Much to Professor Ozpin's chagrin, the portal to the rooftop proved to be extremely stubborn when it came to removing it. They had tried everything; burning it, burying it under a ton of bricks, shooting it, even throwing a demolition ball at it with Professor Goodwitch's telekinesis. Yet the portal still remained behind its triple layer of shields, only accessible to Valeria's students if they chose to walk through. Everything else tended to disintegrate very, very quickly on touching any part of the shields.

"This is pointless. She hasn't done anything to harm our students," sighed Professor Goodwitch, after attempting to remove the portal for what felt like the umpteenth time that day, "Maybe we should just let her be. The students are not complaining, and they are learning new things every day,"

Ozpin took a sip from his mug and gazed resignedly at the portal. "Maybe. But the other academies will not be happy about being excluded from this class, Glynda. And you know very well that envy is effective at attracting Grimm. Especially from so many students at once,"

"Well, you'll just have to find a way to distract them. The Vytal Festival fairgrounds are up, and I think that should be enough to distract the exchange students from these thoughts,"

"Let us hope so,"

Meanwhile, in a secluded part of Patch, Ruby stood over a white memorial stone overlooking a calm stretch of sea. A gentle breeze rustled the red autumn leaves of the trees around her; and amid the falling leaves, little rose petals danced in the wind from under her cloak.

"Hey, mum," she whispered, pushing up her cloak's hood so that it was no longer covering her head, "Sorry I haven't come by in a while. Things have been...well, things have been...pretty busy. Oh, Dad's still here, too. He's uh, you know...Dad,"

She shrugged mildly, at a loss as to what else to say about her father. Sure, Taiyang did look after them well enough, though it was mostly Yang that did the work around the house with Summer gone.

"He's still teaching at Signal. But he says he's going to be on a mission soon. I think he misses adventuring with you. I miss you, too,"

She sniffs, feeling tears well up in her eyes. But before she could wipe it away, she heard a plaintive whine of a dog, and a pair of large, fluffy arms wrap around her shoulders from behind. A bright neon-green patchwork handkerchief crept into her sight, and she felt it gently wipe away her tears.

"Oh, what's got my number one cookie fan so depressed, hm?" Ra'shamarra cooed, standing up and teleporting in front of her, sitting cross-legged on top of Summer's memorial stone. She looked curiously in concern, though her ever-present grin slowly morphed into confusion when Ruby's sad eyes widened in surprise. "What? Is it me? But you just had a cookie! Is it another one you want? Of course it is. Haskill!"

"No, no, no, nothing like that, Auntie Ra'shamarra!" she said hurriedly, "Um...you're kind of...sitting on my mum's grave,"

The elderly khajiit gasped and immediately leapt to her feet with a yowl, quicker than if somebody had lit a blazing fire beneath her. Brushing down her harlequin robes, she spun about and made a theatrical bow towards the gravestone.

"Oh, my most sincere apologies, my cookie monster's mother! Never before has the mortal world created such an adorable little minion-"

"Hey!" Ruby cried out indignantly, "That's not nice,"

"But it's true! You are one of the most adorable little ones that this old khajiit has ever seen!" Ra'shamarra said, grinning broadly, "Why, most of the others tend to run when dear old Sheogorath comes into view. Saying something about not wanting to have their cabbages, or take needles to their yarn,"

"Um...okay then. Anyway, mum, I'd like you to meet Auntie Ra'shamarra. She's...a little strange," Ruby continued, trying to ignore the faces that Ra'shamarra was pulling. Eventually, however, she conjured a stack of ethereal bones and started to juggle them, causing Zwei to bark excitedly and jump up and down, trying to catch them. "Okay. Maybe more than a little strange. But she's nice. I really wish you could meet her. Or Archmage Septim,"

"You know, you still have a wish to make, right?"

Ruby's jaw dropped when she heard those words.

She still had a wish.

Archmage Septim owed her a wish. And she was a master of all schools of magicka.

She had heard Weiss talking in awe about how masters of the Restoration school could keep even a mortally wounded person from slipping away into death.

She knew that some of them actually cheated death by becoming immortal. Like Valeria with her vampirism; or Ra'shamarra, by apparently becoming a deity of sorts.

Maybe one of them could bring her back. No, they had to know how to bring her back.

"Auntie Ra'shamarra," Ruby asked slowly, thinking about what she was about to ask, "Can you bring the dead back to life?"

