close enough, he noticed King Theoden walking up behind her. He backed away, remembering that it was his order that they were not to be together. Jaune bowed his head, "Your grace."

Pyrrha turned around to see her uncle behind her, she bowed her head as well. She turned around to look at Jaune but found him already walking away. She understood why, when her uncle labeled her as the next heir, it meant that a marriage between them would be forbidden. He felt it was best to be away from the king than to get into an argument over lineage with him.

Theoden walked up to his niece and lifted her head up from her chin as he spoke, "I am happy for you, he is a good man." He looked at her with such a proud smile, the girl he loved like a daughter was so grown up now. And he saw the same bond he had for his late wife that now exists between her and Arc.

Pyrrha's eyes met his, "You are both good men, uncle." She gave him a proud smile of her own. "Were it not for you, our people would have lost the battle."

Theoden shook his head, "No… It was not King Theoden Nikos that saved our people…" As he finished his words, he looked on to Jaune as he sat down with some of the other hunters in the rows of tables. Perhaps he was wrong to choose her to be his next heir, it was not fair to them. But then again, the family line must act as it always has, despite how the people involved feel. He shook his head at the last thought, "Don't listen to this old fool." He looked at her with a warm smile, "This party is for you, and you should be happy. Go to him."

Pyrrha looked on to Jaune and then back to her uncle, giving him a look of asking permission, he smiled and let her hand go as she walked away. She walked straight to Jaune and tapped his shoulder, she took him by his hands, while food was still in his mouth, and tugged him all the way to the dance floor area.

Once they reached the dance floor, he wiped his mouth of food and then took Pyrrha's hand and waist as they danced to a slow song. They were surrounded by dozens of other couples on the Dance floor, but Theoden could see them clear as day.

As he watched them dancing, he could how happy she was just to be in his arms. Before he noticed, Grun walked up to him and stood beside him, watching the couple dance together. "Your highness," Grun said with respect as he took a sip from his pint of beer.

"Major Gräuel," the king said with respect back.

They both watched Jaune and Pyrrha dance for about two minutes before the king broke the silence, "Speak truthfully, Major… Did I ever have a chance at stopping this?"

Grun almost choked on his beer when he heard the question, he cleared his throat as he answered, "Honestly, sir… you had 'bout as much chance as keeping a honeybee from a flower."

Theoden chuckled in understanding of how true those words were, "I was afraid of that…"

Grun looked to the king and gestured towards them, "Could have been worse." Theoden turned to him in confusion, Grun then continued, "Least the two have enough respect to pretend they aren't planning to defy you." The king nodded in agreement to the Major's words, "And that they have enough sense of duty to not throw everything away to get together anyway."

Theoden could respect that point of view, he started to feel the same way. He took a sip of his own pint, "Perhaps I should reconsider the order of lineage, hmm?"

Grun turned to him and saw that he was serious, "That is for you to decide, your highness. After all, your word is law." Grun held his pint up to the king and the two tapped their pints.

Meanwhile on the other side of the room, the drinking game is happening at a steady pace. Nora, Blitz, Velvet and Coco were holding strong and drinking hard. Neptune and Sage were the first to tap out, stopping just before they could throw up. Cardin passed out from too much drinking, luckily for him, Russel was there to make sure he didn't hit the floor too hard.

Blitz took another sip from his pint, "My family, the Sturms, have always held strong when it came to holding their liquor." His speech began to slur, "I will make my family proud," he then finishes off his pint and slams it on the ground, "GIVE ME THE NEXT ONE!"

Coco finishes her 12th pint, she already began to sway back and forth from the intense concentration of alcohol in her system, "I'm still in this…" Ren passed over her next pint and began drinking it slowly, she then dropped the pint and ran to the large empty barrel beside the table and threw up. It was for the best Eomer had the empty barrel there. In the event of anyone throwing up, they could do it there instead of doing it on the floor and ruin the party.

Ren looks to Blitz, Nora and Velvet, "Last three, let's see who wins now."

Nora downs her 13th pint, "BOOM! I'm on a roll!"

Velvet puts down her drink, "Weird… I'm feeling a small tingle in my fingers. I think it's starting to hit me…"

"Just now?" Eomer asked in surprise, "How are you not wasted yet?"

Velvet cocked her head in just as much confusion as the Commander, "Not sure. Maybe it has something to do with my animal traits?" Ren shrugged his shoulders in confusion too.

