Welcome everyone to the final chapter of the first arc in my story. Sorry it's a couple days late, I had no time last week to write and then I came down sick Friday and Saturday, so I really didn't get started with this chapter until Sunday. I really wanted to get this chapter out Sunday afternoon/evening, but my body betrayed me once again, insisting I needed sleep more than I needed to keep typing. Hope you enjoy what I have for you all.


Chapter 28

ABDC Mining Camp

By the time Ruby and Qrow returned to the clearing the last of the grimm were being contained and eliminated. There were two more bullheads hovering overhead and four more teams of hunters on the ground.

Looking around Ruby spots where her friends are and dashes across the distance, kicking in her semblance to get to them quicker.

A lone Ursa, larger than most of its brethren, and likely close to obtaining Major status, lumbered away from the group, attempting to escape the blades and bullets of the other hunters. Unfortunately for him, his path brings him between Ruby and her friends.

Knowing there were still a large number of grimm in the area, Ruby still had Crescent Rose deployed, and when the Ursa lumbers into her path, she leaps into the air somersaulting over the beast, her sweetheart arcing through the air, aiming to decapitate it in a single strike.

Sensing the attack coming towards it, the Ursa attempts to avoid the strike while also raising its arm to strike at her.

Firing a round to speed her rotation, Crescent Rose easily severs the offending appendage, but the loss of momentum and change in hit location caused by the grimm's dodge is enough to cause the deadly blade to slide along the boney head plate of the Ursa rather than slice cleanly through its neck. With the blade now no longer able to freely rotate around Ruby, her momentum causes her to start rotating around the new focal point of rotation, namely the Ursa's head. Undeterred, Ruby waits until she feels the change in the blade's motion, indicating it is now moving across flesh, rather than the bone plate. Judging the angle to ensure she is not firing towards any of the hunters she pulls the trigger, the kick from the recoil causing the blade to slice cleanly through the skull and boney plate of the Ursa's head. In the end, rather than cleanly decapitating the grimm, Ruby has removed the front half of its skull, but the end result is the same, with the Ursa splayed out on the ground, slowly dissolving and blowing away on the wind.

Ruby covered the remaining distance to her teammates, friends and family without further incident. As she approached, a grin formed on her face, her team and team CRDL were standing around talking. Granted they were keeping a wary eye on their surroundings in the event that more grimm showed up to harass them, but still, it was obvious that they were, at least temporarily, at ease around each other, all except Sky.

At a glance she can tell that something is going on within team CRDL. Sky seems to be holding himself slightly apart from the rest of the group, and the rest of team CRDL are all standing, either intentionally or unconsciously, with their backs to him. She decides to find out the reason and sends a quick thought to Weiss, 'I'm back and perfectly alright. Any idea what's going on with team CRDL shunning Sky?'

'Not a clue. I know you're going to try to fix whatever the problem is, you just can't help yourself. I also know you won't listen to anything I say about it not being our business, so instead I'll wish you luck.' Weiss sends back, turning her head in Ruby's direction and smiling.

'Thanks Weiss. Could you do me a favor, please? Could you keep Yang from interrupting me? I'm going to speak with Sky first.' Ruby asks her girlfriend.

'I'll try, but you know your sister has a mind of her own and it's almost impossible to keep her from doing something if she really wants to.' Weiss sends back.

By this time, Yang, who was standing with Weiss as they talked with Dove and Russel, has noticed Weiss's distraction and looks in the direction of the heiress's gaze. Seeing her sister returning, Yang starts to move towards her, but is stopped by Weiss placing a hand on the taller girl's arm.

Ruby watches as Weiss shakes her head at Yang, speaking with her, and then sees Yang shoot a glance back at the two boys, who have suddenly donned hangdog expressions. She notices one of Blake's cat ears twitch towards Yang and Weiss as they talk, with her exceptional hearing, she can probably make out what they're talking about even though she's standing a bit apart from them talking with Cardin.

Cardin looks in Ruby's direction when Blake's ear rotates towards her. 'Well, I guess that confirms that he's noticed her ears.' Ruby thinks as Cardin makes a move as if to come speak with her, only to turn back towards Blake as the Faunus says something to him.

With the rest of her team keeping the other members of team CRDL from interrupting her, Ruby walks up to Sky. "Hey Sky, couldn't help but notice you were over here by yourself rather than with the rest of your team. You seem a bit down. Is something the matter?"

Looking at the younger girl as if having a hard time believing that she's talking to him. "I doubt it's anything you can help with, not that it's any business of yours anyway." Sky comments.

