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Yang gasped, shooting up in her bed. She reached to tear the thing from her face, only to find that there was nothing there. She looked around frantically to see that she was no longer on the roads but back at Beacon. In one of the medical rooms, not that she spent much time there.

She panted in her bed, bringing her hand to her forehead. It came away slick with sweat. Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath.

The fight had exhausted her, the powers taking their toll due to repeated use, but the way it had ended.

She shuddered at the memory of the pain. Th-that thing, whatever it was, had tried to steal the power from her. That woman had tried to steal her power, along with her two allies. That one girl's semblance was especially dangerous.

It had been foolish to travel alone, she knew that, but she thought she had been powerful enough to stay safe. Honestly, who in their right mind would attack a Maiden?

Salem of course. She was an idiot to think her identity was secret, despite Ozpin's best effort. She had nearly been killed. That thing had nearly taken the Maiden powers from her. It would have succeeded were it not for her…

Her uncle.

Qrow.

Yang's eyes widened in panic as the realization hit her. Her breathing, which had finally started to calm, left her in panicked breaths.

She needed to focus. What was her name?

Yang Xiao Long.

The answer came easy to her, so she tried another.

Where was she raised?

Patch.

Again, no thought was required. She slowly made her way through everything she could think of. Her family, her friends, her team, where she trained before Beacon. Everything.

She was still herself.

Relief crashed into her, forcing her to sit back in the bed. She had thought… it didn't matter. She was still herself. As she was finally able to gain her bearings she began to take note of something else. She didn't feel any different.

She had expected the powers to be akin to getting your semblance or having your aura unlocked. Were it not for the headache and memory of the pain she would have said it was just a dream.

Sitting up, she took a deep breath and pulled her scroll out.

There was a message from Ozpin saying that he had informed her team of her current location, as well as an excuse of training with Glynda if they asked what had happened. Apparently, she had been trying to get some last minute training for the festival.

She rolled her eyes at the excuse, Weiss wouldn't buy it, or failing that, she would be furious that she had gone and gotten hurt the day before they were likely to be sent to the doubles. She made to call Ozpin but her finger hovered over the button before she closed his information and pulled up another.

The message took a moment to send but Ruby responded almost instantly. Yang smiled at the rapid messages asking if she was ok, no doubt her sister was already making her way to the nurse's office.

Yang hesitated a moment before asking her sister to find Jaune's team as well. She had to tell them something.

Her sister said she'd be there in five minutes. Yang took the time to steady her nerves for the argument she knew was coming.

It was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

"You aren't going to stop her?" Glynda watched the screen in front of them. Said screen showed the members of team RWB and JNPR making their way to the medical wing.

It didn't take a wizard to guess at why they were in such a hurry, nor did it take a wizard to guess at what the young girl was about to do.

Ironwood remained silent, simply watching the display in front of them.

Revealing the truth was dangerous, he had tried it many times throughout his many life times to varying degrees of success, but it was not always the worst action to take. It was always important to know what you may face, if only so you can prepare for the worst.

Ozpin sighed, flicking the screen off and taking a long sip from his mug.

"No, Glynda," He tried for a calm tone but the exhaustion must have been evident, judging from their expressions. "I do not intend to stop her."

"Why not?" James' voice was calm, making it difficult to guess what he was thinking. Thankfully, Ozpin had experience with the General and centuries of trial and error to learn even the most subtle of tells. James doubted his decision for the Maiden.

"Because I don't believe we could truly stop her." Ozpin explained. "I have already stressed the importance of secrecy, and I believe she will do the same with them. To ask her to stay silent when she knows something is coming… she would never do it. At the very least, she would tell Miss Rose, and likely Mr. Arc. Both of them would assuredly tell their teams in time."

"Then why not tell them all yourself?" James asked. "Why not earn their trust by bringing them in yourself?"

"Because, old friend, if it were up to me they would not know." Ozpin sat back in his chair. "If it were up to me Miss Xiao Long would not be the maiden at all."

Ozpin could hear his friends teeth grinding together, even with several feet between them. "If you didn't want her to be the maiden, why did you choose her over the others?"

"She was the best candidate available."

"Choosing her drove away one of your most loyal agents," James' face was expressionless. "undisciplined though he may be, Qrow was an invaluable asset. One you have lost because of your choice of his niece. I demand to know why."

Hearing him speak of Qrow so highly should have been a good thing, the two usually being at each other's throats, but the tone of his friend's voice betrayed any such feelings.

"My choice had very little to do with her." Ozpin sighed. "Miss Xiao Long is among one of the best currently attending Beacon, yes, but she is not the best in terms of raw fighting ability." James attempted to interrupt but Ozpin continued before he could. "I did not choose her for such a thing however. I chose her because of what she brings with her."

"A strong candidate is needed." James once again attempted to speak. "Amber was strong." Whatever he made to say died in his throat, the General snapping his mouth shut in silence. "Amber was gifted in the use of the powers and she spent years studying how to properly use it… and she was defeated quite easily by not one, but three opponents."

The wizard reached for his mug. "She was defeated because she fought alone."

"And Miss Xiao Long won't?" James asked.

Ozpin nodded. "That, my friend, is why I chose her over any other."

"Fine," Ironwood grumbled. "Let's hope you've made the right choice."

"Only time will tell."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Ironwood whispered.