Blitz glanced at the barrel at the end of the table, "I don't know if I should be impressed by the forethought or disgusted by the fact that we are sharing a vomit barrel…" He starts drinking his next pint.

Ren nodded his head in understanding of the conundrum, "Well, let's just be happy that the barrel is there, or else the vomit of those who lost would be everywhere…"

Eomer spoke up next, "I've been to plenty of parties with the same game taking place." He then points at the barrel, "I learned my lesson of always have a barrel standing by in the event of weak stomachs… always."

Blitz puts down his pint and looks at both Velvet and Nora with squinting eyes, "I've only been out drunk by one woman, ladies!" he slurs with a loud tone, trying to talk over the party, "And I married her right after, and you diffidently aren't my wife…"

Ren smirked, "You're right, Leere is nothing compared to Nora."

"What was that?" Ren turned around to find Leere giving him a very innocent smile, while giving a very scary vibe.

"Just kidding," Ren said with a nervous smile.

Leere stood beside her husband and put her hands on his shoulders, "You got this."

Nora downs another pint and then throws it on the ground with pride, but then she started to feel her balance give way, feeling the inevitable coming for her. She looked to Velvet, "I'm going down, Velvet, AVENGE ME!" she then fell off her chair and almost hit the ground behind her, but Ren caught her before her butt could hit the floor.

Blitz laughs like a drunkard after seeing Nora go down, he then looks at Velvet with confident eyes, "Won't be out drunk…" His eyes then began to get heavy as his pint fell out of his hand and he began to fall back as well. Leere caught him and pushed him back onto the table to let him rest his head.

Velvet looks around at everyone else to be sure and then she smiled, "Game over." Some of the spectators that watched the game started to cheer. Others were even seen passing lien around to those who won certain bets.

Over by the dance floor, Jaune and Pyrrha were dancing along with Sun and Blake. Both couples were dancing in parallel and enjoying the time they had with each other. Other couples were dancing on the dance floor as well, unfortunately for Weiss, her date was passed out and couldn't dance with her.

Grun saw Ozpin watching the dance floor and seeing everyone enjoying the party. Grun walked up beside him and passed him a pint of whiskey, "Uncle Oz."

"Nephew," Ozpin said with a smile as he took the pint that was offered. He continued to watch the couples dancing, seeing the people that used to be his students all grown up so quickly make him feel both good and bad. Good in the sense that they were able to find happiness in all of what was going on, and bad because they were forced to take part in this war so soon.

Grun whispered to Ozpin, under the overall noise of the party, "Any news on Ruby or Yang?"

Ozpin shook his head, "Not a word. Not even from Argus."

Grun grunted under his breath, he couldn't help but feel worried for his fiancé. It had only been six months ago, since he asked her to marry him, and now they are in the middle of a war and he couldn't be there to help her. All he can do now was wait and hope for the best, "I'm sure their ok."

Ozpin lowered his head as he asked, "How could you know that?"

Grun looked at him with the most serious face he could make to Ozpin, "Well, what does your heart tell you?"

Ozpin sees how desperately he wants to believe his own words, and he understands why. Were it his woman, he would be desperate for hope that things would work out, "Yes. Yes, they're ok…" He then put up smile to comfort his nephew as best he could.

After they were finished dancing, Pyrrha decided to go and get a drink for her and Jaune, leaving him with Blake and Sun. As she reached the drink bowl, she was met by the new Fall Maiden. "Megara."

Megara looked to Pyrrha, "Princess! Enjoying the party?"

Pyrrha smiled, "Greatly. You?"

Megara started to show a rather guilty look, "I can't… I feel like I didn't do enough back in the battle…"

"What are you talking about? You did a lot." Pyrrha said as she put her hand on her shoulder, "Were it not for you, Jaune never would have gotten off that causeway alive."

"But I did nothing after that… I was too scared to keep fighting," Megara continued to lower her head, "I wasn't a fighter before I got the power… I was a farmhand." She turned her gaze to Pyrrha, "Maybe if I had been a huntress before, I could have the same bravery you did. Maybe I could have saved more people…"

Pyrrha shook her head, "Don't think like that. You did EVERYTHING that you could with what you had. And that didn't take being a huntress to be brave. Even the bravest people are afraid from time to time."

