"Professor Goodwitch?" Lie Ren approached "her" desk (it was actually just one of the classroom desks that she commandeered when the students weren't there), holding a thick manila folder. He set it on her desk.

"What is this?" She pulled it closer, began looking through it, and stilled. She looked at him, slowly taking the stapled packets out of the folder and putting them on her desk.

They were all missing person's cases; they were all cold cases; they were all former identities of her and "Ozpin."

"I was looking through the missing person's files for an assignment when I noticed a pattern." He picked up one of the files. "This was Nora Sangster – the first known woman to go missing on May 31st, 1378 along with her close friend was Bartholomew Thrussel. Both were sixty-years-old and known throughout the community. Sangster was born December 11th; Thrussel was born March 14th. Fifty years later, Lumina Valentine and Vincent Hart went missing the same day. Valentine was born December 11th; Hart was born March 14th. The pattern continued five more times as such until the start of the Second War where the missing cases began to separate from each other – starting with Arena Cross, who went missing in Mistral, and James Reid, who went missing in Atlas. The specific dates are unknown, but the estimated time in between is fifty-years. Including Cross and Reid, there were four cases from the War era and four more subsequent cases, ending with Braiwn Keahi from Mistral and Rufus Shula from Atlas.

"In those cases, the male's birthday was always March 14 and went missing in Atlas, and the female's birthday was always December 11th and went missing in Mistral. In every case, there was no record of them before the two were fourteen."

"Why are you telling me this?" There was a sinking feeling in her gut, and somehow she already knew the answer to her question.

"It is two years from the fifty-year mark –"

"And my profile matches with those of the missing females." She removed her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly. "You had to come to me about this. Couldn't have gone to him who could deflect the questions…"

"Professor Goodwitch?"

Glynda looked down at the files in front of her, then back at Ren. "Do these worry you?"

"…Yes."

"Then allow me to alleviate your fear." She put her glasses back on. "Professor Ozpin and I will disappear on May 21st, 2028. If we had a choice, we wouldn't, but we have to – just like we've had to for the last five thousand years."

Ren's eyes widened.

"Ozpin once described us as broken clocks that, after reaching twelve, revolve backward three-quarters and then move forward again."

"What…does that mean?"

"It means that on May 21st, we will begin to grow younger until we're physically fourteen again. We're not immortal exactly. We'd probably die if by a fatal blow."

"Probably?"

The blonde scowled. "Well, it's not like we're going to test it!" She stood up from her desk, collecting the files and putting them back into their folder. "Was that all, Ren?"

"Yes, Professor." He gave a slight bow and turned to leave. "…Professor Goodwitch? Why did you tell me these things?"

"In all honesty? I suck at lying." She smiled. It faded suddenly. "Don't tell the headmaster I told you this."

"Yes, ma'am."

A/N: I was going to make the explanation more mysterious and cryptic, but eh. Whatever~

This one requires a lot of suspension of disbelief. My thoughts were that the events of the old world (of FFXIII) affected our gang of heroes more than they thought, and the more they were involved with Bhunivelze, the more they were affected. Thus, Hope, Lightning, and Yeul were affected the most, whereas people far removed like Bartholomew and Nora Estheim were hardly affected. (Bart and Nora did not have to deal with the broken clock cycle. They simply had longer lives than most people.)

I might have been reading Pandora Hearts when I came up with the explanation behind Ozpin and Glynda.

For the record, the years used in this chapter denote how many years it's been since the moon shattered and the Atlesian fell (ATF- After the Fall). This distorted reincarnation cycle has been going on since 1600 BTF (Before the Fall).

And yes, I made names for every single one of their identities. Thank you for asking.