Shrugging her shoulders, not bothered in the least by his attitude, Ruby says, "Whether I can help or not remains to be seen, since I don't know what the issue is. If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, but if you ever do need someone to talk to I'm willing to listen."

As she turns to walk away, Sky calls out. "Wait, Ruby."

A small smile plays across her face, but she quickly smothers it before turning back and humming questioningly. "Hmmm?"

"Look, I'm having issues with my teammates right now. Cardin has been acting odd for a while now, but ever since the start of this mission, the rest of them seem to have decided to do a complete 180 in their outlooks on the Faunus. I know that the way we've treated the Faunus in the past isn't popular among the other students, but then again the faculty has never stepped in to stop it so our sentiments may be partly shared by the staff." Sky explains.

Ruby just shakes her head as she looks at Sky. "Why do you say they seem to have reversed their stance on the Faunus? From my standpoint that would be great, but people don't simply change their viewpoints like that."

"Ever since we got here, Rus and Dove have both sided with Cardin against me. The first night when we arrived, Rus and I both argued against staying here surrounded by Faunus, especially when we found out we would be the only humans in the camp. The Faunus security chief was degrading us and then said the only way we could call the transport back to get us out of there was to get past him to the communications room. Rus and I both tried to get to the communications building and were both quickly overcome. I don't think Dove or Cardin even tried." Sky sighs, shaking his head as he continues.

"The following morning he got us up at the crack of dawn to inspect our weapons. He ripped into me about mine, told me to never use it and then gave me this thing as a replacement, it doesn't even collapse down so I have to carry it around like this all the time." He says, indicating the full sized halberd he has been carrying around. "When he inspected the others' weapons he found small faults with each of them, but with mine he said the only reason he wouldn't give it an F if he were teaching a class for weapon construction was because the transformation sequence worked properly."

Looking towards the wall as if searching for something, Sky continues. "After the inspection he gave us a quick tour of the camp ending at the training area where he sparred against us in a one vs. four battle. After he wiped the floor with us, he set each of us tasks that he said would help improve our combat skills, and you know what he had me working on?" He asks, the question obviously being rhetorical as he continues on without waiting for an answer. "He had me working on defensive drills with some nobody from the ranks of the security force. As if I could learn anything of importance from some scrub. After it was obvious that there was nothing for me to learn from the clown, the security leader decided to have three of the guy's friends help him beat me black and blue. They were each given a staff and told to attack me and to not let up on me unless I could block all of the attacks. The beating went on for over half an hour, but they eventually quit after it was clear I wasn't going to submit and concede defeat."

When Sky stops, Ruby prompts. "That was interesting, but what does it have to do with what's going on between you and the rest of team CRDL?"

Turning to look at Ruby, Sky says. "Not once did any of my teammates try to stick up for me and then this morning when the grimm first showed up, they threatened to throw me off the wall into the horde."

"I can see why you would want to keep your distance from them if they were threatening to throw you to the grimm. Although, I can't see them throwing you to the grimm for no reason. Was there, perhaps, something that happened before they threatened to throw you from the wall?" Ruby asks.

Sky glares at Ruby. "Nothing."

Ruby looks at him curiously. "So, if I were to ask your teammates about throwing you off the wall, they would tell me they were talking about something like that for laughs or something?"

Sky grits his teeth. "Grrr. Fine. No, they'd tell you that they threatened to throw me off the wall because I was asking why we should risk our lives for a bunch of those Faunus animals."

Ruby chuckles at his response. "I figured it would be something like that. You hate the Faunus for some reason, but that reason doesn't concern me. It's none of my business why you hate the Faunus, but you're a Huntsman in training, so it is your duty to protect those who can't protect themselves, be they human or Faunus."

Ruby looks him in the eye, all traces of mirth gone. "Would you willingly stand by and let the grimm kill someone simply because they weren't like you, because that's what it sounds like to me. If that's really how you feel, then you need to leave Beacon and go join some human supremacist band of mercenaries. Hunters don't discriminate, we protect everyone equally, whether they are rich or poor, hardened criminal or upstanding citizen, human or Faunus, if the grimm are threatening someone, then, as hunters, it is our duty to protect them. Politics has no place on the battlefield when it comes to fighting the grimm."

She nods her head towards the rest of team CRDL. "They may or may not hate the Faunus, but it sounds like they understand what I just said about being a hunter. Think about what I said and then decide if Beacon is right for you. Headmaster Ozpin allows a lot of leeway when it comes to how students interact with each other, but I can almost guarantee that you won't make it through Beacon if you refuse to protect people from the grimm simply because you see them as lesser beings."