Megara nodded in understanding, she then remembered a question that's been lingering in her mind for a long time. Now didn't seem like a bad time to ask, "Were you afraid at Beacon? When you faced off against the Glass Queen."

Pyrrha hadn't thought about that time in weeks, with all that had been going on, it hadn't crossed her mind. But that didn't mean she didn't remember it vividly, with every last detail, "I was terrified… but I faced her anyway."

Megara smiled, "I hope I can be just as brave, some day." She then hugged Pyrrha, which caught her by surprise. She then let go and glanced at Jaune in the distance, "So, have you two… done it yet?"

Pyrrha's face then got as red as her hair as she nervously smiled, "I don't think that's any of your concern…"

"I know it isn't," Megara said with her hands up in apology, "But after everything that's happened… maybe you two deserve one night to yourselves." She then picked up her drink and walked away from the table.

Pyrrha turned her gaze to her boyfriend in the distance and spoke out loud, "Yes… we do…" She then slammed the whole glass of wine and started walking towards Jaune with a purpose. She reached him and grabbed his left hand, "Come with me." Before he could ask 'why', she was tugging on him to follow. Blake and Sun waved them off as they were leaving party.

After making their way to the main castle of Mistral, Pyrrha took Jaune to her old room in the castle. She pulled him in and closed the door behind them, locking it too. She then turned around and kissed him with a very powerful and passionate kiss. She began pushing him backwards, causing him to step back until his legs touched the foot of her bed.

She backed up from him for a second and unhooked the top of her dress from behind her neck, revealing herself to him. Before he could even respond she pushed him onto the bed, she then jumped on top of him and proceeded to kiss him passionately.

By midnight the party was over, everyone had either gone to home to their own beds or fell asleep in the main party area with all the other people that were too drunk to leave on their own.

As Pyrrha falls deeper into her sleep, she quietly enjoys the warmth she could feel from Jaune's chest on her shoulder. In this moment, nothing could make her happier than being by his side, wrapped in his arms. However, Pyrrha felt a sudden and painful jolt in her chest as her body warmed up even more.

Her eyes sprung open to see Cinder in front of her, bow in hand and standing as though she just fired an arrow. Pyrrha looked down to see the black arrow protruding from her chest. She felt the same burning feeling in her chest as she did the first time.

Cinder cocked her head to the right, "Huh, for a second there, you didn't look fully awake." She lowered her weapon and began walking towards Pyrrha with pride in her step. "I've heard once that people who are on the verge of death imagine, or even dream, of a whole different life. Their mind tries to escape the inevitability just before it happens. Whatever dream you had, I hope it was good." She began to smile deviously as she brushed her fingers across Pyrrha's cheek.

Pyrrha tried to speak but blood reached the back of her throat and spilled out of her mouth. Her hands weren't moving, she tried to scream but the only sound that came out was her gargling voice under the pool of blood in her mouth.

Cinder raises her hand from Pyrrha's cheek to her forehead, "It's too bad, really… Here I thought the Invincible Girl would have put up a better fight than that. Can't always get what you want, am I right?"

Pyrrha looked up at Cinder's eye and saw a firey mask form around it, and then she saw Cinder's hand begin to glow as well. Pyrrha felt her body get extremely hot and she shut her eyes in pain. Just as she opened them again, she was staring at the ceiling of her room.

She sat up quickly and clutched her hand to her chest, brushing her hand over her scar, feeling the newer skin where the arrow had pierced her. She then turned to her right to look at Jaune, but he wasn't there. "Where's-?!" she turned to her left and saw Jaune staring out the window, wearing only his boxer-briefs.

Pyrrha started to stand up, while wrapping the tope blanket around herself as she walked towards Jaune. She found him staring at the view of the city, under the light of a full moon. His face was that of calm but vigilant, almost as if he was mentally prepared, of what, she had no idea. "Couldn't' sleep?"

Pyrrha lowered her head, "No, you?" She could feel the tension radiating off him like heat from a fire.

"Not a wink…" He said with bitterness in his tone. He closed his eyes as he sighed, "It's almost 'routine' at this point… at least once a month, I dream of her standing over me…" Jaune put his hand over his chest, resting it on his own scar, "With her molten glass spike jabbed through my chest… her demented smile, her fury in her eyes…"

Pyrrha stood beside him, keeping her left hand on the blanket while putting her right over his shoulder, "I've had one of those, always of that night… at Beacon."