Ra'shamarra's face wore a thoughtful expression. "Hm. It's been a long time since someone's asked me that! Too long. Maybe, though. If they were bound to my service in life, then I can just bring them back from the dead! Back in the Shivering Isles, of course. Not here, in a plane that doesn't belong to me,"

"So...no?" Ruby continued, her shoulders slumping in disappointment.

"I haven't said no yet!" snapped Ra'shamarra, startling Ruby. "It's possible. Like anything else. You don't worship the Nine, which means that your souls don't go scurrying off to the Dreamsleeve to be cleansed and recycled after your ticker stops beating. And you're definitely not worshipping a Daedric Prince, otherwise the other princes would be at my throat right now for talking to one of their worshippers. Except if you're mine, of course. Are you?"

"Uh...I don't know?"

"Ha! Just messing with you. It'd be nice, of course, if you did. But you don't want to sign off your soul to a Daedric Prince. Nasty creatures. Unless it's me! Or Meridia, but that's beside the point. Still, if you don't worship the Nine, Arkay can't pull your soul to Aetherius once you're dead. And if you don't worship any of us Daedric princes, that means your souls don't go to us,"

"I don't get it. What does that even mean?" Ruby murmured, perplexed, "Where do they go then?"

"The answer is..." Ra'shamarra spoke, conjuring a ball of purple light and throwing it on Summer's grave. The sphere fizzled and vanished, causing a bright white light to illuminate the grave, "Ha! I knew it. Her soul's still here,"

"Really?!" exclaimed Ruby, "Can you...you know...?"

"Bring her back to life? Ye—no! Like I said before, she's not my follower. That means her soul isn't mine to deal with, and us Daedric princes can't touch mortals' souls unless willingly given. Blame my daughter for that rule. And my husband, too. Actually, make that the whole Septim line, all the way down to Alessia the slave queen! If she didn't beg Akatosh to make that pact, I would be able to do it,"

Ruby was crushed. Here she thought that magic could fix anything. Thought that maybe, just maybe, she could see her mother again. She sniffed, and then cried loudly, sitting down on the grassy ground below. Curiously, however, Ra'shamarra's ears pricked up, and she turned to face the gravestone again.

"Huh? What's that? Oh. You want your kid to stop crying?" the khajiit said, seemingly to nobody in particular. "Okay then! My number one cookie fan, if you can stop crying right now, you can have a cookie! A giant one. Hmm...what was that? She likes...oh, how delectable! Vanilla, chocolate, strawberries and stuffed with whipped cream? Four sugars dusted on top?"

Ruby gawked at Ra'shamarra, her grief overwhelmed by shock. That was a recipe that nobody should know, except for her and Yang – and maybe her dad, if he even paid enough attention when they cooked. "H-How'd you know that?"

"I said I couldn't touch her soul. Doesn't mean I can't listen to what she has to say!" giggled Ra'shamarra, "Oh, stop that. You're making me blush. Anyway, she says that since she can't bake you any, for obvious reasons, she's asking me to make some for you! Oh? With sliced strawberries on top? Easily done!"

For once, hope flooded her mind. Those were things that nobody else should know, except her immediate family, and yet the khajiit spouted them off as though she was actually having a conversation with her mother. It was true that Ra'shamarra was a madgod, and if Weiss were around, the heiress would likely just chalk it up to another bout of her madness. But there was also an equally good chance that she was telling the truth-

"What, you actually think I'm lying?!" gasped Ra'shamarra, clutching at her heart, "How rude!"

Okay. Maybe she was telling the truth.

"So um...do you know anyone that could bring the dead back to life?" Ruby asked tentatively.

"I know my daughter can shout dead dragons back to life, but that's because she has the bloodline of Akatosh in her veins, and has won that right through her victory over Alduin. But your mother isn't a dragon, is she?"

"It's worth a try anyway," Ruby said, "I think I still haven't wished for anything yet,"

"...You wish for me me to do WHAT?" shrieked Valeria, startling several other students in the hangar. Knowing of Valeria's vicious temper once angered, many of them scooted as far away from her as possible. Lowering her voice, she leaned in closer to Ruby, glaring into her eyes, "No. I cannot – will not – do that,"

"No! You said that you'll grant a wish if it's within your power. And if it's not evil," Ruby retorted indignantly. "Auntie Ra'shamarra said that you can bring dragons back to life. Why can't you do it for me? I'm not out to do bad things!"

