April 27th

Atlas Academy

City Of Atlas

Atlas

1:14 PM

"And, then, of course –"

Emmett Schnee paused mid-sentence upon the door to the lecture hall opening and the Atlesian President stepping into the room, followed by gasps of surprise from the first and second year students who had been taking notes on the kingdom's founding. He raised an eyebrow and reached up to adjust his glasses which was a decidedly better nervous habit of his than reaching for his sword attached to his side. Ronnie and Emmett stared each other down for a moment, and the seventeen to nineteen-year olds in the room watched in anticipation. Neon, however, hid rather unceremoniously behind Cobalt and Ivori (not Ironwood Goodwitch, he reminded himself), while Flynt rolled his eyes and sighed, reaching over to pat her head. A few people had started snickering when her father had stepped into the room, and Neon found herself, rather childishly, wanting to grab a book and cover her head with it.

"If you're looking for Spencer, it's his planning and he's in the pool table room…I mean…" Emmett shifted awkwardly. "The teacher's lounge."

"I am actually here to speak to you," Ronnie replied shortly, glancing to the rather large class that was still staring at him curiously. "But, if you're busy –"

He fell silent upon the bell ringing and everyone quickly (and in disappointment, considering that it was more than clear that most of them were hoping to witness a scene) milling out except for Team FNKI.

"Neon, come on," Flynt said, slinging his trumpet over his shoulder and laughing. "Everyone else is gone now."

"I don't believe you…" She mumbled.

"Is that my daughter hiding under there?" Ronnie quietly asked Emmett, who nodded shortly.

After a moment of hesitation, Ronnie started up the steps and into their row, stopping just in front of where Ivori and Cobalt were standing with Neon crouching below them.

"Nicollette Sasha Katt," Ronnie said, sending his daughter a pointed, if amused, look. "Get out from under there, it's probably –"

"I'd rather not," She said, albeit hesitantly standing up and then holding her computer over her head. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"No, nothing like that," Ronnie said, glancing to the time. "Although I'm sure your mother will go ballistic if you're late to class, so go on. I have to discuss something with Emmett."

Neon glanced to her teammates, slowly lowered her computer, and then tore off after them out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

"I worry she's embarrassed by our standing," Ronnie said after a time, descending again. "I don't understand it in the slightest –"

"That's because you were the eldest and your father's favorite," Emmett reminded him, a bit coldly. "If Emmy and Spencer are right, that is."

Ronnie sighed. "Ella tells me the same thing."

"Listen to her," Emmett told him. "I'm not about to deny that you're a good leader and a talented, charismatic speaker, and I'm not going to deny the good you've done your entire political career, but you've never seen anything in your family except for praise and –"

"That's not entirely fair –" Ronnie started.

"And you're sixty-three and trying to understand your teenage daughter," Emmett shook his head. "I can imagine that's difficult for both you and Rosella."

"Ella and I are…" Ronnie hesitated. "We're both concerned about our children, but, at the same time, Ella is preoccupied by –"

"I know," Emmett said, putting up his hands in surrender. "And, as I keep telling her, no one gives Neon trouble for being a faunus. She seems to think everyone's out to get her, Neon, and Devin, but, realistically, that's just not true. Not in this part of Atlas, anyways."

"Ella grew up in Mantle, where things have always been worse for them," Ronnie countered. "In part, I could add, because of your father."

Emmett scowled. "I was a little kid and it wasn't as if any of us were in much of a position to do a damn thing about it, now were we?"

"I'm not blaming you," Ronnie said, starting to get exasperated.

"Sounds like it," Emmett muttered.

The two exchanged irritated looks for a long moment.

"So," Emmett eventually said, crossing his arms. "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to clarify something with you regarding the Vytal Festival," Ronnie shortly informed him. "And I have a few questions for you about what you've been keeping quiet for the last…almost twenty years, isn't it?"

Emmett flinched. "I haven't been keeping anything secret regarding my –"

"Your reports might be thorough," Ronnie agreed. "But the coalition you've formed with Ozpin and your teammates?"