Pyrrha was going to say more but was caught off guard when Jaune turned towards her and hugged her without a word. At first, she was surprised, but then she wrapped her arms around him as well. He buried his face into her neck, and then spoke, "I'm sorry… it's just… there were so many close calls at Helm's Deep that I thought I was going to die, that you were going to die… again." He slowly let go, he continued as he looked her in the eye, "There are times I just need a reminder that you're real…"

Pyrrha smiled in understanding, she put her hand at the back of his neck and pulled his head down to hers, resting their foreheads together. "There are times I need a reminder that this is real…" she pulls away and looks down at her scar, "It's been five years, almost to the day, since then… and there are times I can still feel that arrow… It never truly healed, did it?"

Jaune looked down to his own and then back at her, "My dad used to say, 'Scars are lessons, learn from them before you have too many." She began to laugh a bit, understanding the wisdom behind those words. They hugged once more, this time softer and more loving.

Weiss and Blake shared a room in the castle, sleeping in twin beds across each other. They both felt a bit of nostalgia as their bed placement reminded them of where they slept in their Academy days. While Blake was fast asleep, Weiss kept tossing and turning, not able to sleep at all.

What she saw in that black orb is still running through her head now, "I know that thing could tell me where Ruby is… According to the legends, it can show people any place on the planet. It's why Saruman was able to track us through Vale. I'm sure it can help us find her…"

Weiss got up from her bed and slipped on the slippers she was given. As she passed by Blake's bed, she heard a voice whisper, "What are you doing?"

Weiss stopped and then slowly turned to find Blake sitting up in her bed. Evidently her ears were able to catch the sounds of Weiss getting out of bed. She sighed, "I have an idea on how to find Ruby, and I am going to try."

Before Blake could ask, Weiss had already opened the door and walked out of the room. Blake quickly got out of her bed, put on her own slippers and went after her teammate.

The two walked until they reached Ozpin's assigned room and quietly opened the door. Weiss tip towed towards jacket and saw that it was wrapped around the black orb. She grabbed the Orb and carried it out of the room as quietly as possible. Weiss brought the orb to the main hall of the castle, there was nobody in the area, so they placed the orb on the ground and removed Ozpin's jacket from it.

"What exactly are you going to do?" Blake tried not to sound like she was criticizing Weiss's decision, but she was genuinely curious as to what Weiss was planning, "Do you even know how to use it?"

Weiss put her hands on the orb, she brushed her fingers across its spherical shape, trying to find a sort of grip onto it. "How did he ever do this?" She whispered under her breath.

For a few seconds, she didn't see anything in the orb. She looked closely at its center and stared at the core of the glass sphere and saw what almost looked like a small twinkle of light. "Please… help me find Ruby… show me something…" she whispered again.

Before she could even react, Weiss' hand was fully on the orb; she had only the fingers of her right hand on it but then she felt something pull her whole hand onto its surface.

Weiss panicked and tried to pull her hand off it but couldn't remove it, and the next thing she knew she was no longer sitting in the middle of the hallway in the castle.

She looked towards where Blake was sitting beside her but she wasn't there anymore. She looked down and found that she was standing on a silver colored surface. It appeared to be moving like water, rippling every time she moved her hands or feet on the ground. Just then she heard voices in the distance, they sounded unfamiliar to her.

"Those Hunters are proving to be more trouble than I first anticipated." A man said with an annoyed tone.

"How so?" asked another man, this one sounded much larger.

The first one began elaborating, "First they ousted my strike force at Fornost, delaying our Vale campaign; then they managed to save that worthless Sky Knight captain, and now they saved the remains of the Valkyrie clan and convinced them to join Vacuo against me and my forces."

A woman began laughing, "You've proven to be very good at royally screwing up, Smith." When Weiss heard her voice speak, she instantly remembered hearing it at Weathertop, months ago.

"The Winter Witch," Weiss almost screamed in her head. Weiss could even hear the Summer Banshee chuckling at the witch's joke, like a child.

"Those victories are nothing more than road blocks," Radcliffe Smith exclaimed in his defense, "and in the grand scheme of things, I'm still holding the winning hand."

Weiss looked to where the voices were coming from and realized a long table was set up between her and them, which explains why they didn't see her. She began crawling towards them, trying her best not to make a sound but found that she couldn't go beyond where the silver ended. She looked down and saw that she was crawling in a mercury pool, she looked at her hands and body and saw that her whole body was mercury, "Wait a minute… I'm not in Mistral anymore… I'm in Barad Dur!" she almost screamed inside her brain.