For a few moments, Valeria glared at Ruby; though to the little reaper's credit, her love for her mother held firm and she refused to budge. Finally, Valeria relented and sighed, cradling her temples with both her hands.

"You do realise the trouble this will cause for myself, correct? I have agreed only yesterday that I would not set foot in Vale, and Patch is considered a dependency of Vale," grumbled the archmage.

"But you said you'd grant a wish if it's in your power. And it's not like I'm going to tell on you or anything,"

"I really should not offer open wagers. Fine, if you keep insisting, I suppose I have no way to get out of this obligation of mine. Students, please keep practicing with my battlemages. I shall return in approximately an hour. Come, Miss Rose,"

Before she could even respond, Valeria threw a purple ball of energy at Ruby, throwing her into a portal. Having not expected being hurled into a portal, she felt as though she were thrown into a washing machine and bounced around like a rubber ball.

"Think of where you would like to go. If you cannot focus, then it will be very difficult for myself to create a portal to where we must go,"

"That—mmmphh-might be a bit hard!" Ruby sputtered, her head spinning from being tumbled about. Eventually, she managed to think of her mother's grave for long enough that Valeria could latch on to the thought. Ruby had been ejected much less gracefully than Valeria; she rolled about on the grass, catching a mouthful of grass and dirt before eventually coming to a stop by Valeria's feet.

"Mother," Valeria spoke exasperatedly, "Did you...of course you did. She wouldn't have known otherwise about that particular Shout. Why? Why would you reveal that?!"

"You know why, little kitten. I won't have my only daughter dragging my family's name through the mud because you can't uphold a promise," she giggled in response, a manic glint in her eyes, "That, and I do so enjoy seeing you annoyed! Brings a little bit of warmth to my heart. Maybe a little bit more than a bit. But that would make it a lot! Aaaanyway. You know what you have to do, so snap to it!"

Growling angrily, Valeria otherwise turned about to face Ruby. "Meridia will have your head for this, mother, and we can ill afford another war in the Shivering Isles. We will have to speak later, as to how we shall make amends with our ally for offending her. So, Miss Rose...as I understand, you are wishing for your mother to return to life? You are asking for a resurrection?"

Ruby nodded.

"You are aware, of course, that most branches of necromancy are illegal in the Empire, and have been illegal, for the last fifteen hundred years. And for good reason, I might add. Tampering with the souls of the dead is not a simple matter, and should not be taken trivially. Do you understand this?"

Ruby nodded again, though more slowly. Valeria slowly turned to the gravestone and closed her eyes, conjuring the same purple flames that Ra'shamarra had cast before on the grave. Though unlike Ra'shamarra's flame, there was something more...powerful...about her one. Something hungrier, something more commanding. As though even a touch of it could bind a person or creature to her will. The grave flashed white again on touching the gravestone; Ruby gasped as she saw a misty, unfocused apparition rise up and push itself up from the grave.

Her mother. Or at least, her ghost. Semi-transparent, tinged blue, but it was still recognisably her mother.

"Mum?" she breathed, taking a step forward. Valeria hissed and snapped out her hand, barring Ruby from taking another step forward.

"Her soul, bound to my will and given a rudimentary physical form," murmured the archmage, "Touching her in this state will kill you. In what would invariably be a slow, painful death as your own soul is slowly devoured by hers,"

"But I wanted her to be alive!" wailed the little reaper, stamping her foot, "I want her back. I wanted our family to be whole again. I wanted-"

"SILENCE!" she shouted, letting her thu'um flow into her words and causing the ground to quake. "Yes. I am well aware of what you want. It is always the same with every single person that asks of me this favour. But the right to return her back to life lies not with you, nor myself. What if she desires not to return? What if she finds comfort in the eternal sleep of death? Would you then deny her will, to impose yours?"

"But..."

"And this is why I have brought her back temporarily. The right to return her to her physical form is neither yours nor mine. The decision is hers, and hers alone; and therefore, I must ask her," Valeria spoke, her eyes reading the gravestone's inscription, "Very well. Summer Rose. If you are capable of comprehending what I say, please nod,"

The ghost nodded.

"Very good. I am sure you see your child beside myself. She is the reason why I have brought you back to this mortal realm, at least temporarily. The ritual to rebind you to the physical realm is within my knowledge, as distasteful as it is for myself to remember it. However, the choice of whether or not you wish to return is not for myself or your daughter to decide upon. If you do choose to return until you die once more, nod again,"

The ghost nodded again.