As she walks away from Sky, Ruby can only hope that he will give her words the weight they deserve. Remnant is always in need of more hunters, but it would be far worse to have even a single hunter refuse to protect the people simply because they were different, than to not have that one hunter at all.

She knows Cardin wants to talk with her, but first she needs to reassure her sister that she's alright. Even though Yang knows nothing could have happened to her while she was with Uncle Qrow, she'll still worry herself over Ruby's health until they are together again. She can also take the opportunity to reassure Weiss that she's fine in person. Weiss worries about her almost as much as Yang, if Weiss knew all the stuff the sisters got up to when they were younger, she'd worry more.

As soon as she gets near the group, Yang rushes over, lifting Ruby into an almost bone crushing embrace. "Are you okay?" She asks, concern evident in her voice.

"I was with Uncle Qrow. Why wouldn't I be okay?" Ruby replies, laughing lightly at her sister's antics.

"Hmmm... giant two headed snake with fangs likely as long as you are tall. You're absolutely right. What is there to worry about?" The sarcastic voice of her girlfriend says.

As soon as Yang releases her grip on Ruby, Weiss is there to replace her. While the hug Weiss pulls her into lacks the sheer physical power of her sister's, it is, none the less, just as inescapable with those icy blue orbs staring deep into her. 'Are you really alright?' Weiss's mental voice is filled with concern.

Silver orbs peer back at Weiss as Ruby tilts her head, pressing their foreheads together. 'I'm fine. Bruised my ego a bit when I got tangled in some underbrush after the Taijitu defeated one of my attacks, but other than that I am unscathed.'

'That's good.' Weiss's mental voice responds as the heiress tips her head back just a bit to bring their lips together.

Ruby's eyes close as her mind blanks everything from existence except the gentle press of her girlfriend's lips against her own. Fighting through the mental fog, Ruby is finally able to send, 'Weiss, we have people watching us. Your dad will probably hear about this, and my dad is here.'

Reluctantly breaking the kiss Weiss sends back. 'Let them watch, I don't care if they know that I'm in love with the most beautiful girl in the world. My father probably already knows about us, he hasn't sent any suitors to court me since the end of winter break. I'm sorry if you weren't ready to come out to your father yet.'

Smiling at Weiss, Ruby replies. 'It's fine. He would have found out sooner or later, and Uncle Qrow caught it immediately just from our body language. I think you're a little confused though. I'm the one lucky enough to have fallen for the most beautiful girl ever.'

Suddenly, both girls feel a rough hand clap them on the shoulder, as Yang says. "Hate to break you two love birds up, but I think someone wants to talk to you~"

Ruby looks over towards where she knows he dad had been standing. Sure enough Taiyang stood there with an unreadable expression on his face. Breaking their embrace, Ruby takes Weiss's hand, but before heading over to their dad she mutters to Yang. "You might want to talk to him too. Uncle Qrow spotted that you and Blake were together as easily as he spotted the two of us."

Shrugging her shoulders Yang responds. "It won't surprise him. He knows I've dated both boys and girls before. I doubt he even suspected you were into girls. Don't worry, he'll accept who you are and you know I'll always have your back."

"Thanks sis." Ruby says, smiling up at Yang and feeling her confidence return.

Hand in hand Ruby and Weiss walk over to where Taiyang is standing. Coming to a stop in front of him, Ruby smiles up at her dad. Rubbing the back of her head with her free hand, she grins up at him and says. "Hey dad."

Taiyang crosses his arms and glares at their linked hands, which the girls clench tighter, neither willing to let the other go. Tai's gaze drifts up to Ruby's face, whose smile begins to falter as her eyes tremble nervously. He shifts his focus to Weiss, lilac eyes boring into icy blue.

Weiss swallows reflexively, but straightens her back. She may be nervous about this confrontation, despite Yang's words of reassurance, but she will not shrink from it.

After several intense moments of staring, Taiyang's posture softens, taking a more relaxed stance and a smile appearing on his face. "Well squirt, looks like you've got yourself a keeper here. I take it from the fact that Yang didn't flip out that she already knew about you two."

"Yea, she didn't react so well when she first found out." Ruby says, throwing a quick glance towards Weiss, who nods almost imperceptibly. "She walked in on us while we were fighting. I had a split lip from where Weiss had punched me and Yang flipped out."

Taiyang's glare returns, only this time tenfold more intense, his hands clenching into fists. Weiss's already pale complexion lightens even further and Ruby is quick to interpose herself between her father and her girlfriend. "Dad stop!" She yells at him. "Yang's already almost killed her for it. It was the first time she's ever hit me, and she knows if it happens again we won't be together anymore, plus Yang has promised to kill her if it ever happens again. We've moved past the incident and are taking pains to ensure it doesn't repeat in the future."