Emmett swore under his breath. "That's not –"

"I just want to know what you're doing so I can plan accordingly," Ronnie said as calmly as he could manage. "Especially considering that I'm going to be at the Vytal Festival and may very well have to announce that Arthur Watts' death has officially been confirmed by the CIA and that the legislature is drafting new regulations regarding transport screening considering…the incident with the stolen aircraft and the destruction of a refined Dust export in Forever Fall."

"Well, they're all going to be relieved to know Watts is actually dead," Emmett said darkly. "Considering that he seemed to blame James personally when he handed over the documents that he found regarding Watts' less than ethical experiments. What was that, eight years ago? It was just before we finally managed to kill Mancha Karine, who orchestrated the attacks back in 2001. Speaking of which, wasn't James part of that decision too? Regardless, I'm sure everyone will be glad to know that dead people are actually staying dead now."

Ronnie sent him a dark look. "Emmett—"

"Although," He went on, frowning. "I have to wonder why we haven't been looking for Adam Taurus or Sienna Kahn –"

"They are also being dealt with," Ronnie said tersely. "So far as I am aware, their locations are not discernable at this time."

Emmett sighed heavily. "If you're here because you're concerned that Kahn or Taurus are going to show up at the Vytal Festival, then you don't have anything to worry about."

"I disagree," Ronnie replied, his voice sounding rather thin. "Kahn has connections directly to Cinder Fall – whose location is also indiscernible and who is also one of the FBI's most wanted persons – and Taurus claimed responsibility for the attack on that Dust export in Forever Fall. For all we know, they could be in Vale and there is some evidence that supports that. I don't want to act if I don't have to, regardless of what certain members of the senate and commons may want, but that doesn't mean I'm blind to the concern."

"You should be asking Morell these things, not me," Emmett paused for a moment but then couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm sure you already have, but, honestly, she's a far better resource than me."

"Elizabeth is convinced that the situation is stable and in our favor," Ronnie told him. "And says that if any of them show up that she's authorized Atlesian security to arrest them on sight or shoot if necessary. I don't doubt her judgement…I just worry that the timing is too perfect…like the last time."

April 29th

Beacon Academy CCTS Tower

Beacon Academy

City Of Vale

Vale

7:56 PM

Rosalinde Varna could not help but smirk and toss her hair over her shoulder with an air of sass while she stepped off the elevator and into Beacon Tower. Ozpin looked up in shock upon seeing her.

"I thought it might be nice for…diplomatic purposes if I were here ahead of the Shade kids," Varna said, sounding perfectly calm. "Especially if what I heard Atlas is planning to do is true."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow, distinctly unsettled.

"What specifically?" He finally said.

"There being an Atlesian military presence here in Vale during the Vytal Festival, for one thing," She said, her eyes betraying her annoyance for a moment. "The world already knows Atlas has a military; it's in their countries right now."

Ozpin sighed. "That decision, however much of it I agree with or don't, was made after an assessment of potential threats to security."

Varna scoffed. "That's likely."

He sent her a dark look, still annoyed with her for having spent the last meeting back in January going out of her way to upset Cristal.

"But, I suppose, I can let that go for at least a time," Rose sauntered towards him and pulled herself up onto his desk, all but dangling there precariously. "You're not someone I can be too angry with for long, all things considered."

Ozpin stood up and took a step back, even more unsettled than before.

"No," He said with finality. "If you're suggesting what I think you are, then you really have lost your –"

"I never have understood what you see in her," Rose tossed her head back and started laughing. "She is just like the rest of them: selfish, willfully blind to –"

"I have to go," Ozpin informed her, stepping into the elevator and buzzing into the apartment upstairs. "I don't trust my thirteen-year-old son to be left to his own devices for very long, after all."

Rose glared at him as the doors shut and the lift ascended. Then, irritably, she sunk into the headmaster's chair and pulled her buzzing scroll out of her pocket.

"Arthur," She snapped. "I thought I'd told you never to call this –"

The elevator doors opened again and, this time, Cristal Schnee stepped out, looking rather exhausted.

"Rosalinde?" She said, staring at her in confusion. "What are you…"

"Supposedly your youngest isn't to be trusted for long periods of time," Rose informed her, looking perfectly bored. "So I hear, at any rate."