Weiss' mental screaming was cut short when she heard the Nazgul continue speaking, "I've never been much of a card player, is that good?" the banshee asked the witch.

"It's a decent gamble at best," the witch replied with a less than convinced tone.

The other knight spoke up, "Tall talk from those that failed their own mission. All you had to do was retrieve the ring, it was one simple job!"

Before either of the female Nazgul could respond, they all stopped when a new voice overwhelmed them, "That's enough bickering."

Weiss almost trembled at the sound of the new voice, she may not have ever heard it before, but she could guess who it belonged to just by the reaction of the others. "Salem…"

"What happened, happened," she stated with a stern voice, with a bit of disappointment. "All we can do now is improve on our setbacks. Some of which have given us some advantages."

"That being?" Rourke asked.

"That being… with Mistral now safe, and its resources at the half way mark, Theoden will not be sending military support to anyone for a long while." Salem sounded confident, "After Vale arrived to help, I'm sure they'll offer some support but Theoden won't be sending them any armies. Neither to Vacuo. And Atlas, he won't even lift a finger to help a country that abandoned them."

"But we still lost Saruman…" Jackie felt confused, "wouldn't this be a loss?"

Radcliffe began chuckling, "Saruman was a coward, through and through. He may have brought Mistral to its knees but that all he was good for."

"His army will make a good addition to our ranks." Rourke stated, he then started counting with his fingers, "He delivered us only have 50 thousand; I'm not entirely convinced that'll last us the whole war."

"It won't have to," Radcliffe replied, "I've already begun my own Uruk Hai factory in Carn Dum. We may not reach the same amount in production as Saruman, but it will make the difference in the end."

Salem turned to the knight, "Radcliffe, I want you to send word to Roodaka of the Spiderlings. Tell her that Mirkwood must be under my influence within a fortnight."

Radcliffe bows his head, "It will be done."

Salem then looked to Rourke, "I want you to continue with your plans in Atlas. That kingdom must be the first to fall."

Rourke smiled, "Consider it conquered, my queen. They've already lost, they just don't know it yet."

Jackie rolled her neck, acting like an impatient child. As she rolled her head towards the mercury pool, she noticed that the liquid was rippling. She squinted her eyes and cocked her head to the side, she slowly walked towards the main conference table that was between them and the pool and walked around it.

Salem continued giving orders, "Jadis, I want you to make haste to Stone's Throw. I want you to secure my family's long-lost heirloom."

"I will," Jadis said with pride in her voice and determination on her face.

Jackie jumped on top of the table and look down on the silver girl behind the chairs, "Peekaboo! I SEE YOU!"

Weiss jumped back from her hiding spot and stared in fear of the Nazgul standing above her. All the others heard Weiss yelp in fear and walked around the table to see the intruder.

"Well, well, well…" Radcliffe chuckled, "I must say, I didn't see this coming."

Salem slowly began walking towards Weiss, stepping into the mercury pool without any hesitation. "Hmmm…" She knelt down and put her fingers on her chin as she examined Weiss. "If I were to guess, you're using the Palantir Saruman had at Haven."

Weiss didn't say a word. All she could do was stare into the deep blackness in the Grimm-Queen's eyes.

Jackie jumped into the pool, splashing some of the mercury onto Salem's kimono but not too much to anger her, "Is it just me or is she frozen solid?"

"She's just in shock," Rourke said with amusement.

Salem moved her to Weiss' cheek and brushed her fingers across the mercury that made up Weiss' face. "I feel like I know your face… I've seen it before, somewhere."

Rourke snapped his fingers, "I got it! She's Weiss Schnee; only a Schnee would be so bold as to intrude in our meeting."

"Oh, yes. I remember now," Salem nodded in agreement, "She was a member of the team that had the Ring." Salem then removed her hand from Weiss' cheek and then grabbed her face, "Where is my Ring?"

Weiss remained silent, aside from grunting from the pain of Salem gripping her face. Salem then relaxed her face to show that she was out of patience, "If you won't talk to me… then you don't need a mouth!"

Weiss could then feel her lips being fused together, she tried to pull her face out of Salem's grip but felt a hand with claws grip her left shoulder. She looked up to see Jackie look at her with a very wide, razor sharp teeth, grin. "This is going to be good!"