Gritting his teeth, Taiyang turns away from the pair, fists still clenched and visibly shaking from suppressed anger. Slowly the tension across his shoulders relaxes and his fists unclench, instead he begins rapidly drumming his fingers against his thumbs in an effort to burn off some of the adrenalin in his system. Finally turning back to the girls he says. "Fine, I'll let it go for now, but let me add my promise to Yang's. You ever try beating Ruby again and not even your father will be able to protect you." Moving a few paces away from them, Taiyang leaps into the air and rides a series of explosions away from them, heading towards the thickest group of grimm remaining.

"That looked like it got intense real quick. I'd like to talk with you for a minute if you've got the time." Cardin says as he walks up to them.

"You're right about it escalating quickly, but I don't intend to talk about it with you." Ruby replies. "If you want to talk something other than what just happened then fine, otherwise I'm not interested."

"That looked like a family affair so it's none of my business. I asked Velvet to talk with me, I need to speak with her about some things I've discovered recently. She said she'd only speak with me if both you and Professor Goodwitch were there with us. She doesn't trust me and I can't blame her. Would you be willing to sit in on the conversation?" Cardin asks with some trepidation.

Ruby watches Cardin's eyes, looking for any tells that he may be plotting something, but finds nothing. "I don't trust you either Cardin, I've watched you harass and bully others, but if you still plan on talking with Velvet even with Professor Goodwitch and I there, then I guess you aren't planning anything. I'll talk to the professor and we'll meet you and Velvet once the rest of the grimm are cleared out."

"Thank you Ruby, I really appreciate this." Cardin says, and he seems very sincere.


Three hours later

Velvet, Ruby, Cardin and Glynda all sit around a small table in an office. With the combined efforts of the security team as well as the hunters, the grimm in the immediate area have been cleared out.

Professor Goodwitch is the first to speak. "Mr. Winchester, you said you wanted to speak with Miss Scarlatina, and Miss Scarlatina, you said you would only speak with Mr. Winchester if Miss Rose and myself were here. We are all assembled so Mr. Winchester, what was it you wished to talk to Miss Scarlatina about?"

Turning to Velvet, Cardin begins. "Velvet, I'm going to tell you a story that you may have heard before, but please, if you have don't stop me."

Velvet looks at him with curiosity, but nods her head and Cardin continues. "Nine years ago a young boy was being attacked by a group of Faunus that were tired of the lack of progress being made towards equality. Because of their anger they chose to make an example of this human child. They beat and kicked the boy, stomped on him and even set a dog loose to savage him, they would have killed him except before they could an angel appeared to defend the boy. The angel drove off the boy's attackers and then turned to check and make sure the boy was alright. As the angel knelt down to check on the boy a demon rose up behind the angel and struck her down with a cursed dagger. The demon repeatedly drove the cursed dagger into the angel's back only to be driven off by the angel's friends. Even unto her dying breath the angel hovered protectively over the boy, keeping him from further harm."

As Cardin tells the story Velvet goes absolutely still only rousing herself when Cardin finishes. "Wh-where did you h-hear a st-story like th-that? I've h-heard one v-very similar to it b-before, b-but I w-would like t-to know h-how you learned it."

Cardin looks down into his lap where he has his right hand cradled in his left. "There is more to the story that you may not have heard. After the angel fell, the boy was rushed away to have his wounds cared for. His right leg was broken in three different locations and it was covered in bite wounds from the dog. He had three broken ribs and a concussion, but worst of all was his right hand. It had been stomped on and crushed into the pavement such that every bone in it was shattered. There was no saving it and so it was decided to remove the hand and the boy's parents contacted the best and brightest in the field of prosthetics in the hopes of having a new hand built to replace the old one. The boy recovered from his wounds and learned to use his new hand, which occasionally needed to be replaced as the boy grew older. The boy never forgot about his angel and vowed to learn how to fight so he could protect others from the evil monsters that had attacked him and killed the angel. Years passed and the boy became an accomplished warrior, but he had a flaw. He saw all of the Faunus as monsters bent only on hurting small boys and killing angels. Then one day a kindly old wizard forced the boy to see the truth. The angel that had protected him was one of the Faunus and in the boy's blind hatred of the Faunus the boy had been tormenting one of the angel's loved ones."