She eyed her for a moment. "But why are you…"

"I'll be out in a minute," She told her. "I'm just taking a rather unfortunate call with the Vacuoian Council."

Cristal caught her aura briefly when the Vacuoian prime minister strutted past her and into the elevator. In that moment, she could have sworn she was about to be sick and she did not feel much better when she eventually made her way upstairs. It had been a long time since she had been so unsettled by someone's aura and it terrified her to think that the last time had been when she had last crossed paths with her estranged sister. She had brushed off then as fear that her sister knew she was the Winter Maiden and had come for her powers, but neither of them spoke a word to the other and it could have been a trick of the light. In the two years since then, Cristal had convinced herself that she had been overtired that night and had been seeing things out of fear. She tried to reason that the same applied here, that she was paranoid because of the knowledge that Cinder was on the move and potentially in Vale with some of the Fall Maiden's powers.

That was what scared her the most when the feeling did not fade, not until hours later.

May 3rd

Beacon Academy CCTS Tower

Beacon Academy

City Of Vale

Vale

8:45 PM

"You authorized this?" Cristal stared at her brother-in-law incredulously. "You authorized the motion set forth in the legislature to –"

"It is necessary for security purposes –" Ronnie started calmly.

"Shooting three of the most wanted criminals in the world on sight is not necessary for security purposes!" Cristal snapped. "For heaven's sake, it was bad enough that Eliza gave that as part of the authorization for their arrests in the case of resistance – something to be expected of them by now – but now the senate and commons want Atlas to be trigger happy too? How in the hell could you approve that when –"

"With the locations of them being up to question –" Ronnie cut through.

"Since when have their locations not been up to question?" Cristal countered. "The last time I checked, these aren't people who are particularly well-liked or respected given what they've all –"

"We don't know who might have cause to give them cover," Ronnie reminded her. "Until his death was confirmed, Arthur Watts had managed to find cover in Vacuo. Who's to say the same thing doesn't apply here with Taurus, Kahn, and Fall?"

Cristal paused for a moment and then shook her head.

"It's reckless," She said. "At the very best, this is reckless."

"Fall is supposed to be in prison for multiple life sentences," He reasoned. "The fact that she escaped makes her –"

"Sounds to me that you're not entirely convinced this was the right choice either," Cristal remarked, crossing her arms and sending him a sharp look. "Ronnie, there are about a hundred different ways that this could go badly wrong for us all."

"I know, I'm not denying that," He said, glancing out the window at the dimming city. "But I had to make a decision, and, of the options we had, this was the best. We can't not at act, and to risk even more people's lives by instigating conflict would be unthinkable."

Cristal sighed heavily, running her hand through her hair in a brief moment of thought.

"This feels a little sudden," She finally said. "But, if what you're saying is accurate, then we don't have much of a choice in the matter."

"I know why you want to wait just a little longer," Ronnie told her. "But –"

"If we don't act, we're weak," Cristal surmised, sounding a bit more irritable upon hearing the door to the apartment opening at the end of the room. "And if we act too strongly then we're going to damn –"

"Oh, come on –" Taiyang Xiao Long pushed himself between the prosecutor and the Atlesian president before sending them both a pointed look. "Not again," He said after a moment. "Just…if the two of you are about to go at it again could you have a bit of decency about it and –"

"Tai, what are you even doing here?" Cristal scowled at him. "I don't recall –"

"I just wanted to give Oz a heads up about…something that's going to cause Eliza to lose it," Tai said awkwardly. "Is he…"

"What is it?" Ozpin asked, stepping out from the kitchen. "Tai?" He paused for a moment to regain his composure. "I didn't realize you were going to be here."

"I thought I should forewarn you," Tai said, rubbing his arm. "About Eliza's…well, let's just say that she is not going to be happy to see you when she comes down from Atlas for the Vytal Festival."

Ozpin and Cristal shared a knowing look and he came over to her, wrapping an arm loosely around her.

"What is it?" Ozpin pressed. "That Elizabeth is so upset by?"