Salem then placed her left hand on Weiss' chest and made it glow. Weiss began to scream in both pain and fear as loud as she could, but her voice was muffled due to her mouth being gone. She felt as though her insides were being burned form the inside out.

Salem then formed a red glyph form the palm of her other hand, with a red eye in the center, "I'll just have to take the information I want." She then moved her hand towards Weiss' forehead but was interrupted by the mercury that made up her body drop to the ground as if someone dropped a bucket of water.

All of the Nazgul were in complete confusion as to what happened, but Salem knew exactly what happened. "DAMN IT!"

(60 seconds ago)

Blake had been watching Weiss' body the whole time since she had her whole hand touch the Palantir. Her face showed signs of fear and confusion, Blake couldn't make heads or tails as to what was happening. She had tried to talk to Weiss a minute ago, but she wouldn't respond, she wasn't sure if she could even hear her in her current state.

Suddenly Weiss' arm tensed up and she arched backwards, the orb appeared to still be in her hand. "Weiss!" Blake exclaimed in fear for her friend.

Weiss continued to arch back and exclaim sounds of pain, she looked like she was in great pain but couldn't scream.

"Help! PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP!" Blake shouted down the hall as loud as she could.

Within a few seconds one of the doors flung open and Ozpin came out, a few doors down Grun came out. Both ran down the hall towards Blake and Weiss and saw that the Palantir almost looked like it was on fire.

Jaune and Pyrrha came running form the opposite end of the hall, Jaune in only his pants and Pyrrha in a nightgown. Jaune reached for the orb, "Get her hand off it!"

Ozpin grabbed his wrist, "No! If you touch it, you'll be effected by the spell too!" He then looked to Grun, "Use your semblance to take it away, but don't touch it."

Grun put both his hands on either side of the orb and formed a gravity field around it, he then began pulling. The orb started to tug on Weiss' hand and pull her along with it, Blake and Pyrrha quickly reacted and grabbed Weiss' shoulders to pull her back. Grun pulled as hard as he could without dislocating Weiss' shoulder, Ozpin placed his hand over Weiss' and formed a green barrier around it.

"Jaune, put your hand on mine and boost my spell," Ozpin ordered. Jaune followed the order and put his hand over Ozpin's and put his aura into the spell. Within seconds the orb went black and Weiss' hand came off.

Blake and Pyrrha were able to hold Weiss up and not drop her once the orb was removed, unfortunately for Grun, the orb almost flew at him after pulling so hard. He was able to dodge it and catch with his semblance before it could hit the ground.

Ozpin quickly turned to Weiss, "I told you not to touch it!" He instantly stopped yelling when he realized that Weiss was unconscious. He moved to her and put his hand in hers and began forming a green glow in her palm, he could feel burns in her hand from the orb.

Within seconds she quickly began crying in Blake's arms, she opened her eyes to see that she was surrounded by her friends. She put her hands to her mouth, making sure it was still there. She looked up to Blake and hugged her tightly, Blake returned the hug with just as much fear as she had.

Everyone quickly started to relax, Grun sitting with his back to the wall, Jaune putting his hands on the back of his head while exhaling sharply, and Pyrrha letting out a sigh of relief. "Does someone mind telling me what the hell happened?" Jaune asked.

Weiss let go of Blake and sat on her knees, "I thought I could use the orb to find Ruby… I found Salem instead…"

Ozpin and Grun turned their heads to Weiss sharply, "You what?" Grun exclaimed.

"What did you see?" Ozpin asked.

Weiss raised her right hand up and saw the burn marks on her palm, "I heard Salem talking to her followers about their plans… And then I… I saw her."

Ozpin knelt down to her, "What did you say to her?"

"I didn't… I didn't speak at all, and then she tortured me…" Weiss then put her hands to her elbows, as if to get warm as she continues to shake. Blake put her arm over Weiss' shoulder as Pyrrha did the same on the opposite side. They didn't know how to comfort her after what just happened, but all they could do was be there for her in this moment.

Ozpin, Jaune and Grun all shared a look of concern all over their faces. Whatever Weiss heard in that meeting could help them in the war; but right now, all they can think about is helping Weiss recover for the time being.

AN: I don't know about any of you, but this was a chapter well worth the wait.
Leave a review and keep it positive, please.

The next chapter will come as soon as it is ready.

As always, everyone, ARKOS!