Velvet stares at Cardin unable to say anything. He brings his hands above the table, removing the vambrace from his right arm and rolling up the sleeve revealing what appears to be the seam of a flesh colored glove. "The doctors can't grow skin over my new hand so I wear this glove to cover my mechanical hand. Velvet, will you please forgive this poor fool? Will you accept his heartfelt apology and his promise that he will change his ways so that he may honor the memory of his fallen angel? Will you Velvet Scarlatina allow me, Cardin Winchester, to dedicate my life and carrier as a Huntsman to the memory of your aunt Hazel Scarlatina?"

Velvet is stunned. She searches Cardin's face for any signs of deception but can find none. As tears begin to form in her eyes, she says. "You're the boy my aunt saved and gave her life to protect? I always wondered what happened to him, but my parents couldn't find the answers. Instead, I decided to become a Huntress like my aunt to continue her legacy. It was the story of her protecting that innocent boy that inspired me to become a Huntress."

"I know." Cardin whispers. "Headmaster Ozpin told me when I found out who had rescued me those years ago. I never knew my savior's name and I had blocked out her Faunus features so I could never learn who she had been. Once I finally learned who she was, I realized I had been spitting on her memory every time I discriminated against a Faunus person simply for being a Faunus."

Velvet watches Cardin closely, seeing the true remorse in his eyes. "I'll give you a chance Cardin. I still don't trust you, but I will give you a chance to earn my trust. If you can truly change your ways then perhaps we can even be friends, but understand that I will be slow to give you my trust or friendship."

Nodding his head Cardin says. "Thank you Velvet. That is less than what I hoped for, but more than I expected. I swear that I will do everything in my power to earn your trust."

Sliding his chair back from the table and standing up Cardin says. "Thank you Professor Goodwitch and Ruby. If you hadn't agreed to sit in with us I doubt Velvet would have listened to me for fear of being picked on further. If you will excuse me I really should check in on my teammates."

Standing up as well, Glynda extends her hand to Cardin. "I am proud of you Mr. Winchester. Not everyone could come to terms with learning that their view of the world was ill informed and take steps to correct their interpretation. Good luck with the path you have chosen and I do hope you are able to earn Miss Scarlatina's trust."

Accepting the proffered hand, Cardin replies. "Thank you professor. I really should get back to my team, we have a lot of work to do if we are going to become effective."

After Cardin leaves Ruby looks at the other two and says. "I never thought I'd see the day Cardin would ask for forgiveness from a Faunus."

Velvet smiles as she adds. "I'm just glad he's trying to see Faunus as people and not monsters. I feel bad that he was attacked when he was younger, but it's good that he's trying to rise above that incident."

Glynda looks at Ruby and asks. "What are your plans now Miss Rose? Return to the campsites and continue the training?"

Ruby shakes her head in negation. "No, I'm thinking we should return to Beacon. Too many things have popped up since we got out here and I've been having to mostly ad lib everything since Weiss had her breakdown on day one. Really the only reason to stay out here is to try and bring Zezolla back to the surface, but we know she's going to be at Beacon anyway so we can still work on that on campus."

"Very well, I'll make arrangements to have Dust-off 223 return you and the girls to your camps to pack your essentials. Anything that has to be left behind due to space limitations will probably be used by the nest teams as the majority of it was requisitioned from Beacon's stores." Professor Goodwitch says.


Beacon Academy Tuesday Afternoon

Team RWBY, Velvet, Professor Goodwitch and Cinder had returned to Beacon Academy late Monday evening. Cinder had quickly slipped away from the others before Glynda could get into a position to prevent her escape and had spent the night in a White Fang safe house. The dorm room she had shared with Emerald and Mercury having already been cleaned out with Neo providing them safe transportation.

It had been a surprise come Tuesday morning to have a message show up on her scroll asking her to meet with Headmaster Ozpin that afternoon. There had been assurances in the message stating that this was not a trick to capture her and that this was a private meeting between Ozpin and herself. Cinder had, of course, forwarded the message on to her Queen asking her what she thought Cinder should do. The answer came in the form of Neo showing up informing her via their scroll's messaging system that she was to take Cinder to the meeting then make herself scarce until the meeting was over and then to take Cinder back to the Queen.

Cinder now sits in Ozpin's office while Ozpin leans forward in his chair looking at her from across his desk. "How do you wish to be addressed? I could call you Shadow as young Miss Rose has been. I could call you Cinder Fall, the pseudonym you have been using recently. Personally, I would prefer to call you by the name I first knew you as, Zezolla Cremisi."

Cinder glares at the headmaster. "My name is Cinder Fall, don't you dare call me by the name of the aura ghost that haunts me."