"She put the pieces together about Summer and Ruby both having silver eyes and exactly what that means," Tai told him. "Exactly what kind of danger that could put Ruby in, too."

A heavy silence fell over them for what felt to be the longest time.

"Alright, I have to ask," Ronnie finally said, sending Ozpin a look that suggested he had more than a small amount of explaining to do. "What the hell is so special about having silver eyes?"

May 15th

City Of Vale

Vale

Downtown

1:41 PM

"Hey!" Matt said as he and Sun bumped fists while he walked onto Beacon Academy grounds with Neptune. "Nice to see you again!"

"Like you have no idea man!" Sun exclaimed while Neptune winked at Matt. "So, turns out you were totally right about her!"

"About who?" Neptune asked in confusion. "What girl are you talking about? Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Nah," Sun said though he thought about how attractive Blake was. "But she helped me and her team beat the shit out of Torchwick and his gang."

Neptune laughed. "Man, that's harsh."

"I know, we were fighting side by side," As he spoke, Sun grew more and more animated. "She was super fast and I threw a banana at the guy, which sounds gross, but it was awesome."

"Nice!" Neptune exclaimed while Matt laughed at the memory.

"It could have been gross," Matt said, smirking. "I mean, if Annetta had pulled out her axe and started chopping terrorists down with far too much excitement."

Ignoring that, Sun laughed. "Right? And the best part is, she's a faunus. But that's a secret, okay?"

Neptune nodded. "Got it."

Leaning in close to emphasize his point, Sun narrowed his eyes a little bit. "And not a, 'I'm going to go tell Scarlet the second Sun turns his back secret,' I'm talking secret secret."

"Whoa...chill out man, okay?" Neptune said, almost whispering. "I got it!"

"You better," Sun said as he, Matt, and Neptune watched students run out of the building and a blonde boy getting splattered into the window. "I just don't want to screw this up, you know? These people are the coolest! No offense to you guys."

Neptune laughed. "None taken."

Grandly, Sun led the way while Matt glanced at a message from Sam on his scroll. "They're just in here. I'm really excited for you to meet them. So be cool, okay? You're going to be cool, right?"

Neptune gestured to himself with his arms as he leaned. "Dude."

"Good point," Sun said, shaking his head as they entered the room where students were screaming and the majority of them ran towards the door.

"Food fight!" A girl shrieked as she ran out.

Looking at Sun and Matt in concern, Neptune found himself struggling to decide whether or not this was normal behaviour while Nora laughed atop a tower of tables that were stacked haphazardly, possibly by Ivy. In a sing song voice, Nora placed her hands on her hips and cackled once more. "I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle -"

Getting knocked off the top by a sword that swung out and then snapped perfectly back into place, Nora fell as Devin Katt, one of Ivy's teammates, appeared and smirked. "Not if I have anything to say about it, witch! Burn her at the stake!" He yelled.

Stomping her foot on a table and pointing at Team JNPR, Team SAML (minus Matt), and Team IGDG, Ruby screamed with her full power and crushed a carton of milk in her hand. "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be delicious!"

The rest of Team RWBY joined in, raising their fists simultaneously. "Yeah!"

Laughing maniacally, Nora shouted. "Off with their heads!"

Glaring at Annetta whose legs were dangling off the tower with Lysithea and Sam standing by either side of her, Nora attempted to knock them off of it though the three girls were faster and, with the aid of Sam's semblance, all of them landed on the ground in front of Team JNPR - all of who grabbed a horde of watermelons and, deciding to take on the three Schnee girls later, began to assault Team RWBY with them while two of Ivy's teammates, Grace Wile and Genevieve Sieben, turned several cans of soda into rocket style projectiles while kicking them towards the members of both Team RWBY and Team JNPR. At the same time, Ivy grabbed an apple and shifted into a form similar to Weiss while holding the it and miming biting it before tossing at Ruby's face while she pretended to fall into a cursed sleep and her target just barely made it out of the way while Yang lifted two turkeys from the ground and applied them in a for akin to that of gloves to punch her way through the competition's unceasing watermelons.