"I have some time before Miss Xiao Long will be available," Ozpin said. "What was it you said you discovered James?"

The General took the opportunity for what it was, changing the subject. "We've finally managed to break the encryption on Torchwick's scroll. We found several messages hinting at other operations that I have my agents looking into as we speak."

"Any information we could use to flush out those behind all this?"

James sighed. "No. The scroll contained very little in the way of messages or calls related to anything we didn't already know and only one file was found to be installed."

Ozpin waited for him to continue for a moment before rolling his eyes and asking the question he had so clearly been meant to.

"And what would that be?"

The General smiled. "An activation code."

"You did what!?" Weiss was the first to speak, after nearly three minutes of perfect silence.

Yang couldn't bear to meet her teammates' eyes.

"You didn't even talk to us about it?" Ruby's voice was muffled, mostly due to the fact that she had practically launched herself into a hug the second she had entered the room.

As Yang went through ehr explanation Ruby had practically buried her head in her sister's side, refusing to let go. Yang didn't want her to.

"Why?" Blake asked from her otherside. "Why didn't you talk to us first? You sho-"

"Because you would have talked me out of it!" Yang clenched her eyes shut. "And then Ozpin would have gone to somebody else and… and there was a good chance it would have been one of you and I-I… I couldn't let that happen."

She felt a hand grab hers. She didn't have to open her eyes to guess who it was.

"You should have talked to us," Jaune said. "Or at least your team."

Or at least me. Were the words she heard him say. The pain in his voice hurt but she believed he would understand. She knew Jaune and she also knew what lengths he would go for his team.

He had to understand.

"How could the Headmaster do this!?" Weiss would also understand, in time at least. Oh she wouldn't be ok with it but she would understand.

They all would in time, she just hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

She needed them by her side for what was to come. The thought of facing that person alone aga… she didn't want to die.

"You painted a target on your back." Blake's tone was the kind of neutral Yang had learned was forced. "Whoever tried to take the power before will try again, you know that right?"

Yang nodded and her partner sighed. "At least you thought it out yourself."

"You're… not mad?"

"Oh no, I am very mad!" Blake snapped, any sense of calm disappearing for a moment before she brought it back under control. "You kept trying to get me to talk to everyone, to be honest with the team and trust them and open up when something was wrong and-" She cut herself off, clenching her hands as they shook. "Then you go and do this."

Yang winced at the pain on her partner's face. It was true. She had tried to convince Blake to open up about the White Fang and the second something big came along… she did exactly what Blake had done.

"But it would be hypocritical of me to hold it against you." Her confusion must have shown on her face. "I understand why you felt the need to keep it a secret… that doesn't make it okay but… I understand." Blake stopped to think for a moment. "For what it's worth… from an intellectual standpoint, I think you made the right choice."

She was just against it because it was her friend, her teammate, her partner, that was in danger.

It wasn't perfect but it was at least something. It would take time but Blake had as good as said she'd support her decision.

"It's too late now, isn't it?" Weiss asked to which Yang nodded.

"The process can't be reversed."

"Idiot," She whispered. "You should have talked to us." Weiss turned away.

Yang didn't hold it against her. She was just worried. The Ice Queen had a heart of gold when you got to know her, she truly cared for her friends. It had been one of her most redeemable features, but with that came the concern of losing said friends.

After years of not having it, finding those bonds only to risk having them torn away was likely a scary prospect to the heiress.

Ruby didn't say anything, simply holding her close.

"I'm sorry."

Sorry that she had hurt them. Sorry that this was how they ahd to find out, only after the fact, but she wasn't sorry for making the choice.

She had to protect them… and if that meant being the one in danger then so be it. She was strong, one of the best in their year, but she knew that alone wouldn't be enough.

With all of them together though? There wasn't anything they couldn't beat.

She'd make it up to them, all of them. She'd protect them all.

Author's Note: This chapter was a pain in my ass… I was stuck on the opening section all week and couldn't figure out what I wanted to do until literally the last minute and as a result I am really not a fan of it. I don't think I did the characters right and I feel the dialogue and transitions are just… ugh! I guess we'll see what y'all have to say.

So, I had hoped to avoid this but I think I'm going to have to explain why Ozpin picked Yang in this story and not somebody else. See, I had expected people to question why Yang agreed, and was ready to defend that point, but I thought I had done a good enough job of explaining Ozpin's motivations, clearly not. That's my failure and I apologise for that.

His choice hinges on one main idea, that Pyrrha is no longer as ideal a candidate. In this story her semblance is revealed, which while it happened in canon Ozpin didn't KNOW that.

In this story the idea that Pyrrha is the "Invincible Girl" is tarnished. She lost to Roman bloody Torchwick, how could she win against whoever is after the maiden powers? That gamble is even less likely to pay off.

But most importantly, in canon one of the biggest things I felt was the deciding factor was Pyrrha's team. In this story, there is a candidate who can have TWO full teams of talented fighters ready and willing to fight. Yang and Jaune being a couple has made it so that whenever the Fall Maiden is in trouble there will be 8 people fighting instead of 4.

Yang is a strong fighter, not as strong as Pyrrha, but what she lacks in raw fighting ability she makes up for by having more back up. More people to rely on. More people she can trust to watch her back and help her.

I hope that big ramble makes sense. Let me know your thoughts in the review.
Sincerely SE