"My dear Ms. Fall, there is no such thing as an aura ghost. Such things are myths with no basis in facts. They are stories told to frighten children, nothing more. If you are hearing a voice trying to convince you that you are indeed Zezolla then there are two options available to us. Either you are mentally unstable, or your are Zezolla. I posit the theory that you are indeed Zezolla Cremisi, but your personality has been altered, whether intentionally or not is yet to be determined, and you now believe yourself to be the fictitious personality of Cinder Fall." Ozpin intones.

"I am not Zezolla, she is dead and has been haunting me for years. She has recently started getting stronger to the point where she has been attempting to possess me, but I will not let her control me!" Cinder states emphatically.

"No my dear, you are Zezolla. I can prove it to you. If I were to take your fingerprints or a DNA sample, they would be perfect matches for those of Zezolla." Ozpin states.

"Some proof." Cinder says. "If I wanted to I could alter records so that your dental records and DNA came back as Jaune Arc. Computers are easily hacked, or have you forgotten the present I left you in the CCT?"

"I can assure you that these records are not faked. Your birth name is Zezolla Cremisi, you attended Beacon Academy for three years prior to a tragic incident which claimed the lives of your three friends." Ozpin calmly explains. "If your Queen claims otherwise then she is deceiving you."

"My Queen would not lie to me!" Cinder shouts. "She loves us and cares for us. She protects us from those who would hurt us!"

Ozpin smiles inwardly. 'She's beginning to lose control of her anger. Just one more push should do it.' "I'm afraid you are wrong my dear. You are merely a pawn in the game she plays against me, moved about the board at her whim and sacrificed when the time comes all to further her plans. Do you truly believe that I will allow you to leave my office? Your Queen knew that I would capture you, why else would she not collect you after you returned? Your friend Neo, I believe that is her name, could easily have fetched you last night from that safe house on Mills Street. Instead, you were left to wait with the common soldiers and then sent here in a bid to distract my defenders. She knows her control over you is slipping with the reemergence of your true self, as well as the influence that Ruby has shown to have over you." As he finishes, Ozpin stands from behind his desk, activating the blast shields over the windows and door and tosses the scroll he had been using aside.

"You lie!" Cinder shrieks as she leaps from her chair, glass dust crystallizing into shards and hurtling towards the headmaster.

Ozpin twirls his cane, easily deflecting the shards. Moving out from behind his desk, he says. "You'll have to be more creative than that if you want to get past my guard."

Cinder's next attack is a gout of flame, but Ozpin merely taps his cane against the floor and an ice barrier springs into being. "Fire, easily defeated by ice. Are you even trying, Miss Cremisi."

A bolt of lightning erupts from her fingers as a smile spreads across her face.

Ozpin turns his back to the lighting as a pillar of earth appears and takes the hit. His cane blurs as he twirls it, deflecting the glass shards that had tried to come at him from behind. "A valiant attempt, but again futile. Lightning, defeated by earth, but I'm guessing that was merely the distraction in an attempt to make me forget about the glass dust you unleashed upon me."

His back still towards her, Cinder charges in, twin blades appearing in her hands. She angles her hands so that she can make a pair of slashing attacks, one to his hip and one to his neck.

Spinning back to face her, Ozpin's cane intercepts the left hand blade as it strikes towards his hip, and neatly ducks under the right hand blade thirsting for his throat. Thus begins their dance, Cinder alternating her attacks mixing slashes, thrusts, punches, pommel strikes and kicks, but each attack is countered Ozpin's cane seeming to move into the appropriate counter before the strike even comes.

Few people know what Ozpin's semblance is, a fact that he uses to his advantage quite often. He is using it now to frustrate the woman in front of him. When his semblance is active he can sense their possible futures, the more likely those futures are, the more clearly he can see them and while this vision does not extend more than a few seconds into the future, it is more than enough for dealing with an attacker. More importantly though, at least as far as Ozpin is concerned, is the fact that with a nudge here and there, the likely hood of any particular future can be influenced. He has also learned how to interpret which futures are preferable to others. He was using each facet of his semblance here, subtly influencing the flow of the combat so that it followed the brightest path for the woman in front of him.

As he fought with her, three possibilities began to overtake the others and as they grew, he began to see the moves that could lead to each of them. Three possibilities appearing so strongly meant that this woman was nearing a major crossroad in her life. One of the paths lead to the ultimate blackness of death. That was a path Ozpin wished to avoid at all costs for that was the end of a person's light. Even a lantern whose lens was dirty and cracked shed some light on the world and could possibly show someone the correct path to tread, but with death that lantern was extinguished, never again to give its light to those lost in the dark.