Bounding away from the scene with her semblance while climbing up into the rafters with Devin's aid, Annetta held onto her projectiles and covertly attacked those below her, making most of her targets though Blake Belladonna dodged out of the way of one as she leapt in front of Yang and snatched two baguettes while Yang tossed her turkeys sharply towards Pyrrha though she was fast enough to get out of the firing range and took a single baguette to engage Blake while Jaune took the blows of Yang's attacks and the unseen and sudden attacks of Lysithea, Genevieve, and Devin who shifted the majority of their targets to the other members of Team RWBY and Team JNPR while Pyrrha evaded disorientation by Blake who she almost claimed victory over - and would have if Ruby hadn't knocked her backwards while Ren and Nora began to charge at the fifteen year old in retaliation though found themselves intercepted by Weiss while Nora jumped through the tables in order to grab a metal flag pole and attack a watermelon to it. It seemed Team SAML and Team IGDG were tag-teaming the rest of them.

Nora growled in irritation as she found herself hitting Ruby rather than her target, Weiss, and getting knocked unconscious by her cousin who aided Nora in throwing her against a pillar that Ruby saved her from though she began to shout dramatically in response to Weiss's quote un quote demise while Ivy giggled hysterically and found herself dangling precariously from the rafters and then proceeding to fight Blake and Yang. Ivy used her semblance to distract them long enough to get away when they started to get an upper-hand on her. Yang began to duel Ren, and Annetta tied her silk belt to one of the slanted rafters and used it to swing down while Nora and Ivy, in a joint effort with aid from a well aimed, distracting kick from Lysithea, sent Yang through the roof while Blake and Sam began to fight side by side though Pyrrha's semblance blocked their attack though Ruby outsmarted all of them but then, out of nowhere, Grace who, seeing her change her stance, disappeared and got out of the way while Ruby used her semblance to overwhelm everyone and render everyone else unconscious. Feeling a sense of pride as she smirked, none of them and much less her noticed Sun, Neptune, and Matt. Matt was laughing hysterically at his teammates though Neptune, drenched in soda, was scowling while Sun smiled.

"I love these guys." He said with a grin.

The second thing that none of them noticed was Glynda storming in angrily, swinging her crop and her heels clicking as she perfectly imitated a runway strut while they barely noticed her snapping at them after fixing the mess, her gaze lingering on Ivy who was laughing. Next to her, Annetta leaned against the wall and slid down into an almost perfect centre split though her skinny jeans prevented her from getting all the way down and she opted to slide into a relaxed, open position instead, pushing up her glasses after wiping the residue from her soda projectiles off of them and adjusting her perfectly styled purple leather jacket while Blake half tackled Yang after she crashed through the roof, much to the amusement of all of them. Sam brushed herself off, as did Lysithea and the others. Devin was flirting with Ivy, who was clearly enjoying it quite a bit, while Grace and Genevieve had started arguing over something none of them could quite understand. It was then that Cristal followed in shortly behind Ozpin, her eyes in shock though she began to laugh at the sight while Glynda let out a low sound of irritation while crossing her arms, crop in hand.

"Let it go," Ozpin told her.

Sighing heavily, she looked to him and Cristal. "They're supposed to be the defenders of the world."

"And they will be," Ozpin assured her though he dreaded the meeting he knew he was going to have with the Vytal Festival approaching so soon. "But, right now, they're still children. So why not let them play the part? After all, it isn't a role they'll have forever."

May 19th

Beacon Academy CCTS Tower

Beacon Academy

City Of Vale

Vale

12:34 PM

Bitterly looking out the window as she watched the ships come in while her grip on her crop tightened, Glynda focused on her annoyance instead of how upset she was about the argument she and James had had the night before. "Ironwood certainly loves bringing his work wherever he travels."

Sighing, Ozpin shifted to look at her and trying to diplomatic though he was confused by how she was being. "Well, running an academy and a military makes him a busy man...but, yes, those are a bit of an eyesore." Looking at his desk as an access requested message showed up on his scroll, Ozpin sighed again. "Come in."

The elevator doors sliding open, Glynda retained her glare as she crossed her arms and held onto her crop while turning to face James while Ozpin turned to greet him. "Ozpin!"