"Very well. Your consent is noted. Let it be known by the gods that your return is sanctioned by your own will," sighed Valeria. Turning to a delighted Ruby, she frowned deeply, "This next portion of the ritual is one that I utterly detest. Though dragons I may return without it, to return the corporeal form of a man, mer, or beastfolk requires a sacrifice of flesh and blood. For the creation of a body requires the sacrifice of something of equal worth,"

"Sacrifice of flesh...and blood?" Ruby squeaked, backing away a little when Valeria produced a silver dagger from under her robes.

She fingered the edge for a little while, before suddenly slashing open the tip of her finger. Blackish-red blood began to bubble from the open wound, which the khajiit used to draw a ritual glyph upon the white marble headstone. It was like some macabre work of calligraphy; the jagged letters of Daedric written in the red ink of her lifeblood.

"The invoker completes her written plea, in a bargain sealed with her own blood," Valeria intoned, "Let the liminal barriers weaken; let the energies of Aetherius flow through. The exchange of energies requires the offering of flesh and blood. Let the supplicant present her offering!"

Turning to Ruby, Valeria looked at her seriously. "This is your last chance to reverse your wish, Miss Rose. I shall require a little of your blood, and a finger, in order to complete the ritual,"

"A finger?!"

"Yes. A finger. The darkest of the dark arts requires terrible offerings of one's own person. As I have stated before, Necromancy has been banned for many centuries for many good reasons," sighed Valeria.

For a moment, Ruby looked as though she were about to run. But she did not; instead, she nodded vigorously, with determination burning in her eyes. She wanted her mother back, at any cost. Her left hand trembling, she held it out to Valeria, who had chilled her silver dagger with a jet of frost.

"Now, now, my little cookie devourer. We can't have you biting your tongue, can we?" she heard Ra'shamarra whisper in her ear, while waving a strip of leather in front of her. "Bite down on this. It'll help, if you don't want to be without a tongue,"

Gratefully, Ruby took the strip of leather between her teeth. Ra'shamarra started to cast a numbing spell while purring comfortingly in the brunette's ear, while Valeria slowly lowered her knife closer and closer to her pinky. In a flash of silver, the finger fell cleanly away, almost painlessly; Ruby was only vaguely aware of the slow throbbing of its stub as blood spurted out onto the gravestone.

Which, to Ruby's shock, erupted in a sickly greenish-white flame. The letters that were written in blood; the circle, the glyphs; even her finger and blood vanished as if they had never been there before.

"The ritual is complete, and the offerings are consumed," Valeria spoke, "May the gods both new and old deem it sufficient. Now, Miss Rose, please stand back. Mother, if you could heal her wounds, it would be most appreciated. SLEN...TIID...VO!"

A pulse of energy shot out from Valeria's mouth as she roared out the last syllable of the Shout. The gravestone cracked and shattered; the ground trembled and shook; and the sky itself darkened momentarily, as if the rising sun had been driven back into hiding. The ghost of Summer Rose slowly faded and winked out of existence, leaving only wisps of ethereal energy behind.

And then as soon as it came, the darkness left. It looked as though nothing had happened. The headstone was still there, albeit severely damaged. The blood, both hers and Valeria's, vanished completely.

And yet, there was no Summer Rose standing there.

"Did it...work?" Ruby asked uncertainly. Valeria nodded, waving her hand and breaking away chunks of the headstone. When she finally lifted away the last chunks of stone, they could hear weak, muffled shouts coming from below – and the pounding of fists on wood.

"Mum?!" she gasped. Valeria narrowed her eyes in concentration and slowly ripped the coffin out of the ground with careful use of telekinesis. Nails popped away, wood splintered and iron bandings ripped apart; and with a slight bang, the coffin's lid broke free – and along with it tumbled out a gasping, sputtering Summer Rose, still wrapped in her burial shroud. "Mum!"

"Ruby? Ruby!" she gasped out, still breathing heavily as she stood up, right before a bawling Ruby tackled her about the midriff. The woman was a spitting image of Ruby herself. The brunette had red tips on her hair, just like Ruby; she was a little on the short side, and...

"Oh. Oh, my!" Ra'shamarra giggled, as the burial shroud wrapping Summer's body fell away, "Don't mind me, I'm just admiring the view. I really don't mind the view! It's a great view! Really is!"