Suddenly, Ozpin drops into a sweep kick, taking Cinder's feet out from beneath her. As she crashes to the floor, the path of ultimate blackness begins to recede. He had seen her double thrust an instant before it started and knew he had to duck it, but simply ducking under the attack would cause the blackness to consume his opponent in a shower of blood. Understanding struck him as he ducked the thrust and kicked her feet. The thrusts were only part of her attack, she had once again tried to attack him from behind with the glass shards. Had he simply ducked under the strike, Zezolla would have had no time to halt the flight of her own glass shards and they would have shredded her lungs and heart.

Standing from his crouch, Ozpin looks at the downed woman saying. "You should probably stop trying to use those shards. It would have been quite embarrassing for you had the headlines of this evenings news been along the lines of 'Petty Criminal Impaled by Own Wayward Attack'."

A fire seems to ignite in the woman's eyes and Ozpin watches as her possibilities narrow down to a single path for the immediate future. She has become single minded in what she plans to do with no chance of Ozpin to manipulate the outcome any further. She has set herself firmly on a path, and Ozpin is not wholly displeased with the path. Unfortunately, her chosen path comes with a price, but Ozpin is willing to pay that price.

Cinder kips up, lashing out with a blind kick, and Ozpin dutifully takes a step back. She then leaps at him with a flying kick as he adjusts the angle of his cane so she has a firm platform, for this is not her attack. Bending at the knee, Cinder absorbs the impact and then kicks off from Ozpin and brings her swords together to form her bow. Ozpin stands his ground watching the woman as a trio of arrows appears, each tipped with a small shard of energized burn dust. He readies himself and as the arrows are shot towards him lightning erupts from his fingertips. Three fingers point. Three arc of lightning emerge. Three arrows are caught midair and explode creating a blinding dust cloud. Ozpin knows the attack is not finished, he knows that the final strike is about to fall, he knows he can easily avoid the blow, yet he also knows this is not how it needs to end.

He adjusts his stance slightly and moves his left arm outward. He watches as a shadow emerges from the cloud charging straight at him both swords forward in a double thrust. How easy would it be for him to bat aside both blades, to simply disarm her and render her unconscious, to capture her and avoid the price for the other future, but that is not the fate he wants for her. She is the granddaughter of one of the few people he has ever allowed to get close enough to him to claim the title of friend. He will gladly pay the price for the brighter future he sees before her. Thus does his parry come a little to swiftly, missing by a millimeters the tip of her right hand sword, instead deflecting only the left sword out and away from his body. Thus does the tip of her sword pierce into him, slicing cleanly through the ribs of his chest and barely slowed as it exits out his back. Thus does his cane fly from his right hand, as his left curls around the woman, clutching her to his chest and pulling her down on top of him. The glass blade shatters as its tip impacts the floor and a grunt is forced from Ozpin's lips, along with a trickle of blood.

Amber eyes, glowing with an inner fire blink and the fire is gone. They blink a second time, staring into liquid brown pools. They blink a third time as the mind behind them processes what has just transpired. Suddenly tears start to flow from those amber eyes. "U-Uncle O-Ozzy, n-n-no! Wh-what d-did she d-do to you? Why d-didn't you st-stop h-her?" The distraught woman buries her face in the unruined side of his chest.

"Hey, there you are. I was hoping you would show up." A quiet voice emerges from Ozpin. "If I had stopped her, I wouldn't have had a chance to talk to you."

"Uncle Ozzy! You're alive!" The woman presses herself up, looking into the eyes of the man she calls uncle.

"Yes, it appears that I am, and I intend to live for a while longer yet. Zezolla dear, could you do your uncle a favor?" Ozpin asks, a pained smile on his face.

"Anything uncle, anything at all. I'm so glad she didn't kill you." Zezolla says, leaning her head back down onto his chest.

A small cough emerges from Ozpin as he asks. "Would you mind terribly getting up? While I had no problems with cushioning your fall, it is a bit difficult to breath with a collapsed lung and you on my chest."

"Oh dust, I'm so sorry uncle." Zezolla says as she scrambles off of him. "I was so happy that she didn't kill you I completely forgot how badly injured you were."

"It's quite all right. No! Please don't touch the sword." He says as Zezolla is about to grab the it. "Right now that is the only thing keeping me from bleeding even worse. I need you to fetch me my scroll, it should be over near the desk."

She scrambles over to the desk and quickly spots the scroll where it had landed. "I've got it uncle." She says as she rushes back to Ozpin's side.

"Open it up, there should be a prompt for a password. It's a simple five digit code, 6-2-5-9-8," he says.

"Alright it's unlocked... wait, that was my birthday." Zezolla says as she glances at Ozpin.