Still trying to be diplomatic in spite of the tension that Ozpin could practically feel between the two of them, he smiled. "Hello, General."

"Please, drop the formalities," James said as he looked to his wife who he hadn't seen since she and Ivy had left at the start of term. "And Glynda! It has certainly been too long since we -"

Retaining her glare as she gave a personable wave for show, Glynda sighed. "Oh, James!" Glaring at both of them, she walked away. "I'll be outside."

As she left the room, James couldn't help but feel nervous as he looked to Ozpin. "Well, she hasn't changed a bit."

Arms crossed as the doors of the elevator doors closed, Glynda sighed heavily as she pushed up her glasses. Forcing herself to be perfectly confident as she strutted towards her office, her crop in hand and slamming the door behind her though she didn't lock it, Glynda blocked her emotions with anger in spite of the fact that she knew that she was denying what she was feeling to herself. She wasn't angry with him anymore and she knew that he felt terrible about having facilitated another row with her but she also wanted to cry and she was certain that that was what was making her angry. Distancing herself slightly, Glynda considered her girls and Jake in regards to their personalities and their similarities to both her and James. Caitlin, as much as she was like James in every other way, was just as sensitive as she was and Glynda personally thought that there wasn't a bone in her eldest's body that was truly sadistic though she knew that Caitlin herself would disagree. Ivy, she felt, was somewhere in between, being that Ivy was an empath but chose to ignore that and was subsequently as arrogant as James, in some circumstances, while she felt Jake was most like her despite being jocular.

Her thoughts swirling, a headache taking her over, and a sickening feeling taking her over, Glynda barely noticed as the door to her office hesitantly opened though she looked up from staring at her hands on her desk, her crop laying just beside it, as the door loudly shut.

"Glynda?"

Sighing and forcing herself to look at him, Glynda couldn't stop the overwhelming feeling of guilt that was flowing over her. "What is it, James?"

Unable to stop himself, James moved quickly over to her and pulled her tightly into him and, though she didn't say anything, she felt her eyelashes growing heavy as tears threatened at them. "Glynda, I am so sorry about last night, really, and I...are you alright?"

"All things considered, yes," Glynda said though she hated how formal she sounded. "Are you still -"

"Glynda," James whispered, kissing her forehead. "No, I'm not still angry. I...Glyns, what is all of this doing to us? This fight against Cinder, and how blatantly personal it's all become...I don't want to hurt you because I love you."

"I love you too," She murmured, leaning heavily into him while he held her securely in his arms. "I…I don't know what this is doing either…I…" Sighing deeply, Glynda held onto him tighter as she continued to fight back tears. "Is Cinder going to tear everyone's lives apart?"

"I don't know…" James said, terrified of the idea of something happening to her. "But if she tore our family apart then I...I don't know what I would do…"

"Neither do I," Glynda admitted as he pushed her slightly askew glasses back. "But when she gets caught, when she ends up back in Atlas under maximum security again...well I can imagine the interrogation that Elizabeth will personally insist on carrying out won't be pretty."

"There's a reason people on the council are afraid of her," James said with a slight smile. "She's a bit more blunt and forthcoming than they'd like."

"It's the Atlesian Council," Glynda said, rolling her eyes. "Did they expect her to coddle them or hold their hands when she became the chair of the security council? Because she has never been like that and she has the same tactics as Emmeline when dealing with the more difficult parts of the council."

"I would tend to agree with that," James said as he rubbed her back. "And I'm so sorry if I upset you."

"I shouldn't react as passionately as I do," Shaking her head, Glynda looked at him before kissing him softly and pulling him closer to her. "You're not the only one at fault when it comes to us."

"Glynda…" James murmured, caressing her cheek. "It's always my fault and you know it."

"Maybe it is or maybe it isn't," She said, taking her crop and collapsing it before re attaching it to the side of her boot. "But I still love you - even if things aren't easy."

"I love you too, Glyns," He promised, kissing her again. "And I'll never leave you unless you want me to."

"I know," Glynda said, wrapping herself tightly around him. "And I don't want you to. I love you, and I want you to stay with me."

Gently kissing her, James nodded. "And I promise I will."