"Ewww. Auntie Ra'shamarra! That's my mum you're talking about there!" Ruby sputtered out, blushing a brilliant shade of red. One that was mirrored by Summer after she realised her problem: a distinct lack of clothing. A plaintive 'oww' followed a resounding thwack as Valeria gave her mother a slap behind the ears. The archmage took off her travelling cloak and draped it about Summer's shoulders to preserve her modesty.

"So, the ritual is...complete," Valeria spoke, her voice low and dripping with distaste, "Miss Rose, I hope that you are satisfied. Your mother has been restored to life – and I hope that you shall never have to call upon me to repeat this again. After all, one has only so many fingers to sacrifice. But, ah, I believe that we may have a...slight issue,"

Valeria looked into Summer Rose's eyes. They were a bright, burning gold, just like her own.

"Yes...definitely a slight issue,"

On returning to the Wrath of Talos, Valeria opted to teleport into her private chambers. It was most unladylike, after all, to strut about with nothing but a travelling cloak on; and if she had teleported into the usual practice room for Beacon's students, there was a good chance that one of them would recognise a long-dead huntress and report back to Ozpin. Or the Nine forbid, to the gossip circles of Beacon Academy. At least in her room, Summer could go and find a spare robe to wear without being bothered or spotted by anyone, even if it was far too large for her small frame.

"Aww, so she can't come back home? Why not?" Ruby pouted, as she sat down on the edge of Valeria's bed.

Currently, Ra'shamarra was sitting across Summer, who was eating a fruit salad ravenously. Or rather, was being fed a fruit salad, if one had to be precise, as the Madgod seemed to take great delight in levitating pieces of cut fruit into her mouth for some reason or another.

"There is a good chance that your mother has turned into some form of half-vampire, owing to the use of my blood for the ritual," mused Valeria, noting that the white-cloaked Rose's eyes definitely displayed the traits of a pure-blooded vampire. Golden irises, burning with ravenous hunger; though she was still capable of eating normal food, it seemed. "I cannot recall any prior instance of this happening. For all I am aware of, she is the first-"

"Nope! Second one. Or at least, not the first," Ra'shamarra butted in, looking over her shoulder at Valeria, "First one I've seen was the Grand Champion of the Imperial City Arena. Agronak, I think his name was,"

"Very well. She is not the first, then. Regardless, my diagnostic magic reveals that her soul is still anchored to mine. Until I can be certain that her soul will not attempt to leave her body when I venture too far away, I shall have to keep her aboard this ship, at my side,"

"Oh, but I really wanted to come with my little Ruby," Summer said, pouting. The resemblance between Ruby and her mother truly was uncanny; they even had similar mannerisms. "Still...I can't thank you enough! It's...different being back. Everything isn't hazy; I can smell again, I can breathe again, I can touch and taste and hear things clearly! I feel like a new woman!"

She winced as she remembered something important. Something very important. "Ruby, how many years has it been? How old are you now? And how's Yang doing? She must have missed me so much,"

"Mum, I'm...almost sixteen now. Yang's doing great, actually! We're in the Vytal Festival,"

"Which, if you are in the first round of matches, Miss Rose," Valeria interrupted, checking her dataslate, "Miss Nikos has just sent me a message informing me that your match is scheduled to start in ten minutes. As much as I am sure that you wish to speak at length with your mother, it would be unwise to be late to a tournament,"

"Eep!" Ruby gasped, bolting out of the room in a trail of rose petals. Valeria sighed, while both Summer and Ra'shamarra chuckled in amusement.

A/N:

Well, Ruby better appreciate what Valeria just did. Breaking her own laws just to satisfy a wager. It must really suck to have two conflicting obligations and having to pick one of them.

Also wow, guys. Didn't think that many people were reading this. 50k views already? I'm humbled.

Akshka: There's no issue with that, but colonising a planet is a very, *very* lengthy endeavour, costing trillions upon trillions of septims to complete. It would likely require entire planetary surveys to be completed before that could go ahead - and that's only if they found minerals or a biosphere which makes it economical to settle there. Terraforming, of course, is another option - but infinitely more expensive than simple settlements.

Allard-Liao: Yep! About par for the course. As Carl von Clausewitz puts it, "War is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument". Conflict is simply a natural result of differing interests which could not be resolved through diplomatic means, therefore requiring the use of force to assert the correctness of one's own beliefs through warfare. After all, history is written by the victors. Anschluss ALL the clay!

Dragon Man 180: Well, we'll have to see if Weiss can get brave enough to challenge her father first, won't we? Can't have a puppet of an archmage, after all. Wouldn't do to have a weak-willed mage lead a college or university!