He smiles at her saying. "I changed it specifically for this meeting. Don't expect to sneak back in here and use that code to unlock it in the future. There should be a flashing red icon on the screen. When you press that, the blast shutters will open up and an emergency signal will be sent to three scrolls here on campus. The scrolls are the ones for Ruby Rose, Velvet Scarlatina and Glynda Goodwitch. Once the signal goes out they will be here in a matter of minutes. I want you to contact your friend Neo and have her take you back to the Queen before they get here."

"But uncle, if I return to the Queen, she will force her back into dominance. I don't want her in control of me." Zezolla laments.

"Hush now dear. Cinder is still a part of you, and will return to dominance anyway. You are not yet strong enough to keep her at bay permanently. Even once you do become strong enough, she will still be there, much like you are there when she is in control. Take your uncle's advice and try to find common ground with Cinder. Merge your personality with hers to become one person that way you need never worry about a different side of you taking over." Ozpin smiles gently at her.

"Okay uncle, I'll trust your judgment. Get better quickly and hopefully I'll see you again soon." Zezolla reaches down, clasping her uncle's hand and rubbing her cheek against the back of it.

Tapping the icon on Ozpin's scroll, Zezolla opens the blast shutters and sends the distress signal to the three scrolls. She then walks out into the waiting area, pulling out her own scroll as she goes and dialing one of the numbers in the contacts. When the line connects she simply says. "Neo it's done, come collect me," and turns the camera so the other person can see the room.

A moment later Neo appears and Zezolla closes the scroll. "We need to leave, take me back to our Queen."

Neo looks at her quizzically then glances towards the door to Ozpin's office.

"Fine, you can take a peek, but don't go in there. We need to leave quickly, his lackeys are probably already on their way." She says and the little killer looks into the room seeing the body laying there with the sword still in its chest.

Looking up at Cinder with a huge grin on her face, Neo's eyes dance between the body and Cinder.

"Yes, it was a rather intense fight, but as you can see, he barely touched me and I most definitely got past his defenses." Hearing the rushing of wind from the elevator shaft, Zezolla says. "That will most likely be Glynda Goodwitch and possibly several others, we should go now."

Neo nods, taking one of Cinder's hands and they disappear just as the elevator doors open.

Glynda, Velvet and Ruby rush from the elevator car and run towards the headmaster's office. Ruby curses to herself as she catches a glimpse of the glass illusion left behind by Neo just before it crumbles. The three of them burst into the office, only to stop dead at the sight of the headmaster on the ground with a sword protruding from his chest.

Ruby is the first to move. "Headmaster!" She shrieks as she flashes to his side.

Ozpin opens his eyes looking up at Ruby, he then glances to the side seeing the other two as well. "Ah, Miss Rose, thank you for bringing Miss Scarlatina so swiftly. Professor Goodwitch, glad you're here as well, saves me having to explain things multiple times."

Glynda looks at her boss with exasperation. "What the dust happened here?"

Looking over at his right hand woman Ozpin says. "That is a rather long story, and one best suited for after I have regained the use of both of my lungs. Miss Scarlatina, would you mind assisting me with this?" He motions towards the wound in his chest.

Rolling her eyes Glynda says. "You'd better do it Miss Scarlatina, otherwise we'll never get out of here. I take it you plan to use a few of your vacation days to recover, leaving me to clean up any fallout from this mess."

A slight shudder runs through Ozpin's body when Ruby, at the direction of Velvet, removes the sword. As soon as the blade leaves his body it crumbles back into the powdered glass dust and Ruby looks at her hands in confusion.

By this time Velvet has already closed up the wound and repaired the headmaster's lung, but is stopped when she goes to start healing the broken ribs. "Allow me to heal the ribs on my own. It gives me an excuse to take those days off. As for fallout, Professor Goodwitch, there should be none from this incident. As for the mess." Ozpin looks around as he gingerly gets to his feet and then looks over at the blond teacher.

"Fine." Glynda huffs. "I'll have the office back in order by the time you get back from your days off."


There you have it, the finale for what some have dubbed the training arc. I will be taking a few weeks off from publishing this story so that I can concentrate on finishing the side stories I have in mind and to try and get a few chapters ahead on the summer vacation arc. Until I return to this story, keep an eye out for updates to "A Side of Steamed Petals" which is the anthology of side stories based in this universe, up next is a Renora story which I hope you'll all enjoy. Also note, there will be a time skip to the end of the school year once I start in on the second arc of this story. This was planned from the start, but also works out very well for me since I will be avoiding writing anything about the Vytal Tournament. Reviews and comments are appreciated, and until next time, Keep Moving Forward.